I’m not sure what I was expecting when I tuned into last night’s Penguins-Hurricanes clash at PPG Paints Arena. But it sure as shootin’ wasn’t what I witnessed.
In a performance that harkened back to our salad days in October, the Pens throttled the Metro-leading ‘Canes, 5-1. I mean, beat them like a drum.
For the second game in a row we jumped out to a sizeable early lead, this time on first-period markers by Sidney Crosby (3:46), Justin Brazeau (16:07) and Anthony Mantha (17:12). Again, we were able to make it stand up and more. No ghastly, Sharks-esque, third-period collapses.
It was how we won that impressed me the most. We played fast, connected hockey. In particular, our transition game was terrific, which allowed us to apply constant pressure to the ‘Canes defense, even with the lead.
Truly a thing of beauty.
As the old saying goes, the best defense is a good offense. The modified Big Line with Tommy Novak centering for Brazeau and Mantha was once again BIG, combining for four goals and six points!
Perhaps best of all, Stuart Skinner was a veritable fortress between the pipes.
With three victories in our past four games, a Pens team that looked like it couldn’t buy a win suddenly appears every inch a viable playoff contender.
Now if we can just lather, rinse, repeat.
Puckpourri
Although small in stature, Blake Lizotte makes a HUGE difference. With the peppery center back in his customary spot, the fourth line is once again a momentum-shifting, oxygen-stealing weapon. According to Natural Stat Trick, the unit led our forward lines in Corsi (55.56) and xGF% (78.37) despite taking a paltry 25 percent of the offensive-zone faceoffs.
During one sequence in the second period, Lizotte raced up the ice on a solo rush to create a scoring chance single-handed. That play simply doesn’t occur with the slow-footed Kevin Hayes in his stead.
Need more proof of Blake’s importance? The Pens are 16-7-6 with the Minnesota native in the lineup, and 1-5-3 without him.
What can you say about the Big Line? Dominant isn’t a strong enough adjective to describe ‘em. Mssrs. Brazeau (4 goals and an assist), Mantha (3+1) and Novak (1+2) have combined for a staggering dozen points over our past two games, and they’re making it look easy to boot.
Brazeau, in particular, is demonstrating soft hands and excellent hockey sense to go with all that bulk. Novak almost quietly has produced five goals and 13 points in his past 16 games.
A gold star to Kyle Dubas and his sidekick, Wes Clark, for unearthing these gems. If newly acquired Yegor Chinakhov works out as well…
I’m only being half-facetious when I ask where Evgeni Malkin slots in when he returns from IR. Perhaps Dan Muse will craft a modified second line with Geno and Chinakhov at the core. Which could spell the end of the “Kid Line” for now.
Coincidentally or not, the fresh-faced trio had a rough go last night against the ‘Canes (31.82 Corsi, 22.97 xGF%). In general, the play-driving is there, the production is not.
Growing pains.
The defense has settled down nicely since Muse flip-flopped newcomer Brett Kulak and Ryan Shea. Kulak’s skating and defensive acumen make him an ideal partner for Kris Letang. Shea (a team-best, plus-14) and Jack St. Ivany have been solid.
Speaking of defense, the Pens placed Ryan Graves on waivers. If there are no takers, he’ll be assigned to the Baby Pens.
Old friend Mark Jankowski ruined Skinner’s shutout bid. “Stuuuu” was named number-one star.
With 13 points in his past 11 games, including seven goals, Bryan Rust (two assists) has been on a heater.
Standings-wise, we’ve hopped into fifth place in the Metro (17-12-9, 43 points). We’re two points out of a wild-card spot.
Up next, a home-and-home with the Atlantic-leading Red Wings, beginning here on New Year’s Day and wrapping up in the Motor City on Saturday.
A safe, prosperous and blessed New Year to all. Personally, good riddance to a bumpy and pot-hole strewn 2025.
The great news Rick is that when our Pens Beat Chi 2 games ago, Chi had just won a Shootout victory against the Stars the night before (4-3), last night Our Penguins feasted on a Carolina team that our old Coach, Sullivan, took into OT the night before as well – two exhausted opponents and two wins. Best of all, our Pens next Opponent, the Red Wings, they play tonight and then have to play us tomorrow night. Hopefully the Jets can repeat the scenario and take the Wings into OT so that some fans can say wow what great game the Pens goalie played and gloss over the exhausted nature of the competition.
