Monday, January 21, 2013

Pens Defeat Rangers For a Quick 2-0 Start


Main Storylines:
  • Tomas Vokoun makes his first start as a Penguin after Fleury had an outstanding opening game.
  • Arron Asham makes his season debut with the Rangers.  He hasn’t played since Game 3 for the Penguins in the Pens-Flyers series.  He finished off his 4 game suspension by sitting out the Rangers opener last night.
  • Tangradi stays on the 2nd line, Vitale enters the lineup for Jeffrey.  Scratches: Jeffrey, Bortuzzo, Lovejoy

Result:
Pens 6  Rangers 3
Goals:  Neal (2) (PP) from Malkin, Letang
            Kennedy (1) from Vitale, Despres
            Niskanen (1) from Crosby
            Dupuis (1) (PP) from Malkin, Kunitz
            Neal (3) from Malkin, Martin
            Letang (1) (EN) unassisted
         
ESPN Recap:  http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/boxscore?gameId=400442489

Milestones & Stats:
  • From the opener, Kennedy’s opening goal has now been credited to Paul Martin
  • Despres only played 10:41, a bit lower than expected in a back to back situation
  • Crosby (6 for 21) and Malkin (2 for 10) were dismal in faceoffs
  • Neal led the team in shots again with 7
  • The 1st PP line received 5:46 of PP time, the 2nd PP line had only 37 seconds

The Good:
Great puck movement on the PP had NYR lost.
  • Neal-Malkin:  After watching 30-some KHL games, I had spent a lot of time clamoring for the chemistry between Malkin and former Magnitogorsk teammate Sergei Mozyakin.  James Neal might as well be Mozyakin at this point.  Malkin and Neal might as well have a 2 player line (and they pretty much do) with the passing and anticipation they show with each other.  The two complement each other’s game perfectly and combined for 5 points in this game.
  • Powerplay: It was another strong game for the powerplay as they went 2 for 5.  The key against the Rangers defense wasn’t player movement as much as quick puck movement.  The Rangers D wasn’t able to shift their box in time to cover the old Whitney play on Neal’s goal.  They also were flat out lost on a line change as the Pens fired the puck up the ice for the Dupuis goal.  Puck movement has been exceptional for the Pens PP so far.
  • 4th Line: The biggest key to this victory was the hard grinding work down low by the 4th line of Glass, Vitale, and Adams.  Vitale proved to be a huge upgrade over Jeffrey for the forecheck and puck possession.  The second period domination by the Penguins was largely due to hard, aggressive work by the 4th line deep in the corners.
  • Tomas Vokoun:  Vokoun had a stellar debut for the Pens and pretty much stopped everything he was expected to stop.  Though he allowed 3 goals, they were on a 5 on 3 PP, a shorthanded breakaway, and a missed coverage on the crease by Engelland.  Though he doesn’t seem to glove many pucks which creates some crazy rebounds, he played a strong stand-up game.

The Bad:
  • Sidney Crosby:  Crosby is off to a slow start this season (much more about that below) and looked a little out of sync this game.  Aside from the pathetic 6 for 21 faceoff performance, he committed a couple turnovers, most notably on the powerplay.  His patience is there, his mind seems to be clicking, but I don’t think he is at game speed yet.  Again, scroll down to get more on him.
  • Faceoff Violation: Brandon Sutter learned a big lesson yesterday as did the rest of the NHL.  One of the new rules this season is that centers cannot use their hands to win a faceoff until a 3rd player has touched the puck.  Unfortunately, the violation happened with Despres already in the box, but the Pens caught a break since Sutter and Despres technically had penalties at the same time on the box score and could let Sutter out first after the ensuing PP goal.

The Ugly:
Solid fight, questionable timing.
  • Eric Tangradi: Quick question for you to run through your head.  Who do you think had more playing time, Glass or Tangradi?  The answer is Tangradi.  Who did you notice more?  I’m guessing the answer is Glass.  Tangradi still looks too slow for the 2nd line.  I thought he looked better than on Saturday, but he appears to be a poor fit for Bylsma’s system and especially the second line so far.  The Pens might need to adjust to and accept the fact that Tangradi is a checking line forward at best on this team.
  • Glass Fight: While the fight between Glass and Asham at the opening faceoff was entertaining, it was also stupid.  The Rangers gained additional momentum instantly off of the fight and the only reason this isn’t a big deal is because Brad Richards took an interference penalty 37 seconds into the game.  The Rangers dominated that first shift though and that is never something I want to see on the road.
  • Shorthanded Goal Allowed: It was the sum of all fears, forwards caught up in the neutral zone with the puck on the powerplay and no real defenseman to cover for it.  The shorthanded goal by Nash was certainly a beauty but the Pens will have to be careful with their forwards handling the puck as the last guys back.  There is no question that opposing coaches will look at that goal as an example for putting pressure on the Pens forwards in defensive positions.

MY Plusses & Minuses: (I'll find a better way to feature this on Wed)
  • At the great suggestion of @drkdstryer, guys in the box will get minuses as well.
  • 1st goal (Neal): + for Kunitz, Letang, Malkin, Neal
    • Kunitz gets credit for the screen in front
  • 1st goal against (Callahan): – for Despres, Sutter
    • Both in the box for a 5 on 3
  • 2nd goal (Kennedy): + for Engelland, Despres, Vitale, Kennedy
    • Engelland got the puck and sent it across to Despres to set the play in motion
  • 3rd goal (Niskanen): + for Crosby, Kunitz, Niskanen
    • Kunitz tied up Girardi in front of the net, puck went off Girardi on the way in
  • 4th goal (Dupuis): + for Neal, Kunitz, Malkin, Dupuis
    • Neal with a fantastic breakout pass to Kunitz
  •  5th goal (Neal): + for Tangradi, Orpik, Martin, Malkin, Neal
    • Tangradi drew the attention of 2 players away from Neal, Orpik set it up with the first pass

Can't give up shorthanded breakaways
  • 2nd goal against (Pyatt): – for Despres, Engelland, Glass
    • Glass peels off of Pyatt, Despres and Engelland aren’t properly spaced/covering guys
  •  3rd goal against (Nash): – for Malkin
    • Committed the turnover as furthest Penguin back
  •  6th goal (Letang): + for Letang
  •  Overall: http://www.crosbyftw.com/p/plusminus-spreadsheet.html

Thoughts:
  • I’m over the Tangradi experiment already.  Vitale showed that he belongs in the lineup last night just through pure effort.  Jeffrey seems to have more potential than Tangradi at this point and has better speed to keep up with the second line.  It’ll be very interesting to see where this goes.
  • The Engelland-Despres pairing still scares me to death.  Despres looks very unsure of himself when deciding whether to be aggressive or not.  Meanwhile, Engelland just doesn’t have good closing speed.  When both are playing well, the pairing will work fine.  But if one makes a mistake, I have no faith that the other can cover for him.

Orpik had enough energy to lay out Kreider though.
  • Orpik had an awful 3rd period after playing great in the first 2 periods.  I would generally attribute this to back to back games, but the bigger concern to me is Despres only played 10 minutes last night and Engelland only had a couple more.  With a tight schedule, the Pens D is gonna have to even up a little on playing time as the season wears on instead of leaning on the top 4, especially Orpik, too heavily.
  • Paul Martin had another strong game…keep it going Paul!!
  • And finally, the Sidney Crosby thoughts.  He looks off, but as the tweets below suggest, he is a slow starter every year.  Huge props to @Allie874 for all of this:

What say we wait a week or two before worrying about Sid?

Pens Record: 2-0-0, 4 pts
Next Game:  1/23 vs Tor, 7pm
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