Matinee Special: Hungry Penguins Feast on Fresh Kraken

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.