The Penguins are 7-1-1 in their last nine games and Kasperi Kapanen has four goals in his last two games. Imagine reading that sentence in late October and early November. Pittsburgh has turned things around in the standings and have crawled out from being an afterthought to being tied for third in the division while holding down the top wild card spot. An impressive and necessary turnaround.
Even when some of the biggest losers in the NHL try to ruin things the Penguins are able to overcome it and embarrass them further.
This was a follow up to when Jordan Staal absolutely trucked him earlier in the week trying to pull the same stunt behind the net. Jordan Binnington is such a small and petulant loser he had to try it again, except this time when the player was least expecting it. Jason Zucker left the bench, but returned for the second period and boy did he ever.
It was indeed a Jason Zucker goal which led to the Blues pulling the plug on their plug goalie. Binnington’s parting words only led to amusement from a Penguins bench pitying his feeble attempts at saving face. Jordan Binnington is a great example of what a weak man’s perception is of a strong man. Embarrassment at every turn. Zucker was the perfect person to have the perfect reaction to the man child.
Even Craig Berube is over Binnington’s tired act
Binnington has an .895 save percentage on the season.
The Blues goalies couldn’t keep anything out of the net last night
Thomas Greiss claimed the Pittsburgh crowd to be pretty dead during his time as the Penguins backup. Here he is doing his best to get them going.
As for the Penguins they got some much-needed goals from a source of contention. Kasperi Kapanen had a hat trick in the Penguins victory. It was a follow up to last game where Kapanen found the back of the net as well. Kapanen had earned being scratched and has come out of it with four goals. This is exactly the kind of response you want to see out of a player like him. I’d like to say he’s turned a corner, but I’m not going to. I’ve seen this fish before. Perhaps Kapanen can surprise us all. It would be a really important change in course for him and the team. They desperately need some reliable depth scoring. The reality is over the course of his 337-game career is that he is very streaky and his success is goal defendant. He was eventually going to have a stretch of play where things look good. To this point in his career they have been temporary oases.
After three games without a point Evgeni Malkin has followed it up with a bunch of helpers. He had an assist against the Golden Knights and added another three against the Blues last night.
Bryan Rust has had a pretty forgettable season even though he consistently plays with Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin. The Penguins very much need him to rediscover the quality of play he’s been capable of the past few seasons. Last night was a reminder of what that looks like. He finished the game with a goal and three assists. He had gone six games without a point. His four points were equivalent to the prior 17 games.
Sidney Crosby added a goal last night. He has a five-game point streak going. Last night’s goal was on an empty netter. The Penguins did have two power play goals last night. Crosby wasn’t in on either of them. He has no power play goals or assists in the last eight games. If he could start racking up points with the man advantage to go along with his league leading 5v5 point production it will be fun to see what kind of final total he can end up with at age 35.
The Penguins will look to keep things going when they host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night.
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