Tough game to swallow if you are a Pens fan. They started out playing some great hockey but one penalty and a quick goal can really give the momentum to one team and propel them to victory. That is exactly what happened today. The Flyers came back from being down 2-0 to end the Penguins 11 game win streak with a 3-2 victory in overtime.
I was on the road for much of the day but I was able to watch the game at a friend's house so here are a few thoughts:
-The Penguins played some pretty good hockey for the first 40 minutes. The Flyers couldn't do anything. They could barely even get a shot off. They held a 27-10 shot advantage through two periods and held the Flyers to only two shots in the second period. They had a two goal lead and with the way they were playing there was no way I thought the Flyers were going to come back. They did. Zbynek Michalek took a penalty with just 30 seconds left in the second period and Kimmo Timonen scored in the first 30 seconds of the third period. Scott Hartnell scored four minutes later and it was a new game. One penalty and the game flipped 100% in Philadelphia's favor. It happens.
-The Penguins let the Flyers get into their heads after they tied it up. Late in the game there were a few scrums and while the Flyers didn't always get a power play they sort of did in a way. What do I mean? Well early in overtime Braydon Coburn baited Kris Letang into getting into a scrum and both went to the box for two minutes. You can bet your bottom dollar that the Flyers will take the trade of having Coburn go off the ice for two minutes if it means Kris Letang goes off the ice for that two minutes. Huge advantage Flyers. That is just one instance but it happened a few times during the game.
-I do not like Scott Hartnell at all but the dude is playing some great hockey this year. He scored a pair of goals which means he has 35 goals on the season. 35. Just to compare that Evgeni Malkin has 41 goals. You can hate the guy all you want but you have to give him props. He scored the game winner with just over a second left in the game and scored the game tying goal. It sucks and he is a troll but he has been getting it done this year.
-Crosby has still been on a sort of pitch count. He only skated for about 17 minutes but he looked a lot better and confident today than the past two games. You can tell he is starting to get into the groove. One thing that needs to happen is that Crosby needs to play with some new line mates. I love Matt Cooke and what he has done this year but Tyler Kennedy has just been struggling in a big way all season. It just really isn't working. I am sure Crosby will be stating with maybe Dupuis and Stall or Dupuis and Sullivan soon so I am not really worried but I would like to see it sooner rather than later.
-Marc Andre Fleury made another start today. He has been playing a ton of hockey lately and I am really surprised that he played in all three games against the Rangers, Devils and Flyers. I thought Brad Thiessen might get a start but they are going to ride MAF as far as they can. I wouldn't be surprised to see Thissen on Tuesday but who knows. The Penguins are only one point back of New York with games even so I guess it depends on how badly they want that top seed.
-Losing sucks. Losing to the Flyers sucks even worse. That being said this wasn't a "terrible loss" or however you want to look at it. These past three games against the Rangers, Devils and Flyers in less that four full days was a daunting task and to come out of that with five points is a really great road trip. I would have been more than happy with just four points out of that but getting that fifth point today was huge. The Penguins will be fine. Teams lose games. Teams blow leads sometimes. Shit happens. The Penguins have been easily the best team in the league probably for the entire 2012 calender year so I don't think you can really complain about only getting one point in a game, even if it is to the Flyers.
