Be Like Tike

Friday, November 23rd, 2007 by Adam Wagner

Miracle in Ottawa . . . Penguins actually win

Wow. I was saying that word after both tonight’s win against the Ottawa Senators and last night’s loss against the New Jersey Devils, but for completely different reasons. The game last night was a typical Devils’ hockey game where the style of play is painfully boring and, just when the Pens get a chance, Martin Brodeur makes a huge save and preserves the victory, frustrating pretty much everyone in the NHL but the Devils and their few fans. Tonight’s game was, on the contrary, maybe the best game of hockey I have ever seen. The offensive chances came aplenty, the hitting was hard and plentiful, the referees questionable at times, and the Penguins victorious in a thrilling shootout.

Last night, however, the Penguins simply looked boring. The offense was shut down by the Devils’ trapping defense and the two pucks that went past a solid Marc-Andre Fleury off of the stick of Zach Parise were enough for the Devils to win. The most striking aspect of the game was that the Penguins never looked really into the game from an offensive standpoint, except for Evgeni Malkin who had his very impressive breakaway. Outside of that, though, the Penguins just looked out of it.

Yesterday’s game against Ottawa was more exciting and, considering that I watched it much closer because the Devils were not involved, more telling. The game was just extremely exciting, with Georges Laraque fighting from literally the first minute on and setting the tone for the team for the rest of the night, something that Ryan Malone had tried and failed to do against the Devils. After the fight, the Penguins began to finish checks and the game was extremely chippy for both teams. Some of the life seemed to come out of the Penguins, however, when Jason Spezza whacked at Marc-Andre Fleury’s pads, causing a puck MAF was kind of cradling to trickle behind him and crawl over the line before either Kris Letang (left) or Jordan Staal could stop it. Events seemed to be taking a turn for the even worse, however, after Jarko Ruutu was called for a diving penalty for falling over on a play where he was shoved in the chin/neck area. To make matters even worse, Fleury let up maybe the easiest goal of the night on a shot from Chris Phillips that he simply did not see for some reason. Immediately after that weak goal, Fleury was yanked for Dany Sabourin who seemed to make the most of the increasingly rare opportunity to play for the rest of the first period, stopping every shot that he saw.

In the meantime, his teammates began to put points on the board with Evgeni Malkin stealing the puck out of midair, deking three or four Senator players, and beating Martin Gerber stickside on a breakaway for the first Penguin goal of the night and his second breakaway goal in as many evenings. The next goal came from Ryan Malone, courtesy of Sidney Crosby. Crosby stole the puck and, playing with an energy and will to win that seemed odd for even Sid, went up the right side boards with it, firing it to Malone who was standing near the right point. Malone looked in on goal and beat Gerber to tie the game at 2, erasing the earlier deficit and taking Fleury off of a much-deserved hook.

The next goal came from Tyler Kennedy who took advantage of a screened Martin Gerber (left) to put the Penguins up 3-2 and send Paul Steigerwald and Bob Errey into fits of hysterics. The Senators, however, must have disapproved of this as they continued their physical play and ended up scoring two quick goals from Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley to regain the lead, 4-3 at the end of the second period. The next goal came from Christoph Schubert, who took advantage of a rebound to just stuff the puck past Sabourin, seemingly ending the night for the Penguins by putting them down 5-3.

Alas, victory did not seem to be in the cards for the Senators tonight as Malone scored his second of the night to bring the Penguins within one of Ottawa. The play was set up when the puck cycled to Kris Letang, who sent it to a shot-happy Sergei Gonchar, who fired the puck at the night where it ended up bouncing off of Malone and into the net. The next goal also involved the defenseman, as Gonchar rifled a puck past Gerber to tie the game up at 5. After a typical too many men on the ice penalty that resulted in some high stress for Penguins’ fans, overtime came and went.

The shootout was up next, with Jason Spezza going first and shooting the puck through Sabourin’s wide open five-hole to give the Sens a 1-0 lead in the shootout. Next, Eric Christensen was seemingly denied by Martin Gerber until replays showed that Gerber had made the initial save, but had then dragged the puck over the goal line with his blocker. Even Christensen could not believe this development, watching the replay with that “wow, I am extremely lucky” look that athletes sometimes plaster onto their faces. The next three shooters for the Penguins and the next four shooters for the Senators failed. The shootout and the game ended, however, when Michel Therrien stuck Jarko Ruutu on the ice. Ruutu came down the right-hand side and waited until Gerber was sprawled on the ice with his legs open to take a backhanded shot that resulted in the puck lying in the back of the net and the Penguins winning a thoroughly entertaining hockey game.

