Goal Assessment: Game 46 - Sabres 4 Pens 2

Link to Game 46 Thoughts: The PensNation



+/- Assessment

1st Goal Against (Vanek): - for

• Sutter – loses Hodgson on a spin move on the boards behind the net
• Murray – leaves his assignment of Vanek in the slot to cover Stafford, who is already covered by Niskanen

1st Goal For (Kunitz): + for

• Orpik – clears the puck up to the defensive blue line to Cooke
• Cooke – moves the puck up to center to Sutter
• Sutter – skates through center and moves the puck to Kunitz on the left wing
• Kunitz – fires a wrist shot that goes off of Miller’s glove and in

2nd Goal Against (Hecht): - for

• Jokinen – leaves his lane to help Bennett with a puck battle on the boards, loses the battle and isn’t there to cover Hecht
• Eaton – leaves his position to help Bennett with the same puck battle, doesn’t get there in time and isn’t in place for Hecht’s shot
• Murray – doesn’t react quickly enough to Hecht rotating back to the slot for the loose puck and can’t get there in time

2nd Goal For (Iginla): + for

• Morrow – corrals the puck behind the net and moves it to Malkin by the right side boards, then goes to screen Miller
• Malkin – circles with the puck and passes it across to Iginla at the left point
• Letang – feeds the puck back to Iginla
• Iginla – passes the puck to Letang and sets up in a one-timer position, then one-times Letang’s return pass into the net

3rd Goal Against (Ott): - for

• Jeffrey – instead of dumping the puck in, turns the puck over at the offensive blue line while the Pens are changing
• Eaton – jumps up to bat the puck down, but then gets out of position/flat-footed and misses on a poke check
• Cooke – doesn’t follow his man (Ott) into the zone, forcing Kunitz to try to cover him and he can’t get there in time

4th Goal Against (Vanek): - for

• Letang – turns the puck over with an empty net behind him

Season +/-:  Click here for the Season +/- Spreadsheet

Goal Assessment: Game 37 - Sabres 4 Penguins 1

Link to Game 37 Thoughts: The PensNation



+/- Assessment

1st Goal Against (Porter): - for

• Niskanen – makes a blind pass in his own zone directly to the Sabres which leads to a shorthanded goal

1st Goal For (Iginla): + for

• Malkin – wins a puck battle at the right faceoff circle down to Kunitz in the corner
• Kunitz – skates out with an open lane to the net and waits for the defenseman to go down before passing to Iginla in the slot
• Iginla – beats Miller with a shot from on top of the crease

2nd Goal Against (Ott): - for

• Sutter – doesn’t keep up with Ott skating through the neutral zone and loses him completely
• Eaton – screens Vokoun on the shot

3rd Goal Against (Hodgson): - for

• Orpik – gets flat-footed/can’t keep up with Hodgson and tangles up with Vokoun at the side of the net
• Eaton – doesn’t have his head on a swivel and keeps his back to the play instead of supporting the area around the net

4th Goal Against (Porter): - for

• Glass – doesn’t help Engelland with a clear and loses the puck at the top of the zone, then loses Porter as he skates down with the puck
• (just bad luck for Engelland having the puck go off of his skate which threw Vokoun off)

Season +/-:  Click here for the Season +/- Spreadsheet

Paul Martin is America, Pens Win

It was a happy Hockey Day in America!

Result:

Pens 4  Sabres 3

Goals:  Dupuis (6) from Orpik, Kunitz

            Crosby (7) (PP) unassisted

            Dupuis (7) from Letang, Kunitz

            Martin (2) from Crosby, Dupuis

ESPN Recap: http://scores.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=400442686

Positives:

America cheers for Paul Martin.

• Marc-Andre Fleury:  Even with 3 goals allowed, Fleury was marvelous in a 30 save effort.  He was especially on his game in the 3rd period when he made 16 saves and was a major factor in killing off the only penalty of the period.  None of the 3 goals can be blamed on him as they came on 1) a defensive breakdown on the crease, 2) a ridiculous deflection on the powerplay, and 3) a bad bounce directly back to Buffalo.  It was another strong effort from Flower.
• First Line: The 1st line (when kept intact), easily had the best day against Buffalo as Kunitz, Crosby, and Dupuis combined for 14 shots and scored 2 goals as a line.  They had a strong forecheck going most of the game and played an incredible shift (eventually scoring) after Ott gave the Sabres the lead early in the 3rd period.
• Matt Niskanen:  Niskanen looked completely healthy again and played possibly his best game of the season in a very quiet and dependable performance.  He was especially adept at each blue line, keeping pucks in at the offensive zone and poke-checking pucks away in the defensive zone.  He also led the team with 4 blocked shots.
• Paul Martin:  Martin only played 22 minutes but his production remained strong with the game-winning goal and 2 blocked shots.  He has been incredibly useful to the powerplay at the point and has demonstrated the ability to decide between pass, shoot, or carry the puck very well.  Much like Niskanen, his poke-checks short-circuited quite a few Buffalo chances too.

Noteworthy:

Crosby goal...scored by Weber.

