Well that game had some twists and turns. The Penguins 6-5 victory over the Boston Bruins was quite the microcosm of the season. Pittsburgh looks like they are getting on the right path. Wait, that was premature, giving up four goals in a row doesn’t indicate a team that has it together. Coming back with three unanswered shows the resiliency that defined last year’s team. You had a little bit of everything last night.
The fans got their money’s worth from the stars of both teams. All the high end players did well. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin had three points apiece, Phil Kessel and Brad Marchand had two points, while Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak were strong possession players and finished with one point each. They even pulled off the old James Neal faceoff play for a goal.
Here are some of my thoughts from the game:
A much needed two points in a game with wild swings. Pittsburgh did well to manage the highs and lows to navigate themselves to victory. They won’t win too many games with how Tristan Jarry played, but on this night they did. The big four (Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, Letang) had a big role in being able to overcome giving up a five spot.
There aren’t too many lines better than Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak. It is an absolute force on a nightly basis in their ability to drive play and the two wingers are both gifted goal scorers. They are a handful even for players like Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
Jamie Oleksiak is off to a nice start in Pittsburgh. His best asset is his booming shot. That was on display with Pittsburgh’s first goal. What hasn’t always been a strength is his possession. So far in Pittsburgh he’s at 51.8% with two goals. Those two goals in nine games are only one behind the team lead by defensemen. So far the indirect return from trading Josh Archibald is paying off.
#SidDownLow was alive and well last night. The first example was on the goal line during the power play. Crosby’s vision and passing skills allow him to find small windows with large opportunity. It’s such a tough spot for the defenders because he can take the puck to the net hard and it’s Sidney Crosby so he is going to draw attention even by defenders who aren’t close by. Passing from down low to up high is tough on goaltenders. The task is made tougher by having Phil Kessel on the other end of the pass. Having Malkin on the half circle with Sid by the net opens up a lot of possibilities and that sequence was one of the positive things that can happen
Crosby’s other assist came at the end of the second period. It was just Sid being Sid. You can notice him peeking back behind him before he even begins his ascent to the puck. He knew where Malkin would be and he knew because of the time remaining he could venture down low with no negative repurcussions. Geno made no mistake about it. The power play was a positive factor in victory, yet again.
Always fun when those two connect on a nice play. Sidney Crosby now has seven points in his last two games.
Matt Murray has had his struggles recently. When he was summoned for action tonight he was perfect. He only faced six shots, but with a minute left he was tasked with stopping Brad Marchand on a penalty shot. This was the difference from being skunked and earning two points. Huge stop.
That save gave Geno and Phil another opportunity to do what they do in 3v3 overtime and that is connecting on game winning goals. These two don’t mess around.
So just like that the Penguins have earned six of their last eight points which is exactly the kind of rate they have to earn points at. Pittsburgh currently sits in the second wild card spot in the standings and for the next week they will get to sit back and watch if some of the teams who have games in hand can catch them. They will be idle because it is their CBA bargained bye week. The comeback win is a nice note to head into break on.
Will we see a trade to spice up the bye week? It would be irresponsible to rule it out…
Thanks for reading!