For the second time this season the Pittsburgh Penguins have defeated the Montreal Canadiens. Not a great sign for the Habs given how the Penguins season has unfolded so far this year. Pittsburgh can’t win against good teams. They beat bad teams. If they’ve beaten you twice...
Sometimes it is as simple as one team has Sidney Crosby and the other one doesn’t. Sid followed up his two-goal effort against the Anaheim Ducks with another two goals against the Canadiens. When combined with his three-assist effort against the Wild you have seven points in the last three games. This is after having only one point in the previous five games. He now has 14 points in 13 games. It also coincides with him receiving a certain winger. The last three games Evgeni Malkin has been riding shotgun with Crosby and the last three games there has been more time and space for both of them than with prior linemates. If nothing else it has been a lot of fun watching the top line lately.
In their close to 50 minutes of action together they’ve out-attempted 79-47 for a 62.70% advantage. They have an xGF% of 60.85. While I don’t think beating some of the worst teams in the league is a reason for long-term optimism, I also saw how the Edmonton Oilers have operated for years stacking McDavid with Draisaitl. The Oilers won a quite a number of games over the years consolidating their best players onto one line when the rest of the roster was suspect. Loading up is probably one of the few ways the Penguins can find success this season.
The week ahead has three divisional opponents for the Penguins and they will all be on the road. They will go up against the Islanders, Hurricanes, and Capitals. To this point the Penguins have struggled with decent teams and as of right now the Hurricanes and Capitals are #1 and #2 in the league in 5v5 xGF% in back-to-back nights.
The Penguins will be skating uphill this week.
Thanks for reading!
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