Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby congratulate Blake Comeau on his OT goal and hat trick Wednesday. — GETTY
DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
It’s one thing for Mike Johnston to pop up this summer, seemingly out of nowhere, and preach that these Penguins needed to change their feathers and get pucks and bodies to the net.
It’s another thing for Patric Hornqvist to pop up, seemingly with a gift-bag of GPS devices in hand, to demonstrate how to actually do that.
It’s yet another thing to see his teammates, seemingly from the very first faceoff, follow suit.
But man, it’s quite another to hear an opposing goaltender sound downright annoyed by it.
I present to you, Jonathan Bernier, the downright annoyed goaltender of the Maple Leafs:
Understated but still sensational, right?
Those were your very own Pittsburgh Penguins he was describing. I was careful to preface the question precisely that way to avoid any confusion with, oh, the Poke-around-the-perimeter Penguins or the Pass-up-every-shot Penguins or the … you get it.
There has long been something strangely special about Thanksgiving Eve and hockey in our city, most likely because of the traditionally energetic crowds that fill the place with people back in the area visiting family and friends, but this stood out even in that context: Blake Comeau came through with a hat trick, including the OT slap shot at 2:53. Evgeni Malkin left a goal, two assists and vapor trails in his wake. Kris Letang had two assists in logging a game-high 27:18 of ice. Simon Despres registered five hits and had Toronto’s forwards skating the other direction by game’s end.
All of it, including Toronto’s own aggressive effort, made for a ton of fun.
“Good win. Really was,” Sidney Crosby said after shrugging off two blah periods to match Malkin stride for stride from that point. “Some of it was a little sloppy at times, but you’ve got to battle through those. We did.”
They battled, all right. And they did so in a space so confined that it all could have been captured with a fixed camera.
On Comeau’s opening strike, just 26 seconds in, both he and Malkin burst through Bernier’s crease. The finishing touch was a 10-foot backhander.
“Geno did all the work,” Comeau claimed, and he was being modest.
“There were two bodies there for our one,” Bernier said, and he was being accurate.
On Malkin’s goal, a bazooka from center point on the power play that might have taken Bernier’s arm with it had it not instead blistered the net, Letang smartly one-touched back to Malkin even though Crosby had set up for a chance of his own.
“We always look for the middle of the ice,” Letang said. “And when we’re there, we take the shot.”
Not always. Most of the time. But it’s certainly pleasant progress.
And I won’t even mention that Hornqvist screened Bernier because that should be assumed by now.
Comeau’s second goal followed a painful reminder of what happens when the Penguins don’t shoot. Chris Kunitz declined on a two-on-one, and Toronto countered to pull within one. Leo Komarov scored that one, then again two minutes later to tie, 2-2, midway through the second period.
Perhaps duly inspired, Kunitz’s next shift saw him pretty much just flick the puck from the left boards, and he was rewarded by Comeau’s deft tip under Bernier’s left arm.
Let’s pause right here to appreciate that, even amid Jim Rutherford’s golden-touch summer of trades and free-agent signings, Comeau and his eight goals still look especially sharp when it’s weighed that he just surpassed his goal total from the past two seasons — seven — in Columbus. He was a plugger there and everywhere he’s been after some early scoring success on Long Island. He was reliable, dependable and all those other terms one uses for a fourth-liner, but not at all productive offensively, never again topping five goals in a season. Here, he’s done some plugging, but he also was properly identified by Johnston as a winger who could help fill Pascal Dupuis‘ vacancy.
(Beau Bennett’s out, too, but that’s not so much a vacancy as it is status quo.)
“It was pretty evident, going way back to exhibition play, that he was playing with speed, with confidence, with poise on the puck,” Johnston said after this one. “And it just seems to keep going for him.”
The coach paused a moment.
“It’s interesting how guys, when they come to a new situation, they can get on a roll. At one time, he was considered a very good, very talented hockey player. He’s had some bumps in the road. But now, he’s here, and he’s playing well for us. Really well. So consistent from Day 1.”
Which leads wonderfully into this bit of decidedly non-plugger creativity:
Not much underscores an NHL player’s skill level quite like pulling off a four-on-four give-and-go, switching-off-at-the-point, let-her-rip slapper that beats the goaltender cleanly.
