Penguins Watch Loss From the Penalty Box

Main Storylines:

• The Penguins enter this game on a 5 game winning streak. Crosby is on a 6 game point streak
• Martin Brodeur is playing in his 1200th game
• Kris Letang did not make the trip to NJ so the lineup remains the same as last game
• Matt Niskanen has been skating separately but there is no timetable for his return
• Former Penguin Tomas Sandstrom was elected to the Swedish Hockey Hall of Fame

Result:

Devils 3  Pens 1

Goals:  Sutter (3) (PP) from Despres, Kennedy

ESPN Recap:  http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=400442629

Stats:

• The Pens took 12 minor penalties in the game
• Sidney Crosby had 6 shots and Evgeni Malkin had 5
• Malkin drew 4 penalties and took 3 penalties
• Craig Adams played 1:19 at even strength and 6:09 shorthanded

The Good:

Last year, Martin elbows Clarkson in the head and passes
the puck to a Devils player.

• Pascal Dupuis:  Despite taking 1 of the 12 minors, Dupuis had an overall good game and caused havoc in the passing lanes for New Jersey.  He was credited with 2 takeaways and provided strong defensive support at even strength and on the penalty kill.  He actually contributed to pretty much every situation for the Pens, playing 2:44 on the PP, 6:11 on the PK, and 9:30 at even strength.  Sadly, the biggest reason Dupuis had a good game was because the Pens spent most of the game in the defensive zone.
• Paul Martin:  It was just another game for Martin, leading the team with 28:49 on the ice and playing mostly mistake-free hockey.  Unfortunately he finally took his first penalty of the season, but the team survived the PK without him.  I was most impressed with his offensive zone puck movement in this game even though it didn’t amount to anything. He certainly loves that spin move at the point and you can tell his confidence is extremely high with how often he goes to it right now.

The Bad:

• James Neal:  Neal seems to be going through bouts of brilliant hockey and useless hockey depending on the day.  The train to the penalty box certainly didn’t help his cause, but he took an awful slashing penalty to end a powerplay and generally had puck control problems all day.  With a couple turnovers and missed passes on Saturday, I’m guessing Neal bounces back for a strong game on Sunday since that has been his trend this season.

The Ugly:

Hard to stop everything when it's 5 on 4 for over a period.

• Discipline:  TWELVE MINOR PENALTIES.  Going back through most of them, the ones that were questionable were Vitale for boarding, Vitale for boarding, and that’s it.  Take away another (Bortuzzo for roughing) as a coincidental minor and that still leaves NINE BAD PENALTIES.  That’s simply unacceptable.  The Pens had a chance to feel everything out with a 1-0 first period lead and didn’t learn anything as the game went on.  Instead they got increasingly frustrated and took some foolish penalties.  Every player has to be smarter than that.

+/- Assessment:

• 1st GF (Sutter): + for Reese (keeps puck in zone), Kennedy (passes to Despres), Despres (one-timer), Sutter (deflection goal)
• 1st GA (Matteau): - for Cooke (goes to wrong point), Orpik (releases on Matteau)
• 2nd GA (Henrique): - for Glass (penalty)
• 3rd GA (Butler): - for Malkin (penalty)
• Season +/-: Click here for the Season +/- spreadsheet

Thoughts:

Not always pretty, but what a legendary goaltender.

• Evgeni Malkin:  Malkin drew the ire of most people today, drawing 4 penalties but also taking 3 (one of which cost a potential powerplay).  I have to imagine most of the people that are quick to turn on Malkin are also the ones quick to turn on Fleury.  Both players are high risk, high reward players.  You’ll get lots of positives AND negatives with both, but far more positives in the long run.  Everyone just has to accept that with both, it’s not going to change.  For what it’s worth, I had Geno marked down for 11 positive plays and 7 negative plays in this game.  The next player I had marked down the most was Dupuis with 8 plays total.  That’s just what you get with Geno, he’s going to be very involved and it’ll come with negatives.  More often than not, it’s worth it.
• Martin Brodeur:  Give credit to Brodeur for this game as well.  He made two outstanding saves that put an exclamation mark on this game.  The first one was on Kunitz on the very first shift of the game, and the 2nd one was on the 2nd to last shift on Malkin.  The Pens could have played 100x better and may still not have beaten Marty more than once.
• Refs/Penalties:  While most of this is covered under “The Ugly,” the team failed miserably at adjusting to how the game was called.  The refs were clearly calling the game tight early; New Jersey took their fair share of penalties for it too.  It’s up to the players and teams to see how each ref is calling each game and adjust in turn.  Refs only call what the players give them a chance to call - it’s on the players ultimately.
• 2nd Line Wing:  Boychuk hasn’t really progressed at all in his game with Malkin and Neal.  Speed is still an asset, but his puck handling can be atrocious at times.  I’ve called for this 2 games in a row now, but maybe with the loss we will see Jeffrey enter the lineup again.  Jeffrey adds a defensive aspect that Boychuk doesn’t have.  If no one is going to add offense to that line, I at least want to see a defensive addition then.
• Goaltending:  Fleury faced another rough game stat wise but played a solid game overall.  He was left all alone on the first goal and did as much as can be expected.  The second goal was just an amazing bounce for the Devils as the puck hit the post and landed on Henrique’s stick.  Fleury would probably want the 3rd goal back though since he was just beaten on a clean shot.  Regardless, I’m sure Vokoun plays Sunday and people start goalie controversy crap over nothing again.  Let’s wait until Fleury actually costs the team a game before we attack him for once perhaps.

Pens Record: 8-4-0, 16 pts

Next Game:  2/10 vs NJ, 7:30pm