I gotta tell ya. The first dozen minutes of last night’s contest with the Red Wings constituted about as ugly a display of hockey as I’ve witnessed…well…since Wednesday’s humiliating loss to the Rangers.
Talk about hard on the eyes!
Woof.
In a word, the Penguins were atrocious. We couldn’t generate any offense or sustained pressure. We were so bad defensively, it almost appeared we were playing out of position on purpose. Meanwhile, the speedy Wings made us look like so many black-and-gold pylons super-glued to the ice.
One guy held us in the game…rookie netminder Joel (pronounced Yoel) Blomqvist.
I confess, when pain-in-the-you-know-what Alex DeBrincat beat the kid just 3:46 into the game, visions of his shaky first preseason outing came flooding into my brain. No way Blomqvist would hold up, especially given the lack of defensive support. I mean, the Wings had a guy perpetually open to the left of our net for at least the first 10 minutes it seemed.
But hold up he did. Joel made several big huge stops to keep us in the hunt, 12 in all through a turbulent opening frame. His clutch goaltending gave us a chance to settle and finally, thank the dear Lord, get to our game.
After knotting the score at 1-1 on a lucky bounce goal credited to newcomer Anthony Beauvillier but actually scored by Wings defenseman Ben Chiarot, we proceeded to blow the game open with a three-goal flurry early in the second period before cruising to a 6-3 victory.
Some thoughts.
Mike Sullivan tweaked his top two lines, bumping Beauvillier from right to left wing on Sidney Crosby’s line and elevating Rickard Rakell to the starboard slot. Drew O’Connor moved to right wing alongside Evgeni Malkin and Michael Bunting.
The results?
Beauvillier hustled his fanny off and notched our first two goals, with Sid assisting on both. O’Connor scored our third goal and had a second overturned, while Geno collected two assists, including No. 800 of his illustrious career.
I especially liked the look of the Bunting-Malkin-O’Connor combo. The trio displayed a ton of drive and tenacity. Best of all, Geno seemed energized by his linemates. If we can keep the big guy dialed in and moving north-and-south with a purpose, it’ll be a huge boon to our attack.
Speaking of line combinations, I thought our fourth line of Kevin Hayes, Cody Glass and Noel Acciari acquitted themselves well. On a team that doesn’t pass the puck especially well, Hayes’s pinpoint feeds stand out.
On this night he was a goal scorer, the recipient of a snappy little backhand pass off the sideboards from Glass.
As I’d mentioned in my season preview, I do believe our depth scoring will improve and perhaps even give foes some headaches.
Although we got goals from Marcus Pettersson and Erik Karlsson (a power-play marker, no less!), our defense was still a bit shaky at times. You could argue that our second and third pairings are still trying to learn each other.
Fortunately, Blomqvist was there to cover up and make the key saves when it mattered. In the process, earning his first win on…appropriately enough…the 21st anniversary of Marc-Andre Fleury’s first start back in 2003.
We’ll call it “the first Yoel.”
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And that is the point Rick, you wrongly blamed Blomqvist for the preseason massacre. Because you have blamed Blomqvist you are now biased against the kid, looking for the worst. Four of the Goals scored against him in that disgrace filled game could not have been saved by any Goalie without divine intervention or unearthly luck, In a similar circumstance, all 3 Goals against are on the team defense or lack there of.
Hey Other Rick,
I'm not looking to assign "blame" to anyone. If anything, I'd say you're the one preoccupied with blame. Or in this case, totally absolving it.
I'm just stating fact. However you wish to describe that outing...shaky, unfortunate, etc. ...allowing five goals in less than five minutes is cause for concern. And not just from a performance standpoint, but psychologically as well. As in, did it mess with Blomqvist's head and rattle his confidence? After all, he's only a kid.
Some goalies simply can't play in the shooting gallery that often results from our less-than-stellar team defense. I think it was you (unless it was Caleb) who brought up Antti Niemi the other day. An established goalie and former Stanley Cup winner who absolutely wilted amid the chaos here.
Heck, Rick, for all we know Georges Vezina or any of a number of past greats...Ken Dryden, Bernie Parent, our own Flower...might've allowed just as many goals given the circumstance.
All I'm saying is that outing...at least for me...was cause for concern. Certainly less today than it was.
Rick
Hey Rick,
I am seriously against blaming the wrong person for anything. I will agree that outing was a travesty and deserving of concern. However, the problem comes down to who or where the roots of that failure. If your fears are that Blomqvist was at fault rather than either the defensive personnel deployed that game and/or the opposite world defensive structure the team has those players executing, then your fears are seriously misplaced and need to be re-evaluated.
The one consistent factor that has plagued this team even during their Cup defense in 2016-17 is a pathetic defensive structure. Our Penguins had the 2nd worst CORSi that playoff year and it has just gotten worse. The evidence is there for all to see.
Rick,
Whaty a difference an NHL level Goalie can make in a game. Blomqvist stole that game. The Defense was as usual atrocious. Maybe not the players but the schemes are beyond horrible.
You and any other person who has no understanding about how goaltending works may have had doubts about Blomqvist's ability to mind the nets; blaming him for that preseason debacle. Unfortunately, the non-goalies out there are not qualified enough to know when a Goals Against is the Goalies fault or the Defenses fault heaped blame on the young Finn in that practice tilt but as I assured all of you that only 2 of the Goals the kid ceded were in anyway his fault. Therefore, I am not surprised that you panicked after that first Goal against last night. You, no doubt, thought that Blomqvist could miraculously walk on water and cover both posts at the same time.
Yes, I take offense at people who blame Goalies for Defensive lapses. That 1st Goal Against was a picture perfect design set up of getting the puck back door on a poor defense. Blomqvist had to cover the shooter so he could not be in position to stop the cross-ice 1-timer. It is on the Defense to play the pass and prevent that play from developing.
It was also on the defense to not let that Wing stand in front of their Goalie on that 2nd Goal against. With even a slightly better Defense, our Rookie netminder would have earned a shut out in his first game. The only thing that prevented that story book start is that the kid is playing for the Mike Sullivan ice Capades.
On the plus side, there was some offensive puck luck or his opening venture in the NHL would have been a loss. If the Wings Defenseman doesn't boot the puck into his own Goal I am not sure any of the other Goals For happen.
But I will take the win. I won't crow about much. I will just take the W and give the credit to the player that won the game, the Goalie.
Hey Other Rick,
With all due respect, a mild pushback.
I thought I was pretty clear in my ramble that Blomqvist was terrific and saved our bacon while providing us invaluable time to find our sea legs and counter. If not, I’ll say it now. He deserves the lion’s share of credit for the win.
I also thought I made it clear that our defense was wobbly at best.
In my own defense, I think I had every reasonable right to be a little nervous about how the kid would hold up after the DeBrincat goal, especially with a very potent Wings team literally pouring into our zone unimpeded on every rush. And, yes, the unfortunate preseason outing where he yielded five goals in less than five minutes…regardless of who was at fault…was still in the back of my mind.
I don’t think that’s unreasonable. Especially since he’s still an unknown quantity at this level, playing in his first regular-season game behind a way-less-than-stellar defense.
If last night’s performance is any indication of what’s in store, it won’t take long at all for Blomqvist to gain my confidence…and for the memory of that preseason outing to fade to black.
Rick
Typo. Not sure where the Y in Whaty came from but that is supposed to just be What