Less than a fortnight ago our Penguins were coming off lopsided back-to-back losses and sinking like a stone in the standings. Now they’re in the thick of the Metro Division playoff chase.
Amazing what a four-game winning streak can do for a team.
Indeed, the Penguins continued to mow down the opposition like so many blades of grass. They toppled skidding Vancouver last night at PPG Paints Arena by a 4-1 count.
Our guys carried the play through a scoreless opening frame, outshooting the Canucks, 16-9. Tristan Jarry continued his marvelous work between the pipes, stopping an early breakaway attempt by J.T. Miller that might’ve dramatically altered the script.
Meanwhile, the Canucks, the seventh-most penalized team in the league, beat a steady path to the penalty box. It finally caught up to them 49 tics into the second period. Bryan Rust did the honors, finishing off a crisp series of tape-to-tape passes from Jeff Carter to Jake Guentzel to Kris Letang to No. 17. It was Rusty’s second goal of the campaign, snapping a lengthy scoring drought.
Our second goal came courtesy of an opportunistic play by Evan Rodrigues. E-Rod scurried to the boards to scoop up a wayward clearing attempt by Quinn Hughes. After drifting to the left circle, he looked off a Canucks defender and froze behemoth Tyler Myers before smoking Thatcher Demko with some top-shelf cheese.
The Pens made it 3-0 at 15:29 on a jailbreak 3-on-1 rush by the “Grind Line.” Teddy Blueger won a puck battle along the wall in our zone and nudged the rubber ahead to Brock McGinn. The former ‘Cane worked a give-and-go-and-give-again with Zach Aston-Reese, who wired a shot beneath Demko’s blocker arm for his first goal of the campaign.
Although the Canucks never really threatened on the scoreboard, they’re a skilled team and refused to go down quietly. Bo Horvat struck at 14:52 of the final period on a brilliant individual effort. After taking a short pass from Luke Schenn, the Canucks’ captain blew past Rodrigues and Letang and drove to the net with a superb power move before beating Jarry with a backhander.
The visitors, who held a 12-6 advantage in third-period shots on goal, continued to press the attack. But with a minute to go and Demko pulled for an extra attacker, McGinn split the empty net…with an assist from Elias Pettersson…to secure two points for the Pens.
Puckpourri
Shots were dead-even at 37 apiece. Vancouver dominated the faceoff circle, winning a staggering 62 percent of the draws. They held a slight edge in hits as well (31-26).
Jarry was terrific once again, making 36 saves to nab top-star honors. He’s stopped all but four of the last 137 shots he’s faced…an incredible .978 save percentage.
Rodrigues continues to impress. In addition to his seven goals and 14 points (second-best on the team) he leads the team with a sterling 5v5 shot attempts percentage of 61.7. While we’re on the subject, guess who’s second? Yep, Dominik Simon at 61.2.
Guentzel’s goal-scoring streak was snapped at five games. However, his points-streak is alive and well at seven games. McGinn had a goal and an assist to earn the second star. Good to see Aston-Reese get off the schneid. ZAR’s early hits on Juho Lammikko and Oliver Ekman-Larsson helped set an aggressive tone.
A mild (or perhaps greater) concern. Although he appears to be rounding into form (four shots on goal, 20:47 of ice time) Sidney Crosby was once again held off the score sheet. Sid was heavily in the red in Corsi events (11-21) and won only 35 percent of his faceoffs.
The Pens (9-6-4, 22 points) are currently tied for fourth in the Metro with the Blue Jackets, who have two games in hand. Next up, the Islanders at UBS Arena on Friday night.
Happy Thanksgiving to all our faithful readers and commenters!
Rick
Few early tidbits:
McGinn has been really good – a different player than Tanev but effective.
Where is the Other Rick?? LOL – How good has Zucker been playing.
Don’t look now but Letang’s give-away total has doubled in the last 2-weeks.
Pen’s need to pick up a Right-handed defenseman. Ruhwedel & Friedman can’t be long-term
ZAR got his 1st goal and got into a rare fight. It’s funny how that goes hand and hand. Since
the fight, he has had a goal, two assists, and is a plus 4.
We need to get Simon out of the lineup and replace him with a winger with size & toughness.
GO PENS
I am right here Mike;
But where are the Penguins as they are about to hit the quarter point? Barely above 0.500%, 6th in the Division in terms of Points%,, tied for 15th in the league in terms of Points%. Not a whole lot to brag about, at least not in my book. And it would be a whole lot worse had the Penguins not gotten to play Vancouver and Montreal and tonight the Islanders over these last several games.
As for the players, hopefully I get a little time to write this weekend (My anniversary is this weekend so I am not sure I will have time) you will see how badly Zucker has fared. That is all I will say for now.
Outside of Jarry and possibly McGinn my pens preview seems to be pretty spot on.
The Other Rick
Jarry has played well but until the Canucks game I didn’t feel like he was a difference-maker. He was making
the routine save but the Pen’s as a whole was strong in front of him. Against the Canucks he was definitely
the difference. We just need him to be solid and play like an NHL goalie and that means at times during a game
you have to make the “tough” save.
Go Pens
Hey Mike,
I still think the team gave away the best young Goalie in their system, several years back. Personally, I would feel more confident with Gustavsson, than Jarry. Jarry played pretty well during the regular season last year then disappeared during the playoffs, so I agree with your tepidness over our starting Goalie. However, in my preseason preview, I noted that so far in his career, he has not been strong on High Danger Shots, this year he has. I even wrote during the preseason that I would trust DeSmith more than Jarry in high danger chances. What a difference a couple months have made; DeSmith has been a sieve in all situations while Jarry is playing well.
Hey Mike,
I was beginning to wonder about Other Rick, too, but I see he popped up. (I still try to poke the bear every chance I get at the gym. Love to get him worked up…lol.)
I think Zucker’s been very good. I’d started to write an article that didn’t quite coalesce about how I think Sullivan should reunite the Zucker-Rodrigues-Kapanen line. I think Zucker and Kapanen are being wasted with Carter, who I love but isn’t a good fit.
IMHO, Heinen should play with Carter. He doesn’t need to carry the puck and is really good at sneaking in behind the play…ideal to pick up the garbage that Carter generates with his shots. Stick Simon or maybe Lafferty on Carter’s other wing. Re: Simon, I can’t believe I’m writing this, but I really don’t mind him. I’ve been watching him more closely and, per his MO, he does a lot of little things well. Okay…I’ll duck and run for cover now…
Yes, I agree about McGinn. Hated to lose Tanev. But Brock’s done a really nice job. The guy I wish we would’ve signed instead, Nick Ritchie, has been a total washout with Toronto (four assists, minus-four in 22 games). Shows you what I know Part 100…lol.
Rick
Rick
Agree on all fronts. I do think Rodrigues will level off here pretty soon but I’ll give him his due he’s played
well. Zucker to me has been our best forward consistency wise and the little things he does on the ice
never show up in the numbers game. That’s why I hate the analytics “They lie”
I’m still keeping my fingers crossed that Hextall can add a couple of physical players to the lineup after
the New Year I think it would do wonders for this team.
GO PEN’S