Powerplay Comes Up Clutch, Pens beat Bruins

Main Storylines:

- Forget the Philly nonsense (aside from the standings) until after the Rangers game on Thursday, the Pens have 2 key objectives right now: 1) Learn to play tight defense again and 2) Win

- Brent Johnson faces Marty Turco in the goaltending matchup…be still, my beating heart.

Result:

Pens  5  Bruins  3

Goals:   Crosby (6) from Dupuis, Letang

             Martin (2) from Kennedy, Letang

             Neal (40) (PP) from Kunitz, Crosby

             Crosby (7) (PP) from Letang, Malkin

             Asham (5) from Adams, Vitale

Stats/Milestones:

- The amazing Pascal Dupuis extended his career high point streak to 15 games with an assist on the 1^st goal.  Gotta give him credit, he always adds to it within the first 2 goals of the game so there’s no suspense ever.

If you're ever sad, just look at a pic of a Dupuis celebration.

- James Neal hit the 40 goal mark for the 1^st time in his career as he continues to set highs in goals (40) and points (81).

- Not a milestone, but Crosby has now matched Ovechkin in assists at 27 apiece.  This is just humorous.  Crosby has played 56 less games.

- Some game stats: Staal led the game with 8 hits.  Orpik led with 5 blocked shots. 

The Good:

- This crazy new concept of a powerplay with a defenseman on the point premiered tonight and the Pens made it work with 2 powerplay goals in less than 2 minutes, on a 5 on 3 and then subsequent 5 on 4.  As nice as it was to see the old 4 forward PP return and be successful, the biggest takeaway was that the powerplay was CLUTCH.  The Pens powerplay has been very successful throughout the season, but it has been a long time since I’ve seen them score early on a 5 on 3 and then score on the remaining powerplay as well.  Add the fact that the game was tied at 2 when this all occurred, you really can’t ask for more out of the PP.

Brent Johnson – Allowing 3 goals on 29 shots isn’t exactly anything to brag about.  However, when you stop multiple breakaways and a 2 on 0 because your defense doesn’t care about your well-being…yeah go ahead and brag Johnny.  Johnson came up even more clutch than the powerplay as he dealt with a plethora of odd-man rushes thanks to turnovers and just poor play by the Penguins defense.  The Bruins probably could have won this game if not for a nice mix of wasted chances and some fantastic and instinctive glove saves by Johnson.  He looks confident and back in his normal form, which may not matter if he doesn’t start another game for the Penguins ever (60/40 chance), but at least gives the team confidence if anything goes awry.

Despite many chances like this one, BJ was a wall when the Pens needed it most.

Sidney Crosby – Admittedly, Crosby and also Letang to follow this up would be somewhere between good and bad for me because I need to scold both.  But it leans good so here they are.  First the bad part – Crosby’s gotta quit with the no look passes in the defensive zone / passing up the middle.  He had another dangerous turnover in this game in the D zone and he’s simply smarter than that.  Speaking of being smarter, the Bruins scored their 2^nd goal when Crosby just didn’t follow his man closely to the crease, allowing him to get free and take a pass to score.  Are these a little nitpicky compared to most of the team, yes, but ya know what, he’s Sidney Crosby, he’s better than that.  On the good side though, a 3 point game (2g, 1a) with a powerplay goal is nothing to scoff at.  He looks very comfortable in the offensive zone, especially behind the net again, and was quite creative in his efforts tonight.  Most importantly, he found open space and was in the perfect spot for both of his goals, something that very few can pull off quite like Sid.  Keep racking up the points buddy.

Kris Letang – Again with Letang, I’ll start with the bad first.  Along with Crosby, he also missed his coverage on the Bruins tying goal, allowing the primary pass that scored the goal.  He also got blown past twice in the defensive zone, which was quite weird to see because who skates past Kris Letang?  In this game, it very much looked like he was trying to push the play forward too much or overcompensate for Paul Martin at other times.  But here as well, the good was worth far more than the bad and Letang chipped in 3 assists tonight.  The best part of his game shone brightly on the powerplay, as he helped the first unit move the puck around, and even get themselves moving around which created many more opportunities.  He is a must on the powerplay, case closed.

The Bad:

- The Pens still played poorly in their own zone.  There were far too many turnovers and puck possession was a problem once again.  If it wasn’t for the powerplay performance at the end of the 2^nd period, the Bruins could have, and should have taken this game.  I counted 3 times where there was a Penguin attempting to control the puck in his own zone or the neutral zone, and his other 4 linemates were already past the puck, heading to the offensive zone.  That is simply awful.  The Pens are doing a horrible job of providing support in their own zone and it turns every turnover into a great scoring chance.  There were just far too many chances for the Bruins on BJ.