Much needed day off for the Penguins tomorrow.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Saturday, March 17, 2012
Penguins Game Day 70 - @ New Jersey Devils
New Jersey Devils
1:00 p.m., Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey
The season series (New Jersey leads 3-1):
October 22, 2011 - Pittsburgh 4, New Jersey 1
December 31, 2011 - New Jersey 3, Pittsburgh 1
January 7, 2012 - New Jersey 3, Pittsburgh 1
February 5, 2012 - New Jersey 5, Pittsburgh 2
The Penguins probables (via Empty Netters):
Forwards
Chris Kunitz - Evgeni Malkin - James Neal
Steve Sullivan - Jordan Staal - Pascal Dupuis
Matt Cooke - Sidney Crosby - Tyler Kennedy
Arron Asham - Joe Vitale - Craig Adams
Defense
Kris Letang - Paul Martin
Brooks Orpik - Zbynek Michalek
Matt Niskanen - Deryk Engelland
Goaltender
Marc Andre Fleury
The Devils probables (via Empty Netters):
Forwards
Zach Parise - Adam Henrique - Ilya Kovalchuk
Petr Sykora - Patrik Elias - Dainius Zubrus
Alexei Ponikarovsky - Jacob Josefson - David Clarkson
Steve Bernier - Ryan Carter - Cam Janssen
Defense
Andy Greene - Mark Fayne
Bryce Salvador - Marek Zidlicky
Anton Volchenkov - Adam Larsson
Goaltender
Martin Brodeur
The stats:
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Penguins Game 69 Recap - Penguins 5, Rangers 2
The more things change and the more they stay the same for the Penguins. Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang come back? No problem. Juggle lines for much of the first half of the game? No problem. Tinker with new power play formations? No problem. The Penguins took it all in stride and came out of MSG with a 5-2 win despite not playing on of their best games of the season.
The Penguins got on the board quick with a Matt Cooke goal on a really weird play where Tyler Kennedy did just a hell of a job of digging the puck out of the corner and finding Cooke in front. Cooke took the puck and it got ticked up in the air, goes off a Rangers body and into the net. Lucky bounce but I will take that every day of the week.
The Rangers tied it up when there was a mad scrum in front of Marc Andre Fleury and Carl Hagelin found the back of the net. Out of the first period intermission the Penguins really put the pedal to the medal and scored a pair of goals in the first two and a half minutes. First it was Evgeni Malkin who put back his own rebound after James Neal worked the boards and got the puck to Malkin in front of the net. Cooke then buried a pass from Kennedy for the first two goal lead of the night. Marian Gaborik was given a gift when the Penguins basically left him alone in the slot and he beat MAF. Not really much MAF can do as Gaborik is one of the best snipers in the game.
The Penguins put the game away in the third. They retook the two goal lead just over three minutes into the third period when Sidney Crosby set up Chris Kunitz just after a Penguins power play expired to give Crosby his first point of the return and the Penguins basically took all the air out of MSG after that. Pascal Dupuis put the final nail in the coffin with a goal from Letang and Paul Martin with just 12 minutes left in the game.
-This was a pretty nice “statement” win for the Penguins. I put statement in quotations because the Rangers were playing without Ryan Callahan, Mike Del Zotto and Hendrik Lindqvist. I know you will probably say that the Penguins were able to succeed without much of their top talent through the past year plus but it isn’t like we beat the full lineup of the top team in the East. Hell, I don’t care, a win is a win and the Penguins are rolling right now and anytime you win a game from a top-level team like the Rangers, no matter who is missing, that says a lot.
-That is 10 wins in a row for the Penguins. 10. Pretty nice numbers. It doesn’t get any easier as the Penguins are going to battle the Devils (who they can’t seem to beat) and the Flyers (rivals) this weekend. This win also put the Penguins within four points of the top spot in the East with still one game in hand against the Rangers. Don’t forget that these two teams still have a game against each other. The Penguins have the second hardest schedule left in the league (thank you ROOT Sports) so it’s not going to be easy, but a few weeks ago this was a pipe dream.
-Another nice tidbit from tonight’s game is that this was the first game of the year where the Rangers gave up five goals. You might say it was only Marty Biron but he has been very solid this season. Not tonight. The Penguins made him look like the mediocre goaltender he was when he was in Philadelphia.
-Crosby skated only 16 minutes but I think he played a pretty good game. It didn’t look like he was timid to get into the corners or to jump up into the play but I think it was pretty easy to see he wasn’t really in a flow. He was being bounced around with a ton of different line options and overall there was just some rust there. I didn’t expect to see him do what he did against the Islanders because, well, let’s be honest that was the Islanders.
