The Islanders are the team to beat in the Metropolitan Division until further notice.
They are a dominant possession team who has outshot the competition in 16 straight games.
This is the third consecutive victory the Islanders have over the Penguins. In the four games these teams have played this season the Islanders hold a 52.7% advantage in FF%.
Until the Penguins stop playing dead weight on their roster they will find themselves on the bad end of results more times than not when playing against Cup caliber teams.
The good news is that the Penguins should eventually be given the opportunity to bump at least some of this dead weight off the game day roster. Patric Hornqvist and Blake Comeau should spell the end of Zach Sill and Craig Adams. That is of course if the Penguins actually want to ice a roster capable of beating a team like New York four out of seven times.
Perron-Crosby-Hornqvist
Kunitz-Malkin-Bennett
Comeau-Sutter-Downie
Spaling-Goc-Arcobello
A lot less dead weight with that setup.
Sid looked good. He had 5 shots. That is a good recipe for success for him. He had two goals by the goal cage and an assist for a three point night. Sid was always the least of the Penguins "issues".
It is up to the supporting cast to help win a championship, the big boys are doing the heavy lifting like they always do.
Helping Sidney Crosby's cause is David Perron. He has been a great fit for him. David Perron has been a great fit for this team. That trade will go down as one of the more successful ones for the Penguins in the salary cap era when it is all said and done.
Perron is a great option on the power play on that left side. He can wire the puck home on a one timer like he did for his goal last night. He can run the power play from the half wall if the situation dictates for him to do so. And he can excel down low and by the goal cage when necessary.
Perron now has four goals and five points in five games played. He also sports a CF% of 51.5% which includes the drubbing he took at the hands of the Islanders last night.
Kudos to Kris Letang for freezing up the Islanders penalty killers and then feeding it into Perron's wheelhouse. One of Letang's weaknesses as the power play quarterback in the past has been his inability to accurately distribute pucks into the sweet spots for his teammates. Sergei Gonchar was a magician at it.
The Penguins are going to need to find out what they have with their defense personnel before the trade deadline. Simon Despres needs to play top four minutes and the Penguins will then need to figure out who best fits for a sheltered bottom pairing. Can they fill this need in-house? I think they can, but the only way to find out is if they play the crap out of the young kids moving forward. Or at the very least play one a night like they did with Harrington yesterday. The alternative is entering a very pricey defense rental market.
Simon Despres was completely dusted by John Tavares. It happens, John Tavares is awesome. The difference between when a guy like Despres gets dusted and when a guy like Scuderi gets walked is that Despres has the ability to make up for it by generating offense at some point.
As of this moment the average EVSV% in the NHL is .921%. Here is the complete list of goaltenders who are above that mark right now.
*Stats courtesy of stats.hockeyanalysis.com*
Always a great sign when both of your goaltenders are above average.
That said, one month ago Fleury was at .932%. While it wasn't very likely for him to continue at the torrid pace he started the year with, the team could do a better job giving him some rest so that he is best prepared to limit the regression as the season moves on.
Pittsburgh gets to collect themselves today and then it is three games in four nights to close things out before the all star break (Rangers, Flyers, Blackhawks).
Thanks for reading!
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