Officially Playoff Bound! Pens Clinch with a Win!

Main Storylines:

- Fleury gets the start tonight looking for win #40.  He is currently tied with the opposing goalie, Rinne, for the league lead in wins at 39.  Other lineup changes: Park comes in, Tangradi goes out.

- The Pens will clinch a playoff spot tonight if they gain any points tonight.

- Crosby continues his goal “slump” on the season, though his play has certainly been nothing to complain about

- From the Predators side, Alexander Radulov makes his controversial return from the KHL tonight, appearing in his first NHL game since 2008.

Will he disrupt the locker room or take the Preds to the Cup?

Result:

Pens  5  Preds 1

Goals:  Malkin (44) from Neal, Letang

            Dupuis (22) from Letang, Sullivan

            Cooke (17) from Neal

            Kunitz (22) from Neal, Orpik

            Malkin (45) from Neal, Kunitz

Stats/Milestones:

- Things are getting flat out crazy for the Pens in terms of streaks and milestones to the point that it’s time for a new section to cover it!

- Pascal Dupuis scored his career high 22^nd goal and extended his point streak to 8 games now.

Might he be the best value on a team of superstars?

- James Neal recorded a career high 4 assist game and tied his career high 4 point night, which was set all of 2 days ago.

- Marc-Andre Fleury became the first goalie in franchise history to win 40 games in multiple seasons.  He also took over the NHL lead in wins with 40.

- The Pens as a team lead the league in scoring with 244 goals and in goal differential with a +59.  They also won their 9^th straight game at Consol, extending the record streak. 

               

The Good:

- In a game hyped up as a potential Stanley Cup Finals preview, the Pens demonstrated that they might be in a league of their own at this point.  Mind you, Nashville lost to Edmonton in their previous game, so they aren’t playing at their best, but it was still a very impressive win for the Pens.

- Not that anyone expected anything else, but the Pens officially clinched a playoff spot with the win.

James Neal – For all of the impressive goals he has scored, did anyone know Neal could display the patience and passing abilities that he did tonight?  He put up 4 primary assists and was a +4 tonight, highlighted by a beautiful takeaway in the offensive zone as he baited Rinne until setting up Cooke with an easy tip in goal at the last second.  Even Cooke stated he expected Neal to shoot.  Neal leapt up to 5^th in the scoring with his performance.

Marc-Andre Fleury - It's crazy how quietly he goes about his work nowadays.  Another great performance with 29 saves on 30 shots; he just looks so calm and poised in net at this point.  Fleury is entering the prime of his career on fire and the crazy part is he could still get better.  Now if only he'd learn how to play the puck a little better...

A rare moment where Fleury could actually thank Martin. 

Paul Martin – Gotta give credit where it’s due, Martin played a very solid game tonight.  Beyond his +3 (overrated stat, right?), his positioning was much better than it was in the Jets game.  There were a couple of times where Letang got caught pinching, but Martin was there to handle the odd man rush.  He also added 3 blocked shots to his stat line.

Evgeni Malkin – One might argue that Rinne let up some soft goals on Malkin tonight, but hey, when Geno shoots the puck at you 10 times, you’re going to let a couple in.  Despite not even reaching the 20 minute mark in ice time, Malkin accounted for 43% of the Pens shots tonight and scored the first and last goals of the game.  For everyone worried that Crosby would take away from Malkin – it looks like the whole first line has been reenergized/motivated by Sid’s return.

The Bad:

- Matt Niskanen went out half way through the 2^nd period with an upper body injury.  He is day to day but will likely miss the games over the weekend.

- Kris Letang left the ice hunched over early in the 2^nd period and went straight to the locker room.  He ended up returning just a few shifts later, but any potentially injury to Letang should cause concern for Pens fans.

Sidney Crosby – Forget the lack of points, that’s not why I’m listing him here.  Crosby looked a little sluggish and tired in this game.  His patented speed burst wasn’t there and Nashville seemed to have little trouble neutralizing him.  Looks like Sid still has a little bit to go before he’s back into full form.

The Ugly:

- From the Preds side, Pekka Rinne looked less than spectacular after getting pulled in the game before this one.  Not to take away anything from the Pens, but Rinne was not in his usual Vezina form.  Shea Weber also looked off tonight, so I guess I am discounting the win a little bit compared to a usual victory over the Predators.

Weber did more for the Pens than the Preds tonight.

Thoughts:

- The Predators put a lot of work in on the crease and appeared to focus their offense in tight on Fleury.  Radulov got their only goal from a rebound while he was standing on the crease.  The tactic obviously didn’t work, but it’s the type of playing style that could lead to a Pens loss via bad bounces.  The D, especially Orpik and Engelland, will have to be on the watch for that as teams try to figure out the Pens.

Fleury had a lot of company around his blue paint.

- I was very impressed with the healthy ringing of Boos that rained down on Radulov when his goal was announced.  I have complained about the crowd at Consol frequently, but as we get closer to the playoffs, it appears more and more of the regular fans are coming out to actually cheer on the team rather than sit there silently.

