I’d like to take a little credit if I may for the Penguins’ runaway 4-1 triumph over Vancouver at Rogers Arena last night. After all, I posted a rather hard-line article yesterday, questioning our pedigree and suggesting we hold a fire sale at the trade deadline.
Let’s see. Who should I criticize next? Lol.
But seriously, folks. Much has been made, mostly on other sites, of the Pens “process,” predicated on speed, a hard forecheck and puck possession. When it works…a sight to behold. When it doesn’t…not so much.
Last night was one of those nights when it worked…in spades. Skating as if we were shot from a cannon (or had a fire lit under our arses by coach Mike Sullivan), our guys piled up an 34-12 advantage in shots on goal through 40 minutes, including a blistering 22-5 edge in the second period alone. Aided in no small part by the Canuck’s largesse and a steady parade to the penalty box.
Our top line of Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel and Evan Rodrigues paced the attack, unleashing 14 shots on goal. Jake, in particular, was a one-man wrecking crew, notching a hat trick and four points on the evening. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
The Omaha native opened the scoring at 2:19 of the second period, finishing off a bizarre sequence which saw the puck bounce crazily around the Canucks’ zone like an out-of-control pinball before Jake beat Thatcher Demko with a bullet that deflected in off Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s skate.
Vancouver countered four minutes later on a redirect by rookie Vasily Podkolzin. But the Pens…or more to the point Guentzel…were just getting warmed up.
With the undisciplined Canucks playing the role of obliging hosts (20 penalty minutes in the second period alone), the Pens struck with a 5-on-3 advantage at 17:13. Crosby arced across the top of the attacking zone before zipping a picture-perfect pass into Guentzel’s wheelhouse at the right faceoff dot. Jake blasted the biscuit home, this time aided by a deflection off the luckless Ekman-Larsson’s stick blade.
Ninety tics later, while again working with a two-man advantage, Crosby found No. 59 in the high slot. Jake skated down Main Street and wired the puck past Demko, again thanks to a deflection, this time off defenseman Luke Schenn.
As the old adage goes, a 3-1 lead is the most tenuous in hockey. But Crosby made things academic midway through the final period thanks to a great bit of black-and-gold teamwork.
Sid kicked the puck loose from a scrum along the left wall to Rodrigues, who nudged the puck to Brian Dumoulin at the point. “Dumo” moved it quickly to Guentzel, who in turn fed Kris Letang in the right circle. “Tanger” slipped a sharp cross-ice pass to Crosby barging through the back door and Sid did the rest, beating Demko stick side.
Puckpourri
Not surprisingly, the Pens dominated stats-wise. The locals attempted 77 shots to the Canucks 50, put 44 on net to their 23, and held a 13-6 edge in high-danger chances.
Following a stone-cold start, the power play has inched up to 24th in the league at a conversion rate of 15.3 percent. We’re sixth in the league in Corsi (52.57) and fifth in 5v5 Shots for Percentage (53.71).
Guentzel’s hat trick, the sixth of his career and fourth in regular-season play, earned him top-star honors. Jake extended his points streak (10 goals, 6 assists) to a dozen games, tops in the NHL this season. He presently has a three-game goals streak as well.
Second star Crosby enjoyed perhaps his best game of the season. He tallied a goal and two assists, unleashed five shots on goal and won 12 of 19 draws (63.2 percent). Sid has a five-game points streak of his own (2+7). Letang garnered third-star honor with three assists. Tristan Jarry stopped 22 of 23 shots.
Sullivan juggled the bottom three lines…with negligible effect. Kasperi Kapanen joined Teddy Blueger and Brock McGinn, bumping Zach Aston-Reese to the fourth line beside rookie Drew O’Connor (8:40 TOI) and Dominik Simon. Both lines registered a break-even Corsi For of 50.
Danton Heinen was promoted to the second line alongside Jeff Carter and Jason Zucker. The unit combined for only six shots on goal (four by Zucker). Although not for a lack of effort, Jason has no points in his past six games.
The Pens (11-8-5, 27 points) presently occupy fourth place in the Metro, three points ahead of Columbus (two games in hand). We hold a two-point edge over Boston (three games in hand) in the chase for the final wildcard spot.
Up next, our first clash with expansion Seattle and old friends Jared McCann, Jamie Oleksiak, Riley Sheahan and Brandon Tanev on Monday at Climate Pledge Arena. McCann is second on the Kraken with 10 goals, with a team-high five on the power play. “Turbo” has eight goals and 86 hits, fifth-most in the league and three ahead of ZAR.
