Welcome ladies and gentlemen to 2019. A new year, a fresh start, a chance for a hard reset on all the bad decisions you made in 2018 simply because some Pope back in 1582 created an arbitrary calendar that means you can start back at one. Anyway, here’s to you and yours!
Speaking of time, you can set your watch to a lot of things, most notably, the Penguins showing up in December. They did just that. 11-3-1 in the month of December and they currently find themselves on a six-game winning streak. Not bad for a team everyone was leaving for dead about a month and a half ago. There’s still some issues, to be fair, but man are we singing a different song to start 2019.
Let’s get into it.
Links
The Good
My esteemed and very smart podcast co-host Jesse Marshall (formerly of this blog, currently of The Athletic Pittsburgh) did a State of the Union of sorts a few days back on how the Pens look going into the New Year. Spoiler: Despite a win streak, this team can be even better.
The USA World Junior team is preparing to take on the Czech Republic in the quarterfinal round. The U18 team went 3-0-1, finishing second in Group B (only to Sweden who was their OT loss). Our counterparts to the north, Canada, went 3-1-0 in group play, losing to Russia and finishing in second in Group A. They will take on Finland in quarterfinal round.
Avert your eyes, Hockey Men…PK Subban is getting his own show.
Kudos to the NHL for starting to realize the Winter Classic is a spectacle and not just another game. Yesterday, we learned the Dallas Stars would host the 2020 WC at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. We were treated to what was actually a good game yesterday (Blackhawks 0-4 in Winter Classics, by the way) but it wasn’t about the teams, the game or the history, it was about the venue. Regardless of your opinions on Notre Dame, having a hockey game in South Bend was worth the watch. The more historic the venue, the better for the NHL.
The Bad
Speaking of Dallas…well, there’s no way you didn’t see this.
“They are fucking horse-shit, I don’t know how else to put it. The team was ok. But (Tyler) Seguin and (Jamie) Benn were terrible.” – Stars CEO Jim Lite
I mean, when Seguin and Benn (who, to be fair are underperforming given their contracts) have been a model of consistency and their GM has surrounded them with subpar talent…maybe it’s not wholly on them.
Let’s keep the consistency in subject here. If you’re an NHL GM and you’re not calling Peter Chiarelli, you deserve to be fired. Chiarelli, looking to surround McDavid with even less talent, traded Drake Caggullia and Jason Garrison to Chicago for Brandon Manning and Robin Norrell.
Few things here: 1. If you recall, when Manning was on the Flyers, he broke McDavid’s collarbone. On purpose? Of course not, but that hasn’t stopped them from hating him. 2. Chiarelli also said this:
https://twitter.com/NicholsOnHockey/status/1079794761597300737
There’s one rehabbing a fractured leg in Pittsburgh that you traded for next to nothing, but you know when the market’s hot on a sixth defenseman…you gotta pull that trigger.
The Ugly
Numbers
Standings
Now that we are into 2019, and about at the true midway point of the season, this section now includes the wild card races. In the interest of fairness (and my sanity) the four teams in the race for wild card will be included. Full standings can be found here.
