The trade deadline has come and gone and It’s time to shift the focus back to the on-ice play. Pittsburgh visited Chicago last night in one of the NHL’s marquee matchups. The game did not disappoint. There were many scoring chances for both teams and it included a bevy of shot attempts in the second period.
Ultimately, the Blackhawks won the game 4-1. They were powered by Patrick Kane’s hat trick. The score was not indicative of the gameplay. Pittsburgh actually played quite well. They out attempted the Blackhawks at even-strength 64-51 which included a 34-27 advantage in that wild second period.
When you consider that the Penguins were missing Kris Letang and Conor Sheary, they were playing the second night of a back to back, and playing a team like Chicago it is hard to be upset about how the game played out.
The Chicago Blackhawks did not start the year off as one of the better teams in the NHL. They were just an average team hovering around 15th overall in Score-Adjusted Fenwick. However, if you take the last 25 games they have been great. They have been the third best team in the NHL at 53.2%.
Pittsburgh outplayed a quality opponent and their goalie stole the game. That’s what happened in a nutshell.
Yes, the Blackhawks had multiple odd man rushes. That is going to happen when you are trading chances with a team that has high caliber players. Guess who else generated quality scoring chances? It might not fall in line with some of the narratives out there, but Pittsburgh had more high danger scoring chances last night. The Penguins had 17 and the Blackhawks had 10. Ten is a decent number for a game, seventeen is great. Darling just happened to make the saves. You can say that maybe he was lucky, but I’m not so sure that is the case. He leads the entire NHL this year in high danger save percentage at 86.2%. Corey Crawford is fourth at 85.0%. For reference Fleury is at 79.2% on the year at high danger opportunities.
Marc-Andre Fleury did have some sparkling moments last night. None better than the following sequence:
more save s pic.twitter.com/BJRVp5tUIj
— steph (@myregularface) March 2, 2017
Sidney Crosby played a tremendous game. He wasn’t rewarded on the scoresheet. His play was worthy of a multiple point effort. That’s how it goes sometimes. I’m looking forward to seeing what the line combos will be for Friday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Conor Sheary has been skating with no limitations at practice and I believe he will be ready for that game. I envisions a Crosby line with both Guentzel and Sheary flanking him. That would be fun.
Richard Panik scored an amazing goal last night at the expense of Evgeni Malkin
— steph (@myregularface) March 2, 2017
Pretty slick. The move on Malkin deserves the bulk of attention, but his play on the wall against Hornqvist was also smooth.
Derrick Pouliot played an NHL game. It’s been a while. How did he do? Good. He played the majority of the game with Chad Ruhwedel and the pairing was a net positive. Pouliot was a 64.3% possession player. In a game with many high danger chances he held a 4-1 advantage when he was on the ice. He also went 8-1 when he went head to head against Patrick Kane who as you know scored three goals. All in all a successful return to NHL action. He will need to string together more games like this before it is appropriate to say he’s turned a corner.
Ron Hainsey has been good through two games with Pittsburgh. He was above 50% possession in both games at even-strength. He's been fine facilitating the puck to the forwards. He's also doing this.
Goodnight. pic.twitter.com/A7iLOxdo0a
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) March 2, 2017
He should fit in just fine.
At the beginning of February I took a look at how Penguins players were finishing games and then missing extended time. I highlighted multiple instances of that happening. Kris Letang finished his last game in full and has now missed extended time again. What's the deal?
We should get our first look at Mark Streit in a Penguins uniform on Friday night against Tampa Bay. No word yet on if the Lightning have prepared a video tribute at the first commercial break yet.
PODCAST: From the airport we break down the #NHLTradeDeadline #NHL https://t.co/UeN64nQgvo
— Hockey Hurts (@Hockey_Hurts) March 2, 2017
Thanks for reading!