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It wasn't picture-perfect hockey for either team on Sunday evening, but after sixty-five minutes and the shootout, the Pittsburgh Penguins left with a 2-1 road victory.
All three Pittsburgh shooters -- James Neal, Sidney Crosby, and Evgeni Malkin -- beat Craig Anderson in the shootout, and Marc-Andre Fleury's lone stop of Milan Michalek was enough for the bonus point.
As for the actual sixty-five minutes of hockey, it wasn't real pretty. Erik Karlsson may have had his worst game as an Ottawa Senators player since the 2010-2011 season, and Evgeni Malkin wasn't his best for the Pittsburgh side, either. When those guys aren't going well, there's an obvious trickle-down effect.
The shot quality and difficulty -- or, lack thereof -- was one thing that I immediately noticed. The Pittsburgh broadcast team of Bob Errey and Paul Steigerwald continued to praise both Craig Anderson (33-saves) and Marc-Andre Fleury (31-saves) for their efforts, but the raw stop numbers didn't really tell the entire story. Tonight's shooters were constantly finding the goaltenders' midsection, and the noticeable lack of second-chances and attempts from the slot probably had a lot to do with the low-scoring affair.
Pittsburgh's lone regulation marker came from a James Neal missile after an ugly Zack Smith turnover. Smith tried to breakout with a stretch-pass that was intercepted by Evgeni Malkin. But, Smith also failed to thwart the counterattack, allowing Evgeni Malkin to squeak outside and get in-tight on Craig Anderson. He found his linemate, and they found the back of the net.
The screen caps kind of tell the Zack Smith story here:
Ottawa's equalizer wasn't dissimilar to Pittsburgh's marker -- it came as a result of an errant east/west pass by Evgeni Malkin in the offensive zone, looking for the changing Sidney Crosby. Malkin compounded the issue by failing to get the easy neutral zone stop, allowing the puck to trickle between his legs and start the rush in the other direction. Spezza controlled and fired it on net, and Colin Greening deposited the rebound, beating James Neal down-ice.
All in all, a pretty odd game, one that I doubt Dan Bylsma or Paul MacLean will look on with real delight aside from the point(s) in the standings.
Few random tidbits worth noting:
(1) Matt Niskanen left the game and did not return after slamming into the boards. Niskanen had his pocket picked by Milan Michalek, then hit the deck trying to recover.
(2) Erik Karlsson logged just five minutes and change in the first period, but still managed to play 26:57 on the night. A few lengthy shifts corrected his total ice-time, specifically a two-minute and ten second (!) shift to end the third-period.
(3) Daniel Alfredsson missed the game with the flu. Guillaume Latendresse, who expected to take on a bigger role because of the lack of top-six depth, only logged 11:59 TOI, besting just Jim O'Brien and Kaspars Daugavins.
(4) Ottawa and Pittsburgh both get a day off before returning to action Tuesday. Ottawa hosts Washington; Pittsburgh hosts New York (I).
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