In my season preview, I somewhat naively predicted our Penguins would finish with as many as 94 points (!!), then covered my tracks and said they could also finish with 88 or as few as 76.
Well, all three black-and-gold teams showed up last night at PPG Paints Arena during a 5-4 victory over the Canucks. Rather astonishingly, our first regulation win since November 8 and only our fifth of the season.
For the first half of the game, anyway, our Pens—buoyed by two days of practice—were downright impressive. Their passing crisp and sure, they skated with speed and authority, pounced on loose pucks and battled with vigor. Even our much-maligned defensive corps was reasonably air-tight.
As I watched with equal measures of awe and disbelief, I couldn’t help but think, “Where has this team been hiding all season?” Ours isn’t to ask why, but only to enjoy the moment, however rare.
And there were plenty of moments to enjoy, especially over the first 30 minutes or so as our boys piled up a seemingly insurmountable 5-1 lead. Peppery Blake Lizotte scored 3:59 into his first game back from IR to stake us to an early advantage.
After yielding the obligatory tying goal, we proceeded to reel off four-straight tallies by Rickard Rakell (8), Kevin Hayes (4) and a pair off the stick blade of Trusty Rusty, Bryan Rust (6 & 7).
Up by four goals with over a half game to play, well…
…you kinda had the feeling it wouldn’t last.
It didn’t. The Canucks pushed back to make a game of it on goals by Pius Suter and Elias (the Wrong) Pettersson, sandwiched around a breathtaking, Bobby Orr-ish, end-to-end rush and marker by Quinn Hughes to open the third period.
I confess, as the final minutes counted down, visions of “5-5” flashed in my brain like the neon sign from Paul Simon’s Sounds of Silence. But for once our Pens brought home the proverbial turkey on Mike Lange’s table.
Puckpourri
Rakell, in particular, skated with authority and really stood out to me in a positive way. With a pair of goals and an assist, so did Rust. He seemed to have benefited from the recent break in the schedule. Makes me wonder if he’s been playing hurt.
I know in many ways Hayes is the anti-Mike Sullivan guy (large, slow afoot). But he does possess hands, both for passing and shooting and would seem an ideal candidate for additional power-play duty, perhaps even on the first unit.
I was pleased with the play of our third defensive tandem of Ryan Shea and rookie Jack St. Ivany. To my eye, Shea has been more assertive and confident of late. I thought St. Ivany (61.54 Corsi, xGF% 64.92) played perhaps his best game of the season. I especially like the underpinning of physicality in his game.
Ryan Graves (healthy scratch) and Owen Pickering (illness) sat out.
Erik Karlsson contributed three assists and very much resembled a former Norris Trophy winner.
As for newcomer Philip Tomasino? While I didn’t notice his plus-speed, the former Pred seems to handle the puck well and didn’t shy away from traffic despite his slight frame.
Unfortunately, he and linemates Evgeni Malkin and Michael Bunting collectively had a rough night (18.18 Corsi, 13.98 xGF%.). On the opposite end of the spectrum, the top line of Sidney Crosby (two assists), Rakell and Rust dominated (75 Corsi, 88.82 xGF%).
Oh, and Valtteri Puustinen cleared waivers and has been assigned to the Baby Pens.
Around the League
The award for worst GMing (drum roll please…) goes to Nashville’s Barry Trotz. During his season and change at the helm, the Preds (7-12-4) have gotten older and slower. In particular, the former Cup-winning coach has sunk significant coin into the likes of 34-year-olds Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault, with less-than-desired results.
On the flip side, how ’bout those 16-5-1 Hurricanes? No matter what material you give Rod Brind’Amour to work with, he invariably turns it into a winner.
Talk about a coach!
And on that note…HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
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Hey all,
Just wanted to put in a plug for Dan Kingerski over on Pittsburgh Hockey Now. He's posting a ton of content (I can fully appreciate the challenges and difficulty) and most of his articles have been excellent and insightful.
Well worth the read.
Rick