The Penguins find themselves down in their series against the Islanders after dropping Game 1 in overtime by a score of 4-3. Let's start with the bad and then end with some of the good.
Pittsburgh has only one victory in their last 11 playoff games and two victories in their last 14 playoff games. It is their fifth consecutive loss to the Islanders during this sample so that's not good.
Another obvious bad thing is the fact Evgeni Malkin did not play. There is clearly an issue with the knee/lower body keeping him out. I'll say the obvious, it is never good when one of your most talented players cannot play and even if they come back they don't have the luxury of getting up to game speed. This really stinks. Having Malkin even if he isn't 100% is still going to help the team because they have the depth to give 71's line favorable deployment.
Probably the worst part of yesterday was the play of Tristan Jarry. He was terrible and there are strong arguments that all four of the goals should have been stopped. The Penguins cannot and will not win if their goaltenders do not give them a fighting chance. We all know Marc-Andre Fleury's stretch with the Penguins which sank the team, Matt Murray's final seasons were a letdown, and Tristan Jarry's start to this postseason highlights how important average goaltending is for team success. In the fourteen game sample where the Penguins have only won two playoff games the team's save percentage is only .893. It just isn't good enough. For comparison sake Fleury's 2010-13 stretch was .880 so the Penguins have had to overcome something which is incredibly difficult to overcome. Props to Fleury who is having the best season of his career at age 36. It isn't logical, but nothing about his career has been.
Another thing is the Penguins rode .920 all situations goaltending and .942 goaltending at 5v5 against the Islanders this year. Jarry letting in a handful of soft goals isn't going to help things. Also, Casey DeSmith not being available means the Penguins will likely be staying with Jarry regardless of his play. It would have to get real real bad to see a change.
The Penguins might want to do a better job defending Mike Cammaller.... wait, that was Kyle Palmieri. Palmieri only had two goals in 17 games in the regular season with the Islanders. Why wouldn't he find his scoring touch against the Penguins in a playoff series?
Enough with the bad let's focus on some of the good because there was a lot of evidence the Penguins are fine. They had an xGF% yesterday of 57.62. It is the best xGF% number in the nine games the Penguins have played this year against the Islanders. Their second best xGF% was 57.07 and wouldn't you know it, they lost 4-3 way back on February 6th. I like the Penguins chanced quite a bit if they can keep pushing their xGF% in this general neighborhood. Combine it with average goaltending and they should be able to push on through to the next round.
Additionally, the Penguins had 11 high-danger chances against New York compared to the six the Islanders generated. Pittsburgh won the shot-attempt battle by a small margin 58-55 at 5v5. I'm OK trading chances with the Islanders. They want to bog things down and play low event hockey. I think the Penguins are better equipped to play a high event style.
The Crosby line did a good job of going up against the Islanders strong defending duo of Ryan Pulock and Adam Pelech. This is something which should free up the other lines to do damage. You can see the Crosby line was able to play high event hockey and they were able to get the better of things. If this continues it should lead to success for the Penguins
We did get our first #SidDownLow playoff moment. He has proven over and over again that nobody is as dangerous at the net front area than he is. There are so many different ways he goes about tipping the puck, getting body position, or changing shooting angles.
Another positive was Kasperi Kapanen continuing to feast off of rush chances. The thing with Kapanen is he can be quiet for stretches and if you give him a little bit of time and space with forward momentum he can strike in a moment's notice.
The Penguins look to have the same lines in place at practice today. I have no issue running it back. They did a good job overall. Obviously, it isn't good news on the Malkin front.
Game 2 is tomorrow night. Tristan Jarry will look to bounce back after costing his team the game. The skaters will look to have a repeat performance.
Thanks for reading!
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