Paul Martin – Martin gets the opposite treatment of Crosby and Letang in this one.  Sure he scored a goal, finally ending the Paul Martin Powerball and making someone very happy.  He then proceeded to play about as much defense as Alexander Ovechkin does.  He left Letang out to dry for multiple 2 on 1s, simply was skated past on a couple 1 on 1’s, and was caught pinching way too far into the offensive zone on the Bruins 3^rd goal.  Martin’s play tonight was the epitome of the team’s problem right now.  There was way too much of an offense first mentality and he needs to stop that.  It boggles my mind even more when he’s paired with Letang, so Martin SHOULD be the defensive guy in the pairing!  A part of me wonders if Martin needs to be paired with Engelland just because Engo will certainly stay back.  Also, because maybe Engo will just punch Martin out after a bad shift. 

Paul Martin WOULD score like this.

The Ugly:

- In a game that didn’t mean a whole lot (Boston is locked into 2^nd, Pens are fighting for 4^th ), there were some significant injuries undertaken by both teams.  Steve Sullivan left the game early with a lower body injury, though it is not expected to be severe.  Matt Niskanen left the game after getting crushed by Daniel Paille (who left his feet) in the corner.  Niskanen was livid as he went down the runway, smashing his stick on a wall.  He took one shift in the 3^rd but then was done for the game.  Meanwhile, Vitale took a puck to the jaw and was writhing in pain on the ice for a while before leaving the game late.  I have a feeling both will be out at least a game, and in Vitale’s case, it might be a few more based on how reacted.  On the Bruins side, Boychuk got into an awkward collision with Asham and couldn’t even skate off the ice after landing on his knee.  All 3 were unfortunate injuries that you especially hate to see in a rather meaningless game heading into the playoffs, especially for Boychuk and Boston.

Hopefully we don't see any more scenes like this heading into the playoffs.

- James Neal has clearly set a new precedent for celebrating milestone goals as he followed up his 40^th by fighting Andrew Ference.  The interaction was quite comical as Ference dropped his gloves while Neal looked on with a “WTF” stare before actually dropping his gloves.  While I gotta give credit to both of them for a very spirited fight, I do not want to see Neal dropping the gloves a week before the playoffs.  One bad punch to Ference’s helmet, and we’d lose a 40 goal scorer.  Save it James!

Neal...kinda frightens me now.

Thoughts:

-Gotta give credit to Boston for the effort they put in tonight.  This game was literally meaningless to them and they pushed the Pens as hard as they could until the end.  If the Pens played all of their games with 60 minutes of that kind of effort, I’m not sure they’d ever lose.  But, they should probably work on defense first.

- Ah yes, that defense thing.  I’m still not happy with how the Pens are playing defense and not convinced they can win a 7 game series based on their play right now.  Things that need work: puck possession, passing, defensive coverage, pressure on the puck, backchecking.  I am starting to wonder if we just have to wait for a switch to flip as soon as the playoffs start and fundamental hockey will return due to the fear of losing.  I’m sure I’m in the minority with this, but I would rather see the Pens win a 1-0 game right now than a 5-3 game just to see that they can do it and play responsibly.  It will be necessary for the playoffs.

- So, the Rangers beat the Flyers tonight.  NJ won as well.  Here are your scenarios.

*NYR has clinched the East Conference, forget them.

*Pit still plays NYR and Phi.  The Pens have a 3 point lead on Philly and need 2 points to clinch the 4^th seed right now.

*Phi still plays Buf and Pit.  Philly needs to win out and have the Pens lose out to get the 4^th seed.  They need 1 point to clinch the 5^th seed.

*NJ still plays Det and Ott. NJ needs to win out and have Philly lose out to take over the 5^th seed.

So, it is very likely that the Pens-Flyers-Devils finish 4-5-6.  But there is a small chance that NJ can get to 5^th and a greater chance that the Pens can drop to 5^th.

Pens Record: 49-25-6, 104 pts, 2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East

Next Game:  4/5 vs NYR, 7pm

Winning Doesn't Take Sundays Off, Pens Extend Streak to 9!!

Main Storylines:

- 8 wins in a row so far, another would set a new season high!

- Evgeni Malkin’s next point will be his 500^th in the NHL…he’s been looking for it for 3 games now

- Two droughts to watch:  James Neal has gone 9 games without a goal, since the day before he signed his contract extension.  Also, the powerplay has not scored a goal since Letang went out a week and a half ago.

- Engelland returns to the lineup as Brian Strait sits.  Take note, Despres clearly just jumped Strait on the depth chart after one game.  Also, Tangradi is in for Park – I’m guessing for the inevitable physicality that will be on display with the Bruins.  Paul Martin remains out.

