NHL - Penguins - Round Up November 10-16, 2016

Minnesota Wild @ Penguins 4-2 - Thursday, November 10, 2016

Eric Staal has had success against the Penguins throughout his career, and that didn't change. Staal scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period to help the Wild defeat the Penguins 4-2 at PPG Paints Arena. He backhanded a shot past goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to give Minnesota a 3-2 lead 2:56 into the third. Staal, who has 51 points in 50 games against the Penguins after the goal and two assists Thursday, scored one goal in his previous seven games.

Jason Pominville scored an empty-net goal to make it 4-2 with 30 seconds left.
Pittsburgh (9-3-2), which was outshot 44-41, lost in regulation for the first time in eight home games this season. Fleury made a season-high 40 saves. Devan Dubnyk also had a season-high with 39 saves for Minnesota (7-4-1).
After failing to score a point for the first time this season against the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday, Sidney Crosby gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead 7:53 into the first period. He deflected a slap pass from Phil Kessel on a power play for his Penguins-leading ninth goal in eight games since returning from a concussion that kept him out of the first six games.
The Wild tied it 1-1 on a power play with 1:51 remaining in the first period. Defenseman Ryan Suter sent a slap shot into traffic that Charlie Coyle tipped below Fleury's outstretched blocker arm for his fourth goal of the season.
After allowing two goals on 31 power plays entering Thursday, Minnesota's NHL-leading penalty kill surrendered a second goal on Pittsburgh's second chance. Patric Hornqvist scored to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead 7:33 into the second period after Dubnyk was called for delay of game.
Wild forward Nino Niederreiter tied the score 2-2 at 9:07. He went backhand-to-forehand to shoot under Penguins defenseman Trevor Daley's stick and over Fleury's right shoulder into the upper-left corner.

* Staal scored the tiebreaking goal after Penguins defenseman Kris Letang lost control of the puck behind the net before it slid out front. Coyle collected it as it drifted and shot off Fleury's left pad before Staal got to the rebound.

* Wild forward Erik Haula had a chance to tie it 2-2 after Mike Reilly's shot went wide and bounced off the end boards. Haula collected the rebound near the right circle and took a wrist shot with Fleury out of position, but was denied when Fleury slid back to his left in time to make a save 8:17 into the second period.

* After Letang whiffed on an attempted slap shot from the point, Kessel retrieved the puck as Crosby slid away from the crease to Dubnyk's right. Kessel took a slap pass and Crosby angled his stick blade to send it past Dubnyk's blocker to put Pittsburgh ahead.

* With the score tied 2-2, the Penguins failed to capitalize on momentum built from killing a 5-on-3 that lasted 1:15. The Wild had the advantage after defenseman Olli Maatta was called for tripping with 30 seconds remaining in the second period.

* Fleury started after backing up goalie Matt Murray in Pittsburgh's previous two games. … Haula played after missing seven games with a lower-body injury. He centered the third line between left wing Jason Zucker and right wing Zack Mitchell.

"It is a concern. I think it's hard to win consistently in this league if you're giving up 40-plus shots a game. Having said that, we got 40-plus shots in the game as well. But I don't think that's the type of game that we're trying to play." Sullivan said.
"It was a quick turnaround. Everything was under control for a second. They shot and then 'Bang' it was in [Staal's goal]. It's not what you expect." Marc-Andre Fleury

"I've played them a lot. Been out east for a long time (primarily with the Carolina Hurricanes) and played these guys on many occasions. They've been on the right side of it a lot, and fortunately for me, it's a night where we got the better of them, but they're a good team. They have a great team every year. It's a challenge that I'm always excited to be a part of, and fortunately tonight I was on the right side of it." Staal said.
"We continued to get better as each minute went by in that game and it was a real big win for us." Devan Dubnyk
"This was a great challenge, going up against the Stanley Cup champions. … Once we settled down, a lot of good things happened. I thought we competed hard." Bruce Boudreau

Toronto Maple Leafs @ Penguins 1-4 - Saturday, November 12, 2016


The Penguins leaned on goalie Matt Murray early before taking advantage of the fatigued Toronto Maple Leafs. Murray made 35 saves, and the Penguins scored four goals in a row to defeat the Maple Leafs 4-1 at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday. Murray, who has won his four starts this season, played after backing up goalie Marc-Andre Fleury against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. Neither Murray nor Fleury has started three consecutive games since Murray returned from a broken hand on Nov. 2. Murray's most impressive stretch came during a Penguins power play with 4:27 remaining in the second period, when he made saves on three shorthanded 2-on-1s. Maple Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen made 45 saves one night after making 30 in a 6-3 win against the Philadelphia Flyers. He faced 35 shots in the final two periods Saturday.

The Penguins (10-3-2) took a 2-1 lead on Chris Kunitz's goal with 17.7 seconds remaining in the second period. Defenseman Ian Cole drove to the net and attempted to go forehand to backhand but whiffed. The puck slid into the crease, where Bryan Rust tried to jam it through traffic before it moved on to Kunitz, whose wrist shot found its way past the goal line for his second of the season. Rust extended the lead to 3-1 6:58 into the third. Sidney Crosby, who has 10 goals in nine games this season, scored at 10:14 to build a 4-1 lead. The Maple Leafs (6-6-3) took a 1-0 lead when Zach Hyman scored 1:22 into the first period. Hyman has scored in consecutive games after failing to score in his first 13 this season. The Penguins took advantage of their second power play with a goal by Evgeni Malkin that tied it 1-1 3:06 into the second period. The goal was Malkin's eighth of the season.

