In a homecoming of sorts, the Blue Jackets rolled into town last night and defeated our Penguins in a shootout 4-3.
I say homecoming because it was indeed an old homecoming week for some ex-Pens in the CBJ lineup. Each of them had a hand in the scoring.
Zach Aston Reese (remember him?) scored his first goal of the season to give the Jackets the early lead at 2:42 of the opening frame. An ultra-slow start is interrupted by the black-and-gold.
Fast forward to the second period, Danton Heinen struck after a redirect less than three minutes before the horn, giving the visitors a 3-2 lead. Assist on target? Erik Gudbranson and his defense partner, almost Pen Egor Zamula.
In between, the locals had recovered from their sleepwalking start to take a 2-1 lead in the first period on markers by Connor Clifton (9:59) and Rickard Rakell (17:52).
Unfortunately, the Pens collectively hit the snooze button in the second stanza, resulting in a tie for Sniper Kirill Marchenko away from a blatant one Sidney Crosby turnover prior to Heinen’s potential game winner.
Our captain would make up for it with a check if there was a minute left in regulation. Of Arthur Silov drawn for an extra attacker, Sid deflected by Kris Letang shot/pass from the center over Elvis Merzlikin to send the game to extra time.
Despite leading 6-2 in shots on goal during the extra stanza, we couldn’t get it done. Which meant a shooting.
Unfortunately, our personal den of horrors continued unabated. The CBJ defeated Silovs twice, with ex-Jacket Egor Chinachov the only black and gold scorer.
You can say goodbye to the second point?
Puckpourri
Okay, this might be a bit of a knee-jerk reaction. But I wonder how much longer coach And Muse will operate a strict rotation system with its goalkeepers. Newcomer Stuart Skinner seems to be emerging as the strongest of our rope-guarding duo, and the team seems to be playing with more confidence and assurance with Big Stuuuu between the pipes.
Should Silovs be relegated to a more traditional backup role? His numbers certainly seem to suggest that. His boxcars, including 3.05 goals against average, .890 save percentage and 8-6-8 record? Pedestrian at its best.
Embedded in that record are six shootout losses. Not to put all the blame on the 24-year-old Latvian – our shooters were absolutely anemic – but the naked truth is that Silovs has stopped just seven of 20 shooting attempts for an atrocious save percentage of .350.
I don’t want to be dismissive, but maybe I can stop so many.
Arturs has certainly served a greater purpose, which is to buy time for goaltending prospects Sergei Murashov And Joel Blomqvist to develop and gain valuable experience with the Baby Pens. But maybe it’s time to fish or cut bait.
Reassign Silovs to the Baby Pens and promote one of the children, or demote him to a backup role. Since we risk losing him through waivers, Kyle Dubas would probably choose the latter, at least for now.
Nice to see Clifton score that goal. Not that he is the second coming Erik KarlssonMind you, Connor has been surprisingly active in the offensive zone. Decent stats too. Just a solid, physical defender.
It was a rare off night for our fourth line, which got into trouble statistically and otherwise.
On the other hand, I wasn’t the least bit shocked to hear that this was Aston-Reese’s first goal of the season. His scoring ability, initially modest at the big league level, dried up as he became increasingly entrenched in a defensive role.
But once upon a time, ZAR scored 31 goals during his final collegiate season at Northeastern and was a Hobey Baker finalist to boot, not to mention a coveted free agent.
In terms of standings, the Pens (22-14-11, 55 points) maintain their razor-thin position in third place in the stumbling, bumbling Metro. BUT…
…we are behind several teams in the Atlantic. Should we be ousted from our guaranteed play-off slot, which is certainly a distinct possibility, we would be several points off pace for a wildcard spot.
Then we take our show on the road for a western swing of four games in seven days, starting tomorrow night in Seattle. A grinder of a journey that could very well decide our fate.
#CBJ #nips #Penguins #shootout