Orpik-Martin Carry Penguins to a Win

Main Storylines:

• Marc-Andre Fleury is in net tonight (Vokoun is 5-12 lifetime against Ottawa)
• Lineup remains the same (Lovejoy paired with Engelland, Kennedy on 2nd line, Glass on 3rd, Tangradi on 4th)
• Senators goalie Craig Anderson enters this game with only 2 goals allowed in 3 games (83 saves on 85 shots)
• Daniel Alfredsson (flu) will sit out this game

Result:

Pens 2  Senators 1 (SO)

Goals:  Neal (4) from Malkin

ESPN Recap:  http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=400442540

Stats:

• Brooks Orpik had 9 blocked shots
• Joe Vitale was the only Penguin without a shot
• Evgeni Malkin recorded 4 takeaways
• Paul Martin played 30:26, Letang 29:10, and Orpik 28:28
• Sidney Crosby took 31 of 69 faceoffs in the game (Malkin only took 3 faceoffs in the 2nd and 3rd periods, going 3-0 after 1-6 in the 1st)

The Good:

Kids, this is how you play defense.

• Brooks Orpik:  Orpik played a tremendous game on defense for the Penguins, blocking 9 shots and playing 28:28.  His positioning when phenomenal and most of those blocked shots came as he forced opposing forwards to the outside, limiting their options.  It was truly a perfect textbook game of defense from Orpik.
• Paul Martin:  Martin continued his strong play this season, leading the team with 30:26 of ice time in the wake of Niskanen’s injury.  He looked very comfortable with the puck and was a good quarterback at the point for the 2nd powerplay.  Martin was only out of position once on defense in this game and had a very strong game overall.
• Marc-Andre Fleury:  Though he only stopped 1 of 3 shootout attempts, Fleury was a rock in net.  He made 31 saves on 32 shots including a point blank save on a 3 on 2 in the 2nd period and an awkward deflection off of Letang in the 3rd.  He had no scary puck control issues and positioned himself well throughout the game.

The Bad:

Malkin was taken down by the 3rd star of the game.

• Powerplay Line 1:  The top PP line looked dismal as they were unable to set themselves up comfortably or control cross-ice passes.  Ottawa was very aggressive on the PK against the top unit and Neal especially had trouble controlling the puck in such situations.  The Pens may want to dumb down the top powerplay and just focus on outside passes to get the PK to sit back a little before working towards movement and getting “lost” behind the play.
• (Malkin was almost here but redeemed himself with a very strong 3rd period)

  Oh, I hope someone's there. Ohhhh, livin' on a prayer." -- Evgeni Malkin's philosophy on passing this season.
  — Ken (@PensNation_Ken) January 27, 2013

The Ugly:

One of many bad puck decisions by Kunitz.

• Matt Niskanen Injury:  Niskanen left the game after the first period with a “lower body” injury. It looked like he went legs-first into the boards awkwardly but not to the point that any serious injury would occur.  Bylsma said he will re-evaluated on Monday in Pittsburgh.
• Chris Kunitz:  Kunitz’s slow start to the season continued as he had major puck control and turnover issues.  He was unable to properly run or assist breakouts from the defensive zone and he was knocked off the puck easily in the offensive zone.  While Crosby looked strong and creative tonight, some of it was wasted on Kunitz’s subpar play.  He’s been good away from the puck, just not good with it.

+/- Assessment:

• 1st GF (Neal): + for Tangradi (driving to the net), Malkin (pass), Neal (goal)
• 1st GA (Greening): - for Lovejoy (furthest Penguin in offensive zone), Malkin (turnover and misses puck on 2nd chance), Neal (skates at puck he can’t touch instead of backing away)
• Season +/-: http://www.crosbyftw.com/p/plusminus-spreadsheet.html

Thoughts:

Cooke's PK > even strength right now.

• New/Old Lines:  Half way through the game, TK returned to the 3rd line and Glass was promoted to the 2nd line.  Both lines improved greatly with the change and it looks like Glass may be the best fit next to Malkin for now.  Cooke has been very quiet without TK on the other wing and Sutter has looked rather uncomfortable lately after a strong first 2 games.  I think it’s best to keep Cooke-Sutter-TK intact as a 3rd line.
• Tangradi:  Tangradi had another solid game, earning a plus when he drove to the net on Neal’s goal.  Mind you, any competent forward would do the same thing and earn that plus, but he did it and that’s what matters.  Tangradi’s game seems to be improving bit by bit and I say give him the 4th line again on Tuesday.  He even played well enough to stay in over Jeffrey for Tuesday in my opinion.  Maybe he’s actually finding his place now.
• Team Defense:  Give a lot of credit to the Pens’ 5 defensemen and their work after Niskanen went out.  All of them logged more minutes than usual and played every strong throughout the game.  Engelland and Letang had some great recoveries in the defensive zone.  While the D looked good, the forwards need to help out more often.  There were a few 3 on 2s that the D handled well, but the forwards don’t always look on the same page of who should be covering who.  Less line changing would probably help them figure their defensive game out.
• Shootout:  Neal, Crosby, Malkin is just an absurd shootout lineup and all 3 scored with great goals tonight.  This makes the list because Letang was not a shooter though which is an intriguing change.  Letang has certainly slowed down since his first couple years with shootouts but I was surprised Bylsma didn’t use him.
• Root Sports Broadcast:  Does anyone know why we need 8 different camera angles during the game?  The zoom-ins were horrible, especially on players crossing the blue line as you lost any awareness of what was going on around the ice.  The cameras in the corners are cool if the puck is tied up in a corner or if there is a scrum, but not when the play is flying around the corner.  Just awful camera work.

Pens Record: 3-2-0, 6 pts

Next Game:  1/29 vs NYI, 7:30pm