With last night's victory the Penguins have now won four games in a row and five of their last six. Three of those victories came within the division which is incredibly helpful for their playoff chances. This stretch of good fortune has their playoff chances up to 65% which is way better than the 43% it was at earlier in the month. Saves are being made and goals are going in.
Sidney Crosby had his fourth consecutive multi-point game and now has 47 points on the year. Phil Kessel also had another game with two points. Crosby, Kessel, and Evgeni Malkin are all in the top 14 in scoring on the year and are driving this bus right now. The best are playing like the best. This strategy of leaning on your star players can get you through the regular season at times, but it isn't a sustainable model for championships unless the depth players can help out. Pittsburgh has recently leaned on some recently promoted players from the AHL to help spread the talent on their forward lines. A strategy that has worked out well in recent years. Last night the big three were on separate lines. Here's the current setup:
Simon-Crosby-Sprong Hagelin-Malkin-Hornqvist Sheary-Guentzel-Kessel
With Sidney Crosby riding a hot streak he has been tasked with elevating the newcomers. Dominik Simon scored his first ever NHL goal last night. Both he and Sprong crashed the net and Crosby found a trailer that got the puck to the net.
Evgeni Malkin is a zone entry animal and will be leaned on to help the two Swedish wingers out
This is a nice visual tool that can help easily show how certain players do certain things well. When constructing lines you can see who does what and try to blend skill sets together. Since Geno is a one man wrecking crew on entries it should in theory give Hagelin and Hornqvist more time to do the things that they do well. For Hagelin that is to hound defenders with his speed and Hornqvist gets more opportunities in his office. Goal one from last night is a good example
You can play around with this new tool here
New Toy! I've gota a BETA of a player comparison tool up using @ShutdownLine's All-3-Zone data up on Tableau. Bars are percentiles rel to the skaters position.
— CJ Turtoro (@CJTDevil) January 12, 2018
Feedback appreciated as I sort out bugs and figure out what people may want to use this for.https://t.co/IJvDIP4c9i pic.twitter.com/GyR8ALxi6g
Jake Guentzel needs to play the center position until something changes with the center depth. Having Phil Kessel back on the "third" line helps spread things out and a guy like Guentzel can make things happen with the puck.
Not bad for a "third" line. This is the recipe that brought them a huge amount of success in 2015-16.
Even when Guentzel is not afforded a clean entry he makes an effort to place the puck in a "winnable" area for either himself or a teammate. Dumping the puck in is a necessary evil at times. Some guys are better than it than others
The Penguins fourth goal was an example of elite players making great choices to earn the valuable time and space for Crosby in the slot. Something you take for granted on sequence like this is each player's ability to give the puck to the next guy on their forehand so that they can do something with it. It's such a nice sequence it deserves to be played on a loop
Tristan Jarry has been racking up the quality starts in relief of Matt Murray and when you stop getting league worst goaltending you can string together some wins. The Penguins still rank dead last in 5v5 save percentage, but they've cracked the 90% barrier finally!
After enjoying their bye week and coming back strong in their two home games the Penguins will fly out to California for their annual Golden State swing.
Somebody that might not be around for the San Jose game is an old friend.
Paul Martin has been placed on waivers and Montreal claims Logan Shaw from Anaheim on waivers
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) January 15, 2018
Paul Martin was great in his day. I wish we had the zone entry/exit stats during his prime. He was tremendous at getting pucks to his forwards with speed.
Martin has been deemed expendable. Martin has only played in three games this season. While out the Sharks became content with the younger/cheaper players who filled the void in his absence. I've always been a fan of his play, but there's a reason the Penguins didn't give him a four year contract and it was the second half of it. For some teams it would be a worthy gamble *cough* Buffalo *cough*. The Penguins can't tie up that amount of money in a bottom pairing guy.
Thanks for reading!