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Bad penalty damns Penguins |
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The New Jersey Devils are among the best teams in the NHL in xGF%. So far the Penguins have been competitive in the two games they’ve played. The Penguins were 52.2% on December 30th and 58.74 yesterday. Unfortunately, playing well hasn’t resulted in standings points. The first meeting was a 4-2 loss and yesterday was a 2-1 loss in overtime.
It goes without saying the Penguins too many men on the ice penalty was really bad. You can’t be doing stuff like that regardless of what level of hockey you’re playing. It is really basic and when you’re dealing with a 3v3 to 4v3 penalty situation the mistake will usually end up being costly and it was yesterday. It was a disappointing ending to a solid overall effort.
Tristan Jarry has stopped 67 out of the 70 shots he has faced since coming back. Things will be a lot easier getting this kind of goaltending.
Ryan Poehling made his return to the lineup and replaced Jon Gruden. It was an impactful change. Poehling finished CF 17 CA 9 and xGF% 67.22. You could say it was a slight improvement over Gruden’s xGF% of 3 last game.
Sidney Crosby had the lone goal for the Penguins on the afternoon. It was the rare goal from distance for Crosby.
Crosby utilized the extra space during the 4v4 to Gretzky curl his way into a clean give and go with Jeff Petry. Marcus Pettersson did a great job recognizing Crosby was up top in what would have been his area and worked to screen the goalie. No screen, no goal. Nice job reading the play by everyone.
When you're crafting a game plan against another team you usually don't want the guy you need to be the most aware of scoring in the first minute of the game. That was the case yesterday when Jack Hughes scored right away
To be fair the Penguins skaters don't need to take the blame on this one. As well as Jarry has played a shot from distance on the outside is on him.
After taking the loser point the Penguins are currently in a playoff spot. They sit in the second wild card position. They have three games in hand on the Washington Capitals who are in the first wild card spot only two points ahead. The Florida Panthers are three points behind the Penguins and have also played in two more games. Every point matters and earning one yesterday was still a positive. Guess who the Penguins next two games are against? On Tuesday they will host the Panthers and on Thursday they will travel to Washington DC. This is a really nice opportunity to give themselves some wiggle room in the standings again. A nice luxury after their huge slump.
Thanks for reading!
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
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