-Kris Letang logged some big minutes tonight and led all Penguins skaters with over 24 minutes of action. He contributed an assist on the night and was on the ice for all five of the Penguins goals. He looked a little rusty at times but I have no worries going forward about him being dominant.
-Remember when Matt Cooke was going through his suspension and a ton of people were talking about how he wouldn’t be a useful player because he didn’t have any skill and he was just a goon? Yea, about that. Cooke found the back of the net twice tonight and was named the first star. That is 14 goals on the season and all while only taking 30 penalty minutes. Cooke really struggled at the beginning of the season for long stretches but the last few weeks he has been playing some great hockey.
-The power play was a little rusty with the new look. The Penguins decided to throw Sidney Crosby on the point instead of Steve Sullivan and they looked pretty good passing the puck around but you could really tell (at least I could) that all the players on the ice didn’t really know where they needed/wanted to be. I have a feeling there is going to need to be a honeymoon period to get things in order but I think this could work. I would probably rather prefer two power play units but I can see where this would work.
-Marc Andre Fleury made some outstanding saves tonight. He earned his 38th win of the season and made 29 saves for the win. He didn’t look particularly comfortable early in the game but the third period he was locked in. He made a ridiculous stick save with just a few minutes left in the game that might be one of his three best of the year. The other was when he was stacking the pads on a sramble and completely robbed someone with the glove. He is just locked in. I would like to see Brad Thiessen get in a game this weekend but hard not to play Fleury with how he looks.
-Like I said in the open I really don’t think the Penguins played a great hockey game. There were large portions of the game where the Penguins were turning the puck over and making some bad decisions but despite that they were able to win a game pretty handedly. The ice was pretty choppy all night and the puck was on edge all night so I am sure some things can be attributed to that but it was still a pretty sloppy performance overall. I thought the third period was far and away the best period of the night for the Penguins but getting a 60 minute game together would be great.
Overall just a really solid win for the Penguins.
The Penguins got on the board quick with a Matt Cooke goal on a really weird play where Tyler Kennedy did just a hell of a job of digging the puck out of the corner and finding Cooke in front. Cooke took the puck and it got ticked up in the air, goes off a Rangers body and into the net. Lucky bounce but I will take that every day of the week.
The Rangers tied it up when there was a mad scrum in front of Marc Andre Fleury and Carl Hagelin found the back of the net. Out of the first period intermission the Penguins really put the pedal to the medal and scored a pair of goals in the first two and a half minutes. First it was Evgeni Malkin who put back his own rebound after James Neal worked the boards and got the puck to Malkin in front of the net. Cooke then buried a pass from Kennedy for the first two goal lead of the night. Marian Gaborik was given a gift when the Penguins basically left him alone in the slot and he beat MAF. Not really much MAF can do as Gaborik is one of the best snipers in the game.
The Penguins put the game away in the third. They retook the two goal lead just over three minutes into the third period when Sidney Crosby set up Chris Kunitz just after a Penguins power play expired to give Crosby his first point of the return and the Penguins basically took all the air out of MSG after that. Pascal Dupuis put the final nail in the coffin with a goal from Letang and Paul Martin with just 12 minutes left in the game.
-This was a pretty nice “statement” win for the Penguins. I put statement in quotations because the Rangers were playing without Ryan Callahan, Mike Del Zotto and Hendrik Lindqvist. I know you will probably say that the Penguins were able to succeed without much of their top talent through the past year plus but it isn’t like we beat the full lineup of the top team in the East. Hell, I don’t care, a win is a win and the Penguins are rolling right now and anytime you win a game from a top-level team like the Rangers, no matter who is missing, that says a lot.
-That is 10 wins in a row for the Penguins. 10. Pretty nice numbers. It doesn’t get any easier as the Penguins are going to battle the Devils (who they can’t seem to beat) and the Flyers (rivals) this weekend. This win also put the Penguins within four points of the top spot in the East with still one game in hand against the Rangers. Don’t forget that these two teams still have a game against each other. The Penguins have the second hardest schedule left in the league (thank you ROOT Sports) so it’s not going to be easy, but a few weeks ago this was a pipe dream.
