On the Penguins: Grading the first quarter
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Penguins forward Sidney Crosby has scored 33 points this season.
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The Penguins stumbled to a 1-3 start this season, and closed out the first quarter on a 4-0-1 run.
Seems only fitting, considering the extreme highs and lows they experienced through the first 21 games.
They had goaltending that ranged from awful to awesome. Penalty-killing that was as outstanding as their power play was exasperating. Evgeni Malkin would be magical in one game and go missing the next.
The reassuring thing for the Penguins, if there is one, is that their 11-8-2 record puts them on pace for a 94-point season, even though they haven't come close to playing their best with any sort of regularity.
There's no guarantee they ever will, of course, but if they do, those who projected them as a serious contender for the Stanley Cup will have a reasonably good chance of being correct.
Some facts, figures and reflections from the first quarter of the season:
• It is impossible to say, with any degree of certainty, that Sidney Crosby will win another scoring championship or league MVP award this season. If he continues to perform the way he did through the first six weeks, however, betting against him will be no way to get rich.
• The Penguins have proven they're capable of playing pretty well in their own end. What they haven't shown is that they are able, or perhaps willing, to do in game-in and game-out. On more than a few occasions, their team defense has been about as airtight as a window screen.
• The No. 1 power-play unit features two of the most gifted forwards in the world, Crosby and Malkin, yet the Penguins enter the second quarter having scored on just 13.5 percent of their chances with the extra man. That was good for 25th place in the NHL rankings going into Saturday night's games and, based on the quality of the Penguins' work with the man-advantage much of the time, they're lucky to be that high. While there's nothing easy about this game, is getting pucks and bodies to the net as hard as the power play has made it look at times?
First Published November 21, 2010 12:00 am
