The Pittsburgh Penguins dropped a decision to the Boston Bruins in overtime last night by a score of 3-2.
The Penguins played quite well but Tuukka Rask wasn’t having any of it. Rask stopped 39 of the Penguins 41 shots.
Sometimes you play well and don’t win. Ask the Chicago Blackhawks. They put 54 shots on the Colorado Avalanche the other night and didn’t score a single goal. Trust the process, games like that are the anomaly.
Here is how the possession went in the game
The broadcast started off with Beau Bennett having a little bit of fun. His sense of humor is as good as his hands.
It was a planned attack
Beau Bennett takes immense pride in photo bombing Pierre's interviews. Told Sutter he was going to do it yesterday.
— Jason Mackey (@Mackey_Trib) January 8, 2015
Beau Bennett was just as good on the ice as he is the one who opened up the scoring. Sick feed from Malkin. It isn’t too often you can make Zdeno Chara look like a fish out of water, but they accomplished that here.
Evgeni Malkin was an animal last night. He played close to what his ceiling is and that is a ridiculously fun thing to watch.
He can do it with finesse and he can do it would violent strength as well. Here he is breaking the laws of physics with an absolute bomb.
Zdeno Chara had an awesome slap shot goal earlier in the game and it isn’t often that his shot is outdone, but this is one of those rare exceptions.
Nick Spaling had a few positive sightings last night. All it took was being on a line with a top 5 player in the world playing near his ceiling and one of the Penguins most skilled players on the other wing.
The Pittsburgh power play went 0-4 but that is as encouraging as an 0-4 effort can be. The new setup will start to pay dividends and it won’t take long. For the longest time the Penguins power play has completed neglected to have a right hand shot opposite of Evgeni Malkin on the other circle who is also in a position to take one-timers. David Perron’s presence gives the Penguins a legitimate threat on that side. If Kris Letang does a good job up top the PK unit will not be able to get away with shading towards Geno anymore. Over time this will spread out the PK unit and we will start to see more East/West passing lanes through the middle of the slot. Given the talent on the power play the goals will start to go in.
The biggest keys of any power play at any level are to find your 2 on 1’s, utilize the entire zone to spread out the PK unit, and to use the puck not your legs. And what I mean by that is don’t skate the puck to an area when you can just pass it there. Skating takes longer and it allows the PK unit time to readjust how they defend the passing/shooting lanes.
Last night the Penguins power play showed some serious potential. I liked what I saw. Should be fun to watch moving forward.
Couple controversial plays from last night didn’t go the Penguins way.
The first was when Zach Sill was pushed into Rask by Adam McQuaid. The referees ruled goaltender interference. Sill almost got his first career point but it wasn’t to be.
The one that hurt the Penguins the most was on the game winning goal. Patrice Bergeron used his terrific eye-hand coordination to tip the puck out of the air and into the net. The problem was his stick was above the crossbar, at least in my estimation. Judge for yourself.
slow motion https://t.co/jpEOsrTIbZ
— I don't care (@MadChad412) January 8, 2015
The problem I have with this goal is how the NHL sold its call. On the ice the official said that Bergeron’s stick was below the crossbar. After the game in a statement from the league they ruled the goal was inconclusive and they went with the call on the ice. That’s fine except that if the goal was inconclusive then how is Bergeron still the guy on record for scoring? If it hit Bergeron’s stick it is obvious that it was high. I think it is just a simple case of the league missing the call. It happens, and it happens to every team, not just Pittsburgh.
If you are wondering how Milan Lucic had free passage to shoot that puck on net the answer is that he was being covered by Rob Scuderi. There is no excuse for Rob Scuderi to be on the ice in a four on four five minute overtime situation, ever. It doesn’t play to his strengths. You can double shift Letang, Martin, Ehrhoff, and Despres. If somebody needs a breather you still have Bortuzzo.
The Penguins will play on Hockey Night In Canada on Saturday in Montreal. The Canadiens dusted the Penguins 4-1 in their last meeting but Pittsburgh has a better roster this time around.
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