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Recchi Spoils Penguins Streak in Shootout

The Pittsburgh Penguins lost their first game in 9-outings on Saturday night to the Atlanta Thrashers, but still managed to pick up a point in the 3-2 overtime shootout loss.  As if scripted by the hockey gods, it was former Penguin Mark Recchi, the Thrashers’ 4th shooter, who scored the game winning goal in the extended shootout.  The overtime loss ends the Penguins’ winning streak at 8-games and red-hot goaltender Ty Conklin’s undefeated streak at 9-games.  It was Conklin’s first loss as a Penguin, despite an outstanding performance against Atlanta.

Pittsburgh got on the board first by scoring at 5:23 of the 1st period.  Sidney Crosby was able to gather the puck up beside the net and quickly stickhandle it into the open side of the net past Kari Lehtonen for his 19th of the season.  Ryan Whitnery and Evgeni Malkin were credited with the assists on the even strength goal.  The Thrashers bounced back just 4-minutes later on a blistering power-play slapshot by league-leading goal scorer Ilya Kovalchuk that burned its way past Conklin.  Mark Recchi and Tobias Enstrom pitched in with the assists, as Darryl Sydor sat for hooking.  The Thrashers slightly outshot the Penguins 11-5, and were 1-for-1 on the powerplay.  The Penguins failed to convert on their lone man-advantage of the period. 

In the 2nd period, it was Sidney Crosby, playing like a man obsessed, that quickly scored his 2nd goal of the night at 5:06 to regain the lead.  Like a machine, Crosby set up the play inside the offensive zone and then circled back around into the slot to pick up a deflected shot and bury the puck in the back of the net.  Kris Letang and Colby Armstrong were credited with the assists.  The Penguins had a 13-10 advantage in shots in the 2nd and were 0-for-1 on the powerplay.  At the end of the period, the Penguins killed off the front end of a 4-minute double minor to Petr Sykora for a high stick that carried over into the 3rd. 

Early in the third, the Thrashers cashed in on the tail end of the 4-minute powerplay that carried over from the 2nd period.  Bobby Holik got the tip-in goal with assists by Marian Hossa and Vyacheslav Kozlov.  From that point on, the Thrashers largely dominated Pittsburgh offensively but were unable to get the go ahead goal past Ty Conklin, as they outshot the Penguins 14-6.  Regulation ended in a 2-2 tie, giving both teams a point in the standings and a chance to play for the extra point in overtime. 

The 5-minute sudden death overtime period ended without a decision to force the shootout.  The Penguins selected Petr Sykora, Kris Letang, and Sidney Crosby as the first 3-shooters, while the Thrashers selected Vyacheslav Kozlov, Marian Hossa, and Ilya Kovalchuk.  Lehtonen and Conklin stopped the first 3-shooters per side.  Former Penguin Mark Recchi came out as Atlanta’s 4th shooter and hesitated slightly before beating Conklin on the glove side.  Kari Lehtonen then stopped the final attempt by Pittsburgh’s 4th shooter, Evgeni Malkin, to end the game.

• VIDEO:  Game Highlights
• PHOTOS:  Game Photos
• AUDIO:  Mike Lange Highlights
• AUDIO:  Post-Game Rink Rat Report
• AUDIO:  Post-Game Hotline
• NHL OFFICIAL:  Game Rosters
• NHL OFFICIAL:  Game Summary
• NHL OFFICIAL:  Boxscore
• NHL OFFICIAL:  Shootout Details
• NHL OFFICIAL:  Play-by-Play

With the Devils winning on Saturday night, the Penguins lose a point to trail the Devils by 2-points for the Atlantic Division lead.  The Penguins return to Pittsburgh to host the New York Rangers Monday night in an Atlantic Division matchup that will be televised nationally on Versus at 7PM. 

