Things aren’t going great for the Pittsburgh Penguins at the moment. After losing to the St. Lous Blues last night they have dropped to 2-3 overall and have yet to get a performance where everybody is pushing in the right direction. The 2-3 record is problematic because it isn’t like the schedule has been daunting to this point.
The next stretch is likely to be more difficult than the first five games of the season with Dallas and Colorado up next. The Penguins can right the ship with a victory over one of those two teams and then beating Ottawa. What then lies ahead is a stretch of Anaheim, San Jose, and Anaheim again. They have to take points before they fall too far behind the other teams in the division.
Even though the results was bad there was at least one positive development from the contest. The third line was tremendous and specifically Radim Zohorna. It was looking like Zohorna was going to lock in a roster spot until at the very end of camp the Penguins claimed Jansen Harkins off of waivers and gifted him a spot on the third line. How bad was Jansen Harkins to start the year? The third line had been unplayable to this point with Harkins. Last night with Zohorna the line was dominant and scored the first bottom six goal of the season in game number five. Zohorna was a very deserving first bottom six goal scorer.
While Zohorna was on the ice the Penguins held an 18-3 shot attempt advantage. He had an xGF% of 92.98. This is a hungry player who I thought had earned a spot through playing well during camp. It was taken from him and when he got the chance to come back he knocked it out of the park. I certainly don’t expect a goal and an xGF% in the 90th percentile every game, that isn’t realistic. It was very refreshing to see not only a competent game, but an excellent one from the line.
Here was Zohorna’s goal. Hard work mixed with a slick pass and fundamentals of being at the net for bounce
A big deficit to overcome, but Big Z was trying to make big moves for Pittsburgh. pic.twitter.com/AuGDzxBTcT
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 22, 2023
The other positive last night was Evgeni Malkin. He scored again and now has 4 goals and 4 assist for eight points on the young season. He’s been tremendous and leads all forwards with an xGF% of 62.12 so far. His goal last night was vintage Malkin. Coming out of the penalty box on a breakaway and just sniping it home. The only thing that could have made it better was a full slap shot like the one he scored on Biron back in the day. It’s a shame this goal came in a disappointing 4-2 loss.
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— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 22, 2023
└📠Evgeni Malkin
└📠Breakaway goals with big cellies pic.twitter.com/ZZ0WnLfMRp
Erik Karlsson has come as advertised. Nobody in the NHL has been on the ice for more shot attempts for at 5v5 than him. He leads the NHL with 136. Has it come at the expense of defense? Not really. His CF% is 58.37. It is no coincidence that Evgeni Malkin has had a terrific start now that he is almost guaranteed to have a legit top pairing defenseman with him for the majority of his shifts.
Is there a reason Noel Acciari makes 2M and not the league minimum? Let alone on a three-year contract? I don’t have very high expectations of the fourth line. He hasn’t met them to start the season. You can’t eat up extra cap space in a depth role if you’re going to play at at the level someone who makes the league minimum can accomplish. Perhaps this is a little harsh because of the small sample and having Jeff Carter anchored to the line. Harsh or not they need more.
Ryan Shea made his NHL debut and had an xGF% of 80.85. On the surface, a really successful debut. However, if you’re a depth player the one thing you can’t let happen is getting cooked on an individual play so bad you yield a goal against. Shea was torched by Kasperi Kapanen of all people. The same Kapanen who only knows how to skate the puck wide and has tunnel vision was able to turn Shea inside and out. A real bad sequence only five minutes after Malkin’s late period goal tied things back up.
Tristan Jarry made a few great saves. He also finished the game with an .810 save percentage. Making tough saves is part of the gig. It is a big part of the gig when you get over 5M per year and a ton of term. He needs to pick it up after a solid first two starts.
We will learn at practice tomorrow if Mike Sullivan is going to make drastic changes. They’ll have Dallas on Tuesday and Colorado on Thursday. They are staring 2-5 directly in the face at the moment. It is October and the team is already scraping for points. Not great.
Thanks for reading!