The Penguins moved two points closer to a playoff spot after securing a shootout victory over the New York Islanders. Splitting a point with the Islanders may make the task of catching New York for third place in the division tougher but the real focus remains on staying above Detroit and Philadelphia in the wild card chase.

Those two teams actually played one another yesterday with Philadelphia crushing Detroit for stretches of time (23 to 3 shots in 1st period) and then Detroit battling back (22 to 9 shots in the 3rd). The end result was a regulation win for Philadelphia which works out fine for the Penguins. That game just needed to avoid overtime.

Eastern Conference Playoff race:#NHLplayoffrace pic.twitter.com/mmfpS90Ptd

— Damian Echevarrieta (@Ech28) March 16, 2016

Sidney Crosby registered an assist on the Penguins lone goal of the game pushing his point streak to nine games (14 points). His assist last night pushes him back into the top five scorers in the league trailing only Patrick Kane (89), Jamie Benn (77), Future 2015-16 Norris winner Erik Karlsson (73), Tyler Seguin (72), and both Crosby and Evgeny Kuznetsov at 70.

Chris Kunitz scored his 14th goal of the season in his 800th career game.

Marc-Andre Fleury stopped all three shots he faced in the shootout. Fleury remains the king of the shootout due to his athletic style and deadly poke check. He is still the all time leader among goaltenders who have faced at least 100 shootout attempts.



2015-16 stats were compiled from Sporting Charts and then added to the database created by Post to Post Hockey

In a league that makes shootouts an important part of standings points it will be very beneficial down the stretch for Pittsburgh to have this ace in the sleeve.

Pittsburgh's next game is against the Carolina Hurricanes on St. Patrick's Day

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For any coaches who happen to find their way to this blog I would like to pass along a great learning tool that your defensemen could benefit from.

Decision making in the Defensive Zone - getting possession of the puck and preparing for a line change pic.twitter.com/99g6LTVhRD

— Jen LC (@RegressedPDO) March 16, 2016

It can be easily printed out and handed to your players as a cheat sheet.

Thanks for reading!

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