Pens defeat Devils 4-1
Goals: Staal (4) (PP) from Park, Cooke
Kunitz (2) (PP) from Letang, Martin
Staal (5) from Asham, Niskanen
Neal (8) from Park, Michalek
Top 3:
1) Jordan Staal. Over the course of watching Jordan Staal since he surprisingly made the team as an 18 year old, I think tonight was the best overall game I’ve ever seen him play. 2 goals not included, Staal was dominant everywhere on the ice and skating stronger than I’ve seen him in a while. You could see the hunger in his strides when he entered the offensive zone, and his positioning was superb in the defensive zone. Staal demonstrated on the PP this game that he has an ability to find and get into open space, which is impressive for such a big guy. Jordan was just an absolute stud this game.
2) Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury put together another solid effort, while continuing with his career tendency of being allergic to shutouts and allowing a goal (not that it was his fault). Fleury bailed the defense out on a couple 2 on 1’s as usual and looked great in his positioning again. Of course, he managed to freak everyone out when he went out to play the puck behind the net and lost it…but no harm no foul, right? As long as Fleury continues to avoid the weak goal letdown, he’s gonna be on this list every game.
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| Fleury working on his decapitation skills in the crease. |
3) Brooks Orpik. Orpik played a very understated and strong game. This was the first night that the Letang-Orpik pairing returned, and it made a big difference for both players. Orpik played great in the defensive zone, breaking up passes and stealing pucks, while energizing the crowd with big hits. Even more beneficial is that he allows Letang to skate around all willy-nilly (yes, I just said that) to play his offensive game. The return of Orpik is going to make Letang look even better than his hot start demonstrated.
Bottom 3:
1) and 2) Matt Niskanen and Deryk Engelland. Niskanen had a rough night, but lucked out as Fleury was there to save his ass. He had trouble with positioning all night, often getting caught high in the defensive zone while NJ hovered around the slot. He also had some turnover issues. I believe a lot this has to do with his new pairing with Engelland, as I’m giving Engelland the exact same treatment. Engelland was also caught out of position a few times and had issues with turnovers. There didn’t appear to be much communication between the 2, and NJ attacked heavily every time this pair was on the ice. Luckily, as with Fleury, no harm no foul!
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| "You were out of position by thiiiis much" |
3) Paul Martin. It’s odd that I’m giving putting 3 defensemen on this list when we only allowed 1 goal, but Martin belongs on here as well. He led the team in turnovers on a night where his D partner (Michalek) was luckily having a very strong night. Martin’s turnover on an attempt to clear the puck was the play that led to the Devils’ short-handed goal. Martin also took an unnecessary interference penalty. He played well in the offensive zone, but looked a little off in his own end.
Random Statistics:
- Sullivan played in his 900th career game
- Staal scored his 100th career goal
- Michalek blocked a team high 6 shots
- Dupuis attempted 5 shots…0 hit the net
- Neal led the team with 5 shots as usual
- MacIntyre made it up to 5:09 of ice time
- Letang and Martin each had 3 giveaways
Random Thoughts:
- Park has stepped up very nicely into a top 2 center role despite always being a role player throughout his career. His hard work is making the transition easy and helping Sullivan and Neal greatly
- Lovejoy and Letestu were the healthy scratches tonight. Lovejoy will probably get back in with some sort of rotation amongst Niskanen and Engelland. Letestu might have issues cracking the lineup as no forward looked backed
- Vitale played 15 minutes as his ice time continues to increase. I’m not sure he’s made a mistake on the ice yet this season
- Jeffrey looked much better in his second game, playing over 11 minutes and going 6 for 9 in faceoffs
Injury Report:
- No new news: Kennedy (concussion), Malkin (knee), Crosby (concussion) and Strait (elbow) all sat out
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| "We're losing and I can't even name their players...sigh..." |
Takeaways:
1) Positioning FTW. The best thing I saw in this game was how well all of the forwards were covering for defensemen stepping into the play. I noticed it especially with Staal, Kunitz, and Dupuis. Letang and Martin went in to pinch or led the rush on a few different plays, and those 3 forwards were always very alert in staying back at the blue line or dropping back to cover for them. That is a big key in helping the Penguins transition game back on defense and will save a lot of odd man rushes throughout the season.
2) Keep Shooting. The Pens take a lot of shots from odd angles and seem to pass up on shots from the slot frequently. The result is they keep scoring from odd angles and everything James Neal shoots goes 5 ft wide or in the net. This team is doing a good job of pressing the issue and getting pucks on net at angles that goalies can’t control the rebounds. I’m not sure it will work for the season, but it is working fantastically right now, so keep doing it!
3) Championship Chemistry. I saw a tweet when I got home after the game that talked about how Staal isn’t the type of player to put up big stats, but he’s the type of player that’s going to win championships. It was a good testament to how Shero has built this team. Even with the flashy players out, there are essentially a lot of winners on this team, and players who will do the dirty work in the corners and in front of the net to win. Those are the players necessary to win the Cup, and the Pens have an abundance of them. Bylsma gets a lot of credit for coaching this team through injuries, but Shero deserves just as much for putting the team together.
Pens Record: 6-2-2, 14 pts.
Goals For: 30
Goals Against: 22
PP %: 21% (9 for 42)
PK %: 97% (32 for 33)
Next Game: 10/25 @ NYI, 7pm LET’S GO PENS!!!
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