The Penguins closed out 2014 with a victory over the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1. Pittsburgh can't afford to throw away points against inferior competition given their injury status and they didn't.
Biggest storyline of the game is an easy one. Beau Bennett was back and he had two primary assists in the 2-1 victory.
We all know Beau's history with the injury/disease bug. My best advice is to just enjoy and cherish the time we have with him in the lineup, he is a positive difference maker.
Tough for somebody to not think that way.
He hasn't lost his sense of humor though
Is 2015 going to be the year of Beau? I hope so.
Coach Johnston likes the idea of Bennett playing with Brandon Sutter and I can understand that sentiment. Bennett has only played 96:33 at even strength this year so far, 74:44 of that has been with Brandon Sutter. Here are the results:
Keep in mind this isn't a large sample size of data but because it is Beau Bennett we are talking about it is all we have to go on.
Bennett clearly has a positive impact on Sutter. Sutter's numbers fall off a table away from Bennett.
Bennett's numbers are impressive away from Sutter but we are only talking about 22 minutes of ice time so it is tough to draw conclusions from that. I will however hypothesize that Bennett can do better with Crosby or Malkin than he can with Sutter, I believe in Beau's ability as a top six winger. I will never back down from this assessment. The tools are more than evident.
The fact of the matter is that Beau Bennett is a huge key to the Penguins postseason success. His injury past is unfortunate and if it continues the Penguins will not be able to replace his potential production at the same cost (both assets and cap hit).
Here is to 2015, the year of Beau.
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