The Pittsburgh Penguins came out strong again on Monday against the Montreal Canadiens, but fell behind again in the second quarter.
But this time, depth scoring proved to be big for the Penguins.
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Lars Eller scored twice and Kevin Hayes provided the game-winner in the third period as the Penguins defeated the Canadiens 6-3. Rickard Rakell and Kris Letang also scored for Pittsburgh, and Evgeni Malkin added a late goal to seal the win.
Goaltender Tristan Jarry stopped 27 of 30 shots and was great for the Penguins late in the game.
Here are some thoughts and observations from Pittsburgh's win on Monday:
“Rakell deserves a lot of praise for the way he has come out of the gate this season.
His skating looks much better. His foreplay and board play have been spectacular, his defensive awareness is still strong and he is looking to play at a high level. He knows how to use his physicality and vision to create space and has good anticipation of how to position himself to make plays.
And that's not even Rakell's strongest feature. That would be his shot.
He shot past Montembault for his good score in the first quarter, but then ripped two other shots off the post. The puck is jumping off his stick and his patented shot is absolutely killer right now.
One of my predictions for this season is that Rakell will score over 30 goals (I accurately predicted it would be a career-high 37). If he continues to do what he is doing now, he should achieve this goal with relative ease. He's so good.
– With that being said, I don't think there are enough good things that can be said about Malkin right now. He has been shot out of a cannon and is the Penguins' most dynamic offensive player so far this season.
He now needs to see ice as often as possible, plain and simple.
– Taking all this into account, the top six as a whole is certainly a problem.
After a promising game in Detroit, Sidney Crosby's passing was mostly ineffective. Michael Bunting was too quiet compared to his line-mates, although he was definitely more noticeable tonight.
It's certainly not ideal to part ways with Malkin and Rakell at this point, and I think it's fair to give Bryan Rust a few games to recover from his early-season injury. However, I still believe that – especially after Jake Guentzel's departure – Crosby needs a real striker on his line.
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That doesn't mean Crosby can't do it himself. He is fully capable, as he has shown more than once. However, Malkin has always excelled as an individual player when he played, and that is certainly the case now.
Crosby needs a player who is good at thinking about the game his way and a player who can finish the game, which is why Guentzel has had so much success with him. Rakell is the closest player to that on this squad. Rust and Beauvillier are north-south wingers, fast and with form, and although Rust is very good, such a player is better suited in a complementary role with Crosby.
I wouldn't mind seeing them put Rakell on Crosby's left and move Drew O'Connor to Malkin's right, as the Bunting-Malkin-O'Connor line performed quite well in Thursday's game against Detroit.
And – to get specific here – the Rakell-Crosby-Rust line was the Penguins' best line on the season in a small sample size in 2023-24. In fact, Rakell was part of all three of the Penguins' top lines last season:
“The bottom six have improved significantly compared to last season and I think you can count on that for the rest of the season.
There was a lot of talk about Eller being moved this offseason. I think what was shown early on is that Eller can be a very good third-line center when he has attacking talent on his wings. The third line of O'Connor, Eller and Jesse Puljujarvi was very good tonight and seemed to build some chemistry throughout the evening.
Puljujarvi is a real addition to the third line and I think he deserves a permanent place in the squad at the moment.
What about the fourth line? I really like what I've seen from them this season. I've been singing my praises of Cody Glass and the melody hasn't changed. But Hayes and Noel Acciari really looked like good complementary figures in this line. They are conscientious defensively and can really push the ball forward.
If the Penguins can find the right combination in their top six, this will be a very formidable lineup.
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– On the goalkeeper side, Jarry's evening didn't start perfectly. He conceded a questionable first goal, and Montreal's third goal was one of those saveable goals.
However, I am grateful for the way he ended the evening. Montreal came on really strong late in the game – Crosby's line was locked in his own zone for over two minutes and completely gassed – and Jarry made some great saves to keep the lead.
It was an important match for him. I think he did enough in this game to maintain his position as the starter for now.
– The person who really positively surprised me this season is Matt Grzelcyk.
He had a few defensive issues against the Rangers (everyone did) and Toronto. However, he can get into the action very well, has deceptive speed, and moves the puck very well, something Sullivan has said several times. He showed this when he passed to Malkin in the third quarter, which led to Letang's goal:
I like his comebacks so far. I think he and Letang could make a good couple.
– The Penguins will play two straight games at home against Buffalo on Wednesday and Carolina on Friday, then begin play in Western Canada against the Winnipeg Jets on Monday.
These two games should be a good test for Pittsburgh. Buffalo has emerging young talent and a pretty dynamic offense, while the Hurricanes are as good as ever as a good, defensive four-line team.
Additionally, goalie Alex Nedeljkovic has been skating with the team and appears to be close to returning. It will be interesting to see who scores on Wednesday.
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