-Another nice tidbit from tonight’s game is that this was the first game of the year where the Rangers gave up five goals. You might say it was only Marty Biron but he has been very solid this season. Not tonight. The Penguins made him look like the mediocre goaltender he was when he was in Philadelphia.
-Crosby skated only 16 minutes but I think he played a pretty good game. It didn’t look like he was timid to get into the corners or to jump up into the play but I think it was pretty easy to see he wasn’t really in a flow. He was being bounced around with a ton of different line options and overall there was just some rust there. I didn’t expect to see him do what he did against the Islanders because, well, let’s be honest that was the Islanders.
-Kris Letang logged some big minutes tonight and led all Penguins skaters with over 24 minutes of action. He contributed an assist on the night and was on the ice for all five of the Penguins goals. He looked a little rusty at times but I have no worries going forward about him being dominant.
-Remember when Matt Cooke was going through his suspension and a ton of people were talking about how he wouldn’t be a useful player because he didn’t have any skill and he was just a goon? Yea, about that. Cooke found the back of the net twice tonight and was named the first star. That is 14 goals on the season and all while only taking 30 penalty minutes. Cooke really struggled at the beginning of the season for long stretches but the last few weeks he has been playing some great hockey.
-The power play was a little rusty with the new look. The Penguins decided to throw Sidney Crosby on the point instead of Steve Sullivan and they looked pretty good passing the puck around but you could really tell (at least I could) that all the players on the ice didn’t really know where they needed/wanted to be. I have a feeling there is going to need to be a honeymoon period to get things in order but I think this could work. I would probably rather prefer two power play units but I can see where this would work.
-Marc Andre Fleury made some outstanding saves tonight. He earned his 38th win of the season and made 29 saves for the win. He didn’t look particularly comfortable early in the game but the third period he was locked in. He made a ridiculous stick save with just a few minutes left in the game that might be one of his three best of the year. The other was when he was stacking the pads on a sramble and completely robbed someone with the glove. He is just locked in. I would like to see Brad Thiessen get in a game this weekend but hard not to play Fleury with how he looks.
-Like I said in the open I really don’t think the Penguins played a great hockey game. There were large portions of the game where the Penguins were turning the puck over and making some bad decisions but despite that they were able to win a game pretty handedly. The ice was pretty choppy all night and the puck was on edge all night so I am sure some things can be attributed to that but it was still a pretty sloppy performance overall. I thought the third period was far and away the best period of the night for the Penguins but getting a 60 minute game together would be great.
Overall just a really solid win for the Penguins.
Penguins Game Day 69 - @ New York Rangers
New York Rangers
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7:00 p.m., Madison Square Garden, New York, New York
Today I got to do something I haven't been able to do a whole lot of the past couple of years. That would be typing in the names of Staal, Malkin, Crosby, Letang and Fleury all in the same starting lineup for the same game. Weird feeling, but it is a good one. After Kris Letang went down with what looked to be a pretty bad head injury things looked grimmed but not only will Sidney Crosby be back but so will Letang. Pretty exciting day.
The Rangers are actually on the complete opposite side of things as they will be without Ryan Callahan and Mike Del Zotto which are two of their their main centerpiece players. Hendrik Lundqvist will also be out tonight as he is still getting over a nasty flu bug so Martin Biron will be in between the pipes for the Rangers. Biron has actually been pretty good for the Rangers this year but I don't think you can expect him to be as good as Lundqvist would have been if he was going to be in the net.
Interesting game for another reason tonight as this is quickly turing into a race for the Atlantic Division crown.
As it currently stands the Penguins are six points back of the Rangers with a game in hand. The Penguins win in regulation tonight and they will be four back with still a game in hand so a win makes it even more interesting with these two teams still having to play one more time. Lets not forget that the Flyers and Devils are still right behind the Penguins (and Rangers) so these points are pretty important.