- I loved the move of playing Park instead of Tangradi in this game.  It appears Bylsma may be trying to match them up against playing styles for opponents.  I hope Jeffrey enters this rotation as well, but I guess time will tell.

- After being stuck in the 4/5 slot for months, start rooting for who you want in as the 8^th seed as the Pens continue to pressure the Rangers for first!

Pens Record: 46-21-6, 98 pts, 2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East

Next Game:  3/24 @ Ott, 7pm

Pens Head to the Trade Deadline Content with Winning

Main Storylines:

- Brad Thiessen will make his NHL debut today, getting the start against Columbus.  This will give Ray Shero a last look at a potential backup before the trade deadline.  The trade deadline is Monday at 3pm EST.

- Arron Asham will not play in today’s game after hurting himself delivering a hit yesterday.  Dustin Jeffrey will enter the lineup for him.

- Though it has nothing to do with the Penguins, all eyes will be on Rick Nash as he potentially plays his last game with Columbus.  Nash is easily the best player that could move before the deadline tomorrow.

Columbus fans made the trek to Pittsburgh to potentially see their captain off.

- Dan Bylsma is going for career win #150 and he could be the 4^th quickest coach to achieve that mark with a win today.

Result:

Pens  4  Blue Jackets  2

Goals:  Malkin (37) (PP) from Neal, Sullivan

            Dupuis (15) from Sullivan, Staal

            Letang (9) (PP) from Park, Cooke

            Vitale (4) from Tangradi, Cooke

               

The Good:

- Congrats to Brad Thiessen for his 1^st NHL win in his 1^st career start and congrats to Dan Bylsma on his 150^th career regular season win!

- The powerplay had another solid day, scoring on 2 out of 5 chances.  A black mark for that short-handed goal allowed though.

Pascal Dupuis – Dupuis has been playing very well since the line of him, Staal, and Sulivan was put together.  All 3 did their part on Dupuis’ goal with Staal committing to the forecheck, Sullivan getting the puck, and both of them causing traffic to give Dupuis room to take the shot and score.  His speed and increase in scoring have been a great complement to the second line.

Dupuis wasn't fazed by Sanford's raspberry freeze pop pads

Matt Cooke – Cooke has also seen his play improve over the past few weeks as he added a couple assists today and has looked very good on the 2^nd PP.  He screened goalie Curtis Sanford perfectly, allowing Letang to score his PP goal easily.  Cooke also played very well on the PK as usual, getting his stick on a couple passes and helping the PK unit go perfect on the day.

Kris Letang – Letang’s offense has slowed down as of late, but he still managed to score 2 PP goals, even if one didn’t count today.  He also has acted very responsibly on defense with Paul Martin as his partner.  Letang may not be jumping up as much to score, but his commitment to defense is one of the biggest reasons why the Pens have only allowed 3 goals in their past 3 games.

The Bad:

- Sullivan’s blatant turnover breaking the powerplay out of the zone led to Nash’s short-handed breakaway and goal.  He made up for it with 2 assists in the game, but that was just a senseless play to give the Blue Jackets the early momentum and lead.

The Ugly:

- Kunitz had 2 goals waived off.  One for kicking the puck in, where there was no distinct kicking motion that anyone could see.  Another for goalie interference, where Sanford came out of his crease and pushed Kunitz.  I understand the first one just because it was called no goal on the ice, so it’s harder to overturn.  The second one was flat out ridiculous.  Even Sanford said afterwards that he was surprised the goal was waived off.

Thoughts:

- Shero told the media that he still doesn’t have a timetable for Crosby, but he won’t make a trade that relates to his cap space in any way.  He’s happy with Johnson as a backup and isn’t looking to add another.  And he isn’t close to making any moves, he’s happy with the roster as is.  I’m guessing a minor league deal will happen, maybe a depth move for the big team, but don’t expect much.

Looks like Thiessen will remain 3rd on the depth chart, and it will still be behind Johnson.

- Paul Martin looked pretty good today, only having one major gaffe as he got blown past on a semi-breakaway which Thiessen stopped.  He has certainly seen fewer goals against when paired with Letang, but Letang has also contributed less 5 on 5, so it’s an interesting trade off.  I’d still rather see Martin with Engelland I think.

- It was nice to see Eric Tangradi get a point today and get some PP time as he played pretty well with his 8 minutes of ice time.  He moved a spot up on the depth chart it looks like as Dustin Jeffrey only played 6:34 and was the low man on the list.  This is definitely a hard lineup to get minutes with at this point, which is why I don’t anticipate much of a move at the trade deadline for the Pens.

- Not a Pens thought, but it was a rough debut for Jack Johnson with the Blue Jackets.  Malkin's goal deflected in off of his shin and he screened Sanford on the Dupuis goal.  Thanks for the help Johnson!

Pens Record: 36-21-5, 77 pts, 2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East

Next Game:  2/29 @ Dal, 7:30pm

Fleury is Perfect, Pens win!

Main Storylines:

- Some roster changes going into this one.  Brent Johnson is “ill”, so Brad Thiessen is on emergency recall to back up Fleury.  Also, Eric Tangradi was called up and is expected to play on the 4^th line.  Expect Cal O’Reilly, and potentially Dustin Jeffrey to sit.

