-What a statement game this was. The Pens played a great game till the final horn sounded. They’ve been playing great hockey for about a week now.
-Marc-Andre Fleury was awesome. When the D left him out to dry, he made all but one of the crucial saves. He had a few great saves , but for the most part, he was just solid. This is MAF we all are used to and expect to see.
-The PK unit did a great job. The Canucks have the best road PP, and the Pens pretty much stoned them. They got a few good chances, which Fleury made sure didn’t go in, but on the majority of the plays, the Pens got the puck down the ice before the Canucks even had a chance to set up.
-I thought Sidney Crosby was the best skater on the ice tonight. He was absolutely flying out there. It really seemed like he wanted to prove a point; maybe send a message to Sedin. Whatever it was, Sid looked awesome. There was about six or seven times where DB put Sid out there to only take the defensive zone draw-he must’ve won at least 4 or 5 of them. Too bad he couldn’t get that empty netter. Oh, and he’s got a 7 game point streak going.
-Max Talbot is back to being Max Talbot. He’s that feisty player that will get on your nerves, and then chip in occasionally on offense. Tonight, he was tenacious on the PK, had a nifty feed along the boards to Sid and showed his quick hands (yes, hands) with the wraparound goal.
-Brooks Orpik was great. He pretty much shutdown the Sedin line. He pretty much had his most physical game of the season. I’m going to be Capt Obvious here and say that when Orpik’s playing a physical game, he’s playing his at his best.
- I tell you what, for the way the defense played against Boston a week ago; they’ve had a clear defensive game plan for every game after that. Or, maybe they’ve just executed that game plan better.
-Towards the end of the third, you could just see how frustrated Henrik Sedin was. That’s what the Pens D did to him tonight and that’s why Shero spent all that money on July 1st.
-He lost the puck on the Hamhuis goal, but I thought Letang played well. His skating looked great and he really looked good getting the puck out of his own zone.
-That was a very nice effort that Asham gave on the goal he scored. I still really like him on Malkin’s line.
-I thought the third line, once again, quietly had a nice game. They haven’t produced any goals as a unit, but they look great together.
-Even though the PP didn’t produce, I thought their only real opportunity of the night was a good one.
-Engelland had a poor night it seemed like.
-I thought Dupuis nor Kunitz had a very good game.
-I want to say that Malkin had an okay game, but I didn’t think he looked good out there at all. He created a few chances, but mostly coasted through the game. He had more than a few blatant turnovers early in the game. Then, later on, would make passes outlet passes out of his own zone to teammates that were covered, which would lead to a turnover. And 0-8 in the faceoff circle? He’s got to be better.
-Remember last year how the Pens would beat up on bottom feeders and had a sub-.500 record against team ahead of them in the standings? I think this is a sign that that’s changing.
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