The Columbus Blue Jackets and Pittsburgh Penguins don't like each other and the fall out from that are very spirited games between the two teams. Last night was not an exception on this front. The Penguins and Blue Jackets played to a 1-1 tie in regulation until Brandon Dubinsky made an excellent move and great shot to beat Matt Murray in overtime.
This is why three on three is so fun. One poorly executed pinch by Phil Kessel at the wrong time and l the far side gets left open. That's all it takes to generate a dangerous 2 on 1 the other way. Trevor Daley was not put in a very difficult situation and Brandon Dubinsky made a play with the time and space he was given.
Here's the player possession breakdown for the night
The above chart was created by Micah Blake McCurdy (@ineffectivemath). These charts are free at his Hockey Viz website after 2PM Atlantic time.
All in all not a bad effort from Pittsburgh considering the losses on defense. Only the fourth line had a rough go of it last night for the Penguins.
Trevor Daley is playing like the player he has been his entire career this year. He is going to be a high event player that will usually see the opponents getting more of those chances. He was playing a little bit over his head during last season. Here are the last ten years of Daley's possession relative to his teammates
Seven of the last ten years he has been on the bottom 50% of his team in his ability to drive play and that includes the present season. Trading for Trevor Daley and getting rid of Rob Scuderi remains a tremendous move, but there is warranted criticism of Daley's play this year. Here are his 2016-17 with or without you stats
There's a lot of green in that middle column and that indicates that his partners play better away from him than with him. For now it is what it is. The Penguins have too many injuries and their hands are tied. Moving forward it will be interesting to see how the Penguins deploy Daley when they have a full roster. He is best suited for bottom pairing duty these days.
Both goalies played great last night. Combined they stopped 75 out of 78 shots on goal. Sergei Bobrovsky was one save better on the night. Bobrovsky and Murray are having great seasons for their respective teams and last night was a good example of their abilities.
There is no doubt that John Gibson was a Penguins fan growing up in the Pittsburgh area. Given this fact he is also more than aware of the abuse that Jaromir Jagr inflicted on goaltenders in the 1990's. Last night Jagr gave Gibson an up close and personal look at one of his better 90's dekes. This is amazing to see in 2017
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