Penguins beat Islanders 6 – 2, “Zwack!, Pow!, Crunch!”

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.