Phil Kessel’s return to Toronto was rather uneventful for him on the ice but his new team was able to secure a 4-0 victory which was the Penguins seventh win in the last eight games.
Marc-Andre Fleury earned his 40th career shutout and remains among the league leaders in important goaltending metrics like adjusted save percentage (.949). Only Roberto Luongo (.963) and Henrik Lundqvist (.954) have been better to this point.
Shot attempts at even-strength ended up being even for both teams at 40 apiece. Pittsburgh’s ability to suppress shots continues to be an issue at even-strength. They entered the game 27th in the league and are now 29th overall in CA/60. Only the pitiful anti-analytics Colorado Avalanche are worse (60.2 vs 67.9).
Eric Fehr had a goal and an assist in his Penguins debut. Fehr played fourth line minutes last night but his role will probably be ever-changing due to his versatility.
Fehr goal cc @russianmachine pic.twitter.com/0T1GLhShSs
— Stephanie (@myregularface) November 1, 2015
As Eric Fehr gets some more games under his belt expect trade speculation to grow. It is inevitable that Pittsburgh trades a forward for another defenseman especially if Daniel Sprong sticks around the big club.
Beau Bennett has points in three straight games but naturally there were some games missed to injury in-between those games.
Patric Hornqvist now has goals in two straight games after being goose egged the first nine games of the season. He also made quite an interesting line change
Hornqvist pic.twitter.com/o0rMjuxWf2
— Stephanie (@myregularface) November 1, 2015Pittsburgh scored a power play goal but it wasn’t with the #1 unit. It was the less heralded second unit that was able to break through. A nice dish pass from Beau Bennett gave David Perron the puck with speed as he entered the zone. His shot somehow squeaked through the leaky Jonathan Bernier where Chris Kunitz was able to clean up the garbage. Nothing fancy but it got a result that has eluded the first unit most nights.
Kunitz goal pic.twitter.com/bn1vBPb6uv
— Stephanie (@myregularface) October 31, 2015
Pittsburgh will now get ready for their Western Canada road trip with games against Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver.
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New Hockey Hurts Podcast discusses what is going right with the Penguins and what needs to improve. You can find that here
Thanks for reading!