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The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the New York Islanders on Friday night by the score of 4-3. The game did not lack high octane players in the goal scoring department. Such high end players as Sidney Crosby, Thomas Vanek, Chris Kunitz, and Evgeni Malkin, yes that Evgeni Malkin, all scored goals.
Here are the game highlights:
Here is the possession chart:
The first period was the Chris Kunitz show as he was an iffy call away from having a natural hat trick in the opening stanza. The two goals that did count were beautiful crisp passing plays that Kunitz made no mistake about finishing.
The Islanders took advantage of the no goal call and early in the second period when Thomas Vanek set up shop in a soft spot in the Penguins zone and snapped the puck home. The area of the ice he went to was between the inner hash mark circle and faceoff dot. It’s a great area of the ice to find open passing lanes. The defensemen are usually apprehensive about coming out that far and the forwards up top will never come down that low to cover it. It’s a goal scorer’s oasis.
Evgeni Malkin was able to finally break his goal scoring slump when he deposited a loose puck on a broken passing play with James Neal into the net. Even though Malkin has been playing at a high level it should provide some relief to him by getting that first goal out of the way. Malkin continued to get some quality scoring chances as the game went on, including a breakaway.
The turning point in the second period was on the Penguins rush which led to the Islanders second goal. The Penguins executed a very nice odd man rush that included Kris Letang jumping up in the play. I have no problem with Letang joining in on the rush; it was absolutely the right decision.
That is how you create offense at even strength in the NHL. The problem comes at the very end when Letang makes a mistake that has classically affected him on the power play, he doesn’t do a good job at putting passes in people’s wheelhouse. As a result the puck was behind Gibbons instead of on his tape for an easy goal. The rush comes the other way and the Islanders score to make it a one goal game.
This was also a goal that Jeff Zatkoff needs to stop. There was no threat of a pass on the play, the shooter was unable to cut in to the middle because of the Penguins defense presence, and McDonald did not change the angle of his shot. It was a bland shot to the blocker side and Zatkoff didn’t have his angle.
The Islanders were able to tie the game up on a scramble in front. Thomas Vanek scored his 2nd goal of the night and tied the game. Usually when Thomas Vanek scores two goals in a game his team is almost a lock for a victory. In his Buffalo career the Sabres were 37-4-1 when he scored 2 goals in a game. The Islanders are now 0-1-0 when Vanek scores two goals in a game.
The Penguins had many chances in the third period to take the lead from the aforementioned Malkin breakaway, to the post Paul Martin hit, as well as the clean wraparound attempt James Neal had.
It wasn’t until the very end of the game when the Penguins former top line got in on one of their very familiar forechecks and won a battle which created space to make a play out front. Sidney Crosby was the beneficiary of the solid forecheck by Kunitz and the Penguins were able to squeak out the regulation win.
The Penguins will take the regulation win and head on up to Montreal but it did not come without a price. Beau Bennett appeared to injure himself in the game and Dan Bylsma did not provide any updates on his status. There is not an official morning skate in Montreal today so we will have to wait for an update from the coach to see what Bennett’s prognosis is.
Speaking of the Montreal game, here is the statistical preview for tonight’s matchup.
Line Combos
Projected line combos for Montreal:
Galchenyuk-Eller-Prust Pacioretty-Desharnais-Gallagher Briere-Plekanec-Gionta Moen-White-Bournival
Markov-Subban Emelin-Gorges Murray-Diaz
Injuries
Beau Bennett has an undisclosed injury and is questionable for tonight’s game
Chuck Kobasew took the ice today with some teammates in the unofficial team skate.
Rene Bourque has a lower body injury and will not be in the lineup tonight for Montreal.
Power Play
Penguins power play is on the climb again, it is now 7th overall at 22.0%. Penguins rank 12th overall with 82 PP opportunities.
Canadiens are 3rd overall at 23.9%. They also rank 3rd overall with 88 PP opportunities.
The Penguins got two Chris Kunitz power play goals against the Islanders. So far the switch from Letang to Martin quarterbacking the power play is paying off.
Penalty Kill
The Penguins have jumped up another 2 spots and are now 4th on the PK at 86.4%.
The Canadiens are 9th overall at 84.2%.
The special teams battle tonight will be very interesting to watch play out. The Penguins and Canadiens both have a power play and penalty kill that is in the top 10.
Penguins rank 4th overall in the amount of times they have been shorthanded with 66. The Canadiens rank 19th overall with 82 in that department.
Fenclose%
The Penguins are 4th overall at 55.3%
The Montreal Canadiens are 14th overall at 50.1%
Former Penguin Doug "Crankshaft" Murray is not off to a terrific start with the Canadiens. His Fenclose% is an abysmal 33.3% so far this year.
Even Strength Save %
The Penguins are 23rd overall at .917%. Marc Andre Fleury is at .923%
The Canadiens are one of the best teams in the NHL and are currently 2nd overall at .946%. Carey Price is right at the team mark at a sparkling .946%
Carey Price is playing at an extremely high level and is making a serious push towards starting for the Canadian Olympic team. With those kinds of numbers it is tough to ignore him.
Marc Andre Fleury will be getting the start for Pittsburgh tonight against Montreal
Trends
Canadiens are 6-1 in their last 7 vs. Metropolitan
Canadiens are 9-2 in their last 11 games playing on 0 days rest
Canadiens are 1-4 in their last 5 vs. a team with a winning % above .600.
Canadiens are 0-4 in their last 4 Saturday games
Penguins are 6-1 in the last 7 meetings
Home team is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings
Stats courtesy of Covers.com
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