PREGAME
The Pens come rolling into a very bad state that evidently has casinos and a basketball tournament? I don’t know.
The Pens are steaming hot winning 7 of 9 and 4 in row, their longest streak of the year. It’s not a coincidence that the Pens best run of play has coincided with Murr coming back and playing out of his dome. He’s a good goalie folks!
St. Louis is a team in the NHL! That is an accomplishment! Getting a professional sports franchise requires lots of money, moxie, and ingenuity. They should be proud of themselves for that. It’s not always about what you do on the ice, and there is no greater example of that than the Blues.
They also made this:
St. Louis should also get more credit for naming a team after a genre of music. We should do this with more teams. Seattle Grunge. That’s a name. Do it Seattle.
LINEUP
Oleksiak has been cleared but was not back in the lineup last night.
Here are the line combos and defense pairs that the Penguins will be going with in St. Louis. pic.twitter.com/CT5fK5mMMn
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) December 30, 2018
Pistol Pete Pietrangelo back in the lineup.
Petro’s back in the lineup tonight! https://t.co/bwm7V1coa7 #stlblues pic.twitter.com/CWQcg54wWZ
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) December 29, 2018
GrapHic DeSiGN iS My pAsSioN.
They just showed the arch thing on TV. The arch thing is so stupid.
FIRST PERIOD
Red Berenson drops the ceremonial puck prompting the camera to pan the crowd for the palpable excitement in the building. They are foiled however when they realize every Blues fan looks like if a corn dog became a person.
9 seconds in Steen goes to the box for high-sticking both Rust and Crosby leaving Rust looking for a tooth.
Powerplay looks dangerous from the start and 48 seconds into the game the PENS LEAD 1-0.
Hornqvist and Kessel exchange passes and the Blues allow Horny to walk out in front for some reason and he makes a smart pass to Sid down low TM and he snipes the tough angle shot home.
https://gfycat.com/LividIdleDragon
Errey is telling a story about how the Blues’ coach kicked his ass one time. Wish more people talked about times they got their asses kicked.
Pens lose the run of play after the early goal. A few sloppy plays with the puck and general disinterest allow STL to get a few shots on Murr but he’s up to the challenge. Nothing too tough so far.
The Blues keep coming however and after Maatta has to leave the ice due to blocking a shot with his foot Brazzers deposits a puck in the Corn Dog infested crowd to put the Pens down a man for the first time tonight.
Whoops actually they get Pettersson for holding before Brassard’s delay of game so he serves the penalty. Blues get a chance early on the PP with Tarasenko coming down the left wing, but Murr flashes the leather to ooooh’s from the sentient deep fried hot dogs.
After that it’s nada for the Blues with the best chance coming shorthanded for Matt Cullen, but Allen stones him.
Pens melt down and allow Jaden Schwartz a free walk down main on Murr but he stops it with an insane glove save on the backhand shot.
https://gfycat.com/LivePortlyIndiancow
HORN SOUNDS. After the fast start the Pens aren’t very good the last 19 minutes of the period, but Murray is. Sometimes that’s all it takes.
5on5: CF%: 65% BLUES, Scoring Chances: 10-5 BLUES, High Danger Chances: 3-2 BLUES. SOG (all situations): 12-8 PENS
SECOND PERIOD
PUCK DROPS. ZAR starting the period with Guentzel and Sid. Rust missing from the bench as the period begins.
Blues continue collecting CORSI’s while also not doing anything particularly dangerous or interesting. I am beginning to think they are bad. STL has back to back to back 3 on 2 breaks, but only one ends with a SOG. Yup, they are bad.
Blues take an interference penalty at 16:36 off of an offensive zone faceoff (see previous paragraph). O’Reilly has a mini-break until Letang skitters back and punks him immediately. The Pens look like they care about this game about as much as Nick Saban cares about the performance of the international handball team.
2nd PP unit hits the ice and Pearson works it back to the point and the Blues D loses Riikola and he buries a slapper glove side on Allen. 2-0 PENS.
https://gfycat.com/SaneLazyAfricanjacana
Patrick Maroon gets a chance in front but Murr poke-checks it away and the Pens break the other way. After Dumo struggles to corral the pass into the O-zone he gets it to Sid behind the net, who finds Letang hitting the slot with a diagonal pass, Tanger shoots for the deflection and ZAR flashes some pretty hands on the deflection for his 5th of the year 3-0 PENS.
https://gfycat.com/ShadyImmaculateJackal
Pens starting to globe trot shit now Letang and Guentzel find ZAR again down the slot and he’s hooked by Bouwmeester for the Pens 3rd PP of the game.
