What a frustrating game. The Penguins play well enough to win and dominate the 2nd period, but come away with a tie score entering the third, and then it all goes to shit.
Much will be chalked up about the 'lucky bounce' that gave Troy Brouwer his chance and go-ahead goal, but Jeff Zatkoff can't stop a puck that beats him clean. He then got beaten clean by Paul Stastny too.
Just a full on breakdown after playing a good road game through 40 minutes. A 2-2 game where you're dominating in shot attempts, and you lose 5-2. What a joke.
Lines and Pairings
Welcome back to the lineup, Tanger! pic.twitter.com/n2dZ9rfryG
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 19, 2016
Many were expecting to see Derrick Pouliot in the lineup following his afternoon recall from WBS, but as Kris Letang was a game-time decision and ended up playing, Pouliot sat this one out. I for one am curious to see if Pouliot gets a look over the likes of Ian Cole or Ben Lovejoy for a game, the two players most deserving of spending a night in the press box.
Highlights
Positives
Evgeni Malkin, my word.
Malkin goal pic.twitter.com/q5ja1qL9m1
— Stephanie (@myregularface) January 19, 2016
Vladimir Tarasenko, my word x2.
Malkin goal pic.twitter.com/q5ja1qL9m1
— Stephanie (@myregularface) January 19, 2016
Great pass. Really nice little chip play by newest Penguin Carl Hagelin to spring Malkin on that rush.
Erasing a 1-0 deficit and taking a 2-1 lead. Kunitz tying the game and then Malkin taking the lead on the road is a good sign that they have the resolve to not quit.
Negatives
Blowing that 2-1 lead and losing 5-2. How awful.
Jeff Zatkoff is bad. The Penguins have created a hole for themselves that they don't have the luxury of dropping games. Matt Murray can help fix this.
Net front defense. As you will see on the shot attempt charts, the Penguins had a total lack of net-front defending.
Stats
Blues | Penguins | |
Goals | 5 | 2 |
Shots on Goal | 25 | 38 |
5v5 Corsi For Percentage | 36.2% | 63.8% |
Analytics
After two periods, the Penguins were in good position having heavily outshot the Blues. They flatlined to start the third, and it was 4-2 by the time they ramped it up to try and get back in the game and it just wasn't enough.
Even Strength Shot Attempts
That type of offensive performance from the Penguins should be enough to win you a game, or at least keep it close. Defensively, however, that is a pure embarrassment and total breakdown. Unacceptable.
Power Play Shot Attempts
Good work by the Penguins penalty kill unit, but just not good enough by the power play. 6 shots on goal is good, but none from close range, That's a problem.
Shot attempt charts provided by War on Ice.
Expected Goals
A refresher of the key for these charts:
More information and description/analysis of Expected Goals can be found here on Hockey Graphs.
In the previous post here using these charts for the first time, I mentioned how it factors in things like shot quality. A more detailed list of what factors into that shot quality is below:
Expected Goals map provided by Don't Tell Me About Heart.
Head-to-Head Shot Attempts
Waste of a good effort, really, when it comes down to it. When you can marginalize the top line of St. Louis with your own, and do to the same to their top defensive pairings, you need to capitalize. The Penguins didn't.
A basic description on how to read these charts: Cross reference a player from each team, and that box shows how many shot attempts each team had while those two players shared ice time. The + and - are from the home team's perspective.
For a refresher on how to read these charts, a write-up with descriptions of what colors mean, which lines to read, and more: H2H Corsi Chart Primer
H2H Chart via Muneeb Alam from Japers' Rink
Individual Shot Attempts
It's all well and good for every Penguins player to be in positive number range and all the Blues players to be in the negative, but it means nothing when you give up three goals in the third period and blow a 2-1 lead.
Individual Shot Attempts Charts via War on Ice
Line-by-Line Shot Attempts
Same story, different chart. When you can put numbers up like this against the Blues on the road, you can't lose by 3 goals.
Individual Player Corsi Data via Hockey Stats
Up next, our friends from the Eastern part of the state in Philadelphia. Gulp.