The Pittsburgh Penguins made their first ever trip to Seattle to play the Kraken and the home team was really Laken. The Penguins destroyed Seattle by a score of 6-1 to close their four game western road trip on a high note. The team earned five out of a possible eight points which is the best they could have done after the first two games.
Leading the way last night? Jake Guentzel, again. He scored yet another two goals and added an assist. He’s one of the best players in the league at the moment. He has a thirteen game point streak during which he has 12 goals and 19 points. In his last 17 games he has 14 goals and 23 points. It has been a truly amazing run. Something we would have seen from either Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin in their prime. He should be a top six winger for Team USA. Not sure what else he has to prove.
A lot of players score goals through their immense physical talent. Jake Guentzel is cerebral, crafty, and opportunistic. That isn’t to say he doesn’t have a good shot, but he’s such a bright player and is able to score in so many different ways it is fun to watch him use the time and space he has or creates. One of my favorite players because of this.
Sidney Crosby is back on the scoresheet again. He’s starting to gain some traction. This is very good news. He has three goals and ten points in his last five games. Last night’s goal was pretty significant. Given that Seattle is a new team, Crosby had never played there, and the Penguins only visit once a year it doesn’t provide a lot of opportunity for Crosby to score there. By doing so he has scored in the overwhelming majority of the current rinks in the NHL. There’s only a few left.
Per
Bob Grove “Crosby has yet to score in Dallas (0 in 9 GP), Chicago (0 in 6 GP not counting Soldier Field, where he did not score either) and NYI new rink.”
Crosby can knock off two of the three this year as the Penguins have yet to visit Dallas (January 8) and New York (March 10). Chicago will have to wait another year as Crosby was out of the lineup for the Penguins lone visit this year. All in all not too bad.
Another Bob Grove stat
Other great news
The team really needed this and they’ve gotten it. The start to the year was dicey and raised some questions. As the sample size of games has grown so has his game.
I didn’t forget about Casey DeSmith. He had his first really good start of the year and earned his first win. He stopped 28 out of 29 shots for a .966 save percentage.
The road trip isn’t technically over as the Penguins have one last game against the Capitals on Friday.
Thanks for reading!
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