Things couldn’t have gotten off to a better start for the Pittsburgh Penguins as they embark on a stretch of divisional action. The flightless birds trounced the New York Rangers by a score of 7-2. Every Penguins player was above 50% possession on the night which is impressive hwen you take score-effects into account in a blowout
The above chart was created by Micah Blake McCurdy (@ineffectivemath). These charts are free at his Hockey Viz website after 2PM Atlantic time.
Brian Dumoulin and Olli Maatta had really strong games on the back end. Justin Schultz and Ian Cole played high event hockey and were on the right side of the 50% mark. Derrick Pouliot and Chad Ruhewedel played limited minutes and were fine. Pouliot continues to have plays that stick in the memory as not being good, but yet again finds himself with a favorable 57% of the shot attempts in his favor when he’s on the ice. If you want to dig deeper into scoring chances he was on the ice for nine for and six against at 5v5. High danger chances were even at 5 apiece when he was on the ice. He’s been serviceable.
Ryan McDonagh was a dumpster fire for the Rangers. He seemed to have his hand in many of the goals against the Rangers on the evening. He was unable to drive possession and had many errors on the evening. McDonagh is a very good player and when your best guys struggle like that it won’t be a good night for the team.
Sidney Crosby added to his league leading goal total with a great tip shot from the slot. It was a power play goal. His power play scoring is the best it has been in a few years. A nice footnote on the play was the source of the primary assist. Ian Cole made an excellent shot pass to set that sequence up. Cole who is certainly not known for his power play ice time made the most of his unique opportunity. To paraphrase the interview with Bob Errey at a stoppage of play Ian Cole inferred that he doesn’t see the power play as being difficult to play.
It’s not quite #SidDownLow but tipping the puck is a big part of the skillset that makes him so dangerous around the net. Crosby added an assist on Bryan Rust’s goal and his two points now pull him within four points of Connor McDavid for the NHL scoring lead.
Over the past two games Bryan Rust has supplanted Patric Hornqvist on the right wing on the Crosby line. Hornqvist has struggled to score goals at even-strength this year (only one) and Mike Sullivan has the ability to try different things with the personnel he has. Bryan Rust is quicker and more prone to earn controlled zone entries while still maintaining the ability to drive the net hard. Maybe the change in styles will help Crosby generate some more even-strength assists.
Since coming over to the Penguins Patric Hornqvist has played about 460 minutes with Evgeni Malkin at even-strength. Together they have a CF% of 57.7%. It isn’t like moving Hornqvist off of the Crosby line is going to have huge negative ramifications.
Hornqvist didn’t get a goal at even-strength last night but he did get one on the power play. It was his first goal in nine games.
Evgeni Malkin had a three-point night and he is now leading the Penguins in points. He trails Connor McDavid by only three points for the scoring lead. It’s like old times with Sid and Geno chasing the Art Ross. He scored off a one timer on what was a great sequence of plays starting with a Phil Kessel controlled zone entry. Kessel only played 22 seconds with Geno at 5v5 last night and this was part of it.
Phil Kessel also scored in this game and according to Bob Grove it is the fifth time that Crosby, Malkin, and Kessel have scored in the same game. Kessel was placed back with HBK in this game due to the Bryan Rust promotion. The famed line hasn’t had a great start to the year so we’ll see if they can regain some of that magic again.
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After all these years Jaromir Jagr is still tormenting the Buffalo Sabres. Last night he registered three assists which helped propel his team to a 4-3 shootout win. Those three assists also tied him with Mark Messier for the second most points in league history. When you take into consideration his missed time due to lockouts and his time away in the KHL you realize just how crazy his numbers are. He would be sniffing Gretzky's goal record. Even more impressive is that Jagr's totals have come with actual goaltenders in net and not the mannequins we saw in the late 70's and most of the 80's.
He's No. 2!
— George Richards (@GeorgeRichards) December 21, 2016
Jaromir Jagr ties Mark Messier for 2nd on the NHL scoring list as Florida Panthers top Sabres.https://t.co/j9zNHcXKZJ pic.twitter.com/jI2Og4cwdB
.@68Jagr seemed to really appreciate the moment on Tuesday as he moved into a tie w/ Mark Messier on the scoring list. pic.twitter.com/aWDq2FGgtO
— George Richards (@GeorgeRichards) December 21, 2016
Jaromir Jagr is a top three forward of all-time. Congrats Double J.
Thanks for reading!