Penguins Season Performance Comparison

The Pittsburgh Penguins (9-11-2) have played 22-games or just over 1/4 of the season so far and in many discussion forums, there is a lot of concern being generated over how they have played so far this season.  This is likely the result of unreasonably high expectations set by the various media outlets at the outset of the season that it would be the March of the Penguins to the Stanley Cup.  While this overly hyped prediction is still a possibility, there has been a great wringing of hands over how the Pens have fared so far this season.  In fact, many are downright distraught and talking as if the season is all but lost.  With that in mind, I thought it was important to provide some analysis and perspective to see how bad things really might be.

First, I ran a comparison to see how the team fared in the first 22 games last year versus this year.  The following table presents the data that I culled from the Pittsburgh Penguins website to include record (overall, home, away, and against divisional opponents), total points (overal and against divisional opponents), and goals for/against:

[TABLE=25]

Interestingly, the Penguins had just 1 more win at this point last year.  The 4-point difference between last season and this season was due to this 1 win and 2 more overtime losses in which the Pens picked up a point each.  They had 3 fewer regulation losses at this point last season.  As suspected, they were slightly more productive at this point last year with 68 goals scored (3.09 goals per game) compared to 63 so far this season (2.86 goals per game).  However, the Penguins had essentially given up the same quantity of goals at this point last season (68 goals, or 3.09 goals per game) as compared to this season (69 goals, or 3.14 goals per game). 

A glaring difference between this season and last is how the team has fared against its Atlantic Division opponents.  The team has only won 3 of 11 Division games this season versus 8 of 11 at this point last season, which represents a 10-point swing.  In a Division as tight as the Atlantic Division, the Penguins can ill afford this level of performance.  Last season, the Penguins owned the Philadelphia Flyers, going 4-0-0 against them in their first 22-games.  This season, the opposite has been true with the Penguins going 0-2-0 against the reborn Flyers.  The Penguins have also played and lost more games to the Devils so far this season going 1-3-0 versus last season’s record of 1-1-0.  Against the New York Rangers, the Penguins have lost 1 more game this season going 1-1-0, versus 2-0-1 last season.  Their performance against the New York Islanders has been equivalent going 1-1-0 during both seasons.  The data is tabulated below:

[TABLE=26]

I also took a look at scoring by Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Sergei Gonchar and Mark Recchi at this point in the season.  Overall, Sidney Crosby has scored 1-more point so far this season, but has played 3-more games at this point in the Penguins season due to injury last year.  Evgeni Malkin has 7 more points this season, but has also played 4-more games this season than at this point last season due to injury.  Mark Recchi had 19-points last season at this point versus 8 this season, and has played 3-fewer games this season as a result of being a healthy scratch.  Sergei Gonchar is 4-points ahead of his pace at this point last season. 

[TABLE=27]

Lastly, I took a look at Marc-Andre Fleury’s record of last season in comparison to this year and as expected you can see that he has been struggling.  In comparison to last season, he has given up 0.75 more goals per game this season.  As a result, he has drawn the ire of many who believe that his inconsistency thus far this season portends a less than successful season than last year in which he finished with 40 wins and 5 shutouts.   

[TABLE=28]

So, in summary, the Penguins are clearly off the mark from last year in a few key areas.  While they only trail last year’s point total by 4-points, they have experienced serious shortcomings against divisional opponents and have seen a 10-point swing over last season in divisional play.  The biggest reversal of fortune has been against the much improved Philadelphia Flyers and the significantly demised New Jersey Devils.  Penguins key players have produced relatively on par with or better than last year with the key exception of Mark Recchi, whose play has demoted him to healthy scratch status of late.  The Penguins have also suffered from disappointing individual performance from the talented young goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury who has given up too many goals per game to be effective.  With Thursday’s spirited character win against the league-leading Ottawa Senators, we are hoping that the Penguins will close the chapter on a disappointing start and turn the corner into a much improved second quarter of the season.  They get their chance to build on that win on Saturday against the Atlanta Thrashers.  Here is hoping for some significant strides in the wins column before too much more of the season slips away.

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