The season series (Tied 2-2):
November 29 - New York 4, Pittsburgh 3
January 6, 2012 - New York 3, Pittsburgh 1
January 19, 2012 - Pittsburgh 4, New York 1
February 21, 2012
The Penguins probables (via Empty Netters):
Forwards
Chris Kunitz - Evgeni Malkin - James Neal
Steve Sullivan - Jordan Staal - Pascal Dupuis
Matt Cooke - Sidney Crosby - Tyler Kennedy
Craig Adams - Joe Vitale - Arron Asham
Defense
Kris Letang - Paul Martin
Zbynek Michalek - Brooks Orpik
Matt Niskanen - Deryk Engelland
Goaltender
Marc Andre Fleury
The Rangers probables (via Empty Netters):
Forwards
Carl Hagelin - Brad Richards - Marian Gaborik
Artem Anisimov -Derek Stepan - Brandon Dubinsky
Ruslan Fedotenko - Brian Boyle - Brandon Prust
Mike Rupp - John Mitchell - Mats Zuccarello
Defense
Ryan McDonagh - Dan Girardi
Marc Staal - Stu Bickel
Steve Eminger - Anton Stralman
Goaltender
Martin Biron
The stats:
Pirates Blogger Roundtable Episode 7
Once again I was lucky enough to be asked back on a podcast that was hosted by Jon at McEffect along with Brian at Raise the Jolly Roger and Jim at Northside Notch to talk some Pirates stuff that is going on.
Another great episode of the roundtable podcast. We started off the podcast talking about the NCAA Basketball Tournament giving all our Final Four predictions and whatnot. We then talk about the 25 man roster and if Josh Harrison is going to be able to stick as well as some open bullpen spots. Jon came up with a nice over/under segment to the podcast as it pertains to the Pirates. We also squeezed in some playoff predictions and who would thought would win the World Series, I mean it's never too early for those!
It was some really good stuff and you should give it a listen if you have a spare 40 minutes. Thanks again to all those guys for including me.
Click here to listen/download the podcast.
Another great episode of the roundtable podcast. We started off the podcast talking about the NCAA Basketball Tournament giving all our Final Four predictions and whatnot. We then talk about the 25 man roster and if Josh Harrison is going to be able to stick as well as some open bullpen spots. Jon came up with a nice over/under segment to the podcast as it pertains to the Pirates. We also squeezed in some playoff predictions and who would thought would win the World Series, I mean it's never too early for those!
It was some really good stuff and you should give it a listen if you have a spare 40 minutes. Thanks again to all those guys for including me.
Click here to listen/download the podcast.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
TRBB Podcast - Penguins Talk With @PensDeptoTFP
Well I finally got around to getting back on the podcast grind. It has been some time since I have been in the podcast creating mood but today I was able to get together with Joe Depto to talk about some Penguins hockey. Joe is one of the best in the business in terms of the Penguins as he is a writer for The Fourth Period Magazine as well as numerous other venues where he drops knowledge on fools.
You are definitely going to want to listen to this podcast if you follow the Penguins at all. We talk about a ton of different topics which include:
- The Penguins nine game winning streak.
- Sidney Crosby's return and possible linemates
- Kris Letang's importance to the Penguins
- The Penguins defensive depth
- What teams Joe doesn't want the Penguins to see in the first round
- How good Marc Andre Fleury has been
- Proposed NHL rule changes
There is that and much, much, more in the podcast. If you have some time to sit down and listen to it I suggest you do so. Not only because it is my podcast but because Joe will get you caught up on all the most important Penguins information as well as using the term "biscut in the basket" twice.
Big thanks to Joe for taking some time out of his day and joining me here. Make sure you follow him on twitter.
You are definitely going to want to listen to this podcast if you follow the Penguins at all. We talk about a ton of different topics which include:
- The Penguins nine game winning streak.
