Penguins got crushed by the Capitals 4-0 last night. Not really too many positives to take away from the game other than the fact the Penguins actually played well in the first period, but their reward for that play was a 1-0 deficit. Everything after that was less than desirable.
5v5 possession, Penguins at Capitals even. pic.twitter.com/PnHuQF37GA
— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) January 29, 2015
It was another game against a Metropolitan Division foe and it was another loss for the Penguins.
Alex Ovechkin scored twice and both goals were nice, especially his bomb on the power play. Multiple variables were at play during that sequence that led to Ovechkin being that wide open. The first was the personnel on the ice. Zach Sill and Andrew Ebbett were the penalty killing forwards and for the millionth time there aren’t PK specialists, just good or bad hockey players who get thrown into that situation.
The second variable is the fact the Washington power play is the best in the league. You know exactly where they want to go with the puck, you know exactly who is going to be waiting there for the puck, and you know what the end result will be if you allow it to happen yet they are still able to free that up. A guy like Nick Backstrom deserves high kudos for his ability to run the power play from the other side. He frees up the proper lanes and sets the table for the proper sequential order to get the puck back to Ovechkin. Mike Green for all his perceived even strength flaws is still a very good guy to have on a power play. He has a bomb and willing to use it. This forces players to fill his shooting lane. Green is also great at selling the fact he is shooting when he is just going to slide the puck to his left.
Don’t give Washington power plays, not going to end well.
Alex Ovechkin was involved in a collision with Christian Ehrhoff towards the end of the game that left Ehrhoff in a crumpled heap. Ovechkin did nothing wrong, just a bad result for Ehrhoff. He left the game and post game there was this tweet
FWIW, there were EMTs outside the Penguins locker room tonight. Haven't seen that before. Johnston had no update on Ehrhoff.
— Jason Mackey (@Mackey_Trib) January 29, 2015
Losing Ehrhoff for any length of time is the opposite of ideal.
Somebody must have told Eric Fehr there was no roof on the building last night.
Braden Holtby is a better goalie than the average fan gives him credit for. He has a career EVSV% of .929% which is comfortably above the league average of .921%. Trading for Jaro Halak was an unnecessary move last year for the Capitals. They have had their #1 guy all along. Holtby has shutout the Penguins in back to back games. I can’t imagine too many goalies accomplish that.
People trying to figure out why the Penguins keep losing to the Metropolitan Division teams shouldn’t over think things. It is the same problem as last year and the year before.
Unskilled bottom six help. Downie and Comeau will certainly help out on that front with a healthy lineup but most nights the Penguins are playing with only 3 serviceable forward lines and when injured sometimes it is only 2 ½ lines. You can’t function over the long haul that way. It is just not realistic.
Stop playing Robert Bortuzzo instead of Derrick Pouliot, just stop it. Part of winning championships in the cap era is playing very talented young players on ELC contracts. You have to do that because you can only spend so much in other areas. Bylsma screwed the pooch with Despres and Bennett (especially Despres) to the point they wasted decent assets to acquire scrubs like Doug Murray instead. Don’t make this mistake again. The Penguins are probably looking for defensemen on the trade market, how about trying an in-house solution before spending assets needlessly? I fail to understand the fear of giving him a 10 game sample size.
Simon Despres needs to play in the top four and Pouliot is a prime candidate to play sheltered minutes with Scuderi. They actually have a CF% of 49.5% together.
I anticipate there will be more tinkering with the roster as we move towards the deadline. There will have to be, this roster isn’t a finished product without Maatta and Dupuis. They desperately need a Daniel Winnik type to fill out the roster. Possession still rules the day.
So unless you think Marc-Andre Fleury is going to match the heroics of Tim Thomas in his unreal 2010-11 season then the Penguins will need to focus on improving their roster to attain a top five caliber Score-Adjusted Fenwick.
New Jersey is up next on Friday night as the whispers of #JagrWatch2015 intensify.
Thanks for reading!
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