As our Penguins enter the second half of the season, I think I accidentally discovered a novel way to contribute to their success. I simply need to refrain from watching their games.
To digress, Mondays are notoriously busy days at Wright’s Gym. Today was no exception. With a backlog of work from the weekend to tackle and a steady stream of new members coming in, I was only able to steal a couple of cursory glances at the game on the front-desk TV.
Seems like our guys did just fine without me.
From what I could glean from highlight videos and game summaries on other sites, our Pens authored a smart, detailed effort en route to a 3-0 whitewashing of Seattle. In the process, snapping the Kraken’s burgeoning nine-game winning streak.
It didn’t hurt that the visitors were missing several key players, including forwards Matt Berniers, André Burakovsky and blueliner Vince Dunn, their leading point-getter. Adding injury to insult, key defenseman Adam Larsson went down in the first period after blocking a shot and did not return.
Speaking of first periods, the black-and-gold actually played a decent one for the first time in recent memory. We ran up a 12-6 edge in shots on goal although, oddly, we registered nary a high-danger chance. Still, just getting out of the frame with a scoreless tie represented a distinct step forward.
Contrary to the opening 20 minutes, we wasted little time in solving Cinderella Man Joey Daccord in the second. Forty-nine seconds in Marcus Pettersson fed Evgeni Malkin with a quick up at the Kraken line. Geno nudged the puck ahead to Bryan Rust, who got old friend Brian Dumoulin to commit before slipping a pass between Dumo’s legs and onto the waiting stick of Drew O’Connor cruising between the circles. DOC dropped to a knee and beat Daccord with a glove-side wrister.
One-zip, Pens.
Less than three minutes later we made it 2-0 thanks to an around-the-horn passing play. You’ve heard of Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance? (Okay, maybe not.) Well, this was Rickard Rakell-to-Kris Letang-to-Sidney Crosby, who smoked Daccord with a sweeper from the top of the right circle.
The Kraken had a chance to claw back thanks to a mid-period high-sticking call to Malkin, but Tristan Jarry snuffed out a backhander by Jaden Schwartz and a wrister by Tomáš Tatar to quell the danger.
Seattle stayed within striking distance through most of the third period but never really mounted a serious threat. Sid made it academic with just over two minutes remaining, splitting the uprights…er goalposts…from the left wall courtesy of a hustling play and feed from the neutral zone by Rakell.
Can’t think of a better way to start our second half than to dine on fresh Kraken.
Puckpourri
Although it wasn’t the splashiest of efforts, the Pens controlled the shot-based metrics. According to Natural Stat Trick, we had the edge in shot attempts (62-48), shots on goal (33-21), scoring chances (19-17) and high-danger chances (9-5).
Jarry stopped all 21 shots he faced to snag top-star honors. Don’t look now, but the Pens’ netminder…maligned by some…is tied with Arizona’s Connor Ingram with a league-leading five shutouts. I confess, I wasn’t all-in when Kyle Dubas signed Jarry to a five-year deal this summer. However, the former Memorial Cup winner is earning my respect. For the record, he’s posted a team-best 2.48 goals against average and .916 save percentage. Respectable numbers, for sure.
With his fifth multi-goal game of the campaign, Sid earned second-star honors. O’Connor was named third star. Rakell picked up two helpers, snapping a mild two-game pointless drought.
Speaking of RikRak, coach Mike Sullivan (wisely) reunited the husky Swede with Sid, while returning Rust to Geno’s line.
Good to see Noel Acciari (a team-high three hits) back in the lineup following a one-game absence. Love his straight-on, take-no-prisoners style. We’re 19-12-3 with “Cookie” in the lineup, 2-3-3 without him.
Chad Ruhwedel was rammed into the boards from behind midway through the third period by Eeli Tolvanen. He did not return.
Following a mild resurgence, the power play (0-for-2) has gone cold again. We’ve failed to convert on our last 15 opportunities going back to our win over Philly.
Dumoulin received a video tribute, not to mention a much-deserved warm reception from appreciative fans in his return to the ‘Burgh.
I love Seattle’s uniforms, the road whites in particular. They remind me of the Penguins’ white home uniforms, circa 1968-1972.
On Deck
The Pens (21-15-6, 48 points) enjoy a welcome four-day respite before they visit Vegas (25-14-5, 55 points) on Saturday night and Arizona (21-18-2, 44 points) next Monday.
The victory over the Kraken vaulted us into fourth place in the Metro, one point out of the second wild card spot.
Despite our recent hiccups, we’re 10-3-3 in our last 16 games, good for 23 points.
Hey all,
Just a quick follow-up. Jesse Puljujarvi scored his first goal in his comeback (in his fifth game with the Baby Pens). Fingers crossed on that one. We could certainly use a 25-year-old, 6’4″ 200-pound power forward with pedigree. Best case scenario, he might make a nice bookend to Drew O’Connor.
Oh, and Sam Poulin continues to shine…and score. He’s up to eight goals in 17 games with the Baby Pens!
Rick
More importantly, did you see who was in Goal? Joel Blomqvist, the guy I have been beating the drum for, even before he was drafted. He is now 12-4-3 with a 0.920 Sv% and a 2.19 GAA on a team that is 8-8-2 when he isn’t in Goal, with Goalies who otherwise have a Sv% of 0.901 with a GAA of 3.13, when Blomqvist is not in Goal. Blomqvist Sv% is 7th in the league.
The first WBS Goal scorer doesn’t check in until 38th. Blomqvist is winning games on a team that isn’t blessed with high end offensive talent.