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Unhappily ever Panther

October 23, 2019, 8:25 AM ET [138 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
For the second game in a row the Penguins had a chance to win, but they came up short in a 4-2 loss against the Florida Panthers. There were stretches of play where the Penguins were in control of the game. The second period was the best example of this. Ultimately, the team didn’t have enough push from secondary scoring to make a difference.

The Guentzel-Crosby-Simon line had some of the best looks at scoring and each of the three players had a point with Guentzel having two. However, they were contained for the most part by Mike Matheson and Anton Stralman with assistance from the Barkov line. Given the limited scoring ability due to the injuries this sets the team up for disappointment. It isn’t fair to lay everything at the feat of Crosby, Guentzel, and whomever is playing up on that line at the moment, but it is the reality they are in. Fortunately, there should be some incoming help from Nick Bjugstad and Bryan Rust.

Nothing annoys me more while coaching than when you lose an odd man rush because a player go offsides. C'mon, Jake!

It appears the late game strategy will be to place Patric Hornqvist on the Crosby line and demote Simon. Hornqvist probably doesn’t have the gas to play a full game there. He might have the ability to perform in spot duty. Last night he was able to score on a nice feed from Guentzel which kept the game within reach.

The more I watch John Marino the more I feel like pumping the brakes. There are certainly moments where he makes a good play using some skating and making a controlled pass. I don’t think he handles pressure all that well. He’s had quite a number of close calls where he doesn’t look very comfortable with the heavy pressure coming his way. He squeaks out of some of these scenarios, but over time they will lead to turnovers. Last night he did really well against the Florida depth players and not so hot against the Panthers top line. And that’s OK! I would expect that from a bottom pairing player. I think it fair to say his usage has been bonkers in his early Penguins tenure. He’s either playing bottom pairing minutes with really bad players or sent to the top pairing playing top pairing minutes with Kris Letang. Right now he deserves to play some sheltered minutes on the bottom pairing without Johnson or Gudbranson playing his off side.

Jack Johnson had a good possession night. It is the third game out of nine he’s eclipsed the 50% barrier. Even then being in the offensive zone is only as good as what you do with it…




Zach Aston-Reese had a near miss when his backhand attempt near the net hit the far post in the third period. He’s been one of the surprise players to start the year as far as his underlying numbers. He’s second to Kris Letang with a CF% of 57.81 and leads the team with an xGF% of 57.82. He’s still a depth player. He still makes mistakes (not being able to clear puck last night), but if he’s able to maintain his 1.50 5v5 points per 60 and contribute like he has with CF%/xGF% that is a good depth player and can help the team. The thing to remember with Aston-Reese is the number of injuries he’s had to deal with. Every time his sample starts growing he’s had to miss an extended period of time. The Tom Wilson cheap shot really screwed him over because even when he returned he felt the need to prove how tough he was instead of focusing on just playing. Probably one of the unintended side effect of his boss overreacting to the whole Wilson nonsense.

The first goal the Penguins gave up was a complete fluke by Denis Malgin, who can’t even spell his name last name right. The puck went way up in the air and landed on Murray’s back and into the net. Nothing you can really do about that. My ears did a double take the entire game thinking a certain Russian center was in the game.

The Panthers broadcast does something incredibly simple on the screen and I’m kind of mad it isn’t the standard for hockey broadcasts. They have a counter next to the score graphic for shots. I think it is a really easy thing to put up there, it doesn’t take up too much room, and it provides a little bit of context with how things have gone. I would prefer shot attempts, but I’ll take regular old-fashioned shots. There’s no reason AT&T Sports can’t have something like that for the viewer.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are still incredibly talented. They are not firing on a cylinders at the moment. They are only 4-3-1 and are not even sitting in a wild card spot at the moment. Eight games into the season they only have 46.64% of the shot attempts at 5v5. They have tried to make up for it with solid goaltending and the third best 5v5 shooting percentage in the league at 10.58%. Pittsburgh has a chance for some zone time in this game. They are going to have to get some bounces with their time spent in Tampa’s zone or hope the Crosby line goes on a heater. Tampa is coming off of a 6-2 drubbing by the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday so they’ll not only be rested, but motivated to avenge a bad loss.

Thanks for reading!
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