Tonight the Pens headed to Montreal, the home of the last Stanley Cup won by a Canadian team….in 1993.
Carey Price was scared of Phil Kessel’s recent hat trick so he sat this one out had the flu and did not dress.
Murr seems to be nearly healthy as he backed up for The Smith. Early reports were that Brassard would take the wing with Sid and Jake-N-Bake:
Looks like Derick Brassard is going to be on the wing with Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel. What they did in line rushes anyway.
— Jason Mackey (@JMackeyPG) October 13, 2018
Turned out it was true. Sheahan up to 3C, Cullen as 4C. Maatta back in, Big Rig out.
Let's shake things up a bit. #LetsGoPens pic.twitter.com/TQDvT8nCTK
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 13, 2018
Johnson-Schultz again.
Errey just said Riikola doesn’t have a heartbeat.
We’re off to a great start.
— Patrick Damp #WeMakeKDKA (@SynonymForWet) October 13, 2018
Let’s roll.
FIRST PERIOD
Guinos came out with their sacs on fire. Maybe getting humbled in their own building by the Bergevin Grit Brainchild woke them up.
It didn’t take long for the Pengs to get rolling in this one. Under five minutes in, the new look fourth line grinded one out. Daniel Sprong with an absolutely unreasonable pass and effort to Simon – 1-0 Pengs.
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Spaniel Dong (you know, if you’re nasty) should be on the first line. HOWEVER, he’s gotta earn it. Despite two assists in the first three games, he wasn’t doing much in the way of generating offense. Some of that is linemates and usage, sure, but when you’re the blue chip guy, you gotta prove it. He’s on his way.
About four minutes later, the Captain found himself all alone against Niemi…the quest for his first continued. Tonight’s breakouts early were on cleaner (G will have more on that soon, SPOILER!) and the transition game looked like it found something.
I’m not gonna GIF it, I’m not even going to describe it. You saw it, I saw it, we all saw it. About halfway through the period Justin Schultz ankle likely broke. Not great.
Five defenseman the rest of the way.
The rest of the period became a slog. The Schultz injury completely sucked the air out of the building. You know it’s bad when an opposing player gets hurt and the home crowd audibly groans in horror at the replay.
That said – a slog of a first period would not deter the Kris Letang Redemption Tour 2018. Phil! and Geno would work their usual magic and Phil! would find The Tang for a one-time and he made no mistake. Two-nil Guins.
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Is it too early for Kris Letang for Norris talk? Of course it is, but I’ll be damned if that will stop me! Kris Letang for Norris.
— Patrick Damp #WeMakeKDKA (@SynonymForWet) October 13, 2018
Habs would come on strong near the end of the period, but nothing of substance came from it. We’d finish the first 20 with two-goal Guins lead.
Second Period
Hot take incoming – In the year of our Lord Two Thousand and Eighteen, Stanley Cups won in the Original Six Era shouldn’t count. To the second we go.
Remember how the Pens came out with their sacs on fire in the first? Habs returned the favor in the second.
Eleven seconds in, Tomas Tartar Sauce would score on a broken play. Letang tries to clear the puck in mid-air, ends up in his feet, Sauce puts it past The Smith. Wakey, wakey, fellas. 2-1.
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Somehow – we hadn’t seen a penalty in the first period (legitimate or crowd bought) that changed 1:10 in. Dumo would hook up a Canadien and to the PK we went.
With the exception of one chance right in DeSmith’s mouth, the Habs didn’t really do much of anything on this power(less, amirite?!?!) play.
Welcome to the Letangblog. We gotta talk about how good he was. Letang went from putting a rocket behind Niemi, but off the post, then found himself on the other side of the ice stopping a 3-on-1 chance for Montreal. We’re four games in, but Letang is playing with the swagger of a Detroit pimp in the 1970s.
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Even with Letang’s brilliance, if you’ve been watching hockey long enough, you knew a Canadiens equalizer was coming. You just knew it. The Smith made a pad save and the rebound came right to Gallagher. Tie ball game.
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Question – did you even try to cover Danault there, Johnson? Like at all?
Y I K E S. Buckle up, folks. The only respite we’re getting from that contract is Seattle.
The Montreal Special came with just over 10 minutes to go in the second – Geno would head to the box for a “hook” and Tatar Sauce would get his second on a pinball past The Smith. 3-2 Habs.
