Penguins/NHL
The bounces just keep going the Penguins way…….
Friday Night every team the Penguins needed to lose, lost in regulation.
Friday Scoreboard: 
BUF 4 – 
PHI 2 | 
CAR 4 – 
WSH 2 | 
NYR 4 – 
DET 3
Philadelphia continues to get the worst goaltending in the NHL since January lost 4-2 to Buffalo and have dropped six straight. Washington on the road in Carolina jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals from Alex Ovechkin. It was short lived. Carolina would score four unanswered goals and cruise to a 4-2 win as Jake Guentzel had a big night in the Hurricanes comeback win with 2 goals, 1 assist. Washington is now floundering and have lost five straight. Meanwhile, the New York Rangers beat the Detroit Red Wings 4-3 in a 50-50 game that could have gone either way and Detroit has lost five of six games.
It is fascinating what is playing out for the Penguins. They suddenly have two doors now to get in:
Third place in the Metropolitan Division or the final wild card spot:
3rd in Metro: Islanders 83 Pts | 25 RW | vs Nashville, vs Rangers, vs Montreal, @ Rangers, @ New Jersey, vs Pittsburgh
2nd Wild Card: Flyers 83 Pts, RW 28 | @ Columbus, @ Montreal, @ Rangers, vs New Jersey, vs Washington
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Capitals 82 Pts, 28 RW | vs Ottawa, @ Detroit, @ Sabres, vs Lightning, vs Bruins, @ Flyers
Red Wings 82 Pts, 26 RW | vs Buffalo, vs Washington, @ Pittsburgh, @ Toronto, vs Montreal, @ Montreal
Penguins 81 Pts, 30 RW | vs Tampa Bay, @ Toronto, vs Detroit, vs Boston, vs Nashville, @ Islanders
Internally the Penguins believe 89 points is going to be a good sweet spot to get in and with so many teams bunched up, the Penguins have a huge advantage they’ve built up with 30 regulation wins. They are currently +5 over the Islanders, +2 over the Flyers, +4 over the Red Wings and +2 over the Capitals.
Saturday’s Scoreboard Watch: Flyers @ Blue Jackets | Predators @ Islanders
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Will Goaltending, three waves of Systematic Play continue to play out?
Disregard what the metrics said Thursday night vs the Capitals where the Penguins were badly out-attempted and out chanced. The Penguins were sensational with three waves of systematic play in all three phases of the rink.
We saw some of it Monday vs the Rangers and much more so against the Capitals where the Penguins defended through the neutral zone and into the defensive zone with numbers. The backpressure from the forwards through the middle of the ice bottled up the Capitals all night. Another display of systematic work was the forward support along the wall in the offensive zone.
Pittsburgh at times looked to be running a less aggressive 2-1-2 vs Capitals. The aggressiveness, though, of d-men pinching along the wall was still the norm. Only difference was a great commitment to the F-3 covering up high like clockwork and Pittsburgh having a second forward in the neighborhood to again give the Penguins numbers with their back pressure They’ve gotten killed for years with inadequate F3 forward sport as the Mike Sullivan way is live and die with pinching on the wall and the blueprint is here for the Penguins to ride their newfound systematic way to the postseason. One step back and it could easily be lights out with the high-flying Tampa Bay Lightning coming to town Saturday afternoon and Pittsburgh in Toronto Monday Night.
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Lightning – 
Penguins Pre Game Buzz
A big development for the Penguins is the team believes……..”I think they’re having a lot of fun right now, they’re competing, they’re battling hard,” Mike Sullivan said after Thursday’s win. “It’s not perfect, but I love our energy, our enthusiasm, our compete level. It is fun to watch. So I couldn’t be happier for the players.”
— The Lightning are 10-1-1 in their last 12 games and Andrei Vasilevskiy has found his game at the right time of the year.
The next two opponents will be a much tougher test for the Penguins to see if they can find a happy medium of trying to push the play offensively, while still having a commitment with proper support and back pressure. Much tougher against teams like Tampa Bay and Toronto.
— Could the Penguins make a surprise goaltending decision and go with To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!
