Pens Week in Review - 2/3

Penguins Record Since Saturday:  1-1  (Overall: 29-18-4, 3^rd in the Atlantic, 5^th in the East)

- Beat Toronto, 5-4 (SO)

- Lost to Toronto, 1-0

Special Teams

- Powerplay:  0 for 3

- Penalty Kill:  6 for 7

*Steve Mears, who does the Penguins Live radio show on weekdays, did some research and came up with some interesting numbers on powerplays this season.  In the opening weekend of the season, teams were averaging about 5 powerplays per game.  This past Tuesday (with 13 games on the docket), teams were averaging just over 2 powerplays per game.  He suggested a few reasons for this difference:  players knowing what to get away with, refs relaxing on calls, teams being more careful with the playoff race at hand.  Interesting numbers to watch as the playoffs get close…

In case you forgot how to do the Macarena.

Injuries:

- Sidney Crosby (neck injury) is out indefinitely with what is now believed to be a soft-tissue injury in his neck.

- Jordan Staal (knee) is expected to be out another 2 weeks or so.

- Simon Despres (knee) is expected to be out another week or so.

- Arron Asham was diagnosed with concussion like symptoms and there is no timetable for his return.

Transactions:

- The Pens signed center Joe Vitale to a 2 year extension on Friday, worth an average of $550k per year.  While it's a good deal, and a solid price since Vitale has filled a big role as a center and energy guy this year, I have to wonder if this is just going to turn into another Letestu deal where the Pens get healthy and he suddenly doesn't have a spot in the next couple years.  For now though, another solid move by Shero.

- They also claimed center Cal O’Reilly off of re-entry waivers from the Coyotes.  This is a great move for the Pens as it adds depth at center and will only cost them approximately $190,000 for the rest of the season.  Also, he is a restricted free agent, giving the Pens options with him in the future.  A very nice, no-risk move by Ray Shero to get something for nothing.

O'Reilly celebrating with Sullivan, hopefully something we get to see in a Pens jersey.

Rumors:

- Rumors continue to still fly that Shero is looking to add another “scoring winger”.  The Pens have a lot of depth at defense.  Niskanen is a valuable trade piece with his RFA status after the season.  Lovejoy has been odd man out.  Engelland has shown a great improvement in his overall play.  I’d be shocked if all 3 remain on the team through the trade deadline.

Overall View:

- The Penguins ran their win streak up to 8 games in a crazy come from behind victory against Toronto before finally seeing the streak end the next day in Toronto.  Marc-Andre Fleury won all 8 games on the streak, and though it was no fault of his own, Brent Johnson was in net for the 1-0 loss on Wednesday.  Fleury had appeared in 23 straight games before Wednesday, and has now been in 43 games.  With 31 games to go, there is some concern that Fleury may be getting too much work as the playoffs haven’t generally been kind to goalies who play in over 60-65 games.

Random Notes:

- Yahoo’s Puck Daddy column had an interesting idea with a reader suggesting the Mario Lemieux hat trick.  The Lemieux hat trick would consist of a powerplay goal, even-strength goal, and a short-handed goal in a game.  The inspiration for it was Lemieux’s 5 goals in 5 different ways (those 3 + empty netter and penalty shot), which will likely never happen again.  If Gordie Howe has his own hat trick, why not Mario?

- As we have all seen, the Civic Arena is finally coming down.  The first implosion of 8 panels took place last weekend.  The rest of the panels are scheduled to come down every couple of weeks pending the weather in the next 2 months.

I think this would be considered "Dying Alive", Jagr.

- Through the All-Star festivities over the past weekend, Evgeni Malkin opened up to the media far more than usual and had fun with it in the process.  It appeared that he had a great time with the other all-stars, especially fellow countryman Pavel Datsyuk.  My favorite quote for the weekend involved Malkin being asked about the fantasy draft, where he stated, “I was waiting to see who’d get picked first in the draft.  I remembered the real draft when drafted second.  Now third.  I’m degrading.”  I hope the Pens remember that line when contract negotiations come up!

Week Ahead:

Sat 2/4 @ Boston, 1pm

Sun 2/5 @ NJ, 1pm

Tues 2/7 @ Mtl, 7:30pm

LET’S GO PENS!!!

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

Pens Escape with Win #8!

Main Storylines:

- The Pens enter this game on a 7 game winning streak coming out of the All-Star Break

- Quick recap of injuries: Crosby (head/neck – out indef), Despres (knee – out 1-2 weeks), Staal (knee – out 2-3 weeks), Asham (concussion – out indef)

- Colin McDonald has been called up to be the 12^th forward with Tangradi and MacIntyre remaining in the AHL

- There has been a lot of talk about Crosby’s injuries and new information about it.  The latest is that it is a soft tissue injury in his neck, and they are hopeful it is not a concussion that is causing his problems, but only the soft tissue injury which he will now receive treatment for.

"Despite the rumors, Crosby will NOT report to spring training in 3 weeks."

- Marc-Andre Fleury is playing in his 23^rd game in a row

- The teams will meet again tomorrow night in Toronto

Result:

Pens  5  Leafs  4 (SO)

Goals:  Cooke (8) from Martin, Park

            Sullivan (10), unassisted

            Vitale (3) from Dupuis, Kennedy

            Malkin (27) from Neal, Sullivan

            SO Winner:  Malkin

The Good:

- The Pens won their 8^th game in a row against enormous odds.  They are only the 2^nd team in the NHL this season to come back from a 3 goal deficit to win the game.  (Oddly enough, Nashville then became the 3^rd team about an hour later)  Last year, the Pens had 0 wins when trailing after 2, this game was the 5^th come from behind victory in the 3^rd period this season for them.

