Burn baby burn.
*photo by frostcrystal
The story of ice and fire favored the ice in Calgary last night. The Penguins put up nine(!) goals. It was one of those nights where everything went right. Even the scoring was spread out. Only Chad Ruhwedel, Carl Hagelin, and Riley Sheahan went without a point. Having 15 out of 18 players on the scoresheet means it was a great night. Here was the carnage
That is a lot to sift through. Some quick thoughts about all of it
Sidney Crosby backhand remains elite. I don’t know how a goalie could prematurely go down and give him anything up high like that. Makes no sense to me. Do you not know who has the puck?
Patric Hornqvist kept the hot streak alive with another two goals. The first was nothing special as far as Hornqvist is concerned. It was a net front tip which is what the team pays him to do. The second goal showcased what kind of night Mike Smith was having. Hornqvist scored on a wrist shot on the rush. That is a rare event. He didn’t even pick a corner. Smith was just terrible.
Phil Kessel did the breakaway thing again. I love how aware Kris Letang was of that situation. You’ll see hanging more often in recreational leagues and eventually the other teams catch on, but a huge benefit even if they do catch on is that it will draw players out of the zone clearing up the middle of the ice for more controlled exits. Cheating like that pays dividends with breakaways and it also contributes to cleaner exits. The amount of times you get burned from cheating doesn’t outweigh the positives when you have someone like Phil Kessel doing the cheating up ice. I also loved Phil’s first goal. It was an old school open up the five-hole move. You don’t see that as often anymore because of style of both the goaltenders pad design and their technique.
It's easy to forget about the goalie who was on the winning side of a 9-1 score. Matt Murray did face 39 shots and he stopped 38 of them. He was strong even if the game was out of hand. It was only James Neal’s incredibly fluky floater that beat him with only two minutes left in the game. It’s been two excellent games out of three since returning from injury.
The Penguins are banking points in the standings with their 5-1-2 record. It’s a great thing because if there are any roster issues this season it gives Jim Rutherford more time to figure them out without making an impulsive decision.
Pittsburgh will look to keep their place atop the Metropolitan Division as they head to Vancouver on Saturday to avenge their overtime loss to the Canucks from ten days ago.
Thanks for reading!