Way back in 1969-70, a Penguins team that was short on talent but long on heart and soul captured the affection of the city with its gritty, determined play.
Led by rookie wonder Michel Brière, rising star Jean Pronovost and a supporting cast of scrappers including Bryan “Bugsy” Watson, Glen “Slats” Sather, Tracy Pratt and Bryan Hextall (Ron’s dad), the “Pesky Pens” incredibly came within two wins of reaching the Stanley Cup Final.
After his team was nosed out by Scotty Bowman’s Blues in a fiercely contested Game 6 during the Semi-Finals, Pens coach Red Kelly offered a touching tribute.
“You feel bad about losing,” he said, “but you never feel bad when you’ve given everything you have and that’s what this team did. This club has more heart than any club in the world.”
After watching our undermanned Pens battle tooth-and-nail on Friday night to take down the Rangers in comeback fashion, I confess to having similar feelings about our team…especially the last sentence.
It’s a shame this group is challenged, talent-wise, because it battles harder than any black-and-gold squad in recent memory…certainly since the days when Patric Hornqvist and Chris Kunitz set the tone. Unlike teams of the past couple of seasons, it doesn’t need to be dragged into the fight by a Jason Zucker.
Not to point fingers or cast stones, but the transformation began to take effect when laid-back Tristan Jarry was waived and firebrand Alex Nedeljkovic took over between the pipes. The team seems to have taken on Ned’s personality, reinforced by the recent additions of heavyweight forward Boko Imama and towering defenseman Vincent Desharnais.
Near the end of the game, with the Rangers pressing for the tying goal and buzzing like bees around our hive, Desharnais grabbed J.T. Miller and tossed his former Canucks teammate to the ice like a rag doll.
When was the last time you saw a Penguins defenseman treat a foe so brusquely?
Actually, if you said only minutes before, you’d be correct. That’s when Pierre-Olivier Joseph repeatedly cross-checked a Blueshirts forward along the end boards.
For that matter, how about Noel Acciari smashing William Cuylle into the wall and then levelling Johnny Brodzinski with a crushing open-ice hit at our blue line with the game on the line? But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Guess I’d better start at the start.
Playing without Sidney Crosby and Two-Headed Monster mate Evgeni Malkin, the Pens swarmed their hosts during the first stanza, only to fall behind on a goal by native son Vincent Trocheck.
Leave it to our lunch-pail fourth line to even the score, which they did at 2:25 of the second period. Erik Karlsson picked off a wayward pass from Rangers heavyweight Matt Rempe in the neutral zone and moved it to Acciari, who fed a breaking Blake Lizotte with a short pass in the right circle. Lizzo shot quickly, which seemed to catch Igor Shesterkin by surprise.
Adam Fox wasted little time (74 seconds to be exact) in retaking the lead for the Rangers. Left uncovered at the right faceoff dot, he had oodles of time to size Ned up before beating the Pens’ plucky netminder stick side.
Two-one, Rags.
It began to look like we were doomed to chase the game, especially sans Sid. But No. 87’s replacement as top-line center, Rickard Rakell, finished off a three-man rush with a dazzling sleight of hand, fooling Shesterkin in the process.
The Pens capped their second-period hat trick at 11:59. Philip Tomasino pounced on a nifty touch pass from Bryan Rust in Ovi’s office and absolutely ripped it past Shesterkin short side to give us a 3-2 lead.
And then came the third period. The Rangers outshot us 10-zip, as in zero…nada. That’s right…we had no shots on goal in the final 20 minutes.
Worse, yet they out-attempted us 32-3! No, that’s not a misprint.
Yet the Pens were so gritty, so fierce and so determined, it qualified the prettiest ugly period I ever had the privilege of watching.
Did I mention we killed a phantom penalty to Michael Bunting, mostly at a 4-on-6 disadvantage in the final two minutes?
I thought our Pens deserved a better fate on Tuesday night against the Devils. Well, tonight they got what they so richly earned.
Great game, guys, and an even better effort.
Puckpourri
Emil Bemström replaced Sid and performed admirably. Skating on a line with Tomasino and ex-Ranger Kevin Hayes, he logged a Corsi of 77.78 and an expected goals for percentage (xGF%) of 75, third-best on the team.
In addition to scoring a huge goal, Rakell won 9 of 16 faceoffs. With a team-best 25 goals in 55 games, he’s having a season.
Since replacing Jarry as our starter, Ned has a .934 save percentage over his past eight starts, with a record of 5-2-1. Since backstopping us to a 6-2 win over Calgary on November 30, he has a .915 save percentage with a 9-5-2 mark.
Makes you wonder what might have been had we turned to him sooner…
Lizotte snapped a 16-game goalless (and pointless) drought. Acciari broke an 18-game pointless skein.
With his vision, smarts and distribution skills, Hayes is a better player than anyone gives him credit for. He’s made a difference since returning to the lineup.
Easy to see why POHO/GM Kyle Dubas invested a fourth-round pick in Tomasino. The kid certainly shows flashes of untapped potential.
Okay, so Desharnais isn’t going to win any figure skating contests. But he reminds me of another behemoth black-and-gold defenseman, Hal Gill. To wit, he clogs up the shooting lanes and plays with a much-needed touch of nasty. The big guy blocked a team-high four shots.
Speaking of nasty, POJ seems to be playing a more physical game these days.
Unfortunately, Imama departed with an undisclosed upper body injury, but not before picking up a plus on Lizotte’s goal. Not that I’m touting Boko for first-line duty, mind you, but through six games he has a Corsi of 53.13 and an xGF% of 52.84. By comparison, Rempe is 40.41 and 39.80, respectively.
Poor Ryan Graves had four giveaways. He always appears to be betwixt and between on the ice, like he’s never set.
The Pens (23-24-9, 55 points) visit the Flyers tonight. Then they’re off until February 22.
