Game 1: PENGUINS – RANGERS X’s & O’s
Sidney Crosby (1 goal, 2 assists) and Patric Hornqvist (3 goals, 1 assist) combined for seven points and predictably it was a Penguins 5-2 Game 1 win.
“Regardless of their goalie, what stings is we talked about doing a better job against their top line and we didn’t do it,” Rangers center Derek Stepan said via The Record.
If the Rangers want to hang their hat on anything, I’m sure there’s someone in their analytic department who will point out to the coaching staff that Crosby and Hornqvist did have a poor night in driving possession.
Crosby posted a 41.1 CF% (16 CF/23 CA), Hornqvist 47%.
The key area to watch in Game 1 was how the Rangers matched up against Crosby defensively with Ryan McDonagh out.
Not surprising, Keith Yandle and Kevin Klein were most successful against Crosby, similar to the regular season meetings.
At even strength, the Penguins controlled just 24% (4 CF/13CA) of their shot attempts when Crosby was on the ice against Yandle and 35% vs Klein. The Yandle-Klein pairing projected to be the best option in defending Crosby and it was.
The pairing Crosby and his linemates projected to be able to exploit was the Marc Staal – Dan Girardi pairing, notably Girardi.
That also played out in Game 1.
Pittsburgh’s first two goals of the game, both even strength goals, were situations where the Penguins either won a foot race or got behind the Rangers D.
Both situations were the Penguins getting behind Dan Girardi.
One luxury for the short-term of not having 12 forwards to dress who can actually play in all three zones, is it gives the coaching staff more opportunities to let Sidney Crosby get a shift here and there in centering the fourth line to keep the Rangers off-guard.
With under a minute to play in the first period, Conor Sheary got a shift with Crosby and Hornqvist.
Hornqvist makes a simple cross-ice dump to Girardi’s side and Sheary who was one of the best forwards on the ice, wins the foot race by blowing past Girardi to setup Hornqvist for the late first period goal.
This was the scouting report coming in for the Penguins. Get the puck behind the Rangers slow footed d-men like Girardi.
While Crosby was very much in the negative in driving possession against the likes of Yandle-Klein, among others, he had a quality 75 Shot Attempt For % when on the ice against Girardi 5 v 5, including 2 goals for – 0 against when on the ice against Girardi.
Crosby’s breakaway goal with a 1:04 left in the second period was a combination of things the Penguins do so well now.
The play up the wall started with Crosby going hard at Girardi at the point in forcing a quick shot to the net and Pittsburgh’s ability to pack middle has become a staple for them defensively [hide], 22 blocked shot tonight, and it was leading up to this goal as Hornqvist blocks Girardi’s shot attempt in collapsing to the middle and also a precursor of how the Penguins are always thinking up the ice, Crosby doesn’t just stop and turn back to the d-zone after pressuring Girardi up high.
As Crosby doesn’t take himself out of position, Girardi is toast once Hornqvist blocks the shot and Crosby darts up the ice.
The Rangers had a good game plan and executed it. They just didn’t finish and got burned by favorable matchups from Pittsburgh like Crosby being out against Girardi who played over 17 minutes.
This is going to continue to be a problem for them unless Henrik Lundqvist is fine and can bail them out.
Schultz Starting to be Faded Out
The Penguins dressed seven defenseman for the first time under Mike Sullivan. “It was Olli’s first game back in a while,” Sullivan said of the reasoning. “It gives more options as far as on the back end for Jacques Martin, when he’s looking for certain matchups. We have some guys that we use on the power play. It gave me some flexibility up front as far as moving other guys in with that front line.”
What played out was Justin Schultz being faded out and that is likely to now continue based on the matchup which line a Cole-Schultz will be matched up with.
Schultz played just 5:52 in the game and only 4:22 at even strength. Ben Lovejoy by comparison played 16:16 and was relieved on heavily on the penalty kill, seeing 3:58 of ice time, second among Penguins’ d-men.
What carried over from the previous meeting was Eric Staal causing the Penguins D-men, notably Ian Cole and Justin Schultz trouble with his size and strength along the wall and below the dots. This pairing also showed same kind issues against the Capitals in defending Washington’s size.
Schultz in under five minutes of ice 5 v 5, was on the ice for 3 shot attempts and 11 against. The Rangers drove possession in 100% of their shot attempts (5/0) when Eric Staal was out against Schultz and 77% (10/3) when Staal was on the ice against Ian Cole.
Better Quality
Mike Sullivan expressed some concern about the Rangers dominant possession numbers in Game 1, not only a +19 5 v 5 shot attempt advantage, also a +10 scoring chance advantage.
“They were shooting the puck from everywhere,” Sullivan said.
