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The Pittsburgh Penguins and Marc Andre Fleury shutout the Buffalo Sabres by a score of 3-0 at the Consol Energy Center.
Here is the possession chart:
Here are the game highlights:
Playing against the Sabres was exactly what a few Penguins players needed to break out of their long dry spells of offense.
On Monday night the Sabres provided the role of slump busters.
The Penguins have not had a forward from their bottom 6 grouping score a goal (non empty net goal) since all the way back on December 19th. Last night Deryk Engelland ended that drought with his 2nd period tally to make the game 2-0. It was Engelland’s first goal in a month. It is kind of fitting that a defenseman converted into a winger was the person to break this slump.
Craig Adams had two assists. Adams had previously gone pointless for the past 38 games. It was Craig Adams first multi-point game since April 9th of last year.
Tanner Glass had a goal and an assist last night, those two points equaledl his entire season total from last year. The last goal that Tanner Glass scored was on October 28th against the Carolina Hurricanes.
To track down the last time Tanner Glass had two points in a single game you have to go all the way back to November 8, 2011. Glass registered a goal and an assist. The team that he faced that evening? The Buffalo Sabres.
Brandon Sutter who is toiling in the lower 40’s for CF% this season actually led the Penguins last night with a CF% of 75.0%. In fact the only negative possession players on the evening were Evgeni Malkin, James Neal, and Matt Niskanen. Not exactly the 3 guys I would have picked at the beginning of the night. That means that every member of the Penguins bottom 6 forward grouping actually had a successful night.
Marc Andre Fleury made 24 saves for the shutout. It was his 4th shutout of the season and first since November 29th. Only Tuukka Rask (5) has more shutouts this season than Fleury.
Don’t feel too bad for the Sabres though (feeling bad for Ryan Miller is totally acceptable). Losing is winning right now for Buffalo. Buffalo needs to assure themselves a top 2 pick in the draft this year and they are certainly on pace to do just that. The Sabres may only get a 25% chance at the top pick if they finish dead last, but they would assure themselves no worse than the #2 overall pick if they keep losing. The Sabres currently have a 5 point “lead… over Edmonton for worst team in the NHL.
Edmonton desperately needs a defenseman and the Sabres will most definitely be looking at an impact forward so it really doesn’t matter what order Buffalo and Edmonton finish in as long as they are both in the top 2.
I live in the Buffalo market and in the past I have watched the Sabres on a regular basis. This year the Sabres are so bad that I have only watched two non-Penguin Sabres games. The quality of play reminds me of the dark days of Rico Fata, Konstantin Koltsov, Ramzi Abid, Matt Bradley, Milan Kraft, and Tomas Surovy during the infamous 2003-2004 season. I can’t help but think that this year’s version of the Sabres is knocking on the door of similar ineptitude.
Personally, I think those 2003-2004 Penguins are worse.
Some quick hit thoughts from last night’s game:
Jayson Megna looked good playing in his 3rd line role with Brandon Sutter last night. He was able to get pucks to the net and displayed the ability to use speed as an asset. Megna will have to continue to build on his performances in order to solidify a regular spot in the Penguins lineup come playoff time. Megna’s potential success could alleviate at least one headache for Ray Shero.
Brian Gibbons is not the long term answer to play right wing on the Crosby line but he is absolutely the best fit for right now. Gibbons sees the ice well, works hard to get to the right places, and is nifty enough to make plays with Crosby and Kunitz. It was Gibbons’ crafty feed in front of the net that eventually led to Chris Kunitz’s opening goal of the game.
Speaking of Kunitz he kept Sidney Crosby’s hypothesis about new fathers accurate. Crosby made a comment earlier in the year about players who recently have a newborn go on to score a goal in their next game. Chris Kunitz welcomed in a new daughter to the world yesterday, Aubrey.
Chris Kunitz has now tied his career high in goals for a season with 26. He has 29 games left in the regular season to add to that total. He only needs 7 more points to tie his career high for a season (61).
With 2 assists last night Sidney Crosby extends his personal point streak against the Sabres to an impressive 16 games dating back to December 29, 2007. He has 26 points in those 16 games. Crosby now has 74 points and a 10 point lead over John Tavares in the Art Ross Trophy race, Crosby has two games in hand over Tavares.
Congratulations to Evgeni Malkin on playing in his 500th career game.
Malkin has 611 (plus today) pts in his 1st 500 games.
Only with the Penguins franchise would that gaudy number rank FOURTH in team history.
— Chris Adamski (@C_AdamskiTrib) January 28, 2014Yesterday I conducted a poll that asked whether acquiring Matt Moulson or Steve Ott from the Sabres would make more sense, the results are in and they are pretty lopsided:
Thanks for reading!
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