It’s official.
The Penguins’ playoff push has begun.
Last night the locals, suddenly hot, turned back the Blues, 4-2, before a happy throng of 18,321 partisans at PPG Paints Arena. In the process running their record since December 12 to 6-1-1, good for an impressive points percentage of .813.
Best of all, it was a team effort. Indeed, everyone seemed to contribute, from our stars to our depth guys to goalie Tristan Jarry, who made a number of big stops to keep the Blues at bay.
Although they’d played the night before in St. Louis (a 2-1 loss to the Avs) the visitors had the better jump early, leading to several rushes and odd-man breaks. However, Jarry made key stops on Pavel Buchnevich and Pittsburgh-native Brandon Saad in the first 68 seconds to keep the game scoreless.
The Pens snagged the lead at 15:32 of the opening frame on a strong play by the Evgeni Malkin line. Stepping over a stray stick, rookie John Ludvig pushed the puck up the wall to Reilly Smith at the Blues’ line. Smith alertly bumped the biscuit to No. 71, who blew past Scott Perunovich and deked Marco Scandella out of his shorts before zipping a picture-perfect feed to Drew O’Connor in the slot. DOC dropped to a knee a la Sidney Crosby and wired the puck past Blues netminder Joel Hofer top shelf.
Our boys nearly grabbed a 2-0 lead thirty seconds before the horn on a would-be goal by our newest folk hero, Valtteri Puustinen. However, a milisecond before Puusti beat Hofer with a laser from his off wing, he clipped Brayden Schenn with his stick.
The Blues converted on the ensuing power play just 66 ticks into the second period, with sharpshooter Robert Thomas doing the honors on a sharp-angle snipe to the right of Jarry. The Pens got it back less than six minutes later on a power play tally of their own. Erik Karlsson moved the puck deep to Rickard Rakell, who in turn nudged a buttery soft feed to Jake Guentzel in the left circle. Jake sold shot, then wired the puck hard to Malkin at the right post. The rubber glanced in off Geno’s skate.
We proceeded to pour it on, outshooting the Blues, 16-9, for the period. However, arguably the best scoring chance for either team came with 1:40 left in the period, when Blues d-man Torey Krug sped in on a short-handed breakaway, only to be turned aside by Jarry.
What would prove to be the game-winner came at 4:48 of the third period, and from the most unlikely of sources…our fourth line. Jansen Harkins (yes, that Jansen Harkins) pounced on a loose puck along the left wall and fired a perfect feed on a string to Jeff Carter flashing in front of the net. Big Jeff chipped the puck past Hofer from the doorstep.
You know what they say about 3-1 leads in hockey. And with a full 15 minutes to play? Well…
…Kasperi Kapanen, who doesn’t seem to score against anyone else, haunted his ex-mates with a nifty tally off a deflection just after a Blues power play had expired at 10:31 to narrow the gap to 3-2.
Still plenty of time for bad things to happen. They nearly did with six minutes remaining when St. Louis sniper Jordan Kyrou broke free, only to be thwarted by an implausible save by Jarry.
Sid notched an empty netter thanks to a pop-fly setup from Guentzel with 1:31 remaining to cinch the two points for the good guys.
Puckpourri
According to Natural Stat Trick, the game was about as even as they come. Each team attempted 63 shots, with the Pens holding a slight edge in shots on goal (30-27), scoring chances (29-27) and high-danger chances (10-7).
Jarry stopped 25 of 27 shots, good for a .926 save percentage.
With a goal and an assist, Geno earned top-star billing and rightfully so. Following a bit of an indifferent stretch, the big guy has popped four goals and seven points in his last five games. In his past 14 games he has five goals and 13 points.
Don’t know if anyone’s noticed, but he’s especially effective playing down low at the back door on the power play.
Guentzel (two helpers) earned second-star honors. He leads the team with 40 points and 24 assists. Crosby’s goal was his team-best 20th. Rakell has a four-game points streak (2+3). Way to go RikRak!
Karlsson picked up career assist no. 600 on Sid’s empty-netter, only his sixth point (1+5) in his past 18 games. Hopefully getting the milestone will help EK65 break loose.
O’Connor seems to have found a home skating alongside Geno and Smith. It’ll be interesting to see how the forwards deploy, especially the right wings, when Bryan Rust returns. My guess, DOC will kick back to the left side, with Radim Zohorna the odd-man out.
I confess, I was none-too-thrilled at the prospect of Carter seeing regular duty. But he appears to be providing value in his reduced role and is still tough on draws (63.6 percent), to say nothing of those team-high three game-winning goals!
Speaking of fourth-liners, Harkins surprising assist was his first sporting the black-and-gold. Still not sure what this kid offers other than speed and a touch of grit, but Mike Sullivan seems to like him.
Speaking of grit, I love the physical element that Ludvig brings. But I’m still not sold on the youngster or our third defensive pair in general. Add Ryan Graves to my worry list as well. His decision-making seems rushed and perpetually off.
On Deck
It’s the Pens (17-13-4, 38 points) turn to go back to back, as we take on the Islanders (17-9-9, 43 points) at the paint can tonight. We’re now two points out of a wild-card spot.
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Ryan Graves isn't the only guy on my worry list. But he is certainly on it. He has displayed so many weaknesses that I don't know where to start. I am also concerned with Erik Karlson. He seems to give the opponents more opportunity to score than the Penguins. Phil Bourque pointed out a few of those careless plays last night. Problem is, who would replace him. I don't even care about his defensive weaknesses. I just want him to quit turning the puck over in bad places. Lets Go Pens.