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Germans Help Lead Penguins To Record Tying November |
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It wasn't the most exciting game in the world but the Pittsburgh Penguins will take a win in regulation especially after a very late game-time scratch of Kris Letang.
The Penguins shored up some of the issues that plagued them in the first game and improved their Fenwick for percentage from 39.18% on Friday night to 54.24% on Saturday night.
Chris Kunitz scored his first goal in 11 games on a very nice Evgeni Malkin feed. Even with the 11 game goalless drought Kunitz is still on pace for 32 goals this year, three short of his career high of 35 last year. I think switching up Kunitz from Crosby was a good move and it should help both players out. You can always go back to the Sid/Kunitz combo if need be but Kunitz played really well with Malkin and Neal while Sid was dealing with his concussions a few years back.
Robert Bortuzzo was the late replacement for Kris Letang and he showed why he can be a roller coaster of results. Very early in the game it was his penalty that led to the Hurricanes first goal, but moments later this happened.
If you have played hockey enough you have probably found yourself in the same position at least once. You are back defensively with support from another teammate. The puck carrier coming up the ice isn't perceived as real threat. He starts to skate the puck right down the middle of you and your teammate, you both are in a false sense of security thinking the other guy will step up. Neither do, and before you know it the guy that wasn't a perceived as a threat is in all alone. It happens once in a blue moon and it looks bad on the defense when it happens. It is usually born from a lack of communication.
Thomas Greiss stopped 32 out of 34 shots. Greiss is now 2nd overall in the NHL with an EVSV% of .952%. Marc-Andre Fleury is 19th overall at .929% and when you combine the two it makes the Penguins sixth overall in the NHL at .934%. Last year the Penguins finished 22nd overall at .919%. Slightly below league average.
Last but certainly not least Christian Ehrhoff scored his first goal as a Penguin. It also turned out to be the game winning goal.
It has taken 23 games for Ehrhoff to get on the board as a Penguin but that really isn't out of line with the rest of his career. Ehrhoff now has 70 career goals and 29 of them have come on the power play (41.4%). Given that Ehrhoff is not seeing power play time it is understandable that he has not found the back of the net as often. He averages an even strength goal once every 17 games in his career. 23 isn't a far cry from that.
Thanks for reading!
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