Gee, it seems like only a month ago that the Penguins were dispatching the Ottawa Senators. I hope you all made as good use of your eight-day layoff as I did - I got engaged, so you probably didn't, but that's okay - and are well-rested headed into the Conference Finals. The only thing standing between the Pens and a shot at the Cup are the Boston Bruins, a match up that just seems right. You've got Jarome Iginla facing the team he spurned at the trade deadline, and you've got Jaromir Jagr hoping to torment his former team, but - beyond the tale of two Jaroms - you've got the cream of the Eastern Conference going head to head. There will be no Cinderella story this year (like last year's Devils), only two heavyweights sizing the other up.
After the jump, my three questions and three statements for the Pens-Bruins series, and my predictions for the series.
Notes from a 2-1 (SO) win over the Sens lat night, that I found oddly watchable:
The Penguins played a strong defensive game here, which was nice to see. They blocked a Rangers-esque 24 shots, with Orpik absorbing 9 of those pucks. He and Martin played a nearly flawless game, shutting down Spezza (who should terrify any Pens fan who has watched these teams play) and company. It is great to watch Martin win over the fans again, or as it's better known, "pulling a Gonchar."
The three best plays of this game came from our back end, where Letang, Martin, and Engelland (listed in order of least to most surprising) each made beautiful chasedown efforts to short-circuit possible breakaways. These plays take persistence, patience, and timing to pull off without drawing a penalty, and in all three cases, that's what happened.
Letang's play was particulary impressive. Neal got caught pinching on the power play, and a clearing lob sprang Erik Condra on a breakaway. He had a couple of strides on Letang, but I don't think there was doubt in any of our minds that Letang would catch him, and that confidence is what makes Letang such a strong point man. But the manner in which he disarmed Condra is what makes Letang a Norris Trophy candidate. Let's break it down: when the puck is cleared, Letang and Condra seem to be converging on the puck, Condra from the left side and Letang from the right.
When it beomes clear that Condra has a step, Letang falls in directly behind
him, a move which prevents Letang from overcommitting to one side and gives
him a chance to make a play whether Condra goes forehand or backhand. For
Condra, having Letang in his blind spot plants a seed of doubt: he can't
anticipate Letang's play on the puck, and because of Letang's speed, he decides
to rush a forehand shot rather than try and deke Fleury and risk being
overtaken. (Note: he may also have rushed the shot because he is Erik Condra
and has a very limited offensive repertoire, but I want to give Tanger some
credit)
Letang inevitably catches up with Condra, he doesn't try to sweep the puck
away with his stick across Condra's body, which would have allowed Condra to
protect the puck by lowering his left shoulder and get a shot on net and/or draw
a penalty shot. Instead, Letang makes a quick move over to Condra's right
(stick) side as Condra goes into his shooting motion, locks down Condra's stick
with his own, and the puck slides harmlessly into Fleury's pads. A Jason
Bourne-caliber disarming.
On the offensive side, things were a mess. for most of the game, it seemed like we couldn't muster a breakout pass, and we had trouble even getting the puick out of our zone. When we did, the forecheck just wasn't there for us like it normally is, and Erik Karlsson and Gonchar were able to skate the puck past centre ice without challenge. Crosby, Malkin, and Neal did their yeoman's work, but they are going to need some help, and fast.
The power play was an especial disaster, going 0-for-5 and making countless half-assed plays around the blueline. I'm going to assume we were tanking so that Gonchar would take pity on us and come back. We'll see if it worked.
Erik Karlsson is a fun player to watch. He is what we in the biz call "not good" on defense, not good at all, but he is electrifying on the offensive end. For the entirety of the third period and overtime, it was legitimately scary every time he touched the puck.
Fleury played a brilliant game, stopping 31 of the 32 shots he faced. This was one of those games he excels in: he was getting a lot of shots thrown at him, but the defense in front of him was strong, putting bodies on bodies and clearing out rebound chances. When Fleury's afforded the chance to warm up like that, his kick saves start popping, and his refles are a sight to behold. This one easily could have gone in the loss column if not for him.
Hey, our first shootout! Shootouts are stupid, first off, but it is nice going into them with the confidence that the Penguins are going to win them more often than not. Craig Anderson played an outstanding game in net for the Sens, but Neal, Crosby, and Malkin just abused him in the breakway competition.
A rollercoaster game for Geno, who embarrassed Zack Smith and made a perfect cross-ice pass to set up Neal's goal, then had a turnover and whiffed on a long pass to Jason Spezza that resulted in the Sens' tying goal, and then scored the game-winning goal in the shootout like it was nothing. Quite a day at the office for him.
I officially do not understand how boarding is being called anymore. I can't even get mad at the refs because I just don't know what's going on.
After this game ended, I switched over to Blues-Preds on NBC Sports, a back-and-forth contest which St. Louis won in overtime, 5-4. I gotta say, I'm in the bag for this Blues team. I love their system and how holistically it's been installed, I love their lineup, which is deep and full of small-name players who are fast and fun to watch (increasingly more so now that they've got their rookie Tarasenko tearing up the league), and I love their colors. They're this year's Western Conference team I will occasionally root for. Watch them if you have the opportunity.
