Faceoff Factor

Pens Vs Bruins Grades

Mike Adams | Report Cards

Nov 15, 11:26 AM | Hype this story!

Pens finally win
In a great, great hockey game
Where did that come from?

Offense: A+

One goal in three games. Six last night. Go figure. Of course, there was this number 71 guy back in the lineup, so that just might have helped a little. The Pens had great jump all night long, leading to numerous odd-man breaks and a solid forecheck.

Defense: D

Not good at all, especially on the first Boston goal. Eaton and Goligoski looked like a couple peewees chasing Krejci behind the net. Um, could we please leave one defenseman in front?

Yeo Play: F

YEO MUST GO!!!

Penalty Kill: C

One goal in four chances against, but the B’s needed a 5-on-3 to score that one.

Goaltending: F

It was by far Johnson’s worst effort of the season. At least a couple of the goals were of the soft variety. He just never looked sharp, and then it even seemed like he injured himself at one point. He stayed in the game, but he seemed to be having trouble getting up at times.

Overall: A

Because a win is a win at this point. It was a tremendous up-and-down hockey game, as both teams seemed determined to put their offensive woes behind them. The Pens generated all kinds of great chances on Thomas and it eventually paid off in a thrilling win.

And now, the rest of the story…

Sid: B+

A great deflection goal and two helpers more than made up for some horrid giveaways early on.

Geno: A

Is it too early to start the MVP chants? He made a slight difference in the play of the Pens, eh?

Bill Guerin: A

What a great wrist shot to tie the game with 0.4 seconds left. And this by a guy who I had thought might never score again.

Pascal Dupuis: A

That’s a grade you don’t see very often. But he’s playing good hockey right now. He’s playing grittier than I am used to seeing from him. Oh, and he netted the game winner :-).

Chris Bourque: F

Simply not an NHL player. On one play, he skated right past the net on an odd-man break. Had he stopped where he should have, he would have had a great rebound chance.

Ben Lovejoy: A

Who knew he could play goalie, too?

Jordan Staaled: D

He whiffed on two great chances on the power play.

Balance: A

Eleven different Pens had points, including every defenseman except Engelland.

Striped Buffoon Huh? Call of the Game

Boy, is this one easy! Kerry Fraser has spent his whole career (that is thankfully coming to an end after this year) screwing the Pens. And he did it again last night. The Pens were killing Matt Cooke’s four-minute minor when Blake Wheeler skated right over Sid’s stick, which never moved. Wheeler fell down, and Fraser calls a trip The Bruins went on to score. This guy always hated Mario for some reason, and he seems to be doing the same to Sid. It was an absolute joke of a call, but nothing we wouldn’t expect out of Kerry Hairspray.

To be fair here, the lineman totally blew an offside call on the Pens’ first goal. Sid was offside by virtue of his skate being in the air, not on the blue line, and the Pens scored. Yes, it was offside. We slowed it down on our DVR and Sid’s foot was clearly in the air. The problem was the linesman was out of position and was screened by Malkin.

Icehole of the Game

Kerry Hairspray

Free Cookie

He got Mark Stuart back for his hit on Orpik that might or might not have hurt the Penguin defenseman.

Monk Moment

Guerin’s goal as time expired.

A guide to the game grades can be found here.