Faceoff Factor

Pens Vs Sabres Grades

Mike Adams | Report Cards

Mar 13, 10:27 AM | Hype this story!

Lucky 13

Offense: A

The Pens were all over the lifeless Sabres. They generated 26 even-strength shots, and kept pressure on Buffalo most of the night. It was one of their better offensive performances, start to finish, of the season. The transition game was tremendous. They continually forced the Sabres to turn the puck over, then went the other way. Just a great skating effort. Tyler Kennedy got things started early on, showing tremendous speed after taking a Dupuis pass and rocketing in alone on the beleaguered Ryan Miller. He made a nifty move and somehow found a hole between Miller and the post. It was a beautiful goal. The next one was simpler. Taffe won a draw (will the miracles ever cease?). Letang skated beautifully with the puck before passing to Sydor, who wristed it toward the net. Taffe got the well-earned deflection goal. Then, as things deteriorated for the Sabres, Staal made a beautiful pass to Minard, who deposited his first NHL goal behind Miller. That was it for the Buffalo netminder, but not for the Pens. Letang finished the scoring by beating Jocelyn TBlow with a twisted wrister. All in all, it was just an awesome performance.

Defense: B

The Pens also played one of their better defensive games in awhile, at least until they got sloppy when the game was out of hand. They kept the shot total lower than it has been lately. And Buffalo had few quality scoring chances. What rebounds Conklin left, they cleared. As I said, they did break down a bit in the third after the game was essentially over, and that led to three Buffalo goals. First one, Gonchar inexplicably followed a Sabre behind the net as the puck was in front. This allowed Jochen Hecht time to make a move and put it past Conklin. The final Buffalo goal resulted from a Malkin giveaway at the blueline that left Sydor and Whitney a bit flatfooted trying to defend.

Power play: A

No Sid. Three power play goals. As Bibsy called it, this is the “shooting power play.” Every goal came about as a result of shooting the puck from the blueline and working hard in front. On the first one, Gonchar put a screened wrister past Miller. Then Sykora banged home a rebound. Then Malkin deflected home a shot/pass from Sydor. See, it really IS that simple. I don’t know why Geno and Sid together make it so complicated. But they do need to be separated once Hossa comes back. Especially in the playoffs, “pretty” power plays will not work. You just have to get the puck on the net and pound away. With big bodies like Malone and Staal in front, there is no reason it won’t work.

Penalty kill: A

The game might have turned on a penalty kill. When Laraque took his major (more on that later), the game was only 1-0 and the Sabres were into it. They did a fantastic job killing that one off, and might have even had more scoring chances than the Sabres during it. Eventually, they forced Buffalo into taking a penalty that negated the last minute of the penalty, and the game turned around. They just buckled down and gave the Sabres nothing during the major. No matter who they put out there, they pressured the Sabres all over the ice. They only took one other penalty, and killed it perfectly, too. Just a great job.

Goaltending: B+

Conklin had one of those Grant Fuhr/Tom Barrasso type games. Just win, baby. When the game was still tight, he buckled down and made some huge saves, most notably the one on Maxim Afinogenov where he just sprawled but somehow stopped the puck. Once the game was out of hand, he let a few in. It hurts the ol’ stats, but not the team. Like a big-time goalie, he was there when they needed him. There wasn’t a lot he could do on two of the goals, but he probably should have stopped the shorthander by Daniel Paille. Things got hairy there for just a couple minutes because of it, but the Pens rallied and put it out of reach.

Overall: A

No Sid. No Hossa. No Hockey God. No Talbot. No Scuderi. No Eaton. No Beech. No problem. What a total team effort this was. What do Orpik, Gill, Laraque, James, and Ruutu have in common? They were the only Penguins who DIDN’T register a point in this one. Amazingly, 13 Penguins had points in the game. That is the epitome of team. It’s like it doesn’t matter who plays and who doesn’t. This team just finds a way to win no matter who is in the lineup. Here they are playing a supposedly desperate team, and they just come out and dominate them. It really does make you wonder how good they can be if everyone ever gets healthy.

And now, the rest of the story…

The Genius: A

He handled the injury situation perfectly. I think he had all the injured guys look at the schedule and decide that this was a good game to sit out. It gives them all basically a week off. At this point in the season, getting them healthy is more important than even winning home ice. So why not nudge them to sit out a game like this? It will do much more good in the long run than a loss would have hurt them in the short term. There are some coaches who would be pushing guys to play no matter what. But Therrien seems to have the perfect attitude about all the injures. I will say it again, he deserves to be mentioned in the Jack Adams balloting.

Kris Letang: A

Did you know that this supposed offensive defenseman had more PK time than any other defenseman last night? He was all over the ice. He skated beautifully. His little slump appears to be over. This guy is going to be an all star before too many years go by.

Petr Sykora: A

It showed some guts on his part to play last night, back spasms and all. He even said he was getting treatments at the hospital overnight. Now, that’s dedication. He is a much better and tougher player than I ever thought he was. Did you know he now has the same number of points as Paul Kariya? Great, great signing by Ray Shero

Evgeni Malkin: A

Was there a shift where he WASN’T the best player on the ice?

Chris Minard: A

Congrats to him on his first NHL goal. Three years in the ECHL, now he scores in the NHL. What a thrill that must be for him.

Darryl Sydor: A

Boy, isn’t it nice to be able to put him at the point on the second power play instead of Orpik and Scuderi like we saw last year. He is playing solid hockey right now after a rough start, making this another Shero coup.

Buffalo Sabres: F

For a team supposedly fighting for their playoff lives, they sure didn’t show much heart last night. You can’t often say that about a Lindy Ruff coached team, but they should be embarrassed at how they played. I’m not talking about losing. They have taken some huge hits in losing Chris Drury, Daniel Briere, and Brian Campbell. That’s fine. The least you can do is go out there and COMPETE. They didn’t do that once they got down a couple. They just rolled over and died. Of curse, they can’t catch a break, either (more on that in a bit).

Striped Buffoon Huh? Calls of the Game

The first one was the War Garage not allowing the goal where Conklin gloved the puck out of the net. I honestly think the puck was in. Yes, there was no proof, but I have seen goals awarded in similar situations. I believe the Pens got one against Buffalo last year when Biron gloved the puck. You couldn’t see for sure that it crossed the line, but it HAD to have. Same thing here. Not a horrible call, but I’m just saying they are inconstant in how they use replay. The second one was another Buffalo goal that was disallowed because the whistle blew. Conklin never had the puck covered, and I don’t know why the buffoon would have blown it dead. I know he was on the other side of Conklin, but it didn’t even LOOK like Conklin had covered it. He was still fishing for it when the whistle blew. Horrible call.

Icehole of the Game I

Georges Laraque, for elbowing Nathan Paetsch in the chops long after the puck was gone. This is just a moronic play by Laraque. I have no idea what he was thinking, but a long suspension will be forthcoming. This is the exact thing the NHL is trying to get rid of. There is simply no excuse for it. Methinks Big Georges has played himself out of a new contract with the Pens this last month or so. He will only dress as necessary (Flyers, Rangers) the last three weeks, and won’t see the ice in the playoffs.

Icehole of the Game II

Phil Bourque. In a pickup game in the afternoon, he caught Ray Shero on the chin with a wayward stick. The GM had to get stitched up. The good news is at least Shero looks like a player now. The bad news is Bourque will be looking for work in the offseason.

A Guide to the Grades can be found here