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The Pittsburgh Penguins snatched a victory from the Ottawa Senators on Monday night both figureatively and literally. Marc Andre Fleury was responsible for what could potentially be the save of the year against superstar Erik Karlsson.
Given the difficulty of the save, the person shooting it, and the situation in the game it would be tough to find another save that is significantly better.
In a lot of cases when a goalie makes a terrific save the shooter missed his spot and the goalie’s glove happens to be where the misfire occurred, this is not the case with the MAF save last night. Fleury’s freakish athleticism allowed him to quickly track from post to post in time to actually be in a position to adjust his glove to the rising puck. For this reason it is one of the best saves I can remember seeing.
The reaction of Erik Karlsson is priceless as well.
Karlsson on Fleury's save: "Thats something I did not count on. "
— Seth Rorabaugh (@emptynetters) February 4, 2014I'd like a forensic investigation launched into Marc-Andre Fleury's glove.
— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_Trib) February 4, 2014Craig Anderson wasn’t without his moments as well. Anderson was superb throughout the night and made 48 saves while only allowing 2 goals to the Penguins. One of his saves came right off his head on an Olli Maatta-bomb. Without Anderson’s quality of play the Sens could have found themselves in a much bigger hole than they were.
Maatta-bombs were flying all over the place last night. Maatta’s slap shot not only rang off of Anderson’s dome but it also found Brian Gibbon’s stick for the Penguins first goal. The goal was on the power play and is only Maatta’s 2nd point on the man advantage this year, both assists. Maatta is on pace for a 31 point rookie season with a majority of those points at even strength, very impressive.
Maatta’s partner Matt Niskanen did not have himself one of his better games of the season. Niskanen appeared to be off all night long and was not as assertive with his puck decisions as he normally is. Niskanen was guilty of a few turnovers, including some on the PP. He was also guilty of taking a penalty in the 3rd period of a tie game. Everybody is susceptible to a bad game once in a while, expect Niskanen to bounce right back.
Evgeni Malkin was in full Geno Machino mode as he was able to soar with the puck in both the neutral zone and in the offensive zone. Malkin’s speed and confidence with the puck consistently created offensive opportunities for the Penguins. On some nights Malkin cannot be stopped. Malkin led the Penguins in possession last night at 71%, how fitting.
Even though Malkin was able to create time and space for himself it did not come easy. Both Crosby and Malkin had to fight through a tight checking Ottawa Senators team in order to get open. Last night’s game had a playoff hockey feel to it and by that I mean that subtle interference was given the green light all night long. It wasn’t always blatant and obvious interference but more of the clever kind that we saw in both the 2008 and 2009 Stanley Cup Final against Detroit. The common denominator here is that Senators Head Coach Paul MacLean was an assistant coach on those Red Wing teams. If you look at the Senators lone goal you can see Olli Maatta being picked on the play.
The nice part about last night’s game is that even though it was a tight checking game and the interference plays were plentiful the Penguins did not get frustrated and they stayed the course.
Their possession greatly improved as the game went on and they were rewarded with the victory. That was a nice display of discipline and hard work. Hopefully it is a stepping stone for the team to continuously show that they can keep their emotions in check during a tight checking game
To put it lightly, Penguins were not happy with officiating tonight, believing the clutching and grabbing is back in a big way.
— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_Trib) February 4, 2014One way to find time and space is to play 4 on 4 hockey. The Penguins took full advantage of the extra space in overtime as James Neal broke his 8 game goal scoring slump with a beautifully patient overtime winner.
Neal displayed terrific patience by not trying to ram the puck home right away and getting it blocked. Instead he moonwalked his way to an opening and then made no mistake about it. Curiously on the game winning sequence you can see some Ottawa forwards making a line change as the Penguins are entering the zone. That is all the space that Malkin needed to deliver a crisp pass to Robert Bortuzzo. The Neal goal came directly off the Bortuzzo rebound.
Something the Penguins did well last night was having their forwards create speed in the neutral zone. Brandon Sutter, Chris Kunitz, Evgeni Malkin, and Sidney Crosby all were able to drive the Ottawa Senators defensemen back because of that speed. On a few occasions (Sutter/Kunitz) the Penguins forwards were able to blow by a flat footed defenseman. These were the kind of plays missing from the Eastern Conference Finals last season.
Here is a great article by Mike Colligan that delves into the play of Brooks Orpik and what it means for his tricky contract situation with the Penguins. Mike is one of the best in the biz. The Quiet Decline of Brooks Orpik
The Penguins will head to Buffalo on Wednesday night for their only visit to Western New York this season. If the weather holds I will be able to provide a 1st hand account of the game.
Thanks for reading!
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