Crosby wins the faceoff to Letang. 58 and 81 play catch, Letang half slaps it home for his 9th goal of the season, with Hornqvist parked in front. Allen never even sees the puck. 3-3 on the PP and 4-0 PENS.
https://gfycat.com/WetEsteemedBluebottlejellyfish
Allen gets pulled for some guy playing like his 3rd NHL game ever. The Blues answer the goal with another flurry of hockey shots near the Penguins’ goalie but he scoffs at them and the Blues remain bad at hockey. The corn dogs scream, “SHOOT” at their hometown team but the Blues do not answer their wishes because they are human and the fans are corn dogs and humans do not follow the orders of their food.
Point shot gets through and the rebound bounces right to Perron who scores into the open cage, however, we have a coaches challenge! Goalie interference perhaps?
https://gfycat.com/YellowishIdolizedGuillemot
https://gfycat.com/AntiqueNaughtyGentoopenguin
The Blues PA plays The Beatles “Let it Be” and the corn dogs laugh as the goal is confirmed 4-1 PENS.
Errey is talking about getting his ass kicked again…
Errey retelling stories of teammates assaulting each other in training camp! Super normal sport we’ve got here.
— Patrick Damp, Known Tweeter (@SynonymForWet) December 30, 2018
Murray has to make another huge save, this time on a re-direct from Schenn on the doorstep with 17 seconds left in the period. HORN SOUNDS and the Pens lead 4-1 after 2.
5on5: CF%: 71% BLUES, Scoring Chances: 23-7 BLUES, High Danger Chances: 8-3 BLUES. SOG (all situations): 20-18 BLUES
THIRD PERIOD
PUCK DROPS. Still no Rusty.
Riikola comes on like a hot one throws a huge check on Rob Thomas knocking him to the ice. That was not smooth.
MEATBALL GOAL. Crosby barrels into the zone and is able to shrug off two defenders to drop it back to Dumo who puts it on net finding Guentzel for the deflection home 5-1 PENS.
https://gfycat.com/ShallowSlushyBobolink
For some reason right after the goal Joel Edmundson tries to fight ZAR but mostly they just wrestle around for a little bit. Edmundson gets an extra 2 for roughing sending the Pens back to the PP. Pens have the extra man for like 7 seconds and Malkin scores on the Oshie play 6-1 Pens.
https://gfycat.com/DesertedEasyIntermediateegret
Damn it.
They reviewed some shot that was nearly a goal for STL I guess. Malkin gets cross-checked and turns around and can-openers Edmundson for the trouble.
Nothing doing on the PP but Matt Murray played the last 30 seconds or so with half a stick so that was neat.
Corn dogs are filing out with about 3 minutes to go in hopes of an extra few minutes in their mustard beds this evening.
HORN SOUNDS. Pens win 6-1.
https://gfycat.com/BetterShinyLcont
5on5: CF%: 65% BLUES, Scoring Chances: 31-15 BLUES, High Danger Chances: 8-8. SOG (all situations): 31-30 BLUES
THOUGHTS
- 6 different goal scorers on the night. Multi-point nights for Sid (1-3), Letang (1-2), and Phil! (0-3). The big guns were totally dominant.
- Pens have now won 5 in a row extending their longest streak of the year.
- Big Murr stops 30 of 31 shots and continues to look like he’s 100% healthy and back.
- 1st NHL goal for Riikola.
- Strong night for Tanner Pearson imo. He’s starting to find his legs with the Pens and carving out a bottom 6 role for himself.
- ZAR looked really good on 87’s wing after Rust left the game. I imagine if Rust misses time they’ll stick with this combo for a bit.
- Rust never returned after the 1st intermission. He took it in the mouth (phrasing) pretty good on the high stick to start the game.
- Pens now 1 point back of CBJ for 2nd in the Metro. Road trip continues New Year’s Eve in Minnesota. Go Pens
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