Penguins Snap Skid, Tame Coyotes

To borrow from a phrase from merry olde England, “the streak is dead, long live the streak.”

Indeed, the Penguins ended their ugly six-game, post-holiday slide with a 4-1 victory over the Coyotes before a cozy crowd of 4600 at ASU’s Mullett Arena. While it wasn’t exactly a game for the ages, in an effort befitting the setting our boys gave it the old college try and prevailed. Hopefully it will serve as a springboard for better things to come.

For the first 25 minutes or so, we looked like SOP (same old Pens). It appeared at times the Coyotes had bricked over the front of their net in the guise of improving goalie Karel Vejmelka, who turned aside nine black-and-gold shots with comparative ease. At the opposite end of the ice, Barrett Hayton staked the ‘Yotes to a 1-0 lead five minutes in with a handsy net-front pickle-stab off a hot feed from Clayton Keller.

The second period was just plain weird. The Coyotes handed the Pens three power plays, including an extended 5-on-3 near the end of the frame. You figure we’d dominate, right? Uh uh. Our hosts attempted 22 shots to our 13 and outshot us 13-7.

Still, we grabbed a 2-1 lead on a pair of tallies by Jake Guentzel. On the first at 5:56 of the period, Jan Rutta lugged the puck deep down his off side and snapped off a shot that bounded to Sidney Crosby. Sid pounced and threaded a pass through heavy traffic to Guentzel at the back door. Jake popped it in to snap a personal eight-game goalless skein.

Less than five minutes later the tousle-haired winger struck again. After taking a pass from Bryan Rust, Jake coolly drew Vejmelka out of his net before whipping a shot home far side.

With two goals, you’d think Guentzel was the star of the period. But that honor belonged to Casey DeSmith. In the final two minutes the the razor-sharp goalie made two game-saving stops. First he stoned Nick Schmaltz on a short-handed 2-on-1. Determined to shoot themselves in the foot, our power play proceeded to cough up a rare 3-on-5 breakaway to Nick Bjugstad. Enjoying a redemptive season in the desert, the hulking former Pen cut in front of our net and went to the backhand, but Casey calmly moved with him and sealed off the post.

The Pens finally took control in the third period, piling up a decisive 12-3 advantage in shots on goal. At 10:58, Evgeni Malkin made a dazzling play to weave through four…count ‘em four…Coyotes before slipping the biscuit to Jason Zucker. The feisty winger cut through the slot and, taking a page from Guentzel’s book, drew Vejmelka away from his net before roofing a backhander from an impossibly sharp angle.

Pretty goal and an even prettier 3-1 lead.

Jeff Carter sealed the deal with an empty netter at 18:55.

Puckpourri

Thanks to our strong third period, the Pens held sway in shot attempts (57-48) and shots on goal (28-24). However, the Coyotes held a substantial edge in scoring chances (34-23) and high-danger chances (14-10).

The difference, plain and simple, was DeSmith. Although he was wasn’t awarded a game star, Casey was No. 1 in my book.

Giving credit where credit is due, Mike Sullivan and his staff seem to have hit on four reasonably effective lines. The defense pairings are also working fairly well. Thank goodness Sully split up the disastrous Brian Dumoulin-Rutta tandem. Skating beside Marcus Pettersson, the latter was a plus-four last night.

Playing his off side, Ty Smith appears to be helping Dumoulin. I’ve been impressed with the newcomer’s skating, puckhandling and vision. It’ll be interesting to see what transpires when Jeff Petry and Kris Letang return to the lineup. But to my eye, Smith has earned a spot.

True Confessions

I’m not going to lie. I haven’t been too pleased with Guentzel of late. To me, if he’s not scoring goals, he doesn’t bring a whole lot else to the table.

I know it’s a pipe dream, but I was fantasizing that the Islanders might trade us their horse of a left wing, Brock Nelson, for Guentzel. Then Jake popped his two goals.

The reverse Buker PenguinPoop curse is alive and well…lol.

On Tap

Next up, a little home cookin’ Tuesday night against Jimmy Rutherford’s struggling Canucks (17-19-3, 37 points).

The Pens (20-13-6, 46 points) are presently tied with the Islanders for fifth place in the Metro and the final Eastern Conference playoff slot. We have two games in hand on the Isles.