Pens play off picture clearer with recent games

With the back to back losses against Ottawa and the Islanders the Penguins play off picture is clearer and shows a more likely path that they will have to take to get to the Stanley Cup Final. The Penguins have been continually nursing injuries and have been treading on water for a few games, their scoring presence has been notable depleted. The previous two games exposed the tiredness of the defence if anything.

The Penguins had some hope that Columbus would beat the Capitals and take two points from them to allow a potential catch but that game went to OT and the Penguins followed it up with two points from four. The Blue Jackets beat the Flyers today to go back above the Penguins on ROW and the Capitals are currently beating the Coyotes in an expected win.

This would leave all three teams with just 8 games left and looking at the schedules and what is needed to overcome the deficit of 3 points should the Capitals win tonight. If, somehow, they don't win then it is all open again due to the games between the top three. Should they win though then it is probably the toughest path that the Penguins could have been given.

Even if the Penguins had come first in the division they would have to play one of the two at some point. They had to go through the toughest route last year though facing the Rangers and then the Capitals. This year, should they get through to the Eastern Conference final, they should have an "easier" opponent due to the weak Atlantic conference.

The key for the Penguins in the final stretch should be to get key players back and at least try and get home ice against the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round. Take it from there.

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Crosby hits 40 - Pens rolling after Florida win

Sidney Crosby hit 40 goals for only the second time in his career, the other being in the 2009-10 season when he scored 51 goals and took home his only Rocket Richard trophy. He is on course to finish this season with 47 goals and a strong chance of winning the trophy. The only challenge at the moment is Brad Marchand, of all people.

With the number of injuries that the Penguins had suffered recently this had the possibility of being a troubling game against a team that has caused us problems in the past. However, Florida have been struggling lately and came into the game on a 3-6-1 record in the previous 10 games. They're certainly not going to make the play offs now.

Fleury was given the start today and since the trade deadline he has been superb, after his shut-out today he is now riding a 1.67 GAA and .946 SV% since then. He played well today but wasn't called into action that much, Florida only had a few quality chances but never really threatened. The defence mostly kept the puck out of the shooting lanes which restricted Florida to just 21 shots in the whole game.

The Penguins made Reimer look uncomfortable early on at the other end and could have scored a couple in the first period before Hornqvist's goal with the puck seemingly staying out at the last minute. Hornqvist's goal was a mixture of golf and baseball with Kessel chipping the puck over the net to him to baseball swing into the net.

In the second the Penguins pushed on and the top line of Guentzel, Crosby and Sheary started to cause problems with the Panthers thanks to their continued physical presence and refusal to give up on the puck. All three of Crosby's goals for his hat-trick were assisted by both the above. Crosby's first was a similar one to the goal he scored against the Devils but nearer the net with a wicked wrister over Reimer. The second was much more skillful with a no look backhand in front of the net that complete confused Reimer.

As if to put an exclamation point on the game, Crosby finished it off with a quick release after Guentzel found him with a quick, no look dish. Crosby made this game his own and carried the team with the absence of so many players. Now he is tied for the points lead and leads in goals, he could win both still.

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Pens sign Aston-Reese

The Penguins announced tonight that they had signed highly rated College free agent Zach Aston-Reese. Reese had been playing with the Northeastern University in the NCAA and has scored 31 goals and 32 assists in just 38 games to make him the sole lead in goals and joint top in points. Aston-Reese has signed an entry level contract with the Penguins but will start with the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins on an Amateur Tryout Contract.

He will likely play for them for the rest of this season and in the play offs. Wilkes-Barre will appreciate the extra offensive presence in their team with them currently missing Rowney, Archibald and Sundqvist to the Penguins due to their injury problems. Aston-Reese needs to be given time as any prospect is but if he pans out to be similar to Sheary or Rust then the Pens will be more than happy.

Aston Reese is one of a number of players to now choose the Penguins as a destination after their university days. He joins, from memory, Sheary, Archibald, Di Pauli, Prouw and Bengtsson who are part of that collective. When the players cost absolutely nothing in terms of picks or prospects given in return then you can only smile. Rutherford has really helped the Penguins going forward with his signings and it is possible that Aston-Reese is another success story.

It is also possible the Penguins target Mike Vecchione who finished one point behind Aston-Reese this season but having played in Union College it is possible he chooses a New York based team. The Penguins will no doubt be interested and Aston-Reese will be fun to watch develop.

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Pens closing in on Caps despite injuries

The Washington Capitals have been at the top of the tree for a while in the league and since the deadline many have named them as their Stanley Cup finalist from the East but since then they have slumped and slowly but surely the Penguins and the Blue Jackets are catching up with them. This is despite the Penguins suffering constant injuries to top players.

The Penguins have now won their last five in a row following their victory over Vancouver last night. They're on a Western Canadian road trip and have just the red hot Calgary Flames next but have now beaten Tampa, Buffalo, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver in a row.

