Pre-game
-The season is finally back! The Penguins launch themselves as expected in the pre-game predictions
First period
The Pens resist a little at first, but then recover to catch the game and the first goal of the season. Jared McCann does a great job holding the disc and making a beautiful centering pass. Mark Jankowski did well to escape behind the net, the defender followed the puck and not Jankowski, which proved problematic when Jankowski had space to quickly pass Carter Hart. 1-0.
Pens go to the power game, but they don’t generate a ton of it.
Cody Ceci has his first notable moment, making a small blow when he is beaten out with speed. Tristan Jarry makes a good stop at the next chance, but the Flyers go to their first power game. They make it worth it when Mike Matheson fails to hit a puck in his own zone, so he allows James van Riemsdyk to stay in front of the net and deflect a shot from the edge. 1-1.
At the end of the period, Matheson receives a retaliation penalty and Philadelphia strikes quickly before the end of the period with a second end of a shot that ends in the net. 2-1 Philly.
After 20 minutes, the total number of shots is 13 to 10 Pens. In 5v5, Pittsburgh moderately loaded the game with a 56.7% Corsi For and 66.6% in goal chances … But Philly’s penalties and power play scored two similar goals in just 1:32 in total time, knocking down the scoreboard.
Second period
Another good start for the third row, McCann scores a penalty. The Pens’ power game again seems disjointed until Sidney Crosby makes a play on Sidney Crosby, knocking out Hart’s reckless compensation attempt and throwing it into the empty net. Lovely things. 2-2.
The Pens get another power game, but they can’t get a rabbit out of the hat like the last one.
The game opens slightly with end-to-end play, and the Flyers strike again at the end of the period with 1:06 left. Sam Lafferty fails to corner the record and Joel Farabee was able to sneak in behind Matheson. Farabee makes a good move and Matheson fails to recover, while Farabee has the farthest angle in Jarry to double him with the goalkeeper having to embrace the near post. 3-2 Philly comes back to the front.
The pitches in the second period were 9-6 Pens, they are 23-16 PIT in total for the game. Penalties continued to maintain a 5v5 advantage with 55.9% CF%, 55.6% chances of scoring%.
Third period
Pens are hit just 39 seconds into the period by a Penguin that many men call after a really sloppy first move to give the Flyers the third power game of the night. Pittsburgh kills its first penalty of the night.
Shortly after, the third line buzzes and knocks. Jankowski retrieves a loose puck and makes a great, long backhand pass to Brandon Tanev, who shoots hard at Hart and hits his glove to tie the game again. 3-3 with 16:59 remaining.
The Flyers retreat ahead to score the race when the Pens pinch and fail to hold the line, John Marino cannot keep it out and the attackers cannot turn around in time. Scott Laughton makes a beautiful central swivel pass for Michael Raffl to enter the board with 14:23 left.
The Pens lose in two points, again on the run. Ceci pinches and cannot return and Pittsburgh has no defensive form in the confusion, as the Flyers hit a couple of cracks on a loose disc, ending up with Travis Konecny throwing it. 5-3.
20 seconds later the rout begins, Joel Farabee kicks out, Jarry kicks out a wide rebound to an open Kevin Hayes to easily hit an open net. 6-3 and he got off the rails quickly.
At this point, the game calmed down and the teams ended the opening match with ease.
Some thoughts
- The best line of Pens in this game was, surprisingly, the McCann-Jankowski-Tanev trio. The speed of the wings was remarkable and will be interesting to observe in the advance. The Eastern division has a lot of strength, but the ability to skate between the lower line defense pairs is not really one of them.
- The escapes from the Pens’ power play were not smooth, with the only defender telegraphing a curve and looking for the sling-style back pass. This is a move that used to work in the NHL, but has now been observed and adjusted by PK’ers. How penalties execute or adjust this will be a critical aspect.
- According to NBCSN, Crosby’s goal was his seventh time on a debut night, surpassing Mario Lemieux’s franchise record of six.
- Matheson’s involvement in the second and third goals against was kind of corresponding to the negative aspects of his scouting report with defensive inconsistencies. You can also see why recently d pairs were changed to place Matheson with John Marino, at one point Matheson / Ceci got stuck in their own zone together and didn’t look very attractive.
- Also, without checking the turn chart as a possible answer if he was leaving, why was Matheson playing at PK and Marcus Pettersson didn’t take turns there until the third period? And Matheson didn’t play at PP all night, while Pettersson stayed over 2 minutes there. It doesn’t look like the players are being placed in the ideal locations. (shout our friend Eric for that observation).
- It was not a big night for special teams, the PK gave up two goals in three chances. Both times they leave their structure to lose confrontations and the movement of the Flyers’ disc. And both times allowing for deviations in the front. This needs to be cleaned up. Pens’ power play ended 1/3, which didn’t look bad on the scoresheet, but it didn’t look good at night – rescued by Crosby’s individual effort in Hart’s present.
- Random statistics: despite scoring a goal, no player had less time on ice in ES in two periods than Jankowski at 6:40.
- A 3-3 game on the road in the third ended up falling apart in this one. Sometimes it happens. The Pens did well to fight for a while, but then it eluded them.
- Jarry didn’t seem to have played badly, but he also made a very good save that I remember (in the next penalty that the Flyers would score anyway). He did not go above and beyond. He didn’t get much help from his team. Philly has speed and, at the end of the game, they went to the races, with the Pittsburgh team’s defense not doing him any favors. The team will certainly seek to improve in any number of areas next time.
This will end for this game, with the new turn this season, these two teams will meet again on Friday night for a second game. Pittsburgh can look back and see what mistakes they made and try to clean them up for the next time. It is a short season of 56 games, but it is also a year without exhibitions. Each team will have to clean up their games and improve as the year progresses.
For Pittsburgh, it starts by trying to win a split from the first two games.