They showed up only for one period and could have even stolen a win because the Sens are as mentally fragile as we are. So, despite the ending, it feels more like a point won than a point lost. If you show up for only 20 minutes, you will usually lose even against bad teams.
Getting a minute and a half 5 on 3 early on and looking
completely lost out there is vintage Penguins hockey. I guess the Puustinen effect has worn off. A gazillion power plays and they had like two good plays (and the goal came from the second unit, of course) until that final one where some scrambled unit finally showed some chemistry but couldn't score.
Pettersson with two good plays on the blue line leading to the two third period goals just goes to show how stupid Graves' modus operandi of "shoot with no traffic" is. He has Karlsson playing with him and a team that it terrible at getting to rebounds or screening goalies and still thinks he should just follow the cliche and put the puck on net. And Karlsson on the PP is making me miss Kris "Can't give a good one-timer pass to save his life" Letang - so many bad decisions, taking too long, flubbed pucks, etc.
The team's general unwillingness to screen goalies is also so annoying. You see someone taking forever to fire a shot and a guy right next to the goalie who doesn't even try to take his eyes away even when there is no D-man actively boxing out. Grandpa Malkin who is playing so badly of late is one of the few who are even trying that kind of thing and that's hardly his forte. Everyone on the opposition teams is on the lookout for deflections from the side of the goal because the Penguins love that play despite scoring only a handful of goals that way. But having Letang and EK65 and loving drop passes to the blue line only to refuse to screen goalies is the definition of galaxy brain move.
At least Rakell scored but if they don't lose both games against the Isles next week I will eat my hat. And why do we always play the Isles after Christmas anyway?
