The Penguins dropped a couple of games over the weekend to Columbus (3-1) and Detroit (3-2 OT). The scores don’t matter and not much of what happened is of any consequence. There aren’t any major injuries to report at this time. Although, Sidney Crosby has not been a regular at the games or practices the team maintains they are managing his workload and there is no injury.
While I don’t think there was anything notable from the games as far as positives go we were treated to this delight in the Red Wings game
Bowey uses Bertuzzi as a backboard, and Mantha forces a Pittsburgh defender to put it in his own net. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/YDHarxgH6n
— Ryan Hana (@RyanHanaWWP) September 22, 2019
The first time watching I was like what is Johnson supposed to do about his teammate being an idiot and scoring on their own net and then I realized he changed his number. It appears Johnson is still trying to learn Sullivan’s system of shooting it at the opponent’s net and not your own. I think this is the year Johnson puts it all together.
It will be interesting to see what kind of leash Johnson has this year. The evidence, regardless of your analysis techniques, is overwhelming bad in justifying a continued roster spot for Johnson. There may not be a trade market, but you don’t have to play him. Chad Ruhwedel sat in the press box for months at a time last year. It can be done.
The Nathan Legare hype train slowed down a bit on Sunday with not much going on. His line with Jared McCann and Bryan Rust went CF 8 CA 13 (38.3%) in shot attempts. It is OK to think Legare can help the Penguins. I just think some people are attaching a warp speed timeline on him that isn’t fair. His shot is NHL caliber already. It is the other stuff he will have to keep developing. His skating is OK, but for him to be able to showcase his playmaking ability he is going to have to learn to create time and space on his own at 5v5 on a regular basis and it is OK that at the age of 18 he isn’t ready to do that. Personally, I think he will ultimately end up being a lot like James Neal, but without the cheap shots and inability to handle his emotions. Great shot, OK skating, but when he’s not scoring you’ll probably end up be frustrated with him at times. There’s certainly value in a sniper. Hopefully Legare exceeds my prediction and is more well-rounded.
Penguins will be back in action on Wednesday night at home against the Detroit Red Wings. We’ll have to wait to see what kind of lineup will be in and if there will be anything to take away from the game.
Thanks for reading!