RECAP 48: What Glitters Ain’t Gold

PREGAME

The Pens were poised to finish off their trip to a circus of a time zone and go into the bye week with some momentum as they entered T-Mobile Arena to take on Vegas and Goaltender 29.

Lineup

WELCOME BACK TO THE LINEUP, HORNQVIST! 👏 pic.twitter.com/qD6i8PU4LB

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 20, 2019

Hornqvist back in from a concussion, DeSmith in DeCage, Oleksiak remained out of the lineup for Riikkola and Phil! on the left for some reason? Whatever, last game before break. Let’s roll.

The pregame show inside T-Mobile Arena is dope. It’s over-the-top, ridiculous and completely on brand for Vegas. NHL needs more entertainment and fun. Do not @ me.

FIRST PERIOD

The Penguins came out hair on fire in the first four minutes and had several looks. Cullen nearly snuck a wrap around past Goaltender 29, Jack Johnson actually had a solid one-T and Crosby was all over the ice.

Then, newly minted left winger Phil Kessel broke to the net with Olli Maatta streaking down the left side with the puck. The Finnish defenseman put some English on his pass and Phil! Made no mistake for his 20th of the year.

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Great puck movement on the zone entry from Phil to Geno to Maatta. When you’re feeling it, you’re feeling it and Kessel is going into the break hot. 350 NHL goals for Phil!

1-0 Pens

Despite not seeing a shot on goal for four minutes, Casey DeSmith absolutely stoned Alex Tuch on a breakaway. He’d receive a pass a few seconds later and would get tripped up by Dumoulin.

The Pens killed ¾ of the penalty and it was a one-time bomb from Shea Theodore. Definitely one DeSmith would want back, but what a shot. Perfectly placed and worked the puck from low-to-high on the power play like you draw it up.

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Great pass from Schmidt. Guess that’s the advantage of doing PEDs being rested. 1-1.

While the shots were even, the goal didn’t really wake Vegas up all that much. The Penguins continued to press and hold possession. Vegas did a tremendous job clogging the middle and keeping the Pens to the low-percentage areas, insulating Goaltender 29.

With just about eight minutes left, Dumo would blow a tire and Alex Tuch would get his second breakaway of the period and again The Smith would shut the door.

Despite the pressure, a strange bounce with under five minutes to go would give Vegas the lead. Vegas put the puck in deep, worked it to Tuch in the slot, it would bounce off both Pettersson and Brassard right to Pacioretty, a known Penguin-killer, in the bottom of the circle and DeSmith had no chance.

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2-1 Knights.

Before you had a chance to send your stupid “Murray would of saved that” unoriginal tweet, the Knights scored again. Carpenter found himself with the puck on a 2-on-1 with the Lindberg baby, slowed the play down, made an unrealistic saucer pass and Lindberg buried it top shelf where momma keeps the good liquor.

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Not a great pinch on the wall to lead to that oddman rush. 3-1 Knights.

As if two quick goals weren’t enough, they gave up another (taking the total to three (3!!!!)) breakaway, but DeSmith would again stop Karlsson this time.

That’s where we’d finish.

The Penguins held the edge in high-danger chances 7-6, but Vegas held a 58% CF%. DeSmith kept this one close. All you can ask.

SECOND PERIOD

While you had your “if they keep this up, I’m going to bed” debate, Goaltender 29 bit harder than a bad date. Just 16 second into the middle frame, Money Bags dropped the shoulder, got Goaltender 29 to commit and slipped the puck over to Simon for the tap-tap-tapperoo.

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Guentzel on pace to double his career high in points. If you’re complaining about that contract, you aren’t just stupid, but you’re also dumb.

3-2 Knights.

While the Pens had the momentum following Simon’s goal, if you’re into that kind of thing, they took it away with Maatta taking a penalty behind the play. The Vegas power play was taking up residence in Casey DeSmith’s mouth, but he wasn’t having a single damn bit of it. What felt like a full two minutes in the Pens zone, DeSmith stood up and the Pens came out unscathed.

