The Pittsburgh Penguins are on a goal scoring frenzy. They continued that trend in South Florida when they beat the Panthers by a score of 5-1. In their last four games they have scored 24 goals for an average of 6.0 per game. Games in this league are usually lucky if they have six goals total in a game. Hockey is an entertainment product and the Penguins are fun to watch.
Sidney Crosby scored again. He had two points before the first commercial break of the game. He let a snap shot up from the high slot which Roberto Luongo was unable to get a read on. Crosby has always had a fast release, but early in his career he didn’t quite have the velocity he does now. This was a good example of how he can score from distance without the need of a slap shot.
Mike Sullivan made some changes to the lineup. Scott Wilson and Tom Kuhnhackl were chosen to play beside Matt Cullen on the fourth line while Eric Fehr was given a night off. The results of that decision were positive. Matt Cullen and Tom Kuhnhackl both scored a goal and Scott Wilson was the primary assist on both of them. The fourth line looked quicker and more opportunistic because of the line changes. Here is a nice example of that
Eric Fehr just doesn’t have the speed to break loose like Wilson did nor has he won enough board battles this year to make me think he is capable of making the assist that Wilson did on the Cullen goal. Wilson’s two assists last night equal Fehr’s point total from his last 14 games. Matt Cullen still has the ability to create offense and giving him linemates that can move and make plays with the puck are going to help him generate that offense.
Correlation doesn’t always equal causation, but logic is pointing towards this lineup decision being right and should last longer than a game.
Matt Murray did his job stopping pucks (28 saves on 29 shots), but he too wanted to get in on the offensive action. He took an aggressive shot towards the empty net which lost steam and Carl Hagelin was able to speed over to the puck and place it in the net before being hauled down. Matt Murray has outplayed Fleury so far this season stopping pucks and now he’s taking better aim at empty nets.
Only one mane was able to beat Matt Murray on the evening and that man was in his fourth professional season when Murray was born (per Josh Yohe).
That was number 755 for Jagr.
That Justin Schultz guy quietly put up another two points. He’s doing a hell of a Sidney Crosby impression. Schultz is on a five game point streak in which he as three goals and eight points. It isn’t a pace he will keep up, but these are the kinds of stretches that Edmonton probably thought they were going to get when they signed him. They would have if they weren’t such a terribly run organization that paid no attention to detail when constructing their roster.
The Maatta-Daley pairing had another sub 50% evening on the possession front. Something has to give with the Penguins second pairing. At the present time there really isn’t much to do though. The Cole-Schultz pairing is on a hot streak and the Dumoulin-Letang pairing is starting to get back to the level they played at last year. Derrick Pouliot is in the minors so the team is just going to have to see if their “second” pairing gets it going. As we head towards Christmas and the new year it is worth noting some dates on the calendar during Rutherford’s tenure as GM
As you can see we are entering the Jim Rutherford trade zone on the calendar. The Penguins have a lot of things going for them on the roster. However, both the short and long term prognosis for the second pairing on defense leaves a lot to be desired. If Rutherford were to actively seek out a roster improvement, I would attempt to shore up the second pairing. How can the team go about that? I would shop Olli Maatta who probably still has good trade value to enough teams around the league. I’ll go into detail on this another day.
Pittsburgh will taking on the surprisingly struggling Tampa Bay Lightning tomorrow night in a rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference Finals that went the distance.
Thanks for reading!
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