No, it wasn’t pretty but the black and gold closed out the year with a win, riding a 6 game winning streak, defeating Minnesota 3 – 2. The Goaltending, Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel and the Power Play (PP) all continued to sparkle. There was even some contribution from the bottom of the lineup. The Penguins defense, well that is a horse of a different color.
Miikko Koivu opened up the scoring following a Riley Sheahan hooking call (drawn by Jason Zucker). The Penguins’ Penalty Killing (PK) unit dumped the puck deep into the Wild zone. Derek Grant went in on the fore-check, while Koivu retrieved the puck from a Minnesota defenseman to reset the PP. As Koivu approached the Penguins blue line, Grant chose to skate to the bench, leaving Casey DeSmith and the rest of his PK partners to face an odd man break. Koivu passed the puck forward to Charlie Coyle then drifted unaccounted for, because of the vacating Grant’s replacement was just stepping on to the ice. The puck found its way back to Koivu in the slot and the Wild grabbed the lead 1 – 0.
Later the Penguins’ PP would get its chance. Nate Prosser decided to knee Matt Cullen and Minnesota would have to face what may be the most lethal PP of the NHL right now, and they converted their 5th straight opportunity (Speaking of streaks). Pittsburgh’s PP put on a clinic. Patric Hornqvist was the only Penguin skater not to touch the puck on the play. Kris Letang carried the puck up just passed his own blue line before dropping it back to Phil the thrill. Kessel carried the mail with speed to the Wild blue line before finding Crosby with a pass just inside the attacking zone to gain entry. Crosby skated down the Left Wing (LW) boards drawing down the Wild Defense before dropping a back hand pass back to Evgeni Malkin at the point. Malkin and Letang played catch back and forth for a moment to try and open up the Wild defense more. Letang then found Kessel at the Right Point (RP) and he skated it down into Minnesota’s defense. With all defender’s eyes focused on him, the Penguins’ Right Winger (RW) threaded a pass between several legs to Crosby hidden just below the LW face-off circle. Crosby redirected the pass into a wide open net and the game was tied 1 – 1.
As time ticked down to end the first period, Zach Aston-Reese made the most of his time playing with the top line. He went hard in on the fore-check, all alone. Trying to make himself as big as possible waving and extending his stick as wide as he could, he forced a turnover blocking a breakout pass up the attacking left wall. The Penguin’s rookie found Crosby at the top of the LW circle, who was jumping into the play Aston-Reese created. Crosby hammered a onetime shot that missed the net and bounced off the back boards toward Kessel streaking down the RW. Kessel, the ace goal scorer he is, threw the puck into the crease and he got the lucky bounce fro which he was hoping. The puck deflected off of a Wild Defensman and then behind the Wild goalie. With only 21 seconds left in the period our locals were up 2 – 1.
DeSmith worked really hard to preserve that lead in the second period. The Penguins’ net minder had to hold the fort against the Wild’s push back. The Penguins were out-shot 13 – 7 in that frame. DeSmith needed the help of newcomer Marcus Petterson to preserve the lead against perhaps the most dangerous of the Wild shots. Jake Guentzel tried to bank a pass off of the boards to Jack Johnson, but Johnson couldn’t find a handle on the pass. Jordan Greenway blew past the penguin defender who went down to the ice to further exacerbate his guffaw. The Wild had a 2 on 1 with Pettersson the lone Penguin back. DeSmith made the initial save on Greenway’s open shot. The battling Goalie couldn’t control the rebound as it drifted dangerously across the crease to a waiting Minnesota forward but Pettersson knocked it out of danger while a hustling Crosby raced all the way back to flatten the would be Wild Winger. Johnson was the last man back.
Sheahan would get the only goal of the 2nd period just at the end of a 4 on 4 situation. Aston-Reese, maybe feeling his oats from his recent success and near Gordie Howe hat trick from last game, had a bit of a go with Marcus Foligno. Both players were given roughing minors for the short dance, reducing both teams to 4 skaters. As the coincidental minors were about to end Letang started a break out passing up to Brian Dumoulin. Dumoulin skated the puck to the center red line as the sin bin doors opened. Aston-Reese skated hard to the Penguin bench as Dumoulin approached the attacking blue line and passed to Cullen entering the Wild zone on the LW. Cullen skated down the boards before dropping it back to Kessel at the top of the circle. Kessel skated into the slot drawing 4 Minnesota defenders to him. Sheahan, just jumping on to the ice and into the play was wide open down the RW. Kessel found the Pittsburgh forward all alone. Since Sheahan is a left handed slot cruising in on the RW, his stick was in a perfect spot. The puck was slightly behind him, but Sheahan adjusted and although he couldn’t get off a onetime shot, he got a quick hard release and our boys of winter were up 3 – 1.
Minnesota wouldn’t go away quietly. Zach Parise brought the score back to 3 – 2 and added some last seconds drama with a great effort just before the 16 minute mark. He beat Crosby off of the RW boards and skated into the slot. Aston-Reese was shielded off by a Wild Forward. Guentzel watched from the high slot, while Olli Maatta engaged Mikael Granlund who was trying to be a menace in front of DeSmith. Parise walked in a ripped the puck into the net. So DeSmith et al had to weather one more storm when Bruce Boudreau pulled his Goalie to try and tie the score.
No, as I wrote above, it wasn’t exactly pretty. Maybe if Matt Dumba had played Minnesota would have come out on top. But he wasn’t there and the Penguins have had their share of games with what ifs so I don’t feel bad. The Penguins may have limped to their 6th straight win, but they have won 6 straight and that ain’t hay. They actually gained ground on Washington, thanks to Nashville beating them 6 – 3. They are now only 3 points off of the top spot. Even though there are plenty of warts to go around this team, they start the New Year with some reason for hope.
Next up – Our Penguins end their road trip against the New York Rangers with their first game of 2019 tomorrow night at 7pm. It will be New York’s 1st game of the year as well.
Odds and Sods
In keeping with last night’s low-event Metro clash with the Devils at the Prudential Center,…
In Mel Brooks’ comedy, The Producers, Max Bialystock (brilliantly played by Zero Mostel) and his…
On Tuesday night, I thought our Penguins played perhaps their best game of the season,…
Anyone who’s read PenguinPoop for any length of time knows black-and-gold coach Mike Sullivan doesn’t…
The Penguins added a new/old face to their roster today, acquiring defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph from…
I’ll be honest. I wasn’t too enthused about the Penguins’ chances for victory ahead of…