Dubas didn’t cerate the Pens schedule, he wasn’t responsible for the every other night fiasco before Christmas the team had to suffer through nor did he set the table up the beginning of this month with Opponents having to play the Pens on the back end of back-to-back series. I didn’t panic during the dark times when the team was fighting through the tough times, nor am I going to buy playoff tickets even if Muse and the boys can cap this three game bunny part of the schedule.
Interesting thing about Skinner is that he faced 6 HDSA and 6 Rebound Shots Against but only 1 Rush Attempt Against. The toughest part of Skinner’s game last night was apparently self-inflicted.
All Ws are important, even when they come due to favorable scheduling. I don’t cry when the schedule is against us, nor do I ignore the benefits when the schedule favors us.
Addendum
And that is one of the reasons why I do not really pay close attention to WAR and xGF or xGA. In what I have read about those derived stats, there is no provisions for how tired a shooter was or who/how good the shooter was under the best of circumstances.
That seems a bit facetious to me. Discounting wins against teams on back 2 backs also means discounting Penguins losses in that December run when they were playing the most hockey in a condensed time than most teams in the league. (due to the Sweden trip).
The penguins have been a very tough team this year, and I am encouraged that they will make the playoffs. They took Dallas to task, and outside of 3-4 games i can recall, they are taking it to teams. They get some dang weird bounces (like tonight’s 2nd goal for Detroit, or that crazy “everything that can go wrong, will go wrong” sequence on the 3rd goal), but they are giving it to teams and pushing them hard. They are playing with speed and not wilting any longer it seems. I think having Jarry gone actually helps them, as it removes a “which version are we getting tonight?” from their mind. Silovs is improving his rebound control, which is unexpected to me.
Really enjoyed tonight’s win, the refs were really giving Muse the rookie coach bullsh*t tonight.
Keeger,
No one is being facetious here. If you take the time to read closely to what I wrote, I acknowledged our Penguins were given a tough schedule in December both in previous reply’s and in the above
“Dubas didn’t create the Pens schedule, he wasn’t responsible for the every other night fiasco before Christmas the team had to suffer through”
But in the same vein I am not being blind or disingenuous by pretending that they didn’t just get the benefit of the schedule over the last 3 games.
“nor did he set the table up the beginning of this month with Opponents having to play the Pens on the back end of back-to-back series.”
Nor am I now trying to complain about the refereeing when they didn’t call everything the Pens way.
“the refs were really giving Muse the rookie coach bullsh*t tonight.”
Just as a team sometimes gets the benefit of the schedule and sometimes they get crushed by it, sometimes the team gets the calls from the ref and sometimes they don’t. Lady justice is depicted as blind (she doesn’t care about the color of the sweater) and the sword she is shown to carry is double edged, cutting both ways. It is hypocritical to posture and preen in victories, ignoring the opponents hardships when they suffered under bad scheduling or calls and then complain when losses occur to you under the same conditions. Being a fan doesn’t require blinders to the truth.
Also, as a physiologist, I will tell you that yes, playing back-to-back games is certainly a serious drain on a players body resulting in a decrease in their skill level of the second game as well as a reduction in their focus. Their loss of focus can lead to injuries as well. Tired players make bad decisions and get hurt. Playing on 1 days rest, like our Pens played through December was bad but playing back-to-back like their last 3 opponents have had to do and our Pens will do this weekend, is worse
And yes, Silovs was not to blame on the 1st or 3rd GA. JVR had a sweet deflection and some puck luck or bad defense helped Detroit on the 3rd GA, but he certainly played a part in the 2nd GA. He was well behind the net long before the puck took that strange bounce off the boards; he wasn’t playing Goal, he was guessing and he guessed wrong. Detroit has a history of strange bounces of their boards. Gordie Howe and Alex Delvecchio in the late 60s and early 70s feasted on just such plays with Delvecchio dumping the puck into the corner to get the puck to bounce right out to Howe’s stick. Yes I remember those plays, I go back to the Pens inaugural season with Bathgate and Boivin.
Finally, if you have read anything that I have posted or replied to you will see that I share your optimism that this team could make the playoffs and Rick B could tell you that my lack of respect for the east has had me telling him that if the team, would just use Blomqvist and Murashov, I think that they could go to the Finals or at least the Conference Finals (so long as Fla stays banged up and exhausted.
Ah, ty for the reply, sorry I didn’t see if sooner.
I am not sold on blomqvist yet, but isn’t he still hurt?
I do like murashev, but I am also intrigued by skinner. He has been to 2 Stanley cup finals in a row, and right now he’s doing pretty well