Penguins

Recap 06: Turn On The Jets

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Alan Draper
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Sports Editor
9 min read
_RECAP_2019_2020_06

The Penguins traveled to Winnipeg following their Friday night tilt in Minnesota for the second half of their first back-to-back of the season. Winnipeg also traveled to Winnipeg overnight following a game in Chicago the night before. With both teams having tired legs I expected a slow and grinding style game but boy was I wrong. To start things off Mike Sullivan announced Tristan Jarry would make his season debut. Sullivan followed this announcement up by telling everyone that John Marino isn’t going anywhere by switching Jack Johnson with Erik Gudbranson.

One month ago we barely knew who John Marino was other than some guy they got from Edmonton and now we can’t get enough of him. You have to love how things like this can happen.

FIRST PERIOD

Instead of the anticipated slow start this game got off and running immediately, and less than two minutes in the Jets were on top after a flukey play found its way behind Jarry

Not much to go into here, the puck goes off McCann’s stick as he tries to break up the pass and right into the net. With flashbacks to the last time these two teams met this early goal didn’t sit well. Fortunately, the Penguins were interested in playing hockey this time around and less than three minutes later the third line was getting busy. After some tough work behind the net Brandon Tanev circled out to find Teddy Bleuger in front, Bleuger put a shot on goal that resulted in a loose puck and ZAR was there.

ZACH ASTON-REESE Assisted by Blueger and Tanev (3) @ 4:09

The bottom six scoring goals from within 5 feet of the net, you love to see it. Great play by ZAR to stay relevant in the lineup and follow this play through.

After two goals in the first five minutes, the pace of play slowed down considerably. In fact, the net five minutes were basically played in the neutral zone other than a few shots. At the midpoint of the period, Dominik Kahun took a hooking penalty to send the Jets to the powerplay. The Jets powerplay had possession in the offensive zone for about ten years but didn’t get any shots on goal.

The next eight minutes were spent in the neutral zone and the first would end tied at one.

SECOND PERIOD

The Jets came out in the second period hungry on the puck and caught the Pens on their heels a bit as they were constantly pinned in the defensive zone. Despite the pressure, Tristan Jarry was big when he needed to be and the Penguins fought off the early storm. During one of these sustained periods of pressure, Mason Appleton shot himself in the foot by tripping Brian Dumoulin and giving the Penguins their first offensive chance of the period.

The Penguin’s powerplay looked sharp and had a few really good looks that were turned away by Croissant. As part of the first unit switched out the puck came to Crosby who fed it back to the blueline for Pettersson. Pettersson took a look up, dusted off his visor to make sure he wasn’t seeing things and passed the puck to Brian Dumoulin in the slot. Powerplay specialist Dumoulin wasted no time and put a perfect one-touch pass to the stick of Guentzel, and Jake did his thang.

JAKE GUENTZEL (3) Assisted by Dumoulin (2) & Pettersson @ 7:50 PPG

Guentzel is proving why he deserves to be on the powerplay. He is such a pure goal scorer and it is so fun to watch, the man just knows where to go on the ice and what to do when he gets the puck.

It isn’t a secret that the Penguins have been really good at giving up goals after scoring. Sullivan is attempting to stop that bad habit by putting his hungriest line out there following a goal, and there ain’t nobody hungrier than a group of kids staring at a trip back to Wilkes-Barre. The fourth line went out and took care of business 41 seconds after Guentzel.

SAM LAFFERTY (2) Assisted by Blandisi and Letang (5) @ 8:31

We saw a similar goal in the Friday night game by these youngsters, it is essentially a dump in on steroids. Instead of playing it to the corner they are dumping it either on the net or off the boards behind the net and getting an immediate scoring chance. This isn’t always going to result in a goal, and that’s fine. Scoring chances from the fourth line immediately following a goal is all you could want as a coach. Kris Letang picked up his 500th career point with this assist with another play that the masses will forget about as soon as one turnover results in a goal.

Less than a minute after taking a two-goal lead the Pens got themselves in a sticky situation that left Gudbranson with no chance but to take a penalty. The Jets powerplay hit the ice for the second time in the game and this time they would convert when Mark Scheifele scored with 10 minutes left.

