PREGAME
Weeeeeeeeeeeeellcome, to the greatest coast in the world. It is your Pensblog Greatest Coast correspondent Rez with you this evening, so while you stay up, it is normal and good time to me. Pacific Standard Time remains undefeated.
[Editor’s Note: PST has been voted worst timezone numerous times and has, in fact, been defeated. You could say that the west coast time zone is the Anaheim Ducks of time zones. People think that it’s good, but it’s actually the 6th worst possession team over the last 3 years and, in fact, sucks ass.]
Over the last 3 seasons at 5v5, this current Ducks team is:
6th worst in shot attempt share
3rd worst scoring chance share
2nd worst HD chance share
2nd worst exp. goals share(Out of 92 teams)
Well coached *teams* don’t show up in the bottom of every metric, but go off, king pic.twitter.com/mdIVKs9qBu
— nerd king geoff (@geoffwithano) January 12, 2019
The Pens are hitting the West Coast for the first time since they swept a 3 game trip to Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver way back in October.
Lots of hockey goings on today for the Pens. Letang is an all star, Desmith has a new contract, and long time Pens nemesis/less famous little brother of Steve Nash retired from hockey because of concussions.
Last time these two teams met was on December 17th, in Pittsburgh. The Ducks stole a frustrating 4-2 win, but since then the Anaheim has been mired in an 0-7-3 slump. The Pens over the same stretch went 9-1. Two hockey clubs headed in very different directions meeting in Anaheim this evening.
LINEUP
ICYMI:
Coach Sullivan provided injury updates at today's practice.
Patric Hornqvist was diagnosed with a concussion and Zach Aston-Reese will be out longer-term with an upper-body injury.
Read more: https://t.co/tOxICh1TdO pic.twitter.com/u8ikxRUxKQ
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 11, 2019
A couple minor tweaks to the forward lines for the Pens tonight…
All lined up for the battle of the birds. pic.twitter.com/gJYmLNDSeh
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 12, 2019
Pregame shots from the Ducks locker room remind us that Ryan Getzlaff is the baldest professional athlete in all of sports. Wow so brave of this hairless freak to persevere all the way to the NHL. Admirable in a circus sense.
We have our first SPRONG TRADE mention of the night.
1ST PERIOD
PUCK DROPS.
Pens come out on PCP. Sid wins the draw and re-collects the puck in the Ducks zone and fires a backhand no-looked to Jake in front but his tip is just wide.
Sprong on the ice with Rakell and Getzlaff jfc.
Pens forced to ice it and the Ducks answer with a Nick Ritchie tip in while Jack Johnson fails to do what he is paid to do. 1-0 DUCKS.
Johnson-Pettersson getting exposed early on. First giving up the goal and then on a shift with the 87 line very nearly give up walk-in chance down the slot that’s broke up at the last second. Carlyle is going to load up and go at that pairing all night.
The Pens finally breakthrough for their first shot(s) on goal 6 minutes in. Letang is able to clear a contested point and create a two on one for Crosby and Rust.
Rust tries to feed Sid late but Brandon Montour is able to break up the pass. What follows can only be described as a good ol’ donnybrook. The Pens look to have Gibson down and out 3 or 4 times, but he has an answer each time including a ridiculous glove save on Rust.
Under 2 minutes later the Ducks dump the puck to the corner, Letang bobbles on his attempt to move it to Dumo and Cogliano beats him to it, feeds Getzlaf with a slick pass and quick shot surprises Murray, 2-0 DUCKS.
Definitely not how you wanna start a late west-coast roadie.
Well and there’s the fuck-all goal. Rakell does a bunch of shit to get by Sheahan and feeds Spaniel Dong for some dumbass goal, 3-0 DUCKS.
Pens are a total fucking disaster right now. Everyone took the sativa edibles probably. Total rookie west coast move.
Bob Errey wants to punch sprong in the nose, which ya, that’s fine.
Pens FINALLY answer with near 2 minute offensive zone shift for the 87 line where Rust has FOUR golden chances and Letang goes full I’m gonna do whatever the fuck I want but can’t break through Gibson. After two failed clears the Ducks are able to get it out. Seconds later Malkin hits the ice and draws a crosschecking penalty from Josh Manson.
Powerplay is a Cialas commercial. End of 1, 3-0 Anaheim.
2ND PERIOD
PUCK DROPS. 55 seconds of carry over powerplay time for the Pens.
In the waning seconds of the powerplay Petterson gets a slapper on net that makes Gibson lose his stick literally and metaphorically. Anaheim fails to clear, Letang holds, finds Crosby behind the net and he feeds Malkin for a tapper and GOAL to the stick-side of Gibson only 59 seconds into the period. 3-1 DUCKS.
