Guentzel Tricky, Penguins Power (Play) Past Canucks, 4-1

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.