Rick
My point about E-Rod is no matter how well he plays now when and if we make the playoffs he’ll be a non-factor. Along with some of our other wingers, physicality tends to make cowards of them all. Again, this team is structured to have success in the regular season and not built for the playoffs. My point is if you play him there now and have to move him later you run the “chemistry” risk. If you play the percentages his numbers will eventually start to decline.
Unlike The Other Rick, I don’t like to bash Sullivan but either I was having a nightmare or Simon was playing on our 2nd PP unit. Please tell me I was dreaming. If 15 players had Covid he wouldn’t see PP time. “WT?” is going on.
On another note, I just saw where Tanev has 8 goals and 5 asst. I don’t mind McGinn he’s played well but I wouldn’t mind having both of those guys on the roster.
Hey Mike,
I hear ya’ about the “built for regular-season success” part. And I feel your pain about Simon. He has some redeeming qualities. But finding the net isn’t one of them. So wish we could’ develop a bigger/more aggressive player in that slot (Lafferty or Angello…wherever he is). Someone…any one.
I’m going to sound like I’m talking out of two sides of my mouth. I respect Sullivan for his passion, knowledge of the game and communication/motivation abilities. But I wish we’d move on from him. As long as he’s here, this team is going to have his imprint on it and we all know what that is. Small, fast, “gritty” (God, I’m starting to hate that word) forwards who, like you said, get muscled around come playoff time. I hate the fact that Sullivan won’t make room for a different type of player (i.e., large, physical). And, unless you’re absolutely his kind of player, he’s lousy at developing kids. He won’t give them any ice time to prove themselves.
I wonder what guys like Lafferty and Angello would do if they had a coach who would actually nurture them, instead of deciding (sometimes almost instantaneously it seems) that they’re not his kind of player.
I’m not saying another coach would do any better with this bunch. As constructed, we are pretty much what we are. But I would love to have the restraining bolts removed as far as giving different types of players with different attributes a chance. In the long run, I think we’d be far better off.
Rick
Hey Rick,
I didn’t think you had done a 180. I think we talk enough for me to know. It was just an easy lead-in for my rant.
We will see how the rest of the season fares (re: the Pens supporting cast). With regards to E-Rod, eventually he will cool off, but until he does, I ride him while we wait for Crosby to get his 5-on-5 game back,
Rick,
For the first time in about a month I got to watch most of a Pens game.
Are you now looking to do a 180 and think the team has a chance to win a Cup? Seriously?
Let’s celebrate the win. Those Ws aren’t going to be as frequent as they have been in recent years, barring bad luck to our opponents. IN the 1st and the 3rd, Vancouver played us pretty even; 30 – 35 (Canucks – Pens) in shot attempts and 16 – 20 in SOG during 5 on 5 play. If not for the self inflicted wounds, penalties and resultant exhaustion from trying to kill them as well as a couple of pinball shots off of Canuck defenders, the results could easily have been different.
Let’s just take the 2 points and quietly slip away into the night. This team still needs to be sellers at the trade deadline.
Deluding ourselves after the occasional Victory of a hapless opponent only succeeds in extending the length of time needed to right this ship.
Very true words Coach.This changes nothing in the big picture. Vancouver has enough problems of their own and the rumors are flying that a Major GM and possibly Coaching changes are days away. So lets not get to excited.
Jim
Hey Jim,
You nailed it. I woke up this AM and saw Travis Green and Jim Benning were fired by Vancouver and replaced by Bruce Boudreau and Stan Smyl.
Also, I like your wording, “big picture”. Particularly the media but often we fans lose ourselves in the occasional high point, losing focus on the goal. I have like Guentzel since his first shift in the NHL. It is always great to see him do well (get that hat trick) but it doesn’t change the big picture.
Yes Other Rick. I’ve changed my mind. I think we’re going to win the Cup…lol.
Joking aside, it was great to get a win. But as you pointed out, it was as much about a demoralized Canucks team shooting itself in the foot as anything else. We had tons of room and wide-open looks on those 5-on-3s. And while it’s great that we capitalized, we aren’t likely to run into that scenario too often.
Right now the bottom three lines are a mess. I understand Sullivan’s reluctance to move Rodrigues off the top line, but only to a degree. IMHO I think E-Rod’s better at center or on the off-wing…several of his goals have come from the left side. Sully really needs to bite the bullet and reunite Rodrigues, Kapanen and Zucker for starters. Not that it’s ideal, but move Simon next to Sid for now. Or do something wild as our friend Kimi would say and plug Lafferty in there and let him bang and hunt loose pucks. Or Carter. Then experiment with the other two lines.
One thing I absolutely don’t get is his reluctance to give Drew O’Connor a shot. The kid was playing with confidence earlier in the season (and at WBS). Yet Sullivan won’t give him any appreciable ice time.
It drives me nuts.
Rick