The Wilkes Barre Scranton Crosbys were able to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs by a score of 3-1 last night. In a game that screamed for the Maple Leafs to take control and leave with a victory, they did not.
The lesser known Penguins kept the game manageable just long enough for Sidney Crosby to strike for the go ahead goal in the third period. The lesser known Penguins, most of whom have been in the AHL, did what they had to do for the victory.
The one benefit of having so many callups in your lineup is that they will work their asses off when given the chance and that is exactly what they did.
Here are the game highlights:
One guy who I think deserves all the accolades he gets is Olli Maatta. That kid can flat out play hockey and is proving that the Penguins decision to keep him in the NHL was absolutely the right one. Maatta was thrust into top pairing duty with Matt Niskanen and passed with flying colors. Maatta had the 2nd most ice time of any Penguins and actually led the team in PK time.
The most impressive part of Maatta’s game is an area that made Nicklas Lidstrom one of the most frustrating players to play against, gap control. Maatta has taken on the responsibility of going up against Pavel Datsyuk and Phil Kessel in back to back games and has passed with flying colors. In the modern NHL gap control is everything and it seems as though every time a forward comes down the ice to take on Olli Maatta, he is within a sticks length to thwart their efforts.
The beautiful thing about a young player like Maatta being so sound defensively is that it will allow him to grow offensively as a player sooner rather than later. Olli Maatta has the foundation of being a quality all around defenseman for many years to come. Big kudos to the youngster and to Ray Shero/Dan Bylsma for having faith him in.
The other big story from the game will be Robert Bortuzzo’s first big hit on Jerry D’Amigo. This hit is a multi layered situation and I believe that there are a few variables that come into play.
For those who missed it here is the hit:
The NHL has already ruled that it will not be taking any additional disciplinary actions against Bortuzzo:
My take on the hit is that Bortuzzo did not have malicious intent of trying to hit D’Amigo in the head. However, due to the height difference of both players and the fact that D’Amigo leaves himself exposed by reaching for the puck, the head did in fact become the principal point of contact.
The league feels as though D’Amigo needs to take some responsibility of his action based on the fact they deemed it unavoidable head contact. This was an unfortunate situation for both players.
I do believe that in the future that Bortuzzo’s hit will be a suspendable offense as the league will eventually move towards the philosophy that the hitter is completely responsible for their actions.
I can tell you that the hit laid by Bortuzzo is already an illegal check at the NYS HS hockey level and I think that their rationale of thinking will make its way up to the top league as time moves on.
The argument will be that even though D’Amigo left himself vulnerable, Bortuzzo did not have to “blow him up” to make a hockey play. Bortuzzo could have made a physical play without actively launching into the player.
There are some other issues related to the first Bortuzzo hit that I want to touch on as well. The reason I have to label it the “first Bortuzzo hit” is because apparently Jerry D’Amigo didn’t get the memo the first time he came down Bortuzzo’s side. Shortly after the first hit D’Amigo was dialed up again by Bortuzzo, this time D’Amigo left the game for good with what appeared to be a shoulder injury.
My question is how in the world was D’Amigo in the game to get crushed by Bortuzzo again? If D’Amigo was indeed the victim of a head shot, how did he go through concussion protocol so fast to get back into the game? If we are supposed to take head shots seriously, lets take head shots seriously.
Also related to the Bortuzzo hits I want to point out that I don’t think there are many teams in the NHL who get less out of their 4th line than the Toronto Maple Leafs. The reason for this is because they are usually wasting roster spots on the 4th line with players who are really bad at hockey, but really good at throwing punches. Last night the Toronto 4th line had Frazer McLaren and Troy Bodie, the two of them combined for 6:24 of ice time. In fact Troy Bodie had 3 times as many penalty minutes (10) as he did ice time (3:10).
Now if I’m gathering the logic of dressing players like that correctly, it is that they serve as a deterrent against what Robert Bortuzzo did to Jerry D’Amigo, twice. The fact of the matter is that they don’t provide much in the way of deterring anything. Their presence in the lineup did nothing to sway Robert Bortuzzo from delivering either of those hits to D'Amigo. It also did nothing to stop Bortuzzo from assisting on the game winning goal after delivering both of those hits. Bodie had already been in two fights prior to the first Bortuzzo/D’Amigo hit.
The only thing that Bodie and McLaren’s presence accomplished was putting more stress on the rest of the Maple Leafs forwards because they aren’t good hockey players.
There is a reason I billed last night’s team as the Wilkes Barre Scranton Crosby’s and that is because Sidney Crosby always answers the bell when the team needs it. Crosby had a pretty average game overall but when he is given his opportunity to put his stamp on a game you know that he is going to deliver.
Crosby has been delivering in the 3rd period this season more-so than any other player in the league:
Marc Andre Fleury deserves a shout out. He was great in net again and continues to be lights out on home ice. Fleury stopped 25 out of 26 shots for the Penguins victory. His home stats are now 16 games played , 13-2 record, 1.63 GAA, and a save percentage of .943%.
The Penguins will head to NYC to take on the Rangers tomorrow night.
Thanks for reading!
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