The Penguins and Wild found themselves in a chess match in the early goings of last night's game and the Penguins had all the right moves.
The Penguins relied on third line even strength scoring last night and the rest of things fell into place.
The Penguins haven't exactly lit it up at even strength this year outside of the Crosby line so any offensive contributions from the lower lines is much welcomed.
The end result was a 4-1 victory over a solid team. A great start for the Penguins who are now in the middle of a 5 game road trip (longest of the year). With Minnesota out of the way they now have Winnipeg, Buffalo, New York Rangers, and Toronto. Could be quite the successful trip.
The Penguins got what they needed out of Minnesota but they did lose quite an impressive streak. Up until the Wild scored the Penguins had scored 18 unanswered goals, tied for the NHL record. That is super impressive and speaks to just how great the Penguins have been playing. The goal also kept the Penguins short of their franchise mark for most consecutive minutes without giving up a tally. The streak ended at 205 minutes while the record was 218 minutes set by Fleury and Vokoun.
Paul Martin looked a lot like Paul Martin last night. Was it home cooking? It probably had more to do with rejoining forces with Kris Letang. Playing with Letang will get you better forward combinations and Martin is the kind of player who can really be effective with other good players. I like watching Paul Martin play when he is on his game. So many brilliant subtleties to his game.
The power play is on autopilot at this point. Get the puck to Malkin, let him wind it up, let Malkin make plays. Rinse, repeat.
Steve Downie flashed some hands on that assist to Spaling. IT was such a nice fake even Sill would have found his name in the goal column after that pass.
As for the controversial goaltender interference which cost Minnesota a late third period goal, it was interference, the Wild player was indeed initially pushed into the crease and towards Greiss, the Wild player made literally no effort to get off of Greiss after the fact. If he had tried to get up the goal would have counted, it is that simple, he made an active choice to lay on him.
Thomas Greiss gave the Penguins a quality start. His playing style looks like that of a younger Tomas Vokoun, that's a good thing in my book. Mike Johnston has said he wants to get Greiss 4-5 starts in the month of November. That too is a good thing, let's find out more about him. We have a decade's worth of knowledge on Fleury at this point.
I liked the basic small plays Greiss made with the puck to help the defense out, they weren’t fancy, they didn’t take much skill, he came out, he moved the puck quick, it wasn’t an adventure. Those little things help. The only goal Greiss allowed was on a shorthanded breakaway, not exactly the most ideal situation to put a goaltender in (they did it to Fleury the other game as well).
Eventually Marcel Goc is not going to be playing with Adams and Sill and he will be able to reach his potential ceiling with the Penguins. We get flashes every now and then on what a capable player he is.
The Penguins penalty kill had another perfect evening and while on the surface Minnesota's power play numbers are dreadful that doesn't mean they have a dreadful power play. I don't know about anybody else but I don't like the idea of Thomas Vanek getting multiple opportunities to tip pucks in front of the Penguins net. I have watched Vanek way too many years to feel comfortable giving him those opportunities, he is the best in the business at tipping hockey pucks. Minnesota's power play will be just fine as time goes on.
Pierre Lebrunincluded a Penguin rumor in his latest blog but I don't view this as new information
The chip to play is obvious: The Penguins are loaded on defense in the organization. Youngsters such as Scott Harrington, Derrick Pouliot, Philip Samuelsson or Brian Dumoulincould be put out there as trade bait, but I suspect if teams come calling on a more established NHLer from Pittsburgh’s back end, the Pens may have to listen depending on who’s being offered.
I have said all along the Penguins will be trading for a top six winger (this will eventually happen) and Paul Martin is going to be the most likely chip involved in that (this may not happen). I never said it would be easy.
Even with a healthy Beau Bennett the Penguins need another top six winger to make a legit push to the Stanley Cup.
Malkin needs some help. The current setup is not built for long term success. It is certainly fine for right now though.
The Penguins play the Jets on Thursday, they have some intriguing wingers on their roster. They are a team to keep an eye on. Currently they are doing a pretty good job as they are 7-5-1 currently tied with the Blackhawks for third in that treacherous Central Division. Will it last? I’m not sure. I can’t say I trust Ondrej Pavelec over the course of a season. If the Jets run out of fuel they are a team to watch on the market. Although their GM seems to be against making moves that involve NHL players. He is one of the least active guys in the NHL. We’ll see, time will tell.
Thanks for reading!
Follow me on twitter Follow @GunnerStaal