The new king of the shootout.

Marc-Andre Fleury – Despite allowing 4 goals, Fleury was named the #1 star (in a rare event where the media actually watched the game).  MAF single-handedly kept the Pens in the game, garnering praise from both teams as the best player on the ice.  Fleury survived breakaways and numerous odd man rushes and then stopped all 3 shootout attempts he faced to give the Pens a dramatic win.

Kris Letang – Though Letang was quiet in the offensive zone tonight, he proved to be the only competent person in the defensive end all game.  He was matched up against Phil Kessel or Joffrey Lupul most of the game, and both registered 0 points.  He won’t get any attention for it, but Letang was outstanding on defense.

Joe Vitale – Vitale came out at full speed on the very first shift of the game and continued to throw the body and get gritty against a speedy Leafs team.  His efforts were rewarded with the Pens 3^rd goal of the game, which was certainly a spark plug for the end.

Steve Sullivan – Sullivan had a very workman-like effort tonight, skating at full speed and throwing the body a little more than we’re used to seeing.  He was also rewarded, as he had a great takeaway in his own zone and took it the other way for a slapshot goal to cut the Leafs lead to 2 goals.  Sulli ended up with a +3 tonight as he played strong in both ends.

The Bad:

- Defensive zone coverage by the forwards was pretty much non-existent all game.  The top line turned out to be -2’s all around.

- Deryk Engelland left the game late in the 3^rd period after falling awkwardly when trying to hit one of the Leafs

Engo just couldn't keep up tonight. 

Chris Kunitz – Kunitz was a little on the lazy side in his backchecking tonight.  The 2^nd Leafs goal wasn’t completely his fault, as Niskanen was out of position, but Kunitz had a chance to at least get a stick on Grabovski had he actually provided any effort.  However, replays showed Kunitz was gliding into the zone rather than even taking a stride.

James Neal – Neal also had a very weak backchecking effort, and also took a senseless cross-checking penalty early in the 1^st period.  The Pens killed the penalty, but the Leafs started to pour it on after that play.

Paul Martin – Martin looked simply awful in his own zone, getting caught flat-footed a few times against the Leafs and turning the puck over in his own zone a few too many times.  I will give him credit for having some great shifts in the offensive zone though, where he kept the puck in at the blue line and also took the shot that Cooke deflected for the Pens 1^st goal.

  

The Ugly:

- Defensive zone coverage by the defense was also non-existent.  The Pens allowed 39 shots on net, and that doesn’t count the posts (at least 3) and missed shots by the Leafs.

- The refs disallowed the Leafs 1^st goal because of goalie interference.  Supposedly Lupul pushed Michalek into Fleury.  In reality, no.  The Pens were lucky on that play and another later on where Fleury was down and the puck was whistled dead despite not being covered.  Not the best game by the refs.

Deryk Engelland – Engelland simply did not have the speed to match up with how the Leafs play.  I hope he is not injured, but I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing Lovejoy in for him tomorrow night.  Engelland got blown past for a breakaway (luckily it hit the post) and also looked noncommittal on the Leafs 3rd goal.  Additionally, he was caught way out of position (furthest Penguin up the ice) on the 2^nd goal. 

Zbynek Michalek – Though Michalek ultimately finished even, he simply should have been better.  He had trouble controlling the puck in the offensive zone and looked lost along with Martin at times in the defensive zone.  The pairing put together some of their worst shifts of the season, but were quite lucky that they play in front of a red-hot Fleury.

The panicked look of Michalek...out of position...again...

 Thoughts:

- This game was just a perfect example of haves vs. have-nots.  The Pens have been there, they know how to win, they know they can and should win, and they willed it in about 12 minutes of hockey in the 3^rd period.  The Leafs played fast and furious hockey, but ultimately lacked any type of calming presence down the stretch to keep their heads up.  The Leafs reminded me of that 07-08 Pens team that couldn’t hold a 2 goal lead for the life of them in the middle of the season.

- Not that it mattered, but Bylsma went with Pascal Dupuis as one of the 6 on the ice at the end of the 3^rd period.  It was certainly an interesting choice since Dupuis is in a 13 game goal-scoring drought.  Luckily, all’s well that ends well!

- Also late in the 3^rd period, it’s interesting to note that neither team had a timeout to use.  The Pens had used theirs after going down 2-0, and the Leafs used theirs on an icing call.  I wonder how badly Ron Wilson wished he had that back.

- It’s still rather early in the playoff race, but this is yet another shootout win that won’t count towards the tiebreaker in the standings.  Hopefully it won’t matter, but with how tight the East is, especially in the Atlantic, that could end up being the difference between 1^st and 4^th in the end.

- The Leafs are expected to go with their backup, Reimer, in net tomorrow night.  Does Bylsma dare actually rest Fleury??

- After a ridiculous game 1 of the home and home series, I can’t even imagine what will happen in the 2^nd game tomorrow night.

Pens Record: 29-17-4, 62 pts, 3^rd in the Atlantic, 5^th in the East

Next Game:  2/1 @ Tor, 7:30pm