Faceoff Factor

Pens At Habs Grades

Mike Adams | Report Cards

Feb 7, 10:59 AM | Hype this story!

Penguins mail one in
Trip just wasted jet fuel
Next time, just forfeit

Offense: C

Well, they did score three goals. But they did very little right. There was absolutely no sustained forecheck against a team that had been giving up shots by the dozen in its last few games. The lifeless Pens managed only 19 even strength shots, few of which were of high quality. They exerted little effort, and got even littler results.

Defense: F

Bibsy and Steigy mentioned that the Pens had spent the long break working on defensive zone coverage. Gee, they could have fooled me. It was as bad as it’s been all season. The Habs had two rebound goals and another that went off a defenseman’s stick. Oh, not to mention a breakaway goal. The pairing of Letang and Eaton was especially putrid. Eaton should earn a press box seat for his trip of Johnson on the last goal. That was just pathetic. Then there was Gonchar tipping the Mathieu Darche shot past Fleury. Maybe they need a longer break and even more practice.

Power Play: F

It was just awful. The lack of effort just doomed them. They had some chances to shoot and passed them up, but for the most part they just fiddled and diddled (anybody know who made that phrase famous?) just like they did the rest of the afternoon.

Penalty Kill: C

They allowed a key power play goal with poor coverage in front. They did kill a long 5-on-3 long ofter the outcome had been decided.

Goaltending: B

I find it very hard to blame the goaltending for this debacle. Fleury really had little chance on any of the ones that got by him (see below for fuller comments, especially on the first goal). And Eaton tripped Johnson on the only goal he allowed. Nope, the goalies were the only ones who broke a sweat yesterday.

Overall: F

Seriously, why did they even waste the time and fuel to fly to and from Montreal? They would have been better served getting down to DC Friday and just forfeiting the two points to Montreal. It was just an embarrassing performance.

And now, the rest of the story…

Sid: F

I think they secretly brought back Rico Fata and dressed him in 87.

Geno: C

He probably deserves a bit higher, but that totally selfish penalty he too with a couple minutes to go really ticked me off. The Pens still had a chance (however minute) at that point. For one of your supposed leaders (he is wearing an A for some unknown reason) to do something so totally stupid just tells you where their minds were yesterday. I hope HCDB sits him for a few shifts at the start of today’s game as punishment.

Sarge: F

The typical afternoon game for him.

Mark Eaton: F

Just a horrible game for him. Can they get Ben Lovejoy to DC in time for today? Eaton deserves to sit for this one.

Mark Letestu: A

I like this kid. He just always seems to be in the right place. On a team with Crosby, Malkin, and Staal, he might have been their best center yesterday.

HCDB: F

Can someone please explain why you would have Sid on the penalty kill when you’re down 5-2 with 5 minutes to play? How foolish would that look if Sid got hurt?

Striped Buffoon Huh? Call of the Game

The Marouelli effect will live on. As I say every time he calls a Penguin game, there is no ref in this league more biased against a team than Marouelli is against the Pens. With his looming retirement, I thought maybe we’d finally be rid of this plague. But he took it to a new level yesterday. He quite obviously passed the torch to Steve Kozari. Te rite of initiation was for Kozari to make as bad a call as humanly possible as early as possible in the game. And Kozari came through with shining colors. He waited only 29 seconds to be officially anointed the new Marouelli. On the Habs’ opening goal, Darche blatantly tripped Fleury behind the net, allowing Plekanec to shoot at a wide open net. Kozari just stood there laughing at Fleury. And you know Marouelli was celebrating down at the other end. And you know darn well they exchanged high fives in the locker room. And now, there is no doubt in my mind that we’ll be saying the same things about Kozari 20 years from now as we do about Marouelli today.

Icehole of the Game

Ryan White, whoever the hell he is. When you do something that a 40-year-old guy sees fit to avenge, you are nothing but an Icehole.

Free Cookie

Ask Andrei Markov who got it, if he remembers.

Monk Moment

Brian Gionta’s breakaway goal. That was just a brilliant move coming in at that speed. He showed guts because he knew he was going too fast to stop before crashing into the boards. And to get the puck to his backhand as the poke check came out while traveling at that speed was simply phenomenal.

A guide to the game grades can be found here.