Great goaltending can negate a lot of sins and the Penguins got some great goaltending from Casey DeSmith last night in a 3 – 1 win over Carolina. It was DeSmith’s first home win and second overall of the season.
The good news is that our Penguins do have DeSmith and he was able to put them back into the play-off picture, rejecting 34 of 35 shots and putting them in-line for the last Wild Card spot. Granted, both New York teams have a game in hand and could put themselves back into a tie, but for now, the door is opened again. The bad news is that the Penguins needed him; Carolina had more shots on goal 35-33 and more shot attempts 71-55.
I missed most of the first period but by all accounts our Penguins did start out well, forcing Cam Ward to keep Carolina in the game. However, by the time I was able to start watching what was going on, the ice was starting to tilt against the Penguins. DeSmith had to stone Jeff Skinner on 2 point blank shots in the closing seconds of the 1st period, during a 4 on 4 situation. The Canes started cycling in the Penguins zone causing confusion for the Penguins’ Kris Letang, Brian Dumoulin, Riley Sheahan, and Evgeni Malkin. In all the confusion, with Letang chasing the puck, Skinner slipped in front of DeSmith all alone. The Canes got the puck to him and Skinner not only got one shot off, but a rebound chance as well before Sheahan and Dumoulin could get back down to support their goalie.
Carolina finally cracked DeSmith at 7:14 of the 2nd Period. The Canes got the Penguins running around in their own again. Matt Hunwick dumped Lee Stempniak in front of DeSmith drawing a delayed penalty. Before the Penguins had a chance to touch the puck and get the whistle, the Canes got it back up to the left point. Noah Hanifin ripped a shot on goal. The rebound kicked back up to the right point where Trevor van Riemsdyke was waiting. DeSmith got back across the crease to stop that shot. Unfortunately, DeSmith couldn’t control the puck and the rebound trickled back across the crease to the other side, where DeSmith just left. Derek Ryan got hold of the puck and tried shooting the second rebound into the open net Again DeSmith was “Johnny on the spot”, like a yo yo, sliding back across the crease to stop the second rebound shot and 3rd shot of the volley. Unfortunately, with Hunwick now standing around watching Ryan rather than eliminating him, Ryan got a second chance, the 3rd rebound and 4th shot in 3 seconds.
The Canes lead was short lived. Domink Simon took advantage of a great play by Sidney Crosby to turn a bad breakout play by Conor Sheary, trying to force the puck to the covered Crosby. Crosby got the puck up to Simon and shielded the Canes defender enough to give Simon time to get up speed. Once inside the Canes zone, Simon ripped a shot over Cam Ward evening the score up.
Next it was another kid’s turn; Jean-Sebastien Dea got on the board with his first NHL goal. Tom Kuhnhackl started the play cleaning up his own zone. Kuhnhackl got to a loose puck and swept the puck up the left wing boards out of the zone. Thankfully, Bryan Rust was back in the line-up and he was able to out race the Canes “D” to the loose puck. Racing down the left wing he drew the defense to him and then slipped a back hand pass across to Dea streaking down the slot. Dea deposited the puck over up over Ward’s glove hand.
Jake Gunetzel closed out the scoring and iced the game, netting his 15th goal of the season. The hard work was done by Riley Sheahan and Phil Kessel digging the puck out from behind the net and getting it to Guentzel who found himself in a soft spot above the crease. Giving Guentzel that much room to work with is a major mistake, he will make you pay.
But as I wrote above, the game really wasn’t all that great, only the final score was, thanks to DeSmith. The rookie goalie had to earn that win facing 71 shot attempts, with 35 of them getting on goal. In the 8 games starting from December 31st, the Penguins were able to reassert themselves as the attacking team, like they were during Mike Sullivan’s first Cup run. They were able to reduce their shot attempts against to 51.25 while taking 59.88 shot attempts themselves, giving them a team CORSI over that span of 53.88%.
However, over the last 3 games, they are trending back the other way. Over the last 3 games, opposing teams are getting 67 shot attempts per game to the Penguins 61.33. The Penguins team CORSI over that span has dropped down to 47.79%. This is a disturbing trend.
The Penguins are back in the play-off picture. The teams that they are challenging them all have games in hand but are trending downward, with losing records over their last 10 games. Let’s hope the Penguins can keep getting strong goaltending until they get their defensive short-comings sorted out.
Murray must be ready to play. The Pens just sent Jarry down to WBS. That has to be the hardest choice there. Jarry did play well. People were ready to turn the keys to the kingdom over to him. But he cooled off a little and DeSmith is hot.
What a problem to have; Murray, Jarry, DeSmith, and Gustavsson.
Hey Phil,
Thanks, that is a great picture of Dea starting to celebrate his first NHL goal.
Hey Other Rick,
Thanks, as always, for covering the game and giving us a place to comment … 🙂
I hear ya’ about it not being a perfect win. However, in this case I’ll gladly take the two points and run…especially against a good team like Carolina. Man, are they fast. They out-Penguin the Penguins. If the ‘Canes had a true elite scorer, they’d really be a team to reckon with. But I’m getting sidetracked…
I’m not quite as concerned about the sway in shot attempts as you, at least not for now, although I agree that over the long haul it’s not a trend you want to embrace. Especially given our deficiencies on defense.
I am pleased with the fact that we seem to have rediscovered our purpose and competitive fire. With very few exceptions, we’re ready to play each and every game, which is huge.
