On Sunday the Pittsburgh Penguins wrapped up their three-game road swing with a 3-2 loss to the Dallas Stars which kept with the common themes of the season. The team continues to impress and overperform based on preseason expectations. They took five of six standings points against the Philadelphia Flyers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Dallas Stars. They also continue to be wretched in overtime and shootout scenarios. It is the sixth time they have conceded the extra point.
Tristan Jarry continues his heater
Tristan Jarry’s redemption tour is still on the track. He turned in another quality performance in the Penguins loss. He has given the Penguins a chance to win in his starts on a consistent basis this year and is yet another example of why the goaltending position is so maddening to analyze and predict.
Here’s a guy who was put on waivers and cleared last year because a team not even majorly concerned with winning games was like OK, your play is so bad even in a lost season we can’t tolerate it.
Last night, he stopped 21 out of 23 including five of five in high-danger opportunities. During the 6v5 sequence he was screened and did not see the puck from Miro Heiskanen’s slap shot.
He was terrific in overtime which includes this dandy of a save
It will be interesting to see what kind of market Jarry will have moving forward. Yes, Edmonton is interested, but Kyle Dubas isn’t interested in retaining salary and the Oilers have no cap space. I do think Dubas should continue to explore trade options with Jarry because he is not the long term goaltender for the team and he is currently playing really well and rehabilitated his perception. Something not guaranteed to last at this position, as we all know.
Malkin misses game with injury
In what came as a surprise to me and others, Evgeni Malkin missed the contest with the Stars and is listed as day to day. Malkin finished the Tampa Bay game, scoring the game winning goal late in the game.
Malkin has had an unbelievable season at 39 years old. He has 29 points in 26 games and looks really good. It would be a real shame if this was a lingering issue because we all know how these surprise day to day diagnoses play out over the years. He is 39 so injury risk is very real.
One alternate theory is that it was just some load management for Malkin who may have learned of the concept from a new friend
Penguins and World Juniors
The World Junior Championships are coming up at the end of the month and there are players who have played games for the Penguins this year eligible to play. One will play and one definitely will not.
Regardless of if Canada adds Ben Kindel to the camp roster or not he will not be going. He is having a very successful rookie season in the NHL and is playing a legitimate role with the team. He is on the top power play after all. Kindel is not going to play in the tournament, nor should he.
Harrison Brunicke on the other hand will most definitely be going to the tournament. The Penguins have slow played Brunicke not being in the lineup on a regular basis. They got him a five-game rehab stint in the AHL, which has just concluded. He can now rejoin the Penguins who will continue to scratch him, until he can go to the junior tournament. I think this has been a real nice job by the Penguins brass to delay sending him back to junior hockey while also not throwing him into the fire of NHL action.
What happens after the World Junior tournament is unknown at this point. Once the tournament concludes there are no more tricks to keeping Brunicke up with the Penguins and not getting games. He would just be a healthy scratch all the time. At this point the Penguins may decide to send him back to juniors. Whatever choice they make it will be done with care and thought given how things have played out to this point.
Shootout woes continue
At the beginning of the season Arturs Silovs was really struggling in the shootouts. It was kind of irrelevant who the Penguins picked as shooters because they were never going to outpace the other team and how much they were scoring.
With Jarry, that is not the case. He made two out of three stops last night in Dallas, but you can’t win a shootout if you can’t score. The Penguins shooters have been woeful and it is time to switch things up. Look at some of these wretched numbers
You can’t win shootouts like this even if the goaltenders are good enough.
I am beyond frustrated with Sidney Crosby’s approach in these things. I have harped on this for years and will continue to do so until he changes. He should absolutely still be one of the Penguins shooters, but Sid, buddy, c’mon with the quick snapshot routine. It isn’t working.
Here’s the thing, he has done it so long the goaltenders are expecting it and Sid could easily freeze them and quickly go forehand to back hand and successfully deke them for a goal. He needs somebody to reinforce this to him. I think Nick Bonino would be a great candidate for it. One of his coaches, and more importantly one of his teammates he won multiple Stanley Cups with. Somethings gotta give, here.
Ben Kindel should be one of the three shooters. By all accounts he is good at them in practice. I’m going to do a little stereotyping here, but the younger generations have better shootout moves and ideas. They grew up perfecting them as the game shifted to a more skill based affair. Kindel has great hands and I have no doubt could improve upon Kris Letang’s success or lack thereof.
These standings points matter and if the Penguins are going to make a go of the playoffs this year they can’t squander these bonus points automatically because they keep running back the same thing over and over again.
Kid line playing great
The Penguins current third line is my favorite third line the Penguins have had since the HBK line with Phil Kessel, Nick Bonino, and Carl Hagelin. They all have offensive talent and are responsible in their positioning. The results so far have been excellent.
Last night their xGF% were Rutger McGroarty (90.30), Ben Kindel (86.81), and Ville Koivunen (84.62). These kind of third line results are what can take a team from an afterthought to a thorn in other’s sides. Through three games their xGF% as a line is 72.33 per Natural Stat Trick
The next step in the development for these players is to start getting tangible offense out of the quality xGF% play they’ve put up. Right now the points per 60 at 5v5 for these three players is close to non existent.
Ben Kindel is at 0.60, Koivunen is 0.30, and Rutger McGroarty though only three games is 0.0.
I have no long term concerns with any of them. They are clearly playing good hockey and the points will come. When they do it will be game changing for the roster.
Up next for the Penguins are the much improved Anaheim Ducks who are the fourth best team in hockey right now. They just got done dismantling the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday
It will be a nice test for the Penguins who lost 4-3 to Anaheim earlier in the season.
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