Beating Devan Dubnyk and the Minnesota Wild 7 – 4 (Dubnyk 5 Goals on 23 Shots) and then the Laurent Brossoit and the Winnipeg Jets 7 – 2 was not something to get excited about; at least under normal circumstances. Dubnyk’s Save% (Sv%) so far this season is 0.867% and Brossoit’s is 0.850%. For our Penguins it may have meant a little more since they struggled against weaker competition last season.
However, last night, beating Philipp Grubauer and ending the Colorado Avalanche season opening win streak is something to quicken the pulse of even the most temperate of Penguin faithful. Grubauer has a Sv% of 0.922% and even though the Avalanche do give up more High Danger Scoring Chances (HDC) than the league average (91 for the Avalanche – 82 for the league average), their Goalies stifle those chance. Opponents convert those HDCs well below the league average (Avalanche 6.2% compared to League 9.6%).
Therefore, looking at the Avalanches penchant for giving up HDCs, Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel, and Brandon Tanev, slipping behind Colorado defenders shouldn’t surprise anyone, but for all three of those forwards to convert, that is something.
Crosby’s and Guentzel’s goals were things of beauty, highlighting their elite scoring abilities. Crosby as usual out skated several opponents, after Justin Schultz angled a pass through the neutral zone to him, Crosby first had to settle a bouncing puck before he could swoop across the Goalie’s crease and dangle the puck until every Avalanche player went down. Finally, Crosby threaded a needle with a backhand shot under Grubauer’s glove.
Guentzel’s goal started with an errant pass from Colorado Defenseman Erik Johnson at the Avalanche blue-line. The pass hit off Crosby’s back skate. The Penguins’ pivot man had to reach back to corral the puck while his partner in crime, Guentzel, raced in on the right flank. Feeling his Winger coming, Pittsburgh’s Captain opened up to his right and slid the puck over. In full flight, Guentzel took the puck, dipped his shoulder to protect the biscuit and drove behind the flat-footed Defenseman, on his off wing. As the Star Left Wing (LW) closed on the visitor’s goal, he pulled the puck back to the forehand and lifted a shot over Grubauer’s glove but under the crossbar to take back the lead.
Tanev’s game winner was more a question of hard work generating puck luck. Gabriel Landeskog knocked a centering pass into his own net giving our locals a 3 – 2 Over Time (OT) win. With the liberality in which assists were handed out on the earlier goals, Sam Lafferty probably should have had an assist on that game Winning Goal (WG). It was the rookies hard work along the boards that freed the puck up to Tanev’s stick.
Momentum is a fickle lady. It is good to see her on our side again.
Next up
Our Penguins go into the weekend with a back-to-back series; the Dallas Stars at the front end, tomorrow night and then the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday. Both games are at 7 pm at PPG Paints Arena. Dallas is struggling. They only have 1 win in 7 games so far this season; an OT win. Does Tristan Jarry play against Dallas?
Odds and Sods
With Jared McCann scratched from last night’s game with a lower body injury, Juuso Riikola was pressed into service as a Winger. McCann’s injury isn’t severe enough to put him on Injured Reserve (IR) and with the team carrying 9 Defenseman (only 1 being able to be sent down without clearing waivers) Mike Sullivan’s options were limited. The young Finnish natural defenseman skated 11 shifts for 6 minutes and 27 seconds. Riikola was credited with 3 hits and finished the game a -1.
Kasper Bjorkqvist potted his first professional goal as the Wilkes Barre – Scranton (WBS) Penguins downed the Binghamton Devils 5 – 3.
Emil Larmi, the young Goalie Jim Rutherford signed out of the Finnish Leagues, over the off season, picked up his first win in North America last night as well, in that 5 – 3 win over Binghamton. He stopped 30 of 33 shots in his second outing. Larmi’s first outting was an OT loss.
Hey tOR,
I really think you have to give Sullivan credit for the incredible job he has done not just fitting these players into the lineup, but winning with them. He has a team similar to the first one that the Penguins won back to back Cups with.
He has all team players that will do anything to help the team win and not ones that are concerned over how many minutes they get or which line they play on. For that, I give credit to Rutherford for retooling the team in such a short time (you lose a ton of good players to salary cap issues after winning a cup) and bringing in not just hungry players but quality hungry players and weeding out selfish players. Kessel came in a humble team player and left a 2 time Stanley Cup winning cocky problem. I believe he is learning that not only is the grass not greener, but they don’t even have grass in Arizona.
On top what Rutherford has done with the big Pens he has gotten depth that they can draw from in WBS.
I’m not throwing caution to the wind, last year the team did a Canadian run beating Toronto, Edmonton, Vancouver and Calgary 3-0, 6-5, 9-1 and 5-0 and it looked like the team was unstoppable. We all know how that went. I see this as a different team though. For one this team did it with injuries to several key players.
I’m looking forward to great things because of the competition for roster spots.
I think Sulli will play Murray against Dallas just in case untested Jarry has a rough start. Once Jarry has played more and is playing confident, that should change.
Hey Phil,
As a former goalie, I am very, very superstitiious, there are times when certain conversations remain subtext.
I am loving what I see from young guns like Sam Lafferty, John Marino, and Adam Johnson. I like what I saw from these guys in preseason and now that they got there chance to come up, they aren’t disappointing. Beating up scrub goalies was a great shot in the arm, knocking off Colorado is ….well… a horse of a better color.
When they were winning Stanley Cups, young guns like Bryan Rust, Conor Sheary, and Tom Kuhnhackl were integral parts of those teams. Over the last couple of disappointing seasons the team opted to go with expensive underperforming veterans, ignoring hungry, younger players who couldn’t have played any worse – very much the same as the previous teams under MJ and DB.
Chemistry is a very important ingredient for any winning team. When you have it you hold on to it and don’t mess it up, it is very fragile.
When I was living in Atlanta having to suffer through Thrasher hockey, even when they were winning, media types would constantly berate them. In their last play-off appearance, they had a pretty strong team. Unfortunately, they lost their first game and all the media outlets when whining that here comes the broom. Big surprise, the broom did come out. They played well in their first game in that loss. But then they came out flat in games 2 – 4. DId the media prognosticate or cause the catastrophe?
That was a great leap into the fans to celebrate. Loved it.