Panthers 3 Pens 2
Goals: Kunitz (7) from Dupuis
Staal (10) from Dupuis, Niskanen
Top 3:
1) Pascal Dupuis. Dupuis put together his best all-around game of the season, getting 2 assists and getting in the middle of all the action all night. Dupuis picked off a couple of passes going back into the defensive zone and was a beast on the penalty kill tonight. Though a generally consistent player, he certainly appears at his best when playing with Chris Kunitz on the other wing. Hopefully we won’t see him relegated to the 4th line too much with play like this.
2) Jordan Staal. Staal continues to impress this season, scoring his 10th goal of the season already. It appears he has adjusted to playing better defensive pairings and he looks much more confident with the puck. After a misplay that led to a goal in the last game, Staal looked like his normal sure-handed self in the defensive zone tonight. He is turning into a big spark plug for this team.
3) Alexandre Picard. Picard quietly put together a very good game, basically doing his job when he was needed. He was a +2 on the night and was dependable in coverage in the defensive end. With the defense putting together some of its worst performances over the past 2 weeks, it’s good to see Picard is improving within Bylsma’s system.
Bottom 3:
1) Deryk Engelland. The lack of defensive awareness that Engelland has shown continues to amaze me this season. He lost track of the man he should be covering in front of the net a few times and seems to forget that his head should be on a swivel in the defensive zone. He might be suffering from the loss of Lovejoy as a partner more than the whole team is right now.
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| Great defensive coverage here... |
2) Evgeni Malkin. Malkin played an oddly low amount of time in this game, only getting 18 minutes on the ice. He was horrible in the faceoff circle, going 4 for 16. He continued to get the puck to the net with 6 shots, but some of those are going to have to go in at some point, right? I am beginning to get concerned that if the puck does not go in for him soon, the frustration he is building up might kill someone.
3) Kris Letang. Letang managed to be the only minus on the team (2 powerplay goals against helps). He didn’t play all that bad, though his shooting accuracy was off tonight as he missed the net a few times. Letang seems to be pressing a little with the defense struggling and it is taking him off of his game a bit. It would help if the pairings stayed the same from game to game probably, but he’s going to have to learn to deal with it and relax.
Injury Report:
- Sidney Crosby (concussion) did not play in Florida. But he makes his return Monday vs. NYI!!!
- Zbynek Michalek (finger) remains out for 2-3 more weeks.
- Brian Strait (elbow) also remains out 2-3 more weeks.
- 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
Random Notes:
- The Penguins dropped to 5-6-1 against Eastern Conference teams this year
- This was the first losing Dad’s trip that the Pens have had.
Takeaways:
1) Down goes the PK. The penalty kill had another off night, letting in 2 more goals. The problem as of late has been that opposing teams are actually getting the puck to the crease area, and getting open men in that area, leading to essentially chaos and goals. The Pens were doing a great job earlier in the season keeping the puck to the perimeter and allowing only outside shots. They are going to have to start pushing things to the outside again to get the PK back on track.
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| They've killed Johnson! |
2) Poor Brent Johnson. Brent Johnson started his 6th game (5th on the road) and had his record drop to 1-3-2. He isn’t playing all that bad, but has certainly struggled in penalty kill situations and has gotten very little help from his team this season. This is the exact opposite of what last fall was for him. He’s still a very dependable back up, so don’t get too caught up in his win-loss numbers.
3) Demise of the 4th line. The first month of the season was filled with excitement about Richard Park, Joe Vitale, and basically anyone on the 4th line who played like they were on the 1st. As the 4th liners have slowed down in production, the Penguins have slowed down in overall play. They’ve now lost 3 out of their past 4 (all against the southeast division), and could use a spark from the 4th line again to get going. If nothing else, the 4th line has to be more capable defensively and not be a liability for the Penguins to succeed.
Pens Record: 11-6-3, 25 pts.
Goals For: 60
Goals Against: 50
PP %: 19% (16 for 86)
PK %: 89% (55 for 62)
Next Game: 11/21 vs NYI, 7pm LET’S GO PENS
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