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| "Neither of you is even worthy of looking at me." |
Pens lose to Caps 3-2 (OT)
Goals: Neal (3) from Sullivan, Malkin
Neal (4) (PP) from Malkin, Kunitz
Recap: http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=400046970
Top 3:
1) James Neal. Not enough can be said about how Neal played in this game and his pure desire on the ice. For someone who is new to this rivalry, he demonstrated he was ready for it fast. I had questioned Neal after the last 2 games for his missed shots, and hesitancy to one-time the puck. He gave me a big old F U with a one-timer goal and then a perfectly placed powerplay goal. Beyond the 2 goals, Neal was great everywhere on the ice, breaking up plays going back into the defensive zone and getting 8 shots on goal for the Pens. Neal was far and away the star of the night for the Penguins.
2) Evgeni Malkin. Whether it was because of the Lokomotiv dedication, or the rivalry with Ovechkin, Malkin looked very solid tonight despite clearly playing through soreness. He didn’t have his usual jump and it was easy to tell he couldn’t hit top speed, but Malkin played very smart and controlled. He was the primary set up for both of Neal’s goals and had a few scoring chances himself. If Geno plays that well at 100%, you can expect a couple more goals on the board every night.
3) Zbynek Michalek. Michalek has had a very rough start to the season, and still managed to draw the most time against Alexander Ovechkin 1 on 1. Michalek played up to the challenge masterfully, using a very strong poke check to his advantage on a few occasions. He kept forcing Washington’s skilled forwards to the outside and gave up absolutely nothing easy. This was by far his most sound game of the season. I’m going to give honorable mention to Engelland in this space as well, as he had some key blocks and also had to deal with Ovechkin on a few occasions. It was nice to see the defense step up their abilities against one of the best.
Bottom 3:
1) Jordan Staal. For the record, I had Staal on this list before the penalty in overtime that led to the game winner (which by the way, I don’t blame Staal for taking in that situation, he was out of options on what to do). Moving on from that, Staal had a lackluster game, especially in the offensive zone. He fanned on a few shot attempts, couldn’t connect on many passes, and committed a couple turnovers. His physical play was higher than usual in this game, but the dependable and smart Jordan Staal was not himself tonight.
2) Tyler Kennedy. As I put Kennedy up here for the 2nd straight game, I’m starting to wonder if he is losing his identity. Again he looked a little lost on the ice, missing passes and passing up on shots. He had a great view of the net coming out of the corner on one shift, normally where he’d take his patented absurd angle TK shot, but he then hesitated and passed it away into a turnover. Now, I do realize that TK still took 6 shots, but they did not appear to be of the caliber or quality we are used to. Kennedy just isn’t playing his style of game right now, and whatever he is trying to be is not working. I hope this isn’t the pressure of trying to prove himself for his new 2 year deal.
3) Steve Sullivan. Sullivan had some solid shifts and some very forgettable ones. Much like Kennedy, he also had issues with missing passes and missing the net on shots. Malkin set him up for a beautiful one time attempt in the slot that he could not get a handle of. When Sullivan has the puck in the offensive zone, he is calm, poised, and precise with everything he does. However, his transition game appears to be a bit messy right now, which may be since he is learning a new system and missed part of training camp. He’s going to need more consistency shift to shift.
Random Statistics:
- Neal led the team with 8 shots
- Engelland led the team with 3 blocked shots (all on Ovechkin)
- Evgeni Malkin took 23 of the team’s faceoffs (winning 11), the next highest total was Vitale taking merely 10
- Letang led the team with 28 mins played…his ice times are starting to concern me on how quickly this is going to wear him down
Random Thoughts (because stats weren’t enough):
- Kunitz signed a 2 yr. extension worth $3.45 mil/yr. I think it’s a solid deal (of course, Kunitz is my 2nd favorite player). At the age of 32, he is a little older than we may want, but he still has the tools to put up 20-25 a season, and has the big intangible of chemistry with Crosby. Also, if you look at forwards like Erik Cole getting $4.5 million on the open market, the deal is solid for the Pens.
- Asham’s fight with Beagle (youtube it if you haven’t seen it) led to controversy as Asham paraded while Beagle was KOed and bleeding profusely onto the ice. Asham did the classy thing and apologized after the game, acknowledging he shouldn’t have done that. Rivalry goes up another notch.
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| "Can you remember your name?" "Snoopy?" |
Injury Report:
- Evgeni Malkin returned to action tonight and played well despite showing signs of being slowed by his injury (which has been confirmed as soreness on his surgically repaired knee).
- Brooks Orpik skated on his own today after a couple of days off. I’m purely speculating, but I would guess about 2 more weeks for him.
- Oh…SIDNEY CROSBY WAS CLEARED FOR CONTACT! Start your guesses on his return now. 11/11/11 seems to be a very popular pick.
- I keep forgetting to throw Dustin Jeffrey on here as well (because the media does too!). He has been skating with the team, no timeline on him though.
Takeaways:
1) Message Sent. Last post I talked about the Penguins being a passive team. Today, Crosby was cleared for contact, and people started discussing who is going to enforce for Sid when he returns to actual games. Tonight, Asham knocked the hell out of Jay Beagle. Beagle had an awkward hit with Kris Letang, knocking his helmet off. Asham proceeded after Beagle, drew him into a fight, and then knocked him out, leaving him on the ice bleeding. It was nice to see the Pens send a message that they will be not messed with, though I truly wish Beagle wouldn’t have been crushed like that just for the sake of health and hockey. As I mentioned above, Asham celebrated and apologized. At least we know the team still stands together.
2) Some Nights Just Don’t Work Out. You would think that beating a team 41-19 in shots, and dominating most of the play aside from a part of the 2nd period would lead to a win. No, no it won’t. Especially against teams like the Capitals, that can score on literally any shot. While a lot of the credit should go to Vokoun and just the sheer amount of saves he made, some of the blame goes to the Penguins. They played similarly against Edmonton, dominating, but couldn’t put the game away with all of their chances. The Penguins need to learn to close out their opportunities much better. Of course, the fluky (and inevitable) Mike Knuble goal did not help the cause.
3) Backup Goalies are Priceless. With all of the news about Kunitz and Crosby today, it was fairly overlooked that Brent Johnson got a call last night saying that Fleury was too sick to start and he would be starting against the Capitals. How many teams have backup goalies that they would be completely comfortable and confident with going into a game against their 2nd biggest rival and one of the most dangerous teams in the NHL? Despite the loss, I want to take this moment to point out how lucky we are that we can throw in Brent Johnson at a moment’s notice, and still feel completely confident that we could win the game. It is a luxury that Ray Shero has given us that gets lost amongst his other fantastic moves.
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| "Haha, I just coughed twice on the phone and they started Johnson!" |
Pens Record: 3-0-2, 8 pts.
Goals For: 16
Goals Against: 13
PP %: 24% (6 for 25)
PK %: 94% (16 for 17)
Next Game: Sat 10/15 vs Buffalo, 7pm LET’S GO PENS!!!
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