According to seafaring lore, sperm whales like to dine on giant squid. Doing our best Moby Dick imitation, the Penguins devoured the Seattle Kraken last night in the first-ever clash between the two clubs.
I confess to being more than a bit apprehensive about our chances. While we stumbled through the early stages of our western road swing, the Kraken were on a 5-1-1 tear, including victories over NHL elite Carolina, Edmonton, Florida and Washington. Factor in the presence of former shipmates Jared McCann, Jamie Oleksiak, Riley Sheahan and Brandon Tanev, not to mention noted black-and-gold harpoonist Jordan Eberle? Well, old friends have a way of coming back to bite us in the keister. Call it the Conor Sheary effect.
Nor was my anxiety necessarily assuaged when we pounced to a quick 3-0 lead on goals by Jeff Carter, Sidney Crosby and Danton Heinen, in the process chasing Kraken netminder Philipp Grubauer. After all, back on March 4 we snatched a lightning strike three-goal lead against the Flyers, took our foot off the gas pedal and lost.
This game had a similar feel, especially after the Kraken wrapped us in their tentacles and seized control, piling up a 9-1 advantage in shots on goal over the final 15 minutes of the opening frame. Punctuated by a booming check by ex-Bruin Jeremy Lauzon on Teddy Blueger.
When the accursed Eberle did what he always does against us, cutting our lead to 3-1 early in the second period, the game was still very much up for grabs. And the Kraken have all those arms…
I’m happy to report our boys navigated the roiling waters. At the helm of our schooner, Jake Guentzel finished off a 2-on-1 courtesy of a pretty feed from Evan Rodrigues at 18:31 of the second period to make it 4-1 good guys. Twenty-three tics later following a madcap 3-on-1 rush, Carter bunted the puck home off Oleksiak’s shin with a one-handed stab to pretty much seal the Kraken’s fate.
Guentzel added a sixth goal off the rush eight minutes into the final period, thanks again to a slick feed from Rodrigues. At the opposite end of the ice, Casey DeSmith made 10 third-period saves (28 in all) for his first regulation win since April 24.
Puckpourri
The Kraken held a slight edge in shot attempts (48-46) while the Pens enjoyed an advantage in shots on goal (31-29). The locals outchanced the Kraken by a 27-17 margin and had the better of the high-danger chances (13-8).
Heinen earned top-star honors with a three-point game (a goal and two helpers). Second star Guentzel tallied two goals and an assist, in the process running his point streak to 13 games and his goal streak to four. Incredible. To think someone suggested we trade him over the summer (we won’t mention who).
Third-star Carter (two goals), Crosby (1+1), Rodrigues and Dumoulin (two assists apiece) also enjoyed multiple-point games. Working on a six-game point streak of his own, Sid’s quietly tallied three goals and a robust 11 points over that stretch.
The Carter-Heinen-Zucker trio totaled three goals and three helpers along with a Corsi of 62.5. A pat on the back to a certain PenguinPoop writer who suggested Heinen and Carter would make a good combination.
Drew O’Connor (Corsi of 73.33) and Dominik Simon (71.43) had strong games, possession-wise. But the rest of the bottom-six were mostly beneath the waves (Zach Aston-Reese-40, Blueger-24, Kasperi Kapanen-38.89, Brock McGinn-25). Still decidedly a work in progress.
Former Pens McCann, Oleksiak, Sheahan and Tanev were a combined minus-six with no points and five shots on goal. Don’t quote me on this, but Eberle has something like 13 goals in 29 career games against us. Sheesh!
The Pens finished the western swing at 2-1-1. We don’t play again until Friday night when we wrap up our five-game road trip against Washington.
We’re presently fourth in the Metro (12-8-5, 29 points), three points ahead of Columbus (two games in hand) and four points up on Boston (three games in hand) in the chase for the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
