Sunday, March 18, 2012

Streak Ends at 11, Pens Lose in OT

Main Storylines:
- The Pens have won 11 in a row, the best streak in the NHL this season and the longest streak since their own 12 game streak last year.  If they win today, they will be the first franchise in the NHL to have 3 win streaks of at least 12 games.

- Fleury starts in back to back games, Asham is back in after missing yesterday’s game and Vitale sits for him.  Tangradi stays in the lineup. 

- Milestone-wise, Staal and Dupuis are looking to continue career high streaks (currently 10 and 5 game point streaks respectively).  Meanwhile, every goal Dupuis and Cooke score from here on out will be a new career high.

Result:
Flyers  3  Pens 2 (OT)
Goals:  Adams (5) from Letang, Dupuis
            Malkin (41) from Letang
               
The Good:
- Milestones:  Dupuis extended his career high point streak to 6 games. 

- Geno’s goal was a great demonstration of strength and patience, has he rolled off of Giroux in the corner and took the puck across the crease until Bryzgalov lifted his pad for Malkin to slide it through.  Vintage NHL 94 goal right there.

Craig Adams – Adams only played 10 minutes, with 4 of those being on the penalty kill, but his time was very efficient and useful.  He basically set himself up for the first goal by crushing Simmonds in the corner and keeping the puck in the zone.  He somehow led the team with 6 hits and was pretty much a force on every shift he played.
Playoff effort from Adams in this game.
Kris Letang – Letang played an outstanding game offensively and defensively.  He assisted on both Pens goals and was huge in the physical game.  The highlight of his day might have been crushing Jagr, and then knocking over Hartnell when he came after Letang (resulting in Hartnell high sticking his own teammate Rinaldo in the face).  Letang finished 2nd on the team with 6 shots and also added 2 blocks.  His ability to break up passes was clutch today.

The Bad:
- Staal’s point streak ended at 10, along with the Pens win streak at 11.  The Flyers ended the Pens streak at 12 last year as well.

- Quite a few bad penalties in this one.  Kunitz with an unnecessary cross-checking penalty earlier in the game, and though I loved him attacking Hartnell, he’s lucky it didn’t lead to a Flyers powerplay.  Malkin also had a couple of bad ones as well.  If we remain stuck in a 4-5 matchup with the Flyers, the team that stays disciplined will have a great advantage in this rivalry.
Hartnell was a major catalyst in this game.  The Pens simply can't allow that.
- The Flyers scoring with .9 seconds left in OT.  Unfortunately, Hartnell was Crosby’s guy and the whole team got caught up puck watching at the end.  Crosby knew that was his mistake, and expect that to drive him even harder.

- The puck possession and shooting for the Pens was outstanding in the first 2 periods.  However, lack of finishing kept the Flyers in the game the whole time.  No matter how dominant this team can be, they can’t afford to leave teams in the game when they are dominating the play.  Give Bryzgalov a lot of credit for handling the onslaught to keep the Flyers in it.
Bryzgalov's play as of late has the Flyers catching up to the Pens.
The Ugly:
- The reffing left a lot to be desired at times, and not just for the Pens sake.  Both teams had penalties not called and the Kunitz/Hartnell wrestling debacle should never occur in a hockey game.  The refs didn’t have much control in this one.  If these teams meet in the playoffs, everyone better hope that the refs take control early and often, or there will be some injuries from ugly plays.

Thoughts:
- As the powerplay experiment continues with Crosby back in the lineup, I have to wonder if leaving them out as long as 1:30 to 2 minutes each time isn’t a problem. There is a lot of skill on that line, but powerplay goals need to be ugly sometimes, and putting in the 2nd powerplay to wear down the other team’s PK might help every so often.  Also, when that line knows they can stay out for 2 minutes, I wonder if it kills some of the urgency to get shots on early and quickly in a powerplay. 

- Asham and Tangradi only played 4 and 5 minutes respectively.  I was rather surprised against a bigger/grittier team that those two did not get more ice time.  This was also a big factor in how slow the Penguins looked for much of the 3rd period.  The role players certainly didn’t get out to rest the big guys much in the 3rd game in 4 days. 

- My heart rate cannot handle a 7 game series with the Flyers in the first round.  It really is a shame that at least one Atlantic team is guaranteed to be knocked out in Round 1.  All of the teams are very strong and that 4-5 matchup is going to deny the NHL a very strong team in the 2nd round.

- It sucks to see the win streak end, but if you told me a month ago that the Pens would take 5 out of 6 points on a 3 games in 4 days road trip that went through NY, NJ, and Philly, I would have bet heavily against it.  So, kudos to the Pens for putting their work in, it’s time to start a new streak with Crosby’s return to home ice on Tuesday.  After he was on for that last goal, my meaningless prediction is expect a goal out of him on Tuesday night.
When Crosby is at fault, he usually comes out on fire...look for it on Tues.

Pens Record: 44-21-6, 94 pts, 2nd in the Atlantic, 4th in the East
Next Game:  3/20 vs Win, 7pm

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