The Penguins clinched home ice advantage with a 4-3 shootout win against the Islanders on Shit Bay tonight. First, the good about tonight. The Penguins are guaranteed home ice advantage and at least a 4th place finish in the conference. In addition, they can still win the division on Sunday if Philadelphia would lose to the Islanders, and we would defeat Atlanta on Sunday. Mike Rupp was a beast all over the ice tonight. The Penguins broke a team record recording their 52nd point on the road this season. Zybnek Michalek scored his 5th goal in the past 14 games, a power play goal. Z looks like a threat on the point, which is necessary since somebody stole the real Kris Letang a couple of months ago. Tanger did notch his 100th career assist, and 50th point of the season tonight, but he looked horrible on many occasions was on the ice for all three Islanders goals, screening Fleury on the game tying goal, and getting hung out to dry on their second, leaving Blake Comeau alone in front of the cage. He whiffed on a couple of clearing attempts, and in general played like a liability much of the night. I get no joy from saying this, as Letang is one of my favorites, but his play of late is a concern. My other concern is just that though the Penguins are winning, they are struggling against bottom feeders, and ultimately winning in the shootout, as opposed to taking control of weaker teams. Out of the top teams in the east they have the least non-shootout wins, with 38, while teams like Philadelphia and Washington have 43. That aside, the Penguins can still take the Atlantic Division, which is no small accomplishment, I just worry about what they can do in the post season without bigger efforts from some of their key players.
No comments:
Post a Comment