RECAP 58: Leftover Wings

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Click if you really want to look at these stats

Imagine that your company sent you a memo today saying there was an office party this Sunday and that the annoying person with like 10 cats will be hosting it. You wouldn’t want to be the only person not there so you show up, and you become a ghost of your usual self hoping you can skim through the party cordially but with the smallest amount of effort.

That’s what you missed from the Penguins if you didn’t watch this game

This was the 3rd game in 4 days for the Penguins, with the other two being more physical than games in February generally are. It was also a day game on NBC, which the Penguins are 2-94 in. I haven’t confirmed that stat, but Bob Grove said it was close enough.

Before the game Sidney Crosby was given some new gifts both by his teammates and then by his landlord.

The game started out as sluggish as you would expect for an afternoon game, but it was obvious the Red Wings weren’t showing too much lag from their overtime win the day before. 8 minutes in what to you know, it’s Trevor Daley having to defend another 2 on 1.

Why does this footage look so shitty if it is from the official provider of NHL copyrighted footage? Trevor Daley is not having a good year folks, and unfortunately for him he lost his scapegoat Maatta.

Sorry for the grittiness of this image, I took it from this great Ryan Wilson post. Here are some more charts on Daley’s WOWY scores.

What this is saying is all but Justin Schultz plays better without Daley than with Daley, and that is mostly due to a limited amount of minutes with Daley. Not a good look for the guy. Our whipping of Olli Maatta has masked this a lot.

The Penguins would be short handed and deserved to be trailing by more than 1 at this point, but even on an off day this team is still a threat:

TOM KUHNHACKL (3) Assisted by LETANG (28) @ 14:09 SHG

Kuhnhack-goal is pretty lame. My boy Kuhnhackl with another point though.

The celebrations would be short lived because Steve Ott reminded us all he is still in the league. He somehow managed to get 2 hits in and then bury a backhander.

 

Kris Letang was pretty jammed up about this hit, and started mouthing to the officials afterwards, but I’m not sure what his problem was.

Thankfully for the Pens the period would end there.

Apparently both teams took this period off. It was a goaltenders duel this period, with Murray and Mrazek both making some crazy good saves.

 

Less than a minute into the period Tomas Tatar would deflate the Pens erection faster than thinking about your mom.

 

Zetterberg will never get the credit he deserves. 2 minutes after that it was Thomas Vanek, who like Steve Ott is apparently still in the NHL.

 

Not a good period for Matt Murray at all, but to be fair it wasn’t a good period for anyone in black and gold. Not sure why these gifs look like there is some kind of special effect on them, but something tells me it is NBC trying to prevent gifs or something. 7 seconds after the Vanek goal the captain would put one in wiht his new golden stick.

SIDNEY CROSBY (32) Assisted by GUENTZEL (6) @ 2:23

7 seconds has to be one of the fastest response goals in recent memory. Unfortunately for the Pens it was their only response and has time dwindled down some guy named Luke Glendening would score on the empty net to seal it up.

GAME

THOUGHTS:

  • First regulation loss for the Pens since the ASG. That is while playing all 10 games with at least 2 of their starters injured. The Pens are 6-1-3 since the ASG.
  • When you see Matt Murray have an off night like this, you are bat shit crazy if you think JR is trading Fleury unless he can get an equal goalie in return
  • With his goal Mr. Kuhnhackl is now scoring at a 0.21 ppg pace. Fehr is at 0.20, it is safe to say Fehr is not only expendable but may be playing his last games as a Penguin soon
  • So far every Penguin player to ever win a Stanley Cup, this new Sidney Crosby plaque, and a ton of objects sold to fans have all been made from the roof of the Igloo… is anyone fact checking this
  • Carl Hagelin is back in case you didn’t notice the last two games, you most likely didn’t
  • NBC coverage is unbearable. All of their personalities and voices grind you down. I had to learn how to perform prostate exams this week and I would rather do that while watching the Pens than listen to NBC.