The Pittsburgh Penguins were able to overcome 3-2 deficit against the Montreal Canadiens and earn a victory via shootout 4-3.
The new line combos paid dividends 13 seconds into the game when Pascal Dupuis took a picture perfect centering feed from Sidney Crosby to gain the 1-0 lead
Dupuis goal pic.twitter.com/9oogIxiXy2
— Stephanie (@myregularface) November 12, 2015
Dupuis was a happy camper
goal celebration pic.twitter.com/DFARyuvXBB
— Stephanie (@myregularface) November 12, 2015
Beau Bennett earned a secondary assist on the play.
The new Dupuis-Crosby-Bennett combo wasn't good or bad after that sequence. I said that the Crosby/Bennett duo should see at least five games together and I haven't changed from that thought process. Beau Bennett isn't nearly as physical as Chris Kunitz but he can make similar plays that Kunitz used to make on a regular basis. Those plays are the little dish passes to Sidney Crosby that leave the puck in a spot for Crosby to skate into it. There were a few examples of that last night. Not every pass has to be tape to tape. Hockey is like one big geometry exam out there. Find the right angle and velocity and you can pass anyone open. Bennett's hands are able to execute those kinds of plays and it will result in seeing Sidney Crosby soar through the neutral zone once again.
Sidney Crosby finished the game with two primary assists and the game winner in the shootout.
Patric Hornqvist was demoted to the third line and he played one of this better games of the year. Hornqvist led the team with seven individual shot attempts at even-strength last night. Hornqvist's best attempt might not even have been his game tying goal. Nick Bonino and Hornqvist had an exchange from behind Montreal's net that led to a point blank shot by 72 that Mike Condon turned aside. Hornqvist did score the tying goal after Sidney Crosby gave him a freebie zone entry through the neutral zone. These are the passes and entries that have been lacking this year.
Crosby with a nice pass to Hornqvist right before he scores pic.twitter.com/HWgmhKyloU
— Stephanie (@myregularface) November 12, 2015
On the defensive side of things we saw what was perhaps the last of the dreaded Kris Letang/Ian Cole pairing. It appeared that halfway through the game that Olli Maatta was promoted and began to play with Letang on a regular shift. It was Olli Maatta who smartly executed a center drive towards the net after Phil Kessel received the puck high in the zone. The result was getting a piece of Kessel's shot and scoring his second goal of the year. Letang and Maatta had been working together at practice on their own. I have to imagine that pair will start the next game together.
It appears Ben Lovejoy and Rob Scuderi are going to take turns on which elder Penguins defenseman is going to take out Marc-Andre Fleury. Last night it was Lovejoy's turn as he cut Fleury right below his eye. Fleury had to leave the game but returned at the next stoppage of play.
in this GIF from the end of the 1st period, you can see the cut right below Fleury's eye pic.twitter.com/4i9iHv2XjA
— Stephanie (@myregularface) November 12, 2015
Bob Grove put up an interesting stat about Kris Letang before the game:
Letang talked recently about shooting the puck more on the PP. Would certainly benefit Pens. He has 2 PPG in his last 88 reg-season GP.
— Bob Grove (@bobgrove91) November 11, 2015
That is really unacceptable given the quality of teammates that Letang has played with on this power play over that sample size. Even Rasmus Ristolainen was able to muster up 4 power play goals on the 2014-15 Buffalo Sabres and their 13.4% dead last ranked power play.
Any power play that wants to have sustainable success needs shot volume and they need their guy who plays up top to be one of the trigger men. Letang just doesn't shoot enough and it allows the other team to cheat. A specific example from last night would have been when Letang kept giving Phil Kessel wobbly saucer passes on the left half wall. The other team is able to aggressively pursue the player on the half wall and try to jump that player because of the predictability. In fairness Kessel flat out fell on his own which led to the two on one break that Letang brilliantly broke up but far too often the PK unit is able to play the half wall guy harder than they should be able to. That is a direct result of Letang being gun shy and predictable with how he facilitates the puck.
Outside of the Montreal game Pittsburgh has had a stretch of playing teams that are just so so or below lately. They get two more teams this weekend who fit that description with New Jersey and Columbus. This will only be the second and third games the Penguins have played against divisional opponents so far this year. Anything less than three out of four points during the weekend would be a disappointment.
Awaiting the Penguins after the weekend are Minnesota, St. Louis, and San Jose in three of the next four games.
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