Main Storylines:
- The Pens have won 7 in a row heading into tonight against the Panthers
- Evgeni Malkin’s next point will be his 500th in the NHL
- Two droughts to watch: James Neal has gone 8 games without a goal, since the day before he signed his contract extension. Also, the powerplay has not scored a goal since Letang went out a week ago.
- Paul Martin looks to be out with an “illness” and Simon Despres has been called up to replace him in the lineup. Before you cheer wildly, here’s a stat for you: Martin is a +6 since he was split up from Michalek (who is a +7 in that time).
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| Welcome back to the NHL, Simon! |
Result:
Pens 2 Panthers 1 (SO)
Goals: Sullivan (14) from Staal, Dupuis
SO Goals: Neal, Malkin
The Good:
- The Pens tie their season high win streak with their 8th in a row! This was also their 8th win this season when trailing after 2 periods, tying Tampa Bay for the league lead. The last time the Pens had this many come from behind victories was in 08-09, when they set the franchise record at 11. We all remember 08-09….
- Evgeni Malkin scored his 8th shootout goal of the season (tying the franchise high for a season w/ Crosby and Christensen). Remember when he was bad at those? His was also the 100th shootout goal in franchise history. Hooray stats that don’t count for anything!
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| Shame it couldn't be his 500th point though. |
Marc-Andre Fleury – Consol broke out into a total of one “Fleeeurrry” chant tonight. Weak, crowd, weak. MAF was a stud in net as usual, stopping 28 of 29 shots and stopping both shootout shots that he faced. When the Pens couldn’t get anything going in the first period, Flower did his work as usual. He may not have had any “spectacular” saves tonight, but one might argue that he’s been so solid positionally that he doesn’t have to as much anymore. FLEURY FLEURY FLEURY!!!
Jordan Staal – Staal assisted on Sullivan’s goal to extend his point streak to a career high 7 games. He was 15 for 20 in the faceoff circle and he’s definitely the key ingredient to a “2nd line” that is playing some dominant hockey right now. Staal’s hands look quick, his skating is strong, and his reach is unbeatable right now. Just think about how many teams could use him as a #1 center right now. (I do take away from him a little for losing Fleischmann on the only Panthers goal though, bad Jordan, bad.)
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| Look at the intensity, the reach, the wonder that is Jordan Staal. |
Orpik/Michalek – I can’t emphasize the great play of this pairing enough as of late. They combined for 4 shots, 8 blocks, 5 hits, and played the full PK time. Michalek logged 28 minutes and Orpik played 25. You really can’t ask for any more out of these 2 defensemen right now. Also, give Orpik a lot of credit for helping Fleury on the partial breakaway stop. Orpik’s persistence made it impossible for the shooter to make a move or do anything but take a shot into Fleury’s pads. Textbook defense in that situation.
The Bad:
- Winning is awesome, but the shootouts may hurt the Pens in the end. This was the 9th shootout victory for the Pens this season. The tiebreaker is non-SO wins. Since we’re chasing the Rangers, note that NY has 39 non-SO wins and the Pens only have 32. Yeah, losing that tiebreaker. So while the Pens are only 4 points behind the Rangers, they might as well be 5 points out of first place.
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| A win's a win...except in the NHL. |
- Matt Niskanen’s ability to hit the net. On 5 attempts he had 1 shot on net and 4 go wide. Normally I wouldn’t make a big deal out of this, but a couple of those misses led to breakouts by the Panthers that hurt the Penguins momentum wise in a close game.
- The first line. Malkin led the team in giveaways, Neal looked like he was pressing a bit, and Kunitz doesn’t seem to be able to contribute as much when the other 2 are off. This line has definitely gone quiet for the time being. Give Kunitz some credit though, he was a machine with stick lifts and disrupting plays in the defensive end at least.
The Ugly:
- Neal’s goalless streak extends to 9 games. Neal looks like he’s trying to be too cute with the puck and trying to be overly impressive. He needs to just relax and simplify his game. His shot totals are dropping each game and I’d love to see him get back to just putting the puck on net.
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| Relax!!! |
- Meanwhile, the powerplay continues to be worthless without Letang. This has combined poorly with Neal's streak of course. One thing to note though is that Malkin has stopped taking the full 2 minutes on powerplays. The Pens trotted out a 2nd PP line of Cooke-Staal-Kennedy, with Dupuis-Despres on the points. Let me spell that out (no offense to Staal and Dupuis who have been scoring very well), but that's 3 defensive guys who are great PKers, a rookie defenseman, and TK who is more likely to hit a fan in the upper level than score right now. Forget the first PP line, the 2nd has to contribute at some point as well.
- The referees. I’ll give them credit, they were at least consistent in calling nothing all game, but how is that going to help anything in the game of hockey? Less PPs, less scoring, more obstruction, TALK ABOUT EXCITING!!
Thoughts:
- As I mentioned, the first line is struggling a bit right now. I would love to see them broken up, but without touching Dupuis-Staal-Sullivan. The impetus for this will likely be Crosby’s return. It’s time to get over the idea that the line cannot be broken up though. Keep Neal and Malkin together, but find a spark plug in that 3rd spot (Cooke or Kennedy temporarily maybe?)
- Simon Despres was impressive in his return to Pittsburgh. The thing that surprises me every time I see him play is just the sheer poise he shows in his game despite youth and lack of experience. He looks and acts like he’s been there and plays with an incredible amount of confidence. He’s ready to be here full time.
- Along with Despres, the whole defense has been stepping up a lot on the offensive side. They combined for 8 shots on net and 8 missed shots as well, but hey, can’t score if you don’t shoot. The only concern is the odd man breaks it may create (see: Michalek’s shot that was blocked and went for a partial breakaway). If the D can be patient and smart, they will help a lot with the secondary scoring at this rate.
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| The downside to an active defense. |
- Now begins the most intense part of Crosby watch as we wait to learn when he will come back. He promised a day’s notice, so maybe we will hear tomorrow. Personally, I would like to see Crosby wait another week. The next 4 games: Boston at home, then on the road for NYR, NJ, and Philly for 3 games in 4 days. After that, home against Wpg and Nash before going to Ott. My point is this: Sid will still need to get up to game speed – practice only gets you so far. Let him get up to game speed against lesser opponents, not those that want to decapitate him. Just my two cents.
Pens Record: 41-21-5, 87 pts, 2nd in the Atlantic, 4th in the East
Next Game: 3/11 vs Bos, 12:30pm
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