Matt Murray Perfect As Penguins Take Over Second Place (Penguins)

Penguins

Matt Murray Perfect As Penguins Take Over Second Place

By Ryan Wilson

Apr 3, 2016 • 1:12 pm

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It wasn’t long ago Pittsburgh was fighting for its playoff life and checking the wild card standings every day. Today they are second place in the Metropolitan Division three points clear of the New York Rangers. The Penguins have won 12 of their last 13 games and playing their best hockey of the year. They also officially clinched a playoff spot with yesterday’s victory.

They are the overwhelming favorite in their first round matchup with the New York Rangers

In fact the Penguins have the best odds (15%) of winning the Stanley Cup in the Eastern Conference. Only the Kings at 16% are higher.

Pittsburgh has the second best goal differential in the NHL right now at +37. Only the Capitals are better at +59. This is an amazing accomplishment considering for half the year the team was a negative goal differential team.

Yesterday the Penguins suffocated the New York Islanders in a low event game. The morning brought some unfortunate news with the Marc-Andre Fleury concussion announcement. His replacement did not allow the team to miss a beat. Matt Murray registered his first career shutout in the Penguins 5-0 victory. Murray was not shy about talking about how ready he is to take the reins in Fleury’s absence.

He sounds like a guy that is ready for a larger role if needed.

Matt Murray wasn’t the only guy to achieve a career accomplishment in the game yesterday.

Perhaps lost in the Fleury concussion story is the fact that Fleury has been incredibly responsible about reporting his symptoms which is great. We know that not all players are to the point where they accurately and honestly report these kinds of things because they want to stay in the lineup. After seeing what Pascal Dupuis went through first hand I can’t imagine any Penguins on the roster trying to hide symptoms of their various ailments.

Speaking of Pascal Dupuis another NHL player has unfortunately been diagnosed with a blood clot issue. Lightning superstar Steven Stamkos will miss the next 1-3 months because of a clot in his right arm. This is a huge blow to the team who is already going to be missing Anton Stralman to start the playoffs. Did Stamkos play his last game for the Lightning? It is definitely within the realm of possibility.

Jonathan Drouin has scored nine goals in this last nine games including goals in five straight games. Just saying.

Kris Letang and Sidney Crosby both had an assist in the winning effort while Phil Kessel scored yet again. The best players are playing well and the role players are doing their part as well.

Matt Cullen scored his 14th(!) goal of the year on this slick roof job

What isn’t shown on that clip is the little underrated pass Tom Kuhnhackl made to free up Cullen. Kuhnhackl’s pass wasn’t one that required high skill but the concept of pass when you can not when you have to applied to the situation. By moving the puck right away it gave Cullen the most time and space to work with and it led to that nice goal. Tom Kuhnhackl has seven points in his last seven games.

Pittsburgh will play the Philadelphia Flyers later today and the Flyers are going to give everything they have because they do not have a playoff spot locked up. Here is the projected shot volume for the game.

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