Penguins Throttle Hapless Sabres

Thank goodness for the Buffalo Sabres. At a critical juncture of the season when Penguins forwards are dropping like so many flies encountering a giant bug zapper, they’ve provided a welcome soft spot on our schedule.

I’ll stop short of calling them a patsy. Nor do I mean to denigrate the Sabres players. Fifteen losses in a row…I truly feel their pain. It calls to mind chilling reminders of our atrocious “Boys of Winter” clubs from the early 1980s or the equally inept ’03-04 squad that lost an NHL record 18 games in a row. But Buffalo’s misery is clearly our gain, as was the case with our 5-2 victory over our hapless divisional foe at PPG Paints Arena last night.

Watching the action, it was hard to tell if our Pens were that good or if Buffalo was that bad. Probably a combination. But I was impressed by our effort and intensity. We pressed the attack all game long while racking up a 42-28 edge in shots on goal. An accurate reflection of how we dominated play.

Our guys pounced early. Just over seven minutes in Sam Lafferty made a great pass to Evan Rodrigues on a back-door play. Rodrigues steered the puck in from the doorstep and the Pens were off and running.

Kris Letang made it 2-0 at 15:44, again slipping through the back door to knock home a deflected feed from Sidney Crosby. But the Sabres pushed back 93 tics later on a tally by Rasmus Dahlin.

For a good chunk of the second period the visitors threatened to make a game of it. Then the Pens cashed in with a pair of late goals. The first came at 17:29 on a rocket from the top of the right circle by John Marino, courtesy of a beautiful feed from Jared McCann. Twenty-four seconds before the buzzer, Zach Aston-Reese notched a shorthanded goal thanks to a terrific individual play by Frederick Gaudreau.

While killing a penalty high in our zone, the former Predator deflected a pass by Taylor Hall, grabbed the loose puck and slipped past Dahlin with a nifty dipsy-doodle. Turning on the jets, Gaudreau churned toward the Sabres’ net with Dahlin in hot pursuit. After showing shot to freeze goalie Justin Tokarski, he slipped a pretty pass to Aston-Reese, who banged it home.

The play of the night.

Crosby finished the scoring for the Pens early in the third, rifling a rolling puck past Tokarski off the rush. Victor Olofsson struck on a penalty shot at 14:35 to provide the Sabres with a fleeting gasp, but Tristan Jarry held the fort to preserve two big points for the Pens.

Puckpourri

It was a total team effort for the black and gold, as nine forwards and three defensemen tallied points. Crosby and Aston-Reese paced the attack with two points each.

Jarry made 26 saves, good for a .929 save percentage. Rodrigues led the Pens with eight shots on goal.

Is it just me? Or does Gaudreau look like a potential answer on the fourth line even after everyone returns? To my eye, he’s better than Mark Jankowski and Colton Sceviour.

In the just-what-we-don’t-need department, Kasperi Kapanen exited in the second period after getting drilled in the leg by a Brandon Montour clearing attempt. No word as of yet on his condition.

If forwards keep falling, might Mike Sullivan consider using defenseman Mike Matheson up front? He certainly possesses the skill and instincts and he’d bring a little size (6’2” 188) to the front wall to boot. Apparently Florida used Matheson at forward on occasion with decent results.

The Pens presently hold third place in the MassMutual East with 42 points. However, Boston has a better points percentage and a whopping five games in hand. With 34 points (and two games in hand) Philly continues to drift out of range.

More Kudos for Crosby

In a recent post I marveled at the details in Crosby’s game. Especially his play away from the puck.

On Letang’s goal, Sid made the play by putting his head down and skating full tilt into the attacking zone to apply forechecking pressure on Sabres defenseman Colin Miller. Which led to a turnover along the wall, which led to the goal.

When your two-time Hart Trophy winning 33-year-old captain hustles like a kid getting his first taste of big-league hockey, it’s awfully hard not to follow his lead.

Call Me Crazy

I was watching highlights on NBCSN the other night when who should flash on screen but our old buddy Phil Kessel. The video showed Kessel setting up Arizona teammate and fellow ex-Pen Alex Goligoski with a picture-perfect pass.

It got me thinking (always dangerous). Could the Pens possibly have an interest in No. 81?

No, he’s not “the Thrill” of old. He carries some baggage for sure (33 years old, minus-9, abysmal Corsi). But he’s having a productive season in the desert for a not-so-great Coyotes team (10 goals and 22 points in 33 games). With so many forwards out, we’re gonna need offense…especially when we play the big boys. And he’d fix our sagging power play for sure.

Kessel has one season left on a deal that pays him $8 million…$1.2 million of which is still being carried by Toronto. If you’re talking $8.25 million for a Ryan Getzlaf? Well, suddenly it doesn’t seem so crazy…