Pens 6 Avs 3
Goals: Jordan Staal (9) from Kennedy, Engelland
Pascal Dupuis (4) from Adams, Asham
Brooks Orpik (1) from Malkin, Neal
Evgeni Malkin (5) from Neal
James Neal (12) (PP) from Sullivan, Letang
Kris Letang (2) from Staal, Vitale
Top 3:
1) James Neal. Neal continues to make his case for early team MVP as he had a 3 point night, assisting on both the game-tying goal and the game winner, and adding insurance on his own. He has shown a great knack for passing the puck into open space and then getting into open space himself, made even more impressive by the attention he is getting for his hot start. There is no question as we approach the quarter season mark that Neal is the team’s offensive MVP.
2) Evgeni Malkin. Malkin put together back to back strong games (a rarity over the past 2 years it seems), scoring a phenomenal goal for the game winner. Malkin completely undressed rookie Gabriel Landeskog and then Semyon Varlamov to completely take it out of the Avs in the 3rd period. He was over 50% in the faceoff circle, and had a rare game where he had no giveaways. Geno appears to be hitting his stride with the way he is playing right now.
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| Celebrating his goals in style. |
3) Jordan Staal. Staal got the Penguins scoring started with his 9th goal of the season in the first period when things were looking bleak. We saw the Cooke-Staal-Kennedy line reunited, which created a lot of energy for the team as those 3 never seem to miss a beat. Kennedy looked very comfortable in his return playing alongside those 2. Staal also looked strong on the PK as usual and continues to show growth as an overall player this year.
Bottom 3:
1) Deryk Engelland. Engelland had a very strong start to the game, getting a takeaway and blocking on shot on his first 2 shifts, but things went down from there. He was frequently caught flat-footed and out of position by the young, quick Avs forwards. On the first goal of the game, Engelland was caught in no man’s land, trying to cover 2 guys but really covering 0 and showing a hesitancy that cost him positioning. His game seems to change vastly based on who he is paired with, looking his worst with the next guy on my list…
2) Brooks Orpik. Orpik had an uncharacteristically bad game right off the bat. He was absolutely undressed by Matt Duchene on the Avs 2nd goal, and was also caught out of position frequently in this one. He did score an odd goal, taking a shot from the point that glanced off a defenseman’s skate and in. In general though, his defensive play was below average, and he appears to play his worst with Engelland.
3) Steve Sullivan. For all of the great things Sullivan does with his puck possession and patience, I am getting frustrated with his decision making. He made a beautiful pass to Neal to set up the 5th goal, but aside from that, it feels like he makes the wrong decision on pass/shoot every time. He defers to the pass far too frequently no matter where he is on the ice, which is costing him some great scoring chances from the faceoff dots and around the slot. For a man who is struggling to score, I’d like to see him get it to the net more frequently than he is currently doing.
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| "I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THIS!! LOUD NOISES!!" |
Injury Report:
- Tyler Kennedy (concussion) returned to the lineup tonight and took a regular shift on the 3rd line
- Steve Sullivan (lower body) came back after missing a game
- Sidney Crosby (concussion) remains out indefinitely with no new news (every next home game is the next guess)
- Zbynek Michalek (finger) remains out for a few more weeks, but has been skating
- Brian Strait (elbow) has also been skating, but remains a couple of weeks away
- Ben Lovejoy (wrist) will be out at least 6 weeks, most likely more
Random Notes:
- Orpik scored his 1st goal in 63 games
- Malkin scored his 1st goal at home since Crosby got hurt (just think about that)
Random Thoughts:
- A little shoutout to Dupuis, who is quietly putting together a very strong and consistent season even without Sid. Everyone talks about how Kunitz is doing fine without Crosby for now, but Dupuis should be earning the same praise with his current play.
Takeaways:
1) Who Needs 60 Minutes. Although this could easily turn into a bad habit, the Penguins showed they have the talent to essentially play 1 strong period of hockey and win. Ideally, this never happens again, but the Avs outplayed the Pens thoroughly in the first period, the teams were pretty even in the 2nd, and the Penguins dominated the 3rd period to get a 3 goal win. This goes strongly against the effort that any coach would want, but it’s nice to see the team has the ability to do that. Additionally, this was already the 3rd time the Pens came back from a 2 goal deficit (and the 2nd time they won). The Pens did that 0 times last year.
2) Mature Flower. After Fleury had allowed 3 goals in the first period, my thoughts were to pull him and send Johnson in. Fleury looked a little off in the 1st, overcompensating on shots and not controlling his rebounds. Dan Bylsma is a much smarter man than I, and kept Fleury in to stop every shot the rest of the way. In previous years, a bad period for Fleury often led to a bad game and a crushing goal as the team started to come back. In this game, Fleury looked much stronger and settled in the 2nd and 3rd, notably so after he stopped Duchene’s semi-breakaway. Fleury’s consistency may be on the rise finally.
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| Apparently, working on his checking game as well. |
3) Room to Grow. As can be expected with the awful first period, we know that this team still has some areas to improve in. Despite leading the East with 25 points, the team needs to get better on team defense or they will be completely exploited by the top teams in the league. Additionally, the powerplay is starting to fade off it appears (1 for its last 12), as the Penguins have gotten very stationary when moving the puck. It’s time to correct these bad habits before we fall back into last year’s shortcomings.
Pens Record: 11-4-3, 25 pts.
Goals For: 57
Goals Against: 43
PP %: 21% (16 for 77)
PK %: 94% (49 for 52)
Next Game: 11/17 @ TB, 7:30pm LET’S GO PENS!!!
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