But I’ll stress anew that this goal, like the others, was born of the same stubborn spirit: Crosby attacked Toronto’s blue line with gusto and, rather than peeling away as he did maddeningly all last last spring, he pushed the defense back. That caused the initial disturbance. Comeau swooped in to help, and Letang played a huge part in the rest by following Johnston’s admonition for his defensemen to not be shy about rushing the net if they know a forward has their back.
I love Bob Errey, but 'riding him bareback'? C'mon man...this is a family site...
Way to start off the holiday weekend Pens...I truly hope the rest of the Pittsburgh sports teams follow suite (Pitt and the Steelers of course and who knows, maybe the Bucs will get some more cash for international signings - sounds 007'ish).
Happy Thanksgiving!
I love hockey. I missed the last 3 games because I was out of town on a retreat, but I watched all of this one . There's nothing like the thrill of a hockey game. ... and reading your take on it afterwards has become a part of it. How looney is that? Have a great thanksgiving!
I've seen you be critical of injury-prone players before. So openly and candidly though, this is rare. (I'm thinking, LaMarr Woodley, and well deserved)
If he was a tough kid, working his butt off every day, had his teammates respect, etc...hmm, I'm wondering if you may know something we don't about Beau's character/work ethic that we do not.
For years when my family were STH, the Thanksgiving eve/Saturday afterwards and New Year's Eve games were always some of the most looked forward to games; still miss them. It is so very refreshing to be "that" team now, the one where the goalie is bemoaning the crowded crease in front of him, rather than it being the reverse. Happy Thanksgiving to all.
Did I hear that right? An opposing goalie referencing the Pittsburgh Penguins when discussing men in front of the net? Wow! One thing hasn't changed, I kept yelling, "shoot the puck" at my television. They seemingly always look for the perfect play and it is frustrating. But, good win and I'm happy for Comeau. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.
Even my inexperienced eye has noted it this year - a presence in front of the goalie. And because I don't live in Pittsburgh, I must listen to opposing announcers during away games. They say the same things. So far, this is a bit of a different team. One other mention. I hear Goc's name often (positively) when the Pen's are on the penalty kill. I need to pay more attention to his play when Pens are on the PK.
Have a great Thanksgiving DK . Hope you, your family and friends enjoy the fellowship as you gather together. Appreciate the insight you bring to sports and thanks for the diversion from worldly affairs.
Great stuff DK, good to get the 2 points, but Sid's soft flip pass that set up their 3rd goal had my houseful of guests going nuts! Bad play from such a good player. They got the win which is good. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving, especially the Lunatics on this site. Also to you DK, enjoy Thanksgiving with your family!
Sid had 3 head-scratchers last night, including passing up shots trying to thread the needle. At his best when keeping it simple. He knows it and said as much after the game.
Wasn't around to comment yesterday but glad you moved on from livefyre. Hated it. Sent 3 questions to their support team and got zero response each time. None. Their website touts quick turnaround by "real people" or some such nonsense. Big promise, no delivery. Site-killer combination.
Really thought you were right there before on look and simplicity of site, clean/crisp font, ease of posting, etc., before the switch. And then everything became slow and complicated, with the number of comments suffering. Honestly feel that some people could not figure out new log-in process. You're probably in process of tweaking now but would go back to same look you had before the switch -- font, gravatar sizing, having precise time of posts instead of facebook's "1 hour ago" format.
Thanksgiving Eve 1987 - who could forget Paul Coffey first game as a Penguin. I was there and there was a buzz in the crowd like no other to that point...3 assists and a 6-4 win vs. Nordiques....
The best of them, for sure. Just mentioned that game to someone in the past week. Unreal seeing him wearing that sweater. Unlike any newcomer ever. More so than Iginla.
Was there also up in old E-19 at the top.
When the crowd was fired up felt like the whole building shaking up there, cool.
Guy was sooo fast, and that lazer shot from the point, wow.
Maybe some guys faster than him but he still "looks" the fastest to me.
Entire team looks like they've recaptured their passion for hard work and team play. Lot of smiles and compliments getting tossed around. True team-building taking place. And Malkin has been playing like a man among boys. Said it 2 days ago -- when he's having fun AND working like he has been, man, look out NHL. Just dominant.
