Penguins/NHL
Devils 3 – 
Penguins 2
PIT LEADERS
Casey DeSmith | 35 Saves, .921 SV%
Sidney Crosby | Goal, 7 SOG, 71.5 CF%
Jake Guentzel | 2 Assists, 3 SOG, 68 CF%
Bryan Rust | +1, 75 CF%
Matt Hunwick | Goal, 3 SOG, 40 CF%
—Some key developments from the Penguins 3-2 loss against the Devils Tuesday night —
— This was a huge win for the Devils (33-22-8, 74 pts). It was one of those four point swing games where the Devils are now two points behind the Penguins (36-24-4, 76 pts) for third in the division with a game in hand.
Like Pittsburgh with their No. 1 goaltender also injured, New Jersey continues to look the part of being a playoff team.
Led by Taylor Hall who should be in the Hart Trophy discussion, New Jersey showed a fast counter attack game and punished the Penguins in getting to loose pucks.
These are not the boring Devils of 10 years ago. A Pittsburgh – New Jersey would be an entertaining round 1 for sure. Both clubs can push the pace and as evident tonight, New Jersey’s forward group can play and there’s some high-end talent sprinkled in there.
With the addition of Michael Grabner and Patrick Maroon, if Marcus Johansson can get healthy, this would be one of the deeper forward groups in the East and their speed game can cause a lot of problems. The Devils remain interesting with six weeks left in the season.
2. The Jake Guentzel – Sidney Crosby – Bryan Rust line was down right dominant, producing two goals.
Crosby scored his 21st goal of the season in the first period and Jake Guentzel setup Matt Hunwick for a beautiful feed in the second period for a goal.
Nice moment for Hunwick on the goal.
The Guentzel-Crosby-Rust line drove possession at over 70%, on the ice for 20 shot attempts, 7 against. Pittsburgh outshot New Jersey 12-4 when the line was on the ice together and out-chanced the Devils 14-6.
This was a very positive development for Pittsburgh tonight as was Casey DeSmith with 35 saves who did nothing wrong where he shouldn’t get the next start in Boston.
3. Derrick Brassard had some good moments but was at 34% (10/19) in possession and Pittsburgh was outshot 12-5 when Brassard and Kessel were on the ice together.
Brassard played 16:58 and had 2 shots on goal.
The burning question out of tonight’s game is the winger situation. It was just one game but tonight showed why adding another capable winger at the deadline was a priority.
And there wasn’t an arms race for some of the better one’s. Edmonton in fact received just one offer for Patrick Maroon, obviously coming from the New Jersey Devils in the final 30 minutes of the deadline.
In dressing Tom Kuhnhackl and Carter Rowney, the Penguins pretty much played with 10 forwards at even strength tonight.
Kuhnhackl played just 3:43 at 5-on-5, Rowney 3:34.
If the coach is going to value dressing penalty kill specialists (basically what Kuhnhackl and Rowney are) over skill, then it becomes a problem like it did tonight in a speed game and here’s why:
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I’d put Sheary back on Crosby’s wing. Keep him there until he’s out of his funk. Move Rust to 3LW.
Yeah so he drags Crosby down and Russian has more chance to win hart throphy
No so he starts contributing more and adds more strength to the roster depth. You claim to hate Russians but also seem to be all about the personal accolades in a manner associated with them… interesting! The guy is clearly forcing things and seems flustered most night. He is fighting the puck because he is lacking confidence. Now would be the time to “ride the coat tails” and get him going again. Despite your claim that his successes in the past are “all Crosby” (debunked by myself on several occasions) I would like to see exactly that happen. He has… Read more »
How did Sam the chubster become slow?
A. He banged his head off the underside of Dan Bylsma’s work desk.
B. His dad is his uncle.
C. He hasn’t realized glue and mayonnaise aren’t the same thing.
D. He’s French-Canadian.
I wanna say… E. All of the above
E ?
Ya.. E. All of the above you dumb fuckk… it says it right in my post. I was adding it… why do I need to explain this?
