Pittsburgh rebounded a day after losing to Anaheim by beating the Los Angeles Kings by a score of 3-1. The victory was led by Patric Hornqvist’s two goals and Casey DeSmith’s 28 saves in his first career NHL victory.
Hornqvist’s first goal was garbage from a Jonathan Quick perspective. It was from a bad angle, it was from distance, and it was without a screen. It was the exact opposite of how this season has gone for the Penguins. It was a nice change of pace to get a break like that. His second goal was great. Patience isn’t something normally associated with Hornqvist and on his second goal he utilized that trait and scored a really nice goal.
Sidney Crosby picked up an assist and now has points in six straight games.
The two points in the standings are great, but the biggest victory is the fact that Justin Schultz avoided a concussion when Dustin Brown completely scummed him while in a vulnerable position. A real dirt bag move.
This is the second consecutive game where a Penguins defender has taken an obvious cheap shot. Pittsburgh is lucky that Kris Letang and Justin Schultz made it out of these incidents unscathed.
Anaheim and Los Angeles are in the Western Conference. Corey Perry and Dustin Brown have been on their respective teams forever. Ryan Reaves’ first 419 games of his career were spent in the Western Conference for St. Louis. Perry and Brown know exactly who he is, yet…
Let’s set aside the deterrence angle for a second and focus on retribution. Another reason for the June draft day trade. Has any of that happened? Corey Perry didn’t have to fight last game. The real retribution last night came on Hornqvist’s power play goal. Dustin Brown was kicked out of the game immediately rendering the concept of violent retribution useless (appropriately so). The same Reaves question remains
No prevention and no retribution. So far the player specifically acquired for these issues has been the king of nothing. Reaves is on pace for 8.5 points though, so there’s that. There’s also true believers that think that bad plays can still happen, but they aren’t AS bad as they would have been without Reaves. Brown obviously avoided taking off his skate and decapitating Schultz because of that reason. “It could have been worse” Yup, sure. At least Brown did insult Reaves by doing it while he was on the ice like Corey Perry did.
For those tired of this topic? Too bad. Toughen up and follow your own mantra. “Stop being a snowflake” I believe is the popular retort for those that pride themselves on being resilient and macho. This seems to be a common trait in Ryan Reaves fans yet it is also coupled with whining when their views with no evidence are challenged. The Dustin Brown hit was the most significant event from last night’s game and considering the season long struggle to score at 5v5 looking into the depth players is a legitimate area of concern. If the team traded out of the first round to get a player like Jussi Jokinen and he was on pace for 8.5 points he would be legitimately criticized as well. Jokinen would also have the same impact on violence against his teammates as Reaves has had.
Sharks are up next on Saturday and taking four out of six points on this road trip would be nice.
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