The Rangers side of things is they didn’t create enough quality opportunities, especially with traffic in front.
“We need to generate a little better quality offensive looks,” Alain Vigneault said.
Credit has to go to the Penguins packing the middle, which has improved Pittsburgh’s ability to box out in front. [/hide]
Same I thought Zatkoff was traded to Florida?
Malkin Fleury Rust practising today
Lundqvist will not play Saturday, book it!
Crosby and Horny had a bad CF%. They must have sucked. It’s getting to the point where those numbers aren’t even worth mentioning.
I disagree. While those numbers don’t always give the best indicator of the results, they often do give a pretty good indication of how a player or line played. Quite frankly the 14-87-72 line really wasn’t that good last night in general, the spent many shifts hemmed in their own zone chasing the Rangers and had many more shifts where they generated nothing at all, what they did do well was capitalizes on the limited chances they did generate. They’re game last night was a lot like Pedro Alvarez, a lot of swinging and missing but when they did connect… Read more »
They accounted for 4 goals. I think they were fine.
Sure scoring is nice but that line didnt have one of their better games regardless of points. And you didnt need advanced stats to see.
If a single line produces 4 goals it doesn’t matter what advanced stats say. If you get 4 goals from 1 line, you are going to win that game far more often than not. I do agree that they didn’t look their best, but the pros far outweigh the cons.
I think the point being made is while they had 4 goals last night over the long run that level of play will hurt more than it will help. These types of stats tell of expected outcomes over a longer period with probabilities playing a factor on a night to night basis. I cant complain they didnt have a strong game because they produced… I wouldnt want them to go the entire playoffs with that level of play because it would end up hurting them more than it helps. If it was OV and co vs them last night they… Read more »
Sam im going to MTL next month, want to hang out? catch a Habs or Expos game?
You guys should grab a hot dog.
just try and stop me
Good news guys, D said the Lundqvist injury isn’t “series”
Serious is a hard word to spell
Florida must be thrilled with their trade deadline deal to get Zatkoff. Great performance.
Such a different feeling watching this team, such a big thing is there ability to come back in games. Last few years they were toast if they fell behind.
agree because Bone head DB had no in game adjustment
Bruins and flyers series were a prime example how much of a clown he was
You mean similar to how Sullivan had no in game adjustment to how the Rangers completely shutdown the Pens pp breakout and pretty much made them look stupid most of the game on the pp. The real clown is the person who calls others clowns while knowing absolutely nothing about the game himself. Any guess on who that is?
I dont know but id guess hes a clown
a big creepy weird french clown.
Bone head
It really isn’t all that surprising that when they’ve been led by an American coach they’ve adopted that never quit attitude and have been among the best teams in the league at coming back after trailing in games.
Will be nice to get Malkin back and to a lesser extent Rust
Rangers recalled a goalie from the AHL
Thank God Zatkoff(an American goalie) was in net to bail the team out last night.
How scary could that rangers be with their creepy / weird frenchy coach?
Trade Fleury Sam. 6-1 without him.
before trading fleury they should look for malkin first no ?
15-2
gets more money and often injured
They dont’ have another #1 center – they have another #1 goalie. 6-1 without him. Trade him sam.
Plus he’s > 30, so he’s useless
Forgot about that – good point.
I thought the pens played like trash and were lucky to win
Pretty fair assessment.
Lucky to win is a bit much, but yeah – they didn’t look good. Quite a testament to how good they are consdiering they got out played and still won 5-2.
Oh i agree its a good sign they put up 5 and win a game where they didnt play too well
agree. but I sure do like the fact that they can play like junk and still pot 5.
lucky win by the blues and tampax yesterday
“Tampax” dominated the third period, frog. There was nothing “lucky” about it.
oh yeah its true you only watch one period and qualify them as deserving
wish you had the same judgment about crosby’s season
Oh, sorry – since you’re too stupid. Play was even throughout the game, and then “tampax” dominated the third. Sorry.
They were shooting from everywhere… ya… like we did in previous years, from outside the scoring areas. The D was tight inside and the Rags thought tossing pucks at the net from 30 or more feet out was the best way to test Zatkoff. It blew up in their face bad. I would take a whole series of this easy… its almost the exact opposite of what we saw the past two years. The Pens were happy to throw pucks at Lundqvist from the outside making his night easy while the Rags generated the quality plays.
most of the time pens used to shoot from everywhere that was the main philosophy of DB neal used to do that
and TK was the master doing that
now we have Chubby that does that
You’re chubby.
it’s one game
Value. Add.
Sure was… so are you subtly arguing that if they continue the perimeter play that they will eventually crack any of the Pens tenders from 30 feet or more?
f e. staal