Faceoff Factor

Pens/Rangers Game 1 Grades

Mike Adams | Grade "A" Reviews

Apr 26, 11:18 AM | Hype this story!

A comeback for the ages

Offense: B

The Pens came out flying, and peppered King Henrik early with lots of quality shots. But once the adrenalin wore off, they really didn’t generate much of a sustained attack. They really didn’t get much of a forecheck going most of the night, and that’s something you have to do against the Rags. After that initial flurry, they went dormant as New York built a 3-0 lead. They then came alive for two brief spurts. And, oh how they came alive, getting four goals out of 34 seconds worth of game time. The first one was “fluky,” as Ruutu just slid the puck in front and it went in off of former Pen Michal Rozsival. Now, that’s the Rozy I was used to in Pittsburgh. As they were announcing this one, Sid fed a beautiful pass from behind the net to Dupuis, who buried it past a stunned King Henrik. Suddenly, the Pens were back in it. But the Rangers stabilized, and the scored stayed that way until early in the third. Then, lightning struck twice again. First, Hossa threw a puck toward the net from the goal line that went through the space between the blade and boot on Scott Gomez’ skate and slipped past Lundqvist. As the Ranger goalie tried to figure out how that one got past him, Malkin, Malone, and Sykora broke in on an odd-man break. Malkin fed a beautiful cross-crease pass to Sykora, who tapped it in to give the Pens their first lead of the night. It was just an incredible play by Geno. The teams both played tight defense after that, and the Pens generated little offense until Sid drew an interference call late in the period.

Defense: C-

It was the Pens’ worst defensive game of the playoffs. It seemed like the nine days off might have taken something from the way they had been moving the puck out of the zone. They were very sloppy the first half of the game, and it cost them. Whitney took a stupid penalty that led to the first goal. Then, on the second goal (another fluky one), they left Chris Drury all alone to deflect a puck out of the air past Fleury. Sid probably should have had Drury. The Rags scored again less than two minutes later when Gonchar pinched and nobody effectively covered for him, though Malone “tried.” That left John Avery one on one with Orpik. He shot it past Orpik and through a stunned Flower. Suddenly, it was 3-0 and things didn’t look good. The defense tightened after that though, and the Rangers didn’t get too many quality chances the second half of the game. But they managed to tie it when Crosby again failed to backcheck effectively and left Gomez all alone in the slot to zap one in.

Power play: B+

The power play was very inconsistent last night. The first one was tremendous, and only King Henrik’s brilliance kept them from scoring. But they generated numerous chances. The next three were really ugly. They couldn’t get in and get set up, and when they did, they failed to get any real good chances. The last one was kind of headed down that same path, but they managed to settle it down in the waning seconds. Whitney made a nice pass to Sid, who one-timed a laser beam toward the net. Malkin’s leg got in the way of the shot that might have been going wide, and miraculously, it went in. That’s what you need from your power play—a goal at a critical time. And they delivered.

Penalty kill: C

The Pk gave up a key goal at a bad time. The Pens had all the momentum early on, then Whitney took the bad penalty. Then the Rangers dominated on the power play before finally beating Fleury. It was yet another fluky goal, as Marty Straka just threw it in front and it deflected off Gonchar and past Fleury. Not much Gonch could do there, as he was doing his job and tying up Brandon Dubinsky. Things happen.

Goaltending: C

Fleury was not good early on. While there wasn’t much he could do about the first one, he was at least partially at fault on the next two. On Drury’s goal, for some reason, he was coming way out of the net to stop the high shot that would have been way wide. When Drury deflected it, he was out of position. Had he played it under control, the puck might have hit him. Then, on Avery’s goal, again, it wasn’t totally his fault, but it was a shot you’d like to see him stop. He let it get under his arm and through him. But he buckled down after that and made a couple key saves to keep the Pens in it. Not much he could do on the fourth goal, as he had anticipated the puck going to Straka and went down for that shot. It went past Straka to Gomez, who roofed it. Needless to say, though, Fleury is going to have to be better the rest of the series.

Overall: B

The rust clearly showed in this game. Coverage was sloppy, and there wasn’t a lot of flow to the game. The Pens were sloppy in their own end. The offense was sporadic. They fell behind 3-0. Their goalie was not at his sharpest. Yet they still managed to win. This team is starting to look downright scary. When you can win a playoff game from love-three down when you aren’t playing your best hockey, it sure does bode well. For the first time in these playoffs, they faced real adversity and stared it down. Another test passed. They just keep finding ways to win games.

And now, the rest of the story…

Sergei Gonchar: D

He was generally awful last night. It was back to the playoff Gonchar of previous years when he seemed to be floating. He even got called out for it by Darren Eliot on the Rangers’ tying goal.

Brooks Orpik: F

He was even worse, and was on the ice for every Ranger goal. Hey, Genius, maybe you want to rethink the strategy of playing these two guys against the Jagr line.

Sidney Crosby: A

See, Sid, good things happen when you shoot the puck on the power play. He also made a great pass to Dupuis on the second goal.

The third line: A

They showed lots of energy and Ruutu’s goal awakened both them and the crowd.

Marian Hossa: B

He whiffed on a couple great Sid passes, but then scored on the fluky one from the corner. But overall, he played well.

Faceoffs: F

In a matchup of the two worst faceoff teams from the first round, the Pens lost the battle 54-46%.

Jarkko Ruutu: A

Wow, once again he comes through with a huge goal.

Icehole of the Game

Amazingly, it is John Avery. Sid was down on the ice, and Avery just rubbed his stick right across Sid’s face. Only a total imbecile like Avery would do that. Way to get Sid mad, you moron. I’m guessing that after this series, we might retire the Icehole Trophy and rename it the Avery of the game.

Monk Moment

The puck going through Gomez’ skate on Hossa’s shot.

Striped Buffoon Huh? Call of the Game

I actually thought Fat Pig and Sutherland called a good game. There really wasn’t a lot to argue with, save for the non-call on Avery against Sid. Oh, and for the record, I say Drury’s deflection was a goal because I saw no conclusive view saying it wasn’t.

A guide to the game grades can be found here.