There were no shortage of eventful things in last night’s Penguins and Senators game. We had plenty of goals including career firsts and we also had the ever elusive mid-game trade involving Dion Phaneuf.
It was another win in what has been a great turnaround in the 2018 calendar year. I don’t believe there have been too many other teams in the league who have banked more standings points since the beginning of January. Goal scoring is on the rise. The Penguins are only 25th in goals for per 60 at even-strength, but that is an improvement from where they were earlier in the year. It also helps when you play the team that is 30th ranked in goaltending. Mike Condon let in four goals on nine shots before being replaced by Craig Anderson.
What a great feeling it must be to score your first NHL goal and what a cool thing to have Sidney Crosby with the primary assist. Zach Aston-Reese is officially on the board. Here was his goal
Aston-Reese also added an empty net goal at the end of the game. So far Aston-Reese has been a 50% possession player and has some points to go along with that. There will be some interesting decisions that will need to be made when the Penguins get some healthy bodies back. At some point the team will need to decide whether or not they want to play some of the kids on the fourth line or stay with Kuhnhackl and Reaves on the wings.
Jake Guentzel hasn’t played his best hockey even though the team has been doing well. Last night he got on the board twice. It was one of his better games. His first goal was on the power play
Make no mistake, Patric Hornqvist being out of the lineup is objectively bad. However, the idea that the Penguins power play is suffering in his absence is a bit misleading. Here are the power play stats for both players this year
Guentzel is really good at tipping pucks and he is also not afraid of the net front. It’s a great situation to have multiple players who are capable of playing in that role.
Evgeni Malkin continues to rack up points. He had another goal and an assist. His goal was a great Geno goal. Carl Hagelin made a really nice play on it as well
Evgeni Malkin has 31 goals and sits two behind Alexander Ovechkin for the league lead. His 65 points are great, but Nikita Kucherov is having himself a season. He’s all the way up to 72 points. Even Phil Kessel is having trouble keeping pace with 66 points.
Let’s talk about the really unique thing that happened last night. Dion Phaneuf was traded mid-game by the Ottawa Senators to the Los Angeles Kings. Guess who the Penguins play tomorrow? Dion Phaneuf got to stay behind and wait for his new Los Angeles Kings teammates to join him. The trade was centered around Marian Gaborik. What this does for Ottawa is that they get a player in Gaborik who has a higher cap hit than he is owed money. This was a cost cutting move for Ottawa and Eugene Melnyk even with them retaining 25% of Phaneuf’s contract. This would obviously have been a bigger deal years ago. Now we are looking at two players fading away with significant contracts.
Thanks for reading!
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