For the second consecutive year the Pittsburgh Penguins played well at home against the Los Angeles Kings and lost. They were able to generate shot attempts against a team that is well known for shutting them down.
The above chart was created by Micah Blake McCurdy (@ineffectivemath). These charts are free at his Hockey Viz website after 2PM Atlantic time.
Unlike last year there will not be a coaching change as a result. This year the changes will be coming on the defense corp. due to injury.
The #Pens have recalled defenseman Chad Ruhwedel from the @WBSPenguins. Kris Letang has been placed on IR. Details: https://t.co/JR5RrYMuNl pic.twitter.com/Y6n3DzZtAJ
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 17, 2016
We already know Letang will be out a few weeks and it looks like Trevor Daley is going to miss some time too. Here is a snap shot of the careers of Steve Oleksy and Chad Ruhwedel who are now the options to replace Daley.
Considering Ruhwedel's sample was predominately with the Buffalo Sabres who were awful at the time I included the relative column as well. Even on a brutal Sabres team Ruhwedel's possession wasn't better than his teammates. Steve Oleksy has been up with the NHL team watching games from the pressbox and it appears this will be his opportunity to play. His sample is more impressive than Ruhwedel even when you take into consideration that Washington was a better situation to play in than Buffalo.
Justin Schultz did a wonderful Kris Letang impression last night. He was great. At even-strength he was on the ice for 24 shot attempts for and 17 against and led all Penguins in ice time with 27:11. In the first game without Letang Schultz passed his increased workload with flying colors. It was a nice game, but a big part of why Letang is considered one of the league's best players is that a performance like the one Schultz gave last night is an every game thing for Letang. Schultz will have to keep that up to help the team in the absence of Letang.
For the first time all year Sidney Crosby failed to score a goal in back to back games.
Matt Murray stopped 27 out of 28 shots he faced. In the month of December Murray has stopped 165 out of the 174 shots he has faced. That is a .948 save percentage. Last night was Murray's sixth start in a row. That streak will likely end tonight as the Penguins will be on the second game of a back to back. This is a logical spot for Fleury to return to game action.
Fleury will be busy. The Toronto Maple Leafs are the definition of high event hockey. The Maple Leafs lead the entire league in CF/60 at 62.66. At even-strength they are good for about a shot attempt per minute. The Penguins also fare well on this front as they are fourth overall at 61.54. Both teams love to push play. Important to note is that while Toronto can generate for themselves it comes at a cost. They are the third worst team in CA/60 at 60.19. Pittsburgh is 57.51. Neither team is particularly great at shutting down shot attempts this year but both teams are great at generating them. This is the recipe for a really fun game with a lot of skilled players in both lineups. Best of luck to the goalies.
Thanks for reading!