On Comeau, have listened to ALL the comments of the local hockey gurus about how he's not top 6. All I've seen is clean and punishing hits, always moving without the puck, going to tough areas and playing with a chippy Kunitz-like edge (last year's Kunitz, that is) and putting the puck ON THE NET. Would not rule Comeau out as being a top 6 answer until his play dips. HATED playing against him when he was with Isles and looks like he's back to same skills and style of play.
I never miss a game. If I can't see a game live, it's always recorded. Last night was as exciting as it gets. I looked forward to your honest and interesting take on the game, DK, and as usual, you did not disappoint. I was glad to hear Crosby admit to making mistakes, because at times he seems to fly under the radar and above criticism, especially with most media.
My thanks for Thanksgiving...Pens always have great players, brand new arena, all games on tv, organization willing to spend to cap, covered by the awesome DK.
Thanksgiving Eve game always special - went to my first Pens game back in early 80's for my birthday on one - then got to sit in my Dad's $20 C-26 tix (remember those??) every year I came back from Penn State for the break after meeting him at the Roma down on Penn Ave for a few pre-game refreshments - Forgot about the Badger Bob night with the battery candles. Took my family last year on Thanksgiving Eve for their first Pens game (for $20 too - yeah, right!). Go Pens and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
DK's brittle comments are apt and fair. Loved his explanation of "brittle" this week. But the question in the Q&A used the word "snark," and sorry, but DK does come off a bit snarky with Bennett's injuries. I'm pretty ambivalent about Bennett, but it does feel like a bit of piling on at times. Not sure what's at the root of it, but the point has been made.
The attack on Beau for being injured is getting old. Resorting to Rossi journalism (ie picking a player to trash in every article to feed the animals) is not good journalism. I expect & pay for better from you Dejan. When you watch the video of the hit on Beau's knee you see it buckle inwards. Name an athlete that wouldn't be out?
I've been over the Bennett thing countless times now. Why go over it again? This is my viewpoint.
And if you're implying that my viewpoint should be adjusted to match yours because it's a subscription site ... wow, I couldn't even muster a response to that because that's about as large an insult as you could levy in this direction. I won't pander to add subscribers. I won't raise my finger to the wind to first see what's a safe opinion. I'll say what I think and believe, based on the best of my ability to gather information to support it.
I wrote that Bennett is brittle. That's not an attack. That's not even an OPINION. That's a fact. Look it up.
And there will be occasions for that. This actually wasn't one. I cited Dupuis' absence from top-six as being important. I could either have ignored that Bennett ever existed (snark warning: easily done) or explain the omission. I did the latter.
Your apparent error here, in addition to the one where my view should match yours because you 'expect better,' is in assuming I've got some personal issue with this or any other person I cover. In which case I'd advise you to check with longtime readers here on that count.
DK, I subscribe precisely because you won't pander to anyone, for subscriptions or interviews. I want an insider point of view. While I may not always agree with some of the views I appreciate the opposing or different point being made. Comparing your style of writing to Rossi is a major insult. I know you won't change and I like the here's the way it is, like it or not, style. BTW, Beau Potato Chip earned that moniker and will have to unearn it if he's going to stay in the NHL.
November 27, 2014
Column: Early feast for Penguins … at the net
by Dejan Kovacevic • Columns • Penguins
Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby congratulate Blake Comeau on his OT goal and hat trick Wednesday. — GETTY
DEJAN KOVACEVIC, DK ON PITTSBURGH SPORTS
It’s one thing for Mike Johnston to pop up this summer, seemingly out of nowhere, and preach that these Penguins needed to change their feathers and get pucks and bodies to the net.
It’s another thing for Patric Hornqvist to pop up, seemingly with a gift-bag of GPS devices in hand, to demonstrate how to actually do that.
It’s yet another thing to see his teammates, seemingly from the very first faceoff, follow suit.
But man, it’s quite another to hear an opposing goaltender sound downright annoyed by it.
I present to you, Jonathan Bernier, the downright annoyed goaltender of the Maple Leafs:
Understated but still sensational, right?