Even though they didn’t get a ton of ice time as a unit, I thought our reconfigured fourth line showed some hop. It just reinforces my suspicions that Ryan Reaves—as much as I hate to say it—is a poor fit for the type of game we play. Wish it weren’t so, given that I really like his toughness, but it is what it is.
In fact, in an odd, backhanded sort of way, Ryan’s absence might even foster an all-for-one, stand-up-for-your-teammate esprit de corps that perhaps is a tad lacking when he’s in the lineup. After all, nobody had more playing toughness the last couple of seasons than our Pens in a ‘take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’ sense. But again, I digress…
I’m pleasantly surprised with DeSmith. I thought Murray and Jarry were cool under fire, but this kid seems positively unshakable. (It may stem from a very unfortunate incident in college that nearly ruined his career.) He covers the net well from post to post, yet he also seems very economical in his movements and rarely appears to be out of position. And his glove hand…rapier quick.
Of course, this is the NHL and shooters are always probing for a weakness. Given his comparatively small stature, my guess is they’ll start to go high on Casey. But for now, he’s been a most pleasant surprise.
Rick
PS—Still HATE that Cole’s not playing. I don’t often disagree with Sullivan or question his decision-making, but this is one huge exception.
Hey Rick,
It is funny, when the Pens traded for Reaves, I was one of the first to say that Reaves was a bad fit for the team for all the reasons you mention (slows down the team and the rest of the team would stop playing tough, waiting for Reaves to do it for them). Now, over these last several games, although my impression is still the same (just as you expressed) but I am really pulling for Reaves. One of the big things I really like about him was (if you remember me commenting) a couple of games back an opponent was trying to take a run at Malkin, who was on the ice late in the game, looking to get the 3rd goal of a potential hat trick. I can’t remember off of the top of my head who Malkin was getting into a shoving match with, behind the play, but Reaves, with his head on a swivel, peeled off and skated back toward’s where Malkin was. Of course, the camera followed the puck, so we didn’t see exactly what happened, but it looked like Reaves was going to back-up Malkin.
Again, don’t get me wrong, Rust’s speed on that 4th line was the key ingredient on the eventual game winner, and the reason why I like Rust so much.
I am not as surprised by DeSmith’s play as others may be. Since I really don’t get to see WBS games that much, I can’t say I really watched his game, but I took notice of him the previous season when he was called up from Wheeling to replace Murray on WBS’s roster, when Murray was called up to Pgh before his first epic Cup run. The only thing I don’t like about him is his size. (it does seem funny though to think of a 6’0″ player as being little).
I am sorry that I brought up the swing back to giving up tons of shot attempts, but I did so for the very reason you mentioned. Although Carolina is playing much better than last year and had a very good streak of play that brought them back into the play-off hunt, but they are trending downward. They have a losing record over the past 10 games. And as you mentioned, if they had given up that many chances to Tampa Bay, the outcome could have been disastrous and less sophisticated fans would have been calling for DeSmith’s head when the problem still lies with roughly 2 or 3 players that keep getting ice-time regardless of how much of a millstone they are to the rest of the team.
If Sullie keeps all three goalies up with the big club; Murray, Jarry, and DeSmith, and continues playing the hot hand, like he has and I have long time ago said I was an advocate of, I do think the Pens stand a good chance of making some noise again. With the Quality of goalie these three are, playing the hot hand can keep cooling most opponents. However, replacing the 2 or 3 players of which I speak would definitely improve my confidence immensely.
Hey Other Rick,
I couldn’t help but smile when I read your comments about Reaves. We were so polarized…you in the con camp and me on the pro side…when he was acquired. Now we seem to be appreciating each other’s view. Funny how things work sometimes… 🙂
I’m just going to take a wild guess and say your three thorns are Matt Hunwick, Kris Letang and Conor Sheary. I think you and I have similar takes on the first two. Again, I don’t hate either of them, but I wish Cole were playing instead of Hunwick (won’t happen) and that Letang would either find his game or we could trade him for an established all-around defenseman (won’t happen—part deux).
That leaves Sheary. I’m probably squarely in the minority, but I LOVE Conor’s speed and hustle…not to mention his knack for getting open looks at the net (wish he’d convert on a few more of those). But I’ve watched him a little more intently of late and have noticed the same things you’ve been harping on…namely, that he isn’t winning puck battles like he was before. I guess it’s hardly a surprise, given his compact dimensions, although he seemed to do better in that area when he first came up.
I don’t know if I’m as ready to give up on him others. But if a reasonable offer popped up, I wouldn’t be dead set against trading him, either.
Rick
Are you psychic Rick? or am I that transparent? 🙂
You nailed it. I am agree 100% that I would be playing Cole over Hunwick and if I really didn’t like Cole (Like Sullivan seems not too like him) I would still work with him until I found someone better than him (Hunwick isn’t).
Okay, I will stop. Part of me wants to get back up on my soap box but I will stop. I have beat those horses into the dirt.
Oh and you are right Rick,
There are times when I embellish certain thoughts and opinions to try and evoke some sort of talk, just to hear what others my be thinking.
Hey Other Rick,
I wasn’t trying to imply that by anything I wrote…if I did, I’m sorry. I just really appreciate all the great work you’ve done on PP. You’ve truly been a (huge) breath of fresh air … 🙂
Your wonderfully passionate and opinionated style certainly gets the pot a stirin’ and the stew a simmerin’. Which makes me look forward to reading every article you write … 🙂
Rick
No Rick, I didn’t read anything in your comments, it was just a moment of honesty, admitting that sometimes I like to play devil’s advocate to try and see what other people are thinking.