News Flash: Pens have stacked 3 straight regulation Ws.
Don’t thank Evgeni Malkin. Or Jared McCann (get better soon). Or Kris Letang or Sidney Crosby or even Mike Sullivan. And definitely not John Marino (thank Danny for that).
Thank the Pittsburgh media.
Without them, some of us may have falsely assumed last Thursday’s disappointing 4-3 loss to the Flyers was simply the result of one good team playing better than another good team for the majority of the game, and that blown leads sometimes happen over the course of a grueling 56 game COVID season. Also, D-zone fundamentals and score effects.
Dr. Cox – what say you?
Luckily, the highly trained eye of the Pittsburgh media (most of whom are/were excellent athletes in their own lives), correctly cited “effort” as the reason for Thursday’s Hindenburg-esque tragedy. For this, the Penguins were properly shamed, tarred, feathered, and spit-roasted all over Twitter and online. Some sample words I saw across the ol’ timeline: “embarrassing”, “pathetic”, “implode”, “F-minus”, “season-teetering” and “infuriating.”
Not wanting to further disappoint their overlords, the Penguins simply tried harder in their next three games. The results were acceptable.
Good boys – come get your treat. It’s almost like winning NHL games is hard.
Let’s Recap one more @ PPG before the trip to BuffaLOL.
1ST PERIOD
Yellows looked great. Jack Johnson was IN. Father Matheson got a chance early. Life is Happy.
Letang found himself beer-league open in the slot, but Kinkaid got a piece.
Rags took a penalty shortly after, and the Pens’ 1st PP unit was buzzing. Tons of movement. Shots toward the net. Rags PK chaotically scrambling. Just a totally different feel compared to the first 20 games. HOWEVA…..they did not covert.
Now I let the tweets do talking.
https://twitter.com/GooeyHockey/status/1369429849031532555
NYR Goal – Johnson (1) A: Gauthier, Kreider [9:16] 1-0
Listen to how absolutely STUNNED Sam Rosen is that Jack Johnson scored hahahaha pic.twitter.com/ExGNd30OIv
— Ryan Mead (@OhRyanMead) March 9, 2021
His first goal since January of LAST YEAR. 14 months. If you’re not laughing, get some help HERE.
After a couple more chances, it was the Pens’ turn to kill a penalty, which was easy. The Rangers power play looked about as useful as tits on a nun.
Things evened out until Lindgren’s stick broke on a breakout pass. The flubbed puck found 87, who hit Jake in stride with a nasty backhand. Permission to snipe*?
PIT Goal – Guentzel (8) A: Crosby [18:54] 1-1
Let’s GO Guentzel that’s a 5 ⭐️ top shelf snipe! https://t.co/iespJ2Qe7l
— Nick Maraldo (@nickmaraldo) March 9, 2021
Permission granted.
*It rode up JJ’s stick but who cares.
Tie game going into the 2nd with Pens outshooting the Ranger 16-7. #Analytics
2ND PERIOD
Father Matheson took a tripping penalty in the corner, but They started it. Not his fault.
Didn’t matter. Rangers continued the nun analogy above, and Teddy Blueger was happy to motorboat.
PIT Goal (SH) – Blueger (5) A: Tanev, Dumoulin [2:40] 2-1 PIT
Fun fact: Teddy Blueger's shorthanded goal was the Penguins' third shorthanded goal this year. He is one of only six NHL players with multiple shorthanded goals this season. pic.twitter.com/gIS5qlepgE
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 10, 2021
Great move. Also, keep whining about Brandon Tanev’s contract. He’ll just keep making plays and being a pain in the ass.
Rust was stopped on a breakaway on the next shift.
The only thing worth noting for the next 15 minutes was Stevie Janowski having 1.5 legitimate scoring chances, which is 1.5 more than I can remember him having since the 2nd game of the season.
Right before intermission, Kasperi Kapanen decided he didn’t want anyone to forget what a genius Jim Rutherford was.
PIT Goal – Kapanen (7) A: Malkin, Rodrigues [19:40] 3-1 PIT
HAPPY KAPPY, HAPPY PITTSBURGH.
@kasperikapanen1 leads all NHL players with seven points against the Rangers this season (3G-4A). pic.twitter.com/avKaobe11C
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 10, 2021
If you look closely, you can see KK say “Thank you Jim” as he looks towards the sky.
Up 2 goals going into the 3rd.
3RD PERIOD
Crosby committed a rare O-zone turnover, leading to a frustration interference penalty. The Rangers made quick work of it.
NYR Goal (PP) – Strome (9) A: Buchnevich, Fox [3:18] 3-2 PIT
Strome is quick on that power play (via @RangersMSGN)pic.twitter.com/3nbLRJnhPa
— Rangers Videos (@SNYRangers) March 10, 2021
Tough bounce off Marino’s skate.
The goal certainly energized the Blueshirts, who controlled play for the next 10 minutes. The Penguins didn’t even register a shot until the game clock showed 8:13.*
*Apparently they weren’t credited for it, but it happened
Jack Johnson had a Quality Chance chance around the 7 minute mark, which would have either ended the pandemic or started a new one [h/t OG Pblog Adam].
Pens iced the puck with 4:30 left and your butthole def started clenching up.
Rangers took their timeout with 2:41 remaining.
The next 120 seconds of the game was like watching Texas Chainsaw Massacre on acid. There were about 3 million impossibly high-danger chances for the Rangers, but Jarry was there to SAVE THE FUCKING DAY. None better than this one on Buchnevich.
Buchnevich with a chance, but is stopped by Jarry. pic.twitter.com/UcQe3vVKkU
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) March 10, 2021
Crosby took mercy on us all and finally buried an empty netter on what would be the Penguins FIRST RECORDED SHOT OF THE PERIOD.
…and a goal from Sidney Crosby for good measure. pic.twitter.com/sBCY18Rw4r
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) March 10, 2021
“…for good measure.” That’s one way to put it. Alas…Ballgame.
RANDOM NOTES:
- Won’t bother checking NST, but seems like they did a better job limiting the high danger net-front chances through 2 periods. Third was obviously a different story.
- I’m done worrying about Malkin. You should be, too.
- I’m done worrying about Jarry. You should be, too.
- I was watching the MSG feed. I’ll just say that it’s always fun to be reminded what unbelievable homers Bob Errey and Paul Steigerwald are compared to the rest of the league (Jack Edwards notwithstanding.) Mears has done a great job though.
- 3rd Period was terrible, but something to be said for winning a bunch of different ways. They don’t ask “how?”
- Can’t complain about 3 straight in Times Like These
- Chirps @GooeyHockey on Twitter
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