Result:

Pens  5  Bruins  2

Goals:  Asham (4) from Lovejoy, Adams

            Niskanen (4) from Malkin, Neal

            Neal (31) (PP) from Malkin

            Kunitz (20) from Neal, Malkin

            Dupuis (18) from staal, Engelland

               

The Good:

- 9 wins in a row!! A new season high for the Pens!

- Malkin earned his 500^th career point on the Niskanen goal and Neal earned his 200^th point.  Malkin is the 4^th fastest active player to reach that mark (behind Crosby, Ovechkin, Selanne)

- Neal and the PP both broke out of their slumps with the 3^rd goal of the game, a 5 on 3 PP goal.

So much relief, he's the real deal again!

- Staal’s assist extended his point streak to a career high 8 games.  Meanwhile, the PK has now killed 21 PPs in a row.

The First Line – Welcome back boys, after a few quiet nights the first line came out on fire with their physical game and they turned it into scoring.  Malkin and Neal put together 3 point nights, catapulting Malkin back ahead of Stamkos in the Art Ross race for the time being.  Malkin also went a stellar 15 for 20 on faceoffs today.  The Kunitz goal was simply unfair, as Malkin makes a perfect pass while falling to Neal, who threads the needle past 3 Bruins to Kunitz, who finishes it off with an easy one timer.  Speaking of Kunitz, his forechecking was simply unreal today.  They pretty much told me to go F myself for thinking about breaking them up (and yet, I still want to when Sid comes back).

Marc-Andre Fleury – I should just make a permanent paragraph for this.  He stopped 34 of 36 shots, and was vital in killing off a late 3^rd period powerplay when the Bruins were trying to make a comeback.  He made a glove save on his back that was absolutely the key save of the game.  I don’t know about anyone else, but I didn’t even notice how high the Bruins shot total was getting, and that’s largely because Fleury makes it look easy.

Joe Vitale – Vitale’s energy and effort is simply unbelievable.  No points on the day for him, but he did amass a blocked shot, 3 hits, and 2 takeaways, and was very noticeable on most of his shifts today.  Vitale is turning into the ultimate checking line player and I have a feeling he will come up big for the Pens at a key moment down the road.

Joe Vitale deserves a movie more than Rudy as far as I'm concerned.

The Bad:

- There were a couple of defensive lapses that led to both Krejci goals.  On the first one, Orpik and Lovejoy got a little ahead of themselves in moving up with the rush and both ended up out of position leading to Krejci’s breakaway.  The second one was a consequence of Kunitz not lifting Krejci’s stick even though he was in position to do it.

Tyler Kennedy – TK had a very quiet day, only getting one shot on net (with another off the post).  He simply was not noticeable on the ice at all.  I was rather surprised to see him not get involved physically with his old scrappy play.  Bylsma clearly noticed something to, as TK only had 10 minutes of ice time.

The Ugly:

- Malkin’s hit on Boychuk earned him a 2 min minor for boarding, and I’m guessing a phone call with Shanahan tomorrow.  There have certainly been worse hits, but my point of contention on this hit was Malkin had the chance to hit Boychuk in the shoulder, but placed his hand in the middle of Boychuk’s back and shoved him from behind instead.  I don’t think anyone can argue that it was a poor decision.

No injury to Boychuk as he returned later, I'm guessing $2500  fine for Malkin.

Thoughts:

- I loved the Tangradi for Park lineup change today.  That’s a rare move for Bylsma, who doesn’t like to change his lineups at all during win streaks, but it was a smart one.  Boston loves to play physical and Tangradi is much better equipped for that.  He had a solid game I felt, and has looked very good in the defensive zone when he has played during this call up.

- The Pens came out today like it was a playoff game and ran out to a 3-0 lead and ran Tim Thomas out of the game.  Despite that, it was still a close game throughout the afternoon due to sloppy play.  It was a good thing that the Pens capitalized on the first period, because the game was pretty much 50/50 the rest of the way.

- Point shots continue to be a big factor for the Pens.  The first goal was on account of Lovejoy’s shot from the blue line and the 2^nd was Niskanen’s blast from the point.  Both goals were off of odd bounces/blocks/tips, but the lesson remains the same – when the defensemen are getting pucks to the net, the Pens are going to do well.

- The Pens are (for now) 2 points behind the Rangers with a game against them on Thursday.  The Rangers still play before then, but Thursday’s game will certainly be a massive one, and one where Crosby may come back.  It will be the perfect playoff test as MSG will be rocking, especially if Crosby returns.

Pens Record: 42-21-5, 87 pts, 2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East

Next Game:  3/15 @ NYR, 7pm