In a battle of the birds in Anaheim last night, it was the homestanding Ducks who flew highest en route to a 5-2 victory over our Penguins.
The Ducks grabbed the lead on a power-play tally by ex-Pen Mikael Granlund at 8:26 of the first period and never let up.
The second period was the Cutter Gauthier Show. The young Ducks star struck twice, his first on the power-play at 6:28 and the second on a wide-open look from the slot at 9:11. Both courtesy of slick setups from Granlund, who went on to enjoy a four-point night against his former team.
Tristan Luneau padded the Ducks lead to 4-0 with another power-play goal at 5:12 of the final frame before the Pens finally pushed back.
With Arturs Silovs pulled to give us a 6-on-4 power play, Kris Letang scored his first goal of the season on a slapper from the high slot at 8:05.
Again with Silovs pulled, Rickard Rakell struck for a second power-play tally, thanks to a vintage tic-tac-toe passing sequence initiated by our Two-Headed Monster. Closing the gap to 4-2 with just over six minutes remaining.
The Pens kept pressing until Gauthier capped the scoring (and a hat trick) with an empty-netter in the final minute.
PUCKPOURRI
Unlike the victory over the Kings, the Pens dominated the shot-based metrics. According to Natural Stat Trick, we held a sizeable edge in shot attempts (73-58), shots on goal (33-25), scoring chances (40-30) and high-danger chances (16-11).
Alas, the spike in offensive activity begat a corresponding increase in blunders and odd-man breaks against. As if the Pens are organically unable to play an attacking style while keeping their defensive structure intact.
Although the unit didn’t score at even strength, the newly minted Sidney Crosby line was dominant 5v5, piling up a staggering 19-5 edge in shot attempts.
Evgeni Malkin’s two assists gave him 16 points in 16 games. Again, remarkable for his advanced age. To think there was some debate about whether the Pens should re-sign him.
Goalless in his first nine games, Rakell now has six goals in his last nine. Following his sluggish start, Sid has 11 points (6+5) in his past dozen games. He’s on pace to produce 60 points over an 84-game schedule. Fine output for mere mortals. But Sid?
In 90 seconds of ice time, the Tommy Novak–Nick Robertson–Egor Chinakhov trio registered a perfect 100 percent Corsi. An Expected Goals for Percentage of 100 as well. Perhaps something to file away for future reference.
On the flip-side, the third line with Andrei Kuzmenko replacing Ville Koivunen (lower-body injury) had an xGF% of 0.
Man, can Gauthier fire the biscuit. While it’s a shame he isn’t skating for us, his favorite team as a youth, I’m very glad he isn’t playing for the Flyers, who drafted him.
Like the rest of the team, our special teams continue to perform erratically. A wasted 5-on-3 power play early set the tone for the loss.
UP NEXT
The Pens (6-10-2) wind up the west coast trip on Wednesday night against the Sharks (7-11-1). Then it’s home to host the Senators (11-6-1) on Saturday night.
