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#JagrBomb For Point #1,700, Blues In Complete Control in 2-1 Victory

November 11, 2013, 8:06 AM ET [87 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Penguins and Blues were tied at 1 heading into the 3rd period of Saturday night's matchup but it was the Blues who found a way to win. The Blues were in control much of the evening despite the close score. Marc Andre Fleury did an admirable job holding the Blues to two goals.


Here are the game highlights:




The Blues were the better team all night long and were able to control a majority of the play. The possession c hart below is an accurate depiction of how the game went.




Pittsburgh had a season low Fenclose% of 37.8%.

The Penguins started the day getting some pretty great news on the injury front as James Neal and Beau Bennett made their returns after long absences. Although the news did not stay positive for long, Paul Martin was a surprise scratch from the lineup and his absence probably had more impact on the game than the other two players returning. The Penguins are already down Rob Scuderi so when Martin is out of the lineup it is a tough hill to climb.

When you are playing a team that is as good as the St. Louis Blues you are going to have to be as close to completely healthy as possible to stand a chance. The Blues are deep and play a really solid team game. The Blues deserved their victory. Hopefully when the two teams meet again in late March the Penguins will be better equipped to handle the Blues size and skill.

Not much is known at this time about Martin’s injury but if he is unable to play next game the Penguins should consider calling a player up from WB/S. Simon Despres scored twice on Sunday and would be a likely candidate for such a call up.

Strangely enough it was Robert Bortuzzo (12:17), not Engelland (15:21) who played the fewest minutes out of the defense corp.

With James Neal and Beau Bennett back from the IR I just don’t see a spot for Deryk Engelland moving forward. There are much better forward options, especially with the emergence of Jayson Megna. I also believe that the Penguins have better defense options within the system and the Penguins shouldn’t have to dress Engelland in the future at that position either.

Marc Andre Fleury played a pretty excellent game. The game winning goal was a clunker but only giving up 2 goals with the consistent pressure the Blues applied was a job well done. This was a nice bounce back game for Fleury after giving up 5 goals to the New York Rangers on Wednesday night. The effort that Fleury provided against the Blues will give the Penguins a great chance to win on any given night. That is all you can ask for from your goaltender.

The Penguins power play had a very nice goal courtesy of the Malkin line. James Neal made a pretty cross crease pass to Malkin who deceptively hid his intention of passing by selling a perfect shot fake. Jussi Jokinen was the fortunate player on the other end of the Malkin pass which led to a fairly easy back door goal. Hopefully this trio’s success won’t be limited to the power play. It has been a long time since Malkin has had two legit top 6 wingers playing on his line. I think having James Neal back is just what the doctor ordered for Malkin’s even strength offense.

With much of the negative attention on Malkin’s goalless streak reaching 10 games, Sidney Crosby is not far behind, not having scored in 7 consecutive games himself.

The Penguins have a few days to prepare for their next contest which will be yet another rivalry matchup on NBCSN. This time it will be against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Penguins will be playing on Rivalry Night for four consecutive Wednesdays after next week’s matchup against the Capitals.

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Congratulations to Penguins legend Jaromir Jagr on his latest #JagrBomb on Sunday night to become the 1st ever European trained player to reach 1,700 points. Jagr finished the night with a goal and an assist and is now at 1,701 career points. He is now 4 goals and 22 points behind Super Mario (915 GP vs 1408).

It is an incredible achievement and provides a reminder how lucky Pittsburgh was to have a player like that for as long as they did.


He also deked Shea Weber into a face plant in the same game. Guy can still flat out play.





How much longer is Jagr going to play for? The Courier-Post asked him:

“I don’t know where I’m gonna play. I don’t know if I’m gonna play U.S. or somewhere else. I’m gonna play. I’ll play until I cannot walk. I love the game too much to leave it.”


You can’t reach the milestones and earn the accolades that Jagr has without loving what you do.

Once again, congratulations Jaromir.

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My Bills lost Sunday to a Steelers team that I don’t think is very good. That would mean the Bills have not made as much progress as I previously thought this year. Both teams would be wise to lose as many games as they can to close out the season and improve their draft stock. Take it from a Bills fan, wins are losses at this point.

Thanks for reading!
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