I have a confession to make. I didn’t watch today’s nationally televised matinee matchup with the Rangers. Saturdays are my get ‘er done days, when I run all my errands. Food shopping, laundry and what not, with a doggy walk mixed in.
Confession No. 2. I tuned in on the radio just in time to hear the Rangers cut our lead in half on a second-period, power-play goal by Mika Zibanejad. From what I could surmise from listening to Joe Brand and the Ol’ Two-Niner, Phil Bourque, I missed the good part. Like when the Penguins rang up a 2-0 lead on an early power-play tally by Anthony Mantha and a long-range spin-o-rama lob from Ryan Shea. Or how we dominated the first period while limiting the Rangers to two shots on goal.
So I guess you could say me tuning in was bad luck for the boys.
It’s interesting to note what you pick up on radio as opposed to watching on TV. It was pretty obvious from Brand’s play-by-play call the Rangers dominated the second half of the game. It was also apparent that whatever offensive pressure we could muster was generated by our fourth line of Blake Lizotte, Connor Dewar and Noel Acciari, with an occasional guest appearance by Evgeni Malkin’s unit.
As for our other two lines?
Pfft.
Again, going by ear, it sounds like goaltender Stuart Skinner made a number of key saves to keep us in the game. However, Other Rick, who did view the game, said the Rangers hit at least two posts and failed to capitalize on several glorious opportunities.
One chance they did convert came 2:57 into the third period. Bryan Rust lost a puck battle along the boards to Adam Fox, who nudged the rubber to Brendan Brisson. The former Golden Knight moved the puck quickly to Vladislav Gavrikov stationed near the left circle. The Russian defender proceeded to bank the puck in off Taylor Raddysh’s stick blade as the Blueshirts’ forward flashed through the crease.
Skinner had no chance.
In the shootout, it was a sad familiar refrain. Black-and-gold shooters were stymied by Igor Shesterkin (Egor Chinakhov) or failed to put the puck on net (Mantha and Tommy Novak) while Pittsburgh native Vincent Trocheck cashed in for the Rangers.
Based on the way the flow of the game ebbed away from our Pens, I’ll gladly take the point and run.
Puckpourri
In addition to notching the shootout winner, Trocheck was a monster in the faceoff circle, winning 18 of 21 draws. On the flip side, Rickard Rakell (0-for-10) and Novak (2-for-9) really struggled.
The 5v5 numbers according to Natural Stat Trick served to reinforce my impressions. Our aforementioned fourth line registered a 78.95 Corsi, an expected goals for percentage (xGF%) of 95.48 and a scoring chances for percentage (SCF%) of 100. The Malkin-Novak-Chinakhov trio, a 51.85 Corsi, a 45.01 xGF% and a 52.63 SCF%.
The other two units?
Glug, glug, glug. The sound of bubbles rising to the surface of the water.
To borrow from the old Cinderella rock anthem, “Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone),” we’re finding out just how difficult it is to replace Sidney Crosby. He does so many things, large and small, to help you win, it’s almost impossible to track them all.
In particular, Rakell (no shots) is having an impossible time filling the void. By the middle of the third period, coach Dan Muse had seen enough, bumping RikRak back to wing and moving rookie center Ben Kindel to the top line, to no avail.
More on Skinner. However he looked doing it, Big Stu stopped 23 of 25 shots, good for a .920 save percentage. I’ll take that any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Whatever ailment Samuel Girard sustained during his black-and-gold debut wasn’t severe enough to keep him out of the lineup. The newcomer logged a robust 20:57 of ice time and registered a shot on goal and a blocked shot.
His partner, Kris Letang, was a minus-1 in 23:51 of ice time. Tanger’s now a minus-2 since his former partner, Brett Kulak, was traded. (Yes, I’m keeping track). He was a plus-2 during Kulak’s stay. He’s plus-1 overall.
We’re now a grisly 1-8 in shootouts.
As of this post, the Pens (30-15-13, 73 points) are in second place in the Metro, two points up on the Islanders with a game in hand. The fourth-place Caps have closed to within four points. However, we have three games in hand on Ovi & Co.
