Fleury Shines in 3-1 Win over Winnipeg

Main Storylines:

• Beau Bennett is making his NHL debut and starts on the 3rd line with Sutter and Kennedy
• Brooks Orpik is playing in his 600th career game
• The Penguins will face Eric Tangradi in his first game since being traded just two days ago
• Matt Cooke will start on Malkin’s wing
• Jeffrey, Boychuk, and Bortuzzo are the scratches

Result:

Pens 3  Jets 1

Goals:  Adams (1) from Vitale, Letang

            Neal (10 (PP) from Malkin, Crosby

            Adams (2) (EN) from Kunitz, Orpik

ESPN Recap: http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=400442673

Stats:

• Craig Adams led the team with 4 shots (and 2 goals)
• Kunitz, Malkin, and Letang combined for 10 missed shots
• Letang, Orpik, and Bennett each blocked 2 shots

The Good:

Well-deserved goal for the 4th line.

• Marc-Andre Fleury:  Unquestionably the number one star of the game, Fleury stopped 25 of 26 shots and that doesn’t even begin to describe how well he played for the Pens.  He survived numerous odd-man breaks and scrambles in front of the net, only losing his shutout with less than 2 minutes left.  The Pens had major problems getting trapped in their own zone for shifts over a minute long and Fleury is the only reason none of them ended in disaster.
• Craig Adams:  The fourth line finally got some deserved production as Adams put in the hard work for a garbage goal early in the game and added an empty netter in the final minute.  Beyond the goals, he also stood up for his team in a fight with James Wright after Niskanen was boarded (penalty not called).  Adams led the team with 4 shots and added 2 hits to play a very well-rounded game.

Noteworthy:

• Kris Letang:  Letang looked much better with his timing and skating than he did on Thursday, so it appears that he is fully healed and ready to go now.  He played a team high 27:54 and played the large majority of that well.  Two red flags came into play though: 1) He is shooting into defenders way too frequently.  He had at least 3 shots blocked high in the offensive zone, so it’s time to either make better pass/shot decisions or change the shooting angles. 2) His icing call that led to the Jets only goal was flat out stupid.  He had room to get the puck to center or at least softly dump it in – that’s a horrible lapse of judgment for a “Norris candidate.” 

The Bad:

• Line Changes:  The forwards as a whole were getting very out of control with their shift lengths and line changes, especially in the second period.  The 2nd line got caught twice going for line changes after shifts that lasted almost two minutes.  Both times, the puck was going back to the defensive zone and they resulted in a 3 on 2 break and a 5 on 2 break for Winnipeg.  If that happens every so often, it’s understandable, but it is an awful trend to set.  Forwards need to be much more mindful of their shifts because the defense and Fleury won’t be able to bail them out every time like they did against the Jets.

The Ugly:

PP goal with a partial assist to the refs, admit it.

• Officiating:  Both teams felt the effects here, but the refs really put a dagger into Winnipeg towards the end of the game.  The first questionable call (non-call) was no boarding when Wright hit Niskanen.  For as many ways as boarding has been defined and called, I can’t find a single way that Wright’s hit wasn’t boarding.  The second, and arguably worse call because of how it affected the game, was when Redmond was called for interference on Adams.  Redmond had positioning, had “ownership” of the ice he was on, and he barely touched Adams.  There is no way that should be interference and it led to the eventual 2-0 lead for the Pens.  The inconsistency of calls is mind-numbing right now.

+/- Assessment:

Bye bye shutout.

• 1st GF (Adams): + for Glass (helps with faceoff win), Despres (moves puck to Letang), Letang (finds streaking Vitale), Vitale (shot on net), Adams (rebound goal)
• 2nd GF (Neal): + for Kunitz (takes puck deep into zone), Letang (rotates puck to Crosby), Crosby (rotates puck to Neal), Malkin (pass to Neal), Neal (one-timer goal)
• 1st GA (Ladd): - for Letang (unnecessary icing, loses battle in corner), Malkin (leaves D position for breakout without puck), Cooke (leaves Ladd in front of crease)
• 3rd GF (Adams): + for Orpik (clears zone to Kunitz), Kunitz (finds Adams in the middle), Adams (empty net goal)
• Season +/-:  Click here for the Season +/- Spreadsheet

Thoughts:

Bennett will hopefully be a top 6 winger
and hit puberty soon.

• 2nd Line Wing:  The lines rotated frequently last night and Cooke, Bennett, Glass, and Kunitz all spent time next to Malkin at one point or another.  I liked what I saw out of Cooke – he certainly did a strong job battling for the puck in the corners with that line.  While I would still like to see Bennett playing on a top 2 line instead of with Sutter and Kennedy (ugh), I would not mind seeing one more game with Cooke on the 2nd line to see if something more can come out of it.
• Bennett’s Debut:  Bennett was very impressive in his debut even if it wasn’t on the scoresheet.  He demonstrated strong awareness all over the ice, highlighted by his 2 shot blocks and covering for Letang pinching twice.  He played 11:37 (missing a chunk of the 2nd after a shot block) and grew more comfortable with every shift after having trouble accepting passes in the 1st period.  It was a very promising debut.
• Bortuzzo Scratched:  As usual, I will continue to complain until Bortuzzo is in the lineup for Engelland.  Engo didn’t help his cause any with a turnover that Fleury had to make a great save on either.  Bortuzzo can do everything Engelland does, but is better and has more potential.  I also like that he has a sandpaper quality to him to get under the skin of everyone.  Engelland can fight and certainly has toughness, but Bortuzzo clearly annoys the hell out of opponents and can back it up with his fists.  That’s a quality the Penguins don’t have a lot of nowadays.
• Tyler Kennedy:  I honestly thought TK would get traded before Tangradi, but here we are with TK still in the lineup and Tangradi gone.  Shero has made comments about Kennedy that insinuate he needs to take advantage of his chances soon.  He played 13:47 against the Jets, recording 3 shots and 2 hits in what was generally a decent game.  I highly question why he keeps getting chances when Dustin Jeffrey can’t touch the lineup though.  Even if it’s just for a game, it’s time to sit TK and send a real message.

Pens Record: 10-5-0, 20 pts

Next Game:  2/17 @ Buf, 12:30pm