Red Wings 4 Penguins 1
Goals: Malkin (11) from Neal, Orpik
Top 3:
1) Evgeni Malkin. Despite not taking the gameday skate and being a gametime decision in the lineup, Geno played at a very high level, doing his best to take control of the game. He scored the only Penguins goal, and put 9 shots on Jimmy Howard, which was 1/3rd of the Pens shot total. The one downside to his game was the 4 for 20 faceoff performance as Malkin always struggles against Detroit there. Against a very stingy and careful Detroit team, Malkin at least made some waves.
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| The lone bright spot of the game. |
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2) James Neal. One thing that no one talks about when referring to Neal is his passing abilities. Yes, he’s 3rd in the league in goals, but he has a very strong ability to create and he showed it against Detroit. He made a beautiful pass to Malkin to set up his goal and also set up quite a few chances for other forwards, though no one finished. Neal’s playmaking was superb in this game, though it didn’t appear on the scoresheet.
3) Brooks Orpik. On to the 3rd part of the only goal, where Orpik blocked a shot with his chest before it got to Neal and up to Malkin. Orpik played a solid game, leading the team in both hits (4) and blocked shots (3). On what has become a very young and inexperienced blueline without Michalek and Letang, Orpik has provided a sturdy foundation for others (especially Despres) to learn from.
Bottom 3:
1) Matt Niskanen. Niskanen continued in his string of bad games, at fault for the first Wings goal where he got beat by a forechecker and the 2nd goal where he took the penalty that led to the Penguins being shorthanded (after turning the puck over in the Wings zone, mind you). He received a lot of powerplay time in this game and did manage 3 shots on net, but his offensive production surely didn’t make up for his lack of defense.
2) Jordan Staal. Staal was a gametime decision going into this game and definitely did not look 100% throughout. He couldn’t keep up with his coverage on what turned into a Wings 3 on 1 goal and he also led the team in turnovers. His faceoff % was solid as he went 70%, but faceoffs aren’t worth much when you can’t control the puck. Hopefully a couple days off will help him heal up his “lower body injury” fully.
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| Pictured: Not Jordan Staal covering his man. |
3) Jason Williams. Williams only received 10 minutes of ice time, but had a surprising 3 minutes on the powerplay, mostly on the top unit. He has a wicked shot, but couldn’t place it anywhere near the net as he missed wide 3 times. I realize he’s a short term call up, but if he’s going to receive valuable productivity time like that, he has to at least make some sort of impact.
Injury Report:
- Brian Strait (elbow) is getting close to returning and has been skating with the team
- Ben Lovejoy (wrist) is out 2-4 more weeks
- Dustin Jeffrey is on the IR as he rehabs his knee
- Kris Letang is on the IR with a concussion
- Zbynek Michalek is on the IR with a concussion but may play on Friday
- Richard Park is out 4-6 weeks with a broken foot
- Sidney Crosby is out with concussion like symptoms
- Robert Bortuzzo is out with concussion like symptoms
- Jordan Staal returned to the lineup after missing a game with a lower body injury
- Evgeni Malkin played despite missing the gameday skate with an unknown issue
Random Notes:
- Craig Adams played in his 700th game
- Marc-Andre Fleury made his first attempt at win #200 (which failed clearly)
Random Thoughts:
- The first period was like Game 1 of the Cup finals between these 2 teams…except at about 1/10th of the speed.
- Root Sports cut away to commercial during the Wings powerplay in the 3rd period where they scored to make it 2-1…horrible job by the production crew
- It’s going to be a long December with that injury report…
Takeaways:
1) Special Teams Must Step Up. The Pens went 1 for 2 on the penalty kill and 0 for 4 on the powerplay. These numbers are unacceptable against top teams, especially when the Penguins are a decimated team as it is. The penalty kill has fallen apart over the past few weeks as we’ve watched their kill rate drop away from the top spot. The powerplay has also fallen on hard times. These are the key moments and turning points in games that the Pens can’t afford to lose out on with a half-AHL roster.
2) Injuries are the Norm. At this point, it’s time to accept the Penguins will never have their full roster healthy. Many players are out indefinitely and the attitude has to change from “we’ll be great when everyone is back” to “this is what we have to win with.” Byslma did a great job with that mindset in the stretch run last year, but it’s going to be even more difficult with more key injuries this season. Here’s hoping he defends his Jack Adams trophy valiantly.
3) Time to Look for Garbage. The Pens have turned into a role player team more than a skill team with all of the injuries, and as such, they need to look for role player type goals. It’s time to stop getting fancy and look for the tic-tac-toe plays. Crashing the crease and scoring the garbage goals will be a big key for this team in surviving the next month or so. Winning the scrambles in front of the net are a must now.
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| These chances have to be capitalized on. |
Pens Record: 17-10-4, 38 pts.
Goals For: 95
Goals Against: 79
PP %: 17% (22 for 126)
PK %: 88% (98 for 112)
Next Game: 12/16 @ Ott, 7:30pm LET’S GO PENS!!!
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