Gritty. Gutsy. Courageous. Resilient. Game as the proverbial butcher’s block.
These are just a few of the adjectives I’d use to describe our Penguins in the wake of last night’s exhilarating, 4-3 shootout victory over the Senators last night at the Canadian Tire Centre.
Pure heart ‘n’ soul.
Especially when you consider the fact that we played the final 45 minutes without our captain, Sidney Crosby. More on that in a bit.
The game started like so many others in Ottawa, with the fast, forechecking Sens getting the jump on a power-play goal by Drake Batherson at 4:28.
The Pens knotted the score at 13:46 on a marker by Rickard Rakell from the slot, courtesy of a slick pass from Erik Karlsson, who sold shot in the right circle before setting up his Olympic teammate. A fortunate harbinger of things to come.
Then the worst thing imaginable occurred. With the period winding down, Crosby’s left leg got tangled up with a Sen as he was exiting the corner. His skating suddenly and visibly impaired, Sid motioned to the bench before leaving the ice and proceeding to the dressing room.
All I could do was hold my breath and pray that he was okay.
Alas, after returning for one shift early in the second period, Sid departed for good.
Adding insult to injury, Nick Cousins struck for the Sens at 1:50 of the frame to make it, 2-1, bad guys. With no Evgeni Malkin and now no Sid, not to mention our sorry recent record in Bytown, I thought we were cooked.
Then our Pens dug deep into their enormous reserve of character. In an incredible display of spirit and sheer guts, they proceeded to carry the play to their hosts. A scant two minutes later our Swedish connection struck again, with Rakell setting up Karlsson in the right circle, where he’s downright lethal. With Ben Kindel parked in front, EK65 wired the puck past countryman Linus Ullmark. His first-ever goal against his former team.
Anthony Mantha nearly padded our lead in the closing seconds of the period, only to be robbed by Ullmark. Keeping the score at 2-all entering the third period.
It wouldn’t stay that way for long.
Working on a 5-on-3 early in the third, Karlsson skated into the high slot and once again sold shot before setting up Rakell for a one-timer from the left circle. RikRak ripped the puck past a sprawling Ullmark to give the Pens their first lead of the night.
Unfortunately, the Sens would strike back at 3:58 on a disputed goal by Batherson, with assists going to old nemesis Claude Giroux and the War Room in Toronto. Giroux’s skate appeared to hook Stuart Skinner’s stick in the blue paint, preventing the Pens’ goalie from moving over to stop Batherson. Very similar to the play involving Justin Brazeau that resulted in an overturned goal against the Avs two nights earlier.
Again, Toronto ruled in favor of the opposition. Good goal, and a power play for the Sens to boot, which our Pens gamely killed off.
The rest of the game was a blur of pulsating action peppered with big saves by Skinner and Ullmark. Ditto overtime, with Big Stu thwarting Sens snipers Tim Stützle and Brady Tkachuk.
In the waning seconds, Tommy Novak steamed into the Sens’ zone on a breakaway, cut diagonally through the slot but couldn’t elevate a backhander over the spread-eagled Ullmark.
Happily, the Pens prevailed in the shootout, with Egor Chinakhov and Kindel doing the honors. In the process securing a HUGE and well-deserved second point for the black and gold.
Puckpourri
Flashing the connected play that served them so well prior to the Olympic break, the Pens had a decided edge in shot attempts (80-63) and shots on goal (36-29).
With the effectiveness our goaltending a hot topic recently, Skinner rose to the occasion with a big-game performance between the pipes. With tandem-mate Arturs Šilovs in a bit of a funk, I might be tempted to break out of our rotation and ride the big guy.
Karlsson (a goal and two helpers in 26:08 of ice time) continued with his brilliant play. He’s moved into the top 10 in scoring among NHL defensemen with 12 goals and 57 points. Over his past 15 games, he’s registered eight goals and 22 points! Incredible!
Along with Rakell and Bryan Rust, he’s been the straw that’s stirring the Pens’ drink. Chinakhov, too.
Dan Muse is now 0-for-9 in goalie interference challenges. Don’t get me started…I’m still fuming over Morgan Barron’s “good goal” after body-blocking Karlsson into Šilovs a few games back.
Let’s just say the hockey gods (and War Room) have not been kind to our Pens.
Thankfully, Mantha was able to suit up. The Pens called up Avery Hayes and Joona Koppanen just in case Big Moe was a no-go.
It may not have been his best game. But I thought Kris Letang played with guts and fire.
Terrific game for Kindel. Prior to planting himself in the slot on Karlsson’s goal, he’d absorbed a bristling check from Tkachuk. Like the rest of the team, the kid’s battle readiness is off the charts.
It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Playoff Race
To borrow from the similarly titled 1963 film, there’s no other way to describe the insanely competitive playoff race that’s going on in the Eastern Conference. Six teams, including our Pens and Bruins (88 points), CBJ and Islanders (87 points), Sens (86 points) and Red Wings (84 points) are crammed within four points of each other.
