Howdy, folks. Welcome back to the Pensblog Wednesday Grab Bag. As you recover from drinking too much in order to keep yourself from Brent Johnson-ing your most annoying family member, going ham on some Christmas ham like ole Dustin Byfuglien and counting how many pairs of socks your parents got you, hockey did (sort of) happen.

When we last spoke, I recall saying that a bad week could put the Penguins at the bottom of the Metro, but a good week could take them to the top and six points and three wins later, here we are.

The Pengs went into Capital One Center and gutted out a 2-1 win, Bryan Rust continued his quest for 50-in-50 24 hours later against the Wild and they capped off their pre-Christmas break schedule by shutting out Carolina. Three wins, six points and now they sit five points off the division lead and three back of second place.

When it starts to matter, this team wakes up. Who knew?!

Links

The Good

Twenty-four hours after being shutout by our Penguins, Carolina paid tribute to the Hartford Whalers. Now, all of us enjoyed it, but as usual, the Hockey Men did not. Now, listen, there’s a serious discussion about a team honoring their heritage when that heritage is being the new team that another city lost. Jack Edwards, the ultimate homer (and from Boston, who would of thought?!), went way too personal on this. Ryan Lambert, who yes can often be a pain in the ass, had a much more reasonable critique of Whalers Night.

Though I’m sure many of you had heard, long-time Sabres broadcaster Rick Jeanneret was taken out of the arena Saturday night via stretcher. Reports are it was nothing serious and he’s doing well.

For the uninitiated, enjoy some of his best:

The World Junior Championship starts today. Get yourself up-to-speed:

The Bad

Sigh…after Elf, Home Alone, A Christmas Story and Christmas Vacation, one would think they could’ve at least went with Die Hard.

Guys….stop overthinking this. Have a fan vote and call it a day. I know the Smart Hockey Men were annoyed bloggers and podcasters got John Scott in a few years ago, but that was the most talked about story in the sports world for a few days. Get out of your own way for five minutes, please.

The Ugly

Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford is again struggling with concussions. The good folks over at Second City Hockey have documented his timeline and struggles over the past year. You truly hate to see this, regardless of player or team. Here’s to hoping he fully recovers and has better long-term health.

Numbers

Standings

Metropolitan

GP W L OT PTS
WSH 35 22 10 3 47
CBJ 36 21 12 3 45
PIT 36 18 12 6 42
NYI 35 18 13 4 40
NYR 35 15 14 6 36
CAR 35 15 15 5 35
PHI 35 15 16 4 34
NJ 35 12 16 7 31

Atlantic

GP W L OT PTS
TB 37 28 7 2 58
TOR 37 25 10 2 52
BUF 37 21 11 5 47
BOS 37 20 13 4 44
MTL 37 19 13 5 43
FLA 35 15 14 6 36
DET 38 15 17 6 36
FLA 37 15 18 4 34

Central

GP W L OT PTS
WPG 36 24 10 2 50
NSH 37 22 13 2 46
COL 37 19 12 6 44
DAL 37 18 16 3 39
MIN 35 17 15 3 37
STL 34 14 16 4 32
CHI 39 13 20 6 32

Pacific

GP W L OT PTS
CGY 37 22 12 3 47
SJ 38 19 12 7 45
VGK 39 20 15 4 44
ANA 38 19 14 5 43
EDM 36 18 15 3 39
VAN 39 17 18 4 38
ARI 36 16 18 2 34
LA 37 14 20 3 31

(Note: Starting in January, the standings section of the Grab Bag will be updated to include the Wild Card standings.)

Points

Player Team GP Points
Mikko Rantanen COL 37 59
Nikita Kucherov TB 37 57
Nathan MacKinnon COL 37 56
Connor McDavid EDM 35 52
Mitch Marner TOR 37 50

Save Percentage

Goalie Team GP SV%
Jaroslav Halak BOS 21 .930
Andrei Vasilevskiy TB 17 .928
John Gibson ANA 31 .926
Casey DeSmith PIT 24 .926
Mikko Koskinen EDM 18 .925

What These Numbers Tell Us: Well, what do you know? The Smith is tied for third in the NHL with Johnny Whitehall with a .926 SV%. With the return of Matt Murray between the pipes, we’ve also seen the return of league average-to-above-average goaltending for the Penguins. For all the woes and inconsistency that marked the first two-to-three months of the season, goaltending was the very obvious flaw. It wasn’t consistently good enough to make up for other mistakes. If there’s one thing that should be a New Year’s resolution for our Pens, it’s a return to having adequate goaltending.

You gotta feel for Connor McDavid. Edmonton is grasping on to the second wild card in the west, but between his brilliance and Koskinen making up for Talbot’s woes, there isn’t much impressive about that team. You were gifted a once-in-a-lifetime talent, Edmonton and you’re pissing it away.

Despite being “fun” and not completely awful, it appears the bottom is finally falling out in Ottawa. They’ve gone 2-3-1 in their last five (with one of those two wins coming in OT against Nashville) and given up 19 goals to their 10. The have the league’s second worst goal differential at -26, tied with LA and in front of Chicago’s abysmal -34. What’s worse is their Duchene from Colorado trade puts them in serious jeopardy of winning the Jack Hughes lottery, but forfeiting the pick to Colorado. Not a lot of positives in Canada’s capital.

Let’s just get it over with and give Tampa the President’s Trophy already. They aren’t being caught and they aren’t slowing down.

The Week Ahead:

The Pens return from their holiday break riding a three-game winning streak to welcome the Detroit Red Wings to the Paint Can tomorrow night. They’ve dropped four of their last five and sit seventh in the Atlantic Division. This is the first meeting between the two teams this season.

Know Your Enemy: Winging It In Motown

Saturday, the Pens start a three-game road swing that begins with one of the league’s worst squads in St. Louis. Despite going 5-4-1 in their last 10, the Blue Notes are still sixth in the Central Division and seven points back of Edmonton in the second wild card. When your team is open for business and players are fighting each other in practice…well, that’s a bad thing.

Know Your Enemy: Bleedin’ Blue

Lastly, we close out 2018 in Minnesota with a rematch against the Wild. You’ll either being toasting to a better 2019 or drinking your sorrows away from a loss on NYE.

Know Your Enemy: Gone Puck Wild

Three games to close out the 2018 calendar year and all very, very winnable games. Putting together a streak to close out the year would be gigantic for the Pens. They’ve seemed to find some consistency in their game and staying in the top three of the Metro Division at this point should not only be the goal, but attainable.

Thanks for reading, follow me (or tell me how bad this was) on Twitter @SynonymForWet.