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Sidney Crosby Leads Penguins Over Canucks + Derrick Pouliot News |
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The Pittsburgh Penguins are officially on a roll. They have won eight out of their last nine games. Last night had some interesting story lines that led into the game and they all went the Penguins way.
Sidney Crosby up against Ryan Miller returned to familiar territory as Crosby beat him on a very nice power play goal. You will notice Crosby's proximity to the net front. I think as Sid starts to collect more and more goals from that area he will be more prone to stay there on the power play.
A special thanks to Derek Dorsett who took two penalties that contributed to four on four game action. The first time the Penguins couldn't get Crosby or Malkin out for a full shift because they had just gotten off a long one. The second time Crosby freed David Perron for a breakaway which drew a hooking call.
Controlled zone entries are what breed successful offense. Sidney Crosby had seven out of the Penguins 25 controlled entries last night.
Last night also pitted the two most recent players to wear number 16 for the Penguins.
Sutter had his chance to make a mark on the game last night but he missed a wide open net and hit Fleury instead.
Phil Kessel was the number one star of the game last night and did something pretty remarkable. He fired a shot so hard off the post that it redirected all the way back into the Penguins bench
Kessel also made an excellent shot-pass to Sidney Crosby on his goal.
Brian Dumoulin continues to play good hockey for the Penguins. He has a dCorsi so far this season of 8.45 which means he is severely outplaying his current role. That is good news considering the Penguins need somebody to step up from that unit. Ian Cole has not done a great job in his top pairing role as he is -8.13. Kris Letang is at -3.45 and that would be his first negative dCorsi since the seven games he first played in 2006-07. IT is fair to say the top pairing of Letang and Cole isn't really working out all that well and perhaps it is time to break that up.
David Perron scored his first goal in 24 games. He is too good to go that many games in-between goals. The Malkin line that has featured both Kessel and Perron has looked good so far and should continue to play well if kept together.
Marc-Andre Fleury played well yet again. He was able to bail the Penguins out in the second period when team allowed a barrage of high caliber chances. This bought time for Crosby and Fehr to give the team some wiggle room. Fleury did make his first legit mistake in a while when his eyes got too big for the empty net. His puck playing folly was what led to Vancouver's second goal late in the third period.
Mistake aside Fleury continues to be the #1 reason the Penguins continue to win hockey games despite Root Sports doing its best to try and sell their viewers on the Penguins being the #1 defensive team in the league (still 29th overall in shot attempts against per 60).
Lastly, some news from WBS
Over the weekend Derrick Pouliot was given a citation for public drunkenness during Halloween evening. I don't view this development as a positive or a negative. A 21 year old got drunk on Halloween and was annoying. He didn't cause harm to anybody and most importantly didn't get in a car and drive. This isn't a Patrick Kane taxi cab incident so save the comparisons.
It would be one thing if this was something that was happening on a regular basis but that isn't the case. I remember when I was 21...
This should have no impact on the team's roster decisions with him.
Pittsburgh's next game is in Edmonton on Friday night. I can't lie, I am very disappointed about the Connor McDavid injury news. That was something I was looking forward to.
Thanks for reading!
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
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