I have a confession to make. I didn’t watch today’s nationally televised matinee matchup with the Rangers. Saturdays are my get ‘er done days, when I run all my errands. Food shopping, laundry and what not, with a doggy walk mixed in.
Confession No. 2. I tuned in on the radio just in time to hear the Rangers cut our lead in half on a second-period, power-play goal by Mika Zibanejad. From what I could surmise from listening to Joe Brand and the Ol’ Two-Niner, Phil Bourque, I missed the good part. Like when the Penguins rang up a 2-0 lead on an early power-play tally by Anthony Mantha and a long-range spin-o-rama lob from Ryan Shea. Or how we dominated the first period while limiting the Rangers to two shots on goal.
So I guess you could say me tuning in was bad luck for the boys.
It’s interesting to note what you pick up on radio as opposed to watching on TV. It was pretty obvious from Brand’s play-by-play call the Rangers dominated the second half of the game. It was also apparent that whatever offensive pressure we could muster was generated by our fourth line of Blake Lizotte, Connor Dewar and Noel Acciari, with an occasional guest appearance by Evgeni Malkin’s unit.
As for our other two lines?
Pfft.
Again, going by ear, it sounds like goaltender Stuart Skinner made a number of key saves to keep us in the game. However, Other Rick, who did view the game, said the Rangers hit at least two posts and failed to capitalize on several glorious opportunities.
One chance they did convert came 2:57 into the third period. Bryan Rust lost a puck battle along the boards to Adam Fox, who nudged the rubber to Brendan Brisson. The former Golden Knight moved the puck quickly to Vladislav Gavrikov stationed near the left circle. The Russian defender proceeded to bank the puck in off Taylor Raddysh’s stick blade as the Blueshirts’ forward flashed through the crease.
Skinner had no chance.
In the shootout, it was a sad familiar refrain. Black-and-gold shooters were stymied by Igor Shesterkin (Egor Chinakhov) or failed to put the puck on net (Mantha and Tommy Novak) while Pittsburgh native Vincent Trocheck cashed in for the Rangers.
Based on the way the flow of the game ebbed away from our Pens, I’ll gladly take the point and run.
Puckpourri
In addition to notching the shootout winner, Trocheck was a monster in the faceoff circle, winning 18 of 21 draws. On the flip side, Rickard Rakell (0-for-10) and Novak (2-for-9) really struggled.
The 5v5 numbers according to Natural Stat Trick served to reinforce my impressions. Our aforementioned fourth line registered a 78.95 Corsi, an expected goals for percentage (xGF%) of 95.48 and a scoring chances for percentage (SCF%) of 100. The Malkin-Novak-Chinakhov trio, a 51.85 Corsi, a 45.01 xGF% and a 52.63 SCF%.
The other two units?
Glug, glug, glug. The sound of bubbles rising to the surface of the water.
To borrow from the old Cinderella rock anthem, “Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone),” we’re finding out just how difficult it is to replace Sidney Crosby. He does so many things, large and small, to help you win, it’s almost impossible to track them all.
In particular, Rakell (no shots) is having an impossible time filling the void. By the middle of the third period, coach Dan Muse had seen enough, bumping RikRak back to wing and moving rookie center Ben Kindel to the top line, to no avail.
More on Skinner. However he looked doing it, Big Stu stopped 23 of 25 shots, good for a .920 save percentage. I’ll take that any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
Whatever ailment Samuel Girard sustained during his black-and-gold debut wasn’t severe enough to keep him out of the lineup. The newcomer logged a robust 20:57 of ice time and registered a shot on goal and a blocked shot.
His partner, Kris Letang, was a minus-1 in 23:51 of ice time. Tanger’s now a minus-2 since his former partner, Brett Kulak, was traded. (Yes, I’m keeping track). He was a plus-2 during Kulak’s stay. He’s plus-1 overall.
We’re now a grisly 1-8 in shootouts.
As of this post, the Pens (30-15-13, 73 points) are in second place in the Metro, two points up on the Islanders with a game in hand. The fourth-place Caps have closed to within four points. However, we have three games in hand on Ovi & Co.
Up next, the Golden Knights visit the ‘Burgh for a matinee clash tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon.