Welcome to the View From Where I Sat. Tonight, I recap the loss to the Flyers as well as give my stars, grades and thoughts on the game.Lets begin.
Game Recap
The second period was back and forth, though nothing really happened. Each team had some scoring chances but not much was happening. The neutral zone was locked up by the Flyers, causing the Pens to commit several offside infractions. The Pens did equalize the game when Paul Martin fired a shot from the point. His first goal on the season tied the game at the 9:00 minute mark. Evgeni Malkin had the assist and both teams would go to the intermission tied at two.
The Pens hoped to regain the momentum in the 3rd period, but a string of mental lapses and frankly stupid plays would result in doom for the home team. The Pens could not gain the zone because of the Flyers staunch neutral zone play. This resulted in constant offsides calls against the Pens and ever increasing frustration for the home team. At the 6:50 mark, RJ Umberger gave the Flyers the lead and two minutes later Matt Read would give the enemy the eventual game-winning goal. At the 17:03 mark, Marcel Goc scored his first goal as a Penguin when he wristed home a shot. Spaling and Steve Downie would have the assists. The Pens controlled the flow for the last two minutes, pulling Fleury and putting a lot of pressure on Emery and the Flyers D. Unfortunately, a tipped pass near the blue line by Sean Couturier would result in the puck skidding into the empty net at the 19:33 mark, ending the Pens hopes and the game. The Flyers took their fifth straight from the Pens by a score of 5 to 3.
My 3 Stars
2. Christian Ehrhoff: Assisted on the Spaling goal and was a +3 in 21:32. I thought he played pretty well overall, though he seemed a little rushed with the puck at times and give the puck away a few times. He was relatively solid defensively as well.
3. Marcel Goc: Earned his first career goal for the Penguins. Played a good game, especially on the penalty kill. He was a +2 in his 9:34.
Making the Grade
Marc-Andre Fleury (B-): He wasn't horrible tonight, but he wasn't great either. He got left out to dry by Letang a few times which allowed the Flyers to score backdoor goals. He stopped 28 of 32 but just not good enough against the Flyers.
Olli Maatta (B-): I thought Maatta played rather well tonight, but his grade is a reflection of his stat line because of his partner. Olli was a -3 on the night, but I don't hold him accountable for them. He played very well defensively and was smart with the puck.
Rob Scuderi (B-): I know everyone hates when I say this, but Scuds was solid tonight. He was a -1, but overall he played a pretty solid defensive game and was once again good on the penalty kill.
Paul Martin (B): He scored a goal, but he still screams a guy who is counting the days until he is shipped out of town. He was pretty good defensively, but again was rather sloppy with the puck in the offensive and neutral zones.
Pascal Dupuis (C+): Wasn't very impressed with Duper tonight. Took a lazy penalty, was a -2 on the night. Just not great overall. I expect a tighter two-way game from him and he just didn't have that tonight.
Christian Ehrhoff (B+): See above.
Nick Spaling (A-): See above.
Chris Kunitz (B-): Was ok, but you expect more from Kunitz in a game like this. The one plus is he didn't take any penalties, but he was a -1 and only put up two shots. Just wasn't much of a factor, which is not good for a top-line guy.
Brandon Sutter (C): Disappointing performance by Sutter. He was a -4, only had one shot and just wasn't solid defensively tonight. You're not looking for him to score tons of goals, but you do want to see him play well defensively, and he didn't do that tonight.
Blake Comeau (B): Played pretty well tonight I thought. Assisted on the Spaling goal in the first and played solid game overall.
Steve Downie (B+): I thought Downie played his part perfectly tonight. He got in peoples faces, he kept guys away from Sid and Geno and he added an assist. He was a brighter spot in a dark storm tonight.
Craig Adams (C-): Only played 8:12 and would have gotten a worse grade had he not been solid on the penalty kill.
Zach Sill (D): Only played 6:06 and didn't touch the ice in the third period. A waste in my opinion. Either play him, or play someone who you trust playing 10+ minutes.
Simon Despres (C): Joined the rush that led to a 3-on-1 that Scuderi and Fleury couldn't stop. He was a minus one, took a stupid penalty and only played 11:47. I cannot wait for Bortuzzo to come back.
Marcel Goc (B+): See above.
Kris Letang (D): Horrible, absolutely horrible. His lack of defense tonight, I feel, resulted in the loss. He is responsible for defensive lapses on three of the five goals and his -4 rating shows that. I don't want to say it was solely a lack of effort, more trying to do to much and getting frustrated. Still, no excuse for that play tonight.
Evgeni Malkin (C): Had the assist on Martin's goal but he was pretty crappy tonight. He just looked disinterested all night and it showed. He was a -3 in 20:25 and just looked like he didn't care what was going on. That's what is most frustrating about watching him sometimes and why people get on him.
Patric Hornqvist (C+): Not a great night for the Swede. Was a -2 and only had two shots. To be honest, I thought he was invisible in this game, which isn't good in a big game.
Sidney Crosby (C): Sid played like crap tonight, but unlike some, not from a lack of effort. Sid was trying to force things too much. I didn't count, but I can estimated that 60-75% of the offsides calls were from him trying to do drop passes at the blue line. He needed to be better against Philly and he just wasn't. Final stat line: -2, 3 shots, 0 points, 8 of 20 in the faceoff circle in 19:08.
My Final Thoughts
The penalty kill was solid again. Killing both penalties taken and making it nine straight penalties killed. To go with that, I am pleased with the lack of penalties taken. Only taking two against Philly is phenomenal in my book.
The line of Spaling, Comeau and Downie was great tonight. The trio played a solid game at both ends and each had at least one point; Spaling had two.
The stars flamed out, and you cannot have that against your rival. Crosby and Letang were trying to do too much and the results were not good. Sometimes less is more and the team would have benefitted from that. Kunitz and Hornqvist were practically invisible. They really didn't do much and didn't make much of an impact. Sutter and Dupuis were off their game, especially defensively and Malkin looked like his head was 10,000 miles away. They simply need to be better when playing rivals.
That will do it for tonight guys. Be sure to check out tomorrow night's edition of "The View From Where I Sat" for the Pens game in Detroit.
Thanks for reading and keep on coming back for more.
Cheers!