Fresh off the last strains of the Canadian national anthem which was no doubt still lingering in the memories of the Montreal faithful and with the applause that naturally follows the playing of the national anthems still echoing through the stands of Montreal’s Bell Centre Sidney Crosby struck a thundering blow to the home town team on the first shot of the game.
Crosby won the opening face-off and the Penguins tried to skate the puck into the Canadiens’ zone. Jordie Benn of the Canadiens corralled a loose puck and tried to clear it from his defensive zone but gave it away, just 19 seconds into the game. Jared McCann read the play perfectly and kept the play alive for the Black-n-Gold, passing the puck to Crosby in the top of the Left Wing (LW) circle. Crosby passed it quickly to Jake Guentzel in the high slot. Guentzel completed the give-and-go with a hard pass back to Crosby who redirected the pass past a goalie Carey Price, Montreal’s $10 million Goaltender (actually $10.5 million but at that point who is going to quibble over $500k), silencing the crowd.
Barely 4 minutes later, Evgeni Malkin scored what proved to be the game winner on only the Penguins’ 3rd shot of the game. With Canadiens’ Defenseman Jeff Petry in the penalty box the Penguins’ Big Three, Crosby, Malkin, and Phil Kessel got together and decided to make Montreal pay for their misdeed. Kessel dug the puck out of the Right Wing (RW) corner and slipped it up the boards to the half wall where Crosby was waiting. All 4 Canadiens’ defenders collapsed low to counter Kessel, Crosby and Patric Hornqvist, leaving Malkin wide open at the left point. Malkin took advantage of the room to skate in to top of the LW circle before drilling a slap shot past Price.
Roughly 4 minutes after Malkin’s marker, Crosby won a face-off in the offensive LW face-off circle back to Guentzel at the top of that circle and Guentzel ripped a shot on goal that Price did get a piece of but that still trickled past him. The Penguins were up 3 – 0 but had only taken 4 shots on goal.
Less than 6 ½ minutes into the 2nd period and only 9 shots later and Guentzel and Crosby collaborated again. Newly acquired Penguin, Eric Gudbranson started the attack from inside the Penguins’ defensive zone, cutting off a Canadien dump in. Gudbranson passed the puck back up the RW boards McCann deftly picked a Canadien allowing the puck to slide up ice to a waiting Guentzel. Guentzel then worked his voodoo magic with another give-and-go with Crosby. The pass to Crosby freed Guentzel up coming down his off wing. Guentzel took advantage of skating his off wing and ripped a laser over Price’s blocker on the far side.
To steal a quote from Adam Sandler in the movie Happy Gilmore, “The Price was wrong” in Montreal this night, as the 2nd winningest Goalie Canadien history ceded 4 goals on just 24 shots and was denied his chance to tie Jacques Plante in the top spot (313 wins to Plantes’ 314)
Brendan Gallagher tried to make the game interesting with a 26’-0” wrist shot about a minute after Guentzel’s 2nd tally but Penguin Goalie Matt Murray would have none of it. The Antarctic Avian’s net minder stoned Max Domi on one of just another of countless break away s he and fellow net minder Casey DeSmith have had to endure this season, on the way to rejecting 36 of 37 shots in the game.
Thank the Heaven’s for Matt Murray! If not for him this team would be in a world of hurt. That is right a big shout out to the teams under-appreciated Goaltender, under-appreciated by fans who have never had to stand between the pipes and face down vulcanized rubber, night after night. I never had to face NHL calibre shooters like you Mr. Murray but I did play goal, and I know what it is like to see shot after shot from the slot, or tipped at the last second by wide open forwards, or one on one on break away after break away. I can’t even imagine what it is like to face NHL calibre shooters, let alone in those situations. Kudos to you for standing tall!
Not to disparage the seasons Crosby and Guentzel are having but while other teams are trying to lock down defensively in preparation for the playoffs, the Penguins’ Defense is still AWOL, or as the Gunner used to say “On the noon balloon to Saskatoon”.
