Penguins/NHL
Are the winds changing in Pittsburgh?
Pittsburgh eyes their first three game winning streak of the season Saturday night and this group actually played a smart brand of hockey Friday night in a 2-1 win over the Bruins.
What’s been a positive so far this week is the Penguins stacking two wins in games that were against two different styles of opponents. A little more run and gun game against the Canucks and a more structured type of win against the less risk Bruins.
The Penguins got an up and down Canucks team on a back-to-back with a goaltender who would probably get lit up right now in the ECHL and the Penguins were able to take advantage after their embarrassing play over the weekend. The Boston game played out in a likely manner. Boston can’t score at home and under interim coach Joe Sacco the Bruins have tightened things up and are trying to win close games. You saw the Penguins smartly take the game as it came to them. Pick their spots when to be aggressive and it paid off in coming away with a one-goal win.
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More Buzz
— Tristan Jarry back-to-back wins and has secured points for the Penguins in three of his last four starts. Jarry’s 31 save performance was not only the first time in 13 starts he allowed less than two goals but how the Penguins and Jarry closed out the game was a possible building block. Against the Bruins Jarry played big and you’re seeing Jarry start to take games away from Alex Nedeljkovic and it’s time to start having a conversation about Nedeljkovic who projects to start tonight at home against the Calgary Flames. Nedeljkovic with a team-worst .877 SV% on the season, has an abysmal .758 High Danger Save Percentage through 11 games. The pressure is going to start turning on him pretty soon.
— Say what you want about him but when Erik Karlsson is on like he has been the last two games, this team looks a lot different. With Kris Letang no longer having any elite level offense left in him, the coaches have finally figured things out that pairing Karlsson with the Sidney Crosby line is a must.
— Drew O’Connor is a winger who is at his best when he plays a heavy game down low like the third period against the Bruins. The center experiment was way overthinking things…….
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— The Penguins brass have been trying to trade for Canucks winger Nils Hoglander dating back to last year at the deadline when Pittsburgh pushed for Hoglander in the Jake Guentzel trade talks but the Canucks front office would not put him on the table. This year is a bit different….. Hoglander in the first year of a 3-year, $9 million contract, is certainly being shopped around in deals by Vancouver. A 24-goal scorer last season with a 20.0 shooting percentage that alarms some teams who are not surprised with the regression, along with his smallish stature, Hoglander is really struggling this season with 2 goals and 3 assists, managing just 23 shots on goal in 22 games. Still, since cap space was cleared with the Lars Eller trade, strong indications the Penguins have made multiple attempts to acquire Hoglander that wouldn’t necessarily involve Marcus Pettersson. Rumblings are Vancouver has eyed a possible forward for forward swap in the Hoglander PIT-VAN talks, league buzz centering around [hide] Drew O’Connor as a player of interest from Jimmy Rutherford & Co.[/hide]
— David Jiricek’s agent Allan Walsh is said in league circles to be strongly trying to facilitate a Jiricek trade to the Minnesota Wild. Pittsburgh has had their pulse on things for a few weeks now and if things got to the finish line where it would cost one of Rutger McGroarty or Owen Pickering, strong sense in Penguins organization the play would be to move To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
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