Penguins/NHL
Today’s scrimmage went down to the wire as Ruslan Fedotenko sent the game to a shootout with a late goal to tie it up at 4-4. Did Ryan Stone do enough to keep himself in contention for a roster spot? DePaoli gives you the latest
Score Sheet
Black Team Goal – Jeff Taffe (assists to Tyler Kennedy)
White Team Goal – Miroslav Satan (assists to Crosby and Lovejoy)
Black Team Goal – Petr Sykora (assists to Jordan Staal and Evgeni Malkin)
White Team Goal – Tim Wallace (assists to Stone and Letestu)
Black Team Goal – Evgeni Malkin (assists to Sykora & Jordan Staal)
Black Team Goal – Janne Pesonen (assists to Jeff Taffe)
White Team Goal – Miroslav Satan (assists to Richmond and Lovejoy)
White Team Goal – Ruslan Fedotenko (assists to Crosby and Talbot)
Shoot Out
Black Team Goal – Kris Letang
White Team Goal – Ruslan Fedotenko
Black Team Goal – Evgeni Malkin
Final Score – Black Team 5 – White Team 4
Inside Analysis
Today’s scrimmage was the most entertaining of the three and saw a lot of up and down action. Sidney Crosby’s line and Evgeni Malkin’s line each had their most consistent performance thus far. Satan – Crosby – Dupuis had a beautiful scoring chance on their first shift and David Brown made a great glove save. They were making plays all day. John Curry and David Brown were tested in the first period and both performed well. Brown controlled his rebounds much better than he did the first two days.
Jeff Taffe continues his strong play. Taffe got the black team on the board first with a nifty goal in front of the net. Taffe has earned himself a roster spot through the first three days of camp. His strong play in the defensive zone is a reason the coaching staff has him penciled in as the team’s #4 center.
Talbot – Fedotenko – Cooke were strong again this morning. They have done a great job of cycling the puck and creating opportunities. All three players have the potential to score over 10 goals. Talbot given the proper playing time could chip in 15-18 goals this year. I would expect Fedotenko to be in the same range.
Miroslav Satan has shown great scoring touch around the net. Satan had two goals again today. Dupuis – Crosby – Satan look more comfortable with each other every day. Satan finds the soft spots very well. Satan and Crosby are going to be a good match
Pesonen was battling more in the corners. He doesn’t have a powerful shot at all. Players such as Connor James have outperformed him by a wide margin. I’ll touch base on Pesonen later this afternoon.
Staal – Malkin – Sykora made some nice plays. They accounted for two goals today. Jordan Staal has done a superb job at driving to the net which has opened up some space for Malkin and Sykora. You’re going to see Sykora camping out in the slot quite often this season, just like he did today.
Daryl Sydor was playing aggressive. Kris Letang was also playing physical and made a nice hit on Matt Cooke in the second period. Hal Gill had some hop in him.
Alex Goligoski had his best performance today. He was very good on the breakout. He was moving his feet a lot better than he did earlier in the week. He didn’t seem as tentative.
I thought Danny Richmond took a slight step back in the team’s practice but rebounded in the scrimmage. He had some difficulties in the morning practice when the team was working on neutral zone re-group and coughed up the puck a few times when he was being pressured by a forward. What was good to see from him is he rebounded in the scrimmage and made some efficient breakout passes. He likes to jump up into the play in the offensive zone. Overall very impressed with his play through three days
Ryan Stone did play with some fire in him today. He had an assist and he was making things happen. His lack of speed is a issue. I still think he has a role on this team as a 13th forward. His performance in the preseason games will tell the story
Talked to a Penguins insider this morning who said the team has been impressed with Kris Beech.
As one of my sources put it last night, Jonathan Filewich no longer has a place in the Penguins organization. He is not playing like a player who is fighting to keep his job. He’s just going through the motions
Ben Lovejoy was solid during the Penguins three scrimmages. I don’t have the exact stats in front of me but I’m pretty sure he led all defenseman in scoring. Deryk Engelland played well today. He likes to take the body and made a nice stop on Crosby who tried to split the D in the second period.
Full Insider Analysis later this afternoon. Well take a look at the latest rumblings heading into tomorrow’s preseason opener.
