Pens shutout the Islanders, 3-0
Goals: Dupuis (3) from Orpik
Park (3) from Asham
Staal (6) from Dupuis
Top 3:
1) Marc-Andre Fleury. In his 20th career shutout and 3rd against the Islanders, Fleury was absolutely flawless tonight, making 33 saves. His positioning continues to be impressive and has reached a level that I don’t believe we have seen before. MAF has shown his athletic abilities on many occasions to save the Penguins, but he is winning these games through calm play and proper positioning, only using his athleticism to bail him out when necessary. These are supposed to be Fleury’s prime years, and he’s making a strong demonstration that he has arrived as an elite goalie right now.
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| Not getting a thing past him. |
2) Paul Martin. In the first game without Michalek, Martin ate up most of the minutes for the Penguins, playing 27:18. With the big minutes came some big time plays, as Martin led the team with 4 takeaways and added on 2 blocked shots as well. He had a couple of strong pinches in the offensive zone and generally played well all over the ice. This is the Paul Martin that actually earns his $5 mil contract (though I wouldn’t mind some scoring, but that’s pure nitpicking).
3) Richard Park. Park showed up all over the ice in his long island return against his former teammates. He led the Penguins with 9 faceoffs won (only losing 6) and added a nice goal very early in the 2nd period to build the Penguins’ momentum. He continues to be dependable on the penalty kill, and was even rewarded in this game with a shift on the powerplay. Park has become the ultimate utility player, handling any task that Bylsma gives him with ease.
Bottom 3:
1) Chris Kunitz. Kunitz looked lost most of the game, playing his worst in the first period and then managing to be a little competent during the rest of the game. He committed 2 very bad turnovers in the first, one where he passed it across the blue line for an Islander to pick off, and the other when he couldn’t control a puck as he carried it into the zone. I was getting excited that Kunitz was starting to pick up his play over the past week, but he looked lost as ever tonight. He may be the first one to start hitting Crosby to get him to return at this rate.
2) Joe Vitale. Honestly, Vitale did nothing wrong tonight. There aren’t many things that go wrong in a 3-0 win. He was just quiet. He’s basically on this list because I had no one else to throw here. He could share this spot with Brent Johnson for all it meant.
3) Evgeni Malkin. Malkin, however, does belong on this list (but he did too much well for me to put him at 2). Malkin was a giveaway/takeaway machine this game, doing each one 3 times. He looked great at times in both zones and then would follow it up with a completely opposite horrible shift. One thing I did notice about Malkin compared to most games is he didn’t play with much emotion. He was very calm and controlled. It made many of his moves dangerous, but also caused him to lose the puck a few times. The jury is out on what may come of this potential style. Also, he was a dismal 2 for 9 on faceoffs tonight.
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| Almost Geno...almost... |
Random Statistics:
- Bylsma coached in his 200th career game (1st one was against the Isles as well)
- Bylsma has the 3rd highest winning % of active coaches with 200 + games (.658)
- Fleury is 9-0-2 in his last 11 decisions vs the Islanders
- Park was the only Penguins center to win more faceoffs than he lost this game
- The Pens lost the faceoff battle for the first time in 9 games
- Niskanen and Engelland each blocked 5 shots
Injury Report:
- Kennedy (concussion), Crosby (concussion) and Strait (hyperextended elbow) all remain out
- Malkin returned to the lineup tonight
- Michalek is out 4-6 weeks with a broken finger sustained in the NJ game
Takeaways:
1) Who Needs Michalek. The Penguins rallied around the loss of Michalek for 4-6 weeks to block an astounding 26 shots. Engelland and Niskanen might as well have sat on the crease with Fleury as they combined for 10 of those blocks on their own. The defense as a whole looked shaky at times in terms of their puck possession, but they were certainly dedicated to keeping the puck out. This team won’t lose many games if they are going to show that type of commitment to helping Fleury.
2) Chemistry, Take Two. After the last game, I talked about how this team had great chemistry as a whole. Now I’m going to boil it down to the lines, specifically the Neal-Malkin-Sullivan line. Under no circumstances should that line be broken up ever. With Malkin not playing at 100% and Sullivan being completely snakebitten, they still created a great number of opportunities and dominated the offensive zone at times. If that line ever gets completely healthy and can play at its average, not even its full potential, the Pens will have a first line that can compete amongst the best. On the backside, I cannot give enough praise to the Orpik-Letang pairing. They complement each other spectacularly and bring out the better sides of each other’s games.
3) Last Season is History. Going into this game, there were still some murmurs about that lovely 300+ penalty minute game from last season. Neither coach went out of his way to dress enforcers for this one though, so it looks like the brutal travesty that was last season’s rivalry can be put away. This is a positive step, both for the Penguins who already have enough injuries to deal with, and the NHL as a whole. Though, can you imagine the videos Shanahan would have made for such a mess?
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| This team can't score or fight, great. |
Pens Record: 7-2-2, 16 pts.
Goals For: 33
Goals Against: 22
PP %: 20% (9 for 44)
PK %: 97% (34 for 35)
Next Game: 10/27 vs NYI, 7pm LET’S GO PENS!!!
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