PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – When you think of the Penguins generating offense, you probably think of speed, amazing individual passes or moves. Thursday the Pens generated offense from their defense and pounded unbeaten Colorado 4-0.
“I think this might have been one of the best games we played all year from a structure standpoint,” said Pens head coach Mike Sullivan. “I thought we were able to create a lot of offense off of our defense. I think that’s going to be an important part of our game moving forward. When we are paying attention to details and defending the good ice. I thought we did a much better job defending our net front.”
“Show ourselves that this is how good we are capable of being when we are on top of our game and this is the kind of effort and structure that we need to play with every game,” said forward Lars Eller, who scored his first goal as a Penguin Thursday night. “We can do great things and still play fun hockey and score goals. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.”
That last comment really speaks to an outside voice nailing what the Pens need to do. If you play with the effort and structure, you can still have fun and score. They aren’t mutually exclusive.
“I think we wanted to simplify our game,” said Pens winger Reilly Smith who scored the first two goals, one on an assist from Evgeni Malkin. “Obviously they have a good team and will create opportunities. Jarry did a really good job shutting the door. They had some pretty good looks especially on the power play. He’s able to make a save without any rebounds, it changes the game.”
Tristan Jarry was solid, the Avalanche came in scoring 13 goals in the last two games and he stoned them on 31 shots. As Sullivan pointed out a couple of stops were of the 10-bell variety, one with the score 2-0 in the second and the game could have turned, but Jarry was there.
He was also helped by a penalty kill that held a lethal Avs power play 0 for 4.
“I think everyone knew what each other was doing and when we needed a big save from Jarry, we got it,” Eller said. “Everybody was willing to lay the body on the line and sacrifice themselves.”
The willingness was there. The effort was there. The commitment was there. They even won the battle in the blue paint which has become a cliché because it’s been mentioned so much early in the season.
“This one has to feel good and it gives us something to build on,” Sullivan said. “I think there’s a lot of really good examples that we can point towards in this game that can help us moving forward. If we are going to become the team we are capable of, we have to be able to win different ways.”
Notes
· Sidney Crosby scored his 4th goal in the third period on an assist from Jake Guentzel
· Pens won 61% of the faceoffs
· Pens had more blocked shots (+4) and takeaways (+3)
· Kris Letang played 26:26, 5:33 short-handed
Up Next
Game three of the homestand Saturday night against Ottawa at 7p.