RECAP 61: Texas is South

Every time the Penguins play the Stars, I get “Trouble Breathing” by the Alkaline Trio stuck in my head.

You said tonight is a wonderful night to die
I asked you how you could tell
You told me to look at the sky
Look at all those stars
Look at how goddamn ugly the stars are

Noted prophet and lyrical wordsmith Matt Skiba was onto something when he wrote that song.  See, whether it be Minnesota, Dallas, or actual stars in the sky, the Stars are ugly.

Look, there’s no denying that space in general is cool as shit.  Every star and light in the sky has a story.  That’s cool.  But there are people, lots of them, that will stare up at the sky at night and think those lights traveling Distance X and hitting their little eyeballs are beautiful.  Those people, the whole lot of them, are goddamn wrong.  Do you think lightbulbs are beautiful too?  Airplanes?  No?  Didn’t think so.

Anyway.

Here we have a team that was a powerhouse last year, despite goaltending somewhere between terrible and abysmal.  A team that couldn’t stop scoring goals and were viewed as a favorite to come out of the West both last year and this year.  But somehow, the subpar goaltending had continued and the loss of Alex Goligoski has spelled disaster for the Stars.  Alex Goligoski used to not even be able to shut down Windows 98, but he was the glue that kept the Stars blueline together.

But must like regular ass stars, the ones in Dallas last night exploded and burned the Pens.

First Period

Everything was all well and good through the first 40 minutes for the Peng.  There was a lot of up and down action for the two Defense Optional squads, but on the Pens 3rd shot of the game about 10 minutes into the match up, the Pens went up 1-0.

https://gfycat.com/GreatCourteousCoot

Full makes to keeping in the grenade at the point.  Hagelin and Hornqvist making magic happen on Malkin’s line of late, but that feed from the beast down low to Gene will make your pants tight.  Malkin’s 26th of the year.

Second Period

Pens kept rolling in the 2nd, attempted 24 shots in total at 5v5 in the middle third.  Nearly doubling up the Stars in that aspect.

Midway through the period, they’d cash in to make it 2-0.

Not even sure Jake Guentzel is legally old enough to wink wink score, but he could’ve done so no less than 3 times before he actually did.  Niemi with a batshit save on 59 early in the sequence, but 14-87-59 kept the hammer down and worked it up top to Cole for a blast.  Traffic in front and a rolling puck gave Guentzel the tap in.

https://gfycat.com/InsistentFrightenedAnkolewatusi

With the Pens current trend of not losing a damn game when leading after two in a year and a half, betting on the Pens to win would’ve been free money.

Third Period

But the Stars had other ideas, scoring 3 goals in a 6:56 span just 3:40 into the period.

https://gfycat.com/YawningRichChick

First, they took the puck off the Pens down low and broke out on an odd man rush after Ruhwedel pinched up the wall and got smoked.  Jailbreak city as a Klingberg shot handcuffed Murr and came right to Brett Ritchie.  2-1

https://gfycat.com/SecretConventionalIcelandgull

Dallas would follow that up with a similar tactic.  Hamhuis cut through the Pens easier than wrists in that one line in that Hawthorne Heights song.  Spezza laid into a heavy wrister that caught Murray right in the collarbone and deflected in off Dumo’s shoulder.  Just like they drew it up.  2-2

https://gfycat.com/NippyFaintAkitainu

Dallas could smell victory and really started putting the Pens under pressure.  What should’ve been an easy out for Schultz and Gaunce turned into a neutral zone turnover and a goal Murray would’ve realllllllly liked to have had back.  3-2

Game.

Notes

• Pens drop their first game in regulation of the season when leading after 2.  Conversely, this is just the second game the Stars have won when trailing after 2.  Talk about bucking the trends.
• “The volume of shots wasn’t crazy, I don’t think.  They just got some good chances. At the end of the day, I just got to make those saves.” – Matt Murray, Father of G.  Giving up goals like that is a rarity for the kid.   Nothing to see here.

• Trade deadline and Blackhawks in 15 minutes.

Go Pens.