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When you’re controlling play for an entire half of a period, the breaks go your way.
The Habs lead wouldn’t last long. When you play in Montreal on a Saturday night you’re getting one (1) power play. Take advantage of it. Alexa, show me human perfection – puck movement to Phil Kessel and we’re back to even. 3-3.
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POWER-PLAY GOAL! KESSEL! Sorry Canadiens… Captain America is here to even things up. Tie game 3-3 with 8:46 left in the 2nd period. pic.twitter.com/qiXRatzJfa
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 14, 2018
We truly do not deserve Phillip J. Kessel.
The Kessel power play marker would open up the second period and both teams would trade a few chances late. With two and a half to go, Dom Simon would go to the box for a trip. If you thought that was bad, just 11 (eleven) seconds into the PK, Carl Hagelin would jai alai the puck into the stands and it was 1:49 5-on-3! Not great!
The 5-on-3 was the time for the Gamers. Big Game Bryan and MFDumoulin were absolute studs. Diving plays, covering the front and clearing the puck. Nothing but heart and sac from those two. The Penguins got out unscathed. To the third we went even at three.
Even-strength shot attempts in the 2nd period:
Montreal: 23
Pittsburgh: 2— Jesse Marshall (@jmarshfof) October 14, 2018
Pete News Network has checked with its sources, we can report and confirm this is “bad.”
Third Period
Montreal, not realizing numbers are the same in both English and French, had six skaters on the ice to end the second period. The Pens got a full two-minute power play to begin the final frame and if you expect me to say they scored, well prepare for disappointment, they didn’t!
If the first period was the Pens imposing their will, the second Habs imposing theirs, the third was a chess match.
A turnover at the blue line and a lost edge for Maatta, and we would find our Penguins in the hole 4-3. Victor Mete’s first NHL goal.
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Somewhere high above the ice, it was Andy Saucier City. HCMS with the brass of a riverboat gambler would challenge Andrew “Eater of Crayolas” Shaw’s contact with The Smith and he’d win. We stay tied at three.
As we all know, a Saturday Night in Montreal means you will not get more than two (2) power plays and the crowd will buy a call, probably two. For the second time in the game, Geno fell victim to the Montreal Special. While skating past a Montreal player, he would be called for…holding? I think.
The Smith would make an irrational save. Another huge kill.
The final two minutes became a precursor to what was inevitable, overtime. The Pengs and Habs traded oddman rushes and the game was wide open. No one found the icebreaker. Let’s play some threes and find that third point.
Overtime
I would love to say the too many men on the ice call was weak. I can’t. Geno jumped for Sid when Sid was about 200 feet away. Guentzel served the penalty. Tighten up.
Pens killed it, Hagelin and Cullen came up huge and we were treated to some 4-on-4 after the kill.
Goalies coming up big in OT. What a show.
It’s here I advocate for 10 minute OT. Give me it. Right the hell now. Deciding a game via a shootout is stupid. Imagine a golf tournament being decided by longest drive competition, basketball by dunk contest (ok, that would be sweet, shut up) or baseball by hardest pitch. It’s stupid.
Tie game*.
*Shootout
Byron scored on The Smith, Geno didn’t score, Drouin scored, Crosby didn’t. Ball game.
THOUGHTS
I said it already, just buckle up with Jack Johnson folks. He’s here to stay so let’s just try to mitigate the damage.
Impossible to say whomst coined Kris Letang Redemption Tour, but it’s been evident through four games.
Habs aren’t as bad as we’ve all projected, that said their biggest strength is speed. If they were to add some actual talent, they’d be a playoff team.
Quiet night for 87. Not a negative or positive, just an observation.
I know I said early in the ‘cap Sprong is getting there, however, it’s too little. I thought he played well early on and saw his icetime curiously dwindle throughout. Not sure if HCMS is displeased with him specifically or his linemates. He played well early, not sure why the leash was tightened. Interested to see how he’s treated moving forward.
There isn’t a goalie “controversy.” They have a good starter and a good backup. Murray is the former, DeSmith is the ladder. It’s a good problem to have.
Fancy Stats (via natural stat trick)
Second period truly buried the Penguins. Montreal had 15 shot attempts to the Penguins 2.
Vancouver in town Tuesday.
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