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The Kings of the six goal performance |
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Another home game and another six goal performance from the flightless birds. After a pair of 6-2 home wins over the Coyotes and Lightning the Penguins defeated the Kings by a score of 6-1 on Thursday night. The Penguins have 20 goals on the season which is third best. Only the Kings (21) and Bruins (23) have more. The catch is Los Angeles has played six games and Boston five, Pittsburgh with only four. The Penguins are the only positive differential team in double digits right now in the league at +12. It has been as good of a start as one could ask of the team.
While the goals have been great last night’s game wouldn’t have gone the way it did if not for the performance from Tristan Jarry in the first period. The Penguins were absolutely not the better team in the early goings of the game. They deserved to be trailing based on their play. Instead of being down three goals they finished the period up three. Jarry was the reason for that. The Kings put up 16 shots and all 16 were saved. Penguins scored on three of their nine shots. This is how Jarry has been playing so far this season. He has faced 104 shots and has come up with 99 saves for a .952 save percentage. A great start after the unfortunate conclusion to his 2021-22 season.
Jeff Petry scored his first goal as a Penguin. He also added two assists for a team high three points in the win. His performance in Montreal was marred by the three penalties he took. Thus far Petry is doing the things he was brought to Pittsburgh to do. He is a capable top four defenseman and gives the second line a boost with his skill set. He has a 60.04 xGF% in the four games the team has played. In 41 minutes the Zucker-Malkin-Rust line has an 81.42 xGF%. It is among the best in the league at the moment. Could they putting up a number like that with John Marino? Maybe? Although, I would say not likely. Petry brings an offensive mind and some puck skills while Marino’s talents were mid on the offensive front. His strengths were more defensive.
Evgeni Malkin has three goals and five points in the first four games of the season. He has points in all four games. Giving Malkin higher QoT and investing in him is one of the best decisions this team has made the last few years. He can’t do it alone anymore like he used to. The great news is that he doesn’t have to, nor should he. I don’t see him slowing down too much this season.
Not everything went to plan last night. Jake Guentzel took a head shot from a dime store Lemieux
A very unnecessary hit from a low tier player that has never hit double digits in goals or 20 points in a year trying to prove his worth. Taking a run at someone’s head during a delayed penalty situation in a 5-0 game says all you need to know about him as a player. Additionally, what is the ref doing? He’s right there.
To make matters worse Guentzel took some friendly fire by eating a puck from a Kris Letang shot. He did not return to the game. There wasn’t much information passed along after the game other than Guentzel was being evaluated.
Jake did manage to score another goal before all this went down. He has three goals in four games with five points. I’d love to see what his goal scoring ceiling is for a season. Hopefully, these two incidents don’t cause him to miss any time.
Jeff Petry wasn’t the only Penguin who scored their first goal in the yellow and black. Jan Rutta and Ryan Poehling also got in on the action. Rutta’s goal was a simple walk the blue line snap shot through a quality Jason Zucker screen. Poehling’s goal was shorthanded and closed out the Penguins scoring. He intercepted a pass in the slot and ripped a slap shot home. When Teddy Blueger comes back I would leave Poehling in the lineup. Josh Archibald and Brock McGinn can fight it out for who wants to keep their place in the lineup. Ideally, the Penguins would find a way to shed McGinn’s cap hit. It is a complete waste and an unnecessary expense.
Jeff Carter scored against his former club. It came on a great pass from Kasperi Kapanen. This is the second time in the last few games Kapanen has feathered a pass through to a teammate and freed them up for a clear path towards the goal. He needs to keep those coming.
Rickard Rakell is third on the team with 16 shots. He finally got one through a goalie last night and it was well deserved. It was quite the deft play by the bigger framed forward
The home cooking for the Penguins is going to be put on hold for a bit. They have five consecutive road games coming up. They make a quick stop to Columbus before heading on their big western Canada road trip which now includes Seattle. They’ll have the Oilers and Flames on back to back nights Monday and Tuesday. Then Friday and Saturday for Vancouver and Seattle. Here’s to Jake Guentzel making the trip. The team is off to a great start. Should be some fun games in the coming week.
Thanks for reading!
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