Observations from the game include these:

Marc-Andre Fleury should no longer be the Penguins’ official starting goalie. He and Sabourin should be placed in at least a tandem system if for no other reason than Sabourin has played better this year. He came up with consistently excellent saves in the third period tonight while Fleury could not make an easy save on a shot from the point in the first period. The Penguins can no longer worry about losing Fleury and must instead begin worrying about the 22 other men in the locker room. If Sabourin gives them the best chance to win on a given night, he should play. If Fleury does, he should play. Neither goalie is playing particularly special right now, so the hot hand is the way to go.
With that said, why Fleury was playing tonight is a legitimate question. Games in back-to-back days with a game Saturday, too, do not generally feature the same goalie. Sabourin probably should have started either tonight or last night, given the circumstances, instead of having to wait for Fleury to play awful hockey before being put in the game.
Also, Sabourin’s post proved to be his best friend tonight. It made four separate saves for him, including two in the shootout to preserve the Penguins’ chance at victory.
Tyler Kennedy and Colby Armstrong both played excellent hockey in Thursday’s game. Both players used their physicality and aggressiveness to create chances for the Penguins, resulting in points on at least three of the goals. Both players are the type of young, chippy, get-in-your-face type of players that are vital to the success of a young team.
Jarko Ruutu was the player of the game for the Penguins, responding to an awful diving call in the first period by having the hit of the night and scoring a very pretty goal on the shootout.
The power play was awful both nights, with the Penguins seemingly not understanding that they have to shoot the puck to score. They just seem to pass the puck around and then panic whenever the time ticks down, taking a shot, generally having it cleared, and then not having the time to regroup. Good things are much more likely to happen when the puck is shot semi-indiscriminately than when players look for the perfect shot only to have it never appear. Much of the success of Jordan Staal and Mark Recchi last year was due to them standing in front of the net, taking the puck off of rebounds and shoving it into the goal. Also, if the puck is shot into traffic there is a decent chance that the goalie will not see it or that it will be deflected into the net. They just have to stop being afraid to shoot.
Speaking of standing in front of the net and making things happen, Ryan Malone is looking like the Mark Recchi of the first fifty games last year.
The referees tonight were awful, with, including the call on Ruutu, at least five or six other calls that went the Senators’ way. There is something to homeice advantage, but that many unbalanced calls is simply ridiculous. After all, this is not the NBA.
The Alfreddson-Spezza-Heatley line is ridiculously good. I mean, everyone knows that already, but their names are constantly called whenever they are on the ice and all three contribute every shift.
Evgeni Malkin is the playmaker on this team right now. With his goals the past two nights, he has demonstrated a knack for making the important play that he did not have last year. Also, while he was weaving through Senators’ traffic tonight, he appeared to have the puck on a string, making three or four Ottawa players just look goofy.
Sidney Crosby looked like he wanted to win tonight’s game more than any that I have ever seen him play. He seemed to have a resolve and a determination that the Penguins were just going to win, from his first shift on out, and, even though he only had one point, Crosby was a valuable contributor.
Georges Laraque should fight in the first minute more often.
It was nice to see the Penguins score five goals (plus the shootout) and have Crosby/Malkin earn a combined two points. It showed that the rest of the team was stepping up for the first time this season and was an excellent change of pace.
How is Sergei Gonchar not on the All-Star Game ballot? I know that this question has been asked elsewhere, but after Thursday’s game, where he played very well at both ends of the ice, I am dumbfounded. Gonchar had a crucial defensive play, laying out to take away a passing lane at the end of a 2-on-1 in the third period and maybe preventing a goal. He is one of the premier defensemen in hockey and anyone who claims to think otherwise probably works for the league.
Speaking of being screwed due to balloting, Alfredsson and Jason Spezza were the first and second stars tonight, with Ryan Malone and his two goals and one assist only claiming the third star. This shows an obvious bias in the star voting system as local writers heavily skew it in the favor or people such as the first and second winners tonight while people like Jarko Ruutu, Evgeni Malkin, Dany Sabourin, Tyler Kennedy, Colby Armstrong, and Gonchar all had more important roles in the eventual outcome of the game. This system needs to be looked at it.