The first hockey game since COVID is in the books and it was a 3-2 overtime victory for the Philadelphia Flyers over the Pittsburgh Penguins. The game result was moot. This was about both teams getting their timing back against outside competition and escaping with no injuries. I think both teams did a good job on those fronts.
Conor Sheary scored the first ever NHL goal in July.
Imagine telling a Sabres fan that back in October. He took a great feed from Guentzel and snapped the puck in the upper right hand corner for a really nice goal. I think it will go a long way in the Penguins success if Sheary can continue to be a competent third wheel on the top line. It really opens up Mike Sullivan’s ability to spread the wealth throughout the lineup.
Malkin’s line with Zucker looked good. Zucker scored the tying goal towards the end of the third period on a rebound situation creating by Malkin.
Evgeni Malkin looks great as far as his skating and strength. I honestly don’t care at all about his centering pass which led to the Flyers second goal. This was a meaningless game for results. This situation was all about reacquainting oneself with the decision making process and timing with the benefit of no real consequence. Push the envelope all you want. Get a feel for things and adjust accordingly for the real stuff coming up.
The fourth line looked sharp and their ability to be a great defensive line and eat up minutes against the other team’s better players frees up the top two lines to do more damage. It is very refreshing to head into the playoffs without a totally spent Matt Cullen on the roster.
I don’t have much of an opinion on the third line. They just need to tread water and chip in a little bit offensively and I think they will. They don’t need to do a lot in order for the team to find success.
John Marino does a lot of great things on the ice. He was one of the more noticeable players for me. Little plays like making a backhand breakout pass to the middle of the ice when he had a safety valve to his partner are the plays a confident player makes. It was the right play and I think those are the things Marino really shines at. Another instance where Marino was noticeable was when there was a loose puck in front of the Penguins net in a scramble situation and he scooped up the free puck and looked like he was shot out of a cannon exiting the zone.
I don’t have much to say on the goaltending based on today’s game. I don’t think Matt Murray played poorly even if he gave up two goals to Tristan Jarry’s one. I am pretty sure the team will go with Murray because of his history with the team. I would probably lean towards Jarry as the starter based on how the year went.
The power play didn’t look great. They haven’t had real game action in like five months so it is kind of understandable, except I thought the personnel deployment was the problem so it was held back before it even got going. Patric Hornqvist wouldn’t be on my top power play because of his limited skill set. Maybe if Phil Kessel was still on the power play you would have the luxury of using such a one-dimensional player, but without Kessel the Penguins need more of a Swiss Army knife approach. You definitely shouldn’t have Crosby on the left half wall. Use both Letang and Schultz on the same unit or try Rust there. I don’t like the approach they used today at all.
Four days from now the Penguins will be playing a playoff game in July. Very weird typing that out.
Thanks for reading!
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