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The Pittsburgh Penguins were able to edge out the Washington Capitals in the first game of their home and home by a score of 3-2.
The game followed a familiar pattern for Penguins victories since the Olympic break: bad possession, good special teams, a superstar steps up, and good goaltending.
Sidney Crosby led the way for Pittsburgh. Crosby had a power play goal and 2 assists. The Crosby line combined for 7 points on the night.
Contributing to the success on that line was newcomer Lee Stempniak. Stempniak had 2 assists and was the main catalyst for the Penguins game winning goal. The plays Stempniak on that sequence were simple and basic, but those are the kind of plays that mesh well with Crosby.
Stempniak stretched the ice and received a long stretch pass from Matt Niskanen, instead of redirecting the puck into the zone on a chip dump he redirected the puck to a streaking Sidney Crosby in the neutral zone. Crosby's speed allowed him to back the defender down. Stempniak did not play the role of passenger as he followed up the play and received a Crosby drop pass. Stempniak then did what he does best, fire the puck. The shot went low blocker and Kunitz played the role of garbage man. There is your game winning goal. Simple, yet effective.
The inability to generate speed in the neutral zone is what killed Pittsburgh against Boston last year. This was a very nice example of one particular way to generate speed in that area of the ice.
This was Stempniak's best showing as a Penguin and hopefully he will be looking to continue to provide some help for Crosby and Kunitz, something Gibbons just couldn't do.
Penguins #1 power play was able to score again and they will have to continue doing so if the Penguins even strength possession game doesn't shape up. Crosby fired a bullet past Halak for the first right circle one timer goal Sid has scored in a while. Crosby can't be a goal scoring option on the power play when he plays the left point.
Also worth noting is that Olli Maatta had an assist on the play and was part of that #1 group on the play.
The Penguins penalty kill did allow a goal but they came up huge in killing off the too many men on the ice penalty at the very end of the game. That had potential to be a very crushing blow. Totally avoidable penalty. The Capitals own the league's 2nd best power play. Giving them more chances is playing with fire. The Penguins weren't burned on this occasion.
Joe Vitale took an offensive zone stick penalty that did burn the Penguins. He tripped a Capital behind the Washington net. You can't be guilty of a mistake like that when you are part of a struggling bottom 6 forward group.
The Penguins lack of possession was a bit disheartening last night. This wasn't a game against one of the NHL's powerhouse possession teams, but the Pens got worked over in that department anyways.
Washington had struggled coming into this game. Their past 3 games they had FF% (close)of 25% (PHI), 25.6% (BOS), and 40.0% (PHX). Last night they were 64.3% against the Penguins.
Some slight good news is that Brandon Sutter and Marcel Goc had good nights in the possession department, it was their wingers who struggled.
Taylor Pyatt joined the Malkin line last night. That is a terrible idea.
There is a stat called Goals versus Threshold or GvT that was created by the good folks at Hockey Prospectus. GvT measures a players worth when compared to a basic replacement level player (best available mid season free agent or AHL call up).
Taylor Pyatt is a -3.6 in GvT. Is that bad? Yes, he is ranked 906th out of 924 NHL players this season. Good grief.
Tonight's game is huge for Washington (70 pts) as they trail a wild card playoff spot by 1 point but have played in one more game than Tampa (75 pts) and 2 more than Columbus (71 pts). With only 16 games left they need to kick it into high gear or miss out on the playoffs. Penguins won't have it easy tonight at home.
I leave you with some statistical information from the great Bob Grove (@PensRadioNet)
Kunitz has an NHL-high 12 First Goals this season, tying Crosby's team record set in 2009-10. Most since start of 97-98: Bure 15 in 99-00.
Tonight marked Pens' first regular-season win over Halak since a 6-1 home victory over Montreal on Oct. 28, 2009.
Crosby a goal and 2 assists (now pts in 6 straight vs. Caps for 3-11-14, 2.33 pts/game), won 14 of 19 faceoffs. What a game.
Penguins have won 7 straight games against Capitals, matching their longest such streak. Will try for No. 8 tomorrow night at 7:30.
In 15 career reg-season GP at Washington, Crosby is 11-15-26. Ovechkin now 8 straight reg-season home GP against Pittsburgh without a goal.
Thanks for reading!
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