Pittsburgh have faced injury problems as mentioned with the biggest impact being felt on their defence which currently sees Trevor Daley, Kris Letang and Olli Maatta out. Maatta and Daley are out long term, until the play offs start whilst Letang's status is unknown. Forwards haven't escaped scot free with Hagelin the latest to be ruled out, for four weeks. The Penguins have only just got Conor Sheary back from injury and Bryan Rust is still out.

As I have mentioned before Crosby has been very hit and miss in 2017 but rebounded with a strong game with two late assists and nine shots in the game with his hobbit line re-united. He is snake bitten right and if he can kick on then he could still win both the Art Ross and Rocket Richard but he needs a good run of a few games. Malkin of course could still win both but with Hagelin out now he is stuck with Kunitz which isn't good.

Going forward the Penguins have a much softer schedule compared to Washington with Calgary and the  Senators the only two play off teams in their next 8 games. Meanwhile the Capitals have to finish their California trip tonight and then have to face the Wild and Blue Jackets in the next five along with the in form Calgary. Interesting to the end.

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Will the Western Canada trip decide if Crosby can win the Art Ross this year?

After yesterdays 4-3 comeback win the Penguins tied the 2nd place spot in the division ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets and prepared themselves for their Western Canada trip in possibly the best way. However, whilst Evgeni Malkin was firing all cylinders Crosby was held pointless again for the third game in five and fourth time in the last ten games.

McDavid currently has a five point lead over Crosby in the Art Ross standings but Crosby has two games in hand on him and Patrick Kane, who is in second with 70 points to Crosby's 69. However, Crosby has been struggling to produce in some games lately. Which raises the questions whether he is now too far behind McDavid to win it and whether he should concentrate on the Rocket  Richard which he leads with 34 goals to Laine's 32 goals.

Some of that has been down to the fact that the Penguins have been beset by injuries on their wings for the past few months. The biggest miss was Conor Sheary who was a regular on Crosby's line and made it click. In the game against Buffalo Sullivan appeared to be open to change and gave some time to a combination of Guentzel-Crosby-Sheary which completely controlled the game. If he can get a clicking combination back it could help.

In the four game road Canadian trip the Penguins are playing the Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames before continuing the trip in the Eastern side of Pennsylvania.  Those four teams are 27th, 20th, 17th and 10th in goals against in the league. So is some potential there for a good haul. Especially with the attacking game that is more prevalent in Edmonton which leaves them exposed at times in defence.

Looking at the next week it could be key in deciding if Crosby can win the Art Ross or Rocket Richard. He has four games this week and McDavid has three, meaning one of the games in hand will be used up. On his current pace McDavid would end the week with 78 points. So Crosby will need to score eight points in those four games to match him. It will be a hard task to match but this being Crosby it isn't impossible. Doing the above would leave around 15 games to go on a tear and, possibly, hit 100 points?

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Penguins acquire Streit and Corrado on deadline day

Despite not managing to land Matt Duchene the Penguins did at least manager to add depth to, and improve, their defence. Because of injuries the Penguins had to act following Daley and Maatta both being ruled out for 6 weeks and being placed on LTIR. Having already added Ron Hainsey earlier in the week, the Penguins added Frank Corrado and Mark Streit today.

Streit is a veteran at 39 and was actually traded to the Lightning first before being sent further along to the Penguins. Presumably, the Penguins didn't want to deal with the Flyers directly. Streit is a top power play player and has played against Pittsburgh in that role before during the Islanders series a few years ago.

Streit in his last year of a contract that was originally 4 years for a total of $21m. He's an unattached free agent in the summer but it wouldn't be surprising if he retired, plenty of time to go though. So far this season he has 21 points through 49 games with an average time on ice of 19:23. I would expect he would have more sheltered minutes on the Penguins, dependant on injuries and how it plays out. Streit only cost a fourth round pick in 2018.

Elsewhere the Penguins also acquired the struggling Frank Corrado. Corrado turns 24 this month and has been the focal part of a "#FreeCorrado" campaign in Toronto for a while as there is a belief he never really got a fair shot and spent too much time in the press box. He has only played 2 NHL games this season and 18 with the Toronto Marlies in the AHL but he has 69 games to his name. He has been sent down to Wilkes-Barre and if he does well he may be able to feature more permanently in the NHL next year.

To get Corrado the Penguins gave up a large, dead cap in Eric Fehr. Fehr was waived yesterday and Toronto traded for him rather than claim him to clear a contract in a trade. They also acquired Steven Oleksy and a fourth round pick this year. To remove the burden of Fehr's contract that is a fair price.

The only real disappointment for deadline day is that we couldn't find a trade partner for Fleury which means he goes forward and could be claimed by Las Vegas if we ask him to waive his NMC and he obliges, allowing us to protect Murray. But that is a while away.

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