In a preview of their probable upcoming playoff series, the Penguins made a statement—and perhaps gained an edge—with a convincing 4-1 victory over Columbus last night before a packed house at PPG Paints Arena.
Predictably, the contest was a clash of contrasting styles. Led by heavyweight forwards Josh Anderson, Scott Hartnell and Boone Jenner (21 hits combined), the visitors pounded the home team with a hard forecheck, piling up a 39-27 advantage in shots on goal and a 49-36 edge in hits. Knocking out black-and-gold forwards Matt Cullen and Bryan Rust in the process.
At their quick-strike best, the opportunistic Pens beat Sergei Bobrovsky four times. Including Patric Hornqvist’s game winner off the rush midway through the second period.
“We’re just going to play,” said Pens coach Mike Sullivan, reinforcing his club’s turn-the-other cheek approach. “We’re going to play our game. Teams are going to play (physically) against us and they’re going to try to play their game. What I love about our players and our team is I know that we’re brave. I know we play with courage. I know that we can play through things.”
After standing toe to toe with Columbus through an evenly played opening frame, the Pens grabbed the lead 69 seconds before the horn on a clutch goal by Carter Rowney. Scott Wilson pounced on a turnover by Cam Atkinson in the high slot and skirted Brandon Dubinsky before releasing a knuckling shot/pass from a sharp angle. Rowney gained body position on Blue Jackets defender Jack Johnson and tipped the puck over Bobrovsky’s glove.
Nonplussed, John Tortorella’s crew flexed their considerable muscle in the second period. The grind was beginning to wear on the Pens’ defense when Hornqvist struck for his 20th goal of the season off a pretty cross-ice dish by Tom Kuhnhackl. Halting the surging Blue Jackets in their tracks and diffusing their hammer-and-tongs tactics.
“We know they’re going to bring that physical element,” said Pens defenseman and third star of the game Brian Dumoulin. “I thought we did a good job of weathering it and just moving pucks by them. We know they’re going to come and try to finish us. It’s important for us to try to limit their hits.”
Dumoulin provided some much-needed insurance at 12:30 of the period, circling behind the Columbus net and using his long reach to beat Bobrovsky to the far post before banking the puck in off Atkinson’s skate. “Dumo’s” first regular-season tally in 151 games and the second of his NHL career.
After watching teammates Cullen and Rust fall victim to the Jackets’ boisterous play, the Pens delivered a gut punch of their own 33 seconds into the final period.
Catching their foes flatfooted, Justin Schultz took a pass from Sidney Crosby high in the offensive zone and flicked the puck into a crowded crease. The rubber narrowly missed Crosby before deflecting in off Jake Guentzel’s leg. The rookie’s 14th goal of the season and seventh in 13 games.
Ever the villain, Dubinsky, whose crunching first-period check sent Rust to the locker room, broke Murray’s shutout bid midway through the stanza with a shorthanded tally. With Crosby wisely tethered to the bench in the closing moments following a collision with the truculent Jenner, the Pens shut Columbus down the rest of the way to emerge with an all-important victory.
“Every point is huge right now,” said goalie Matt Murray, at his big-game best with 38 saves. “I’m not going to sugarcoat that.”
Puckpourri
The Pens split the season series with Columbus. Each club recorded a regulation and overtime win. The Blue Jackets outscored the Pens, 13-10.
Guentzel paced the locals with a goal and an assist. Crosby collected two helpers. Phil Kessel unleashed a game-high eight shots on goal.
Ron Hainsey finished a plus-3. In 13 games with the black and gold, the veteran defenseman is a plus-8. The Pens are 9-3-1 when he plays.
Schultz’s assist was his first point since March 21, snapping a six-game drought.
Trevor Daley and Tom Sestito participated in yesterday’s practice. Both wore yellow non-contact jerseys. Wilson was shaken up on a hit by David Savard, but returned following a visit to the locker room. No word at present on the nature or severity of the injuries to Cullen and Rust.
Columbus is 22-17-4 since January 5. The Pens are 24-11-6 during that span.
