Empty Thoughts: Penguins 4, Rangers 2
Observations from the Penguins’ 4-2 win against the Rangers:
Jake Guentzel’s resume is impressive.
He has recorded one 40-goal season in his career. He probably would have two were it not for a devastating shoulder injury he suffered last season (to say nothing of a global pandemic that disrupted the entire season).
Before his injury, he was slated to appear in his first All-Star Game.
Then there are his postseason accomplishments.
He shares the NHL record for most playoff points for a rookie with Hockey Hall of Famer Dino Ciccarelli (21). And he also shares the franchise mark for most game-winning goals in a single postseason with some schlub named Mario Lemieux (5).
By any measure, Guentzel is a high-end player.
But by the eye test, he’s not all that remarkable of a goal-scorer.
That’s to say he doesn’t have a signature way of scoring goals.
Evgeni Malkin has that cannon-blast of a one-timer from the right circle. Sidney Crosby can power a nuclear submarine with his wicked backhander. Mark Recchi had that one-legged wrister from the right circle to the far side. Jaromir Jagr could deke and bull his way through any kind of interference that befouled the game in the 1990s. Power forwards such as Patric Hornqvist and Kevin Stevens would do most of their damage above the crease allowing pucks to deflect off knees, skates or butts for goals. Jean Pronovost was one of the first players in franchise history to adopt a European style of weaving into the offensive zone for his goals.
And Lemieux? He could score just about any kind of goal in a spectacular fashion.
As for Guentzel. He just kind of “collects” goals.
His goal in the first period of Tuesday’s game was nice, but not spectacular. In other words, it was a typical goal for Guentzel. He was in the right place at the right time and scored on a nice wrister.
“You’ve got to find different ways to score in this league,” Guentzel said via video conference. “However you can get it, you take it. A lot of goals are around the front of the net. Just find different ways and try to get your shots off.”
If the NHL ever gets back to having All-Star Games events in a post-pandemic world, Guentzel will surely be invited to more of these spectacles. That said, he probably won’t win any of the skills competitions for things like the hardest shot or target shooting. Those aren’t his strengths.
But he’ll definitely deserve to be there given how often he scores, even if he does it in a subtle and unremarkable fashion.
“When you look at Jake, nothing from his physical attributes jump out at you as a player,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “He’s not an imposing presence physically, he’s not lightning fast, he’s not big and strong. But I think his hockey IQ is off the charts. When we talk about him as a coaching staff, the phrase I always use is that ‘He’s a hockey player.’ He just knows how to play hockey. He finds the soft spots at the right times that Sid gets him the puck or his linemates get him the puck that gives him the opportunities to get the looks. Then he has a knack to finish. And he plays with a lot of courage. He’s competitive, he’s not afraid to go to the dirty areas, the hard areas where he knows he’s going to take a cross check in order to get a scoring chance.
“For me, he’s just a hockey player. He knows how to play the game and he’s got a knack to finish to find the back of the net.”
What happened
The Rangers took the game’s first lead thanks to a player still on the Penguins’ payroll. Defenseman Jack Johnson, who had the final three years of his contract bought out by the Penguins in October, scored his first goal of the season at 9:16 of the first period. From the left corner of the offensive zone, Rangers forward Julien Gauthier slid a pass to the left point for Johnson who stroked a one-timer that glanced off the left leg of Penguins defenseman John Marino, positioned above the crease, and deflected past goaltender Tristan Jarry’s blocker on the near side. Gauthier and forward Chris Kreider had assists.
Things were tied, 1-1 late in the first period at the 18:54 mark. After a defensive zone turnover by Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren, Penguins forward Sidney Crosby settled the puck at the right point and flicked a backhand pass to the left point for an onrushing Guentzel. Moving toward the left circle, Guentzel used Johnson as a screen and lifted a knuckler past goaltender Keith Kinkaid’s glove on the far side for his eighth goal. Crosby had the lone assist.
The Penguins took their first lead 2:40 into the second period with their third short-handed goal of the season. After gaining the offensive zone on the left wing, Penguins forward Brandon Tanev centered the puck for forward Teddy Blueger in the slot. Crisscrossing with Tanev, Blueger veered to the left circle, scooted around Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller and attacked the crease, jamming in a backhander that trickled under Kinkaid for Blueger’s fourth goal of the season. Assists went to Tanev and defenseman Brian Dumoulin.
A dominant shift in the offensive zone by the Penguins’ second line led to their third goal late in the second at the 19:40 mark. Corralling a puck on the left wall, Dumoulin rimmed it around the boards where it was claimed by forward Evan Rodrigues near the right corner. Avoiding pressure from Lindgren, Rodrigues fed a little pass behind the cage for forward Evgeni Malkin who then slipped a pass to forward Kasperi Kapanen in the slot. Dragging the puck past a stick check from Rangers defenseman Adam Fox, Kapanen roofed a wrister over Kinkaid’s glove for his seventh goal. Assists were credited to Malkin and Rodrigues.
