With lost ground to make up in the chase for a playoff berth, it was imperative our Penguins emerge from last night’s Metro Division tilt with the Flyers with a regulation win.
Fueled by a vintage performance from “Geno Machino,” Evgeni Malkin, and backed by a 36-save effort from Alex Nedeljkovic, I’m pleased to report it was mission accomplished. Indeed, our guys whipped the Flyers, 4-1, and in the unfriendly confines of the Wells Fargo Center to boot. In the process phlipping the script against a Philly team that had beaten us in our first two encounters.
In stark contrast to Saturday night’s loss to the Sabres, fortune smiled on our boys from the outset. The Flyers’ Sean Couturier got whistled for hooking on the opening shift of the game, leading to a power-play tally by Rickard Rakell 45 seconds in, courtesy of a nifty backdoor feed from Malkin.
The tone was set for a penalty-strewn period as five Flyers went to the box, offset by two minor penalties to Jansen Harkins. While we didn’t score on the power play, our next goal resulted from some greasy work by our fourth line. With Noel Acciari battling in front and Jeff Carter blocking Carter Hart’s sight lines, Erik Karlsson scored on a seeing-eye wrister from the right point. Remarkably, EK65’s first goal since the day after Thanksgiving, a span of 19 games.
The Flyers struck back at 14:55 with a power-play snipe from the right circle by sharpshooting Owen Tippett.
Two-one, Pens, after 20 minutes.
The second period was as clean as the first was messy, with nary a penalty called. There was plenty of action and both teams had their chances. However, it was light-scoring Chad Ruhwedel who found the mark, beating Hart from the high slot for his first goal of the season at 8:07.
Before the Flyers knew what hit ‘em, Malkin inserted the dagger at 4:29 of the third period. Scooping up a Philly turnover in the neutral zone, No. 71 slipped the puck to Drew O’Connor at the Flyers’ blue line. O’Connor drove down the right wall to draw the attention of two defenders, then spun and fed the galloping Malkin with a perfect pass in open space. Geno wasted no time, snapping the puck past a bewildered Hart stick side.
Down 4-1, you knew John Tortorella’s troops weren’t going down without a fight. In classic Broad Street Bullies tradition they shoved, and hard, in a pair of scrums around the six-minute mark. To my delight, the Pens shoved back, with Kris Letang engaging orange-and-black hatchetman Garnet Hathaway and Malkin tussling with Scott Laughton in the main events.
Love when Geno gets fired up.
How does that old adage go? Don’t poke (or provoke) the bear?
The Flyers still haven’t learned.
Puckpourri
The numbers were fairly even according to Natural Stat Trick. The Pens had slight edge in shot attempts (68-66) and shots on goal (39-37) and a bit more of an advantage in scoring chances (38-30). We doubled the Flyers in high-danger chances (22-11).
I’m going to mangle this, so forgive me ahead of time for not getting it 100 percent right. It was mentioned the other night on the Pens’ radio broadcast that we have the most shots on goal (unless it’s shot attempts or chances) from between the circles of any team in the league over the past few weeks. Which coincides with our 9-3-1 surge.
Following a shaky albeit winning effort against the Bruins, Nedeljkovic turned aside 36 of 37 shots last night. For the season, Ned’s posted a .922 save percentage, a 2.50 goals against average and a .667 quality starts percentage.
Geno was in beast mode last night, collecting a goal and a helper and firing off four shots on goal to earn top-star honors. He’s amassed five goals and 11 points in his past 10 games despite a paucity of production from his wingers.
Speaking of, with O’Connor on his port side instead of slump-ridden Reilly Smith, Geno’s line was dominant with a Corsi of 69.23 and an expected goals for percentage of 86.93.
With his speed, size and tenacity, O’Connor’s beginning to emerge as a force. The rangy winger’s tallied three goals and six points in his past eight games.
On the flip side, Smith seemed to display good chemistry with Lars Eller and Valtteri Puustinen.
Great to see Rakell scoring again. RikRak has five goals and 10 points in 10 games since his return. Almost quietly, Karlsson has six points (1+5) in his past six games.
The team may lack a hammer, but it’s far from “soff” in Michel Therrien-speak. Indeed, players like Acciari, Carter (who ran over feared Philly heavy Nicolas Deslauriers), Eller and Harkins are perfectly at home when the goin’ gets rough, and just about everyone in the lineup provides grit and pushback, even the stars.
Very similar to the makeup of our back-to-back Cup champions.
On Deck
The Pens (20-15-4, 44 points) host Rick Tocchet’s high-flying Canucks (26-11-3, 55 points) on Thursday evening. It’ll be old-home night for a number of visiting players, including ex-Pens Teddy Blueger, Ian Cole, Casey DeSmith, Mark Friedman and Sam Lafferty, not to mention Pittsburgh-area native J.T. Miller.
We’re currently in a four-way tie for the second Eastern Conference wild-card slot.