Another Update,
Looks like Simon was recalled due to the plethora of injuries.
Jim, I was out for a bit this morning, I hope I didn’t miss my call from the Nailers since WBS will no doubt have to raid their roster again.
Posted that too quick,
Also I just saw that Sestito and Daley made the trip and that Daley is a game time decision.
Some good news for a change
Just an update,
Did anyone see that Jake Guentzel, despite playing close to half a season in the NHL made the AHL all rookie team?
Thirty-five goals and counting, including 14 for the Pens.
What an addition he’s been. Huge.
Rick
That is why I am musing, “as good as this team is offensively, imagine what it may look like next year with Guentzel, Sheary (maybe/hopefully), Rust, Sprong, Aston-Reese, Kuhnhackl, and Wilson supporting Malkin, Crosby, Kessel, Hornqvist and Hagelin.” We may lose one of them in the expansion draft but offensively things don’t look bad at all.
Good Evening All,
I’m going to take a contrary position on Letang. I don’t think they miss him all that much. Yeah, he’s a wizard at getting the puck out of the zone, and he’s probably the best skater on the team, but, honestly, he didn’t have much of a year for the half of it he played. Even with Letang in the line up, the defense was still luke warm most nights. And, still, they’re just three points out of first.
Letang’s absence has taken a toll on both Cole and Schultz, but thus far it’s a toll they’ve managed to pay, albeit on credit. If their cards aren’t maxed out, they’ll bring it. It isn’t going to get easier no matter if Letang’s on the bench, or not. And absent the things that can’t be done at this point anyway, Ruhwedel and whoever, are going to have to play some hockey. And, the offense will have to shoot the damn puck – 40 or more shots a game would be nice. A returning Malkin and Hagelin won’t hurt either.
i still have my reservations with size against a heavy handed team in a seven game series, but this team has a knack for winning. They find ways to win. If the D can step up and steal a game in this series, I think they can split the other six, especially if they get home ice, and Murray imitates a rock. I’m not 100 percent sold, but, this is doable.
Hey 55,
Your opinion isn’t all that contrary to everyone. No one can argue when healthy Letang brings a dimension to the game that no one, not even Schultz (at least yet) can bring. His skating, offensive talent and grit (He plays way larger than his size) is incredible. When healthy he is a legitimate Norris candidate. However, as you point out and I agree with, having made the same points several times; the D has been nearly non-existent even when he has been in the line-up, giving up some of the worst shot totals in the league and Letang hasn’t been in the line-up for half of the year.
Worst of all, his salary of $7mil has blocked the Pens from finding legitimate help.
Schultz and Cole have been the only 2 D-men consistently playing NHL calibre hockey on the Pens blue line (yes, Maatta was starting to come around when he got hurt again, but he wasn’t consistently playing that way). The lack of D has left both of our goalies hung out to dry all season. It is amazing that Murray has been able to win nearly 75% of his games.
And lets not forget the juggernaught offensive talents bouying a nonexistent D back up, finding ways to score claw their way out of wholes dug by the D and managing just one more goal than the opponents. When healthy the offensive talent on this team is lethal. Perhaps only the Lemieux era Cup teams were more prolific.
But let’s consider this before totaly dismissong Letang this year, we don’t know how long Letang has been suffering from this herniated disc. It may have been bothering him as far back as Sept for all we know and that could be why he hasn’t played like he did last year.
Hey all,
Just read the bad news. Kris Letang has a herniated disc in his neck and will undergo surgery. He’ll be out four-to-six months.
Rick
Rick
This was my fear all along – I wonder now if Rutherford thinks he blundered on not going all in on Shattenkirk – I was a little disappointed to find out the Penguins knew about the nature of Letang’s injury in February prior to the deadline date and did not address this with a trade. A little confusing to say the least.
Hey Mike,
Not being an insider, I don’t know how close the Pens came to landing Shattenkirk. They were rumored to be in the mix at the deadline, along with the Caps.
