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A much deserved night for Kris Letang |
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It has been a rough stretch overall for the Penguins this past month. An even rougher one for their star defenseman, Kris Letang. I couldn’t think of a more deserving outcome for such pillar of Penguins than how things played out last night for the Penguins defender. In his first action since the death of his father and his latest lower body injury, which both followed up his most recent stroke, he scored two goals and had two assists including the game winner in overtime.
You can tell how much this meant based on the reactions of his teammates. You know how much it meant to Letang himself.
The Penguins are also a family to Kris Letang and part of the healing process for him was likely getting back to this family and being around some of his closest friends. It had to be a very cathartic and healing night. It was great to see him back and doing the things that make him who he is. Including some things that have never been done before
Goals and assists aside I don’t know how you can watch the Penguins with and then without Kris Letang and tell me things aren’t way better when he’s in the lineup.
Another positive from the game was the play of the fourth line. They went to work in the offensive zone and looked highly functional for stretches of play. It is hardly a surprise this fourth line really didn’t look like many of the other variations throughout the year. This one included Drew O’Connor, Ryan Poehling, and Danton Heinen. They got their feet moving, attacked space, and used some puck skills to get a couple of goals. Their second goal as a line came in the third period on an extended shift in the offensive zone
The power play has been cooking lately. They are six for their last 14 (43%), including three for five last night. One of my favorite versions of the power play is when the just reload Malkin’s one-timer. Even when the other team tactically blocks it the blocks come with a human cost. It hurts a lot. Last night they reloaded it a few times and finished with a goal.
If teams have to cheat on the one-timer it will definitely open up all the other stuff they like doing. Even though the Panthers defender caught a piece of the puck with his hand it still went in the net. It is a highly effective offensive weapon and I think they underutilize it.
A negative was the goaltending. Tristan Jarry was supposed to get the start and then a surprise development happened. Jarry was going to miss his start due to injury. Nothing was apparent at the morning skate and there isn’t a lot of information available yet. All we know is it is an upper body injury. Jarry has missed quite a bit of time in the last year. He effectively missed the playoffs last year. He just came off an extended injury and now we wait for how long this absence will be. The Penguins are way better when Jarry is healthy and starting. The issue is the reliability for him to be available to do it. We’ll have to see how this one plays out. It might be something super minor. Given how things go with the Penguins he could be missing weeks. What we do know is in his absence things get a little bit dicey. Casey DeSmith is a run of the mill backup goalie who needs to always be in a backup role. This isn’t a player who is going to give you long stretches of quality play. In his last seven starts (after his relief appearance in Winter Classic) he has saved 179 shots out of 204 which is an .877 save percentage. Five of the seven are below .900. Four are .875 or worse. One was .400. It just hasn’t been good enough. I’ll spend some time in the future elaborating on goaltending options or if there even are any.
Last night’s 7-6 victory has the Penguins in the top wild card playoff spot while keep Florida at a distance. It keeps pace with the surging Buffalo Sabres, who are now right there knocking on the door. The victory also maintains their game in hand advantage over their next opponent, the Washington Capitals. Both the Penguins and Capitals have 56 standings points. Pittsburgh has played 47 games and the Capitals 50.
Thanks for reading!
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