Back in the day, local Wendy’s restaurants gave out a free bowl of chili to patrons who produced a ticket stub from a game in which the Penguins scored at least seven goals.
Well, last night would’ve cost the popular fast-food eatery a few beans and then some as the Pens turned back the clock and clobbered the once-proud Canadiens by a 9-2 margin in La Belle Province.
As our boys proceeded to blow the game open with a six-goal, third-period onslaught, PP colleague Caleb DiNatale texted, “It’s 2016!”
When I responded with a crack that Matt Nieto was never going to be scratched again because we were winning, the journeyman winger promptly scored his first goal of the season (and first in 405 days!).
It was that kind of night for our Pens. Indeed, virtually everyone clad in black and gold got in on the scoring bonanza.
Just as you’d draw it up on the white board, the first line paced the attack. Bryan Rust notched a hat trick and a helper with an incredible, hustling performance. Rickard Rakell likewise popped for four points (2 goals + 2 assists). Although his goal drought continued, Sidney Crosby collected three assists.
Combined, the three amigos registered a 5v5 Corsi of 80 and an expected goals for percentage of 82.07.
Dominant.
The recast bottom six chipped in as well. Skating with Cody Glass and Drew O’Connor, Anthony Beauvillier tallied what was arguably the back-breaker at 8:41 of the third period with his eighth goal of the campaign. Noel Acciari and the aforementioned Nieto struck near the end to blow the game wide open.
From the backline, Kris Letang scored his sixth of the season on the power play and added an assist. Suddenly on a heater, Tanger now has four goals and eight points in his last six games. Talk about turning back the clock!
Between the pipes, Tristan Jarry recovered from a bed-wetting effort against the Avs. After yielding the obligatory early goal, he stiffened to the tune of 21 saves on 23 shots, including a mask-denting stop of a Patrik Laine missile with the outcome still in doubt.
About the only group that didn’t flourish? Evgeni Malkin and second linemates Michael Bunting and Philip Tomasino each finished a minus-one.
Musical Lines
As he is wont to do following a loss, Mike Sullivan shuffled his lines. He reinserted Nieto in place of slow-footed Kevin Hayes. In what qualifies for me as a head-scratcher, Sully dropped our hottest and most inspirational player of late, Blake Lizotte, to the fourth line between Acciari and Nieto. Most likely in an effort to give us four workable lines.
At least for one night, his moves worked like a charm.
In the two-wrongs-just-might-make-a-right department? Sully’s recast third defense pairing featuring Ryan Graves and Matt Grzelcyk (on his off side no less) appears to be bucking the odds and displaying some chemistry. Each finished a plus-two last night, with solid metrics.
What’s more, the heretofore wobbly Grzelcyk has six points (all assists) in his past six games.
A huge part of a coach’s job is to put his players in a position to succeed while maximizing the manpower at his disposal. To my eye, Sully’s trying his utmost to do just that…with more than a degree of success.
Picking an Old Bone
During a second-period scrum, the Canadiens’ Arber Xhekaj flung Bunting to the ice like a rag doll. Who should confront the Habs heavyweight but Malkin.
While I’ll forever admire Geno’s courage and absolute willingness to stand up for his teammates, he’s not the guy I want doing that.
For the gazillionth time, I hate (HATE) the fact that the Pens abjectly refuse to pursue and/or cultivate the type of player who can combat that sort of thing.
For the record, Xhekaj tried his best to engage Acciari (who didn’t comply) and later chased Beauvillier up the ice after the Pens’ forward ran him into the end boards with a hard, clean check.
We Have a Tkachuk
Okay, not really. But forward Boris Katchouk (pronounced the same way) is making a name for himself with the Baby Pens. Currently on an AHL contract, the former second-round pick of the Lightning has piled up 11 goals in 19 games, including a recent four-goal night.
What’s more, the 6’2” 204-pounder plays a power game similar to the name-a-like brothers, an element our Pens could sorely use.
Could the 26-year-old, who has 176 NHL games on his resume, possibly be following in the skate tracks of another late bloomer, the Devils’ Stefan Noesen? Noesen was also under contract with the Baby Pens at one time and put up similar gaudy numbers.
We can certainly hope.
