Main Storylines:
- Brad Thiessen has returned to the team to back up Fleury again after Brent Johnson hurt himself in practice on Thursday. Expect a lot of rumors about trading for a backup goalie as we hit the trade deadline on Monday.
- Fresh off of his recent contract extension, James Neal will be the subject of the next NHL 36, which is the NHL’s show that follows a player for 36 hours in HBO’s 24/7 style. Cameras will be following him around this weekend. The episode will air for the first time on March 7th, at 6:30 on NBC Sports Network.
- Orpik is returning to action after missing a game with an upper body injury. Lovejoy goes back to his normal spot as a healthy scratch.
Result:
Pens 8 Lightning 1
Goals: Kunitz (17) from Malkin, Neal
Cooke (12) from Vitale, Michalek
Staal (20) (SH), unassisted
Staal (21) (PP) from Sullivan, Neal
Malkin (34) from Kunitz, Engelland
Malkin (35) from Niskanen
Malkin (36) (PP) from Neal, Sullivan
Dupuis (14) from Staal, Sullivan
The Good:
- The Pens put up a ridiculous 8 goals for the 3rd time this season, absolutely demolishing the Lightning in the process. Only 2 players were not a plus on the day. 11 players figured into the scoring.
- Bounces were simply amazing for the Pens, starting with Cooke’s goal, where the puck bounced in the air and landed right on his stick in the slot. It continued as Jordan Staal got a short-handed breakaway goal because a linesman kicked the puck to him and then interfered with Hedman. The Pens got a lot of weird breaks in this one.
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| Better believe Staal was laughing about the assist from the linesman. |
- The powerplay was a perfect 2 for 2, scoring on a 4 on 3 and a 5 on 4 chance.
- A shoutout to Eric Tangradi here, who played a very solid 10 minutes, using his body to maintain puck possession and dishing out 3 hits.
- Another strong game by mostly everyone, so I’ll just highlight a choice few:
Evgeni Malkin – A year ago, Bruce Boudreau told his locker room that Malkin could be knocked off of his game easily if you hit him a few times. A year ago, that was true. Today, Dwayne Roloson shoved Malkin in the face. Today, Malkin scored 3 goals and added an assist to humiliate Tampa Bay and demonstrate to the league that he is the leading candidate for MVP.
Marc-Andre Fleury – Lost in all of the goal support was the fact that Fleury had a marvelous game, stopping 3 breakaways in the 2nd period and making 34 saves overall. His athleticism and reaction time were on display all game. His numbers may not be pure in suggesting a Vezina nomination, but anyone who has watched him play or watched his highlight reel today realizes that he deserves the credit.
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| Fleury looking the puck directly into his pads, just like on the other 3 breakaways too. |
Brooks Orpik – Day to day with a body injury turned into Orpik putting up a team leading +3 with a team leading 5 blocked shots. He was positionally sound all game, and honestly, I didn’t notice him most of the game, which is a huge compliment to his play. He began the game with Michalek and they were paired mostly against Stamkos who put up a big 0 points. So kudos to Orpik on a strong return after a game off.
- Also exceptional games from Staal (2g, 1a), Sullivan (3a), and Neal (3a)
The Bad:
- Though it was a strong game by Fleury, and a great game by the offense, the defense had its issues at times, namely allowing 4 breakaways on Fleury. Thanks to the stellar goalie, none led to a goal. However, Martin/Letang were on for 3 of those, and Martin/Michalek was the pairing for the 4th. Martin did have some good shifts, so I won’t beat him up here, but you do the math.
The Ugly:
- Nothing to report here again!
Thoughts:
- Not only has Malkin’s play improved, but I am very impressed with his maturity. As I mentioned in the good, he is no longer thrown off by frequent attacks, but it now fuels him to play better. That’s a very Crosby-like way to handle things and it speaks a lot to Malkin’s character right now.
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| Malkin simply staring down Roloson after his 1st goal. |
- As impressive as Malkin looked, give some credit to Tampa’s defense for being awful, especially on Malkin’s Lemieux-like highlight reel 2nd goal. I take nothing away from Geno, it was an amazing goal. But watching the replays, he had his head down watching the puck for most of his stick-handling. Eric Lindros used to do that too… Had any of the Lightning defenders had the awareness or guts to knock Malkin off the puck, that goal doesn’t come close to happening. If Scott Stevens is defending him, Malkin is probably concussed.
- Kris Letang had 0 points tonight. How often do you think Letang will put up 0 points in a game where the Pens score 8 goals? I’m still kinda surprised by it.
- After the Pens went up 3-0, I was hoping a little bit that Thiessen would go in for Fleury just to get some time in. I realize that was unrealistic, but I really hope Thiessen gets the start tomorrow against Columbus. Shero shouldn’t go into the deadline without at least getting one more look at what we have at backup goalie.
- Thank you Dwayne Roloson for bringing all of that upon yourself.
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| I see the issue Roloson...you should probably try looking at the puck. |
Pens Record: 35-21-5, 75 pts, 2nd in the Atlantic, 4th in the East (with Philly playing tonight still)
Next Game: 2/26 vs Cls, 1pm
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