The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the San Jose Sharks what can only be described as an incredibly impressive victory given the circumstances. As I teach my students in health class resiliency is the ability to bounce back from hardship and that is exactly what the Penguins did last night.
Heading into last night's game action the Penguins were without Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang, and Conor Sheary (all day to day). By the end of the first period the team was down to only four defensemen as Olli Maatta and Derrick Pouliot left the game with injuries. The Sharks are still an excellent team. In fact they lead the NHL in possession through the first week and change of the season. This was going to be a tough matchup even if the team was at full strength. Things did not look great for most of the game, but the theme of last night was resiliency.
Through two periods the Sharks were having their way with the Penguins as the shot attempts at even-strength were 34-20 in favor of San Jose. Then something improbable happened. The Penguins were able to tread water in the third period despite rolling only four defensemen and a forward unit that saw Tom Sestito get five minutes of game action which effectively left them down a forward as well.
On the possession front the Maatta-Pouliot pairing actually led the way in the shot attempt generation department despite only playing half the game. Brian Dumoulin was crushed as most of the tough minutes went to him by default (CF 6 CA 17). It has been a rough start to the year for Dumoulin but last night there was a valid excuse.
Pittsburgh lost the scoring chance battle 19-10 last night but they made the most of their three chances in the third period. They scored three unanswered goals and stole the game away from the better Sharks team.
Evgeni Malkin, Scott Wilson, and Patric Hornqvist all scored in the third period.
Evgeni Malkin was doing Evgeni Malkin things. He does such a great job of zone entries and following up those entries with passing vision. So many times when he enters the zone a lesser player would have had to chip it in. It goes a long way in creating more chances especially on a night where the team was struggling to generate against an excellent team while being bit hard by the injury bug.
His goal was one part skill and one part luck. He finished the night with a goal and an assist.
His ability to cradle that puck quickly and spin around to shoot is all skill. The fact the puck got through is the luck part.
While Malkin was great it wouldn't have mattered if Patric Hornqvist didn't join the party as well. He had a goal disallowed for knocking the puck in with his glove but he did not let that get in the way of further competing. Hornqvist's forecheck on the Scott Wilson goal was a text book check in how you are hitting for puck possession and not to inflict bodily harm. He was rewarded with a much deserved assist. Scott Wilson had a bunch of chances last game and when you have a player known for scoring goals (AHL) if they get enough chances eventually they will go in.
Considering the Penguins were outshot 34-20 and somehow managed to win the goaltender must have played a big role in the victory and he did. Marc-Andre Fleury was very good once again. So far in his five starts he has a .920 all situations save percentage which is a level of goaltending that gives his team a chance to win every night. His ability to make all five starts has kept Mike Condon off the ice and that probably isn't a bad thing. Overworking Fleury early in the season won't have the same consequences that it would have in previous years. Matt Murray is going to take more starts from Fleury than any other goalie he has shared the net with in his career. Might as well use him every game right now with Murray's return on the horizon.
The HBK line hasn't been good this season. They have started to see tougher competition this season. It could be Mike Sullivan purposely using that line in a strength vs. strength situation or it could be the other teams trying to do it, but the results are way off from last year. The HBK line was crushed by the Thornton line last night to the tune of ~80% for the Sharks trio. The Penguins trio has a Score-Adjusted Fenwick of only 33.5% so far this year. This is the value of Sidney Crosby. He is the best player in the world and he wins his strength on strength battle almost every night. It allows other lines to get an easier ride. In this young season we are seeing that impact on the HBK line. Later in the game Mike Sullivan pulled Kessel off the line and gave him to Malkin. That is a good idea. Phil Kessel can't use his all-world snap shot if he is never in the offensive zone.
It has been a hectic start to the Penguins season with the injuries but they have navigated themselves to a 3-1-1 record which I find impressive given the situation. They will play another amazing team on Saturday night when they travel to play PK Subban and the Nashville Predators. For now we will wait for injury updates for Crosby, Letang, Maatta, Sheary, and Pouliot.
Only two players in NHL history have ever scored 750 goals, until last night
Jaromir Jagr continues to build upon his legendary statistical totals putting him up with the greatest players who have ever played the game. I believe his goal total would be closer to 850 right now if it were not for the multiple lockouts and his hiatus from the NHL when he played in Russia. I also value Jagr's goals more because he actually scored them on competent goaltenders which makes it all the more impressive. Goalies were such garbage pre-Roy.
Anyways, don't bet against Double J getting to 800 at some point.
Thanks for reading!
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