When it comes to our Penguins and physical play (or lack of), I’ve done my share of criticizing over the years. That’s especially true of coach Mike Sullivan, who I’ve taken to task over the issue on occasions too numerous to count.
Maybe it’s a case of desperate times calling for desperate measures. To my shock and utter amazement, our coach not only seems to be tolerating our newly added muscle, he’s embracing it.
Our 3-0 whitewashing of the Predators at PPG Paints Arena last night was a case in point. In response to “Smashville” misdeeds past and present, Sully opened the game with our physical fourth line of Blake Lizotte, Boko Imama and Noel Acciari. While the latter banged into one of the Preds, Imama took dead aim at rugged defenseman Luke Schenn and delivered a hard check with a message attached.
There will be no liberties tolerated by the likes of Schenn, Michael McCarron and Cole Smith on this night.
In keeping with the old axiom that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, the Pens then proceeded to grind the Preds down with a simple but effective straightforward approach.
Ex-Pred Philip Tomasino opened the scoring exactly halfway through the first period, beating Juuse Saros with a blistering drive from the left circle thanks to some quick puck movement by Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang.
A shade over 20 minutes later Sidney Crosby made it 2-zip, good guys, converting on a beautiful backdoor feed from the left wall by Rickard Rakell.
That was all she wrote for the scoring until Bryan Rust drove home an empty-netter with a tick over two minutes remaining. Sealing a win that was as close to the way you draw it up on the whiteboard as you can get.
Puckpourri
The Pens were pretty much in control from start to finish, piling up a sizeable 36-25 edge in shots on goal and a 29-19 advantage in hits. In their defense, the Preds played the night before in Buffalo and didn’t seem to have a lot of jump, but you take advantage of situations like that when you can. Credit our guys for doing just that.
Alex Nedeljkovic made 25 saves to garner top-star honors. Since Tristan Jarry was waived, Ned’s stepped up in a huge way, posting a 6-2 record along with a sterling .940 (!!) save percentage and 1.84 goals against average.
It begs, no screams, the question…should the Pens have pulled the plug on Jarry sooner? No telling how many points were bled off due to Tristan’s unfortunate penchant for yielding early goals.
With a goal in four-straight games, Sid is leading from in front as always. No surprise there. Karlsson registered two assists, giving him 30 on the season to go with five goals. Rakell picked up two assists and continues to shine. He has points in 11 of 14 games in the New Year.
Rust reached the 20-goal mark for the sixth time, joining a rather elite group of seven greats who’ve accomplished the feat in a Pens jersey. Not too shabby for a third-round pick who was projected to be a bottom-six energy guy.
Good on Tomasino to score against his former team, especially after being a healthy scratch against Utah. Jesse Puljujärvi sat out to make room. Matt Nieto and Ryan Shea were also healthy scratches.
New acquisitions Danton Heinen and Vincent Desharnais arrived just before game time. Shades of Nick Bjugstad and Jared McCann back in 2019.
Skating on a line with Cody Glass and Michael Bunting, Heinen had three shots on goal in 12:42 of ice time. Paired with Ryan Graves, Desharnais had a team-high four blocked shots and two hits. As advertised, he kept the net-front clear.
When Zachary L’Heureux tripped Matt Grzelcyk and roughed up Acciari mid-game, Imama promptly intervened. Once again sending a message that things are different in these parts now that there’s a new sheriff in town.
Although Boko may need to learn to pick his spots (he took a penalty, nullifying a potential four-minute power play) there’s no question he’s added a valuable and heretofore missing element.
Afterward, Sullivan was supportive and even effusive in his praise of the rugged winger. Which, in and of itself, is a most welcome development.
A little more on the value of physical play and players. In addition to providing on-ice protection, employing a tough guy or two sets a proper physical batting order if you will. Secure in the knowledge they’ll no longer be called upon to fight the team’s battles should push come to shove, it encourages others to play more aggressively.
A case in point, Anthony Beauvillier had five hits last night and Letang had four, the same as Imama.
Switching tracks, the secret sauce award goes to Lizotte. We’re 18-11-6 with Lizzo in the lineup, 4-13-2 without him.
Although we’ve won two in a row, the Pens (22-24-8, 52 points) continue to bring up the rear in the Metro. We’re six points out of the second Eastern wild-card spot, with seven teams standing in the way.
Up next, the speedy, difficult Devils at home on Tuesday night.
A Little Revisionist Love for Granny and Hexy
The Sharks traded ex-Pens Mikael Granlund and Cody Ceci to Dallas yesterday for draft picks. Although largely ineffective here, Granlund, who has a history of struggling following in-season trades, was mostly terrific for the Sharks, leading the team in scoring two seasons running while drawing nothing but praise for his work ethic and leadership.
Practically everyone (including yours truly) ripped then-GM Ron Hextall for bringing Granlund here…and having the audacity to refer to the former ninth-overall pick as a “coveted player” to boot.
Perhaps Hextall wasn’t so far off the mark. A reminder, too, that Hexy acquired Rakell for Zach Aston-Reese and Dominik Simon and signed RikRak, Rust, Letang and Evgeni Malkin (never mind his tactics) at very affordable rates.
Rick,
I loved the trade. It may be the first win Dubas has had in his tenure with Pgh. However, I still am not going to get too excited over the product on the ice right now. Beating Utah in OT and Nash are hardly bench mark games. There are a lot of factors influencing games that could just be limited to that game or stretch of games.
After the trade, there was a bit of beat in the heart of hope but there needs to be at least another shock to the system for resuscitation.
Hey all.
A brief follow-up about Mike Sullivan. I’ll be the first to admit I’m in favor of a coaching change, for a laundry list of reasons I’ve stated in the past. But I also need to give Sully his due. He seems to be developing and evolving more than at any previous time during his tenure here.
He’s tweaked and adjusted his system to encourage better defense and more responsible play…in effect adjusting to meet the talent on hand. And frankly, I’m floored at the way he appears to be embracing Imama and, hopefully, Desharnais, as well.
I’m not so sure the Sully of even a year ago would’ve done any of this. He genuinely seems to be expanding the boundaries of his comfort zone. Probably not easy to do, especially for a veteran coach who won two Cups and tasted no small measure of success by imposing his will and doing things his way.
Win, lose or draw, he deserves a lot credit for adapting and growing.
Rick