Well what can you say other than how fun was that?
It remains to be seen how the new look Pittsburgh Penguins will fare record wise this year but something I can confidently say after one viewing is that they are going to be much more entertaining to watch this year.
Mike Johnston has saved us all from not enjoying the rest of Crosby & Malkin's prime. This is fun. This is how it should be.
And what a perfect opener. The Penguins win by scoring six goals and the opposing team's superstar (Perry and his hat trick) flashes his brilliance as well.
Utilizing skill and speed while taking advantage of the highly skilled puck moving defensemen on the roster is tactically the right thing to do.
No more stretch passes as a first option. This was on full display for Sidney Crosby's first goal on the season. Mike Johnston's system is about puck possession,but it is also just as focused on getting his players to enter the neutral zone with speed. If you could name one player on the Penguins roster who you'd want to fly through the neutral zone with speed, who would it be? Well here is how you accomplish that feat.
Penguins have full control and the Ducks have set up two passive forecheckers. Olli Maatta has Paul Martin as a very short option away and he also has Chris Kunitz inside the blue line. His skill set is high enough so he takes the higher risk pass. Remember, Johnston wants to break the puck up through the middle as often as possible so that play can then kick it to the outside for players with speed.
Green means go. Just look at all the free space the best player in the world has to work with because of one breakout pass up the middle in their own zone. Kunitz is clever enough to redirect the puck into space for Crosby to pick up speed. One pass, one redirection, three Ducks players left in the dust with Crosby getting free reign to enter the neutral zone at mach speed.
Look at the gap control by Ben Lovejoy, or lack thereof. The reason for this is because Hornqvist was up on the left wing side of the offensive blue line. The stretch pass hasn't been eliminated completely in Mike Johnston's system, it just isn't the go to play that will be beat into the ground. By having Hornqvist stretched the D had to play back. As soon as Crosby enters the zone Hornqvist vacates that spot and starts to skate across the blue line to the right hand side. The end result is poor Ben Lovejoy, flat footed, with no gap control, with the best player in the sport bearing down on him.
Sidney Crosby has his first goal of the year and from a tactical standpoint it was perfection, even if the goal itself was weak on Gibson's part.
Patric Hornqvist 1, James Neal 0. OK this is not going to be a running gag but Hornqvist showed he is going to be a great fit with the Penguins, pencil him in for 30 goals. He has a quick release and he isn't afraid to use it. I see around 10 power play goals from him this year. When has Sid ever had a quality right handed shooter in the slot for the power play? I don't think he has. This is a game changer.
Another thing I love about the power play so far this year is the willingness to use the entire ice surface. For years the Penguins got complacent in only using the area above the tops of the faceoff circles. By using the entire surface the penalty killers are forced to move. Given the talent on the Penguins power play they don't need a PK guy to move too much to find that soft spot IE: Hornqvist in slot.
Simon Despres looked competent, who would have thought?
The preseason is overrated. Don't believe me? Olli Maatta is exhibit A. He was tremendous. Yes, it is easy to look good playing with Paul Martin, but this was a case of a young player asserting himself into the game. He had 3 assists and each of them was a high skill play that took proper awareness.
Here are two plays where he jumped up in the play and made his mark. Both things of beauty.
The Dupuis goal:
The Comeau goal:
And how about that Pascal Dupuis guy? He looked pretty darn good. I never thought the knee would be an issue, just where he best slots into the lineup. The early returns are pretty great as he had himself his first four point night since March of 2004. Look at this deft touch he showcases for Brandon Sutter:
Things looked great last night and there is a lot to look forward to. Last night's roster won't be the one they intend to take into postseason play so hypothetically things will only get better as the season moves on.
I'm keeping this blog positive because I am pretty excited about the new look of the team. I'll certainly dive into some of the other things that weren't as great in future blogs.
This little nugget of information just came in as I was finishing this blog up. They aren't calling him up to not play him. I know the obvious candidate to sit down, do the Penguins?
#Pens recall defenseman Scott Harrington from @WBSPenguins and re-assign defenseman Taylor Chorney. Release: http://t.co/F5sclWJyft
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 10, 2014
Welcome to the Mike Johnston era. Buckle up, it's going to be awesome.
Thanks for reading!
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