MY BLOG TITLE FINALLY MAKES SENSE!!!
Pens 5 Isles 0
Goals: Crosby (1) from Dupuis, Engelland (game-winner)
Orpik (2) from Crosby, Dupuis
Malkin (6) (PP) from Letang, Crosby
Sullivan (2) from Malkin, Neal
Crosby (2) from Dupuis, Michalek
Top 3:
1) Sidney Crosby. WOW. That’s all, just WOW. Not enough can be said about Sid’s flair for the dramatic. 5-0. Look familiar? It certainly does to Crosby's former landlord! It took the better part of 11 months, many questions, many frustrations, and a setback, but the night was finally here. Crosby came out to a raucous crowd, the loudest I’ve heard at Consol, and he made everyone louder by scoring 5 minutes into the game. Final stat line of: 2 goals, 2 assists, +3, 8 shots, 1 blocked shot, 1 hit, and 14 for 21 on faceoffs (67%). Oh, and that was all in 15:54 on the ice. He made everyone on the ice with him better and looked very ready to finish what he started last season. Look out NHL. Sid was patient, Sid came back, and now Sid is going to take over his league.
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| One goal and the F bombs were already out |
2) Marc-Andre Fleury. Lost in the 5-0 Crosby win was the 29 saves by Fleury for his 21st career shutout. As he said in the postgame interviews, he’s very much okay with not having any attention for it. Fleury played very well, making difficult saves look easy on a night where the focus was on Crosby and the offense. He also benefitted greatly from playing behind a cohesive and healthy defense for the first time in almost a month. Not often that you’ll see a goalie make 29 saves and get the 3rd official star of the game.
3) Evgeni Malkin. Geno looked much more motivated and much more comfortable with Crosby back in the lineup. He was much smarter with his decision making and didn’t force anything through the Islanders defense unnecessarily. He showed quick hands on his goal, and made a beautiful pass to set up Sullivan for the Pens’ 4th goal. This is the Geno I like to see. When he isn’t pressing, he does a great job of creating space and opening up the play. It was very nice to see him handle Crosby’s comeback so well.
Honorable Mention: Pretty much everyone. Great game all-around.
Bottom 3: We just won’t worry about this tonight. (If push came to shove – 1) Staal for a couple giveaways, a penalty, and a bad faceoff night, 2) Asham for his penalty, and 3) Neal for his penalty on the PP)
Injury Report:
- Sidney Crosby (concussion) was taken off the IR and made his season debut (did you hear about that?)
- Zbynek Michalek (finger) came back earlier than expected by a week and returned to the lineup tonight
- Brian Strait (elbow) is day to day at this point.
- Ben Lovejoy (wrist) will be out for at least 6 weeks still
- Dustin Jeffrey is expected to take the next 2 weeks to continue rehabbing his knee for strength and was placed on the IR
Random Notes:
- This was just the 3rd game out of the last 103 that the Pens played with Crosby, Staal, and Malkin
- The Penguins are only 6-6-1 against Eastern Conference teams this season
- Joe Vitale was scratched with Crosby’s return to the lineup
- This was the first home game (out of 9) that James Neal did not score a goal
- Crosby has 21 4pt nights since he entered the league, tops in the NHL
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| Expect to see a lot more of these celebrations! |
Random Thoughts:
- Another detail lost in Crosby’s return was the return of Zbynek Michalek. Michalek made a huge impact on the defense, just in fixing the pairings. There is a significant comfort level seen with Orpik/Letang and Michalek/Martin, so expect to see the poor defense of the past 2 weeks fade away
- WOW SIDNEY CROSBY
- I was happy to see that the Pens did not bother dressing Steve MacIntyre for Crosby’s return. There is enough team toughness in this group and I’m starting to question why we even bothered signing him.
- The chemistry shown in all 4 lines and the 3 D pairings tonight was phenomenal and makes this team one of the hardest to beat aside from the talent.
Takeaways:
1) Crosby, Crosby, Crosby. I seriously just want to type Crosby for the next 6 lines here. It’s amazing how well the Penguins have done without him over the course of almost a year and it’s nearly impossible to figure out how well they may do with him back in the lineup. As it stands, the sky is the limit for this team, especially if Crosby plays with the fire he showed tonight and last season. After a 4 point night, he is only 25 points behind league leader Phil Kessel. Sounds kinda ridiculous to say he can do it…but so does a 4 point night after 11 months on the IR. The kid isn’t even in his prime years yet…
2) Depth. With the centers healthy and the additions of Neal, Sullivan, Park, Niskanen, and Picard over the past year, the Penguins have an amazing amount of depth right now. They essentially have 2 first lines in Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis and Sullivan-Malkin-Neal, and then a 2nd line in Cooke-Staal-Kennedy. Add in that 4th line of Asham-Park-Adams, and the Penguins are tough to play against in any situation. Oh, not to mention D pairings of Letang-Orpik, Michalek-Martin (both potentially 1st line pairings), and Engelland-Niskanen as the 3rd. This doesn’t include Jeffrey or Vitale at forward, or Lovejoy or Picard on defense. Ray Shero has truly done an amazing job assembling this type of depth under the salary cap.
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| That's an unbelievable group of 3 to trot out every night. |
3) Health. Well, as we all know, this is the first time we can get excited with the team mostly healthy. Tonight’s lineup was pretty much the forecasted every day lineup, except maybe Lovejoy in on some nights. It will be fun to watch what this lineup can do for a few weeks as they grow together. I suggest a little hesitation in getting too excited though. The team hasn’t been able to stay healthy, so personally, I’m holding my breath for the next injury. Luckily, we have the depth and the system to handle it. If we do stay healthy, look out NHL.
Pens Record: 12-6-3, 27 pts.
Goals For: 65
Goals Against: 50
PP %: 19% (17 for 90)
PK %: 89% (60 for 67)
Next Game: 11/23 vs StL, 7pm LET’S GO PENS
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