Since February 1st, Murray has faced an average of 35 shots per 60 minutes; of the 6 goalies at, or above Murray’s 0.921 Save Percentage Sv% during that time frame, only Dallas Stars‘ Goalie Anton Khodobin has faced more shots per 60 minutes (36.4). Seems to me that if anyone was really that silly as to look to replace Murray in Pittsburgh, Khodobin really is the only Goalie that may represent an upgrade. But then again Khodobin didn’t win two Stanley Cups before his rookie season was over, so is that really an upgrade?
Odds and Sods
Crosby’s opening goal last night moved him ahead of Jaromir Jagr into sole possession of 2nd place on the list of Penguins’ All Time Goal Scoring with 440. Only Mario Lemieux has scored more goals, 690. Congratulations Sidney Crosby!
Guentzel’s first goal last night was his 30th of the season, marking the 1st time the young Penguins’ sniper topped that plateau as he leads the team in that department. Congratulations Jake Guentzel!
Grudbranson earned his first point as a Penguin with the 2nd helper on Guentzel’s 2nd goal. McCann made a great play, taking a hit to keep Montreal from getting the puck, freeing it for Guentzel to start the give-and-go, but he never touched the puck, so the big Right Handed Defenseman made the score sheet for his new team. Welcome to the ‘burgh Erik Grudbranson! Oh and great hit on Gallagher!
Hey Other Rick,
Nice job of wrapping a game summary around your defense of Matt Murray… 🙂
I confess, I wasn’t aware he’s performed as well as he has over the past couple of months. As Jonathan Bombulie mentioned in The Trib, Murray’s 15-5-2 with a .926 SVPCT since December 15. He posted a .920 SVPCT in February. Can’t ask for much more than that…especially behind our at times watery team defense.
However, Murray does need to come up large when it counts the most. On that count, some improvement’s needed. He turned what could’ve been springboard wins into bitter defeats by allowing softies against the Flyers and Sabres. Yeah, it only cost us two points. But in the grand scheme of things, two points that could cost us a playoff spot.
Even Sullivan…a devout Murray guy…challenged him on it. Nice to see Matt respond with a big effort (and win) last night.
Rick
Hey Rick,
Thanks!
Question, what happens if Cullen buries the puck on his wrap around attempt with 23 seconds remaining in the 2nd period? Or Bjugstad taps in the rebound from about 4′-0″ when Elliot was down low from stropping Cullen? Why are you focused on Murray not stopping the game tying goal? What if the Pens go up 3 – 1 at the end of the 2nd. Why are you not complaining about Bjugstad shooting the puck into a fallen Elliot?
Or why are you not remember the save he made on Vorecek 10s into the 3rd when Linholm sent him in all alone with a cross ice pass causing Murray to have to glide left while Voracek cut back across to the right and tried to tuck in behind him, but Murray still managed to get his leg back out to shut Voracek down. The game would have been already tied at that point. Seems to me he (Murray) was the one playing at the top of his game while his D was AWOL. How many times does he have to bail out a pathetic Defense. How does the song go How many roads must a man walk down? How many great saves does Murray have to make? Georges Vezina would not have a trophy named after him if he had to backstop these turnstiles.
Why is no one yelling about ZAR not lifting the puck when he was alone in front of Elliot from about the bottom of the face-off circle at the 18:47 mark of the 3rd. The score would now be 4 – 1. But no one yells at ZAR for shooting the puck into Elliots. If those three forwards were as perfect as many people want Murray to be then the score would have been 5 – 1 when Malkin scored around the 13:30 mark.
What if Jack Johnson actually takes JVR out of the play at the 3:04 mark. Why do people want to ask Murray to walk on water and not other players.
No, when the puck bounces in off of Murray’s leg in behind him on a bad angled shot form the corner, the 33 other times he bailed out the team goes by the way side. If the rest of the team . If the rest of the team only screwed up as often as Murray did in that game then the team wins in a shut out.
As for the Sabre game there were no soft goals. 3 of the goals he gave up were form wide open players from the slot or lower. the game tying goal was off of a deflection, a deflection from the high slot where the goalie doesn’t have time to react nor have the luck of the deflection close enough to him that it doesn’t change direction far enough not to hit him.