Those were your very own Pittsburgh Penguins he was describing. I was careful to preface the question precisely that way to avoid any confusion with, oh, the Poke-around-the-perimeter Penguins or the Pass-up-every-shot Penguins or the … you get it.
Penguins 4, Maple Leafs 3, overtime.
There has long been something strangely special about Thanksgiving Eve and hockey in our city, most likely because of the traditionally energetic crowds that fill the place with people back in the area visiting family and friends, but this stood out even in that context: Blake Comeau came through with a hat trick, including the OT slap shot at 2:53. Evgeni Malkin left a goal, two assists and vapor trails in his wake. Kris Letang had two assists in logging a game-high 27:18 of ice. Simon Despres registered five hits and had Toronto’s forwards skating the other direction by game’s end.
All of it, including Toronto’s own aggressive effort, made for a ton of fun.
“Good win. Really was,” Sidney Crosby said after shrugging off two blah periods to match Malkin stride for stride from that point. “Some of it was a little sloppy at times, but you’ve got to battle through those. We did.”
They battled, all right. And they did so in a space so confined that it all could have been captured with a fixed camera.
On Comeau’s opening strike, just 26 seconds in, both he and Malkin burst through Bernier’s crease. The finishing touch was a 10-foot backhander.
“Geno did all the work,” Comeau claimed, and he was being modest.
“There were two bodies there for our one,” Bernier said, and he was being accurate.
On Malkin’s goal, a bazooka from center point on the power play that might have taken Bernier’s arm with it had it not instead blistered the net, Letang smartly one-touched back to Malkin even though Crosby had set up for a chance of his own.
“We always look for the middle of the ice,” Letang said. “And when we’re there, we take the shot.”
Not always. Most of the time. But it’s certainly pleasant progress.
And I won’t even mention that Hornqvist screened Bernier because that should be assumed by now.
Comeau’s second goal followed a painful reminder of what happens when the Penguins don’t shoot. Chris Kunitz declined on a two-on-one, and Toronto countered to pull within one. Leo Komarov scored that one, then again two minutes later to tie, 2-2, midway through the second period.
Perhaps duly inspired, Kunitz’s next shift saw him pretty much just flick the puck from the left boards, and he was rewarded by Comeau’s deft tip under Bernier’s left arm.
Let’s pause right here to appreciate that, even amid Jim Rutherford’s golden-touch summer of trades and free-agent signings, Comeau and his eight goals still look especially sharp when it’s weighed that he just surpassed his goal total from the past two seasons — seven — in Columbus. He was a plugger there and everywhere he’s been after some early scoring success on Long Island. He was reliable, dependable and all those other terms one uses for a fourth-liner, but not at all productive offensively, never again topping five goals in a season. Here, he’s done some plugging, but he also was properly identified by Johnston as a winger who could help fill Pascal Dupuis‘ vacancy.
(Beau Bennett’s out, too, but that’s not so much a vacancy as it is status quo.)
“It was pretty evident, going way back to exhibition play, that he was playing with speed, with confidence, with poise on the puck,” Johnston said after this one. “And it just seems to keep going for him.”
The coach paused a moment.
“It’s interesting how guys, when they come to a new situation, they can get on a roll. At one time, he was considered a very good, very talented hockey player. He’s had some bumps in the road. But now, he’s here, and he’s playing well for us. Really well. So consistent from Day 1.”
Which leads wonderfully into this bit of decidedly non-plugger creativity:
Not much underscores an NHL player’s skill level quite like pulling off a four-on-four give-and-go, switching-off-at-the-point, let-her-rip slapper that beats the goaltender cleanly.
But I’ll stress anew that this goal, like the others, was born of the same stubborn spirit: Crosby attacked Toronto’s blue line with gusto and, rather than peeling away as he did maddeningly all last last spring, he pushed the defense back. That caused the initial disturbance. Comeau swooped in to help, and Letang played a huge part in the rest by following Johnston’s admonition for his defensemen to not be shy about rushing the net if they know a forward has their back.
Boom. Game over.
Oh, and Crosby was right in Bernier’s face.
It’s as if were part of the plan:
Happy Thanksgiving, Pittsburgh.