Pens Points Tuesday: Getting Jiggy With It

Only three games on tap Monday night, but they were goodies. Sharks beat Detroit 1-0 in a shootout. Watch Antti Niemi win it with a sick save that will be in the season-end highlight reel. West rules East. I don't really care, to be perfectly honest. Only one team will emerge from there.

The Pens got shut out by the Avalanche last night. I wanted to say snowed in or buried, but that wouldn't be true. Jiggy stole one tonight, and that's all there is to it. Moving on.

Faceoff Factor Pens-Avs grades are in, and they are a mixed bag.

So the Avs continue to win. But are they for real? From worst to first, the best story in hockey this year. They weren't actually that good last night, but Giguere was unbeatable. Let's see if this keeps up.

Pens PK at home is a crisp 13-for-13, but the PP last night was another story. 0-7. It's been a while since I've watched a Pens game in which we couldn't score for all that time with an extra skater.

Even though his 8-game point streak ended tonight, the move of the night still belonged to Sidney Crosby. Nate MacKinnon walked away with wobbly ankles and a W.

Will the clock strike midnight on Olli Maatta? The Pens aren't the only team with a similar dilemma. The Lightning decided to send Jonathan Drouin back to juniors right off the bat. The Capitals decided that Tom Wilson will get to stay. Flames' rookie Sean Monahan already has 6 goals in 8 games. THN's Ken Campbell has a very good piece on all the options available to teams based from where the players were drafted.

More suspensions. I've stopped counting. Grabner gets two, McLeod gets five.

Veteran defenseman and former All Star Roman Hamrlik retires after 20 seasons. Martin Biron also retires after 16 years. It's been fun, guys.

And lastly, how many teams use advanced hockey analytics? More than you think.