Penguins Knuckle Canucks Under, 4-1

Less than a fortnight ago our Penguins were coming off lopsided back-to-back losses and sinking like a stone in the standings. Now they’re in the thick of the Metro Division playoff chase.

Amazing what a four-game winning streak can do for a team.

Indeed, the Penguins continued to mow down the opposition like so many blades of grass. They toppled skidding Vancouver last night at PPG Paints Arena by a 4-1 count.

Our guys carried the play through a scoreless opening frame, outshooting the Canucks, 16-9. Tristan Jarry continued his marvelous work between the pipes, stopping an early breakaway attempt by J.T. Miller that might’ve dramatically altered the script.

Meanwhile, the Canucks, the seventh-most penalized team in the league, beat a steady path to the penalty box. It finally caught up to them 49 tics into the second period. Bryan Rust did the honors, finishing off a crisp series of tape-to-tape passes from Jeff Carter to Jake Guentzel to Kris Letang to No. 17. It was Rusty’s second goal of the campaign, snapping a lengthy scoring drought.

Our second goal came courtesy of an opportunistic play by Evan Rodrigues. E-Rod scurried to the boards to scoop up a wayward clearing attempt by Quinn Hughes. After drifting to the left circle, he looked off a Canucks defender and froze behemoth Tyler Myers before smoking Thatcher Demko with some top-shelf cheese.

The Pens made it 3-0 at 15:29 on a jailbreak 3-on-1 rush by the “Grind Line.” Teddy Blueger won a puck battle along the wall in our zone and nudged the rubber ahead to Brock McGinn. The former ‘Cane worked a give-and-go-and-give-again with Zach Aston-Reese, who wired a shot beneath Demko’s blocker arm for his first goal of the campaign.

Although the Canucks never really threatened on the scoreboard, they’re a skilled team and refused to go down quietly. Bo Horvat struck at 14:52 of the final period on a brilliant individual effort. After taking a short pass from Luke Schenn, the Canucks’ captain blew past Rodrigues and Letang and drove to the net with a superb power move before beating Jarry with a backhander.

The visitors, who held a 12-6 advantage in third-period shots on goal, continued to press the attack. But with a minute to go and Demko pulled for an extra attacker, McGinn split the empty net…with an assist from Elias Pettersson…to secure two points for the Pens.

Puckpourri

Shots were dead-even at 37 apiece. Vancouver dominated the faceoff circle, winning a staggering 62 percent of the draws. They held a slight edge in hits as well (31-26).

Jarry was terrific once again, making 36 saves to nab top-star honors. He’s stopped all but four of the last 137 shots he’s faced…an incredible .978 save percentage.

Rodrigues continues to impress. In addition to his seven goals and 14 points (second-best on the team) he leads the team with a sterling 5v5 shot attempts percentage of 61.7. While we’re on the subject, guess who’s second? Yep, Dominik Simon at 61.2.

Guentzel’s goal-scoring streak was snapped at five games. However, his points-streak is alive and well at seven games. McGinn had a goal and an assist to earn the second star. Good to see Aston-Reese get off the schneid. ZAR’s early hits on Juho Lammikko and Oliver Ekman-Larsson helped set an aggressive tone.

A mild (or perhaps greater) concern. Although he appears to be rounding into form (four shots on goal, 20:47 of ice time) Sidney Crosby was once again held off the score sheet. Sid was heavily in the red in Corsi events (11-21) and won only 35 percent of his faceoffs.

The Pens (9-6-4, 22 points) are currently tied for fourth in the Metro with the Blue Jackets, who have two games in hand. Next up, the Islanders at UBS Arena on Friday night.

Happy Thanksgiving to all our faithful readers and commenters!