Pens 6 Sens 3
Goals: Kunitz (8) from Crosby, Engelland
Kennedy (3) from Martin, Fleury
Sullivan (4) (PP) from Malkin, Crosby
Malkin (7) from Letang, Crosby
Dupuis (5) from Asham, Kennedy
Staal (11) from Kennedy, Martin
Top 3:
1) Tyler Kennedy. TK has quietly put together a very impressive comeback from his short absence due to a concussion. He scored a very odd goal, putting it in off of Anderson’s feet from behind the net, and also added 2 assists on the night. With the lineup back at full strength, Kennedy has excelled at playing his spark plug/scrapper role, averaging around 14-15 minutes and chasing the puck all over the ice.
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| Who invited this guy? |
2) Evgeni Malkin. Malkin looked very impressive tonight, especially on his goal, where he took an awkward bounce and weaved between a bunch of Senators before ripping a wrist shot past Anderson. He frequently found himself on the point during powerplays and in the course of the game when Letang went in deep, and he looked comfortable and worked the puck well from these spots. This is a massive improvement from last year when he looked very shaky at best when covering on the blue line. |
3) Zbynek Michalek. Michalek quietly played a very strong game in what turned to be quite a high scoring game. He had a couple of takeaways and led the team with 5 blocked shots. It’s nice to see that after breaking his finger while blocking a shot, he hasn’t shied away from getting in front of the puck. Michalek also played almost 6 minutes on the penalty kill, helping them greatly in keeping Ottawa out of the game.
Bottom 3:
1) Joe Vitale. Vitale was key in faceoffs, going 8 for 10. Aside from that though, I was not thrilled with his play. As he fights with Richard Park for the last dressing spot on a nightly basis, I expect Vitale to provide few mistakes and a lot of energy. Instead, he took a bad penalty and was pretty invisible during the game. He’s going to have to improve his consistency if he wants to stay in the lineup regularly.
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| He may have left his feet on this one... |
2) Matt Niskanen. Niskanen didn’t play horrible, but definitely looked out of sync with his coverage in the corners at times. He was hesitant to take skaters moving out of the corners in conjunction with the forwards. Niskanen and Engelland blatantly made bad reads on the 3rd goal by Ottawa.
3) Deryk Engelland. Engelland gets to be here with his defensive partner, though he made a great play to skate the puck up and assist on Kunitz’s goal in the 1st period. Engelland is generally slow to get to players due to his overall size and stride, but he usually makes up for it with positioning. He was a little off tonight as he appeared to be out of sync with Niskanen. The pairing wasn’t horrible, but they just weren’t up to par tonight.
Injury Report:
- Brian Strait (elbow) is day to day
- Ben Lovejoy (wrist) will be out for at least 5 more weeks
- 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:
- Paul Martin played in his 500th game
Random Thoughts:
- How does Adams go in on a breakaway and slashing is called on Ottawa, but no penalty shot?
- I was very surprised Brent Johnson didn’t start this one so Fleury could start tomorrow
Takeaways:
1) Where did Bylsma’s system go? On both offense and defense, the Pens are making things more difficult on themselves. On defense, positioning has been off and all 5 players are chasing the puck a lot more. On offense, there is a lot more passing going on and things appear to be more complicated than necessary. The Pens need to get back to basics and get some of these scores down before they will be achieving their potential.
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| Retro Bylsma doesn't use systems |
2) Offensive Juggernaut. Offensive potential? Achieved. Sure, Craig Anderson looked horrible in net as the Penguins scored 4 on him in 10 minutes, but still, the Pens can do it. 12 players got into the act getting points, led by Crosby and Kennedy with 3 each. No team is going to want to get into a fire fight with this team, and Ottawa just found out why.
3) New Potential Lines. There was a big buzz about Dupuis playing center in this game and Staal moving to Malkin’s wing for a little bit as well. Dupuis looked solid at center, and certainly has the capability to handle the defensive responsibilities. It was also fun to see a line of Crosby-Malkin-Staal on the ice for a minute. I’d like to see the opposing coach who knows how to handle that.
Pens Record: 13-6-4, 30 pts.
Goals For: 73
Goals Against: 56
PP %: 19% (19 for 98)
PK %: 91% (69 for 76)
Next Game: 11/26 @ Mtl, 7:30pm LET’S GO PENS
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