Penguins/NHL
Jared McCann happened in the second period and the rest is history as the Penguins throttled the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 7-2 rout on Saturday night.
12 different players records points in the win as Mike Sullivan improves to 16-3-1 all-time vs John Tortorella as head coach of the Penguins:
— In the immediate aftermath of Evgeni Malkin leaving the game with an injury in the second period, Jared McCann was bumped up to the second line center role and took the game over in period two.
McCann scored two goals off the rush in a 7:32 span as McCann’s back-to-back goals saw a 2-1 game quickly get away from the Blue Jackets in going from 4-1 to escalating to 7-1 by the mid-point of the third period.
McCann who the Penguins soured on as a center last season, flourished with the open space in place of Malkin.
—- Tonight was the perfect opponent for the Penguins bouncing back. The Blue Jackets struggle so much in Pittsburgh and It was all setting up to be the Penguins night even before puck drop. The Blue Jackets coming off a tough loss to the Maple Leafs Friday night, were starting some AHL-level goaltender named Elvis Merzilikins and if the Penguins didn’t at least put up five tonight it was going to be a disappointment.
But, coming off so bad of a defensive performance in the opener, this was also the perfect opponent from the standpoint of how limited the Blue Jackets are in making skilled plays in space. Boy, is that team going to struggle to score goals this season. Built on a chip and chase style in creating offense off the forecheck, it was just a much easier game for the Penguins in playing with an actual structure compared to opening night as the Blue Jackets have little ability in putting the opposition on their heels.
— Mike Sullivan had himself a night in pushing all the right buttons with lineup moves:
✅ to putting Dominik Simon on the top-line:
Why the coaches are always comfortable in bumping Simon up to the top line is little things like the controlled entry Simon had 1-on-3 that led to the Marcus Pettersson goal.
✅ to [hide] swapping of the d-pairs
Justin Schultz was much more effective in activating offensively next to Marcus Pettersson.
Pettersson made a great read on his second period goal in activating to the slot, showing patience in beating Elvis glove side.
Even Jack Johnson had himself a night with an assist (initially was awarded the goal) and being on the ice for 3 Goals For and 0 against at 5 vs 5.
✅ to Jared McCann replacing Malkin as 2nd line center
Easy call would have been to just elevate Nick Blugstad but the call to McCann paid off big time.
— With the Penguins scoring 7 goals, Matt Murray is an afterthought but Murray had a couple big-time saves early in the second period when it was still a one and two goal game. Murray turned aside 28 of 30 shots in the win and he was rock solid in the first 40 minutes in stopping 23 of 24 shots. Although the Penguins were head and shoulders better than the Blue Jackets in all areas, it sure didn’t hurt to have the significant advantage they had in goal. [/hide]
