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With last night’s victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets the Penguins have moved to 11-4-0 on the year and have complete control of the Metropolitan Division.
The Penguins are currently the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference (Tampa has yet to play their 15th game) and they also have an Eastern Conference best +15 goal differential.
Given that the Penguins have a more defensively responsible feel to them this season I wanted to take a quick look and see if they have indeed improved in some of the team statistical categories from last year. I realize that the rankings from this year involve a very small sample size of 15 games, but that is the sample size we have right now.
Here is the comparison chart:
When comparing the numbers from last year to this year there are a few categories that jump out to me right away. The first one is Fenclose%. Last year the Penguins were a very average team with possession in close games. This allowed teams to generate more scoring chances against. This year they have ramped that area of their game way up. They are the best possession team in the NHL right now. Having the puck a majority of the time has had its impact in other areas as well.
Shots against per game has decreased by 3.4 and the Penguins are now also a top 5 team in goals against per game.
Offensively you see a slight dip in production but that is more than acceptable when it has come at the cost of being more defensively sound. The Penguins still generate more than their fair share of offense. Considering how long James Neal and Beau Bennett have been out the Penguins are actually doing a nice job offensively so far this season.
One area that has seen a dip from last year is the Penguins even strength save percentage. That dip has more to do with Vokoun’s absence than Fleury’s presence. Fleury had an EVSV% of .927% in 2012-2013 and so far this year he has that number up to .935%. The dip has more to do with Jeff Zatkoff’s terrible game against Florida than anything.
Last year the Penguins were the 2nd luckiest team in the league, so far this year they are in the middle of the pack. That means in all likelihood that the Penguins you see are the Penguins you will get for the rest of the year, which is not a bad thing.
Pittsburgh still has a below average penalty kill, especially on the road where they are 28th overall in the league with 69.6%. The addition of Rob Scuderi will help out a lot in that regard. It is an area of their game in which they have time to improve it. It will be more important how they are killing towards the end of the year than how they are right now. To make a deep run in the postseason you don’t need a top power play but more times than not you need a top penalty kill. This is one area to monitor as we move forward in the season.
Overall the addition of Jacques Martin seems like it has the Penguins trending in the right direction. The next step will be to field a healthy team that includes the likes of James Neal, Rob Scuderi, and Beau Bennett.
Beau Bennett is slated to start skating at practice this week and he should be back in the lineup by next Saturday at the latest, that is very good news. Hopefully that does not bump Megnatron out of the lineup.
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Congratulations to Jeff Zatkoff on his first career NHL victory which also doubled as his first career shutout. A great moment for him that he will always have.
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Kudos to Deryk Engelland on scoring his 2nd goal of the year. Brent Burns who?
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Is your favorite team thinking about handing out a long term and high priced goalie contract? Perhaps that is not the best path for cap management.
Here is my case why you don't have to give goaltenders long term high priced contracts and also why you probably shouldn't.
That is all for now. Enjoy your Sunday.
Thanks for reading!
Follow me on twitter Follow @GunnerStaal