The Penguins keep doing what they need to do against inferior competition and that isn’t good news for the other teams near the top of the division who have to constantly play against one another. Pittsburgh is currently in third place six points clear of the fifth place Flyers. The Penguins have two games in hand, but with a six point lead the Flyers wouldn’t catch them.
The Penguins playoff probabilities have been trending in the right direction and hit a season high after the 3-0 victory over the Sabres. The majority of the Penguins remaining games are against the teams at the very bottom of this chart.
The victory over Buffalo was what it needed to be. Another win with the avoidance of injuries. The Sabres look like they are fine with the season ending tomorrow and the Penguins were content in letting them be that way. A lot has been said about how bad the Sabres have been, but you can add letting Mark Jankowski score to the list of low moments on the year. It wasn’t with an actual goaltender in net, Jankowski isn’t quite ready for that.
Evgeni Malkin is fun to watch again. He has the jump in his step which was lacking earlier in the year. You can tell he’s feeling it because if he is close to another teammate in the offensive zone he will just take the puck from them and gallop away. His swooping nature has returned. During his seven game point streak he has three goals and ten points. On the Sabres broadcast they put up a graphic about Malkin having a 14 game point streak against the Sabres in which Malkin has put up 7 goals and 21 points.
Jake Guentzel has three goals in the last three games and last night showed up his net front ability with some great eye hand coordination batting the puck out of the air past Carter Hutton. Jake isn’t likely to hit my lofty 30 goal prediction for the season due to the slow start, but he too is picking it up lately. He’s a career ~16% shooter and one of the best natural goal scorers in the league. He should be able to keep feasting on the Sabres and Devils this month.
Just 13 seconds into the power play and out of the air... You love to see it!
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 14, 2021
Oh, and you know what that means... HALF OFF JAKE'S SHAKES TOMORROW! Thanks, @MShakeFactory! pic.twitter.com/MDITvXWcNA
Sidney Crosby took the #SidDownLow to an entirely different level last night. He scored from below the Penguins goal line into the Sabres empty net.
If you missed Sid's empty-net goal, check it out here: pic.twitter.com/jcsfBkcfeE
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 14, 2021
Casey DeSmith hasn’t had a lot of starts lately, but he’s been ready when called on. His last three starts have been: .933, .958. and 1.000. This was also his second consecutive shutout of the Buffalo Sabres. On a night where the Penguins were struggling find the back of the net it was a great performance securing the two points they needed to have. It is also nice to see Tristan Jarry get a break.
This week the Penguins will get the Bruins on back to back nights. Boston is going through a little bit of a rough patch as they are 4-6-2 in their last 12 and 1-2-1 in their last four games. Even with the Bruins not playing at their best it will be a tougher challenge than the past week for the Penguins. After those two games the Penguins get the Devils for three consecutive games. If they can split with Boston they are set up for a nice little run again.
Don’t all rush at once…
David Backes and Jack Johnson on waivers
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) March 14, 2021
Enjoy the extra hour of daylight. I know I will.
NEW PODCAST Deep dive into the new ESPN deal and of course Penguins , both now and future https://t.co/EGmwmxG7Bt pic.twitter.com/NlQkzP0qlY
— Ryan Wilson (@GunnerStaal) March 13, 2021
Thanks for reading!