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Penguins off to a great start in what will be a busy March

March 8, 2021, 11:35 AM ET [531 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Penguins concluded their week with a 5-1 victory over the New York Rangers. It was a very successful week. It was a week which could have been detrimental, but wasn’t. The Penguins won twice and only lost once to the Flyers closing the gap in the playoff race by two points. They added an additional two points with the victory last night over New York.

March is going to be a spring for the Penguins as they have a condensed schedule. Starting things off the way they did was a huge bonus. They are certainly capable of making the playoffs and I do think they are one of the four best teams in the division. That doesn’t always matter and it is especially true in this COVID shortened season.

Some positives from the past few days include Brian Dumoulin returning to game action, Evgeni Malkin picking up steam, Kasperi Kapanen finding a groove, goaltending more stable than it was, and Kris Letang continuing to contribute offensively.

Getting Brian Dumoulin back is really helpful. He has been a steady presence in the lineup for years. Just because I suggested trading him doesn’t mean I don’t think he brings value in the lineup. I suggested him because he does have value. Mike Sullivan didn’t ease Dumoulin back into the lineup. He started with a 24 minute outing. Welcome back.

Evgeni Malkin’s horrible start to the year is getting better. He looks better and his results are better. Malkin has always been one of the most fun players to watch in the league. Earlier in the year that wasn’t the case. You can see he is rounding into form and doing the things we have all loved watching him do for 15 years. Geno has a goal and an assist in back to back games. It is the first time this year he has had multiple points in back to back games. He now has 11 points in his last ten games. He is on a four game point streak. Good to see.

Kasperi Kapanen has been contributing after going cold for a stretch of time. I feel like this is how things will go. Consistency is probably not going to be a thing. He might find himself demoted at times and he will work his way back and put together performances like the one last night where he had a goal and two assists. He has nine points in his last ten game and it includes four goals.

Kris Letang is putting up some really solid offensive numbers this year. It hasn’t always felt like it, but he has 17 points in 23 games. It is a 60 point pace for an 82 game season. That pace would be the second highest point total in his career. Getting Brian Dumoulin back certainly shouldn’t hurt things.

The goaltending is slowly climbing out of the horrific hole it dug for itself. The Penguins are now only the seventh worst team in the league with a 5v5 save percentage of .912. That doesn’t sound good, but considering how bad things were it is a significant turnaround. Since Valentine’s Day when Tristan Jarry was given his first start in over a week the Penguins overall team save percentage has been .932 good for ninth overall in the league. Before that the Penguins were 30th at .889.

More reason for optimism is the schedule




The Penguins will get the Rangers again before they play Buffalo twice this week. It is a great opportunity for the Penguins to keep moving up the standings.

Thanks for reading!
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