The Penguins returned from their bye week and were ready to go. Pittsburgh's best three forwards account for 26.2M in salary cap space and they played like it. Evgeni Malkin scored within the games opening minutes and had a point on all four Penguins goals. He finished with two goals and two assists. Phil Kessel had a goal and two assists. Sidney Crosby had one goal and one assist. This was the NHL's version of a Golden State Warriors game. The stars were stars
.@malkin71_ gets the scoring started. pic.twitter.com/6OMPdTbTcD
— NHL GIFs (@NHLGIFs) January 13, 2018
There's the opening goal. If you had to take a double take I don't blame you, but that was Carl Hagelin with the primary assist on that play
The next Penguins goal was quality execution by the three aforementioned players on the power play breakout and entry.
Their drop pass power play breakout is great. It hampers the F1's ability to forecheck hard because the Penguins don't even attempt to hide the fact that Kris Letang is going to drop the puck. The puck then goes to Phil Kessel with speed who is a great skater with the puck. If somebody steps on Phil then Malkin gets the puck with speed. If somebody steps up on him then he kicks it out wide to Crosby. At any point if the team doesn't pressure Kessel or Malkin they will have an unabated zone entry. On this particular entry it included a special pass from Sid over to Phil who used his previously generated speed to race to the back post. This is really great stuff from really great players. Perfection.
Malkin's next goal came on a Kessel zone entry. This was a well executed center drive by Hagelin which creates lane for the trailer who happened to be exactly the guy you wanted trailing. A quick reception of the pass from his foot and before you know it the puck is in the net
The final goal of the game was on the power play and it wasn't quite #SidDownLow but it wasn't half wall Sid either
Rewind that highlight again to catch Crosby lifting the defenders stick right before the puck shows up and in one motion swiping the puck through Jimmy Howard's legs. It has to be frustrating to stick with a player and then have them execute a tricky play like that.
Sidney Crosby has nine points in his last three games. Evgeni Malkin has eight points in his last three. In those same three games Phil Kessel had six points of his own. The Penguins have won their last three games. It's nice when the big guns all find a hot streak at the same time. You just have to sit back and enjoy those moments in time.
Tristan Jarry stopped 29 out of the 30 shots that came his way. He was in net because Matt Murray is back home dealing with some personal matters. In three of his last four starts Jarry has allowed one goal or less. That is one area the team needed a boost. You can't win with league low goaltending.
With the victory the Penguins remain in the second wild card spot even with the Islanders mauling of the Rangers today. The Penguins will get those Rangers tomorrow evening at home.
Thanks for reading!