Game Notes Penguins @ Oilers: Penguins Win Despite Injuries
By Jason Gregor
4 years agoThe @Pittsburgh Penguins have been ravaged by injuries, but it hasn’t slowed them down. Sidney Crosby will miss his 18th consecutive game tonight and the Penguins are 10-4-3 since his injury on November 9th. They were 10-6-1 with him in the lineup. They have found ways to win, but they are missing some other key players, including their best defensive defenseman @Brian Dumoulin, and the Oilers need to try and take advantage of a injury-riddled roster.
1. Crosby, Dumoulin (missed 11 games), Patrik Hornqvist (14 games), Nick Bjugstad (24 games) and Justin Schultz (7) won’t play tonight. Evgeni Malkin has missed 13 games, Bryan Rust (14), Kris Letang (8) and Alex Galchenyuk (9), but the Penguins remain in a playoff spot in the extremely competitive Metropolitan division. The Penguins have the seventh most points in the NHL, but sit fourth in the Metro.
2. Malkin had six points in his first six games, but since Crosby went down he’s elevated his play with 23 points in 15 games. @Jake Guentzel, their only top-end player to play all 34 games, has played with Malkin and he has scored 9-13-22 in 17 games without Crosby. Rust is the third guy on that line and he’s scored 8-9-17 in 14 games since Crosby went down.
3. But the biggest surprise has been the play of rookie @John Marino. The Oilers selected him in the sixth round of the 2015 draft. He played the next season for Tri-City in the USHL, and then spent the past three seasons at Harvard. He played 35, 33 and 33 games each season producing two, two and three goals and 15, 16 and 11 points.
4. Many are wondering why the Oilers traded him to Pittsburgh. He had a close relationship with Peter Chiarelli, and after he was fired by the Oilers Marino wasn’t sure he wanted to sign in Edmonton. When Ken Holland came on he spoke to Marino’s agent and by then they had decided he wasn’t going to sign in Edmonton and instead become a free agent, similar to Justin Schultz not wanting to sign with Anaheim years ago. It happens to many teams, and this time the Oilers lost out.
5. But no one, not even the Penguins, expected Marino to play this well. In his first 12 games, he played 16:55/game and had one assist. Okay numbers for a rookie defender, but then on November 4th he was promoted to the top-four and he has exploded. In his last 20 games, he is averaging 22:04/game and he has scored 4-10-14. He has 15 points in 32 games, which is better production than any of his years at Harvard. That is extremely rare to see a player produce more in the NHL than they did in junior or college. Marino played 27 minutes in Calgary on Tuesday night after Justin Schultz left the game only 40 seconds in. He is now week-to-week and Marino could play even more.
6. Not only is Marino playing well, lately he’s done it on his off-side playing LD with Kris Letang. Of course it helps playing with an all-star in Letang, but for Marino to play this top pairing minutes on the left side is impressive. I’m curious what D pairs the Penguins will use tonight. They have Letang, Marino and Chad Ruhwedel as right shots and Jack Johnson, Marcus Pettersson and Juuso Riikola as left D. Johnson was paired with Schultz recently and he played over 22 minutes in Calgary. He will be in their top-four, but will they play Marino on his offside and have two lefties in their third pair or try L-R in each pair? Either way, the Penguins defence without Dumoulin and Schultz will be easier to attack and cycle against than the Blues stellar blueline was on Wednesday night.
7. Here is the Oilers scoring last year compared to this season, as well as the Penguins scoring, through 36 games.
| TEAM | TOP-5 FORWARDS | REST OF FORWARDS | DEFENCE |
| 2018/19 | 73 (164) | 17 (51) | 13 (64) |
| EDMONTON | 75 (182) | 22 (52) | 10 (63) |
| PITTSBURGH | 56 (126) | 37 (100) | 18 (67) |
8. The Penguins injuries make their scoring numbers a bit misleading. Crosby is among the rest of the forwards as he is eighth in goals and sixth in points due to missing half their games. Their top guys are more dangerous than it looks, but due to a lack of games played the numbers are lower than you’d expect.
9. Tristan Jarry has taken over the starting goalie job in December. He has started six of their seven games and he has posted three shutouts with a sparkling .957Sv% and a 1.33 GAA. But being from Surrey, BC, he might not play tonight, instead going tomorrow in Vancouver. Matt Murray has only made one start in December, but he is 5-0-1 in his career against the Oilers with a .932Sv% and a 2.33 GAA. He has struggled of late, but likes playing the Oilers.
10. The Pens injuries have opened the doors for many players and they have responded. But when Crosby, Bjugstad and Hornqvist return someone has to go, and likely via trade. Would Alex Galchenyuk interest the Oilers? Even if the Pens retain half his salary, he’d still carry a $2.45m cap it. He has scored 17, 19, 19, 20 and 30 goals, but he has struggled mightily this season with the Penguins. Maybe a change of scenery would help, but that is a big cap hit for Ken Holland to take on for struggling player. He is a UFA this summer, so maybe you sign him to a cap-friendly contract and let him show he can rebound next year. I don’t see him being a fit at that hit, unless the Penguins take Markus Granlund in return so then the Oilers are only adding $1.15 million. Not sure that would entice the Penguins, but it would free up some cap space for them.
MONTH OF GIVING…
Thanks to Darrell and Jerry for their bids yesterday. We have two days remaining in Month of Giving and thanks to all who have bid.
Day 15: Oilers/Flames Party
- A watch party for 20 people in the private room at Atlas Steak +Fish in Grand Villa Casino. It will be on Friday, April 4th for the Oilers final game of the season against the Calgary Flames. Could a playoff spot be determined by the outcome?
- Struds and Gregor will host the evening and it includes food and beverages, and likely a few of Struds’ favourite China Whites. There will be appetizers and a few beverages at Match (inside Grand Villa Casino) before the game and then we will go upstairs to the private room where you will order your main course and we watch the game and have a few more beverages.
- There will be a special gift package for each of your guests.
- Also $1000 in Gift Cards to Atlas and Match. **You will receive the GCs right away so you can use before the party.**
You can bid by listening to TSN 1260 between 2-6 p.m. today and calling 780.444.1260 or text 101260. Proceeds will help the Alzheimer’s Society.
Recently by Jason Gregor:
- Blues Game: Strong Reminder Oilers Need Depth
- Your First NHL Goal: A Community Celebrates
- GDB 36.0: Big D Has Great Defence
- Oilers Old School Streaking…Frank The Tank
- Timely Save: Oilers Need A Few
- GDB 34.0: Wake Me Up When It is Over
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