Pens Extend Streak to 8!!

Main Storylines:

- The Pens have won 7 in a row heading into tonight against the Panthers

- Evgeni Malkin’s next point will be his 500^th in the NHL

- Two droughts to watch:  James Neal has gone 8 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 ago.

- Paul Martin looks to be out with an “illness” and Simon Despres has been called up to replace him in the lineup.  Before you cheer wildly, here’s a stat for you: Martin is a +6 since he was split up from Michalek (who is a +7 in that time).

Welcome back to the NHL, Simon!

Result:

Pens  2 Panthers  1 (SO)

Goals:  Sullivan (14) from Staal, Dupuis

           SO Goals: Neal, Malkin

               

The Good:

- The Pens tie their season high win streak with their 8^th in a row!  This was also their 8^th win this season when trailing after 2 periods, tying Tampa Bay for the league lead.  The last time the Pens had this many come from behind victories was in 08-09, when they set the franchise record at 11.  We all remember 08-09….

- Evgeni Malkin scored his 8^th shootout goal of the season (tying the franchise high for a season w/ Crosby and Christensen). Remember when he was bad at those?  His was also the 100^th shootout goal in franchise history.  Hooray stats that don’t count for anything!

Shame it couldn't be his 500th point though.

Marc-Andre Fleury – Consol broke out into a total of one “Fleeeurrry” chant tonight.  Weak, crowd, weak.  MAF was a stud in net as usual, stopping 28 of 29 shots and stopping both shootout shots that he faced.  When the Pens couldn’t get anything going in the first period, Flower did his work as usual.  He may not have had any “spectacular” saves tonight, but one might argue that he’s been so solid positionally that he doesn’t have to as much anymore.  FLEURY FLEURY FLEURY!!!

Jordan Staal – Staal assisted on Sullivan’s goal to extend his point streak to a career high 7 games.  He was 15 for 20 in the faceoff circle and he’s definitely the key ingredient to a “2^nd line” that is playing some dominant hockey right now.  Staal’s hands look quick, his skating is strong, and his reach is unbeatable right now.  Just think about how many teams could use him as a #1 center right now.  (I do take away from him a little for losing Fleischmann on the only Panthers goal though, bad Jordan, bad.)

Look at the intensity, the reach, the wonder that is Jordan Staal.

Orpik/Michalek – I can’t emphasize the great play of this pairing enough as of late.  They combined for 4 shots, 8 blocks, 5 hits, and played the full PK time.  Michalek logged 28 minutes and Orpik played 25.  You really can’t ask for any more out of these 2 defensemen right now.  Also, give Orpik a lot of credit for helping Fleury on the partial breakaway stop.  Orpik’s persistence made it impossible for the shooter to make a move or do anything but take a shot into Fleury’s pads.  Textbook defense in that situation.

The Bad:

- Winning is awesome, but the shootouts may hurt the Pens in the end.  This was the 9^th shootout victory for the Pens this season.  The tiebreaker is non-SO wins.  Since we’re chasing the Rangers, note that NY has 39 non-SO wins and the Pens only have 32.  Yeah, losing that tiebreaker.  So while the Pens are only 4 points behind the Rangers, they might as well be 5 points out of first place.

A win's a win...except in the NHL. 

- Matt Niskanen’s ability to hit the net.  On 5 attempts he had 1 shot on net and 4 go wide.  Normally I wouldn’t make a big deal out of this, but a couple of those misses led to breakouts by the Panthers that hurt the Penguins momentum wise in a close game.

- The first line.  Malkin led the team in giveaways, Neal looked like he was pressing a bit, and Kunitz doesn’t seem to be able to contribute as much when the other 2 are off.  This line has definitely gone quiet for the time being.  Give Kunitz some credit though, he was a machine with stick lifts and disrupting plays in the defensive end at least.

