Faceoff Factor

Pens Vs Devils Grades

Mike Adams | Report Cards

Apr 2, 10:37 AM | Hype this story!

Chant: Uncle Daddy!
Clap, clap, clap-clap-clap
Or maybe Maaaaaaaaaarty, Maaaaaaaaaarty
Or Go home Devils!

Offense: A

They put up 4 goals on 28 shots on what is supposed to be a good defensive team. But they sure weren’t last night. The Pens basically dominated from start to finish. Most of the goals came on the transition, which is something the Devils had done to the Pens earlier in the year.

Defense: A

Solid from start to finish. Aside from the goal, the Devils really didn’t have any offense at all. The Pens just totally dominated them, with almost every shot being a weak one from the outside.

Yeo play: A

It started off slowly, with a very poor first effort. But then they got going and put two past Uncle Daddy. Geno, playing the right half-boards like he should be, snapped a wrister past a beleaguered Uncle Daddy, then Sid banged home a loose puck. The back-to-back PP goals basically put the game out of reach.

Penalty kill: A

Did the Devils have any scoring chances while up a man? I sure can’t recall any.

Goaltending: B

It wasn’t the easiest of games for Fleury. But his hardest problem was staying awake. It must have been difficult, as looked a bit shaky at times, especially with his rebound control. Fortunately, the Pens didn’t need him to be good on this night.

Overall: A

The Pens just thoroughly trounced the division leaders. One team looked primed for the playoffs. The other didn’t look like they even had any interest in them. Like Bibsy said, if you’d asked me two weeks ago who I thought would come out of the East, I would have told you New Jersey. Now, not so much. The Pens won a second straight home-ice game against a division foe, and looked awesome in doing it. They really never let the Devils think they had a chance. They won all the battles. They forechecked. They backchecked. It was just as complete a game as a team can play.

And now, the rest of the story…

Sid: A

A goal and an assist. Just another day at the office.

Geno: A

A power play tally for him, along with another brilliant rush that was almost a goal.

Bill Guerin: A

An assist away from the Gordie Howe hat trick.

Matt Cooke: A

He got them off and running with a nice rebound goal right after a power play had expired.

Max Talbot: A

He has been looking great the past few games.

Lucky 13: A

That’s how many Pens had points last night. That even included Marc-Andre Fleury’s first point of the year. That’s enough to make Uncle Daddy proud. Speaking of which…

Uncle Daddy: F

He was not good at all. Maybe that huge alimony judgment shrank the size of his wallet pads.

Piñatas: A

They are very cool, fun things, when used properly. Last night, the piñata was called Dainius Zubrus, and the Pens whacked it to perfection. First Sid got him. Then Brooksie. And finally, Scuderi. That’s the hat trick right there.

Petr Sykora: C

Hey, at least he wasn’t totally invisible. He did have four shots. But did you know that since March 5, his own goalie has as many points as him? That would be 1.

Tyler Kennedy: A

He seemed to really give them life the first couple shifts with several shots that Uncle Daddy had problems with. Yet he ended up not showing up on the scoresheet.

Bitter Beer Face: F

Man, Brent Sutter is hard to look at when the Devils are losing. Even the refs couldn’t take it anymore, giving him an abuse of officials call for showing them his bitter beer face.

Striped Buffoon Huh? Call of the Game

We have two easy winners. First was the double penalty on Orpik at the end of the first. Personally, I thought the hit on Dainius Zubrus was perfectly legit. I suppose you could debate that. But how does Orpik get a roughing call when Zubrus gets up and just charges at him with fists flying? Joke. But what even more of a joke was Greg Kimmerley failing to call a penalty on Paul Martin when he shot a broken stick right at Geno as Geno was handling the puck. Kimmerley just looked at Geno and shook his head, “no.” Since he clearly saw the play, I guess we can now add Kimmerley to the list that now includes just him and Brad Watson as guys who simply don’t know the rules.

Minard of the Game

Gawd, there were too many to mention. Do you give it to Sid for a careless drop pass or the pass right up his own slot that got intercepted? Or do you give it to Guerin for a horrible pass on a 2-on-1? I’ll go with the latter. When you are a shooter, you shoot on a 2-on-1.

Free Candy

The aforementioned hit on Zubrus.

Monk Moment

Geno’s power play goal. I couldn’t believe my eyes that he was actually on the half boards.

A Guide to the Grades can be found here http://www.faceoff-factor.com/grading-the-pens/979/a-guide-to-the-game-grades