- Sidney Crosby's return and possible linemates
- Kris Letang's importance to the Penguins
- The Penguins defensive depth
- What teams Joe doesn't want the Penguins to see in the first round
- How good Marc Andre Fleury has been
- Proposed NHL rule changes
There is that and much, much, more in the podcast. If you have some time to sit down and listen to it I suggest you do so. Not only because it is my podcast but because Joe will get you caught up on all the most important Penguins information as well as using the term "biscut in the basket" twice.
Big thanks to Joe for taking some time out of his day and joining me here. Make sure you follow him on twitter.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Penguins Game 68 Recap - Penguins 5, Bruins 2
The Penguins played one of their best periods of the season in the first period against the Bruins and while they didn’t play the best hockey in the second and third period that strong first period propelled them to a 5-2 win over the Bruins at the CONSOL Energy Center.
This was the first game of a pretty brutal four game stretch where the Penguins also matchup against the Rangers, Devils and Flyers. They dominated the Bruins today and left no doubt about who was the better team and it seems as if the Penguins were sending a message that the winning streak that they are currently on is not just because they are playing against non playoff teams but they can beat some of the best in the league also.
It was all done in the first period today. The Penguins came out guns a blazing and were more physical and looked like they were men playing against boys. This is not so strange for the Penguins to dominate periods of games but they rarely cash in and head into the intermission with more than a one goal lead but today was totally different.
Arron Asham, Matt Niskanen and James Neal cashed in for the Penguins in the first period with Asham and Niskanen scoring in the first eight minutes of the game and Neal finally breaking a long scoring slump on a 5-on-3 power play goal. This was all with the great Tim Thomas in net. He would not return for the second period.
The Bruins were right back into the game with a David Krejci goal just two minutes into the second period. There was a ton of time left and a two goal lead isn’t much with some much time on the clock but the Penguins answered with a Chris Kunitz goal just under three minutes later. It was Kunitz’s 20th goal of the season. I remember when the Penguins first signed Kunitz a lot of people weren’t happy with the cap hit but this is why Ray Shero is the GM and you are eating Cheetos on your couch.
Krejci scored his second of the game halfway through the second period. Made you still watch the game because it wasn’t over. The third period was pretty good hockey all around and it was Marc Andre Fleury who stole the show and made some great saves to keep it a two goal game. Pascal Dupuis put the game on ice with his 18th goal of the season with just under four minutes to go. You know how you talk about Kunitz being an underrated role player, well you can add Pascal Dupuis to that list and probably more so than Kunitz.
People around the league can have Luongo, Price, Lundqvist, Brodeur, Rinne, Thomas and all of them but I will take Marc Andre Fleury every day of the week. He gave up a pair of goals to Krejci today but he stopped 34 shots and made a few clutch saves in the third period to not even give the Bruins a chance to get back into the game.
The first line of Kunitz-Malkin-Neal hasn’t contributed too much point wise over the last few games but they came back with a force. They combined for seven points (two goals, five assists) but it was the first of the goals that any of them were a part of that was the best known. Matt Niskanen scored the Penguins second goal and it was assisted by both Malkin and Neal and that marked the 500th point in the NHL for Malkin and the 200th point for Neal. Malkin became the fourth fastest player in NHL history to score 500 goals. Not too shabby.
It wasn’t all good for Malkin as he was part of an iffy hit on Johnny Boychuk and was slapped with a two minute minor for boarding. Here is the video:
In my opinion Malkin should have probably got a major penalty but I can’t see him getting a suspension, especially with no penalty history. Boychuk does turn into the hit a little bit and Malkin doesn’t make contact with his head at all. It was a shoulder hit that was right in the middle of the back but it looked really dangerous and Malkin admitted as much after the game. Like I said I probably would have given him a five and a game. Could have been really bad hit and thankfully it wasn’t.
The Penguins PK continues to dominate. The Bruins were unable to score in a pair of power play attempts while the Penguins cashed in on one of their four attempts which is the first power play goal they have scored since Kris Letang has been out of the lineup.