It became a one-goal game again thanks to a power-play goal 3:18 into the third period. From the high slot, Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich dealt the puck to the right circle for forward Ryan Strome. Surveying the zone for a moment, Strome forced a pass attempt above the crease for forward Chris Kreider but had the puck deflect off of Marino’s left skate and under Jarry’s right leg. It was Strome’s ninth goal of the season and it came off assists from Buchnevich and Fox.
After the Strome goal, the Rangers just dominated the third period, controlling shots, 15-1. Two of their shots were high-quality chances in tight by Buchnevich that were simply stolen by Jarry at the 17:29 and 17:47 marks.
The Penguins’ lone shot was by Crosby who air mailed a wrister from the neutral zone into an empty cage for his ninth goal of the season. There were no assists.
Statistically speaking
• The Rangers dominated shots, 35-27.
• Penguins forward Bryan Rust and Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad each led the game with six shots.
• Penguins defenseman Kris Letang led the game with 25:15 of ice time on 30 shifts.
• Fox led the Rangers with 22:52 of ice time on 27 shifts.
• The Rangers controlled faceoffs, 36-29 (55%).
• Blueger was 9 for 14 (64%).
• Rangers forward Brett Howden was 7 for 11 (64%).
• Dumoulin led the game with three blocked shots.
• None of the Rangers had more than one blocked shot.
Randomly speaking
• Even with the victory, the third period might be on the short list of the Penguins’ worst periods of the season. They had trouble possessing the puck and largely just sat back waiting for the Rangers to mount an attack. That’s a bad way to win games.
What made that approach confounding was that during Sunday’s 5-1 home win against the Rangers, the Penguins opened the third period with a 3-1 lead and really fended off the Rangers before capping off the win with two more goals. This game was nearly the opposite.
• A common criticism of Jarry this season, even as he played better as of late, was that he never really stole a game or a goal. Well … that notion is outdated all of a sudden. Jarry earned his lunch money, particularly in that third period.
• Maybe this goes in the “Visually speaking” section, but check out these two stunning photos by colleague Chaz Palla who managed to catch an overhead look of each of Jarry’s stunning saves on Buchnevich. The first shot:
And the second shot:
• The Penguins’ top pairing of Dumoulin and Letang struggled on each of those chances. First, Letang had a turnover behind the cage leading to Buchnevich’s first shot. Then Dumoulin was just slower than mud in trying to defend the chip up the boards to Zibanejad and was late in getting back in hoping to prevent Buchnevich’s next shot.
It’s fair to expect more out of that duo late in games.
• That said, they were part of that dominant shift leading to Kapanen’s goal. So it wasn’t a total bust for them.
• Speaking of which, Rodrigues continues to fill in aptly for injured forward Jared McCann (who was filling in for injured forward Jason Zucker) on the second line. He’s not an ideal fit in that spot for any lengthy period of time, but he’s been perfectly competent in the short term.
• Kapanen continues to look as if he’s a perfect fit for Malkin.
• Much to the consternation of the ice crew in Cranberry, Blueger spends a lot of time after practices working on his edges to his skating (among other parts of his game). All that work paid off in how he was able to cut to the net on his short-handed goal on Tuesday. Any success Blueger enjoys isn’t an accident.
• Speaking of accidents, Marino had a rough night as each of the Rangers’ goals glanced off of him. He’ll have better nights.
• The fourth line continues to be an issue but Colton Sceviour, Mark Jankowski and Anthony Angello looked like they gave a real you-know-what and skated hard. There are still miles to go for that line to offer something meaningful but this was a step in the right direction.
Historically speaking
• Crosby (685 penalty minutes) surpassed defenseman Russ Anderson (684) for 12th place on the franchise’s career penalty minutes list.
• Johnson’s last goal against the Penguins — aside from all the ones he put into his own net while as a member of the Penguins, hardy har har — came as a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets in a 4-3 home shootout win against the Penguins Dec. 13, 2014.
Publicly speaking
• Blueger summed up Jarry’s saves on Buchnevich pretty well:
“Game-saving saves. Won the game for us. Those were huge. There’s no other way to put it.”
• Sullivan on the third period:
“We’ve got to do a better job. We’ve just got to execute, we’ve got to defend better. I thought we had a great blueprint on how to finish games out (during Sunday’s 5-1 home win against the Rangers). We did a much better job. But for whatever reason, tonight, we just got on our heels a little bit. Give the Rangers credit, they pushed hard in the third period and they carried play for a lot of the third period.”
• Blueger on the third period:
“When we have a lead, we kind of tend to back off a little bit, especially late, and invite the pressure. When the other team is coming hard like that, it’s tough to deal with wave after wave after wave. We’ve to get better with just sticking with our game plan.
“I just think we were too much on our heels and inviting the pressure too much.”
• Sullivan on the shift leading to the Kapanen goal:
“It was one of the best shifts we had all year I think. It was a clinic on puck possession and offensive zone play. Those guys are so talented and so instinctive, when they possess the puck like that, they’re difficult to defend. And it was a goal-scorer’s goal. It was a great goal by (Kapanen). But all five guys were involved in the extended zone time. It wears guys down. It’s hard to defend that. There’s a fatigue factor that comes into play that gives us an advantage. But that’s part of the strategy of the possession in that offensive zone sequence.”
Visually speaking
• Game summary.
• Highlights:
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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