familiar travels

Not sure if this is a good thing, but the Pens won this game in a fashion that we are now accustomed to.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to see a win, and they still look more alive in general and are playing a very up-tempo and entertaining style of hockey.  And there were some improvements.  Also Pascal Dupuis is made of titanium and Patric Hornqvist might be one of the most underrated players in the NHL.

1. Malkin and Hornqvist and the power play carried the team through this game.  Hornqvist in particular has been an excellent addition.  But the Pens will need to be careful not to fall into the trap of relying on the top six to do all of the scoring.  That’s kinda the double-edged sword of having two all-world players in your top six who can carry the team in almost any situation.  Hint: it doesn’t work in the playoffs.
2. Penalties.  Pens’ penalty kill somehow got them through this game, after being absolutely horrible to start the season.
3. A lot of those penalties had to do with Steve Downie aka Matt Cooke.  His reputation got him penalized more so than most forwards would be at this point in October.  His reputation also got Travis Hamonic to jump on him and attack him the way I would attack a freshly sliced piece of brisket, but hey that gets you ejected for instigating.  Even though Downie also got 2 minutes for charging since he, uh, left his feet to hit Nielsen.  I usually like Bob Errey as a human but his insistence that that was a “good hit” was blatant homerism.  NEVERTHELESS every team should have someone who makes everyone hate them without blatantly injuring somebody, and when Downie plays a clean-ish game he is that person.  Bring the hate.  I don’t want to be a Matt Cooke apologist because things he did are bad and he should feel bad about them for the rest of his life, but there was an element to his presence that the Pens have really been missing.  Up the hate factor.
4. Haven’t had much to say about MAF yet this season but this was his first solid win.
   
   Can’t really blame him for his GAA since the Pens PK was anemic as fuck.  I mean.  Four games come on.  The fact that it’s down to 2.5 is a good sign right?  RIGHT
5. Evgeni Malkin is kind of amazing.  He might be a perfect person.

UNFAMILIAR TRAVELS

The Boston Blades beat the Montreal Stars 2-0 in Montreal last night.  You can look for my recap tomorrow on Stanley Cup of Chowder.