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Penguins Grades: Big Stories and a Salvage Win, ‘Grind for Every Inch’
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- Penguins Grades: Big Stories and a Salvage Win, ‘Grind for Every Inch’
Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
For the second time in two games, the Pittsburgh Penguins beat a first-place team, though the two victories could not be more diametric. While Tuesday's win over the Carolina Hurricanes was a beauty, their 4-3 overtime win over the Detroit Red Wings was a beast.
Ugly might be a kind word.
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In the end, the Penguins got their storybook ending (you see what I did there?) as Penguins captain Sidney Crosby scored a pair of goals and set up defenseman Kris Letang , who scored the overtime game-winner in his 1200th game.
"It's always fun when you have a milestone game, and you do something you can remember. Like, 1000 games–that was pretty solid," said Letang. "You know, you have all the nerves, the family, the ceremony. So it's fun to cap it off."
The stars shone. The Penguins won their third straight. And the PK overcame a lot of penalties. A lot of penalties.
Only 39 defensemen in NHL history have reached 1200 games, and Letang became just the third active defenseman to reach that mark.
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The Penguins took eight minor penalties and spent nearly 14 minutes shorthanded, yielding a pair of power play goals, yet their PK received praise for keeping the Penguins in the game.
"You know, for the better part of the year, our PKs have really been solid and kind of a staple of our team. That kind of gives us energy. And I think when you take–what did we have, 12 minutes or 14 minutes of PKs–they're going to score a few, which is the reality of good players in this league," said Blake Lizotte , who scored the go-ahead goal later in the third period. "But I think when you take that many (penalties), letting up only two is a huge boost for us.
"And I think the bounces tonight weren't always there, and it was a good, resilient win for our group, and our character really came through."
After five minor penalties against in the first period, the referees had clearly become a point of irritation and aggravation. In the middle of the second period, Rickard Rakell lingered during a shift change to point out that his stick had been slashed out of his hands while attempting to play the puck at center ice. As Rakell retrieved his fallen stick and headed for the bench, Bryan Rust took the team's sixth penalty for letting referees know exactly what he thought about the imbalanced number of calls. Twice.
Not long after Rust's penalty, Penguins rookie Ben Kindel was obviously hooked. However, rather than continuing in the play, Kindel immediately turned toward ref Cody Beach, with his palms raised. Kindel was getting the call anyway, but it showed that for a few moments, the orange armbands were starting to live in the Penguins' heads.
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Things calmed. For a while, anyway.
"I thought the guys did a really good job with (the situation). I mean, it's kind of two parts on that. The guys killing the penalties–when you have that many, when you spend almost half the first period killing penalties–it can be a lot," coach Dan Muse said. "But also, the guys went out there, and they did a really good job for the amount that we had to kill. But then for the guys that aren't killing penalties, it's tough. I mean, some guys were really, really low there in terms of minutes in the first period."
For example, second-line winger Anthony Mantha played only 1:38 in the first period. That wasn't a coach's decision, as much as the situation.
Even Sidney Crosby played only 3:41 in the first period, though he scored a pair of goals and eventually set up Letang for the winner.
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There was far too little even-strength play to judge or for either team to get into a rhythm. In the first 20 minutes, the teams combined for six minor penalties and two power-play goals.
While the Penguins exhibited a clear game plan and clean play with precision breakouts in a big win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday, Thursday's game was, at best, a muddy track with more missed connections than the Newark Airport in a snowstorm.
"Even on the bench, when (Lizotte) scores that goal, like, you can feel it. We had to grind for every little inch that we got tonight," Letang said. "It was tough for guys who sit on the bench for like four or five minutes straight, and we have to go out there and have an explosion of speed. It's pretty hard. So I think we stayed with it. It could have been frustrating, but we did a pretty good job overall."
The first sustained Penguins offensive zone pressure didn't arrive–couldn't arrive–until the middle of the second period. The Penguins finally got the puck deep, worked the walls, and pressured Detroit's defenders in the dirty zones.
