Yesterday, the Penguins were not at their best, they were not average, they were bad. Pittsburgh ended the game with an xGF% of 38.85 and were out-attempted in high-danger chances 14-7. The Philadelphia Flyers picked up their first home win since March 20th in the 4-1 victory over the Penguins. Ultimately, a meaningless game. The Penguins will still head to the playoffs as underdogs in a stacked Eastern Conference. The Flyers will be laser focused on what could be a really nice first round draft pick.
The team seems to have gotten through the game with no major injuries, which is always a plus at this time of year. If we are going to reach for positives I’ll throw one out there. It is about a player who didn’t even play yesterday. Casey DeSmith’s last five games have been pretty good.
DeSmith is a .944 goalie in the last five games. With Tristan Jarry likely out for the start of the playoffs here is one thing trending in the right direction. It might even be the most important thing. Unfortunately, we are talking about goaltending so this can just as easily be a mirage. If you are looking for a positive, this is at least something to focus on after the Flyers game.
Back to the bad. Brian Dumoulin’s last four games haven’t shown any signs of significant improvement. He has been out-attempted 59-84 at 5v5 for a CF% of 41.2. His xGF%? 37.7%. Do not play him with Kris Letang anymore. If these are the last stretch of games for Kris Letang is a Penguin, and that could be the case, let’s not waste them with Dumoulin dragging him down.
Kasperi Kapanen was a healthy scratch. What can you say? He has been given every opportunity to work through his poor play and hasn’t. It was moronic to offer up a first round pick for him given the trade market at the time and the Maple Leafs cap situation. For me, he is an obvious cap casualty this summer. I have no interest in giving him any money. The team has so many other needs than to wait and hope for him to do something in any given game. While the criticism is obviously merited it also means the Penguins are in rough shape heading into the playoffs because they do in fact need his depth scoring. Or I should say the perceived depth scoring he *might* be able to provide. Damned if you do and damned if you don’t with this player.
I’ll end with one more negative although I’m a lot less concerned with this one than the others. Bryan Rust has gone seven games without a point. It isn’t good. I don’t think there’s a lot to read into it. Slumps happen. Better to get it out of the way now. We know he is a great player. We have large samples of him being very successful with Evgeni Malkin. I think things will turn around on this front although there might be a hint of pressure with the realization this is his last run of games with the team.
Connor McDavid will be in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. You know you’ll get Sidney Crosby’s best. Who is going to join him?
Thanks for reading!