My goodness, Derick Brassard's Howitzer over Matt Murray's shoulder was a blast, wasn't it?
Literally, I mean. He blasted that thing.
Yeah, yeah, I know. The Penguins would wind up slapping around the Senators, 6-3, Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena. I was there, too. I know the blast mattered for maybe a couple minutes, if that.
But still, indulge me for a second, please:
I've got one more, just a few minutes later ...
Not just the part where Brassard clangs the puck off the pipe. But the whole stick-handling expedition around the Pittsburgh zone that follows.
That, my friends, is a real, live two-way NHL center up there. He's got decent size, speed, skill and defensive diligence to spare. He's 30 years old, young enough to stay spry, experienced enough that he's got 156 goals, 257 assists for his career -- 15 goals, 16 assists this season -- all making for bona fide credentials.
You know where I'm going with this: He'd be a wonderful fit.
But wait. That's not to suggest Jim Rutherford should trade for him. Trades take two, and they don't happen in a vacuum unless Edmonton's involved. Per multiple Canadian reports, Pierre Dorion, the Senators' GM who's hanging a for-sale sign on half of his sagging roster, would require a return for Brassard of a top prospect, a first-round draft pick and some other third piece. This despite Brassard costing $5 million next season toward his employer's cap.
To put that in Pittsburgh terms, we're probably talking Daniel Sprong, that first-rounder, a pretty good winger and, oh, yeah, forget any chance of bringing back Patric Hornqvist once another $5 million is put on the payroll.
Which is all fantasy-land. From either perspective. Dorion won't get anywhere close to what he wants. Rutherford shouldn't touch it unless Ottawa eats a big chunk of that cash.
But here's why, regardless of what happens with Brassard, Rutherford can't be gun-shy about aiming high in the dozen days between now and the NHL trade deadline Feb. 26: The potential reward here isn't one player. It's a third consecutive Stanley Cup.
That's how the Penguins as an organization need to be thinking about this.
That's how I believe they are thinking about this.
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE, STANDINGS, VIDEOA big part of what's made Rutherford's tenure in Pittsburgh brilliant is that he's prioritized acquiring the piece he wants over whether or not he's perceived as winning or losing the trade. He's set his target, and he's gone hard after it because of a feeling as to what that target might mean for his current roster. Little else plays into his thinking, from everything I've gathered in talks with the man over the years.
That, again, is how it should be in this specific scenario. Sidney Crosby's 30, Evgeni Malkin 31, and the best version of Phil Kessel anyone's ever witnessed is 30. The chance at a three-peat rises above almost all other factors. And that chance is now.
To repeat for emphasis, that doesn't mean something dumb's got to be done. But, with all due respect to Rutherford's generous assessment of Riley Sheahan in his interview Monday with our Chris Bradford, that's not the answer. Not for this extraordinary goal at hand.
• I was told before the game, just to further cement fantasy-land here, that the Senators don't see much of a match with the Penguins. Not at the Brassard level, anyway.
• For the record, Murray didn't think that much of the Brassard shot. As he told me, "I mean, it was OK. But that's also one I'd like to have back."
Fair point. Murray missed his angle, and the puck struck the center back pipe.
But the two-time Stanley Cup goaltender again looked like the two-time Stanley Cup goaltender, now 6-0-1 in his past seven starts after these 30 saves, and I'll keep repeating that matters more than anything else we've witnessed over this six-week resurgence for the Penguins.
• Kris Letang had a goal, an assist and a plus-4 rating in a team-high 22:50 of ice time.
I mention this solely so that it doesn't go unmentioned by anyone at all. Which it absolutely would have.
The man makes some ghastly mistakes. But his performance, for years now, should have been defined by his positives far more than his negatives, particularly given how much he plays. Erik Karlsson, the counterpart No. 1 defenseman on this night, makes his own ghastly mistakes, and yet he's almost universally praised for his risk-taking in an appropriate context.
