The good, the bad and the head-scratchers
This isn’t the team we thought it would be in October, it isn’t the team it was in November (thank heaven), but it still is a contender. Can you ask for more on Jan. 10?
Imagine having spent the past three-plus months stranded on a far-away island, living life alongside Antonio Brown’s team-first attitude and the Pirates’ financial flexibility.
Maybe you looked at the NHL standings Wednesday and saw the Penguins’ record — 24-13-6, good enough for 54 points and second place in the Metropolitan Division a little past the halfway mark of the regular season — and nodded your head in approval.
Yep, pretty much where everyone expected them to be: in the thick of a playoff race, either leading or within striking distance of the division, aware the final exam is still several months away.
But for anyone who has followed this team every step of the way, you know darn well it’s hardly been that simple. With that in mind, let’s take a look back at some notable stuff that has happened thus far and maybe hand out an award or two:
Most valuable player
Slam-dunk here: As good as Kris Letang has been, Sidney Crosby is playing at a truly elite level, even by his own lofty standards.
And it’s not just the points, either, although Crosby is on pace for 40 goals and 105 points, which would rank third and second for his career. (By the way, the most amazing Crosby stat might be this: Of the 40 games he has played, he has produced multiple points 19 times.)
But 2018-19 for Crosby has been more about the total package.
The 71.0 five-on-five goalsfor percentage. Winning 55.8 percent of his faceoffs. The two-way play and again killing penalties.
Linemate Jake Guentzel said a couple weeks ago Crosby has been “driving the bus.” At this point, it wouldn’t be shocking if that turned out to be more literal than figurative.
What, what happened again?
The first 43 games did not come without a few headscratchers — to which Patric Hornqvist could definitely attest. The feisty right winger endured enough head-related issues to last a couple of seasons: sticks, pucks, a concussion.
It’s sort of the cost of doing business when you play the way Hornqvist does, but even he has to be shaking his … never mind.
Speaking of using one’s head, what exactly was Pascal Dupuis doing? Not using it, one would presume.
His comments on TVA Sports reignited the whole Mike Sullivan, Phil Kessel and — new this season! — Evgeni Malkin drama, even if Dupuis didn’t mean to do what he did.
Speaking of Malkin, his first half might’ve required some migraine medication if you looked too closely at the numbers.
After producing seven goals and 20 points in his first 11 games, Malkin has just six and 25 over his past 32. He’s a minus-14 in that time with just two even-strength goals.
That’s the same guy?
Remember when Bryan Rust couldn’t score, and Matt Murray couldn’t stop opposing players from scoring? Come to think of it, shouldn’t they have gone golfing together or something?
Those days feel like ancient history now.
After scoring once in his first 29 games, Rust broke out of his slump with a hat trick in Chicago a couple weeks ago and has 10 goals in 13 games since.
When Murray went out with a lower-body injury, he was 4-5-1 and ranked last in goals-against average (4.08) among qualifying goaltenders. He was next-to-last in save percentage (.877).
The Penguins franchise goaltender has been impenetrable since returning. He has won all eight of his starts with a 1.24 goals-against average and .963 save percentage.
Biggest disappointment
Although general manager Jim Rutherford said recently he has seen improvement in Derick Brassard, it’s hard to say Brassard has been the threat the Penguins thought he would be when they traded for him in February.
At minimum, Brassard is expected to walk after the season, to get a role probably more in tune with what he has experienced throughout his career, but might he wind up leaving via trade beforehand?
Even if there has been improvement lately, there have also been prolonged periods where Brassard — who had 27 goals in 2015-16 — simply hasn’t produced. Maybe it’ll change. And Brassard’s current 15-goal pace isn’t terrible. But the Penguins and their fans have certainly been expecting more.
The new guys
Two key trades happened in the first half, both involving players who came to Pittsburgh from California.
Rutherford traded Carl Hagelin to Los Angeles for Tanner Pearson, and Pearson has mostly been a solid addition. He has certainly shown an ability to shoot, while it’s hard to complain about his six goals in 27 games.
The bigger move, though, has been Marcus Pettersson, whom Rutherford acquired for Daniel Sprong. Remember when the Penguins were stupid for trading the young winger?
Pettersson has stabilized their defense by allowing everyone to play where they should be playing. He also has been huge for Jack Johnson, who struggled before the trade but has been a perfectly fine, third-pairing defender who kills penalties since Pettersson arrived.
Sprong might score 20 or 25 goals in Anaheim or elsewhere, and maybe he didn’t get a fair shake in Pittsburgh. But it’s hard to look at that trade and think too negatively about it.
The injury bug
Justin Schultz walked through the Penguins dressing room Monday at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, with signs of surgery running halfway up his (previously broken) left leg.
In the fourth game of the season, Schultz was lost to gruesome injury that required immediate surgery and sidelined the defenseman for four months — although it looks like his return could fall a little inside of that range. When Schultz returns, talk about a key tradedeadline acquisition.
The Penguins will add a bonafide top-four guy who’s right-handed, who can quarterback the top power play, who was a NHL-best plus-49 from 2016-18 and two years ago had 12 goals and 51 points. Yeah, not bad.
Best game/moment
There’s a three-way tie for this one.
1) A Thanksgiving Eve win against Dallas. One of the Penguins’ best team efforts of the season came a day after Sullivan’s toughest and most productive practice, where several important tweaks were made. It also coincided with Crosby’s return from a three-game absence because of an upperbody injury, and he has been pretty much unstoppable since.
2) A 6-3 home victory Dec. 4 against Colorado, when Patric Hornqvist scored the fastest hat trick in Penguins history — three goals in 2:47. Beating a good team, in that fashion, at home … did a lot to propel their recent surge.
3) A 2-1 road win Dec. 19 at Washington. Although he beat the Kings four days earlier, it was the first big-time performance from Murray in his return to dominance. Meanwhile, Jamie Oleksiak’s fight, in a weird way, might’ve helped the Penguins, who relied on Letang and a terrific team effort to shut down Alex Ovechkin, who entered the game with goals in six consecutive games. That win kicked off an eight-game winning streak, tying the longest of Sullivan’s tenure