Beating up the bad guys. Pens rough up, defeat Bruins 2-1

by Hooks Orpik on Feb 4, 2012 4:30 PM EST

The Boston Bruins hallmark is physical, hardnosed play. They intimidate. They hit. They make you pay a price to play them and you certainly don't have a good time when they're on the schedule.

The Pittsburgh Pengiuns took a page out of that playbook and skated into Boston with bad intentions. And they hit, scraped and clawed their way past the B's for a 2-1 matinee win. Though the official statkeeper only credited 28 hits for the Pens (16 of them by the trio of Chris Kunitz, Brooks Orpik and Deryk Engelland), the whole team was physical and chippy and earned a tough win over a stiff opponent.

Some more thoughts on the game:

In a game like this, you'd expect the goals to be well-earned and they both were for Pittsburgh. Immediately after scoring from right in front of the net both Evgeni Malkin and Matt Cooke were hit and knocked down. Gotta pay the price to score some goals and both were willing.
Marc-Andre Fleury was sterling stopping 28 of 29 shots and is riding a personal nine game winning streak now. He's in the zone and playing some of the best and most consistent hockey of his career.
Important to get that first goal, from Malkin. It was on the power play and right before the first ended. Boston out-shot the Pens in the first and although not much was going on, the Pens really stole the momentum and put their stamp on the game by taking the lead into the dressing room. It's something they'd never look back from.
Zbynek Michalek and Paul Martin were the pair on the ice for the only goal against, which has been a trend lately. The two of them just haven't gotten into a rythym together. And though Martin is the favorite target of Pens fans' ire, when will it be discussed that Michalek has been responsible for a lot of the bad too (like this one).
Cal O'Reilly skated 14:21 in his Penguins debut and looked pretty good in his new sweater. O'Reilly had one shot on goal, and it was pretty good too when he re-directed a Martin shot/pass to the cage.
Speaking of O'Reilly, his arrival was rumored to put the screws to Dustin Jeffrey, who hasn't been producing much lately in the wake of his recovery from ACL surgery. Jeffrey did have a real nice subtle play to set up the Cooke goal, so nice to see him respond at least for one night.

Finally, Brooks Orpik about sums it up when he sends Daniel Paille for a ride. To quote "Bull Durham"- anything that flies that far oughta have a stewardess on it, wouldn't you think?

Go Pens. Right back at it tomorrow afternoon against the New Jersey Devils, who just put up six goals this afternoon against the Philadelphia Flyers.

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Comments

Thanks for the write-up, Hooks.

I only managed to catch the second half of the first period, and despite Malkin’s late goal I was a little worried. It looks like they managed to get a little more offensive zone presence through the rest of the game, though. And of course it looks like Fleury made a little magic as well. I’m not tired of that.

Here’s to another 2 points, and a solid road win!

Jagr? I don't even know 'er.

by PopRocks on Feb 4, 2012 4:45 PM EST reply actions

How is Paul Martin in the NHL?

He made two big mistakes this game. Neither led to goals, but both led to good chances. It seems like he does that every game.

Overall though, this was a great performance. A good team win, and we haven’t had many of those recently.

O’Reilly looked fine. He made a couple plays, but obviously didn’t get any points. I’m optimistic that he can contribute if we give him a few more games.

grain of salt

by PaulMorel on Feb 4, 2012 5:06 PM EST reply actions

hmm, really?

I thought Martin actually played an excellent game today. Michalek, on the other hand, looked terrible. I almost threw up whenever Seguin split he and Jeffrey (who should also be called out), and neither of them even attempted to get physical and knock him off the puck.

I liked Jeffrey last year, but I’m ready for him to head back to WBS ASAP. Not sure if he just hasn’t fully recovered, but he has looked quite subpar since his return. I think O’Reilly will be a fantastic replacement for him in the lineup (some of O’Reilly’s passes were a thing of beauty)

by Matt Shaffer on Feb 4, 2012 6:54 PM EST up reply actions

Paul Martin is stealing money from the Penguins

Even Ray Ferraro has been recorded saying what every Pens fan, including Ray Shero, already knows……..Paul Martin sucks and now this 5yr/25 million dollar albatross is an extreme liability.

Funny how some try to point at Michalek when the reality is Michalek is constantly defending 75% of the defensive zone while Paul Martin “ferociously” stick checks as far away from the front of his net as possible.