• Evgeni Malkin:  Geno had 3 shots, 3 missed shots, a slashing penalty, and was 3 for 9 in the faceoff circle.  His overall puck rushing ability and defensive support has been great the last few games, but he still can’t seem to put a complete game together.  It probably doesn’t help that he has new linemates every other shift at this point.
• Sidney Crosby:  Crosby had a solid offensive day with 3 points but was a complete moron on his cross-checking penalty and was also credited with 3 giveaways.  While racking up points will cure everything, Sid should be leading by example instead of cross-checking players in the back away from the play. 
• Tyler Kennedy:  While everyone wants to hate TK, and he did put himself offside twice in the game, he actually played a very well-rounded game.  Kennedy had 3 shots (0 missed) and 5 hits in 13:20 of ice time.  He returned to that quick, gritty style of game that got him to the NHL and propelled the 3rd line to some strong shifts, especially the first shift after Ott’s goal.  His defensive work was above average as well against Buffalo.  Hopefully things are turning up for TK.

Negatives:

• Stupid Penalties:  Malkin’s slash, Neal’s interference, Crosby’s cross-check, and Kunitz’s slash…they were all incredibly stupid, needless, and mindless penalties.  The four best forwards on this team took 3 penalties in the offensive zone and 1 in the neutral zone.  That performance has to be unacceptable in Bylsma’s eyes and that discipline is pathetic.  This group still has some maturing to do.
• Line Combinations:  The line combinations were downright ugly yesterday.  At one point, Malkin had 3 different left wingers over 3 shifts (Cooke, Bennett, Glass).  Crosby found himself on a shift with Vitale and Adams at one point.  Dupuis-Sutter-Neal came out as a line.  Even if the Pens need a jumpstart to their game at times, there is something to be said for consistency and chemistry for lines.  This certainly can’t be helping with the 2nd line’s lack of production so far.  Watching the 1st goal against over again, the forward line was Cooke-Vitale-Dupuis.  All 3 forwards failed to support each other beginning with Cooke’s attempt to clear the puck and all of them were out of position in the end.  That isn’t a shocking result for 3 players not used to each other, even if they are all strong defensively.

+/- Assessment:

Don't blame Flower for any of these.

• 1st GF (Dupuis): + for Kunitz (forecheck, pass to Orpik), Orpik (shot towards net), Dupuis (forecheck, goal)
• 2nd GF (Crosby): + for Martin (lead pass up), Kunitz (pass to Malkin), Malkin (shot on net), Crosby (tap in goal)
• 1st GA (Hodgson): - for Cooke (can’t clear puck), Bortuzzo (releases on Hodgson), Vitale (over-pursues into zone), Dupuis (doesn’t provide outlet support for Cooke)
• 2nd GA (Vanek): - for Crosby (penalty), Glass (penalty)
• 3rd GA (Ott): - for no one (unfortunate bounce)
• 3rd GF (Dupuis): + for Niskanen (forces turnover at blue line), Letang (backhand pass to Dupuis), Dupuis (won earlier puck battle and goal)
• 4th GF (Martin): + for Niskanen (moves puck up to Crosby), Dupuis (rotates puck to Crosby), Crosby (drives puck towards center of the zone), Martin (slapshot goal)
• Season +/-:  Click here for the Season +/- Spreadsheet

Thoughts:

Where'd he go?

• 2nd Line Wing:  At this point, I hope whoever is the starting 2nd line wing stays there for the whole game.  There have been flashes of good and flashes of bad from Cooke, Glass, Bennett, Kennedy, and Boychuk at this point.  Give someone two full games there and work from there.  (I realize this will never happen, but it needs to.)
• Scratching Despres:  Bylsma opted to scratch Despres to add some toughness and grit into the lineup in the form of Bortuzzo.  While that reasoning makes it silly to remove Engelland from the lineup, I would still have rather seen Despres than Engelland.  That being said, Bortuzzo was on for a goal against that was partially his fault (and only received 2:09 of playing time in the first period because of it).  Based on the move to sit Bortuzzo for a while after that goal, I would imagine Despres returns in place of Bortuzzo vs Philadelphia.  I’m not sure anything takes Engelland out of the lineup at this point.
• Glass Fight:  A game after Adams stood up for Niskanen, Glass took his turn and stood up for Sutter by fighting Cody McCormick.  Glass earns a stick tap for that.  On top of it, McCormick was a gentleman and did not pound Glass when his jersey was over his head.  McCormick waited until Glass could see again before the fight continued.  Stick tap for that.  Finally, Glass gave McCormick a big slap on the back after the fight was over to thank him.  Stick taps all around.  It was just a classy fight if there ever was one.
• Responding to Adversity:  After Ott scored to make it 3-2 Buffalo, the Pens were at a fork in the road.  They had taken each direction before – either get frustrated and fall apart or show resiliency and attack.  This time they chose the mature route and the 3rd line followed up Ott’s goal with a dominant shift in the offensive zone.  After their work was done, the first line came out and completed the task with the tying goal.  Give tons of credit to Bylsma, the staff, and the team for responding like they did after a bad bounce and stunning goal against.  That’s the type of composure we need to see from the team (even if the forwards couldn’t act like that all game).

Pens Record: 11-5-0, 22 pts

Next Game:  2/20 vs Phi, 7:30pm

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