As a former goalie, I do understand that the pressure is on us to be perfect. The rest of the team can screw up time and time again but make one good play and be hailed as heroes. But a goalie can stand on his head 40 times in a game when his only failure (even if it was humanly impossible to stop the shot – don’t forget the speed of conduction of a nerve impulse from the eye to the cerebellum and then back out through efferent neurons to the muscle and for them to contract through a motor program takes longer than the time it takes a puck to travel the 5 feet from a deflected puck) and the goalie takes the blame and those who never stood there in front of shots before whine that the team needs a new goalie.
Even a failing coach whines and cries because the Goalie didn’t save his job! So, I couldn’t care less what Sullivan says. He acknowledged he was a passenger on the Crosby, Guentzel, Malkin, Kessel, Murray bus when, in mid February, he laid out his discussion of Malkin’s slump basically saying that he had no answers and that Malkin’s own creativity would get him out of the slump. In stead of having a system with set fore-checks and break outs he just has the players make it up as they go along while other coaches in stall systems.
Sorry Rick, but as a former goalie I do defend goalies from unwarranted criticism.
Points well made and well taken, Other Rick.
You’re right. Because goalies are the last line of defense, perhaps they do unfairly become the focal point of criticism when things go wrong.
And, judging by the numbers, Murray’s done a heck of a job since returning to action on December 15…better than I’d imagined. You don’t get much better than a .926 SVPCT…especially behind a porous team defense. And his 15-5-2 record ain’t too shabby, either.
Still, I stand by what I said. He gives up a goal against Philly through the five-hole to Voracek with 20 seconds left. Not to mention an extremely soft goal (again, through the five-hole) to Giroux on the overtime winner.
After his team guts it out with four defensemen all night? Sorry..he’s gotta make one of those saves. To say nothing of the fact that he yielded a power-play goal with three minutes remaining.
Same thing with the game-tying goal against the Sabres. Montour was practically falling out of the zone when he released a shot. Yeah, it was a floater and there were some bodies in the slot. But Murray has to make that save.
Sometimes it’s not so much about what you do as when you do it. Especially because of our shortcomings, we need him to be big with the game on the line.
Rick
Hey Rick
Sorry, although we may see eye to eye on many issues here I am adamantly, diametrically in opposition. There is only so many times a goalie can honestly be expected to bail out a failing defense.
Rick, from the Philly game you keep talking about the the TG scored by Voracek but ignoring the incredible save Murray made at the beginning of the period, why? Wasn’t the game on the line at that time too? Didn’t Murray come up big there?
You also seem to have elided Johnson letting JVR stand there and tap in Goal 2, giving the Flyers an opportunity to tie it.
You also don’t talk about how Crosby got himself thrown out of the face-off circle on that critical TG and how Bjugstad lost the draw. If either of those 2 players had come up big at a critical time there would have been no shot by Voracek. Instead you just keep turning back to want Murray to be perfect while Crosby and Bjugstad weren’t.
In fact even if Crosby hadn’t been kicked out of the face off circle, chances are the Pens still lose the draw. Crosby only won 10 of 26 draws. That is only 38%.
Murray stopped 33 of 37 shots, that is 89.2%
Who played better?
Crosby only managed to get 2 shots off in a big game and only scored 1 goal.
What about the 9 giveaways in the game or the 12 missed shots or the 12 shots that got block by opponent defensemen.
You also keep talking about the Giroux’s game winner. How about talking about Guentzel missing the net 22s into the OT. He couldn’t even get the shot on goal.
How about talking about Malkin getting the shot off 48s into the OT but failing to score or Kessel not being able to beat Elliot 24s later?
How about talking about Schultz letting Giroux cut inside of him through the slot, 21′ from the net?
Have you ever tried to stop a wrist shot 21′ from the net as you tracked a player skating from your right to your left. Wrist shots may not be traveling 100 MPH but but at 21′ away with the shooter nearly directly in front of the net and you having to cover the whole net while moving right to left, considering what I already mentioned about neuronal conduction times of physiology, do you seriously want to call that a soft goal? Particularly with the fatigue factor and weather conditions?