- Bylsma stated that the team wanted to call up Tangradi to add a physical presence and forecheck to the 3^rd and 4^th lines.  Other rumors swirling: showcase for a trade, keep him up in case someone else gets traded

- Brooks Orpik is also out with an upper body injury.  He is day to day and Ben Lovejoy will take his place.  It appears the top pairing will be Martin-Letang….oh no.

Result:

Pens  2  Rangers  0

Goals:  Malkin (33) from Letang, Dupuis

            Sullivan (11) (PP) from Malkin, Cooke

The Pens gave the Rangers a swift kick to...I'll just stop there.

               

The Good:

- Start with the milestones:  Malkin recorded his 300^th career assist and Fleury recorded his 22^nd career shutout, tying Barrasso’s franchise record.

- Offensive pressure:  The Pens had a period of over 3 minutes in the 1^st during which the puck did not leave the offensive zone.  Though they didn’t score during it, it forced the Rangers to use their timeout, which turned out to be nice a 2-0 close win.  The Kunitz-Malkin-Neal line and Dupuis-Staal-Sullivan line were masterful during those shifts

- Defensive intelligence:  By my count at least, Fleury only faced 2 clean odd man breaks in that game, a massive reduction from either of the past 2 games.  The defense was very smart about stepping up, and committed far fewer turnovers than usual.  Everyone on the defense played well (yes, including Paul Martin).

- Malkin’s goal was just flat out gorgeous.  It was a great outlet off the boards by Letang to spring him on a breakaway, and then Geno just showed an amazing amount of patience in waiting for Lundqvist to be completely out of the play before shooting.

- Sullivan is one of the last players on this roster that I would expect to score on a slapshot from the point on the powerplay…kudos to him.  It was a perfect shot and a great screen by Cooke as well.

Even he doesn't look sure that he did it.

- Literally everyone played a solid game, so I’m just going to highlight my 3 standouts for the night.

Zbynek Michalek – Michalek has been playing lights out since he was taken away from Paul Martin.  He led the team yet again with 3 blocked shots and got his stick on several passes to slow the Rangers down.  His positioning has been very sound and he looks very comfortable and confident now.  He has definitely reverted back to the player that the Pens wanted to pay $4 mil/yr.

Marc-Andre Fleury – Fleury had an outstanding effort in earning his 22^nd shutout.  He made 27 saves, including a breakaway, and was masterful in his rebound control tonight.  Hell, he didn’t even have any mishaps in playing the puck, that’s how in the zone Fleury was tonight.  The commitment to team defense tonight let Fleury do his thing, his positioning was great, he didn’t overcommit on any shots or passes, and he simply was unbeatable tonight.

Thiessen's recall clearly made all the difference.

Kris Letang – Letang gets here, not for his assist, but for his outstanding defensive awareness tonight.  He led the team with over 28 minutes of ice time and didn’t get caught too far up at all.  He didn’t try and force the offense, he just played his game and took open looks as he saw them.  I was concerned with him and Martin being paired together, but both played very well together.  Letang’s patience and commitment to defense tonight was simply perfect against a Rangers team that tends to be opportunistic. 

The Bad:

- Lovejoy played a very solid game and had a nice set of shots, getting 3 on one shift.  One thing that I could have done without was his delay of game penalty, of course.

- Martin also played a very solid game, my only complaint for him was on one play, where he missed his coverage and allowed the one breakaway on Fleury.  Aside from that gaffe though, Martin was definitely in the good category.

 The Ugly:

- Arron Asham made a very boneheaded play when he took his penalties.  Adams drew a penalty with a hard drive to the net, and Asham needlessly started shoving with Bickel as every player skated to the benches.  Asham’s gotta be smarter than that, Bickel didn’t even do anything to him to lead to it.  I would categorize throwing a powerplay away as ugly.

With 2 healthy scratches a game, better play smart to stay in the lineup.

  

Thoughts:

- Nothing against Eric Tangradi, he played well in his 5:39 of ice time.  But why call him up to play 5:39?  Wouldn’t he be better served playing in the minors with a regular shift?  We aren’t doing him or ourselves any favors by calling him up to play that little.

- On a related note, what did Dustin Jeffrey do to get booted from the lineup?  He could have played that 5:39 just as well, with the addition of he has PK capabilities and can take faceoffs.  I don’t think he’s done anything in the past few games to warrant getting a healthy scratch.

- The special teams continue to be outstanding this year.  The powerplay went 1 for 2 and the PK went 3 for 3.  Another sign of a Cup favorite.

- As Phil Bourque said on the radio after the game, this is the type of game that the Pens need to circle and reference.  No matter what ups and downs are left in this season, this game against the Rangers was a complete 60 minute effort, with a team commitment to defense and doing the little things right.  The Pens will not lose a best of 7 series to anyone with efforts like this.

- By the way, this was all without Crosby.  Can you imagine the possibilities?

  

Pens Record: 34-21-5, 73 pts, 4^th in the Atlantic, 6^th in the East

Next Game:  2/25 vs TB, 1pm