D since we pay for this site can you make a poll for pens first round excuse
A) poor defence
B) pens lost because they are tired 2 cups in a row
C) Murray faked a injury pens lost because of back up goalies
D) npl suckedd a players dickk and distract rest of the roster
E) all of the above
Okay, how about, F: you’re a gimp. – wayne campbell
Hey, do you remember when you were calling for a 1st round exit last year too? Because of Kessel and Bonino and Sheary and Hags… you’re a piss poor fan. You fucken alarmists are hilarious… first off only a complete twaat believes it’s an all or nothing narrative. The cup isn’t the Penguins to lose, thats not how this league works. Winning once is a big accomplishment, twice in a row puts them in rare company (at least since expansion) so now we are to believe we need to make excuses for the team if they bow out? GTFOH loser…… Read more »
So how bad is sam going to implode when the Russian PP specialist is a Hart finalist and his beloved Canadian star isn’t?
At that salary you would expect he makes the list once every 10 years. Besides half his points come from Crosby
Oh please do explain how half his points come from Crosby. This might be better than your game winner assists argument.
Malkin just named second star of the month
76 Points for Malkin… 20 involved Crosby BAHAHAHAHA. Probably the biggest miss youve ever had douchebag Oh and he has 46 5v5 points… now the guy whose nuts youre swinging from and who you make it really hard to like despite him being an all time favourite… 69 Points and 37 5v5 As a % of their totals Crosby has had more help from Geno than the other way around and Sid is the PP specialist here! Malkin in 2012 was the last time he played 70 or more games… He won the Pearson, Hart and Art Ross, don’t know… Read more »
Its March 1. Sam still sucks.
Pens should sign Jarome Iginla…No, not kidding. Would be an upgrade over both Rowney and Kuhnhackl at 4th line wing.
He wouldn’t be eligible for the playoffs. I think they had to be signed by 2/26 to be eligible for the playoffs. I could be wrong but that’s what I thought.
If he got called up, wouldn’t it be with Boston? I think her plays for their AHL team.
He was practicing with them. I don’t believe he signed a contract.
I’d be on board with checking it out. Kuhnackl doesn’t do anything for me and if he has anything left in the tank, playing on this team could bring it out.
he has no contract presently and would not be eligible for the playoffs.
So nice of Letang to take a dumb penalty and cost his team a goal
Hello Mr. Sprong…..sit Sheary.
ZAR is out longer term… hurt in the same practice that cost us Murray
Sucks. I’m hoping he’ll be back by the playoffs.
If the playoffs started today the Pens would play the Flyers, right?
Yessir
Ok, you gotta feel pretty good about the Pens prospects of making the eastern finals if their path is through Phili and then, likely, the Caps. Having to beat two out of the Bolts, Leafs and Bruins would be much harder.
For sure. They are both solid teams, but IMO the Atlantic has 3 teams that would beat those two. The flyers are on fire, but I can’t see that lasting. The Caps are tailing off and are markedly worse than last year. Honestly, the devils scare me as much as either of those teams with their deadline moves.
And be out from the first round
Chubster showing his true bandwagon colors. Just like two months ago when you said they would miss the playoffs, and excited about it since Fleury wasn’t I the team.
Yessir
Good read: http://pittsburghhockeynow.com/penguins-myth-busters-hornqvist-hunwick-rutherford/
Read it …The idea that it’s a myth that Hunick is a liabilty is BS. He is a liability.
You also can’t soley place a value on Cole based on what the Sens got for him. Cole is much more valuable to the Pens than other teams, evident by what they have left on D.
While I am not overly enthused about Hunwick I do think he makes a good point in that Hunwick is not gonna break this team. While I hoped for a better option, the loss of Cole shouldnt open a big enough hole that the team is screwed which has become a sentiment of many.
Time will tell
I’m hoping we’ll get more out of Hunwick. I can’t imagine management would give him that contract for this type of play. He’s been a train wreck, but there’s still a month and a half left until playoffs. He needs to find his game, even if he is our sixth dman.