I would think the Pens’ offer must have involved Fleury, which might not have been attractive to St. Louis.
Perhaps things would’ve gone differently had Rutherford placed Letang on LTIR, although I’m no capologist and certainly don’t understand all the ramifications.
Guess we’ll never know.
I think we have to trust that JR had strong indications Letang would be able to return. Seemed like he was on track until about a week ago.
The only saving grace…if you can call it that. We’ve played so long without Tanger, perhaps we’ve gotten used to it.
Not to minimize the loss. His speed and ability to transition from ‘d’ to ‘o’ in a heartbeat will be sorely missed. Especially against an in-your-face foe like Columbus. To say nothing of his skill and intangibles.
Rick
Wow,
I am assuming the Pens attempted to resolve the issue without surgery?
That would be the only reason why I could think that they didn’t put Letang on LTIR to save cap space and to do what Mike suggested, try harder to land Shattenkirk.
This doesn’t surprise me, considering the number of times Letang has been victimized by criminal hits that caused concussions. Not only do those head snapping hits bring about concussions they can damage cervical vertebrae.
This brings about several questions;
1) When will the NHL actually protect their players by zero tolerance for garbage players who physically target the best players on the other team (Of course we know the answer to that, at least not in the near future and even if they did, it is way too late for Letang).
2) How long has Letang been suffering from this? Could it have been hindering his play this year? Let’s face it, he really hasn’t played like he did last year.
3) Can he actually recover? Next season can he really return to form? Can he play at a level to justify his $7mil? If not where do the Pens go from here?
Not very good news at all Rick!
Hey Guys,
This really should not be a shocker to everyone.Letang in the past 3 years has always been injury prone and quite frankly we have never adopted a style of play where by we protect our stars. There are indeed teams in the league that if you cheap shot one of their star players you will pay the price.
Letang,while I have often been critical of him has the unique ability to skate his way out of dangerous situations and then make that break out pass up to Crosby or Geno. While playing physical opponents like Columbus this skill comes in very handy. We will miss him on the blue line.
One thought is if this injury is indeed serious, which it appears to be, you could leave him off your protected list of players for Vegas and see if just maybe they do not pick him up, given his age, contract and history of serious
injury. ??
Last point is we did take a beating last night, and we survived. Can we do it 16 times ? Hope so but I too do not like seeing a different player every night getting injured. Not a good sign.
Jim
Hey Jim,
Wish we could (Leave him unprotected), but he has a NTC/NMC in his contract, so we can’t leave him unprotected. At least not without him waiving it.
Hey Jim,
Absolutely spot on about Letang’s ability to skate the puck out of danger and move it (quickly) to the big guns up front. Often before the other team is set.
He was such a driving force behind the Pens’ speed game. I don’t think I truly appreciated just how much until I watched them repeatedly struggle on the transitions over the past couple of months.
Needless to say, his absence has removed a lot of fluidity and volatility from the attack.
Along those lines, I’ve seen few guys–if any–close ground the way Tanger does in the defensive zone. To say nothing of all the minutes he eats.
While I applaud JR for landing a guy like Mark Streit at the trade deadline (under severe cap constraints) there’s really no way to replace No. 58.
Rick
PS–Agree wholeheartedly with your concerns about us being able to physically survive the Columbus series. I think we can beat ’em. But swapping bodies for wins is a lousy way to do business. Especially come playoff time.
While I’m not counting on it, I’ll be interested to see if we use Sestito against the Jackets. Logic suggests, at least to me, that big guy=durability.
Alas, he’s been injured, too.
Hey Rick,
Sweet Victory! but not without a cost, the injury train continues. This is beyond funny.
I want to write more and I may, but I am biting my tongue on some issues.
The Other Rick
Biting your tongue ?? I’m sure your not alone. This is a
major set back that in my eyes could of been prevented
by making a trade at the deadline. How will JR try to
wiggle out of this one.
Hey Mike,
Considering Rick’s update about Letang, your trade deadline deal comment takes on even bigger proportions! The road to the Cup seems to have gotten steeper.