Faceoff Factor

Pens At Lightning Grades

Mike Adams | Report Cards

Jan 3, 10:40 AM | Hype this story!

Yet another loss
Yet another poor effort
Is a trade called for?

Offense: F

They rarely tested Mike Smith. They managed only 19 even strength shots, and few of those were of high quality.

Defense: F

The defense was just as inept. All three Tampa goals were by guys left untouched in the slot area. And when two of those goals are by Zenon Konopka and Steve Downie, well, you are doing something incredibly wrong. Goligoski got splattered into the boards on the first goal. At least the lines spread it around, as three different groups were victimized.

Yeo Play: F

It pretty much cost them a hockey game last night. You will rarely see anything more inept than the power play when Smith lost his goalie stick, a defenseman gave him his, and a forward gave a stick to the defenseman. They managed maybe one shot on goal the entire two minutes. Oh, but the passing was a beauty to behold. The number of consecutive passes probably reached double digits. They just kept looking for the perfect shot, which, of course, never came.

Penalty Kill: A

They gave the Lightning nothing on the PP. Great job.

Goaltending: A-

You can’t really blame Fleury for the loss. He made some incredible saves just to keep them in it. And every goal was on a loose puck in front where the Pens acted like the Lightning guys had cooties or something. The only quibble with Fleury’s play was his rebound control.

Overall: F

This was a joke of an effort. I think they were upset that it was an afternoon game that deprived them of beach time. Their minds sure were elsewhere most of the night. They played very well in New jersey the other night in a loss, but that was not the case yesterday. They played for the most part like they just didn’t give a crap what happened.

And now, the rest of the story…

Sid: D

Invisible for the most part.

Geno: F

Typical afternoon game for him. That’s three scoreless games in a row for him. How can that even happen?

Sarge: A

He was their best defenseman. Oh, wait, he did that by not playing?

Martin Skoula: F

How long you been playing hockey, son? How many times have you been told you can’t play with a broken stick?

Paramedics: F

They were called into the Pens locker room after the game, but left empty handed. This, despite the fact there were 18 lifeless players in there.

Striped Buffoon Huh? Call of the Game

The Pens had four power plays. ‘Nuf said.

Free Candy

He nailed Geno and Fleury in an Olympic tune up.

Icehole of the Game

Matt Smaby. He slewfooted Fedotenko, then cross-checked him three times while he was on the ice. Somehow, he only got two minutes for all of that. But it was the two minutes of infamy detailed above.

A guide to the game grades can be found here.