Total team effort today. The defense was pretty good for the most part. They were a little spotty in the second period but were really technically sound for most of the game and it was a good thing since they were still without Paul Martin.
Simon Despres is going to be unreal in coming years. No way I thought he would be this good this year when he first got called up.
For as much grief as I give Eric Tangradi I have to give him props today. He played some pretty good hockey in just over 10 minutes of play.
Huge game at MSG on Thursday.
This was the first game of a pretty brutal four game stretch where the Penguins also matchup against the Rangers, Devils and Flyers. They dominated the Bruins today and left no doubt about who was the better team and it seems as if the Penguins were sending a message that the winning streak that they are currently on is not just because they are playing against non playoff teams but they can beat some of the best in the league also.
It was all done in the first period today. The Penguins came out guns a blazing and were more physical and looked like they were men playing against boys. This is not so strange for the Penguins to dominate periods of games but they rarely cash in and head into the intermission with more than a one goal lead but today was totally different.
Arron Asham, Matt Niskanen and James Neal cashed in for the Penguins in the first period with Asham and Niskanen scoring in the first eight minutes of the game and Neal finally breaking a long scoring slump on a 5-on-3 power play goal. This was all with the great Tim Thomas in net. He would not return for the second period.
The Bruins were right back into the game with a David Krejci goal just two minutes into the second period. There was a ton of time left and a two goal lead isn’t much with some much time on the clock but the Penguins answered with a Chris Kunitz goal just under three minutes later. It was Kunitz’s 20th goal of the season. I remember when the Penguins first signed Kunitz a lot of people weren’t happy with the cap hit but this is why Ray Shero is the GM and you are eating Cheetos on your couch.
Krejci scored his second of the game halfway through the second period. Made you still watch the game because it wasn’t over. The third period was pretty good hockey all around and it was Marc Andre Fleury who stole the show and made some great saves to keep it a two goal game. Pascal Dupuis put the game on ice with his 18th goal of the season with just under four minutes to go. You know how you talk about Kunitz being an underrated role player, well you can add Pascal Dupuis to that list and probably more so than Kunitz.
People around the league can have Luongo, Price, Lundqvist, Brodeur, Rinne, Thomas and all of them but I will take Marc Andre Fleury every day of the week. He gave up a pair of goals to Krejci today but he stopped 34 shots and made a few clutch saves in the third period to not even give the Bruins a chance to get back into the game.
The first line of Kunitz-Malkin-Neal hasn’t contributed too much point wise over the last few games but they came back with a force. They combined for seven points (two goals, five assists) but it was the first of the goals that any of them were a part of that was the best known. Matt Niskanen scored the Penguins second goal and it was assisted by both Malkin and Neal and that marked the 500th point in the NHL for Malkin and the 200th point for Neal. Malkin became the fourth fastest player in NHL history to score 500 goals. Not too shabby.
It wasn’t all good for Malkin as he was part of an iffy hit on Johnny Boychuk and was slapped with a two minute minor for boarding. Here is the video:
In my opinion Malkin should have probably got a major penalty but I can’t see him getting a suspension, especially with no penalty history. Boychuk does turn into the hit a little bit and Malkin doesn’t make contact with his head at all. It was a shoulder hit that was right in the middle of the back but it looked really dangerous and Malkin admitted as much after the game. Like I said I probably would have given him a five and a game. Could have been really bad hit and thankfully it wasn’t.
The Penguins PK continues to dominate. The Bruins were unable to score in a pair of power play attempts while the Penguins cashed in on one of their four attempts which is the first power play goal they have scored since Kris Letang has been out of the lineup.
Total team effort today. The defense was pretty good for the most part. They were a little spotty in the second period but were really technically sound for most of the game and it was a good thing since they were still without Paul Martin.
Simon Despres is going to be unreal in coming years. No way I thought he would be this good this year when he first got called up.
For as much grief as I give Eric Tangradi I have to give him props today. He played some pretty good hockey in just over 10 minutes of play.
Huge game at MSG on Thursday.
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