There Was a Game Today? Pens lose.

Main Storylines:

- The big buzz of the morning is certainly James Neal’s new 6 year, $30 million extension!  Check out the previous post on the left for my thoughts on that.

- Brent Johnson gets the start today in Buffalo.  His career numbers against Buffalo are pretty bad, 6-4 with a 3.60 GAA and .873 Save %.  But, Buffalo is pretty awful right now as well.

I don't expect you to get a shutout...but I expect you to finish the game.

- Buffalo has allowed 5 powerplay goals in their last 3 games.  If the game is called anything like yesterday’s 6-4 win over the Flyers, that could be the key matchup in this game.

Result:

Sabres  6  Pens  2

Goals:  Engelland (3) from Malkin

            Staal (19) (PP) from Neal, Sullivan

               

The Good:

- Special Teams:  Despite losing 6-2, the Pens managed to go 1 for 4 on the PP and 5 for 5 on the PK.  Sadly, that couldn’t make up for piss poor play during the rest of the game (including a shorthanded goal allowed)

Zbynek Michalek – Z was the only defenseman that didn’t screw up at some point during this game.  Despite his blueline mates being awful, Michalek played a strong and dependable game, blocking 7 shots and playing through 6:31 of the 8 minutes of powerplay time the Sabres had.  His game has been very steady over the past couple weeks, though the team defense has disappeared.

The Bad:

- The Pens let up 2 goals in the first period for the 4^th time in 5 games.  A Cup contender does not continually put themselves in that hole, regardless of where the fault lies between defense and goaltending.

Missing:  Defense.  Please notify if found. 

Brooks Orpik – The first 2 goals were on him (though Johnson shared credit on the 2^nd one).  Orpik missed his coverage on Pominville for the first one, giving him all day to beat Johnson.  On the 2^nd goal, he let Dreek Roy go past him to throw a backhander past Johnson.  It was hardly the start the Pens wanted.  He was steady after the first period, but the damage was done.

Kris Letang – Letang just couldn’t seem to be bothered with playing defense today.  I put this largely on the fact that the Pens fell behind so quickly, but Letang was out of position for much of the game, most frequently too far in the offensive zone.  He finished the game with a -4 and only played 18:52 in this game, the least we have seen him play in a while.

The Ugly:

- How about letting up 6 goals to Buffalo?  Or the whole game?

Brent Johnson – The defense surely deserves a lot of blame in this, but Johnson’s 2^nd goal was very weak, and he doesn’t inspire confidence in pretty much anyone at this point.  Fleury has already played a lot of games, more than one would like, and if Johnson can’t spell Fleury for a solid 7 or 8 more games this season comfortable, the Pens may have to look into another back up.  Calling up Thiessen isn’t out of the question.  Remember – the year the Pens won the Cup, they ditched Sabourin as a backup and picked up Garon to do it.  It’s not out of the question right now.

Paul Martin  - I try to defend him when I can, but his play was bench worthy today.  He was also a -4 today, though much more directly at fault for the Sabres goals.  He completely missed his coverage on 3 of the goals, giving the Sabres all the time in the world to make perfect plays.  He was caught behind the SABRES net 3 times as 2 on 1s broke the other way, but he got lucky and none of them turned into goals.  Martin’s play at this point just brings down his partner (see: Orpik and Letang who were paired with him at times today, and Michalek who wasn’t).  Lovejoy shouldn’t be on the bench for this.

Martin skating away from a goal celebration...not a rare picture.

Thoughts:

- For as nice as the win over Philly was yesterday, today pretty much wasted it.  The Pens have to beat the bad teams to make a move in the standings, and a game like this is pretty much unacceptable.  The one nice thing is you know they will be very fired up for the Rangers on Tuesday

- The team defense has been incredibly inconsistent over the past month, something we aren’t used to seeing with Bylsma’s team.  They’ve allowed at least 4 goals in 4 outta the past 7 games, that needs to change.  Fundamental coverages are being missed in front of the net.  Offense is fun, but the D needs to go back to basics.