Up next, the Golden Knights visit the ‘Burgh for a matinee clash tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon.
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Rick,
I love statistics. Everyone here must know by now that I love statistics. You quote some statistics, you wrote that Skinner stopped 23 of 25 shots and you are right, if one were to take the easy way out and look no further than those numbers, they would be deluded into thinking that Skinner had a good game. However, I assure you that the Penguins whistled past a graveyard with Skinner in Goal yesterday.
You mentioned that you didn’t watch any of the game. I was the exact opposite. Yesterday was a rare day when I actually had time to watch a game all the way through in real time. I have been relegated to watching games well after the fact and as recordings. I assure you that Skinner lucked out completely.
First, look back at your texts that I sent you during real time. In the first period, Skinner was dropping to his knees as soon as the Rangers entered the Penguins zone. When a Goalie is dropping to his knees, he has absolutely no confidence and is struggling mightily. Fortunately for the Penguins the combination of Muse and his staff weaving together this patchwork defense into a solid unit and Mike Sullivan turning the Rangers into a clone of the inept Penguins of last season, Skinner only faced 2 shots in the first period.
In the second and third periods, the Rangers did find themselves in terms of morale and hustle. NYR did start controlling the game more and more against a Crosbyless Penguins. The blue shirts had long stretches of zone time, just as the radio announcers told you Rick. However, even though New York found some hidden vigorish and started attacking, they were still coached by Mike Sullivan. The Rangers zone time was pock-marked with a serious amount of inefficiency. Just as we had to suffer through for 8 seasons, New York fans got to witness a lot of skating around the perimeter, precious few shots, and players who just could seem to make a play.
The league average for SF/CF is 46.53% as of this writing. Last night the Rangers only managed a paltry 25 SF in 68 CF (Shot Attempts), that translates to an efficiency of 36.76%, almost 10% below the league average. There were even more times when the Blue and White had golden opportunities and they just couldn’t hold on to the puck. As I wrote, they looked like the Penguins of last season, plying so stiff that they couldn’t maintain puck control when they had opportunities to shoot.
A perfect example of of snake bit the Rangers were, yesterday, was JT Miller’s Shoot Out attempt on Skinner. As Miller skated in, Skinner opened up the wickets, giving Miller a hole you could drive a Mack Truck through, but Miller made a poor decision and shot back against the grain, trying to climb the ladder on Stu’s stick side. Miller’s shot accidentally went right into Skinner’s blocker.
My hope is that there is at least one GM out there that does what you did, Rick. I hope there is a GM out there that only looks at the 23 Saves on 25 Shots and Dubas has enough hockey sense, particularly in terms of Goalies and looks at the number of times Skinner was beat clean but the Rangers failed to even get a shot. I pray that Dubas could find a GM naïve enough to trade our Penguins another 2nd round pick, this time for Skinner, so that the Jarry trade will now effectively have netted the team 3 – 2nd round picks.
Hey Other Rick,
Your points are well-taken. But I don't think anybody's expecting Skinner to be Igor Shesterkin, nor should they. I think we're just asking him to be competent, which by and large he has been. Including recent back-to-back porous starts, he's still posted a .905 save percentage and 8-1-2 record over his past 11 games. I'll take that and gladly.
In terms of Stu going down early, perhaps there's a little rust involved given that he hadn't played in over three weeks. Plus, I think that just might be part of his style...going to his knees but keeping his upper body tall. In those terms, he reminds me quite a bit of former Pen Matt Murray.
Having said that, it wouldn't shock me to see Dubas deal Skinner at the deadline, although a second-round pick might be pushing it for a return. At this stage, Murashov has close to a full season under his belt in the AHL and would seem to have little left to prove at that level.
If Skinner is moved and Murashov is promoted, it would give the Baby Pens' net back to Blomqvist. Perhaps giving him a chance to play his way out of his recent funk.
At the risk of squirting more gasoline on an incipient fire, I like the way Silovs has looked lately. I don't agree at all with MH's assessment of him against the Devils...I thought he looked really quick and sharp.
With a .928 save percentage over his past eight games, he seems to be gaining confidence.
Rick