On a day when everyone else in the U.S.A. sprang forward, the Penguins turned back the clock yesterday afternoon at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
Playing a more disciplined, buttoned-down style, the Pens lost the analytics battle by a wide margin but won the war, defeating old friend Marc-André Fleury and the Wild by a 3-1 count. In the process snapping a four-game losing streak.
Powering the offense in a throw-back performance, our Two-Headed Monster of yore.
Following a scoreless 35 minutes and change, Evgeni Malkin struck on the power play at 15:22 of the second period, jamming the biscuit past Flower glove side, with assists to Kris Letang and Matt Grzelcyk.
Next up, Sidney Crosby. Midway through the final frame, Erik Karlsson set sail for the Wild zone and fired from the right circle. The puck clunked off Fleury’s pads and out to Crosby approaching from the back side. Bending at the waist for extra leverage, Sid flung an improbable rising backhander past Flower for a 2-0 lead.
The Wild spoiled Tristan Jarry’s shutout bid at 14:54 of the period on a power-play goal by Ryan Hartman, only recently returned from a lengthy suspension. But Sid put the kibosh on a potential Wild comeback with an empty-netter at 18:47.
Closing out a vintage performance from a vintage bunch.
Puckpourri
No, that wasn’t a misprint. Jarry got the starting nod and sparkled, turning aside 29 of 30 shots to earn his first NHL victory since December 23, not to mention second-star honors. His teammates provided plenty of assistance, blocking 26 shots.
For good measure, Tristan assisted on Crosby’s empty-netter.
Sid’s two-goal effort gave him 21 for the season. With 68 points in 64 games, he’s still producing at better than a point-per-game clip. Rather remarkable, all things considered.
Geno’s goal was his 13th of the campaign (and third on the power play). He needs eight points to reach 50.
In what’s become a typical mixed-bag performance, Karlsson registered an assist, a plus-2…and a game-high five giveaways. As I mentioned before, the mercurial “offenseman” giveth at one end of the rink and taketh away at the other.
Thrust rather abruptly into a top-pairing role beside Letang, heretofore depth defender Ryan Shea logged a whopping 24:58 of ice time and blocked three shots.
Not to be outdone, Tanger blocked four shots, tying him for the team-high with newcomer Thomas Novak. Unfortunately, the latter left the game early with a lower-body injury.
Speaking of newbies, ex-Leafs Conor Timmins and Connor Dewar made their black-and-gold debuts. The former delivered four hits in 11:49 of ice time while displaying good mobility and positioning. It’s way early, but maybe a keeper for our problematic defensive corps.
Oh, and congratulations to Mike Sullivan for registering his 400th win with the Pens. He’s the only American-born coach to win that many for a single franchise.
Farm Boyz
Sam Poulin tallied a hat trick and four points to lead the Baby Pens to an 8-3 stomping of Belleville on Saturday. With little fanfare, the 227-pound forward now has 16 goals in 44 games, tied for third on the team with Tristan Broz and Avery Hayes.
Emil Bemström, currently skating with the big boys, leads the Baby Pens with 21 goals. Rookie pro Ville Koivunen tops the scoring list in points (52) and assists (33). His 19 goals are tied with Boris Katchouk for second-best on the squad.
With 12 goals and 35 points, Rutger McGroarty has heated up dramatically following a sluggish start. Over his past dozen games, the husky winger has six goals and 14 points!
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Hey all,
Just wanted to point out an excellent article on Pensburgh by Gretz titled, "Kyle Dubas' offseason ended up doing what it was intended to do."
An insightful and well-done sum-up of the Pens' present state of the union.
Rick