Some good and some bad for the Penguins to start the season
The Penguins have played four games so far this season, and for as unpredictable as hockey can be — the outcomes of the games have not been particularly surprising. Pittsburgh has won against two teams that did not make the playoffs last year (Detroit, Montreal) and the Pens have lost to the two stronger teams they’ve played (NY Rangers, Toronto). So far, that’s holding serve with expectations as a mid-level team. It was encouraging in the narrow perspective to see them win two out of three on the first road trip of the season.
What are the bright spots on the team so far?
It was easy to laugh or raise an eyebrow when Kyle Dubas set a very optimistic tone for the bottom-six in his season opening press conference last week. But, so far, that’s been so good.
- Lars Eller continues to be a reliable element down the middle
- Kevin Hayes looks more like Jeff Carter 2021 than Jeff Carter 2024, which good for him on that
- Jesse Puljujarvi has a couple of assists and is creating a good amount of offense in his opportunities
- Noel Acciari is fine in his spot as a fourth line winger
- Drew O’Connor has bounced around the lineup, spending at least a game on each of the top three lines so far this season and has played decently (even if not that productively yet)
Added together, that’s been a nice start for the bottom lines. Hayes and Eller have a combined four goals on the season. It’s cherry picking but aside from Rickard Rakell (2G), the top forwards on the team have combined for one empty net goal between Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Bryan Rust and Michael Bunting through four team games. Now, surely that will level out in time but so far the bottom lines have lived up to the general manager’s hopes.
But what about those top lines?
Malkin is fueling the second line, his playmaking with four primary assists at 5v5 through four games has been impressive considering age and where he’s at right now. Dream start to the season for him and to needlessly remind why he is one of the greats.
The Crosby line remains a question mark. Last night in Montreal was a rare dud from Crosby — with four giveaways (a couple of them bad in the d-zone). It’s always jarring to see an outright poor game out of Crosby, but such is life sometimes. We’ll all move on and he’ll be better but his direct surrounding cast hasn’t been encouraging.
Anthony Beauvillier scored two goals against Detroit but doesn’t have a point in the three other games. Beauvillier is shooting a lot, but sometimes lax on the details (a failed clear last night hurt). Rust is working back from injury, which has to be remembered, but it’s disappointing to see him quiet early on after he looked great before his injury in the preseason.
The team’s inability to replace Jake Guentzel in the lineup is evident from the get go. Even chalking up his contractual status to being an inevitable loss, it’s worth questioning the subsequent decisions to not supply Crosby with a viable left winger. It’s a huge hole in the lineup and one that will not be going away in the near future.
What do we see from the games themselves?
The Penguins gave up 105 shots in the first three games (35.0 per game). Last night Montreal only had 27 SOG, bringing Pittsburgh’s young season average down to 33.0 shots allowed per game. It’s still way early but only five teams have given up more shots per game and going back to last year only three teams gave up 33+. All three of them ended up being bottom-five teams in the league last year.
As Habs Eyes on the Prize pointed out, Montreal could not go up the walls against the Pens last night, but found success going through the middle of the ice. Pittsburgh has been shoddy in the neutral zone and the amount of 3v2 or 2v1 rushes they are giving up has not been pretty.
There’s always some play to iron out early in the season as teams get up to regular season speed, but it’s fair to say that the Pens have been easy to play against through the middle of the ice. Strong teams are going to exploit that, like NYR and Toronto both found a lot of offense and plenty of skating space.
When you doctor asks you why your blood pressure is so high this year, send him this. Are we having fun? Yes. Are we panicking a lot? Also yes! All of the things are happening. pic.twitter.com/RbdQr0AfeB
— Jesse Marshall (@jmarshfof) October 15, 2024
On the positive side, the active Penguin defensemen has been paying off with chances offensively. Pittsburgh isn’t a tight defensive team, but they’re going to need to get a bit more staunch over the course of the season. It’s OK to be a work in progress at this point just a few games into the season without going into sheer panic mode, but will be an area worth monitoring as the year advances.