The start of the road trip had some hiccups, but the Penguins closed it out strong with three consecutive victories over the Canucks, Kraken, and Capitals. Last night they upended Washington by a score of 4-2.
Notable from the game was getting Kasperi Kapanen some shifts with Sidney Crosby. It hasn’t really ever been a thing. Their styles clash. Crosby likes to work the wall and small areas while Kapanen is more a on the rush player. Injuries to Crosby’s preferred wingers opened the door for a sample with Kapanen. It resulted in a goal last night, on the rush
Two days ago:
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 11, 2021
Media: "How would you rate your game?"
Kapanen: "Terrible, thanks."
Today: pic.twitter.com/WpxmxSa1ll
The silver lining of the injuries is forcing Mike Sullivan to maybe use some combos he otherwise would not have. This is one of those. The goal last night doesn’t mean Crosby and Kapanen will be a successful duo because we don’t have a large enough sample to know anything yet. It’s a great start and we’ll be getting more in the near future.
One thing Kapanen will have to learn playing with Crosby on the top line is that maybe don’t pass over to Brian Dumoulin after you toe drag around a defender and have a clear path to the goal. Dumoulin struggles to pick up secondary assists let alone goals, take it yourself next time, Kasperi.
How do you get into this position and decide you’re gonna pass to Brian Dumoulin pic.twitter.com/mBhRE989cn
— John (@jtarbett) December 11, 2021
Danton Heinen continues to flash some of his 2017-18 offensive ability this season. He scored his eighth goal of the year on a nice give and go with John Marino in the offensive zone. I could easily picture Evgeni Malkin being on the other end of a pass there.
Road warrior 💪
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 11, 2021
Six of Danton Heinen’s eight goals this season have come on the road. pic.twitter.com/YJ17QYWnSI
In 26 games Heinen has eight goals and 13 points playing mostly in a bottom six role. I think there’s more offense to be had here. Even so he’s on pace for a 25 goal season with 41 points. On a team looking for some goal scoring help on the depth front here is an opportunity to give a player a “promotion… and then spread the wealth evenly among the top three lines when Guentzel and Rust are back. Bryan Rust on the third line with Carter if the Penguins can get Guentzel-Kapanen and Heinen-Rodrigues as winger combos would go a long way making the team more balanced. This of course assumes Heinen, Kapanen, and Rodrigues can keep things going. It’s worth finding out in my opinion.
Of course things could change if let’s say a Brock Boeser came over to the Penguins in exchange for a player like Mike Matheson or Jason Zucker. Weirder things have happened!
The Capitals spoiled Tristan Jarry’s potential shutout in the third period, but didn’t spoil another quality outing. Jarry stopped 29 out of 31 shots and his personal revenge tour continues. He’s fourth in the NHL with a save percentage of .934.
Sidney Crosby picked up another two helpers. One on the nice feed to Kapanen early in the game and then another on a nice spin-o-rama to allow Jeff Carter to gently push the puck into a wide-open net at the end of the game. You could say he is finding his footing. In the last seven games he has three goals and 13 points.
The Penguins will be back at home, but they won’t be rested. They are back in action tonight against John Tortorella’s enemy #1, Trevor Zegras.
Thanks for reading!