There will be a sense of urgency in tonight’s Penguins and Devils game. The New Jersey Devils are one point ahead of the Florida Panthers for the final wild card spot. The other issue New Jersey has is that they have played in one more game than the Panthers. A loss tonight would give the Panthers two games to make up that one point difference in the standings. So you could say that the New Jersey Devils will be motivated to bring their best this evening.
One of those players that they will be looking towards to make a difference is rookie Nico Hischier
These players are young and shifty. It’s a good list to be on.
The Penguins will be coming with a somewhat similar lineup this evening as they’ve had the previous two games with one exception.
Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Hagelin-Malkin-Hornqvist
Sheary-Brassard-Kessel
Kuhnhackl-Sheahan-Simon
Dominik Simon was in the line rushes today and his skill is a welcomed addition to the lineup. Zach Aston-Reese was skating, but not yet ready to join in with the line rushes. When healthy the Penguins lineup has some potential. When Aston-Reese is healthy and available I would be taking Tom Kuhnhackl out of the lineup. That could potentially place Conor Sheary in a fourth line role and that is fine it it comes to that. I have a feeling that Sheary might get the healthy scratch treatment while Kuhnhackl stays in which isn’t going to give the team any benefit.
The Athletic’s Jesse Marshall did a piece on Kris Letang that had a lot of information and most of it was all positive for Letang.
His underlying numbers are great, he plays against top competition, he’s made some obvious mistakes that people remember, and his goaltenders have been terrible. That’s the overall run down. You can either dwell on the obvious mistakes that are easy to remember or you can focus on the overall results which show him to be one of the better players in the league. Jesse pointed out that Kris Letang has the lowest on-ice save percentage among the Penguins defensemen. I opened things up further and looked at his on-ice save percentage at a league wide level. What I found was that among defensemen who have played 900 minutes his .885 is literally the worst in the league. I don’t hold on-ice save percentage against players like some do. There is little rhyme or reason to the stat. The consistency you look for year to year just isn’t there. When you look at the leaders and the players at the bottom of on-ice save percentage it is random between the kinds of players you find. It is a descriptive stat and not a predictive one. Here are the top 20 and bottom 20 5v5 on-ice save percentage defensemen
The one thing on-ice save percentage can tell me about Letang is that when he makes a mistake, the puck is going in the net. Even when he doesn’t make a mistake, the puck is going in the net. Mistakes are easier to remember when they go in the net. I’m willing to bet people don’t remember the mistakes of the guys on the left hand side as much as the ones on the right.
You can see the up and down nature of this stat when looking at Letang’s career
So in summary, great player try to do great things. Crappy players don’t try to do anything. They are boring. Their mistakes are death by 1,000 paper cuts. When talented players are trying to push the play forward there are times when their mishaps create high-danger chances the other way. A great example of this could be when Letang gets moving up ice from the defensive zone and either makes a poor read or a teammate makes an unexpected turnover and the puck is going the other way exposing Letang’s momentum. His willingness to join the play is such an asset and worth the risk involved. Something worth mentioning is that the Dumoulin-Letang pairing is the best on the team at limiting high-danger shot attempts so it isn’t like Letang is grossly negligent here. The pros far outweigh the cons even when the goaltending is a paltry .885.
Kris Letang is still pretty awesome and helps out the Penguins quite a bit.
Thanks for reading!
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