Justin Brazeau continued to demonstrate softer hands and niftier stickhandles than a 6-foot-6 behemoth winger should have as he weaved through defenders, stickhandled around them, and charged the net with a hard shot from no more than 10 feet.
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However, the Penguins were unable to sustain that energy until the third period. And then it was taken away by the Penguins' seventh minor penalty as refs delivered a tripping penalty to Lizotte despite him being first on a loose puck and JT Compher tripping as he skated over Lizotte.
However, that wasn't the defining penalty. Jack St. Ivany's whoopsie with at 16:14 as his attempted breakout pass fluttered off his stick like a Charles Barkley tee shot and over the glass.
Almost too predictably, Detroit scored on its eighth power play, forcing overtime and a situation that has bedeviled the Penguins.
But it was the Penguins who rallied for the momentous walk-off before the Zambelli crew set off indoor fireworks as a postgame treat for the 15,540 fans in attendance.
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The Penguins earned most of the calls. They took some dumb…DUMB…penalties. The imbalance for which the Penguins had a right to complain was not the calls against them, but the lack of reciprocal penalties.
The two points surely added a bit of sugar to make the game easier to swallow.
"It is what it is. You know, (the calls were) out of our control," said Erik Karlsson , who collected his 900th career point. "I think we weren't happy about it. You know, we tried to keep our composure and did our best at it. It didn't go our way there again, but I think we collected ourselves and we stuck with it."
Penguins Analysis
There wasn't enough of a flow to the game to really get a good dissection of the teams, their game plans, and tactical battles.
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As Letang noted postgame, it was tough for a lot of players to be sitting for five minutes, sometimes longer, to get into the game.
Rutger McGroarty played only eight minutes as he's not on either of the special teams units. Second liners Tommy Novak , Justin Brazeau , and Anthony Mantha all played less than 13 minutes, as they don't kill penalties, and the Penguins had less than four minutes of power play time.
At even strength, the discombobulated Penguins lacked their precise breakout passes and controlled zone entries with speed. Instead, they were chopping ice with dump-and-chase hockey, which never really clicked long enough to tilt the ice before the next penalty call.
The Penguins weren't able to establish their forecheck with any regularity, nor were they able to sync up on their breakouts. Cold legs and no flow were certainly a factor.
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Penguins Report Card
Team: C+
The Penguins earned all but one (Ok, maybe two) of their minors. While fans heaped derision upon the referees, the Penguins needed to play a cleaner game. MUCH cleaner.
Ultimately, they fought for a few goals, including a couple by Sidney Crosby in the first period, and Kris Letang snaked the OT winner when he fooled his defender and raced to the slot for a one-timer. The Penguins were opportunistic, but there wasn't much more to like at 5v5.
Penalty Kill: A-
The PK allowed two power play goals on eight chances, which will actually lower their overall rating, but Detroit has a lethal power play. The Penguins had a handful of sterling kills, keeping Detroit to the outside, preventing good shots.
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Connor Dewar played over eight minutes shorthanded. Noel Acciari played just under seven minutes. Blake Lizotte and Bryan Rust played over six minutes. They earned their rest Thursday night.
Despite 13:48 of power play time, Detroit got only eight shots on the man advantage.
Players with Good Grades
Rickard Rakell : It seemed he was the center of the action on the top line. He also defended hard–you may not have noticed him in front of the defensive net on a couple of occasions, making sure Silovs's crease was clear.
Perhaps Rakell was lifted by some good news he can share on Friday. Hmm?
Justin Brazeau:The big man played a big game. He continues to flash shockingly soft hands and tight-area stickhandling. He didn't have any points, but he had one of the best games.
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Brett Kulak-Kris Letang:The pair continues to stack solid performances. Letang was nonchalant following the game when asked how he felt about the current state of his game.
"Fine. It's good," he said with a shrug.
After three wins in a row and victories of all flavors, the Penguins are back in the middle of the playoff chase in the Eastern Conference.
And yeah, it's fine. It's good.
The post Penguins Grades: Big Stories and a Salvage Win, 'Grind for Every Inch' appeared first on Pittsburgh Hockey Now .
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