The Pittsburgh Penguins dropped their second straight game in which they made it to overtime. Saturday night saw the Penguins lose 3-2 to the Edmonton Oilers in a shootout.
Pittsburgh played better against Edmonton than they did against Columbus but only getting one point was a disappointing result.
Result aside we all watch hockey to be entertained and Evgeni Malkin does just that. His first goal of the evening will be talked about for years. It highlights what a complete player Malkin is when you watch the entire sequence of him backchecking, stripping the puck, and then "putting on the ritz".
Here is Geno exhibiting hockey at its highest level:
The ping of the post is outrageously satisfying.
Malkin also scored another goal almost immediately after that one which tied the game 2-2.
Say what you will but Sidney Crosby has points in five straight games now. His tangible production is starting to creep back.
Patric Hornqvist continues to struggle in this department. He only has five even-strength points on the year and that is with 239 out of his 284 5v5 minutes being with Crosby or Malkin. He needs to be better. In comparison James Neal has six goals and ten points at even-strength with a majority of his time being spent with Mike Fisher as his center. I'm not suggesting that trading away Neal was a bad decision I'm saying what the Penguins got for him perhaps wasn't as great as initially thought.
Have to give credit where it is due. Rob Scuderi, yes that one, was a 79.5% possession player last night which led the team. Scuderi's presence neuters the Penguins offense when attacking due to his limited puck skills and skating, but if he is going to play it might as well be in the offensive zone around 80% of the time. Beats the alternative
Clendening and Cole had their second consecutive underwhelming game. They both hovered around the 25% mark in possession at even-strength. Not very impressive considering a majority of their work came against the Letestu line and not Edmonton's more gifted players.
If you have been paying attention we are starting to see the stretch pass more often in Pittsburgh's play recently. That is totally fine. The stretch pass which the Penguins utilized under Dan Bylsma was very successful for a long time. The issue was when teams sold out to defend that play and Pittsburgh stubbornly would not change. The more different looks the Penguins can give other teams the better. The stretch pass is also easier for lesser skilled defensemen as it is less time they have to handle the puck and make quick accurate passes in unison with other players.
The status quo has been underwhelming viva la Stretch Pass!
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Less than 12 hours after only giving Brandon Dubinsky one measly game for his crosschecks to Sidney Crosby we have two more violent incidents that involve players using their stick as a weapon.
The first is Johnny Oduya hammering Zach Parise in the back of the neck area:
The next crosscheck was probably the scariest of the bunch. Some guy named Viktor Arvidsson crosschecked Carlo Colaiacovo and dented in his trachea(!)
It's almost as if the players don't really care about these one or two games suspensions the league hands out. The Department of Player Safety is completely failing at their one intended reason for existence.
How dare you put your neck in the way of the opposition's stick like that!
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New Hockey Hurts Podcast discusses Sidney Crosby's "rift" with Mario Lemieux, the Dubinsky incident, and his linemates. You can find that here
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