Pens lose to
Sharks 4-3 (SO)
Goals: Engelland (1)
from Malkin, Sullivan
Malkin
(3) from Sullivan, Neal
Malkin
(4) from Neal, Letang
FYI - It's 2:30am, I'm not proofreading this.
Top 3:
1) Evgeni Malkin. No one played a full 60 minutes, but Malkin
probably came the closest in this one.
He got on the board with 2 goals against the Sharks, a team he had never
scored against, and also added an assist for the 3 point night. He showed flashes of brilliance with his
skating and his stick handling, especially in the first period. It appears the time off has definitely helped
Malkin’s game and injury issues, though his stamina might still need some work
based on how he was lagging a little bit in the 3rd period, leading
to the Sharks tying goal.
2) Steve Sullivan.
Sullivan continues to be incapable of
scoring, but with 2 assists and a solid forecheck, he is still making his mark
on the offense. Sullivan caused a few
turnovers, even on Greiss in net for San Jose, and was very strong in the
corners. His shiftiness is tough to
defend and he did a great job of putting himself in positions to pass. Hopefully he works himself into scoring soon,
the rest of his game is there.
3) Marc-Andre
Fleury. Fleury did allow 3 goals,
but absolutely kept the Penguins in the game to even get a point going to
overtime. After a very light period (4
shots), he faced 31 in the rest of regulation and made some fantastic saves to
keep the Pens in it. His puck handling
was a little better than usual too and he wasn’t really at fault for any of the
goals against. Defensive collapses gave
him little to work with though as the game wore on.
 |
| That's it, box him out Fleury! |
Bottom 3:
1) Matt Niskanen. Niskanen had a rough game, leaving early
after getting hit into the boards and then coming back to play some very poor
hockey. I had him marked down for 4
blatant giveaways/turnovers and he was caught out of position 2 other
times. Also, he failed to cover/tie up
the stick of Jamie McGinn, who scored the game tying goal late in the 3rd
period. Usually Niskanen at least
contributes offensively on his bad defensive days, but I saw nothing to like
out of his game tonight.
2) Kris Letang. All of the injuries on this team might end up
killing Letang at this rate. I have him
in the Bottom 3 because of turnovers and he over-pursued on the first goal by
Marleau. Most of the turnovers late came
due to exhaustion I would imagine.
Letang led the team was an astonishing 33 minutes of ice time. If he is nursing an injury of some sort, I
wouldn’t be surprised to see it flare up with that kind of playing time. Regardless, Letang is at his best with his
legs fresh since those are his best assets…giving him that kind of playing time
may hurt his game greatly, even if he is our best defenseman (at times).
3) Deryk Engelland. Engelland started the game with a great pinch
into the zone that led to his first goal of the season and a 1-0 lead. He had a strong 1st period. He started off the 2nd period by
getting into a needless fight with Ryan Clowe, which livened up the crowd and
was a precursor to the Sharks scoring.
After sitting out 5 minutes, his play was a little less smooth. He then came into the 3rd period
and look pretty awful. He was knocked
off of the puck a few times and was slow to slide into the right position. He did log more time than usual (19 minutes),
but between the fight and his diminishing play through the game, there aren’t
enough excuses to cover for him. By the
way, Clowe scored the 2nd goal and the shootout winner…think he was
fired up a little?
 |
| Maybe he just needed more neck room? |
Injury Report:
- Everyone made the trip out West for the weekend, but here
are the injuries as they stand now:
- Tyler Kennedy (concussion) has been symptom free for a few
days and was cleared to return to practice and take contact
- Sidney Crosby (concussion) remains the same, waiting for
him to get comfortable and take more contact (it has been light in practice)
- Zbynek Michalek (broken finger) has been skating
before/after practices, he’s still 3-4 weeks away.
- Brian Strait (hyperextended elbow) has not been spoken
about by anyone, but I imagine he’s a couple weeks away and then will be sent
down
- Boris Valabik was taken off of the IR and sent down to the
AHL
- Kris Letang (unknown?) missed practice earlier this week,
but played in the game.
- Jordan Staal (lower body) missed his 2nd game
in a row due to some sort of leg issue.
He’s day to day.
- Brent Johnson (illness) missed practice earlier this week
but was fine for the game.
- Matt Niskanen left in the first period after being hit
into the boards, but returned in the 2nd
- Ben Lovejoy left the game after crashing into the boards
in the 2nd period. He broke
his left wrist and will be out indefinitely (my early guess is 4-6 weeks).
 |
| Back in the day when Lovejoy had 2 healthy wrists. |
Random Notes:
- The Pens called up Alexandre Picard from the AHL as an
extra defenseman on the road trip with Letang being day to day and WBS being
very far from the west coast.
(Edit: You will see Picard in LA
now that Lovejoy is out)
- Joe Vitale was a dismal 1 for 9 on faceoffs, and Malkin
went 7 for 20 as the Pens got crushed in faceoffs
- James Neal led the team with 8 (EIGHT!) shots on goal
- Asham had 4 takeaways in 8 minutes of play (12 shifts)
- Paul Martin was a quiet team worst -3.
- The Pens did not have a powerplay
Random Thoughts:
- Pens over Sharks in 6 was my Stanley Cup prediction going
into the season. It’ll be a lot of fun
to watch these teams play if that ends up happening…if the Penguins have a team
to dress by that point.
- The Pens haven’t won in San Jose since 1997.
- I wanted to put Asham as a top 3 for his forechecking and
takeaways, but his defensive zone coverage demonstrates why he only gets 8
minutes of playing time. Having him on
the 2nd powerplay would be an intriguing option though
- As for Martin’s -3, I didn’t see him do a thing wrong on
any of those goals. Just goes to show
you that +/- isn’t always your doing.
- Another 2 goal lead blown…yuck. Also, the Pens 6 losses (3 regular, 3 in OT)
have all been by 1 goal.
Takeaways:
1) Quick Starts. With all of the injuries the Penguins have,
it is important that they get off to quick starts and get the opponent, which
will be more skilled frequently, on their heels quickly. The Penguins did just that tonight, getting a
quick 2 goals in the first period and chasing starting goalie Niemi out of the
game. It was clearly a lesson learned
from Toronto, where the Leafs outhustled and attacked the Pens quickly. The only difference between what Toronto did
and what the Pens did lies in takeaway #3…
2) More Injuries? Really??
Lovejoy out for at least a few weeks with a broken wrist. Shero looks like a soothsayer at this point,
calling up Picard before the Pens went out west. Personally, I liked Picard in camp and I was
hoping he’d make a run at getting on the team going into the season. Now, he apparently has his chance, though not
how I wanted him to get it. On top of
it, Lovejoy was starting to play some of his best hockey. You’ve gotta question just how many more
injuries this team can handle before things start to fall apart.
3) Poor Finishes. Ah yes, what was the difference between
Toronto and us? They skated for 60
minutes, we skated hard for 20, medium for another 20, and looked lost in the
last 20. This team has been notorious
for blowing 2 goal leads over the past few seasons going back to the Therrien
days. They seem to get a swagger and cockiness
that is impossible to beat…until they realize that they are being outworked and
being beaten. For as much success as
this team has had, perhaps it isn’t a bad thing that they get a reality check
every so often. I was just hoping
Toronto was that check, not that they would need another one against San Jose.
Pens Record: 8-3-3, 19 pts.
Goals For: 42
Goals Against: 32
PP %: 22% (12 for 54)
PK %: 93% (37 for 40)
Next Game: 11/5 @ LA,
10:30pm LET’S GO PENS!!!
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