Penguins Perfect on the Road, End Trip with a 5 – 0 whitewash of the Canucks

I will forgive some of our readers if they are starting to think I am a negative – Nancy type. Let’s face it, all of my most recent posts were less than optimistic and I failed to write anything after our favorite ice-skating fowl shellacked the Calgary Flames 9 – 1. So, I was hoping the Black-n-Gold could pull off a sweep of their road trip last night and get revenge for their loss to the Canucks at home. After a bit of a rough start, facilitated by a couple of penalties, our locals rose up and delivered a pretty convincing victory. The victory gave our home town favorites 8 of a possible 8 points on this road trip and, at least temporarily, the top spot in the Metropolitan Division.

Casey DeSmith took a tripping penalty against Vancouver young gun Elias Petterson within the first 2 minutes of the game and Jamie Oleksiak took a holding penalty against Michael Del Zotto giving their northern opponents hope, leading Vancouver to a 11 – 8 shot advantage in the first period. However, DeSmith, as he would prove all night, was equal to the task, keeping the Pacific Coast Canadians off of the board.

After the first period the Penguins’ offense took over and never looked back. Evgeni Malkin, in particular, and his line, in general took command of the game. Whether Malkin was flanked by his usual suspects or when he served to pivot the kid Daniel Sprong and Bryan Rust, the Penguins swarmed the Canucks. At the 5:50 mark of the Second Period Phil Kessel final broke the ice, potting his team leading 7th goal. Malkin dug the puck free and found Carl Hagelin behind the net. Hagelin skated the to the Right Wing RW corner but dumped the puck back to Kessel, who cycled in behind Hagelin and himself skated in to the RW corner area, dumping the puck, again, this time to Malkin. Malkin swooped out from behind the net an up toward the outside of the Face-Off FO circle to find Olli Maatta. Maatta had been supporting near the Left Wing LW boards but was now drifting just to the right of center point. Maatta fired the puck on goal, while Hagelin had slid in front of the net to occupy the Canuck Defense. Jacob Markstrom, the Canuck goalie, couldn’t control the rebound and it tumbled off to his left where Kessel was waiting.

Kessel had circled back behind the net after passing the puck to Malkin and was unaccounted for by the Canuck defense so he was easily able to tap in the opening goal. The goal was an honest, hard working goal that many of us fans have been asking to see a little more often.

Sidney Crosby followed up, a little over 10 minutes later, with a more traditional Penguin type goal. Following a Canuck give away in the Neutral Zone, Maatta found Jake Guentzel diagonally up ice on the LW, just outside the Vancouver blue line. With everyone on side, Guentzel skated into the attacking zone with all ice on him while Crosby broke down the slot. After a couple of strides, Guentzel slid a pass high to the RW to Dominik Simon. Simon whipped a pass down low to Crosby who was now in front of the net. Crosby skated the puck toward the RW corner before lifting a back-hand past Markstrom who was sliding back the other way to the left. The Penguins were now up 2 – 0.

The game settled down for a bit before Malkin took out a make–shift line, flanked by Rust and Sprong, to once again tie up the Canucks with hard work and extended zone time. Sprong, with an opportunity to play with the big boys did not squander the opportunity. He took a feed from Malkin just below the LW FO-circle and then hammered it on net, but Markstrom was equal to the Penguins’ young sniper. However, Sprong would not be denied. He pounced on the rebound in the LW corner and circled back up. Rust drew the attention away from Malkin who was sneaking back door toward the RW post, by going to the front of the net. Sprong returned the favor sent a laser down low for Malkin to tap in. It wasn’t a picture perfect pass. Malkin had to drop to one knee, but the Penguins were now up 3 – 0.

Fifty-nine seconds later the Penguins’ big center struck again. Hagelin, with dogged back checking broke up a Canuck keep attempt, while his line mates, Malkin and Kessel, were already starting up ice. Stripping the puck off of the Canucks, Hagelin found Malkin who was now coming back toward his own blue line. Malkin circled to the left before finding his usual partner in crime Kessel, who had also circle back but was now starting to break up ice. With Kessel now breaking up ice, Hagelin turned on the afterburners and raced to join the play on a 2 on 2. With the marksman extraordinaire, Kessel, skating with the puck, and the Swedish SST jet Hagelin racing for the net, no one was there to account for Malkin coming late down the left side of the slot. Give Malkin that much room and he will not miss often, and didn’t miss this time. The Penguins were now up 4 – 0.

Not to be out done in the hard work department, Crosby’s line went to work with some tough forechecking. Guentzel and Simon fought hard in the LW corner to dig the puck out of the Canuck defense. Guentzel then found Oleksiak between the top of the circle. Oleksiak then slid a quick pass down low to Crosby who copied Malkin, going to one knee to finish off some hard work and slick passing. The Penguins now led 5 – 0 and closed out the scoring.

Goaltending – Check:
Although I was not one of them, there were some who questioned the Penguin goaltenders. On this road trip, Matt Murray and DeSmith answered the call, book ending the road trip with shutouts while facing a barrage of 151 shots in 4 games (a hair under 38 shots per game). Even under the landslide of shots, the Penguins’ dynamic duo on ceded 6 goals for a spectacular 0.960 save percentage.

Offense – Check:
While Murray and DeSmith put the kybosh opponent scoring, Penguin snipers found the range 23 times or 5.75 goals per game. Before the road trip, Crosby had not scored a goal. After the 4 game road trip, the Penguins’ Captain now has 5 tallies. Malkin and Patric Hornqvist had 4 goals during the Penguins’ “Magical Mystery” Canadian Tour; Kessel had 3 and Oleksiak a pair. Letang, Cullen, Guentzel, and Rust also found the back of the net during the 4 game stretch and let’s not forget the new guy on the block Jack Johnson, who notched his first goal as a Penguin.

Defensively – Well it is getting a little better
Giving up 151 shots in 4 games is hardly the stuff of legend so forgive me if I am not all that excited yet over the Penguins’ defense. Fortunately great goaltending covers up many sins. However, let’s give this maligned group a little room. Brian Dumoulin went +10 on this road trip. Jamie Oleksiak was +9, Kris Letang was +8. And Olli Maatta was +6. Dumoulin and Letang both had 5 on 5 Corsi numbers of over 50%. Maybe frequent contributor 55 on Point had something when he related to us his observations at Penguins’ training camp – He wrote that he didn’t observe the team practicing much defense. Perhaps the sorry state of Penguins’ defense was just a question of lack of reps in practice and that now with some games under their belt and more practice time during those long stretches of off days, they are starting to find their defensive legs. I am not going to start erecting any statues of Penguins’ defensemen just yet but I will get off their backs for a day. I will also say this, Kris Letang, please prove me wrong. Make me eat some humble pie and continue to put up numbers like you have. It will be good for you, for the team, and even me. I would rather eat a large serving of humble pie and see you march down the streets of Pittsburgh with your 3rd Cup in 4 years than be able to say “I told you so”.

Speaking of fan maligned players getting some due, even though you were a -1 during the road trip, kudos to you Jack Johnson on your hits (10) particularly that open ice hit last night. Only the “Big Rig” Jamie Oleksiak had more hits on the trip (12). Johnson also topped the team in blocked shots Bks during the trip (7).

Don’t look now, but Malkin was tied for 3rd in blocks on the Canadian tour with 5 Bks.

Coaching – By the end of the trip, check

By the end of the trip, Mike Sullivan  was rolling all 4 of his lines. Even 4th liners were getting in or around 10 minutes a game. The kid, Sprong, had 11:46 of ice time (TOI) last night.

Keep on rolling Pens