Jets Get Burned, Pens win 8-5!

Main Storylines:

- While the team say goodbye to Tyler Kennedy for 4-6 weeks (high ankle sprain), they welcome Jordan Staal back to the lineup.  Staal is expected to center the 2^nd line with Cooke and Dupuis.  This also bumps Dustin Jeffrey over to wing.

Staal may be back, but life for Cooke is no different.

 - The Pens have lost 3 out of 4 so far in February and need to get back to winning before they lose ground on NJ and Philly in the standings.  They enter the game 1 point behind NJ for 5^th place and 4 points behind Philly for home ice.

- Evgeni Malkin is playing in his 400^th career game and has 480 points in his 399 so far.

Result:

Pens  8  Jets 5

Goals:  Jeffrey (3) from Staal, Letang

            Neal (29) from Malkin

            Kunitz (13) (PP) from Malkin, Fleury

            Letang (3) from Malkin, Kunitz

            Malkin (30) from Kunitz, Neal

            Park (5) from Orpik, Adams

            Staal (16) from Dupuis, Cooke

            Letang (4) (PP) from Malkin, Kunitz

                                             

The Good:

- OFFENSE: Holy crap, an 8 goal burst from the offense, led heavily by the first line (3 goals) and the powerplay (2 goals).  The Pens took advantage of the Jets’ propensity for using defensemen to push the play, going in on at least 10 odd man rushes and scoring on a few of them. 

- Richard Park got his 100^th career goal.  Talk about a long trip to 100 goals!

- Jordan Staal looked very strong on his skates coming off of his knee injury.  His goal and assist certainly helped his cause, but most importantly – he doesn’t look hampered at all in his skating.

Evgeni Malkin – Malkin is just a beast right now.  Another 5 point night (3^rd of the season) gave him a 5 point lead in the race for the Art Ross.  He is definitely putting himself into the MVP race, though the team as a whole will have to move up in the standings for him to get it.  Every single assist he had was a primary one, including a perfect faceoff win on Neal’s goal and a beautiful pass to set up a breakaway for Kunitz.

Pavelec never had a chance.

Chris Kunitz – Speaking of, Kunitz also put together a dazzling night, getting 4 points.  His work in front of the net continues to be superb as he does the dirty work for Neal and Malkin.  He was the perfect mix of grinder and play maker in this one.

The Bad:

- GOALTENDING:  Fleury was not at his best by any means.  He had issues staying in position, though he may have been overcompensating for a lackluster defensive effort.  His inability to stay square to the puck led to some odd goals, but it won’t be talked about when the offense puts up 8 for him.

Gotta get that pad down, MAF

The Ugly:

- DEFENSE:  The defense was just flat out awful all game.  Out of position, chasing pucks too far, it was like they were trying to play Winnipeg’s style.  Lucky for the pens, their offense is far more potent than Winnipeg’s. 

Brooks Orpik – Orpik looked lost through most of the afternoon, over-pursuing players and maybe getting caught up in the free flowing gameplay a little bit.  As he’s not an offensive guy, his positioning needs to be perfect to contribute, and it wasn’t there for this game.

Deryk Engelland – Engelland pretty much had the same problems Orpik did, except he was clearly getting out of position looking for hits.  He had 3 or 4 very nice hits early in the 1^st period, but most of them took him out of the play and he followed his men way too far trying to make an impact.  He was a -2 on the night because of that effort.

Cal O’Reilly – O’Reilly  essentially scored the 2^nd goal for the Thrashers, as a long shot from inside the blue line glanced off of his shins and past Fleury.  I fault him big time on this because he didn’t square up the puck to block it, but was in perfect position to only have a bad effect for Fleury.  He’s gotta be smarter as a center covering the front of the net.  It didn’t help him that Engelland was vastly out of position, putting him in that spot.

Thoughts:

- Whoever decided the Pens should wear blue against the Jets is an idiot.  I personally like the blue jerseys, but don’t wear them against a team whose primary color is blue and whose primary jersey looks quite similar.

- It was kinda surprising that neither goalie was pulled in a game that combined for 13 goals.  I really hope Brent Johnson starts the next game, a) to give Fleury a break and b) to show at least a little bit of confidence in having Johnson as a backup.

One of the 8 faces of disappointment from Pavelec. 

- While I enjoy seeing the team put up 8 goals, allowing 5 to the Jets is rather inexcusable.  The Pens got caught up in a run and gun game and let go of their system for most of the afternoon.  Hopefully it’s just a fad and not a trend, as the better teams in the East will absolutely feast on the Pens for playing like that.

- I hate to say it, but Tyler Kennedy was simply not missed at all in that game.  Makes me wonder if he might be within healthy scratch range when he’s healthy and if Crosby comes back around the same time.  His lack of impact on the powerplay and lack of PK skills don’t really add much to the lineup at this point.

Pens Record: 31-19-5, 67 pts, 3^rd in the Atlantic, 5^th in the East

Next Game:  2/12 vs Tb, 7pm