The OlymPens

The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia have now come to an end and the Pittsburgh Penguins will be headed back to finish up the 2013-14 NHL season as they attempt to continue capitalizing on their success. How did our players do on the international stage?

First, let's give a shout out to the individual award winners.

Olympic MVP - Teemu Selanne, Captain of Team Finland and Alternate Captain of the Anaheim Ducks

Best Forward - Phil Kessel, Team USA and the Toronto Maple Leafs

Best Defenseman - Erik Karlsson, Team Sweden and Alternate Captain of the Ottawa Senators

Best Goaltender - Carey Price, Team Canada and the Montreal Canadiens

Olympic All-Stars:

F Teemu Selanne, Captain of Team Finland and Alternate Captain of the Anaheim Ducks

F Mikael Granlund, Team Finland and Minnesota Wild

F Phil Kessel, Team USA and the Toronto Maple Leafs

D Erik Karlsson, Team Sweden and Alternate Captain of the Ottawa Senators

D Drew Doughty, Team Canada and the Los Angeles Kings

G Henrik Lundqvist, Team Sweden and the New York Rangers

Gold Medal - Team Canada

Our very own Captain Canada, Sidney Crosby was shut out for most of the tournament and many were disappointed in his lack of offensive success. He spent the whole tournament on the 1st line, paired with his normal Pittsburgh linemate Chris Kunitz for all but 1 game. His other wingers were interchangeable though. One game was Jeff Carter, the next was Martin St. Louis, then  Jamie Benn. But for the final 4 games he was with Patrice Bergeron.

Crosby had 1 Goal, 2 Assists, 11 Shots on Goal, and a +4 in 6 games. Only Jonathan Toews averaged more TOI per game than Crosby amongst Canadian forwards. He is tied for #11 amongst all players in Plus/Minus and was #7 in Faceoffs going 50 of 79 for 63.29%. He was on the ice for 5 Goals For and no Goals Against.

Kunitz had 1 Goal, 7 Shots on Goal, and a +2 in 6 games. He was the #7 F in TOI per game, his lower numbers partly being due to the one game in which he was the 13th F. He was on the ice for 2 Goals For and no Goals Against.

Bronze Medal - Team Finland

Jussi Jokinen spent most of the tournament on Finland's 3rd line, although he had a couple games in which he moved up to the 2nd line. He skated with Juhamatti Aaltonen, Petri Kontiola, Sakari Salminen, Olli Jokinen, Tuomo Ruutu, and  Jori Lehtera. Olli Maatta spent the entire tournament on the 2nd D pair with Sami Salo.

Jokinen had 2 Goals, 3 Assists, 14 Shots on Goal, and a +4 in 6 games. He was the #7 F in TOI per game. He was on the ice for 7 Goals For and 2 Goals Against. He finished tied for #25 in Goals, tied for #17 in Assists, tied for #12 in Points, and tied for #11 in Plus/Minus. He was just 3 for 6 for a 50.00 FO%.

Maatta had 3 Goals, 2 Assists, 13 Shots on Goal, and a +1 in 6 games. He was the #3 D in TOI per game. He was on the ice for 6 Goals For and 5 Goals Against. He finished tied for #3 D in Goals, tied for #10 overall, and  tied for #4 D in Points, tied for #12 overall.

Fourth Place - Team USA

Brooks Orpik played in all of Team USA's games, although who he was paired with and which line they were playing on changed throughout the tournament, but he spent a number of games forming a shutdown pair with his Pittsburgh D partner Paul Martin. In the 1st game Martin was on the 1st pair with Ryan Suter while Orpik was the 7th D. By the 2nd game Orpik and Martin were placed together as the top D pair, remaining so for 2 games before dropping to the 2nd D pair. After Martin got hurt, Orpik remained on the 2nd D pair with a new partner John Carlson.

Orpik had no Points, 3 Shots on Goal, and a +2 in 6 games. He had an Assist on earlier stat sheets, but a scoring change took it away. He was the #6 D in TOI per game, due in large part to the final two games in which they used the top 3 offensive D more often in an attempt to come back from behind. He was on the ice for 6 Goals For and 5 Goals Against. Oddly enough, 4 of those Goals Against occurred when he was paired with Carlson and he wasn't actually responsible for most of them, which is the downside of looking at Plus/Minus stats.

Martin had no Points, 2 Shots on Goal, and a +2 in 4 games. He was the #3 D in TOI per game. He was on the ice for 3 Goals For and 1 Goal Against.

Fifth Place - Team Russia

Evgeni Malkin was named a 3rd Alternate Captain for Team Russia and spent the entire tournament on the 2nd line with  Alex Ovechkin. Their 3rd linemate was Alexander Semin for the first three games and then switched to Alexander Popov for the final two games.

Malkin had 1 Goal, 2 Assists, 20 Shots on Goal, and a +2 in 5 games. He was the #3 F in TOI per game. He was on the ice for 3 Goals For and no Goals Against. He went 41 of 87 for a 47.13 FO%.