If I told you before the series that there would be a team leading 3-1 and the losing team would have a goaltender who was chased in back to back games how many people land on the Penguins being on the right side of it? Anybody? Certainly not me. The Pittsburgh Penguins have come in waves and absolutely destroyed Igor Shesterkin. What was going to be the downfall of the scoring deprived playoff Penguins has been their driving force to success. After a 7-2 victory by the Penguins the Rangers are reeling and will now have to answer the loaded question of who to start in goal for Game 5.
On one hand how do you not start the very likely Vezina Trophy winner? On the other hand he isn’t the better goalie at the moment. Being down 3-1 is a tough ask for any team. The Rangers could play Alexandar Georgiev, who has stopped 29 out of 31 shots, because he hypothetically gives them the best chance to win. By doing so you are sending a direct and not so subtle message to franchise goalie Igor Shesterkin. Is the potential long-term harm worth it to maybe extend the series by a game or two? Because it isn’t like the Rangers are playing well, but their goalie is letting them down. They were obliterated in Game 4. The Penguins lead the entire playoffs in xGF% at 63.21. They are the only team above 60 at the moment. The Rangers have come back and defeated the Penguins after being down 3-1 in a series before. They did so in 2014. I don’t see the evidence pointing towards a similar fate at the moment. The Rangers are built on a house of cards. They need stellar/elite goaltending to hold things together. When the underlying numbers aren’t kind and the goalie is playing below league average you have to be incredibly lucky to win. The Rangers haven’t been
It was obviously a huge win for the Penguins. Being up 3-1 is way different than heading into a best of three series. Game 4’s are series swingers. The Penguins have been bad in them in recent memory. The last time they won a Game 4 was in 2018. The last three years they’ve lost Game 4 and found themselves in a hole they were unable to dig out of. It is nice to be on the other side of things this year in Round 1.
I mentioned how the Rangers didn’t have the underlying numbers to compete. Let’s focus on the victors. The Penguins finished the game with an xGF% of 79.18 per Natural Stat Trick. Literally every Penguins player finished the game above 50 in xGF%. It was a thrashing. The Guentzel-Crosby-Rust line led the way. They finished at 93.12. They’ve been a buzz saw and are dominating every single time they hop over the boards. They had a monster game. Sidney Crosby continues to look like he is in his twenties. He finished the game with a goal and two assists, Guentzel had one and one, while Rust finished with an assist. Among players who have played 50 minutes or more so far this postseason there are no forwards better than Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
I said no forwards were better. There is one defenseman who has been. How about that John Marino? Another huge surprise in the best way this postseason.
Crosby’s goal to open the scoring for the Penguins was huge. It may seem foolish with the benefit of hindsight, but when the Rangers scored first there was definitely a feeling of things could get away. We just don’t know how Louis Domingue is going to hold up. Last night he did everything he had to finishing with a solid .917 save percentage.
Sidney Crosby’s assist later in the game gives him 200 for his career. It is a tremendous accomplishment considering the era he played in. The 1980’s and early 1990’s had some really bloated totals and if you look at the all-time list it is dominated by those players. Five of the top ten players all-time are from the 1980’s Oilers teams. Sid is sixth overall now and is only one point behind Jaromir Jagr for fifth. Depending on team success he might have a puncher’s chance to catch Jari Kurri’s 233 points for 3rd all-time. I can’t stress the era differences enough. This is amazing for the Captain.
I can’t stress enough how idiotic all the narratives surrounding Jake Guentzel were. Can you believe people advocated for him to be traded because he… couldn’t score in the playoffs. This coming after he LED THE STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS IN GOALS SCORED. It was, and remains, completely asinine somebody could support moving such a player. After last night Guentzel is the first Penguins player to ever score a goal in each of the first four games of the playoffs. Considering the firepower that has hopped over the boards it is really saying something. It is also the longest goal scoring streak in some time
Jake Guentzel's four-game goal streak is the longest goal streak by a Penguins player in the playoffs since Sidney Crosby scored in four straight games in 2010.
— Taylor Haase (@TaylorHaasePGH) May 10, 2022
He is one of the most prolific goal scorers in the playoffs since entering the league. Among players with 25 playoff games since 2017 nobody has a better goals per 60 than Guentzel’s 1.56. He is now tied with Brayden Point with 22 goals overall since 2017. Put some respect on Soft Ass Jake Guetnzel.
Evgeni Malkin’s goal defied physics. It looked nonchalant in real time, but it was far from it. To get the kind of velocity Malkin did on that shot isn’t normal. He extended his hands away from his body to avoid a poke check and zipped it bar down like it was nothing. Anybody who has played knows how hard it is to put some mustard on a backhand shot when your arms are extended. To do it as smooth as Malkin did and put it off the crossbar? Unreal
With Game 4 in the books we will shift our attention to the injured Penguins over the next couple of days. Life may not be getting easier for the Rangers.
Thanks for reading!