The Pittsburgh Penguins failed to close out the Ottawa Senators in Game 6 and will face elimination in a Game 7 for the second consecutive series.
What goes around comes around. What I mean by saying that is the Penguins were being massively outplayed by the Capitals, yet still winning games. That script was flipped on Pittsburgh last night as they completely dominated the flow of the game as well as the scoring chances. Craig Anderson was amazing and the Senators were able to scrape out a victory to stay alive. It happens. It did happen. It’s just that the Penguins were on the wrong side of it last night. It is tough to complain about the following:
The above chart was created by Micah Blake McCurdy (@ineffectivemath). These charts are free at his Hockey Viz website after 2PM Atlantic time.
It is frustrating when the process is very good and the results do not match up. That's hockey on a game to game basis. I do not expect the Penguins to overreact to the result from Game 6. They seem to have things under control and have shown significant signs of improvement in the Eastern Conference Finals when compared to the previous two rounds.
Not overreacting would be the correct course of action. Craig Anderson went .978 on 45 shots. That is where the discussion begins and ends when breaking down why the Senators won.
There were some notable events in this game. Many of them included Sidney Crosby being mugged. Before I share a few of the examples I want to point out that the Senators were the victim of many non-calls as well. This league is an equal opportunity provider of negligence. This is of course a Penguins themed blog and Sidney Crosby is the best player in the world so I am going to use those examples
That was early in the first period. The puck isn't there.
In soccer you get a penalty kick, in baseketball you get free shots at the basket with no defenders, in football you get a new set of downs and 15 yards, in hockey you get to pick yourself up and continue playing. It's stupid.
This is more benign than the other two, but yet another example of the shoddy treatment that is allowed by the league.
It really is amazing the nonsense that Crosby (and others) has to put up with on a game to game basis. Last night had shades of 1996 when a trap happy lesser skilled team was able to maul their way to victory over Mario Lemieux and the Penguins.
Here are a couple more examples from last night
So after seeing some of these non-calls I can understand why certain people would be upset with Ron Hainsey's interference penalty. That started the penalty sequence which led to Ottawa's first goal. Here's the thing, it was interference. It should have been called. Ian Cole's penalty was also legit. The Penguins should have had to kill a 5 on 3. It's just when you see the examples above not being penalized it becomes maddening from a logic standpoint. The sport has a lot of variance with puck luck as it is. It certainly doesn't need randomness from the officiating on top of it.
Pittsburgh had a goal called back for goaltender interference. I don't really have an opinion on it other than stating the league really doesn't know what goaltender interference is either. Each time we have one of these challenges your odds of correctly calling a coin toss are the same as predicting what hte call is going to be. There is no rhyme or reason. No need to beat yourself up trying to figure it out. The nice thing about last night is that Evgeni Malkin scored immediately after the Trevor Daley goal was waved off.
Malkin's goal was a summation of all the things that make him awesome. He showcased his strength and power while highlighting his finesse and creativity. This goal was a wonderful blend of Lemieux and Jagr. I loved it.
That was it for the Penguins though. They were unable to score again. This was the first game in the series where the team who scored first ended up losing. Matt Murray gave up two goals on 30 shots and finished with a .933 save percentage in the losing cause. Both goals came on shots off the post from two good shooters (Ryan, Hoffman). Can't really complain too much about that although some will.
Mike Sullivan hinted at some reinforcements for Game 7
So that's good news. I'll have some thoughts about the Game 7 lineup in tomorrow's blog.
Jake Guentzel leads the playoffs with nine goals. He hasn't scored in seven games. I have a hunch he'll find a way tomorrow evening. He's been getting looks they just haven't gone in like they did early in the postseason. That's how these things go.
The Minnesota Wild and Washington Capitals probably had wry smiles watching last night's Penguins loss. They are all too familiar with how the process and results didn't match up for them this postseason. For Pittsburgh, they have no choice but to continue to trust the process. What's the alternative? Not dominating? It's the closest they've looked to the 2016 team and that is a very good thing. Sometimes a goalie just plays too good.
Thanks for reading!
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