The Pittsburgh Penguins started their extended road trip with a must needed victory. The trip has three consecutive games against the three California teams and could have easily resulted in an 0-3 record.
The result was exactly what the Penguins needed but the process is a reminder that the Penguins aren't very good defensively and their goaltender is still doing a great job of covering that up.
Pittsburgh gave up 64 shot attempts last night against the Sharks at even-strength. Only the October 29th game against Buffalo (70) have the Penguins given up more in one single game. While there were certainly a lot of attempts against the Penguins in the third period (score effects) Pittsburgh was still bleeding shot attempts against in periods one and two. Out of those 64 shot attempts against didn't it feel like Brent Burns had 50 of them?
There were some positives:
Evgeni Malkin is a real life video game player at this point in the season. He scored yet another aesthetically pleasing goal.
Martin Jones was out to lunch on that play.
Evgeni Malkin now has eight goals and 14 points in his last ten games. He has also scored in four consecutive games (5 goals total). He is tied for eighth overall in the league with 25 points.
The fourth line was struggling for a stretch but the last few games they have been very strong on the possession front and are now getting rewarded with some tangible offense. They were the only line last night over the 50% possession barrier. Matt Cullen received a generous bounce off of Martin Jones skate for the goal but if Jones' skate didn't hit the puck it would have gone right to Sergei Plotnikov for his first ever NHL goal.
Speaking of Plotnikov he has quietly gone about his business as the team's best possession forward. He has a Score-Adjusted Fenwick of 57.8% which is great. This doesn't mean he is Pittsburgh's best forward but it certainly shows he is far from a liability and perhaps deserving of some tougher minutes. I still don't believe he is a regular top six winger but then again I don't believe Pascal Dupuis or Chris Kunitz are either (more on that later).
Phil Kessel scored twice. The first goal was off of a fluky bounce (thank you Paul!) and the other one was an empty net but beggars can't be choosers on the goal front.
The second power play unit continues to simplify their approach with the ice time they get and were rewarded with a power play goal. David Warofsky didn't see a shooting opportunity he didn't like and that simplistic approach created chaos for the penalty killers. David Perron eventually scored after Beau Bennett moved the puck from high to down low where Chris Kunitz made a nice jam play which led to Perron stuffing the puck in.
The secondary assist given to Beau Bennett gives him three points on the power play this year tying him with Patric Hornqvist. Bennett actually leads the Penguins in power play points/60 at 5.83 with his limited time (27:53). Bennett only trails Hornqvist by one in overall points (7 vs 8). One gets spoon fed time with 87 and 71 and one doesn't. There is still a long time left in the season but through 24 games Hornqvist is one of the Penguins biggest disappointments.
It wasn't all good for Bennett last night. He took a moronic boarding penalty which ended up leading to San Jose's only goal of the evening. Bennett has been injury prone but he is not a player unwilling to partake in physical hockey. Personally I think he is at his best when he focuses on the things that make him good (puck skills, vision, positioning) rather than chasing hits.
Kris Letang was a mess last night. He was terrible on the power play, but his play at even-strength was even worse. Brace yourself these numbers are horrific
The numbers speak for themselves it was just an unacceptable performance by the Letang/Scuderi pairing. Olli Maatta has resumed skating and may be returning to the lineup on this road trip so that is good news for Kris Letang.
The KCD line was terrible. Sidney Crosby actually looked like he had it going on but unlike other sports in hockey you need to have some assistance from teammates and he just wasn't getting it. Consequently Crosby's five game point streak ended.
Pascal Dupuis did not play in the third period of last night's game. Early reports are that it had nothing to do with his blood clot issues and that there will be an update given today. Obviously you hope for the best on the health front for all players but Dupuis' play as of late should have him getting rest anyways. He just isn't getting it done out there. Give Dupuis some time off and sprinkle Daniel Sprong back into the lineup in various roles to see how he does.
The Penguins will get to rest up for a few days as they wait for their next game against a very good Los Angeles Kings team.
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