This sure isn’t news I wanted to hear…or share.
The Penguins announced that power forward Anthony Mantha will be out day-to-day with a lower-body injury. While there’s no indication of the exact nature of the ailment, pray it doesn’t involve his surgically repaired right ACL, which caused him to miss most of last season.
He joins Evgeni Malkin and Blake Lizotte in the Rx ward.
With 26 goals and 53 points, Big Moe’s enjoying a banner season. Since January 15, he’s tallied 12 goals and 24 points in 26 games, nearly a point-per-game clip. The burly 6’5”, 234-pounder was an absolute horse during Sidney Crosby’s 11-game absence, racking up six goals and 10 points.
Barring a recall from the Baby Pens, it appears veteran Kevin Hayes will fill Mantha’s slot.
The good news if you can call it that? Anthony will accompany the team on the trip to Ottawa for Thursday night’s critical clash with the Senators.
Hey all,
Another must-read article by Adam Gretz over on Pensburgh titled, “When should the Penguins make the Sergei Murashov call? More importantly, should the Penguins make that call at all?”
Excellent stuff, as usual, by Gretz.
Rick
Rick,
I will not completely defend our teams defense. There isn’t a single defenseman on this roster that I would actively pursue for a team I GMed, not on my first pass. However, every player in the NHL will make at least one mistake during a game. It is inherent to the position of a Goalie to cover up for that mistake for the vast majority of skaters errors. (As a former Goalie, I would also reject the idea that they would have to be perfect, they too will make mistakes) Unfortunately, our Goalies are not covering up very may mistakes. If the skaters make one it will go in.
Take last game
On the first GA, yes McKinnon picked Wotherspoon’s pocket, but the young D-man hounded the Avs star all the way down the ice with serious back pressure. McKinnon did get a shot off, but it was not a wicked Goal scoring shot. It was a rather slow shot that I as a 63 year old could have stop, but it floated over Silovs’ glove and into the net.
The 2nd GA was pure pathetic Hockey IQ. Silovs’ had a clear view of Milinski and how he was drifting laterally across the blueline. However, Silovs did not follow the play but chose to allow himself to be screened so that he couldn’t see the shot as the Penguins’ Defender pushed the Av out of the way. The shot was high, another short coming Silovs, and it was made more difficult by Silovs’ inability to readd the play.
On the Third GA, instead of staying on his feet as he tracked the puck across his slot to the face off circle Silvos dropped down to the ice giving the top of the net away so that Necas, following the book on Silovs went high and back against the play, on the big Goalie that plays small. Had Silovs stayed up, the shot hits him in the chest.
On the 4h GA, not only did Silovs go down, he didn’t square up to the shooter. Instead he was flat against his crease giving Kelly an angle over his shoulder.
On the fifth GA I still do not know how Silovs managed to redirect the rebound up the crease instead of the corners. First pads are now designed to help redirect shots to the corners and Silovs even had his legs at a good angle, but the Pen’s ersatz Goalie bumped the puck right to Necas.
As I wrote above, I demand Silovs to be perfect, since those were stoppable shots, I would have wanted him to stop at least 2 of the 4.
Hey Other Rick,
Some interesting stats from Mark Madden on the Trib that further support your take on our goalies. Their numbers since Feb. 1:
— Silovs: 6-3 record, 2.83 GAA, .891 SV%
— Skinner: 1-2-5 record, 3.55 GAA, .876 SV%
I would think there’s a certain amount of “chicken or the egg” involved. Is the team’s disconnected play, not to mention defensive gaffes, contributing our goalies’ poor stats or is poor goaltending driving our inflated goals against, as your research seems to indicate?
Since hockey’s a team sport, perhaps a blend of both.
Rick