The Ugly:

- Neal’s goalless streak extends to 9 games.  Neal looks like he’s trying to be too cute with the puck and trying to be overly impressive.  He needs to just relax and simplify his game.  His shot totals are dropping each game and I’d love to see him get back to just putting the puck on net.

Relax!!!

- Meanwhile, the powerplay continues to be worthless without Letang.  This has combined poorly with Neal's streak of course.  One thing to note though is that Malkin has stopped taking the full 2 minutes on powerplays.  The Pens trotted out a 2nd PP line of Cooke-Staal-Kennedy, with Dupuis-Despres on the points.  Let me spell that out (no offense to Staal and Dupuis who have been scoring very well), but that's 3 defensive guys who are great PKers, a rookie defenseman, and TK who is more likely to hit a fan in the upper level than score right now.  Forget the first PP line, the 2nd has to contribute at some point as well.

- The referees.  I’ll give them credit, they were at least consistent in calling nothing all game, but how is that going to help anything in the game of hockey?  Less PPs, less scoring, more obstruction, TALK ABOUT EXCITING!!

Thoughts:

- As I mentioned, the first line is struggling a bit right now.  I would love to see them broken up, but without touching Dupuis-Staal-Sullivan.  The impetus for this will likely be Crosby’s return.  It’s time to get over the idea that the line cannot be broken up though.  Keep Neal and Malkin together, but find a spark plug in that 3^rd spot (Cooke or Kennedy temporarily maybe?)

- Simon Despres was impressive in his return to Pittsburgh.  The thing that surprises me every time I see him play is just the sheer poise he shows in his game despite youth and lack of experience.  He looks and acts like he’s been there and plays with an incredible amount of confidence.  He’s ready to be here full time.

- Along with Despres, the whole defense has been stepping up a lot on the offensive side.  They combined for 8 shots on net and 8 missed shots as well, but hey, can’t score if you don’t shoot.  The only concern is the odd man breaks it may create (see: Michalek’s shot that was blocked and went for a partial breakaway).  If the D can be patient and smart, they will help a lot with the secondary scoring at this rate.

The downside to an active defense.

- Now begins the most intense part of Crosby watch as we wait to learn when he will come back.  He promised a day’s notice, so maybe we will hear tomorrow.  Personally, I would like to see Crosby wait another week.  The next 4 games: Boston at home, then on the road for NYR, NJ, and Philly for 3 games in 4 days.  After that, home against Wpg and Nash before going to Ott.  My point is this: Sid will still need to get up to game speed – practice only gets you so far.  Let him get up to game speed against lesser opponents, not those that want to decapitate him.  Just my two cents.

Pens Record: 41-21-5, 87 pts, 2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East

Next Game:  3/11 vs Bos, 12:30pm

Two Goal Deficit? No Big Deal, Pens win!

Main Storylines:

- Brent Johnson gets the start today after Fleury suffered through an 8-5 win yesterday.  Bylsma said he wants to get Johnson in about 7-10 more games this season, so let’s see what he can do with it tonight.

Johnson's iffy stats may be explained by these situations.

- Simon Despres has started skating with the team again.  Though I think he has played well enough to stay up with the big team, lack of room clearly dictates that he goes down to WBS barring a trade soon.

- The Pens are wearing their blue jerseys in back to back games.  This isn’t a storyline at all, but it annoys me when we wear blue against teams that wear blue…and we’re doing it in back to back games.

Result:

Pens  4  Lightning  2

Goals:  Malkin (31) (PP) from Letang, Neal

            Kunitz (16) from Letang, Johnson

            Letang (8) from Kunitz, Neal

            Malkin (32) from Kunitz, Neal

               

The Good:

- The Pens overcame another early 2 goal deficit to come out with a win that ties them with the Flyers at 69 points. 

- The Martin/Michalek pairing was finally split up late in the 1^st period and pay major dividends for the team defensively as Michalek was with Niskanen and Martin with Engelland.

- Brent Johnson got a win on home ice and played very well after letting up a weak first goal.  He bounced back to keep the Pens in it when they were down by 2 and keep the lead intact afterwards.

