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Galchenyuk finally heats up against Calgary

November 26, 2019, 9:18 AM ET [274 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Pittsburgh Penguins didn’t bring their best game and they still were able to scrape out two points against the Calgary Flames. Tristan Jarry had another strong start and the Penguins got contributions from some 2019-20 mainstays and one from a place they’ve never gotten one before.

Alex Galchenyuk finally scored a goal for the Penguins. He scored with one second left on the power play to tie the game up at one. This was a long time coming for Galchenyuk. While he is an inconsistent player part of the inconsistency is doing good things. Having zero goals on the year makes for a good helping of regression. Based on his career shooting percentage (12.1%) he should have had four goals on the number of shots (32) he’s had this year. He’s going to score at times this year. He’s going to be a ghost at times this year. When the team is fully healthy the lows might not be as noticeable because there will be more hands on deck to help out.

One of the players who has stepped up this year has been Jared McCann. He’s up to nine goals in only 22 games. He’s on a heater to start the year and the team really needed somebody to do it. I had concerns about his ability to create offense away from Sidney Crosby and this stretch has definitely been away from Sidney Crosby. My only concern would be the 19.1% he’s shooting at when the career speaks to 9.6%. His Pittsburgh shooting percentage is 16.8% in 54 games and he is only 23 years young. As time goes one we’ll learn if he’s becoming a legitimately better shooter than he was at his prior stops. For now, the goals have been plentiful and incredibly helpful.

Somebody I know is a very good shooter was the guy who scored the game winner. Jake Guentzel used a sneaky release to beat the goaltender far side. In the seven games since Sidney Crosby has been out of the lineup Guentzel has four goals and seven points including game winners in each of the last two games. Jake Guentzel benefits from playing with Sidney Crosby just like everyone who does. Jake Guentzel has some of the best results playing next to Crosby. Jake Guentzel continues to be a very good player when Sidney Crosby is out of the lineup.

I wrote yesterday about playing John Marino with Marcus Pettersson. The team did not do so. He played with Jack Johnson and he went CF 10 CA 23 for 30.3%. It was his second worst outing of the year as far as shot share goes. Given that Marino has some puck skills he is still able to contribute offensively to offset the bad possession when it happens. He has five points in his last five games. He needs to play with Marcus Pettersson.

It’s great to see Kris Letang back in the lineup. He does so much of the heavy lifting and makes life easy for others. He led all Penguins in being on the ice for 23 shot attempts for and led all defenseman with a CF% of 60.53. He didn’t miss a beat.

Tristan Jarry has yet to have a bad start this year. He stopped 32 of 34 shots and gives the team enormous flexibility with how they manage the workloads for both goaltenders. I say ride the hot hand. Give Matt Murray a good chunk of time off this week and start him on Friday against Columbus. Let Jarry take the start against Vancouver tomorrow night. It’s OK if the backup is playing great. It’s OK to start the backup in consecutive games. It’s OK to not overreact and jump on the goaltender controversy bandwagon.

Thanks for reading!
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