In the second week of 2019, the coffee seems to taste better, the days despite not being dark as early, just seem brighter and your Twitter feed feels a lot less negative. Why could that be? Well, it’s because as we’ve come to learn, once the calendar hits December in the National Hockey League season, the Pittsburgh Penguins wake up.
In the last week, the Penguins blew up the Rangers and “The King” 7-2, made a statement against Winnipeg 4-0, had a slight setback against Chicago and rounded it out last night beating Florida 5-1.
We learned that Matt Murray is back, Sidney Crosby is still the best in the goddamn world and your takes from early December about this team were not just stupid, but also dumb.
Second in the Metro with the Caps in sight. Let’s roll.
Links
The Good
*extremely John Wick voice* Yeah, I’m thinking he’s back.
*knock knock*
yes, can you spare a moment to talk about Matthew Murray? pic.twitter.com/ZCqj5NYO7Y
— Jesse Marshall (@jmarshfof) January 9, 2019
San Jose goaltender Aaron Dell, a native of Airdrie, Alberta, has formed a special bond and friendship with Ryan Straschnitzki, a survivor of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash. It’s a really heartwarming story and will give you at least a small sliver of hope in this world.
We’re putting this under good, because Peep knocked this out of the goddamn park. Ovechkin is skipping the All-Star Game. Which, you know Sidney Crosby would never do. #BadTakesExposed
“I really think their goal is to be the worst defensive squad in the league, and they’re doing such a great job to be the worst defensive squad in the league.” – Michel Therrien, January 10, 2006
Adam Gretz and Pensburgh did a great dive back into the infamous Michel Therrien presser.
Jewels From The Crown, an LA Kings SB Nation blog, ran an absolutely hysterical two part series on The Worst Fans in Hockey. No, not fanbases, but type of fan. Read, get mad, laugh, repeat.
Part One, Part Two
The Bad
Tying an NHL record…the Philadelphia Flyers way. At least you’ve got Gritty! Blow it up! Blow it up! Blow it up!
No, really? Depth is an issue in Edmonton?! No one could have seen this coming!
Bad: The United States Men’s World Junior team getting silver (Not actually bad, I’m just bitter) after losing to Finland.
Good: The host country not medaling.
The Ugly
TKO 👊
pic.twitter.com/w7g3ziMSnl— Barn Hockey Apparel (@BarnHockey) January 9, 2019
On its face, wow, how fun! ZAR delivered the knockout! Overall, how absolutely stupid and unnecessary. He threw a hit that was deemed interference. He sat for two minutes and then of course, some dipshit on Florida felt the need to “answer the bell.” ZAR, who has been playing extremely well lately, likely broke his hand because of this. To the “that’s hockey” crowd, let me ask…you don’t want hitting and physicality to leave the game, so why did Sceviour fill his diaper after a hit? That’s toughness? Seems like baby stuff. End of rant.
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 | 42 | 26 | 12 | 4 | 56 |
| PIT | 43 | 24 | 13 | 6 | 54 |
| CBJ | 42 | 24 | 15 | 3 | 51 |
| GP | Wins | Losses | OT | Points | |
| TB | 43 | 33 | 8 | 2 | 68 |
| TOR | 42 | 27 | 13 | 2 | 56 |
| BOS | 43 | 25 | 14 | 4 | 54 |
Wild Card – Eastern Conference
| GP | Wins | Losses | OT | Points | ||
| WC1 | BUF | 43 | 23 | 14 | 6 | 52 |
| WC2 | MTL | 44 | 23 | 16 | 5 | 51 |
| NYI | 41 | 23 | 14 | 4 | 50 | |
| CAR | 42 | 20 | 17 | 5 | 45 | |
| FLA | 41 | 17 | 17 | 7 | 41 |
Central
| GP | Wins | Losses | OT | Points | |
| WPG | 42 | 27 | 13 | 2 | 56 |
| NSH | 44 | 26 | 15 | 3 | 55 |
| DAL | 44 | 23 | 17 | 4 | 50 |
| GP | Wins | Losses | OT | Points | |
| CGY | 44 | 27 | 13 | 4 | 58 |
| VGK | 46 | 27 | 15 | 4 | 58 |
| SJ | 45 | 25 | 13 | 7 | 57 |
Wild Card – Western Conference
| GP | Wins | Losses | OT | Points | ||
| WC1 | COL | 43 | 20 | 15 | 8 | 48 |
| WC2 | MIN | 42 | 21 | 18 | 3 | 45 |
| ANA | 43 | 19 | 17 | 7 | 45 | |
| VAN | 45 | 20 | 21 | 4 | 44 | |
| EDM | 43 | 20 | 20 | 3 | 43 |
Points
| Player | Team | GP | Goals | Assists | Points |
| Nikita Kucherov | TB | 43 | 21 | 50 | 71 |
| Mikko Rantanen | COL | 43 | 19 | 47 | 66 |
| Nathan MacKinnon | COL | 43 | 25 | 40 | 65 |
| Johnny Gaudreau | CGY | 44 | 26 | 38 | 64 |
| Connor McDavid | EDM | 42 | 24 | 39 | 63 |
Save Percentage
| Goalie | Team | GP | Save Percentage |
| Jack Campbell | LA | 15 | .930 |
| Robin Lehner | NYI | 21 | .927 |
| Jaroslav Halak | BOS | 23 | .926 |
| Linus Ullmark | BUF | 15 | .924 |
| Casey DeSmith | PIT | 26 | .924 |
The Week Ahead
Oh, baby…get your coffee ready, they’re heading west! A 12-day road trip begins Friday night in Anaheim. A team that has John Gibson and…..well that’s it. For those thinking it was a usage problem and not a talent problem, Sprong has six points with Anaheim, Pettersson also has six. Guess it wasn’t usage after all.
Know Your Enemy: Anaheim Calling
California may know how to party, but in the city of LA, they don’t know how to hockey. Saturday, it’s off to Staples Center for a date with another former Penguin, Carl Hagelin and his new squad the LA Kings. They…well, they suck.
Know Your Enemy: Jewels From The Crown
Finally, the Pens will face the only good hockey team in California on Tuesday as they make the 342 mile trip up the coast to San Jose. They’re finding some consistency finally, third in the Pacific and their big boys are coming on strong so of the week’s three games, this figures to be the hardest.
Know Your Enemy: Fear the Fin
Let me see if I can predict this script for this first week of the western swing: They’re going to come out, dicks on fire against Anaheim and likely beat the hell out of them. They’ll have a letdown in LA and then bring their A++ game against San Jose. We’re talking four out of a possible six points this week. The rotation will be Murr-The Smith-Murr.
Talk to you next week.
Thanks for reading, follow me (or tell me how bad this was) on Twitter @SynonymForWet.
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