Evgeni Malkin – Where to start with Geno…he drew 3 penalties, by himself.  He added 2 goals as he makes a move for the Rocket Richard trophy, and added to his Art Ross leading point total.  His backchecking was incredible tonight, and the powerplay and 1^st line are simply electric because of him right now.  Malkin has simply taken over the NHL on pure will alone.

Kunitz pleading his case that Malkin shouldn't impale him apparently.

Chris Kunitz – A big assist to Malkin’s production goes to Kunitz, who had a 3 point night, including a perfect saucer pass to Malkin across the crease for the Pens’ 4^th goal.  Kunitz is clearly seeing the ice very well right now, as demonstrated by that pass, and another to a wide open Letang on the far side of the ice which led to the 3^rd goal.  He also had a great backhander to Neal, but Garon robbed him.  Add in a goal, and Kunitz is doing his best to keep up with supporting Geno.

Kris Letang – I wasn’t happy with Letang’s defensive performance on Saturday, but he surely made up for it tonight.  He had a 3 point night, including the game winning goal, and was unbeatable on defense tonight.  He was out against the Lecavalier line for most of the game, and the Bolts’ top line simply didn’t get any quality chances.  Letang’s play in this game gave him a good argument for being the top defenseman in the NHL right now.

Zbynek Michalek – Michalek looked absolutely spectacular after he was switched to Niskanen’s side.  He was 2^nd in the team with 5 shots, and led the team with 5 blocked shots.  He skated comfortably, and stuck to his game completely.  He was perfect positionally, and probably played his best game of the season tonight.

The Bad:

- The Pens need to stop spotting teams a 2 goal lead before they find one they can’t come back from.  It may work out against non-playoff teams like Winnipeg and Tampa Bay, but that is certainly a bad habit to form at this time of the year.  The fact that the Lightning scored 2 goals in 11 seconds was flat out pathetic.

Steve Sullivan – Sullivan looked a little off in the 1^st period, and never really got into his game.  He had a couple of bad turnovers in the neutral zone, and looked a little hesitant on the point for the PP.  With how great he has looked since the All-Star break, I wonder if he should be getting some of the 2^nd games in back to back nights off to keep him fresh.

Those short legs can't keep up with turnovers.

The Ugly:

- Nothing to report here, hooray!

Thoughts:

- One of the big aspects to the success of Malkin and Neal right now is their shot total.  Neal now leads the league with 232 shots and Malkin is 2^nd with 221.  Like every broadcaster will stupidly say at 20 different times in a season, put the puck on net and good things will happen.

- Speaking of Neal, while it’s early to look at this, his contract is going to be an interesting situation for the Pens.  Toronto is talking about giving Mikhail Grabovski around $4.5 - $5 mil after this season.  Grabovski has 39 points in 50 games.  Luckily, Neal is a restricted free agent, but his production (55 pts in 56 games) might actually warrant an offer sheet from another GM.  The Pens are going to have a tough time finding a good mix of money and years with him and the salary cap.

- Malkin now has a 7 point lead in the Art Ross race, and is averaging 1.41 points per game.  Second is Claude Giroux, who is averaging 1.19 points per game.  Malkin might win this race by the end of the month at this rate.

Might wanna keep track of where that Malkin guy is.

- While the Pens have tied the Flyers for 4^th place, this is where all of the shootout wins will hurt.  The Flyers have 5 more non-shootout wins, and thus easily have the tiebreaker over the Pens.  New York looks like they will run away with the division easily, so it’s going to be a dogfight between Pittsburgh, Philly, and NJ for seeds 4-6.  There will definitely be an Atlantic only matchup in the first round.

- Monday morning news:  Despres has been activated off the IR and sent down to WBS.  Former Penguin Mike Comrie retired. 

Pens Record: 32-19-5, 69 pts, 3^rd in the Atlantic, 5^th in the East

Next Game:  2/15 vs Ana, 7pm