Pens Drop Stars 3-1
by FrankD on Nov 12, 2011 10:46 AM EST
in Game Recaps
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PrintOn a night when everyone thought Jordan Staal would pot a hat trick (OK, mainly me, and even that was somewhat joking optimism), it was instead James Neal who came up big against his former team to give the Pens a 3-1 win against the Dallas Stars.
At times it feels like this sort of thing only happens to Penguins fans. You know the "thing" - trade away a player/give a guy up, watch him sign with another team and then witness his new-found glory as he burns the Pens for a goal. Nice to see the tables turn every once in a while.
A few things really stand out from this game:
- Discipline - The Pens went to the box only three times during the course of the game. Joe Vitale was nabbed for goal interference in the second period, Brooks Orpik with a tripping call shortly after and Chris Kunitz was tagged with a roughing call at the end of the game. However, seeing as how Dallas' Brenden Morrow was also hit with a roughing call at the same time, the off-setting minors resulted in Dallas only have two power-play chance on the night. That's definitely one way to limit the Stars' firepower.
- Power Play - If Pittsburgh played a disciplined game, then Dallas played the complete opposite of that. The Penguins had five power-play chances and capitalized on two of them thanks to Neal. 'The Real Deal' now has 11 goals on the season, five of which have come on the power play.
- Matt Cooke - There's sure as hell some sense of irony in watching Matt Cooke score on a penalty shot. That makes for goal number five for Cooke, who now has nine points and four penalty minutes this year (tip courtesy of SBN Pittsburgh's Stephen Catanese)
- Evgeni Malkin - Can't say he was a huge factor against Dallas, but he's mustering up some quiet, quality points over the last few games. Count 'em - seven points over five games (3g, 4a).
Good to see the Pens could come off that long break and appear as if it did them some good. The rest of the month will be a grind as they return to action tonight against the Hurricanes on the road in Raleigh. Puck drops at 7pm.
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I would say that Malkin was most instrumental in scoring the two pp goals. He is who set them up for Neal, four different times, although two were disallowed.
Agreed. Although I think the interference call was correct.
He hasn't scored since the eighth grade picnic - Sir Michael Lange
by Kelly Fisher on Nov 12, 2011 3:04 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
Yes, that one’s hard to argue since the goalie (in crease) was bumped before the puck got there.
However, I’m convinced Kunitz’s stick was under the bar. It was close, but the puck appeared to take an upward angle after CK14 tipped it. If you tip a puck up, and it still hits the net, physics says you were under the top bar, yes? But that’s just the way I saw it.
Either way, I’d agree that Malkin was pretty good on the PP last night, even if it was disallowed twice.
"You come at the King, you best not miss."
I also thought the Kunitz goal was legit and was really surprised they disallowed it after review. Maybe they saw another angle we didn’t? That’s all I can come up with.
He hasn't scored since the eighth grade picnic - Sir Michael Lange
by Kelly Fisher on Nov 12, 2011 4:25 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
I thought it was a close call, and they needed definitive evidence in the video review to overturn the call. I think if it had initially been ruled a goal, it would have stayed a goal, but so it goes. Sometimes you get the breaks, sometimes not.
"90% of the game is physical. The other half is mental." - Yogi Berra
Haha. Ive been doing the points to PIM comparison for Cookie since the 4th or 5th game of the season. I have been made fun of, perhaps rightfully so, because it was so early in the season to claim that hes changed. Glad hes continuing to prove me right.
He hasn't scored since the eighth grade picnic - Sir Michael Lange
by Kelly Fisher on Nov 12, 2011 3:03 PM EST via mobile reply actions
I’m glad you mentioned the Pens’ discipline. That, to me, is one of the most striking aspects of this season. It’s not just Matt Cooke who’s not taking bad penalties (side note: he really should just have 2 PIM; that diving call was bogus, purely on reputation), the whole team is. Last season, the Pens was the second most penalized team in the league. This year, they’re second least.
I was a bit worried going to that game that the Pens might show some rust from all the time off, but I thought that what showed instead was how much they gained from all the practice. Especially in the first period, their passing was really sharp and they used a number of set-ups and breakouts that I hadn’t seen before. I’m looking forward to seeing how they build on that in upcoming games.
Go Pens!
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