Pens 2 Caps 1
Goals: Adams (2) from Asham, Park
Kunitz (9) from Kennedy, Despres
Top 3:
1) Evgeni Malkin. Though it didn’t show up on the score sheet, Malkin was a beast on the ice and took control of the play every time he was on the ice. He was very poised with the puck, and made some dazzling stick-handling moves, though he couldn’t find a way to put the puck past Vokoun, who was very strong in net. Malkin led the team with 7 shots, and still managed to play his best defensive game of the season.
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2) Deryk Engelland. Regardless of how Ovechkin’s start has gone, being the main guy on him is still a task and a half, and Engelland did a great job to step up to it. He didn’t give Ovechkin much time or space when they faced each other. Overall, Engelland led the team with 4 blocked shots while playing 22:45, 2nd on the team to Paul Martin. He deserved the ice time tonight for sure.
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| You shall not pass! |
3) Chris Kunitz. Honorable mention to Despres and Kennedy, who both won puck battles to get the puck to Kunitz, but 3rd on my list goes to Kunitz for winning his own battle on the play and rifling the puck basically through Vokoun for the game winner. He also played very strong on the boards after a lackluster effort in the last game, and blocked 2 shots in the defensive zone.
Bottom 3:
1) Matt Niskanen. The only goal against was almost solely on Niskanen, as he missed the icing touchup on the way back and then got caught pinching on the 3rd forward against the boards. He was completely out of position for a 2 on 1 on Orpik, where the Caps beat Fleury to tie the game. Aside from that awful shift, Niskanen played decently, though his shots are not hitting the net with the accuracy they had earlier in the season.
2) Sidney Crosby. Crosby played a very pedestrian game for himself and had a horrible faceoff night. He was the worst on the team in giveaways (2) and went 6 for 22 (28%) in faceoffs. He was pretty quiet throughout the night, getting a couple of scoring chances, but not creating anything all that dazzling as we have expected out of him. I imagine he’ll come back strong on Saturday.
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| Shave it, Shave it now Sid! |
3) Matt Cooke. Cooke didn’t really do anything wrong, but the team played so well that I had trouble figuring out the last spot for the Bottom 3. He simply did not add much extra for the Penguins, taking a couple of shots and taking on roughly a minute of PK time. Any criticism of him is really a stretch, but someone has to be 3rd worst!
Injury Report:
- Brian Strait (elbow) is day to day
- Ben Lovejoy (wrist) will be out for at least 5 more weeks
- Dustin Jeffrey is on the IR as he rehabs his knee
- Steve MacIntyre is on the IR for a lingering upper body injury
- Kris Letang sat out for the 2nd straight now and is both sick and has concussion like symptoms
- Zbynek Michalek also sat out his 2nd straight game with concussion like symptoms
Random Notes:
- Sent down Picard and called up Simon Despres, who made his NHL debut
- Despres picked up his first career NHL point, an assist on Kunitz’s goal in the 3rd
- The Pens went 17-37 in faceoffs, with Malkin doing the best at 3 for 8 (37.5%)
- The official 3 stars were: 1) Martin, 2) Chimera, 3) Ovechkin. Umm…what???
Random Thoughts:
- I liked how Picard was playing, especially with Bortuzzo, so I don’t really understand that move
- I made Picard and Vitale 2 of my top 3 last game, and neither played tonight…why do you read this?
- This was not a Capitals team I expect to see at any point again in the future. There is too much talent to not rebound soon, but you surely couldn’t see it in their performance tonight
Takeaways:
1) Depth Wins Out. The Penguins’ 4th line was spectacular in their limited time on the ice tonight. The line as a whole got approximately 8 minutes or so on the ice together, but had the puck in the offensive zone every shift. For all of the talk about how the top 3 lines, centered by Crosby, Malkin, and Staal will wear down the other team, the 4th line took advantage of it and had a clear advantage in their matchups. They were well rewarded with the Adams goal to start the scoring.
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| Secondary scoring FTW |
2) Not Opportunistic Enough. Though it was a solid win, the Penguins could have done more with this game. Getting 35 shots is great, but only 2 goals takes away from it. The Capitals turned it over 16 times officially, though I believe it was probably more than that. That many opportunities to go the other way have to be capitalized on better. In a game like this, against a rival like the Caps, the Pens have to work on putting the other team away. One shot or crazy bounce could have sent that one to overtime for no reason.
3) Welcome to the NHL. Simon Despres made his NHL debut and looked solid aside from a shift or 2. He had a couple of bad turnovers behind the net, one leading to him taking a penalty, but he looked very comfortable in a fast paced game. Despres is very confident in stepping up on the puck outside of the zone which will be a big key on the powerplay in the future for him. Overall, he finished with an assist and a +2 in 10:30 of ice time. That will grow if he can keep up this level of play.
Pens Record: 15-7-4, 34 pts.
Goals For: 82
Goals Against: 64
PP %: 19% (20 for 108)
PK %: 90% (79 for 88)
Next Game: 12/3 @ Car, 7pm LET’S GO PENS!!!
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