The Pittsburgh Penguins gutted out a 3-2 victory to even up the Eastern Conference Finals. It is the first time in five games that the Penguins were able to score more than one goal on the Senators. Their goal total last night was the same as the first three games combined. The victory was driven by Sidney Crosby's offense and Matt Murray' underrated smile. Sidney Crosby finished the game with a goal and an assist while Murray had 24 saves on 26 shots.
It wasn't a shutout like Fleury had in two of his last four games, but what you get from Murray is steady goaltending with not as much variance. It's a better bet. It's why he's the better goaltender. His positioning is better and he has enough athleticism to bail himself out when needed. It was necessary given Ottawa's ability to get in close last night
His lower body injury looked alright on this sequence
Mike Sullivan spoke briefly about the decision after the game
It was a lot more simple than people made it out to be. It turns out that playing your best players is the beginning and end of the thought process.
Pittsburgh was able to score the ever important first goal towards the end of the period.
It's the little things that make Sidney Crosby great. This wasn't the sexiest zone entry of all-time, but it was enormously effective. He does a few mini zigs and zags enough to keep Methot from zeroing in on him and the cuts back hard to the forehand as soon as he enters the zone. It makes stepping up incredibly difficult because at any time Crosby could turn the jets on and go around. Jake Guentzel gets full marks for his center drive that created the passing lane to the trailing Maatta. This was Olli Maatta's first career playoff goal which I found surprising. He made no mistake about shooting at the wide open short side of the net.
Craig Anderson had the look of a goalie that was just taken over by manual controls in an EA Sports game. A theme that would persist throughout the night.
The goal was great, but that was only part of Olli Maatta's great night. He played over 20 minutes of even-strength hockey and found himself on the plus side of the possession battle. Something that he has made a habit of against Ottawa this series. He's a 54.2% possession player. The team desperately needs that with how the defense is looking.
Trevor Daley deserves compliments as wellThe reason for the huge amount of 5v5 minutes was because Chad Ruhwedel was blasted in the head by Bobby Ryan. The following tweet sums up the events nicely.
It was a clear missed call. Pittsburgh made the situation worse by retaliating and putting themselves down a player after Ian Cole wrestled Ryan to the ice. Emotional or not you can't go shorthanded after you just scored the all important first goal of the game. Wrestling Bobby Ryan isn't going to change the Senators behavior. It isn't going to make Chad Ruhwedel's head feel better. It is just going to give Ottawa a good chance to tie the game back up. A staple of Mike Sullivan teams has been being disciplined when the opponent has been physical. It's why Columbus was dusted in round one.
Instead of the league worrying about if a play is two millimeters offsides perhaps they could use replay so they don't miss head shots that should be major penalties.
Chad Ruhwedel was diagnosed with a concussion and it is not very likely he will be playing in Pittsburgh for Game 5. Either the Penguins are going to have a full complement of left handed defensemen on Sunday afternoon with Mark Streit in the lineup or Justin Schultz will make his return to the lineup.
Two of my favorite Penguins power play strategies collided for Pittsburgh's second goal. We saw the #PhilCurl and #SidDownLow.
The penalty killers are never going to chase Kessel all the way up to the blue line. Phil is able to generate some mild skating speed to aid in a potential laser beam snap shot. Ottawa knows better than to let him get to the half circle like that so the strong side PK guys get caught in no man's land. Phil has his head up and is able to throw the puck back down low after Jake Guentzel slid from the front of the net to Phil's former spot. This is what movement can do on the power play. It creates two on ones. Either Ottawa steps for the shot and the pass is open or they don't step and Phil wires one on net with Crosby tipping in front. Win win. This sequence and pass is why I also prefer Guentzel to Hornqvist on the first power play. Sidney Crosby dropped down for leverage and to make sure the puck didn't skip to the corner. He was the beneficiary of how the puck ultimately bounced into the net, but that's why you put him down low. He is going to create situations for lucky bounces to happen.
The third goal was perfect. Brian Dumoulin who never really scores was able to get a bounce of a skate and it couldn't have bounced off of a better candidate. With his back to the play and looking to catch Malkin with some extra stick work the game winning goal bounced off of Dion Phaneuf's stick. This was something that wasn't lost on Malkin
Ottawa did claw back into the game with a Clarke MacArthur goal in the second period and a tipped shot by Tom Pyatt late in the third. This put some intense pressure on the Penguins up until the final buzzer. Part of that pressure was self-inflicted as the Penguins took their second too many men on the ice penalty. The closing moments of the game included a wide open Erik Karlsson teeing it up from point blank range. Matt Murray got a left pad on it to preserve the victory.
A 3-1 deficit wouldn't have been impossible, but 2-2 seems a lot more manageable. Best of three, here we go.
Thanks for reading!
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