Pens-Canes Game 2 Review

Well, that was certainly exciting! And unexpected. And nearly caused me to have a stroke.

I think the Canes probably win Game 3, what with Bill Cowher sounding the siren, but I don't think they win. If I was confident before, I'm supremely confident now. I think this is over in five games, if not before.

I know that one game, or even two games, cannot define a series, but any time you score seven goals on the team that entered the series with the best GAA in the playoffs and against the goalie that was widely considered to be the best one remaining, then you gotta like your chances.

Several other points...

1. Malkin's Dad is now officially the most interesting subplot of this series, since the Staal vs. Staal thing has kinda crapped out. From his vintage 1973 leather jacket, to his awkward button-down shirts, to the fact that he put the blonde in front of him in a UFC-style choke hold and made out with her for ten seconds right in front of his wife after Malkin's third goal last night, I wish they had a feed that just followed the Malkins all game. I would bust out some picture-in-picture action for that.
2. Speaking of Malkin, he's now the points leader for the playoffs, with 25. Crosby is second with 24 points in 15 games. That's pretty impressive. And it's one of the most significant developments of the playoffs for the Penguins. Last year, Malkin and Crosby showed flashes of brilliance, but they didn't have too many plays that made you stand up and say, "Holy crap!" and they certainly didn't take over games the way they've been taking over games this year. Malkin ran out of gas towards the end of the Eastern Conference Final last year and Crosby had a ton of points, but they were mostly on assists. This year, both guys are scoring guys in bunches and both have a hat trick. Which is awesome.
3. But the most significant development of the playoffs for the Penguins is that, even though Malkin and Crosby are scoring the bulk of the goals, this is definitely not a two man team. Everyone is getting great looks and great chances -- especially the third line -- it's just that Malkin and Crosby are the ones that are scoring. If you think it's easy to score a goal, particularly in the playoffs, I think you need to go talk to Chris Kunitz, who scored his first goal since 1834 last night. Tyler Kennedy, Jordan Staal, and Bill Guerin could all have tons of goals at this point based on their scoring chances, it's just that the puck hit a defender, hit a defender's stick, or the goalie made a great save. As incomprehensibly awesome as Malkin's third goal (I originally just typed "goal" and realized that I needed to specify, which is also awesome) was last night, it's not a goal if Ward moves his stick and/or shoulder a little faster. Or maybe it hits the defender's stick and slows down just enough even though Malkin was consciously blocking the defender's stick so that that didn't happen. My ultimate point is that, if teams focus on taking Malkin and Crosby out of games, we're still well positioned to continue to score. A lot.
   
4. My other point is that this is the first time in history -- at least that I can remember -- that the Penguins are consistently outshooting their opponents. Ward faced 42 shots last night and seven got through. Fleury faced only 28 shots. Sure, four of those got through (more on this in a moment), but, with all the talented scorers on this team, you really have to like our chances if we keep outshooting our opponents by 14 per game. For the playoffs, we're outshooting our opponents 35-29, which may have something to do with why we're in the Eastern Conference Final and currently up 2 games to none. (I'm also obligated to state that Detroit is in the same situation and they're currently outshooting their opponents 40-29. Just saying.)
   
5. I also think that it's a very good thing that the offense is starting to find its groove. Again, if you can score seven goals against a team like Carolina, you are doing something very, very right. The power play is hitting its stride -- sure, they're only one for eight thus far in the series, but the Canes, as we've established, have a pretty great penalty kill -- we're getting great chances, not too many fluky goals, and we're starting to make our own luck. Ten goals in two games doesn't just happen.
6. All that having been said, I think the reason we possibly lose Game 3 is that Carolina tightens up and starts playing more like they did in Game 1. In Game 1, the Canes played their game, on the side boards and lots of contact and trying to spread us out and attack us when they pushed us to the sides. They lost, but at least they played it their way. In Game 2, they tried to open things up and attack Fleury. They scored four goals, sure, but they got crushed in transition and weren't able to keep up with us behind the net, thus giving up seven goals. I think they get back to playing the game their way, not ours, and they get back to it with a venegenace in Game 3. The home crowd will be fired up, they won't want to go down 0-3, and the sting of getting demolished in Game 2 will be fresh in their minds because their won't be a two week layoff like there was between Games 1 and 2.
7. The x-factor in this series -- and the x-factor moving forward, provided the Pens win this and go back to the Cup Final -- is Fleury. He makes some amazing saves and I think he's a great goaltender... but he definitely has some issues. Does he not know when he's supposed to leave the crease? Does he not know when to cover up the puck and when to release it? He has given up way too many easy rebounds and has been caught outside the crease way too many times in the playoffs for my liking. Sure, the defense could've helped more than they did last night. They could've cleared some of those rebounds for him. They could've been hacking away at the puck in front of the net. But, really, it's up to Fleury to glove and cover if there's a lot of traffic. I understand that, sometimes, you just can't, but there have been plenty of situations where he could have and didn't. I think the defense is playing well enough and we're winning enough faceoffs (now that we're no longer playing the Capitals) that he should stay in the crease and cover up on every shot for the rest of the series, then re-evaluate if we win. The only thing that's going to make us lose this series at this point is a number of disastrously dumb mistakes. And Fleury has already made too many of those, so we shouldn't let him make any more.
8. Now, seriously, I'm not piling on the guy, it's just that he oridinarily saves 26 of those 28 shots and he didn't last night. And he looked a little lost in Game 1 and got beat up a bit in the Washington series. Also, if you're looking for the goalie that is going into Game 3 with the most mental issues and the least confidence, I'd have to say it's actually not the guy that gave up seven goals in Game 2. I think there's something weird going on in Fleury's head right now and we need to simplify things for a bit so that he gets it straightened out before the Cup Final. Really, anyone that says he "settled down" after a rough first period in Game 2 isn't looking at things closely enough. He faced 14 shots in the first period, then 14 shots the rest of the night. Hey, if we can hold our opponents to six or eight shots a period for the rest of the playoffs, then I think he's fine. I just don't see that happening.
9. I'm very happy that Kunitz scored last night. Hopefully it's contagious.
10. Also happy for Tyler Kennedy and Maxime Talbot. They play hard every night and usually have their fair share of quality scoring chances each game. I'm happy they each got themselves a goal.