When the Pittsburgh Penguins take to their home ice for the first time in the 2015-16, some of the luster of opening day will have already come off the team.
Sure, there will be the Pittsburgh debuts of Phil Kessel, Sergei Plotnikov, Daniel Sprong and others, but the team’s lack of urgency and scoring touch in the first two games of the season already has many worried about the season.
Worries about the team’s slow start will be compounded by tonight’s opponents: the Montreal Canadiens. After making historically average goaltenders Antti Niemi and Mike Smith look like Jacques Plante and Terry Sawchuck, the Pens will face an enormous test tonight, when they go up against the league’s best goaltender in Carey Price.
Price led the NHL in wins (44), save percentage (.933%) and goals-against average (1.96) and after the season, he was award the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top netminder.
The key to beating Price will be getting pucks to the net – followed by a heavy dose of bodies.
“With a guy like Price, we’ve got to make sure we have a great screen,” head coach Mike Johnston said after today’s morning skate. “Second shots, rebound shots, those are the things you’ve got to create to get scoring chances.”
The Penguins can also take some solace in the fact that through two games, they are the victims of bad luck more than anything.
Despite scoring only one goal, their 31 shots per game sits right about league average. It’s their shooting percentage (1.5%) that is the extreme outlier. Throughout the years, the league-average shooting has been around 9%.
Last season, the Pens scored at an 8.4% rate. If they had replicated that figure through their first two games this season, they would have scored five goals so far.
“We’ve just got to stick with it and not get too down on ourselves,” said winger Beau Bennett. “These guys are going to find the scoresheet.”
Leading the team in chances is defenseman Kris Letang, with 10 shots on goal.
“If you look at the first game, we had more shots and we had more scoring chances,” he said. “It’s just that we got a hot goalie and it was tough.”
That mindset will be key for the Penguins if they hope to get back on track against one of the stronger teams in the Eastern Conference.
Happy returns: There are several Pittsburgh connections on the Canadiens squad. Former Penguins head coach Michel Therrien will man the Habs bench. Former Pens defenseman Marc Bergevin is the team’s general manger.
On the ice, defenseman Tom Gilbert played one season with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League in 2007-08, when the Penguins shared an affiliate with the Edmonton Oilers, who drafted Gilbert out of the University of Wisconsin. He would briefly have been teammates with Letang, who played one AHL game that season.
Goaltender Mike Condon played 39 games for the Wheeling Nailers in 2013-14, when the Penguins and Canadiens shared a Double-A affiliate. Condon posted a .931 save percentage and a 2.13 goals-against average while winning 23 games for the club.
Condon made his NHL debut on Sunday night, earning a 3-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators. In the process, Condon became the 53rd former Nailers player to play in the NHL. The Nailers lead all ECHL teams in that category.
Photo credit: Montreal Gazette
