What was that quote attributed to that great philosopher Yogi Berra, “Déjà vu all over again”? That is what I thought for the first half of the game last night.
In the opening seconds of the game, the New York Islanders played dump and chase, beating our Pittsburgh Penguins to the puck. They suckered the whole black and gold 1st unit to their own right corner and then reversed it back up the wall to the opposite point and Ryan Pulock. The shot looked like it hit Michael Del Colle and then the side off the net or post, then the rear boards where it bounced slowly and toward the opposite side, from behind. De Colle and Matt Murray’s Defenseman Marcus Pettersson paused as if they expected the bounce to come back up the near post, freezing Murray momentarily.
Murray didn’t pause long but just enough that Casey Cizikas got to the puck from behind the night, uncontested and pulled it back in front. Having to respect a De Colle attempt to his glove hand, Murray now had to do the splits across the crease to get his stick and skate close to the play but Cisikas was able to lift the puck over the outstretched Penguins’ Goaltender and into the net, 19s into the game.
Fortunately the game settled down and didn’t turn into a blowout. It took until 6:28 of the 2nd before the next goal was scored, a Short Handed Goal (SHG) by New York. Cole Bardreau got called for hooking Nick Bjugstad opening the door for more Penguin Power Play (PP) frustration, at 6:15. Sidney Crosby did win the ensuing Face Off (FO) but the Islanders got control of the puck and broke out.
Evgeni Malkin had pinched but Cal Clutterbuck lifted his stick so the puck got past him up the wall. Jake Guentzel circled back to cover the open point but hesitated on his check, giving time and space for a break out. Clutterbuck bumped the puck up to Cisikas. Justin Schultz over rotated to Cisikas giving Clutterbuck a lane to the net and Cisikas found him. Clutterbuck took advantage of Schultz playing the puck and not the pass and drove into the slot before firing a low wrist shot past Murray’s stick side.
Clutterbuck did make a good play on Malkin to lift his stick and Guentzel and Schultz hesitated and misplayed their positions but for you Murray haters out there, yes, I agree, this was a shot that Murray actually did have a chance to stop but didn’t – the only one.
Adam Pelech beat Murray about 3 minutes later on a shot were Murray was totally screen and Teddy Bleuger accidently deflected. My major concern with trading Erik Gudbranson was that our Penguins Defensemen were not strong enough to handle the net front presence of divisional foes, particularly Anders Lee and the Islanders and that hurt the team on this (so far isolated) incident.
Things looked bleak for our boys of winter. They had peppered Semyon Varlamov with 26 ineffectual shots in the first 2 frames and were down 3 – 0. Finally coach Mike Sullivan shook up his lines and removed the millstone Dominik Simon from Crosby’s line bumping Alex Galchenyuk up to replace him on the number 1 unit and Jared McCann up to Malkin’s line to replace Galchenyuk.
Crosby’s line did look a little more dangerous, sans Simon et avec Galchenyuk, but the real story was McCann. With all the injuries and poor personnel decisions the kid started slow, but is now getting back to the form we saw him in when he first came here last spring. The young forward now has 9 points but more importantly is a +12, tops on the team. With McCann being installed on Malkin’s port side; that line accounted for the next 3 goals, tying the game, sending it into Over Time (OT) and a chance at the win.
McCann dug the puck off the Left Wing (LW) wall and got it back to Brian Dumoulin. Dumoulin slide the puck cross-point to John Marino and Marino fed it back to McCann just to the inside top of the Right Wing (RW) FO circle. Bryan Rust took away Varlamov’s eyes with a good screen and McCann fired the puck past him and our aquatic avians started their comeback.
New York was not going to make it easy on Pittsburgh. Pelech fired a slap shot at the Penguins’ net, 6:07 into the 3rd that Murray had trouble controlling. The rebound found its way on to Anthony Beauvillier’s stick. The New York forward fired the biscuit at a wide open net. Murray kicked his skate up and stopped the puck to preserve the score. (Of course, some people will quickly forget this save.)
Rust then brought the score within 1, not quite 5 minutes later. Malkin started the play, back checking his own zone (how many people are going to forget this play a month from now and write something like Malkin never plays defense – no this wasn’t his 1st time either). The big Russian Center clean up a loose puck and found MacCann with an outlet pass. McCann then sent a laser stretch pass to the high flying Rust. Between Rust’s speed and a bad angle for the Islander Defenseman, the Penguins RW got a clean look at his opponent’s goal and fired a wrist shot behind the New York’s backstop. Our now favorite flying fowl were back within 1, 3 – 2.
Malkin, tied it up roughly 2 and a half minutes later. McCann got the puck back to Juuso Riikola who took a couple strides to the inside and fired the puck toward the net. The shot beat the Goalie but hit the crossbar and kicked back out to Malkin, where upon the Penguin pivot potted the puck into the net on a backhand shot.
The unthinkable was happening. A team scored 3 – 3rd period goals on the Islanders who had yet to surrender a 3rd period lead for an eternity.
