Take a look at
the lines and pairs that the Penguins will use tonight against the Wild. Olli
Maatta, previously called a game-time decision by Coach Sullivan, is in the
lineup.
FIRST PERIOD
The Wild score
first on the power play. With Riley Sheahan in the box (and Bryan Rust out
injured), the Pens have to use some new forward combos and it looked like Derek Grant and Sidney Crosby get
a bit mixed up on the rush, leaving Mikko Koivu with
plenty of space in the slot after a few nice passes by Minnesota. Koivu snipes
one that Casey DeSmith gets
a piece of, but can’t stop the whole thing.
The Pens don’t stay down for long; they tie the game on
their first power play on the game. Crosby with
an easy tap-in goal after Phil Kessel sends
a cross-ice pass right through the feet of Ryan Suter.
1-1.
Crosby’s goal
extends his point streak to four games (2G-7A). The Penguins power play has
converted on five consecutive opportunities and is seven for their last eight
chances. That's pretty good stuff!
It appears the period will end 1-1, but Pittsburgh strikes
late. First, Zach
Aston-Reese does a great job on the forecheck to pressure
and intercept Jared
Spurgeon’s pass attempt up the ice. ZAR holds the puck
while Crosby and Kessel get
into the picture. Crosby shoots
wide and Kessel looks
like he’s trying to pass back over to Sid, but the bouncing puck hits off
of Suter’s
stick and floats into the net. 2-1 Pens.
SECOND PERIOD
Luke Kunin scores
to make it 2-2 — but wait — his stick was over the cross-bar when he touched
the puck. No goal.
Luckily then it’s Pittsburgh who gets the next goal, with
Sheahan snapping a puck from the right wing that touches off the defender’s
stick and wires itself under the bar. 3-1.
From here on out in the period, it’s the DeSmith show. Jack Johnson gets
walked by Jason Zucker for
a breakaway but DeSmith stops
‘em. The Pens allow Jonas Brodin in
all alone, no problem. Johnson falls
flat on his face at the offensive blue line leading Jordan
Greenway to get a great chance on the rush; DeSmith bails
him out yet again.
Shots are 13-7 Minnesota in the period but DeSmith makes all
13 saves.
THIRD PERIOD
Time slips away but Minnesota finally makes it an
interesting game with 4:05 left, Paris steps to the middle of the ice away
from Crosby and uses his space to wrist a puck in. 3-2 and the Pens aren’t
quite of the woods.
But that’s as close at they’ll get. Patric
Hornqvist blocks a shot after MIN pulls Dubnyk and
then Crosby does too and that about does it. Pens skate away with their sixth
straight win.
SOME THOUGHTS
- Nice to see Matt Cullen notch an assist on the Sheahan goal to get a point in his return to Minnesota.
- Haven’t seen the charts but it sure looked like the team was making an effort to get the Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang pair out with the 3rd line. Seemed to work too with several extended shifts in the offensive zone.
- Unfortunately a side effect of this is Jack Johnson plays more with the Crosby line. That’s not going to work very well with as much as the top line looks to play the puck back to the point and how allergic that d-pair is with making good decisions and plays with the puck on a consistent basis.
- Kessel made one of the better defensemen of this playing generation in Suter have a night to forget tonight. Phil’s up to nine points in the last three games, he’s in quite the zone right now.
- Dominik Simon and Patric Hornqvist on the Evgeni Malkin line just looks...Ehh. Not meshing too well. Liked Geno’s game though, thought he played engaged, was looking to shoot the puck with 4 SOG and a team high 8 total shot attempts. He wasn’t quiet or taking penalties, he did pretty well just didn’t happen to score. If he picked up an assist or two with a trailing pass on the power play his stat line would look better but it wouldn’t really mean too much more or less about how he’s playing.
- Had to be tough for DeSmith to have an 11 day layoff with the Christmas break, plus Matt Murray playing well enough to keep getting starts. But one of the best qualities of a NHL goalie to have is being able to stay sharp even without a ton of consistent game time. Minnesota with like eight goals in their last six games is no offensive juggernaut, but they played well and generated many quality looks tonight. CDS was up to the task.
- Didn’t really like Crosby’s play on either of the two goals against, but he did score two points and block a key last minute shot so we’ll call it more than a wash.
Six games in a row won to close out 2018, not bad. Now we’ll
wait and see if they can keep it rolling into 2019.
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