You just never know what can happen with game time decisions. You could play said player and they could reaggravate their injury or they can do what Nick Bonino did.
In a game with huge playoff implications Penguins center Nick Bonino came up huge on the score sheet. Bonino set a career high with a goal and four assists. No offense to Oskar Sundqvist but that just wasn't going to happen with him in the lineup. Nick Bonino has stepped up his game since Evgeni Malkin has left the lineup.
Phil Kessel also jumped on the five point train as he set a personal career best with one goal and four assists just like Bonino. Kessel had two highlight reel plays which you can view here
It's March 26 and Phil Kessel is a Pittsburgh Penguin. Power play goal replay: https://t.co/4C4ov8CDfc pic.twitter.com/PccpxBxQht
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 26, 2016
Chalk one up for the 70 flex stick on this occasion.
Phil decided to flash his dishing skills on this occasion
It's good to be @CarlHagelin. 🔥
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 26, 2016
Replay of his second goal of the game: https://t.co/pPbyOo5xcY pic.twitter.com/Wc4e8en7LE
Here is how the Kessel line did on the possession front:
In the 60 minutes this line has played together they have a Score-Adjusted Fenwick of 65.98%.
So far today:
— Ryan Wilson (@GunnerStaal) March 26, 2016
Phil Kessel 1G, 3A
Justin Abdelkader 0G 0A Grit/60 ~ #TeamUSA
Of course Phil added another point to that total.
With the Penguins 7-2 victory over Detroit they are all but certain to make the postseason. Detroit is now five points back in the standings with the Penguins still with a game in hand. That is going to be incredibly hard for Detroit to make up in eight games. Philadelphia also dropped a decision to the Arizona Coyotes by a score of 2-1 in regulation.
It would be unfair if I didn't recognize yet another multi-point outing for Kris Letang. Letang finished with a goal and an assist which pushes his gaudy stat totals to 15 goals and 57 points on the year.
Sidney Crosby added a lone assist. Things are going great when the team scores seven goals and Sid is only in on one of them.
Not everything was perfect in this game. Brian Dumoulin left the game and did not return. He will not play today. Chris Kunitz also left with an injury and has been ruled a game-time decision for this evening. Pittsburgh got lucky with a Brian Dumoulin injury earlier in the week will they be lucky again?
Pittsburgh has a chance to pull within two points of the Rangers in the standings with a win in regulation tonight. There isn't a lot of time left in the year but Pittsburgh could still feasibly catch the Rangers who aren't playing a great brand of hockey lately. For the month of March the Rangers are rocking a Score-Adjusted Fenwick of just 45.4% which is third worst in the league. New York has won their last three games but aren't showing well in those games losing the shot attempt battle 114-144 for a 44.18% clip. Good thing for Hank
Thanks for reading!