The Penguins win back to back road games against quality opponents, extracting a measure of revenge from both. First, it is sometimes better to be lucky than good......Fleury played a good game tonight, but he had about 3 more pucks get behind him, but not over the line today.......Chris Kunitz scored today for his 15th goal of the season, well on his way to the 20+ mark we have all wanted to see from him. Dupuis also ended a long drought to get his ninth of the season, and even more impressive to me was Staal getting his second game winner in a row, and fifth point in two games to lead the Pens to a 3-2 victory. The Penguins penalty kill was great in killing off a phantom double minor assessed to Dupuis in the second period after Kampfer was hit and cut by Zdeno Chara's stick. The Penguins however, need to be concerned about how often they give up multiple goals in very short periods of time. They should not be BOGO's for chrissakes......
Despite hearing repeatedly that Malkin needs to step up in Crosby's absence, he remains very medicocre, BUT Staal seems to be stepping up into that role. If Staal and his line can remain offensively productive in Crosby's absence, and Malkin remains as largely unproductive as he has been between Kunitz and Dupuis, the Penguins have some interesting options in both the short term and the long term. First, this takes the "lack of world class wingers" excuse away from the Malkin ball soakers. Malkin is playing between the same wings as Crosby and is doing very little, and Staal is playing between Cooke and Kennedy, neither of whom are notable snipers, yet both Crosby and Staal have been infinitely more productive offensively, and both are without question, better at defense and faceoffs. For the short term, in my opinion, this presents Bylsma with an opportunity to really amp up the scoring options. If Staal's line can stay productive, then you can afford to put Malkin on the first line with Crosby and Kunitz, which should be incredibly tough to defend without becoming too dependent on that line. It would also allow him to put Dupuis on the third line with Letestu and Connor.......If Bylsma does not continue to outsmart himself by separating Connor and Letestu, the threesome I noted would be fast and tenacious with plenty of scoring punch for a third line.........Your fourth line can be Adams, Rupp, Asham/Talbot.............I think this would make the Penguins a very balanced and tough to defend against team. In the offseason, unless Malkin really turns it up a few notches, Staal showing that he can produce offensively gives the Pens the option to move 8.7M tied up in Malkin for the chance to pick up two offensive wingers, and add further balance to the team. Assuming Tangradi is ready,( he has 16G in the AHL) next season, adding two top flight wingers would give the Pens 4 top 6 six wingers to surround their top 2 centers, and plenty of 3rd and 4th line character players. Anyway, Staal has also shown a much more physical side to his play, and was compared favorably to Keith Primeau today. At any rate, a very nice win today, and every 2 points they can get with Crosby out will be big come April. One final note to put Crosby's season in perspective......despite missing the past 5 games, he leads the league in points by 7 points, and is still tied for the league lead in goals.
Despite hearing repeatedly that Malkin needs to step up in Crosby's absence, he remains very medicocre, BUT Staal seems to be stepping up into that role. If Staal and his line can remain offensively productive in Crosby's absence, and Malkin remains as largely unproductive as he has been between Kunitz and Dupuis, the Penguins have some interesting options in both the short term and the long term. First, this takes the "lack of world class wingers" excuse away from the Malkin ball soakers. Malkin is playing between the same wings as Crosby and is doing very little, and Staal is playing between Cooke and Kennedy, neither of whom are notable snipers, yet both Crosby and Staal have been infinitely more productive offensively, and both are without question, better at defense and faceoffs. For the short term, in my opinion, this presents Bylsma with an opportunity to really amp up the scoring options. If Staal's line can stay productive, then you can afford to put Malkin on the first line with Crosby and Kunitz, which should be incredibly tough to defend without becoming too dependent on that line. It would also allow him to put Dupuis on the third line with Letestu and Connor.......If Bylsma does not continue to outsmart himself by separating Connor and Letestu, the threesome I noted would be fast and tenacious with plenty of scoring punch for a third line.........Your fourth line can be Adams, Rupp, Asham/Talbot.............I think this would make the Penguins a very balanced and tough to defend against team. In the offseason, unless Malkin really turns it up a few notches, Staal showing that he can produce offensively gives the Pens the option to move 8.7M tied up in Malkin for the chance to pick up two offensive wingers, and add further balance to the team. Assuming Tangradi is ready,( he has 16G in the AHL) next season, adding two top flight wingers would give the Pens 4 top 6 six wingers to surround their top 2 centers, and plenty of 3rd and 4th line character players. Anyway, Staal has also shown a much more physical side to his play, and was compared favorably to Keith Primeau today. At any rate, a very nice win today, and every 2 points they can get with Crosby out will be big come April. One final note to put Crosby's season in perspective......despite missing the past 5 games, he leads the league in points by 7 points, and is still tied for the league lead in goals.
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