Why can't Letang get that same general stick tap from hockey fans, and not just in Pittsburgh?
• Good for Jake Guentzel.
Whether a hockey player is small or large, slow or fast, the formula for snapping out of a slump is to go to the net, and that's where Guentzel planted himself -- firmly -- on both his goals. Which isn't out of character. Mike Sullivan and his assistants have long praised the kid for his ability to make the most of his hand-eye and other skills in tight range.
That said, it maybe ought to be a lesson. Look closely for the clue in the postgame assessment below from Sullivan.
"Yeah, I've talked with Jake about that a lot," the coach began, referring to the net-front facet. "One of the things that really impressed us about him when we called him up last year was how stiff he was on the puck. You know, for an undersized guy, he can play a stiff game when he wants to. When he plays with that bit of an edge, that determination, that conviction, that's when he's at his best. We saw it tonight."
Mm-hm. And to add to that, when Guentzel does go several games without scoring, it's almost always because he doesn't do the above and, thus, misfires a lot because he's too far out and isn't exactly Evander Kane from distance.
Which begged my question:
• Better yet for Zach Aston-Reese.
He'd certainly created enough offense to this point to have scored his first NHL goal before this game, but it's still sweet that he could do it characteristically, with a hard rush down the left side capped by an overpowering wrister through Condon:
Make a move to the inside?
Drop a shoulder for a little deke?
Nope. That's who he is. No surprise on that front.
Nor was it any surprise that, when I asked him to break down the sequence, his answer consumed all of 10 seconds of his life:
• Sullivan effusively endorsed Aston-Reese's first couple weeks in the NHL, calling him "a really solid two-way player" and adding, "He's strong on the puck. He's good on the wall. He goes to the net. He has good awareness away from the puck. He's sound defensively. We can use him killing penalties. I just think he's a good overall player."
If that sounds like a willful comparison to Daniel Sprong, it almost surely shouldn't. Sullivan is loath to criticize any player, much less a prospect. Plus, when this coach has something to say, he tends to be a lot more direct.
That said, it absolutely sheds more light into why Aston-Reese is here and Sprong isn't.
Oh, and if the above wasn't enough, Sullivan tossed in this about Aston-Reese. "We've liked every game he's played. He seems to be getting better with each game he plays. Because of that fact, his ice time's going to grow."
• Get out of Carl Hagelin's way already.
• Mid-game trades are stupid.
The Senators pulled Dion Phaneuf from the game -- well, they just sat him on the bench for the final 30 minutes -- because Guy Boucher had been told he was headed to the Kings as part of a four-player deal.
"I wasn't told right then, but I had an idea," Phaneuf would explain in a locker room that, from what I gathered in there, seemed almost as weirded out by the experience as losing a longtime leader. "Then, obviously in between periods, there's the business side of things where the trade call had to go through and stuff."
There's a simple solution for mid-game trades: Prohibit them. Tell the GMs they aren't allowed to execute trades while their teams are on the ice. It's not as if anyone would object.
• By the way, Ottawa's eating 25 percent of Phaneuf's $7 million salary in the trade, if anyone wants to take the Brassard scenario seriously. The Senators also subjected themselves to the $4.9 million salary of what's left of 36-year-old Marian Gaborik. Both are signed through 2020-21.
• The Kings are in town next, flying in here Wednesday. Which means Phaneuf can just hang around and face the Penguins again. The odds on that have to be beyond astronomical.
• I can't get through one of these Grinds anymore without a special salute to the sudden spectacle that is Phil in breathtaking shape.
Behold, true believers:
In this episode, our hero narrowly misses accepting a breakaway pass, only to calmly pursue and collect the puck, then brashly stare down one, two, three, four, five, six Senators while the rest of the Penguins rushed off on a change.
Outmanned?
Ha! Not our guy!
He simply recharges his ring, speaks the oath, drags three defenders his way, then completes a pass to Hagelin for a shot.
If this is a serial, let it never end.