The Penguins finally returned the favor against the Carolina Hurricanes this year breezing to a 3-1 victory after having little success in the first two contests. It was a very good night for the Penguins as the Hurricanes are one of the teams chasing the Penguins in the standings. Regulation wins are great against those opponents. Also, the Devils, Blue Jackets, and Rangers each lost in regulation. The only other Metropolitan team to win last night was Philadelphia who is now in the first wild card spot(!) despite losing ten games in a row earlier in the year.
It took a while, but the Penguins finally solved the Cam Ward riddle. For whatever reason they couldn’t score against him the first two games. Last night three was enough. The scoring was led by players who played a chunk of games in WB/S either this year or last. Jean-Sebastian Dea was able to register his first career goal on the back of a nice Bryan Rust feed.
No Ryan Reaves meant a better player was going to play. Bryan Rust happened to be that player last night. I don’t expect a player like Bryan Rust to play on the fourth line forever, but as long as Dominik Simon is on the Crosby line I’m not sure where else he goes. As far as Dea is concerned the goal was a nice moment, but there isn’t anything pointing towards an extended stay in the NHL. His minutes are low and so is his ability to drive play to this point. Bryan Rust is historically a good possession player and he was buried last night (CF 13 CA 21) which is uncharacteristic for him.
The third line had a beautiful goal
Riley Sheahan moved his legs to create some havoc and one a battle to get the puck pushed to Phil Kessel. Just like that the puck was off Guentzel’s stick and in the back of the net. Phil is very gifted with the puck and his ability to create very fast is a nice match for a guy like Guentzel who is crafty in finding open space in the offensive zone.
Let’s just say that Matt Hunwick didn’t have a great night. Quite frankly he’s having issues in the last week or so. He’s playing in his own zone a lot of the time and his pairing with Oleksiak is reminding me of the Maatta/Daley one as far as possession is concerned. That’s not the bar for success as we know and neither player contributes offensively at the same rates that Maatta and/or Daley do either. The thing with this pairing is that it doesn’t have to exist. If we are holding all players to an equal standard then Hunwick should be coming out of the lineup and Ian Cole should be pushing into the lineup again. It’s clear Ian Cole will be moving on. You might as well use him when you have him. There will be plenty of opportunity for Hunwick to stink up the place in the next two and a half years.
Sidney Crosby picked up an assist last night and that makes eight points in the last eight games at 5v5. It’s been a rough year for Sid producing offense at even-strength. It’s encouraging to see some signs of life there. He’s “up to… 1.38 this year after being at 2.7 last year. It was even lower earlier this year.
Dominik Simon scored on a nice wrist shot last night. His early returns are good with a 1.99 points per 60 and a possession percentage of ~58%. No idea how long he can last on the Crosby line, but so far he’s making the most of it and Sid is upping his production during the same time frame. This will help immensely in spreading the wealth with the line combos.
Casey DeSmith had yet another solid outing. He’s likely destined for the AHL with Murray back, but in a year with crumby goaltending he’s provided some bright spots. The team’s 5v5 save percentage is still at 90.6%. That’s better than the sub 90% from earlier.
Early in the game there was a sequence in which the whistle blew with Patric Hornqvist near the goal crease. He had done nothing wrong and was totally blasted from the side/behind and there was no call. I can only surmise that there was no call because of who it was which shouldn’t be the case. The next sequence the Penguins put their stick into the faceoff circle too fast and were given a penalty. The priorities in this league sure are something.
It was a good showing for the Penguins. They didn’t rely on the power play, received scoring from multiple lines, and had good goaltending. Great recipe for success.
Thanks for reading!