Two minutes after the goal Dominik Simon hooked a Jet and Winnipeg’s powerplay took to the ice for a chance to tie it up. The Penguins were able to clear the pucks a few times and after 1:15 of powerplay time Connor hooked up Gudbranson to send us to 4v4 for 45 seconds. Sullivan used Marino and Dumoulin as the first pair out on the 4v4 in preparation for the upcoming powerplay, which tells you exactly how they feel about Marino’s game.

After some extended 5v5 time the first line got to work. Simon won a puck battle along the boards and sent it back to Marcus Pettersson who took a shot that deflected off of Simon and a Jet simultaneously and landed at the feet of Crosby on the goalline. Sidney Crosby has been in the league 15 years and he is still finding ways to make my jaw hit the floor. Crosby, with his stick tied up, kicks the puck while falling down to Simon on the doorstep, and then someone else put the puck in because Dom Simon Don’t Score.

DOMINIK SIMON Assisted by Crosby (6) & Pettersson (2) @ 16:28

Please watch this gif from the beginning. Simon is controlling the puck on the boards against three Jet defenders. Not only does Simon come out with this puck but he sets up a scoring chance. You can double down and say Simon needs to score more than two goals every forty games all you want, but you should probably wait until Sidney Crosby isn’t putting up three straight multi-point games with Simon on his line.

The Jets attempted to get things back to within one before the period would end but Jar Jar Binks wasn’t having it.

THIRD PERIOD

For the third consecutive game, and second night in a row, the Penguins took a lead into the third period with the goal of not getting injured. The new attention to defensive detail was on display early in this period as the Penguins stifled every opportunity the Jets tried to create. Winnipeg went to the powerplay five minutes in when John Marino was called for high sticking, but the Pens PK took care of business. Winnipeg continued cycling but the Pens defense was keeping everything outside of the danger zone.

After nine minutes the Penguins finally got a good look on goal when the fourth line again went to work. Sam Lafferty cycled out from behind the net, surveyed his options, and just put it on the net.

SAM LAFFERTY (3) Assisted by ZAR (2) & Schultz (4) @ 9:13

Sam Lafferty does not want to go back to Wilkes-Barre. This puck deflects off a Jet as the Pens benefit from a lucky bounce, but that bounce doesn’t happen if the shot isn’t taken in the first place. I have really enjoyed the shot first mentality all of the young guys have right now.

The goal was a backbreaker for the Jets and the Penguins did not let off the gas. Two minutes later Jake Guentzel was finding himself wide open again and burying it.

JAKE GUENTZEL (4) Assisted by Letang (6) & Crosby (7) @ 11:40

In my recap of game 5, I highlighted Guentzel’s ability to sneak away and get open. It’s on display again but instead of boring you with screenshots I’ll let the master walk you through it

Jake Guentzel will continue to be a 30+ goal scorer in this league because he knows how to get open and he knows how to finish the puck from every position he gets into.

A few minutes after Guentzel put the game out of reach Adam Johnson would take a slashing penalty 14 minutes into the period and the Jets had a chance to maybe inject some life into their fans. Instead, it was the ZAR machine on the breakaway

ZACH ASTON-REESE (2) @ 14:46 SHG

Aston-Reese with a huge night when he needed it the most. The Pens would kill the remaining time of that penalty without any issues. With under five minutes left, the Jets would get another powerplay but the Pens would kill that one as well. Time would tick down and the buzzer would sound concluding one hell of a weekend for the Penguins

GAME

THOUGHTS

  • Jarry was solid in his debut
  • Only Letang (25:21) and Dumoulin (24:31) had more TOI than Marino (18:14)
  • The Penguins are getting bottom-six scoring and it is finally allowing Sullivan to roll all of his lines
  • Some people say the Penguins only scored 14 goals this weekend because Minnesota and Winnipeg have bad defenses. First, if it was that easy the Penguins would’ve scored seven the first time they played Winnipeg. Second, Winnipeg wouldn’t have been on a winning streak. Third, every night in the NHL is different than the night before. Don’t take anything away from what the Penguins did this weekend, just be happy for once.

 

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Alan Draper

Alan is a vastly experienced sports and gambling writer who is the Chief Editor of The Sports Daily.
View All Posts By Alan Draper

Alan Draper

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Alan is a vastly experienced sports and gambling writer who is the Chief Editor of The Sports Daily.
View All Posts By Alan Draper
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