The Penguin may have been a bad guy in the old Adam West “Batman” series but our Penguins are the good guys, saving the Steel City from the arch criminals of Gotham (okay, Long Island).
When I criticize a player or team when they screw I up, there is an onus upon me to recognize them when they stand out. Well, last night our Pittsburgh Penguins played their most complete game in quite some time. Pretty much all of the boxes were checked off.
Primary Scoring? Yep, we had that. The usual suspects; Phil Kessel had 2 goals and 2 assists, Sidney Crosby had 1 goal and 2 assists, Jake Guentzel had 3 assists, and Evgeni Malkin had an assist.
Secondary scoring? Yep, we had that. Riley Sheahan is starting to get hot. He had a goal, his 4th of the season and 3rd goal in the last 5 games. (is he turning back into the Sheahan of last years home stretch when he had us thinking that we really didn’t need a new 3rd line Center?). Derick Brassard and Bryan Rust added an assist a piece.
Even the Defense got into the act. Kris Letang had a pair of goals and Jaimie Oleksiak and Brian Dumoulin each added a helper.
Defense? Yes, there were a couple of breakdowns, most notably on Brock Nelson‘s Short Handed Goal (SHG). However, every player finished the night either even in the +/- or on the plus side. Also, as a team, they limited the Islanders to just 24 shots.
Physical Play? Yep, had that too. Zach Aston-Reese and Bryan Rust led the “Hit Parade” with 6 a piece. Kris Letang had 5 hits. Garrett Wilson added 4 hits and Olli Maatta, Tanner Pearson, and Marcus Petterson contributed 3 hits each, giving the team 39 hits. Granted the Islanders had 46 hits, but they didn’t have the puck that much, so they had greater targets of opportunity, since the Penguins controlled the puck most of the time.
Goaltending? Well, what did I say all along; give those goalies anything resembling NHL caliber defense and they will lead the way. After stopping 42 shots the game before, against the high flying Avalanche, Casey DeSmith stopped 22 of 24 shots. In the last 2 games DeSmith has stopped 64 of 69 shots or a 0.928 Sv%.
Last night’s win leap frogs the Penguins past those same Islanders that they played last night into 3rd place in the Metropolitan Division and back into the play-off picture.
Do I think the Penguins have really turned it around? I really, really hope they prove me wrong and Phil Krundle can tell me; “I told you so“, but no, I am not ready to jump on the band wagon. If our Penguins can go on a winning streak, not necessarily 10 games long but approaching 10 games, then I may start believing in a return to the Cup finals.
We will see.
Patric Hornqvist rejoined the now growing list of walking wounded. After only a couple of games back from his concussion protocol, he left the game early, playing only 6 minutes and 44 seconds in the 1st period. He did not return to the game when the 2nd period started. I guess we will have to wait until later today to see what happened and when he will return. The Penguins did keep playing hard without him last night, so maybe they have turned it around, but it will be interesting to see if they have truly returned to the “next man up” character that bought them 2 Cups. Crosby, Malkin, and Kessel are undoubtedly the the engine on this team, but Hornqvist is the fire that drives the engine.
In the end, I do still think this is the time to trade off some players whose stock is riding high for draft picks and/or prospects to retool for a much longer stay at the top. The Penguins have won 2 games in a row, 2 games against some good teams (at least good in terms of where they are in the standings) but the Colorado win was not impressive at all. That win was a testament to Hornqvist (who was compared to the superhero Wolverine on Superhero Night) and DeSmith. Last night was truly the first signs of life the team has shown all season.
Next up – Ottawa, no time for a let up just because they are lower in the standings.
Hello TOr,
Pens played a more mature game despite some hiccups. Jack Johnson still needs to be bench,imo. He stay getting the Penguins caved in with opponents. Mike Sullivan giving him more offensive zone time than Olli Määttä.
I will give credit when it due. Letang did better this game with still little hiccups. He still care about only points .Crosby and Brassard hard work for him. I still don’t trust his inability , consistency, defensive work, all around game on this team . I still want him to be traded. That will never change for me. I applaud Dumoulin every game to babysit him.
I don’t understand them Kessel rumors and hate against him. I would rather keep him over Letang til his contract expires…
Until Penguins win 3-4 game in a row. With more consistency and maturity. I will believe they turn around. Penguins still don’t have no identity. Etc.. Penguins have long way to go.
Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel, DeSmith has been the Penguins biggest MVP this season. It all goes to Sidney Crosby. Always.
I will not criticize that much because I don’t want jinx or be negative Nancy on them. I wait til next time.
I will take two points and keeping Islanders honest to low shots on goal. Good to see .
Speedy recovery for Hornqvist.
I don’t understand calling up Dea . I would rather go Johnson or Angello.
Hey Dee,
Agreed, there still were some Defensive hiccups, but like you ’nuff said – for now.
I also agree – Kessel is far more important than Letang. I don’t get the anti Kessel stuff. It is electric when you have him out there with Crosby or Malkin, doubly so when you have him with Crosby and Guentzel. Usually when he has been with Malkin it has been Hagelin with a brief cameo of Pearson-Malkin-Kessel.
And I agree about either Johnson or Angello call up. I understand why Sullivan did that; he has been coaching not to lose ever since his first Cup. He has stopped coaching to win. Since the conventional wisdom is to take the player with NHL experience, he has chosen Dea. Let’s face it though, Dea may have played some NHL games, but he has only played 26 of them – hardly enough to say he has any advantage over the others.
Hey tOR,
You know the “curse” of the blog is anytime you criticize anyone they will prove you wrong if only for a game or two.
Three quick takeaways from the last two games.
The defense is playing a whole different system. They are pulling back and playing defense rather than chance anything. It’s working, sort of like a safety first system. Letang (I know he got a goal in tight) has really cut back on the amount of times he goes in on plays. All night the last two games the defense pulls back and gets in position when the other team gets control of the puck. It was weird to see at first.
Number two. Holy mackerel. Crosby and Kessel – “together again for the first time”. This was how the whole Kessel deal was supposed to go down. It didn’t just start against the Islanders, They looked good together against the AVS as well.
Three. Letang is looking good.
When you type “Holy Mackerel” where you adjusting your gloves a la Robin?
Hey if criticizing a player really works that way, I should do it a lot more ofte, even when I don’t mean it 🙂
I am superstitious that way. I was a goalie.
I only watched the game on TV so some of it was lost in translation, but;
* It did seem to me that even Aston Reese and Wilson looked faster than they are supposed to be.
* The Defensemen actually tried to take the player standing in front of DeSmith or looked around first to make sure there was no open opponent there, instead of watching the shooter.
* They looked to me as if they are starting to realize that they needn’t always force passes, but appeared to throw the puck into open space at times and then chased it back down. (Goes along with your safety first system)