As for the Buffalo game what about the toe save Murray made on Wilson at the 9:30ish mark of the 2nd period? Or the save Murray made on Wilson all at the 11:20 mark of the 3rd when both D men followed Mittlestad? What about Murray’s save on Rodrigues who got behind Pettersson about the 3:40 mark of OT during a 2 on 1 turning it into a wide open shot? Where they not big saves in your book?
Again how many big saves does a goalie have to make?
As for Montour’s goal, watch it again. It changes direction in the slot. I don’t know if it hit Sheary or Pettersson but it changes direction. If you don’t believe me stop the reply in mid shot and use a straight edge to to track where the puck is supposed to go into the net and then look at where it goes past Murray if you can’t seen the deflection in real time.
If a person really wants to take the easy way out, he can say Murray should have been absolutely perfect and the team should have won both games, while the rest of the team gets a free pass on mistake after mistake.
Or a person can follow the game closer and see every players mistakes and how the rest of the team let Murray down and if not for Murray the team really deserved to lose both games. Only because Murray stones Wilson, Rodrigues, Voracek and 60 other odd shooters in 2 games.
I stand firm as well, George Vezina would not have a trophy named after him playing behind these turnstiles.
The other Rick
I have to agree and disagree on several points – Murray has played well at times but he always (at least this year) struggles with letting in some bad and un-timely goals.
Great goalies – that’s their job to come up with big saves at crucial times of the game. Every team in the league needs their goalie to come up huge especially if you want to lift Lord Stanley. IMO that goes with the territory.
Also, I’m not as down on our Defenseman as some – I really believe our defensive problems start with our forwards and it leads to hanging our “D” out to dry. We’re a different team when Malkin and Kessel decide to back-check – which this year hasn’t been that often. Kessel -16 & Malkin -19.
Hey Mike,
I agree that our defensive issues stem from an overall lack of defensive structure, at least to a degree. Our forwards are definitely part of the problem…especially Malkin and Kessel as you so duly noted.
Rick
Hey Mike,
I won’t argue with you that Murray played at best weakly but more honestly horribly at the beginning of the season. However, since December 1 he has prob ably been the biggest reason, I may be one of only a handful of people calling for Sullivan’s head. This team could easily be fighting for the first pick in the draft without him.
I also won’t argue with you about Malkin and Kessel not being as effective in their own zone as they have been in the past. Some will argue with me, but I attribute that to the veracity of Dupuis-gate. However, I would argue that Sullivan’s boy Simon may be a bigger problem than either Malkin or Kessel.
I will also argue that although Riikola and Pettersson may have upsides, they are not NHL ready and are costing the team that Sullivan’s banishment of Cole and Oleksiak is still hurting the team, that although he is hockey smart, even when healthy, Maatta isn’t worth the $4.08 million he is getting paid; that Letang would make a great Rover but is a horrible Defensemen. That Johnson may not be as bad as some think but he is also not worth the $4 million he gets.
I would also argue that coaching is part of the problem. I would argue that their defensive schemes are ineffective, starting with the coaches (Sullivan) playing smaller, non physical Defensemen.
The Other Rick
Points well taken – I do think Sullivan was 100% responsible for Cole’s departure. As far as Oleksiak
I’m placing the blame on Rutherford – not only did he
trade him he settled for a 4th round pick.
The Rangers got (2) picks + a player for Adam McQuaid. If Rutherford would of waited theirs no doubt in my mind he would of received at least a 3rd rounder.
Just playing the Devils advocate – Johnson is receiving 3.5mil for the next 5 seasons. Although to me the years are a little out of wack I think in another year or two with the acceleration of salaries JJ will be getting paid what is equal to a 3rd pairing Defenseman.
I got a little off track – I think our wingers are a major problem Defensively plus teams are onto our aggressive style of pinching with our Defenseman. The number of odd man breaks we allow is ridiculous.