I agree and disagree. It’s easy to say that as the #6 defenseman Hundwick doesn’t have a huge impact on the team’s success but especially once the playoffs start 1 mistake can be the difference between winning or losing a game and 1 game can be the difference between winning or losing a series. It’s easy to say he plays the least so his impact is the least until he makes a gaff that leads to a game winning goal against or until the bottom pairing has a game like the had against Florida where they are on the ice… Read more »
Address the elephant in the room, This defensive core is terrible and so is the backup goalie situation. This team did not need Brassard, they needed a top 4 shut down Dmen which they do not have. I know last year was D by commity but they had the depth to do that. Hainsey is gone, Cole is gone, Daley is gone, Streit is gone and Hunwick is your response? And then you go after AN as a backup?! WTF?! This team will not score 5 a night and even if they do with this d group and goalie combo… Read more »
https://media.giphy.com/media/l2JdSklxLeT5C2BkA/giphy.gif
Feels a little alarmist lol
We replaced Hainsey, Daley and Cole with Letang, Oleksiak and Hunwick. Not that bad. Schultz was even hurt for parts of last year’s playoffs. Our defense was atrocious at times in the playoffs last year, but our forwards and goaltending bailed them out. That will need to continue. And we absolutely needed a 3c. It’s one game and the playoffs are still 6 weeks away. Our roster is arguably better on paper than it was last year.
Agreed, its just a matter of figuring out where assets should be used throughout the roster. Most wingers are unremakable but capable however where they play to get the best out of the group will be key.
“better on paper”
Letang and Hunwick are not upgrades. Letang spends more time trying to catch up to his mistakes which then lead him to the penalty box. Hunwick is just garbage. The goaltending that bailed them out is gone. TJ and DeSmith are not the answers and Murray is turning into the new Beau Bennet. He needs to be bubble wrapped. Paper rosters mean nothing, if that is the case just hand Tampa the cup now and call it a day.
So Letang is not an upgrade over Hainsey? Oleksiak cannot do what Cole did(this is coming from a big fan of what cole did here)? I mean Daley from 2016 was better than I think Hunwick is capable of being but he wasn’t near that strong last year… still admittedly thats a downgrade. I offset the upgrade between Letang and Hainsey with the Hunwick vs Daley comparison… regardless of personal feeling Letang has showed signs of improvement ergo a better option than Hainsey who was a whipping boy thorughout the playoffs. Goal tending is a fair concern although DeSmith still… Read more »
Letang made a mess of them last night (again)!
Letang made a mess of who? The only mess he makes is when he turns the puck over and someone else has to clean it.
I don’t disagree with you. And now we find out, courtsey of the Pen’s PR man Dejan, that they plan to roll 3 lines in the playoffs. WTF! They traded a posiiton of weakness to add to a position of strenght. Sheahan is playing too well to be anything other than a top 9 forward and the Pens are short a top six winger (not to mention a top 4 Dman). I see Bressard playng wing come playoff time.
All that said, they have Brassaed next season wheer they likely would not have signed Cole or Reaves. It’s a two-year plan for GMJR. fans wont like it but they may not win the Cup this year but they should be positioned to win next season with a Defensive overhaul.
my typing suks
Fat fingers
totaally
This defensive overhaul will be a nightmare. Aside from OLEKSIAK who is a RFA have you looked at all the bad defensive contacts? Letang, Maata and Hunwick are going to cost about 13 million next year. None of their contracts are movable. I agree GMJR has a small window left with this team but offense was not the issue with this team.
Oleksiak will likely get a similar deal to what Cole got. 2 years at 4.5 total to see if he continues to improve. With the expectation of a healthy cap increase they should be able to retain him
Maybe the need to try some of the skilled guys on the PK? Sheary is struggling bad, he is small but quick and tenacious. Give him a look… maybe it helps dig him out of his funk. If Kunhackl and Rowney are not looked at as positives there are two names more offensively gifted that should come in an a PK built off the guys we have. Sheahan. Rust, Hags… ZAR? Sheary? Maybe Brassard? as he is is two way responsible
its strange that brassard doesn’t kill penalties given his reputation of being two way responsible.
Yikes, that was a sam-esque attack on English lol.
*Maybe Brassard as he is responsible at both ends of the ice
#FreeJooris
I don’t understand why Carter Rowney is playing. He has absolutely no offensive upside. I think Kuhnhackl with Aston-Reese and Sheahan is a better 4th. It gives Sullivan the flexibility to move Aston-Reese up, if needed.
Sam sucks
Scroll down in this site and you will see a job for you that you can get 15$ but requires skills not like flipping burgers and getting 15$
$15… isn’t that the price yo mama charges for a blow job?
You’re gonna die bitch… I’m coming out of the booth!!!