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Postgame Analysis: Penguins vs. Ducks
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Kris Letang celebrates his first goal of the season with his teammates.
In an exciting late-night showdown, the Penguins were narrowly able to escape the Honda Center in Anaheim with a 4-3 victory over the Ducks. Goals were scored by Mike Rupp, Kris Letang, Alex Goligoski, and Pascal Dupuis. The Penguins are now 12-3 on the season, including a 7-0 record on the road.
Offense: The offense struggled for much of the night, but they stepped up when it mattered most. During the first period, they couldn’t get much going on offense. They had four power plays on which they failed to convert, which killed much of their even strength momentum.
During the second period, the game picked up a much better flow, and they offense started to play better. Mike Rupp continued his great start by scoring his 4th goal of the season, and Kris Letang scored during a delayed penalty situation. Still, the offense was not playing their best, as they weren’t getting a ton of offensive zone time or quality scoring chances.
In the third period, coach Bylsma made a move that he should have made from the beginning of the game, putting Tyler Kennedy, fresh back from injury, back onto a line with Jordan Staal and Matt Cooke. The move seemed to fire up the whole team, and they came out flying, cycling the puck beautifully and putting a ton of pressure on the Anaheim defense. They were rewarded with two goals, which came from wicked slap shots by Alex Goligoski and Pascal Dupuis.
Defense: For the most part, the defense played very well. Shots, for the most part, were kept to the outside for much of the game. However, there were a few shifts where the defense looked totally lost and could not clear the zone or even gain possession of the puck for long periods of time. Luckily, none of those shifts resulted in goals against.
Martin Skoula played a noticeably good game, making smart defensive plays all night long, and he continues to get better with each passing game. The defensive play of the game, though, goes to Sidney Crosby, who stacked the pads in the goal crease to prevent the Ducks from tying the game in the dying minutes of the third. Jordan Staal also made a fantastic defensive play to save a goal in the second period.
Goaltending: It was a shaky night for goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. He never seemed comfortable all night, and the first and third goals that he let up were some of his softest of the year. However, he made up for those bad goals by making a gorgeous glove save on Anaheim’s Saku Koivu late in the third. Despite not playing his best, he still managed to outplay the Ducks’ net minder Jonas Hiller, and that’s all that matters.
Powerplay: The PP continued to struggle, going 0-5 on the night, including failing to convert on 4 chances in the first period. It’s absolutely mind-boggling that the PP continues to struggle, yet zero changes are made to try to fix the problems. The same guys hop over the boards for every chance, and they keep failing to convert on the same plays.
How about giving Tyler Kennedy a chance on one of the units? How about throwing Mike Rupp in front for screens and deflections? Why is Bill Guerin still on the first unit while he provides absolutely nothing? Why is Chris Bourque on the second unit when he hasn‘t done a thing all year?
Yes, the losses of Gonchar and Malkin are huge, but there are plenty of options for improving the PP that have yet to be entertained.
Penalty Kill: Once again, the PK units were very solid, killing off both Duck power plays that they faced. Matt Cooke was fantastic, taking away time and space from a very dangerous Anaheim PP.
Officiating: The officials were inexcusably poor in this game. Some of the calls that they made on Anaheim in the first were incredibly weak, and to make up for those, they let a ton of obvious penalties slide later in the game. It’s truly incredible that a referee could fail to call a high stick that draws blood or interference that directly results in a goal, but these officials pulled out all the stops in this one.
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