It was a week for the Pens at their worst, and best
This past week represented the worst of times and the best of times for the Penguins.
On the negative side, Pittsburgh turned a 3-1 third period lead against the Islanders into a meltdown that stretched into a shootout. The Pens would lose in it. They followed that up by getting blown out by Carolina — the second time this season the Hurricanes have made the Penguins look like a substandard team.
That left Pittsburgh with a 5-8-2 record and in a season spiraling out of control. But they took a first step back towards respectability with one of their best games of the season against rival Washington.
In a tied third period, Pittsburgh limited the Capitals to just six shots — a huge improvement for what’s been one of the league’s most porous defensive teams this season. The Pens found a game-winning goal, then tacked on an empty netter and got out of the district with a huge win.
“I thought [the third period] was one of our more complete periods, just kind of digging in and playing a team game,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said after the game. “Really proud of the guys against a team that’s playing extremely well right now. They check hard. They’ve won a lot of games.”
In the most favorable outlook and framing possible, the Pens are 3-1-1 since they lost to Marc-Andre Fleury and the Wild. Games like the one against the Islanders serve as painful reminders of just how challenging this season is proving to be, but Pittsburgh could use more stretches like they’ve had recently.
The good news for the Pens is the schedule is setting them up for it. They’ll have an uphill battle against Dallas on Monday (and the Penguins have not succeeded in uphill battles this season, outside of the Caps game) but the other three games this week? The come against Detroit, Columbus and San Jose.
Those are games that Pittsburgh needs to stack up as wins this season to stay competitive. And quite frankly, those types of games against lowed-end opponents are the ones the Pens have been reliably winning this year.
Let’s check out the rest of the division with the standings on this fine Sunday morning. It’s sorted by points%, given that New Jersey’s high games played so far is skewing the outlook.
Carolina — The Hurricanes eight-game winning streak is no more, ended last night in Colorado with a 6-4 loss. The game also marked the first NHL game of the season for third string Spencer Martin and revealed the potential weakness in net that the Canes have for deeper into the year. But ya can’t win ‘em all and it was a great streak by Carolina to set themselves on the playoff path this season.
NY Rangers — It was a 2-1-0 week and classic week for these Rangers who got some great goaltending in their wins (by Igor Shersterkin on Sunday against the Islanders and Jonathan Quick making 37 saves for a 4-0 shutout win last night against Detroit). Artemi Panarin has 10 goals (and 11 assists) in 13 games and is back off to the races with star his power helping the Blueshirts in a major way. Superior goaltending and stars filling the net is a great regular season formula, it’s no surprise NYR is playing the hits again this year.
Washington — The Caps and their coach were not satisfied with the effort and focus given on Friday night’s 4-2 loss to Pittsburgh, and they bounced back big time with an 8-1 road blowout win over St. Louis last night. It’s a light week ahead but perhaps a telling one for Washington, who host Toronto and then play in Colorado in the coming days.
New Jersey — Very positive week for the Devils, who went 3-0-0 and looked great last night roaring back from a 3-1 hole against the Islanders and turning it into a 4-3 OT win. Big game for Jack Hughes who set up the game-tying goal in the last minute then went ahead and scored the winner in overtime. NJ was up/down early but seems to be gaining traction.
NY Islanders — NYI was all over the place this week, they took a tough loss to their rivals NYR on Sunday. They beat Ottawa later in the week. Then the Islanders were on the good side of a 3-1 comeback (PIT) and as mentioned above, the bad side of it (NJD) in a pair of overtime games. 2-1-1 is a week they’ll take with all the injuries and survive to the next week like only they can do.
Columbus — Light week for ‘Lumbus, who are currently out west. The Blue Jackets lost 2-1 in OT to San Jose and then 5-2 last night to Los Angeles. Overall, CBJ is 0-3-1 in the month of November. They’ll get another few cracks at it when they play Anaheim today and then jump up north to play in Seattle on Tuesday before returning home to host the Pens on Friday.
Philadelphia — The Flyers put together a 1-1-1 week on the road in some tough places. It took a last minute third period goal for Carolina to beat Philadelphia, that could have easily been an OT game and gotten them at least one more point. Their other loss in the week (a four-round shootout in Florida) was close to going the other way too. The week ahead will be a test, the Flyers get Ottawa and Buffalo after a game against SJ and those two Atlantic matchups will be a good measuring stick to see where Philadelphia is against other teams in the hope for a playoff hunt.
