Pens (19-8, 11-4 Road) at Leafs (15-11-1, 6-5-1 Home), Air Canada Centre, 7:08 pm ET, ROOT Sports
Can you name the Penguin with the best minor penalty differential per 60 minutes? In other words, we’re looking for the skater with the biggest difference of penalties drawn versus penalties taken. As a bonus, can you also name the Pittsburgh skater who takes more penalties than he draws? (Answers at bottom of story.)
On-Ice Corsi
On-Ice Shot Differential (goals + saves + missed shots + blocks). This is expressed as a rate stat per 60 minutes.
Toronto Top 5
Nazem Kadri: 5.67
Cody Franson: 2.91
Matt Frattin: 2.34
Clarke MacArthur: 1.75
Mark Fraser: -3.40
Toronto Bottom 5
Jay McClement: -25.80
Korbinian Holzer: -25.63
Frazer McClaren: -17.86
Colton Orr: -17.75
Nikolai Kulemin: -16.25
Penguins Top 5
Sidney Crosby: 19.80
Chris Kunitz: 17.36
Beau Bennett: 16.75
Evgeni Malkin: 15:28
Kris Letang: 14:41
Penguins Bottom 5
Joe Vitale: -14.51
Brandon Sutter: -13.87
Tanner Glass: -13.81
Matt Cooke: -12.27
Craig Adams: -9.18
*****
The Pens and Leafs always seem to play an interesting brand of hockey whenever they match up. Last Saturday proved to be no exception, with Pittsburgh knocking off Toronto, 5-4, in a shootout victory decided by a Sidney Crosby shootout score.
Toronto native, James Neal, got the Penguins off to a good start, scoring just 36 seconds into the contest. ROOT Sports announcer, Bob Errey, didn’t even have time to tell viewers how important defense would be in the game before Neal worked his offensive magic.
Bob Errey:
“I’ve got to tell you, the Pittsburgh Penguins have been playing some kind of hockey, but defense is what …”
ROOT Sports Paul Steigerwald:
“James Neal scores off the draw! The shot was blocked, came right to Neal, just a turning blast and James Neal scores his 16th goal of the season just like that. He guns it past Reimer. The Penguins are off and running here in Toronto.”
Errey:
“That’s incredible stuff.”
Pittsburgh would go on to win a wide-open affair, but not before losing Evgeni Malkin. Malkin suffered an upper-body injury late in the third period via a James van Riemsdyk check along the boards. He missed the rest of the game and hasn’t played since. Pens coach Dan Bylsma has yet to reveal the exact nature of Malkin’s injury, other than to say it’s not concussion related. Fortunately for Pittsburgh, the Penguin center has skated on his own before practice in recent days.
The Pens and Leafs have split the season series. Clarke MacArthur continues to be a thorn in Pittsburgh’s side. The speedy forward has two goals and two assists in two games. For his career, MacArthur has totaled 23 points (9G, 14A) in 23 games versus the Pens. This from a player with 208 points in 387 career contests.
Van Riemsdyk has netted three goals and an assist in two games. He has nine points in 12 games at Air Canada Centre this season. Phil Kessel (1G, 2A) and Dion Phaneuf (0G, 3A) both registered three points Saturday against Pittsburgh. The Maple Leafs have three balanced lines with good speed at forward. The Pens will need to keep their guard up at all times, especially off the live rush.
*****
Bob Errey mentioned POP (Pass Off the Pads) during Saturday’s telecast. The Penguins keep track internally of every time the team purposely shoots off a goals far pads in an effort to produce a juicy rebound. Paul Martin’s goal against Toronto last week was a perfect example of POP.
Mike Colligan of The Hockey Writers penned a POP article
here.
*****
The Penguins hold a plus-22 goal differential, best in the East. The Florida Panthers are a minus-35. Pens fans are indeed lucky to watch a team with such good numbers. That’s not to say Florida isn’t worth watching, with youngsters Jonathan Huberdeau and Drew Shore playing every night.
*****
Brian Metzer penned a nice article on Brandon “Brent” Sutter for the
Beaver County-Times.
“I’ve been having a lot of fun the last few weeks here," Sutter said. "We’ve got a group of guys so that makes it pretty easy.”
Sutter deflected credit for his two-goal performance Tuesday night, saying that Chris Kunitz’s ice-breaker score really opened the flood gates.
*****
The Leafs are 3-for-8 on the power play against Pittsburgh. The Pens are 1-for-8 versus Toronto.
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Toronto leads the NHL with 846 hits, more than 200 hit greater than Pittsburgh’s total (625). Leo Komarov leads the Leafs with 113 hits while Tanner Glass ranks first among all Penguins (70).
*****
Sidney Crosby has an eight-game goal-scoring streak on the line Thursday night at Air Canada Centre.
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The Leafs have lost three straight – including the 5-4 shootout defeat to Pittsburgh – as their sixth-place playoff seed in the East is down to three points ahead of ninth-place Winnipeg.
*****
The Penguins have scored exactly 100 goals. No other team in the East has 90. Boston and Tampa Bay are tied for second-most with 88.
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Tweets ‘O the Day
Pens Inside Scoop @PensInsideScoop
Looks like Scrivens in net for #leafs tonight against #Pens –SK
Mark Masters @markhmasters
Carlyle says Liles is in tonight
(Liles has a goal and six points in 15 games. Against the Pens, Liles has three points (1G, 2A) in just 10 career contests.)
Dave Molinari @MolinariPG
Carlyle says Lupul will not play against Penguins tonight.
(Lupul fractured his forearm against Pittsburgh in the third game of the season. He has 11 goals and 18 points – including 10 power-play points -- in 22 career games against the Pens.)
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Trivia Answers: Craig Adams draws 2.1 minor penalties per 60 minutes while taking 0.6. Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby both draw 1.8 minor penalties per 60, with Crosby taking 0.8 minors per 60 and Malkin, 1.0.
On the flip side, Simon Despres has the worst minor penalty differential on the Pens. Despres takes 2.0 minors per 60 minutes and has drawn 0.0. Robert Bortuzzo is second with a 1.4 to 0.5 ratio and James Neal third, at 1.8 to 1.1
*****
Treasure Life!
JT
Chris Kunitz has plenty of reason to smile these days!
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