Pensblog Overlord G had two sep
Malkin has 8 points in his last 7 games (1.14 points per game)
Malkin has 45 points in 43 games this year (1.04 points per game)
Malkin has 975 points in 825 career games (1.17 points per game)#slump— nerd king geoff (@geoffwithano) January 11, 2019
Turns out Malkin is good and scores. Make that 12 points in his last 8. Pensblog Overlord G had two separate threads on Malkin on Friday that you can read here and also here.
Looks like the Pens took the good drugs at intermission. They’re all over the Ducks like R.Kelly on a 12 year old. Simon just misses on the doorstep. Phil breakaway and Gibson thinks he’s beat but the puck sticks in his jersey.
Pens don’t stop pressing. Smooth zone entry finds Jake at the side of the cage, he looks middle for the pass, and Gibson open his legs like it’s prom night in Whitehall, GOAL. It’s a one goal game all of a sudden. 3-2 DUCKS.
Joke of a penalty on Jake which gives Jack Johnson a chance to chase the puck around and do nothing. Ducks hit a post but Pens kill it and hit Jake streaking from the box for the breakaway. Manson trips him, but 59 is robbed of the goal and the penalty shot. Pens head to the PP with a chance to tie.
And tie it they do. GOAL GUENTZEL, his 2nd of the night. 3-3.
Not a bad Hornqvist impression by the Pens other obnoxiously blonde guy.
Cogliano takes a penalty, but on the PP Malkin can’t handle a tough pass at the point creating a breakaway for Silfverberg, and he does what Jake and Phil couldn’t, burying the puck to give the Ducks back a 4-3 lead.
Rest of the powerplay is as smooth as a Michelob Ultra. Ducks get the kill.
HORN SOUNDS. End of 2, 4-3 DUCKS.
3rd Period
PUCK DROPS. Game on.
Much better start for the Ducks this period, and they carry the run of play for the better part of the period’s first 5 minutes.
Phil breaks through and feeds a perfect pass to Brassard off a 2on2 gifting 19 a full cage to shoot for and somehow he fires it all the way back across into Gibson. This is a Tyler Kennedy what the fucking fuck hall of famer.
The Ducks twitter account is now firing up it’s Gibson 4 Vezina campaign because Brassard can’t hit an open net; I’m switching to brown liquor brb.
Kessel just tried to drop pass to Jack Johnson entering the offensive zone and JJ73 looked liked one of the patients from Patch Adams trying to corral it smfh.
Pens buzzing now. Malkin goes full globetrotter setting up Dom Simon who chips it wide but seconds later does the same for Chris Kunitz/Tanner Pearson who TIES IT 4-4.
What a shift by a slumping* Geno.
*not slumping.
HOLY SHIT PHIL KESSEL PENS LEAD 5-4
the Ducks literally tweeted this after the Phil! goal:
https://twitter.com/AnaheimDucks/status/1083955488612483072
Full on LETS GO PENS chants going in the Honda Center now. A few drunk ass woo’s away from complete home-ice advantage.
Cogliano trips Oleksiak from behind prompting him to get up and try to guillotine Cogliano with his stick; Ducks head to the PP. Huge kill here for the Pens, and they answer. Nothing doing for Anaheim, 5:40ish to go.
After a brief Ducks flurry the Pens starting pressing again, and it’s the Malkin line one more time. Gene “THE BAD PLAYER WHO DOESNT SCORE” walks Silfverberg and fires on Gibson who gets piece only to let it trickle behind him letting Pearson slam it home for his 2nd, 6-4 PENS.
Please continue to write more articles questioning Evgeni Malkin’s hockey ability. 4 points tonight for Geno.
Jake N’ Bake empty-netter for the hat-trick. GAME. PENS. 7-4.
NOTES:
- The Ducks were out-corsi’d 21-8 (72%) at 5on5 in the 2nd period. What a push from the Pens.
- 15-3-1 since December 4th.
- Losing ZAR and Hornqvist kills this team’s depth FAST. The 4th line, and 3rd for large stretches, were bad to worthless tonight.
- I really love how Sullivan is using Crosby and Guentzel situationally on the PK. You see this a ton in Jr. Hockey and I always thought it was under utilized in the NHL.
- Heroic shit from Phil tonight. When the Pens were DOA he provided them a spark. Utterly dominant.
- Three goals in five games now for Tanner Pearson. I still think he’s Chris Kunitz for a second whenever I see him.
- Still mad that Brassard missed that shot.
- Hell of a way to kick off a 5 game road trip. Complete ass in the 1st period and then complete dominance from that point forward.
- Kings in 5 minutes. Do it.
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