The Penguins would get right back to work following the kill. Sidney Crosby who was playing this game on those Nate Schmidt PEDs with some extra motivation wanting to finally score on Goaltender 29, got his wish.

Jake Guentzel would curl at the blue line and find a trailer in Letang. Letang put the puck deep and found Bake. Bake with an elite pass and Sid with the finish past Goaltender 29 and we were back to even.

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Crosby now has scored against every franchise in the NHL. Seattle, you’re on deck.

3-3.

It was the Penguins turn to feed off a goal. Guentzel had ANOTHER opportunity in the high slot, but Goaltender 29 stopped it. Then at the midway point, Bryan Rust did his best Sidney Crosby impression and went to work possessing the puck behind the net to draw a penalty.

It took all of seventeen seconds for the Pens to strike. Hornqvist would deflect a point shot behind Goaltender 29, and Geno would finish. However, it was determined a kicking motion, so it was back to work.

Vegas would kill off the penalty despite several unreal chances by the Pens and if you’ve watched hockey long enough you knew what was coming. Jack Johnson actually won a foot race against Karlsson on a loose puck, but Marchessault would stop DeSmith’s clearing attempt, walk right down the strip and absolutely snipe it past Casey.

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DeSmith should likely have let that one just go, but he commited and followed through. That’s the risk and Marchessault absolutely sniped. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

4-3 Knights.

Bryan Rust and Jusso Riikkola would have a 2-on-1 and Riikola fanned on it.

Then, it was Marchessault again four minutes later. A broken play, bad pokecheck by DeSmith and some Le’Veon Bell like patience (h/t Peep) and it was again a two-goal lead for Vegas.

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5-3 Knights.

Through two periods, it’s plain and simple: the Knights made the most of their chances and the Penguins didn’t. Case and point – Pens with a 13-9 advantage in high-danger chances.

I’m debating a coffee at midnight. Pacific time zone sucks.

THIRD PERIOD

The Penguins got a power play at the midway point of the period. No dice. Other than that, Vegas, breaking with their hometown tradition, shut it down early.

Karlsson scored on a deflection.

6-3 Knights.

Marchessault completed the hat trick on the empty net.

7-3 Knights.

Game.

THOUGHTS

• The Hindsight Hunters were in full force tonight. Maybe flopping the goalie rotation would’ve been the smarter call, but when your backup is 7th in the NHL in SV%, he’s earned starts. You give them to him. Maybe the stretch run is the time to put the saddle on Murray, but right now, the goaltending tandem isn’t broken, don’t try to fix it.
• Derick Brassard admittedly is playing better since GMJR called him out, but not enough to consider his season turned/turning around. One has to think if he’s flipped at or near the deadline, it will be in a package with Jarry.
• Vegas is a really good hockey team. Much like the Penguins, they let all their players play to their strength. There’s not a lot of trying to get someone to fit a role they clearly aren’t meant to play.
• Best thing to come from tonight’s game is we don’t have to hear about Goaltender 29 again unless the Pens and Golden Knights meet in the Final! Little victories, folks. Little victories.
• We have a nine day break coming, so let’s have a quick chat here, fellow Pens fans. Gather round. I know a lot of you have been here for the Cup runs of 2009, 2016 and 2017. I honestly don’t know how a lot of people survived them, to be honest. As a smart, former Pensblogger Jesse Marshall said – look at the season in 5-to-6 game segments. The Penguins have won five of their last eight. Eleven of their last 14. You can’t live and die with every play, period and game. Other teams are allowed to be good, players on other teams are talented and will occasionally do good things against the Penguins. It’s part of an 82-game season. The stretch run is coming and this team is finding a stride. Buckle up, relax and enjoy the damn ride.

See you in nine days when the Devils come to town.