Pittsburgh Penguins

Sidney Crosby drives Penguins to victory and keeps pace in scoring race
March 18, 2017, 11:37 AM ET [12 Comments]
Ryan Wilson
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The Penguins returned to winning ways with a 6-4 holiday victory over the New Jersey Devils. Pittsburgh once again had to overcome some injury issues as Evgeni Malkin was held out of the game due to an unnamed upper body injury. He is listed as day to day and joins the lengthy list of pained Penguins.

Pittsburgh has now earned nine out of a possible 12 points and given the circumstances it is a great accomplishment. They are keeping pace with the top teams in the league. As of the writing of this blog they are only one point behind the Washington Capitals for the President's Trophy.

A big reason for the victory last night was the Captain getting back on the scoreboard. Sidney Crosby hasn't been scoring goals with regularity in the team's most recent stretch, but he was able to score a power play goal in the first period to get back on track. At the end of the game he was able to get a cheap empty net goal which is fitting considering the kind of luck that he's had. Crosby now has 37 goals on the year and is tied with his Team Canada linemate Brad Marchand for the league lead. His three points kept pace with McDavid's three point game from the other night. He now trails Marchand and McDavid for the Art Ross Trophy by two points. Still a manageable goal.

With Malkin out of the lineup Sid took over the half wall position on the power play. His goal was from that position, but he cheated down low to score. The lower the better for the Captain.




Sid wasn't the only star player to break out of his slump. Phil Kessel scored for the first time in 13 games. He started the game as a left winger and his goal was generated from his off wing. He got a fortuitous bounce off his initial shot which led to the Penguins first goal




The Sheary-Crosby-Guentzel line continues to do as they please. As a trio this year they have now played 86 minutes together and control 62.8% of the shot attempts at 5v5. Sid finished the game with three points while Guentzel chipped in with one goal and Sheary had one assist.

The team used Phil Kessel on the point for the power play last night and if they are going to go in that direction with no Malkin I would just leave the Crosby line intact as the forward unit.

Derrick Pouliot was back in the lineup and his game started off bad and got no better. He wasn't good. The first goal was completely his fault and he was passive the entire game. That's not going to work. Whether it is the coaches telling him to "play it safe" or Pouliot being afraid to make mistakes he is never going to make a positive difference at the NHL level if he plays the way he did last night. The things he excels at should lead to controlled zone exits and entries. There was no evidence of that last night. It would certainly help if the team committed to playing him and keeping him up with the team to practice earlier in his career, but we are closing in the point of no return.

What a treat it is to watch Taylor Hall play hockey. He does everything for the New Jersey Devils. His speed creates so much room for himself and others. He is a controlled zone entry machine. I hope at some point in his career he can play for a cool team.

Beau Bennett scored last night. He now has a point in four straight games. Overall his offensive production isn't where it should be, but he does lead the Devils in possession. At worst he is a good value for a bottom six player.

Carter Rowney got on the board for his first career goal, congratulations. It was also the game winner.