The Pittsburgh Penguins were convincing in their 5-0 victory of the New York Rangers in Game 4 and now have a commanding 3-1 series lead.
This isn’t the first time the Penguins have had a 3-1 series lead on the Rangers, but the differences between 2013-14 and 2015-16 are pretty stark. This year’s version of the team has impressive forward depth with players that can actually contribute on all four lines. The goaltending this time around is also much improved. During the 2013-14 series Marc-Andre Fleury did not post a save percentage higher than .900 (all situations) in five of the seven games. So far in 2015-16 the combination of Murray and Zatkoff have achieved that three out of the four games with those three games all better than .940.
After talking about how great Henrik Lundqvist has been against the Penguins in his last 15 postseason games (.938) he had the worst playoff outings of his career. Last night Lundqvist posted a save percentage of .778. The only other game in his 51 career playoff games that was in the .700’s was a game against the Montreal Canadiens on May 27, 2014 where he was at .789. These bad games are incredibly rare. Out of his 51 career postseason games he has had a save percentage of .920 or higher in 42 of those games. Insanely good. Pittsburgh’s offensive production last night was an impressive achievement.
Edit 8:24 PM Yeah these Lundqvist stats are wrong. Here is the link I used. It says career playoff game log. It only includes his playoff wins. My bad, oh well.
Pittsburgh was good on the possession front again. That makes two games in a row. Score effects did take over like they tend to do in a 5-0 game but the first two periods Pittsburgh controlled the flow of the game.
The solid line is the score-adjusted numbers which help take into consideration the score-effects while the faded line shows that actual shot attempts.
Evgeni Malkin’s positive impact on the power play was very evident on Thursday evening. He scored twice while assisting on another goal with the man advantage. This was Evgeni Malkin’s first four point game in the playoffs since his famous hat trick against the Carolina Hurricanes in 2009. It goes to show just how dangerous Malkin can be when he’s in the lineup because his even-strength ice time was limited in this game. He played a team low 8:06 at 5v5 yet still put up a four spot. His impact at even-strength is only going to improve as he continues to get healthier. He must be feeling OK considering what a bomb his slap shot goal was.
Malkin goal pic.twitter.com/sceJzdqV5h
— Stephanie (@myregularface) April 22, 2016
For years the Penguins have been trying to find top six wingers to play with either Crosby or Malkin. This search has come also exclusively with players outside of the organization (Neal, Jokinen, Iginla, Hossa, Kunitz, Dupuis, Fedotenko, Sykora, Sullivan, Kovalev). There are very few examples of in house options. I can really only think of Ryan Malone, Beau Bennett (who has almost no sample size), and then players like Colby Armstrong and Max Talbot if you want to count them. They may finally be able to add another player to that list. That player is Conor Sheary.
Conor Sheary has been a breath of fresh air with his speed, puck skills, and work rate all for the price of a standard ELC contract. This is something Pittsburgh just hasn’t had. Part of it is their own fault. How many “Conor Sheary’s… over the years have been passed over because they were deemed to be too small and not physical enough?
Too small? Not physical enough? Yeah right.
Sheary goal pic.twitter.com/PCkotZx9dH
— Stephanie (@myregularface) April 21, 2016
The teams that can shed the preconceived notion these types of players can't contribute at the NHL level will be better for it.
Pittsburgh certainly isn’t the only team guilty of this but it doesn’t change the fact that the close mindedness hurt them. With a shift in ideology to a four scoring line approach you get to see a player like Sheary with a chance to prove himself. This year he started with low minutes but his offensive rate stats and underlying possession were very good. He was making the most of his limited role. It should come as no surprise that when his quality of teammate has improved (playing with Crosby/Malkin) that he becomes even more noticeable on the ice. He does the things that you need to do in order to be successful in the modern NHL. One of the best things he does is push back defenders from stepping up at the blue line because of his speed. This in turn lends itself to more controlled zone entries. Controlled zone entries are the fuel which feeds offensive giants like Crosby and Malkin. Players that can understand spatial awareness like Sheary are able to succeed with great players.
NEW PENSBLOG Telestrator: there's way more to Conor Sheary than just speed. This is one smart hockey player.https://t.co/Dme9rxRPOh
— Jesse Marshall (@jmarshfof) April 22, 2016
In the short term Sheary’s emergence has provided the team with a legit left wing option. This option can help keep the HBK line together longer if the team so chooses. Long term it will allow the team to finally make an aggressive attempt in cutting ties with Chris Kunitz. A lot of people have wanted Kunitz off the team in the last year and a half but the team needed him. They were incredibly thin at the left wing position after Jokinen left and nobody stepped in making Kunitz expendable. With Sheary's emergence and Hagelin's addition the Penguins will now have options moving forward. Conor Sheary is here to stay and the Penguins are better for it.
Ben Lovejoy deserves credit for the assist he earned on the Penguins first goal. Instead of blindly hitting the red line and dumping the puck in he skated it over the blue line and put a shot on goal which gave a fortuitous rebound for Eric Fehr to pounce on. That was the good. The bad is that the bottom pairing of Ian Cole and Ben Lovejoy struggled again to push play.
Whether you want to look at it from the raw 5v5 numbers of the score-adjusted possession metrics they were the worst on the team. I am not a believer of the mantra that you can’t change a winning lineup. I believe you should always look to get better. I believe the team can get better by putting in either Justin Schultz and/or Derrick Pouliot for one or both of those players. Yes I have beat this horse dead but if you want to win a championship you can’t leave any stone unturned.
Concussions are tough enough to figure out recovery time frames. Concussions during the playoffs when teams are even less willing to share injury information makes that even tougher. You are only left with your own personal speculation. Marc-Andre Fleury hadn’t practiced the prior two days and today he skated without his regular goalie equipment.
Marc-Andre Fleury is on the ice shooting pucks prior to practice. pic.twitter.com/omhCfrFrIT
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) April 22, 2016
One could speculate he had a setback. With Matt Murray playing top end hockey we may not have only seen the last of Marc-Andre Fleury this season but we may have seen the last of him in a Penguins jersey. From an asset management standpoint this is a real possibility. For those that can’t separate their personal feelings for Marc-Andre Fleury the human being from Marc-Andre Fleury the hockey player this analysis this will seem outlandish.
When using statistical evidence in concert with the eye test there is nothing that suggests that Matt Murray will not be a league average or better goaltending in the NHL for the long term. Losing Fleury to a concussion was labeled as devastating by some but it just hasn't played out like that.
Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers will be looking to keep their season alive in Saturday afternoon's (thanks Patrick Kane) Game 5.
Thanks for reading!