- The first line is starting to cool off again, not just in production, but largely in chances created.  It's just an observation for now, but it will be interesting to see over the coming weeks how teams continue to defend Malkin's line.  The last 3 opponents have done a great job of it.

Teams are checking Malkin and Neal tightly, time to make adjustments.

Pens Record: 33-21-5, 71 pts, 3^rd in the Atlantic, 5^th in the East

Next Game:  2/21 vs NYR, 7pm

Leafs Get Revenge, Pens Lose 1-0.

Main Storylines:

- The Pens head to Toronto on an 8 game winning streak, including a wild 3 goal come from behind victory last night at home against the Maple Leafs

- The team claimed Coyotes forward Cal O’Reilly off of re-entry waivers today.  O’Reilly has 40 points and 12 pim in 107 career games.  He will be a restricted free agent after the season and only costs the Pens about $200k for the rest of this season.

- Lineup Changes – Lovejoy in for Engelland and Johnson finally gets a start.  Johnson has been pulled in his last 2 starts.

Result:

Leafs 1  Pens 0

Goals:  none

The Good:

- The defense improved drastically in 24 hours, only allowing 24 shots on Johnson and playing far more composed against the Leafs

Brent Johnson – Though the goal he allowed was certainly ugly and he was out of position, he made some stellar saves throughout the game and had his best outing of the season at a time when no one was sure what to expect

Johnson's only mistake turned out to be enough for the Leafs.

Matt Niskanen – Niskanen brought his physical game for this matchup, blocking 4 shots and registering 3 hits as well.  He showed a massive improvement over last night in his patience in leaving the defensive zone.

Ben Lovejoy – After sitting out the last 5 games, Lovejoy looked fresh and like he hadn’t missed a step at all.  He kept up well with Toronto’s speed, and was there to save Brent Johnson by batting away a puck in the crease (after he turned it over, mind you).  Lovejoy proved to be a nice luxury to have for this game.

The Bad:

- The Pens end their winning streak at 8 and actually let Toronto gain a point on them over the home and home series.

- The refs had their influence again in this game, good and bad.  They properly called off a goal where Kunitz kicked in the puck.  But they also missed Kessel high-sticking Letang, which would have been a 4 minute double minor, and they also called the puck frozen when Reimer didn’t have it covered.  Looks like yesterday’s karma fixed itself immediately.

Eh, he was probably like that before.

- Luck:  the Pens simply didn’t have it tonight.  3 shots clanged off the post and the bounces just weren’t working for them.

The Ugly:

- Shooting accuracy:  The Pens missed on 14 shots in the first period alone and finished the game with 23 missed shots (compared to 25 on net).  The Leafs also blocked 13 shots, turning the conversion rate into 25 shots on net with 61 attempted.

- The only goal in the game was scored on another defensive lapse by the 1^st line as Neal got caught in no man’s land in the slot and Kunitz didn’t follow McArthur to the crease.  It did not help that Johnson went out of the net to cut McArthur off for no reason.

Ditto to whatever profanity Orpik is yelling.

Thoughts:

- Give the Penguins PK a lot of credit right now.  Toronto has a dangerous powerplay, and the Pens held them off the board in both games.  Most importantly, they are doing all of this without Jordan Staal, who we all know is usually a big key to that PK.

- While a team like Toronto looks inferior to Pittsburgh in the standings and in terms of talent, they are the type of team that could give the Penguins fits in the playoffs.  Their speed and aggressiveness is matched by very few teams in the NHL, and the Pens were forced to change their game to adjust rather than play their own game.  That style hurt the Leafs in the 1^st game, but clearly worked in the 2^nd game.  This isn’t a matchup I’d want to see in a best of 7 where bounces may determine the series.

- The Pens blocked 22 shots in front of Brent Johnson, putting together a much better effort than last night in front of Fleury.  Despite the loss hopefully the confidence boost for Johnson will go a long way towards the playoff run as the Pens see back to back games the next 3 weekends.

Pens Record: 29-18-4, 62 pts, 3^rd in the Atlantic, 5^th in the East

Next Game:  2/4 @ Bos, 1pm