To say nothing of the Canadiens (90 points) or streaking Flyers (82 points) camped just on the outskirts.
With our win, coupled with a 2-1 CBJ loss to the Habs, the Pens (36-20-16, 88 points) reclaimed second place in the Metro…for now.
The load doesn’t get any easier…or less critical. The Stars at home on Saturday, followed by the Islanders (away on Monday) and Red Wings (at home on Tuesday).
Hope we don’t have to face ‘em without Sid and Geno.
GO PENS!
Rick,
It was a very gutsy win, to get two points without Geno, Sid, and Lizotte. The win was important since Ottawa could potentially steal a playoff spot off the Penguins if the fall to fourth in the Division, however, it would have been even bigger had Skinner not given up that 3rd Goal and our Pens won in regulation. Instead of a 4 point game it was only a 2 point game.
As for Skinner, I hate to throw some cold water on anyone, so many players really showed their character last night, but Skinner showed why at his best he only approaches average. That tying Goal was all on Skinner. There was no Goalie interreference. Giroux never touched him. It was simply a case of bad rebound control.
Having said that, the other two GA were not on him. Even MAF may not have been able to stop those shots. The only thing against Skinner was just how unathletic and slow he looked on those plays. Although no one may have been able to stop them, Skinner still looked bad.
However, I do agree that at some point Muse needs to give one of these Goalies back-to-back games, if they can climb their play up to average. Muse is showing his rookie coaching growing pains. He is reminding me of when Jim Leyland cut his teeth with the Pirates. Muse’s constant rotating Goalies reminds me of Leyland’s constantly playing the lefty – righty game to the detriment of his players – not being able to hit opposite pitching in the playoffs.
Hey Other Rick,
Interesting thoughts on the goalie rotation system, my friend.
According to a quote from Skinner published on Pittsburgh Hockey Now, it indeed sounds as if interference took place on the third goal.
Here’s the excerpt from PHN:
While the overhead video replays showed little to no body contact with the skater in the crease, Skinner explained there was a lot more there, which caused the juicy rebound.
“I don’t know,” Skinner said. “I don’t even know if it’s gray area, really. I think from a goalie’s perspective, I think a lot of goalies would say that it probably was goalie interference, just because it sneaks through my right arm and the guy kind of has my stick on me. If I’m able to close my arm pockets, it’s not going to go anywhere, and it’s just no rebound. So that’s the thing. But for somebody to watch that, it’s hard for them to tell if they’re not a goalie.”
Rick
Rick,
That is interesting, because from every video I have seen there is at least a two foot gap between Giroux and Skinner when the puck hits Skinner. Furthermore, watching the full play, Skinner was sitting very deep in his net and off his angle as the puck came up the boards. He was slow to move up and out, conceding positioning to Giroux. This caused his upper body too lean to the left and not be on center line. Had he not been leaning and aggressively on his angle, Giroux would not have been able to get to where he was without making physical contact. Furthermore, Skinner would have been able to absorb the shot center mass rather than using his blocker.
Bottom line, Skinner’s fundamentals were way off, whether from him not really knowing how to read the play, being overly cautious from a lack of confidence, or just random error. The fact that Skinner is now making comments like he did makes me believe that there is more than a bit of a lack of confidence (perhaps brought on be a lack of fundamentals) otherwise he wouldn’t be trying to blame someone other than himself (Goalie interference when there was no contact).
Also, the way he held his blocker looked more like he was trying to fight off a shot that caught him flat footed and off-guard. And the way he hesitated as the puck rotated up the boards back to the top of the circle combined with the way he moved/reacted to the first two GA (even though those two Shots would have been hard for even MAF to stop) do make me question his reactions and/or hockey IQ.
As I watch the play more, I would have more respect for a discussion of how did two Sens get behind the defense? And wonder why there is not better communication between the Goalie and his defense. There is no sound, so I can’t tell if anyone is alerting the defense to either Senator behind the defenders.
Skinner said there was a stick jammed in his right arm area so he couldn’t squeeze his body to control the rebound right.
He played fantastic, especially in the 3rd. At one point I knew a losing goal was coming cuz the Senators shot like 15 shots without the pens being able to exit the zone…but somehow skinner stopped em all!
Watch the replay, there was no stick jammed in his arm, there was at least a 2 foot clearance between him and any player, Sen or Pen, he is making excuses. Giroux turned from right to left with his stick up on Skinner’s glove hand for a deflection as the shot came in and Batherson was still around the bottom of the opposite face-off circle, sneaking in the back side when the puck hit Skinner’s blocker.
Not only is he Skinner making excuses for that rebound, his excuses are bold faced lies – no one (or their stick) was near him, particularly his right arm.