Three out of the last four games the Penguins xGF% at 5v5 started with a three in front of it. Last night, after the first period, the Penguins xGF% at 5v5 had a three in front of it. Things could have easily gone south if the trend continued. Instead, the Penguins put together two of their stronger periods of the season for an impressive 4-1 victory over the Minnesota Wild
The Penguins finished the month of October 8-2-2 and wouldn’t you know it, they are currently the #1 team in the NHL
I didn’t think they were going to be as bad as a lot of the models though, I also didn’t think we’d be here a month into the season. It has been an unreal start for the team.
Kindel makes the team
Last night was Ben Kindel’s tenth game with the Pittsburgh Penguins which activates his ELC. Thus, the implication is that he has made the NHL for a full season. This is an incredible accomplishment for someone in their draft year taken at 11th overall. Playing center in the National Hockey League isn’t easy. Kindle has come in and impressed at each step of the way.
Making the team would be a good enough day, but Kindel wanted to put an exclamation point on the occasion. With Rickard Rakell out long term Kindel was given a spot on the first power play. He now has his first power play goal.
Kindel’s biggest strengths are his ability to take time and space and make it dangerous and his ability to see the ice. We knew this when he was drafted. One thing that has stood out to me is that, despite his frame, he has a nose for the net and is not afraid to go to high traffic areas. Yeah he gets bumped around in those net scrums, but he goes. He isn’t deterred. When you combine that with a nose for the puck it makes for a good bumper player on the power play.
You can tell Kindel’s confidence is pretty high because he’s busting out Evgeni Malkin’s slippery under the stick deke charging up the ice.
He is going to be a zone entry monster as he continues to get stronger and get more explosion from his stride.
It’s nice to have a third line
It has been years since there has been a third line for the Penguins that I was actually interested in watching from an entertainment perspective. It has been a while since there has been a competent third line for on-ice purposes. The third line for the Penguins is both interesting and effective.
Last night the Novak-Kindel-Koivunen line owned the territorial play. They finished the night with a 91.87 xGF%. Sometimes an easier deployment can explain away a night where a certain line does a really nice job. Well, here was their deployment…
Super impressive night for this line.
Goaltending among league’s best
A huge reason for the 8-2-2 start has been the goaltending of both Tristan Jarry and Arturs Silovs. Jarry stopped 26 of 27 shots and finished with a .963 save percentage. Jarry now has a .923 save percentage on the year. Silovs is at .919.
Per Advanced Hockey Stats Thatcher Demko leads the NHL in goals saved above expected at 10.06. Arturs Silovs in six games played is at 6.12 and Jarry is at 5.01. Combine the two and the Penguins as a team are at 11.13. These are superb numbers and are hiding some of the Penguins worst moments of the season. This is exactly what has been lacking the past few seasons. In fact, it has been almost the polar opposite of this.
If they weren’t this good things wouldn’t be going so well. They are bleeding chances
For now, enjoy the ride.
Humans doing good human things
The Minnesota Wild welcomed a Make a Wish kid named Weston Paszkiewicz to the team yesterday. The team arranged a signing for him, he skated at the morning skate, and has made a huge impact on the Wild players
One of Weston’s big requests was to team up with Marc-Andre Fleury to pull a prank on some teammates. This is a kid who gets it. That is such a great request, and it was granted.
The Penguins also played their role in making Weston’s day incredibly special by giving him their player of the game helmet (sorry Ben).
Up next, an afternoon game against Winnipeg at 3PM on Saturday.
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