The worst part is his contract and performance make him unmovable. Other GM’s are laughing at Ray over this one.

by masterchiefnavy on Feb 4, 2012 10:56 PM EST up reply actions

If other GMs are laughing at Ray, why was Martin such a highly sought after defenseman at that FA period?

Seriously, your argument makes no sense.

by SlayerGhaleon on Feb 4, 2012 11:57 PM EST up reply actions

Son of a bitch, why did I let myself get sucked in by such an obvious troll? Damn it.

by SlayerGhaleon on Feb 5, 2012 12:17 AM EST up reply actions

Its ok, I’ve done the same thing before.

Hockey Blogger at Pensburgh.com

by GoPens! on Feb 5, 2012 9:27 AM EST up reply actions

What doesn't make sense...

Paul Martin was good at that point… not so much nowadays.

So, he WAS good and WAS sought after.. can’t see too many GM’s willing to take that contract on now, can you?

I argued with GoPens! on this before, and was in the minority… since then, almost everyone and their dog has acknowledged that Martin is playing poorly, to say the least.

Though there are a few holdouts still…

by LastSonOfKrypton on Feb 7, 2012 2:19 AM EST up reply actions

That reasoning is still flawed. It implies that Ray Shero has a crystal ball that he can use to predict how a player will play years down the line.

In other words, it’s troll logic.

by SlayerGhaleon on Feb 7, 2012 5:34 PM EST up reply actions

No, it implies that hindsight is 20/20 and Ray would pass on that deal if he could.

Troll logic would more likely be telling us that since other teams wanted to sign Martin 2 years ago, that means that people can’t fault the deal now…

by LastSonOfKrypton on Feb 7, 2012 11:31 PM EST up reply actions

Martin was terrible the last couple games, but very good today. Nonetheless, he’s clearly a very good NHL-caliber defenseman, just having a hard time lately. Give him a friggin’ break, folks!

by Doc Nagel on Feb 4, 2012 11:07 PM EST up reply actions

hmm. well, I’m not seeing whatever you’re seeing.

To me, it looks like he is often out of position, turns the puck over poorly 2 or 3 times a game, and charges into the offensive zone too often.

But I am no expert.

grain of salt

by PaulMorel on Feb 5, 2012 12:00 PM EST up reply actions

And though Martin is the favorite target of Pens fans’ ire, when will it be discussed that Michalek has been responsible for a lot of the bad too (like this one).

It won’t, because people are stupid. They’d rather witch hunt one particular player and place all the blame on him instead of intelligently assigning blame to where it belongs on each particular goal against.

There’s also fan favorite bias. I remember a stretch of games where Brooks Orpik was the worst defenseman on the ice. His gap control especially was terrible, and yet nobody said anything about it. Evidently making big hits is more conducive to being a fan favorite than actually playing good defense.

by SlayerGhaleon on Feb 4, 2012 5:34 PM EST reply actions

because I am always perfect and never have terrible days at work...

I can make pontifical judgments of the work of others, in particular, people who do work that is far more dangerous, and possibly far more demanding, than what I do.

By which I mean to say, Slayer, if you’re saying we should prolly shut the f$%$ up about particular players who are going through slumps, I’m with you.

It’s interesting you picked Brooks as an example, since, as any sane person would tell you, Brooks never makes any mistakes whatsoever and is veritably a God on the ice, on every shift! I’ve named all of my children “Brooks Orpik” (“Orpik” is their middle name), and also three of my cats. Okay, that might be too much information…

Hmmmm…

Turns out, evaluating hockey performance is hard.

(P.S. I’ve been a fan of Brooks Orpik since he wore #29.)

by Doc Nagel on Feb 5, 2012 11:26 AM EST up reply actions

I’m with you guys on this one. Orpik has been in a slump this year. To me he’s reverting back to the Orpik of several years ago when he would run around for big hits and lose positioning. He’s been better recently and I think a good bit of that has to do with Letang being back.

As for Martin, I am reall not sure what to make of him. He’s not nearly as bad as everybody complains, yet he’s underperforming his contract. Everyone sees the 2 turnovers in the nuetral zone, or jumping up in the play and the puck goes the other way. But a lot of people don’t acknowledge stick checks in the defensive zone or the guy who failed to get the puck in when a Dman was caught up.

"It's a great day for hockey" - Badger Bob

by StripesForLife on Feb 5, 2012 12:23 PM EST up reply actions