The last two times the Penguins have played the Sabres they’ve lost on a late third period goal in regulation. There are four standings points that have gone poof. In a week where you have a tough victory against the Bruins it can only be considered a disappointment with losses to both the Sabres and the Capitals.
The Sabres loss this time around wasn’t for lack of trying. The Penguins generated tons of chances and on a lot of nights it would have been a comfortable victory. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 40 out of 41 shots and paved the path to victory for the Sabres.
In this game the Penguins had three breakaways, three posts, and two goals called off. There’s a lot going on there to come away with zero goals from those plays. It did happen and the two points were lost.
On a night where the other goalie was spectacular Tristan Jarry’s first goal against was noticeably bad. An unscreened shot from distance beat him clean. When you’re up against a guy putting up a .976 save percentage one mistake like that is all it takes.
The lone goal for the Penguins came on a 5v3 power play. They played the perimeter passing game for the majority of the advantage until near the end where they busted out one of their smart and successful plays from years past. The Kessel curl has returned. It created a clean lane for a slam dunk shot tip.
LET'S RAK AND ROLL 🙌 pic.twitter.com/YUaH8QlKSl
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 7, 2024
Just run this play every single time. It eliminates the need to passing it around and watch the clock tick down. Either the top killer is going to come out like they did here or you go down main street with momentum for a shot and a built in screen. This time the top killer came out. It stretches their triangle, which they want tight to eliminate passing lanes. If it doesn’t work you reset and try again. I hope this becomes the norm moving forward.
Up next the Penguins have two divisional games against the Flyers and the Hurricanes on the road sandwiched around hosting the Vancouver Canucks. The divisional games are paramount to keeping the postseason a realistic goal.
Thanks for reading!