* After receiving a pass from Crosby, Rust took a snap shot that Andersen saved. Rust collected the rebound and wrapped a wrist shot around Andersen's left pad for his third-period goal.

* Andersen helped the Maple Leafs remain within one goal 4:28 into the third period. Kris Letang passed to Kessel near the left circle, where he took one shot off of defenseman Matt Hunwick's stick that caused Andersen to dive to the ice. Kessel regained possession and shot again, but Andersen dove again to absorb the puck and keep the lead at 2-1.

* With Maple Leafs defenseman Frank Corrado in the penalty box for interference 2:21 into the second period, Malkin took 45 seconds to score the Penguins' first goal. Letang shot off the end boards and the puck bounced to Malkin, who dropped to his knees and put in a shot before defenseman Nikita Zaitsev could turn around to potentially clear it.

* The Penguins controlled much of the first period but couldn't score. They entered the second period trailing 1-0 but built momentum off two early power plays that helped them take the first six shots in the period.

* Penguins forward Tom Kuhnhackl played 11:09 after being a healthy scratch in the previous five games. … Hunwick returned from a lower-body injury that caused him to miss seven games. He played 20:30 and had an assist.

"That's my job, to try to make the saves at the right time. You bail [your teammates] out when they need it, and then they came out hot in the third and we scored three goals. Eventually, it was just too much for them to handle. Their goalie played unbelievable. It could have been a lot higher scoring." Murray said.
"One of the areas that we have to go to more often and more consistently is the net front, getting to the blue paint and making it hard on our opponents' goaltenders, and trying to get in the sight lines and being in the position to battle for loose pucks. I thought a couple of the goals tonight were examples of that." Mike Sullivan
"Everyone's been there, you know, back-to-back games. Going into the third, it's not always easy. So I thought we did a good job of keeping our foot on the gas and applying pressure." Sidney Crosby

"I thought our fatigue showed in the third period. Our goalie was good and we gave up two, what I think, are bad goals. … We gave up too many chances with our [defensive]-zone play. We have to fix that, obviously." Mike Babcock

Penguins @ Washington Capitals 1-7 - Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Nicklas Backstrom had two goals and three assists for the Washington Capitals in a 7-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Verizon Center on Wednesday.
T.J. Oshie scored twice, and Dmitry Orlov, Justin Williams, and Alex Ovechkin scored for the Capitals (10-4-2). Braden Holtby made 25 saves. Phil Kessel scored, and Matt Murray made 12 saves for the Penguins (10-4-2). Marc-Andre Fleury made 20 saves in relief. Murray left the game with 24 seconds left in the first period after a scrum near the net when he lost his helmet and was hit in the face by teammate Evgeni Malkin's stick. Oshie scored a shorthanded goal at 7:32 of the first period to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead. Malkin turned over the puck to Oshie, who chipped it past defenseman Kris Letang for a Jay Beagle breakaway. Murray stopped Beagle, but Oshie scored on the rebound. Backstrom made it 2-0 at 17:30 of the first with his goal on the rush from the right circle. Oshie scored his second on a 4-on-3 with eight seconds remaining in the first for a 3-0 lead. He poked in the rebound from defenseman John Carlson's shot past Fleury, who entered the game moments earlier. Orlov scored at 5:19 of the second period to make it 4-0. His first goal of the season was off the rush from the slot. Williams scored on the power play at 5:37 of the third period for a 5-0 lead, and Ovechkin scored his eighth goal at 10:26 to make it 6-0. Kessel made it 6-1 at 16:28 of the third. Backstrom scored his second at 16:58 to make it 7-1. He has scored in consecutive games after scoring once in his first 14. It was Pittsburgh's worst loss at Washington since Jan. 2, 1989, when it lost 8-0.

* Oshie was in the right place at the right time when he scored his first goal of the game at 7:32 of the first period off a rebound from Beagle's shorthanded breakaway.

* Holtby made a right-pad save on Chris Kunitz's wrist shot from the right faceoff circle at 15:27 of the first period. He got a piece of Kunitz's rebound attempt, and then reached back with his stick to stop the puck near the goal line after it hit off Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov. Malkin came into the crease and kicked the puck into the net, but the goal was waved off.

* Backstrom had five points in Washington's 7-1 win, but his first goal might have been his best play of the night. He entered the Penguins zone after taking a pass from Oshie, went 1-on-1 against defenseman Brian Dumoulin and beat Murray with a quick-release shot from the top of the right circle.

* Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist blocked Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik's slap shot with his head with 2:32 left in the second period.

* The Capitals have scored two shorthanded goals in a four-game span for the first time since 2014-15, when they scored one in two consecutive games (Feb. 17 and 19, 2015).

"These games are humbling. We were embarrassed out there tonight, all of us, and it's humbling when you go through it. My hope is that we learn from it and make sure that it doesn't happen again." Mike Sullivan
"I thought we were pretty good early. I think we just took too many penalties, and that's where we got into trouble. You can't win when you're killing eight minutes out of the second period, or whatever it was. We need to be better with that going forward." Matt Murray