The Penguins are doing what they have to do to in order to keep pace in the East Division. They are 7-3 in their last ten games and after last night’s victory are now 11-2 at home. The 7-3 record in their last ten has been necessary because the Capitals have gone 7-2-1 and the Islanders have gone 8-1-1. Boston and Philadelphia have fallen off and the Penguins now sit in third place with a one point lead over Boston and a two point lead over Philadelphia. Only issue is Penguins have played one more game than Boston and two more games than Philly. The good news is the schedule. There is a ton of Buffalo and New Jersey games in the future for the Penguins. The other teams will have to beat up on one another. This stretch of hockey for the Penguins was impressive and puts them in a good spot to make the playoffs. They just need to take care of business against the bottom of the division.
Evgeni Malkin and Kasperi Kapanen have continued to feast. This is huge. This opens the door for the Penguins to be legitimately competitive. Early in the year when Malkin was in his slumber this team was going nowhere. There wasn’t enough offensive punch in the lineup. Geno is looking like Geno and it opens up the possibility of adding to the current roster via trade. If Malkin continued to struggle there would be no point. Malkin and Kapanen were responsible for the best sequence of Penguins hockey last night on the third goal.
This doesn’t even do the sequence justice. There were so many consecutive touches for the Penguins on this play. It was raw creativity and taking what the defense gave until things culminated with a wide open Kapanen directly in front of the net.
Malkin now has a five game point streak. He has seven points. His linemate buddy Kapanen also has seven points in those five games including four goals.
I didn’t forget about Sidney Crosby. He’s been great. He scored an empty net goal to seal the victory last night. Remember when he used to be allergic to empty net goals? He has been his normal offensive force. He has 24 points in 24 games and 12 points in his last ten games.
The point of bringing up both Crosby and Malkin’s success is that this had to be the template for success this year. There was no path to success if they didn’t have both studs on board producing offense. They are both in a groove right now.
As for the game last night it was a game where the Penguins were playing quite a bit in their own end for the final two periods. The final period was a score-effects mess and the Crosby goal was the only shot on goal the entire period. The team was outshot 15-1. Tristan Jarry saved the day with some tremendous high-danger saves preserving the victory. Jarry finished the game 33 for 35 in saves for a .943 save percentage and with that his season save percentage now has a nine in front of it. He is at .900 for the first time.
Looking ahead the Penguins have a back to back against the Buffalo Sabres. There may not be any guaranteed wins in the NHL, but I don’t think you can get any closer this year than the Ralph Krueger led Buffalo Sabres. This is especially true with the following news
Ralph Krueger says Jack Eichel went back to Buffalo early from their five-game road trip and will be out “minimum a week.… @WGRZ
— Julianne Pelusi (@JuliannePelusi) March 10, 2021
Pittsburgh needs to take care of business.
Thanks for reading!