Pens start All-Star break on the back of SO loss to Chicago

Pens start All-Star break on the back of SO loss to Chicago

The Penguins will start the All-Star Break on the back of a spirited 3-2 loss in the shoot-out to the Chicago Blackhawks. The Penguins were without Kris Letang, who was held out for precautionary reasons and Evgeni Malkin who had an upper body injury. This upper body injury sadly means that Malkin will miss the All-Star Game in Columbus at the weekend but there will still be two representatives in Crosby and Fleury.

Historically the Penguins have a poor record against the Blackhawks with 43 wins out of 127 games for a 0.338% win percentage. Chicago are one of the toughest teams to score on as well with a rate of 3.05 GF Per Game and one of the more costly at 3.55 GA Per Game. Chicago are currently in a play-off spot but Pittsburgh do have a good record against Western Conference teams this season at 8-2-1 so they generally do well.

Brandon Sutter in action - curtsey of Getty

Chicago took a lead in the first period through Rundblad with assists from old Pittsburghite Marian Hossa and Jonathan Toews. It was a blast of a shot from the point and I don't think you can really put the blame on Fleury as he just couldn't have been able to react it although you do ask if he had his view blocked by the players in front of him. Chicago then doubled it on the PP after a holding penalty committed by Perron on Nordstrom. Surprisingly the Blackhawks are only 14th in the league when it comes to the power play ability at 18.9%. Chicago draw the third highest penalties behind only Detroit and Tampa Bay so when you add that in to the fact that only two divisional opponents, Winnipeg and Colorado are in the top ten when it comes to the PK as well.

Zach Sill then scored his first NHL goal to prove a point I made yesterday wrong. A nice shot from just outside the face-off area over Crawford's shoulder. He was only the fifth Penguins forward to not have a goal after 50 games. Later in the period Downie tied the game with a close finish after driving to the net which gave Arcobello his first point as a Penguin. Looking at the game overall I'd feel satisfied despite the loss in OT. With several key players missing and a few young defenceman the Penguins managed to take one of the top teams all the way which bodes well for when the likes of Hornqvist, Comeau, Malkin and Letang return.