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The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-0. The game was played at 4PM and it had a 4PM feel to it. Neither team was dominant, neither team was bad, but neither team played all that special either.
Here are the highlights:
Here is the possession chart:
Sidney Crosby had 3 assists in the afternoon and the 2nd of those 3 assists gave him 700 points for his career. Crosby became the fastest active player to reach that milestone. For comparison sake it took Alex Ovechkin 82 more games to reach that milestone.
It is interesting to note that Crosby achieved point #700 faster than Penguins legend Jaromir Jagr.
Crosby also hit another milestone today:
Crosby’s 3 assists today bumps him up to 36 points. His lead over Steen and Malkin is now 5 points.
Marc Andre Fleury pitched his 3rd shutout of the year, by earning his 3rd shutout he is now tied with Ben Scrivens for the league lead. Fleury now has 26 shutouts in his career.
This was a nice bounce back game for Marc Andre Fleury as his performance against the Maple Leafs was closer to how he played against the New York islanders in the playoffs more so than any other start this season.
Dan Bylsma also reached a milestone today:
Simon Despres played in his 2nd consecutive game and he was solid for the 2nd consecutive game. Outside of the interference penalty which led to a Maple Leafs power play goal, Despres has been very solid physically as well as being responsible with his puck decisions.
The time down in WB/S playing top pairing minutes has done him well and should pay off in the long term.
I don’t want to get ahead of myself but I can see a situation where Simon Despres allows the Penguins to move Matt Niskanen at the deadline to get that bottom 6 forward help they so desperately need.
In the past 2 seasons Penguins are 28-7 when Simon Despres is in lineup, additionally the Penguins are 3-0 in playoff games he is dressed.
Evgeni Malkin was dinged for a delay of game minor for having the Gretzky tuck today. It is one of the stupidest rules in the NHL and it is more laughable when you think of how Jared Cowen was able to elbow Pavel Datsyuk in the jaw and not receive a penalty or suspension. Get your priorities in check NHL.
The Matt D'Agostini era got off to a rough start in Buffalo tonight, just 2:12 seconds into the game Phil Kessel scored on an odd man rush to put the Sabres in a 1-0 hole. The score is currently 2-1 Toronto at the time of writing this piece.
Congratulations Sidney Crosby on point #700, we look forward to the many more yet to come.
Thanks for reading!
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