Metropolitan
| GP | Wins | Losses | OT | Points | |
| WSH | 38 | 24 | 11 | 3 | 51 |
| CBJ | 39 | 23 | 13 | 3 | 49 |
| PIT | 39 | 21 | 12 | 6 | 48 |
Atlantic
| GP | Wins | Losses | OT | Points | |
| TB | 40 | 31 | 7 | 2 | 64 |
| TOR | 39 | 26 | 11 | 2 | 54 |
| BOS | 40 | 22 | 14 | 4 | 48 |
Wild Card – Eastern Conference
| GP | Wins | Losses | OT | Points | ||
| WC1 | BUF | 40 | 21 | 13 | 6 | 48 |
| WC2 | MTL | 40 | 21 | 14 | 5 | 47 |
| NYI | 38 | 21 | 13 | 4 | 46 | |
| NYR | 38 | 17 | 14 | 7 | 41 |
Central
| GP | Wins | Losses | OT | Points | |
| WPG | 39 | 25 | 12 | 2 | 52 |
| NSH | 41 | 24 | 15 | 2 | 50 |
| COL | 40 | 19 | 13 | 8 | 46 |
Pacific
| GP | Wins | Losses | OT | Points | |
| CGY | 40 | 24 | 12 | 4 | 52 |
| VGK | 43 | 24 | 15 | 4 | 52 |
| SJ | 41 | 21 | 13 | 7 | 49 |
Wild Card – Western Conference
| GP | Wins | Losses | OT | Points | ||
| WC1 | ANA | 41 | 19 | 15 | 7 | 45 |
| WC2 | DAL | 40 | 20 | 16 | 4 | 44 |
| VAN | 42 | 19 | 19 | 4 | 42 | |
| MIN | 38 | 18 | 17 | 3 | 39 |
Points
| Player | Team | GP | Goals | Assists | Points |
| Nikita Kucherov | TB | 40 | 19 | 46 | 65 |
| Mikko Rantanen | COL | 40 | 17 | 45 | 62 |
| Nathan MacKinnon | COL | 40 | 24 | 35 | 59 |
| Connor McDavid | EDM | 38 | 21 | 37 | 58 |
| Johnny Gaudreau | CGY | 40 | 21 | 34 | 55 |
Save Percentage
| Goalie | Team | GP | Save Percentage |
| Jack Campbell | LA | 14 | .930 |
| Robin Lehner | NYI | 19 | .930 |
| Jaroslav Halak | BOS | 22 | .928 |
| Casey DeSmith | PIT | 25 | .926 |
| Ben Bishop | DAL | 25 | .925 |
What These Numbers Tell Us: First and foremost, the Official Take Of Wednesday Grab Bag remains – Get into the top three of the division and stay there. Grab it, hold it and never let it go like a lot of people never let go a former goaltender that was average at best and smiled a lot. The Metro is the weaker of the two divisions. You fight your way through that and you’ll have a bruised and battered Atlantic opponent waiting. So far, so good.
What a run so far for DeSmith. Not nearly close to perfect, but sitting at third in the NHL in save percentage with 25 games played is no small feat. He may not be the prettiest goaltender, but with the resurgence of Murray and Casey giving the Pens a chance to win every night, what was once a weakness is becoming a strength.
I predicted in the preseason that Vegas wouldn’t regress as much as everyone said they would. It’s still a fairly solid roster and they replaced what they lost in free agency pretty adequately. A year that saw their PDO stumble out of the gate has stabilized and now they sit tied for the lead in the Pacific Division. Don’t sleep on Vegas, man. They’re for real.
The Week Ahead
The Pens had another solid week, taking care of business against Detroit, St. Louis and Minnesota. Those six points put them one back of Columbus for second in the division and three back of Washington for first. Neither team plays tonight, so with a matchup against the Rangers, two points and suddenly we’re staring at the top of the division.
The Rangers have been a mixed bag this year. No one told them they were supposed to be bad, but they also aren’t good either. They’re six points back of the second wild card, 4-2-4 in their last ten and they still have Lundqvist, but…yeah. Who knows.
Know Your Enemy: Blueshirt Banter
Once the Pens return from New York, they’re home for three. It starts Friday against Patrik Laine and the Winnipeg Jets. There’s no two ways about this, the Jets are one of the best teams in the league and they can beat you any which way. You want to get into a track meet? Go for it, they have the next prolific goal scorer. You want to batten down the hatches? Their defense and goaltending is great. This is a big test. They’re without Byfuglien, but there’s plenty to step in.
Know Your Enemy: Jets Nation
Sunday, the “Winless-in-the-Winter Classic” Blackhawks come to town. The schedule has this slated for 8:00, but me thinks it gets flexed to noon. Maybe not. We’ll see. Hopefully the pucks actually go in this time.
Know Your Enemy: Blackhawk Up
It all rounds out Tuesday as the Florida Panthers come to town. They’re bad. That’s two points they should absolutely get. Such a shame, after missing the playoffs by a single point last season, a largely unchanged Florida team is now…seven points out. Large mountain to climb with 40 games to go.
Know Your Enemy: Litter Box Cats (seriously, that’s real)
Well, here we go. The Penguins can really take a huge step this week and solidifying their chances to make it to the postseason. CBJ and the Caps are within striking distance and three of their four games this week are extremely winnable. Happy 2019, the stretch run is upon us.
Thanks for reading, follow me (or tell me how bad this was) on Twitter @SynonymForWet.
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