Rust finished off the improbable comeback at 3:25 of the extra frame. Although Malkin wasn’t credited with an assist, his hard forecheck caused a loose puck that his RW pounced on. Rust swooped behind the net and slipped past a stunned New York Goalie, team, and crowd to snap the Islanders back to earth.
Without Kris Letang in the line-up and with Dominik Simon dropped down out of the top 6 the Black and Goal (Jorenzism) got back into the Win Column. Thanks to McCann’s, Malkin’s, and Rust’s scoring and Murray’s unconscious save the Penguins have (at least temporarily) climbed back into the top 3 of the division.
Now it is time to revive Crosby’s line. Let’s hope Galchenyuk can do that.
Go Pens!!!!
Hi TOR!
Just want to comment your last line: Now it is time to revive Crosby’s line. Let’s hope Galchenyuk can do that. Well, it entirely depends on Sullivan’s level of patience! When Galchenyuk was playing for Montreal, Coach Julien, who is known to be a fairly patient coach, finally lost patience over Galchenyuk!
And Sullivan is far less patient than Julien! Galchenyuk is not necessarily the type of player that Sullivan likes, mainly because of his lack of consistency and also, Galchenyuk likes to play east-west, which is in contradiction with Sullivan’s north-south high tempo type of play.
Well, let’s what will happen in the next few games!
Oups, let’s see what will happen in the next few games!
Hey Jorenz,
I am hoping for something, but don’t really see it happening. Anything is an improvement over Simon. Well, maybe not anything., but certainly any player on the current Penguins’ NHL roster.
I hear the talk (that is to say I agree) about how great Aston-Reese/Bleuger/Tanev are as a shut down line (right now), so I can see not breaking them up.
However, going based just on how each player is playing right now, Kahun or Lafferty would have been my choice to try with Crosby/Guentzel. I would have even tried Bjugstad again 1st.
In my mind, I would think that since Sullivan/JR ran Kessel out of town on a rail they are going to go far and above their attempt to fit square peg Brassard into their schemes with Galchenyuk.
MIke and Phil, please don’t get me wrong, I was never tied to Kessel, all players are tradable in my book, but Sullivan/JR botched that deal with their media campaign to try and win the hearts and minds of a fan base that did love Kessel. They, themselves, undermined any return they were going to get for Kessel. So, now they have to give Galchenyuk every possible opportunity to try and prove they didn;t blow it (particularly with the number of recent bad moves that have already blown up in their faces).
I think Galchenyuk will be better than Brassard as a return for a player that Sullivan couldn’t get along with, but Brassard set that bar rather low, so Galchenyuk really doesn’t have to work all that hard to pass him up. I can’t help wonder if it will take multiple trades to try and fix that blunder like, hopefully, the Cole to Brassard to finally McCann may workout.
With the chatter about JR and Guerin talking about Fiala, maybe Galchenyuk for Fiala and Fiala as Crosby’s wing? Or maybe the rumor mills own choice of trading for Toffoli but using Galchenyuk rather than a future asset. Swap UFA for UFA.
Even Taylor, let’s face it, although he has flashed all the skills you would want to justify trading future assets like some other blog writer suggests, he has only delivered that once in his career (17-18) and came close once (13-14). I wouldn’t trade more than Galchenyuk with Simon (I would package him in any trade – not because I dislike him that much but to keep Sullivan from putting him back in a top 6 role), and maybe Calen Addison. Pouiin and Legare would never be on the table for that trade for me, like Pensburg was pushing a couple of weeks back.
Oh I could reluctantly be talked into adding a Miletic one or two of the WBS kids to make a deal for Hall, but never Poulin or Legare.
Hold on to your hat – here comes a rant
Rumor mongers haven’t you got it, rarely to none of these big name UFA trade targets ever work out, so stop with your inane wanting to trade prospects like Poulin and Legare for rent-a-mistakes already. Toffoli will not give the return that Poulin and Legare, particularly when he goes free agent in the summer and adding in the expansion draft this summer. The window is getting smaller for Crosby and Malkin but it isn’t limited to just this year. Pooulin and Legare could land Pittsburgh 2 more Crosby – Malkin Cups at pretty much the same or even better probability rates than pig-in-a-poke trades for Tofolli or even Hall. Big name UFA’s rarely win Cups.
Hi TOR!
You’re on fire!!
I hope the Pens won’t fall into this trading trap; Poulin and Legare are the Pens’ future! Speaking of Poulin, I saw the highlights of his game last night and he finished the game with 2 goals and an assist. He was dominant, he played big. And his team won 7-0!
I’m not over yet! This afternoon, Poulin and his teammates won 10-4. Captain Poulin finished with 3 goals and an assist. 7 points in 2 games!!
No, it is not a good idea to trade promising players! At least, the Pens must give them a chance to establish themselves.
Hey tOR,
Rust had an incredible evening last night. Even the goals he didn’t score he had a hand in screening the goalie and what not. Love the line with Malkin.
