Penguins/NHL
What We Learned: 
Penguins 4 – 
Capitals 2 (F)
The Penguins had their typical 2-0 lead they find ways to get and then in the second period the game started to slip away. The Capitals got it tied and Joel Blomqvist kept the Penguins afloat that allowed the Penguins to remain in the ball game in the third period and to the Penguins credit they put together a great third, especially in a back-to-back for a team that’s so reliant on a core pushing 40 years old.
Playing for the first time in 10 days Blomqvist shined in the win with 32 saves and faced a barrage of high-end chances. Blomqvist allowed a leaky goal on the Rasmus Sandin first period marker as Blomqvist got caught leaning wrong way and we’re often seeing that once a start from him. But, game in and game out you’re seeing Blomqvist highlight the potential he has, and he’s clearly been the Penguins best goaltender in combating high-end chances. And the #’s meet the eye test. Quite frankly he’s the goaltender that gives the Penguins the best chance to go on a mini run. I just don’t think the organization see’s it that way yet……
Blomqvist and Alex Nedeljkovic have each appeared in seven games and there’s a pretty drastic difference.
Blomqvist .886 High Danger Save % (8 Goals Allowed on 70 Shots) | Nedeljkovic .754 High Danger Save % (14 Goals allowed on .754 SV%)
And then you have to weigh the competition each goaltender has faced. Blomqvist through seven games has faced Detroit, Toronto, Buffalo, Carolina, Edmonton, Minnesota, and Washington. Nedeljkovic Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver, Anaheim, Montreal, New York Islanders, Carolina.
The goaltending winds seemed to be changing where the Penguins planned to send To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
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More Buzz
Penguins have points in five of six games and treading water at 6-8-2, 14 pts, .438%. Some around the league feel as bad as coached the Penguins have looked at times, especially the first couple weeks, the team might be overachieving with the lack of talent on the roster. The league view is that this is clearly a bottom-10 roster and there’s certainly a sentiment in league circles that as long as the Penguins are treading water the GM owes it to Sidney Crosby to try to move a mid-draft pick for some forward help before it’s too late. Will Kyle Dubas see it that way? 4th liner Noel Acciari is one of the Penguins top-5 rated forwards in their internal modeling, team sources say. Coming in the team planned a 15-20 game evaluation before making any type of move or swinging things the other way in going less experienced. One scout this week called the Penguins top-9 ‘Atrocious’ beyond the obvious four and there’s been some worry about Lars Eller after the hot start. Eller’s looked cooked this week against better competition and Eller is a big reason that forced the Penguins hand Friday night after the second period in the Caps win.
Through 40 minutes the O’Connor-Eller-Rust line was at 27% in possession and just getting ran all over the ice against the Capitals Top-6. Rust back in the lineup, though, allows you to split up Malkin-Crosby-Rakell and going Bunting-Malkin-Rust was a big swing in the third period where Rust created the game winning goal with a great power move in setting Malkin up for the eventual game winner. A positive sign for Malkin is how he’s scoring in those tough areas in finding space. And Michael Bunting has found his game this week with a first period goal off an Erik Karlsson setup and the Bunting-Acciari-Puljujarvi line was on the ice for 12 shot attempts and just 3 against before Bunting’s move up to the second line. Bunting has to be Penguins 5th best forward moving forward and we’re seeing about a five to six game run here where he’s getting back to the basics of not trying to be a player he’s not. Aside from Lars Eller, Drew O’Connor’s game is also really in a rut with no points in his last 10.
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— The Erik Karlsson Experience. Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan called Karlsson out Thursday night without naming him and Karlsson responded right out of the gates with a goal and primary assist in 1:41 of ice time to open the game. There was more to this than Karlsson just having an awful game against the Hurricanes.
There’s been some issues building up internally where Karlsson is said to be developing a Phil Kessel type reputation with Sullivan and even Sidney Crosby to a little extent where there’s been some frustration with the practice To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