Still need to get the Powerplay working.
Murray’s big save. All he did was pull a “Kris Letang”. Letang constantly makes horrible bonehead plays then rushes down the ice and makes a diving play to stop what he had just caused. Some people think that he is really good because of those diving plays.
Murray’s save involved him unable to field a un-screened shot from the point that should have easily been gloved and he got lucky. Yes, it was a good save, but i filed it under a typical Letang save.
Still not drinking the Murray Koolaid.
Hey, saw and interesting fact. Penguins stopped the only other Islander 10 or more game win streak back in 81-82 season winning 4-3 also. That’s something!
Hey Phil,
Agreed, Rust had a big night. Moving McCann up to a top 6 was over due, Rust has been on fire since he came back. He has scored in every game. Let’s hope he can continue that. Malkin too, he has been a beast. A true “other” line should take the load off Crosby-Guentzel and hopefully Galchenyuk.
I am not sure how they can get the PP working again. Rick B and I were talking and when Letang get’s back maybe put him in Kessel’s old spot. Giving a R Handed shot out there. Hornqvist’s net front will be hard to make-up.
While Hornqvist and Letang are on the shelf what I might try is Marino and Lafferty. I know they are rookies and that would be a tough both to sell to Sullivan and a lot of pressure on rookies, but nothing else is working.
Bjugstad in front could also be tried. I am not sure if he has the hands for it, but he does have a big frame and has shown a willingess to help any way he can – He and McCann racing thru an airport to get to their 1st game.
Honestly, Phil, about Murray’s save, I agree, I agree that all those flashy saves that all goalies (Murray and MAF inclusive) make are only made possible by the goalie being out of position, but the public seems to think that is what makes up a good goalie.
To that end that is why I am a Murray fan because when he came up, Bales had him always on his angles and never looking like he was working hard. Now that Buckley is here, things have changed. Murray has been crouching, flopping, and out of position.
I am no fan of the way he is playing right now. I say the team needs a new goalie’s coach.
Nhl channel shows have been voting Murray’s save as save of the week by a high margin.
I would be all for a new goalie coach.
Hey Phil,
As I said Phil, I always consider fantastic saves by the goalie a sign that the goalie was out of position or the defense screwed up putting the goalie in a no win – a 2 on none, an uncovered b ack door, etc with the goalie just guessing and getting lucky.
Goalies never having to make fantastic saves are a sign that they and there defense are playing the game right. When everyone is playing the right way, shots stay in the mid to lower 20s or less.
The NHL Channel having voting for Save of the Week or Goal of the week is just a shifting of a sport to a spectacle. Fans are the name of the game, without them no one playes, but popularity contests diminish the game.
Sorry but I was still ruminating over last night’s win, particularly a comment Bob Errey made when a couple of Penguin forwards drag themselves off the ice from in front of Varlamov. Errey was complimenting those forwards for their play in the paint and saying how you knew they were doing their job.
So, after posting this article and not really ready to write a new one I figure I will put this addendum;
If we are to agree with Bob Errey’s assessment and place value and importance of players going into the paint despite getting knock down, is it not also reasonable to say it is also a sign of strong “D” when opponents are having to drag themselves up off of the ice?
So, why do we trade away “D” men that do knock down opponents who take liberties with our Goalies in our goal crease.
I am thinking in particular the opening goal that Cisikas scored all alone at home at the side of our net, and the incredible save Murray had to make on Beauvillier. Why weren’t these guys having to pick themselves up off of the ice rather than getting shots on goal?
Hey Other Rick,
Great recap to a great win.
Once again I proved prophetic…in a backhanded sort of way. When Murray leaked for the game-opening goal just 19 seconds in…and yielded two more in the second period, I thought…”here we go again.” Precisely what I’d written about yesterday.
Then he made a huge stop on the Islanders’ Brock Nelson late in the second period. Who knew at the time it would be such a clutch save? Followed by his amazing “scorpion” pad save on Anthony Beauvillier early in the third.
In the meantime, the Pens came storming back to win in OT. A barn-burner and, potentially, a page turner on a season where we’ve probably deserved better than we’ve gotten thus far.
Great team win and a great effort by Murray!
Rick
Hey Rick,
Thanks! Both for your compliment and for using your well known, storied ability to bend the teams course with negative comments about a player. Stage actors and performers must have had you in mind when they started the tradition of wishing a fellow performer to break a leg rather than Luck.
Maybe you should start writing negative things about Simon so he can prove me wrong. You may not believe it but I would rather do a mea culpa and watch a Cup parade then be right about the kid. My ego comes in second to winning.
Maybe with the Two headed monster back in town the team can start to climb back into relevance. With Malkin’s return, opponents will not have the option of overloading Crosby-Guentzel.
I would play out the string with McCann on Malkin’s LW, but I would not rule out moving him up to Crosby’s RW again if/when the league starts to adjust to this lineup. I liked that lines chemistry last season.