"They're the best in the league right now, the way they’ve played lately. They can smell blood and they want to get their third Cup in a row."
And that's what Guy Boucher was saying before Tuesday night's game against the Penguins. Wonder what the Senators coach was thinking after? Actually, Boucher might have been a little preoccupied by the fire sale of his team which began during it.
But for 40 minutes or so, the Senators were the better team, and Mike Sullivan admitted as much.
"I thought they outplayed us the first two periods," he said.
So did some on the Ottawa side, including Mark Stone:
But you know what? The Penguins only need one good period. When you have the firepower that they have, you can score three goals in a little over six minutes. That's exactly what this team did in the second period of their 6-3 win over the Senators.
Obviously, it's not the way they would care to win on a regular basis, but it's a nice weapon to have in the arsenal.
"Good teams find ways to win games in different ways," Matt Murray was saying. "Maybe it's encouraging that we're doing that right now. We need to keep that going."
TAP ABOVE FOR BOXSCORE, STANDINGS, VIDEOThe Penguins have now won 13 of their past 18 and nine in a row inside the friendly confines of PPG Paints Arena. And they moved to within three points of first-place Washington in the Metropolitan Division.
And, just maybe, as Boucher suggested, they are the best team in the NHL right now.
My five thoughts on Tuesday's win:
1. Sully knows. He always knows.
There's a reason Sullivan has led the Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships. Since coming to Pittsburgh in December of 2015, Sullivan's always had the Midas touch with this team, always known when to push the right buttons and, perhaps most impressively, has never publicly ridiculed his players.
Surely, it had to be tempting during Guentzel's inconsistencies. Actions speak louder than words though. Sullivan did have Guentzel practicing Monday on a fourth line and he wasn't skating with the top power play unit. Well, message sent, message received.
On Tuesday, Guentzel was back on the third line, back on the top power play and, naturally, back on the scoresheet. Twice, in fact.
Goals Nos. 17 and 18 marked the first multi-goal game for Guentzel since Nov. 27, a span of 31 games.
"I'm thrilled for him," Sullivan said. "I know he's working hard, he's trying. For him to score two tonight, (it) should give him a big boost of confidence. He's an important player for us. I thought he had one of his strongest games within the last month or so."
The key for Guentzel is when he gets to the front of the net. He's not a big guy, but he plays bigger than his 5-11, 180-pound frame suggests and he has the hockey IQ befitting the son of a college coach, who just happened to be in attendance on Tuesday.
"He plays a stiff game when he wants to," Sullivan said. "He plays with that little bit of edge and determination and conviction, that's when he's at his best. We certainly saw it tonight."
Actually, Guentzel killed two birds with one stone. His tip of a Justin Schultz shot at 4:07 of the first period was the Penguins' first power play goal in five games, ending an 0-for-10 skid for the NHL's top-ranked unit:
But Guentzel wasn't done there. He got his second of the game at the 5:10 mark of the second. Want to talk about being stiff on pucks? Here he just outworks 6-foot-4, 225-pound Dion Phaneuf. This goal would be the final image of Phaneuf in Ottawa:
"That's where most goals are scored nowadays," Guentzel said. "I think you have to go there and it's going to be tough some times, but it's definitely nice getting those."
2. ZAR's first goals sure won't be his last.
Remember how the other day I was writing that Zach Aston-Reese was going to supplant Guentzel on the third line and the first power play unit? Yeah, didn't happen. (See above).
Don't feel too bad for Aston-Reese, though. The kid did collect the first two goals of his NHL career. That's a pretty good consolation prize. Also, they will not be his last goals, trust me.
Sullivan was raving about Aston-Reese's two-way game and the improvement he's shown over the first five games he's played since being recalled. He's also been playing more -- 14:29 on Tuesday after receiving just 6:24 in his debut on Feb. 3 -- and getting plum assignments, like having Sidney Crosby as a linemate.
Aside from Crosby's saucer pass, there was nothing aesthetically pleasing about Aston-Reese's first goal. The shot was just the Penguins' ninth of the game -- they were being outshot 25-9 at this point -- and yet it still went in ... right off Mike Condon's glove at the 11:22 mark of the second, capping their three-goal outburst. But credit Aston-Reese for making the prudent play and getting the puck on net:
Needless to say, this was the last shot that Condon, a former Penguins farmhand, faced as he was mercifully replaced by Craig Anderson. It was the second time in the last three home games that the Penguins chased a starting goalie after Washington's Braden Holtby got the hook on Feb. 2.
Maybe 40 years from now, Aston-Reese can tell the fam in Staten Island how he skated through the Ottawa defense and ripped a slapper top shelf but, in reality, this was a bad goal. (No worries, Ian Cole collected the puck for Aston-Reese).
One for the mantel. pic.twitter.com/3p6H2lpOpG
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) February 14, 2018
Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and Aston-Reese is at his best when he plays a fairly simple north-south game.
"It was pretty special, almost like a release," he said after finishing off the scoring with an empty netter at 18:55 of the third. "It was really exciting like that."
It's questionable how Aston-Reese fits in when Patric Hornqvist returns from his lower-body injury, but the kid does have a bright future in the organization. Could he be a possible long-term replacement if Hornqivst walks in free agency? Something to ponder.
3. Don't forget Murray's role in all this.
Since rejoining the team following the death of his father, Murray is now 5-0-1 with his lone loss coming in a shootout in Dallas last week (which probably shouldn't count as a loss, but I digress).
On Tuesday, Murray was under siege early, facing 25 shots in the first two periods, stopping 23 of them, including this Grade-A chance from Cody Ceci with 11:20 remaining in the second:
There's nothing flashy about Murray. He just makes the timely saves. He has a wonderful economy of movement, relying heavily on his technique which allows him to track pucks and avoid kicking out big rebound chances.
“He was huge," Schultz said. "He kept us in it. We weren’t good the first two periods. Like always, he’s back there to bail us out. It was a big night by him.”
The Penguins were able to shut down the Senators over the final 20 minutes, limiting Ottawa to just eight shots. But the game was essentially won in the second by Murray.
"He really made some big saves for us for us and allowed us to get the lead," Sullivan said. "I don't think the way the first two periods were played, we probably didn't deserve to have a lead. Matt was a big reason why."
It can not be underscored enough what getting Murray back on top of his game means for the Penguins moving forward.
4. Carl Hagelin continues to amaze.
I also wrote the other day about the Swede's blazing speed and how he uses it as a weapon. OK, at least Hagelin made me look prophetic.
His assist on Evgeni Malkin's goal at 10:01 of the second might just be one of the best/worst goals you'll see, depending on your perspective. I'm leaning on best.
Hagelin's wraparound attempt failed when the puck came off his stick, but he was still able to throw a backhander to Malkin, who somehow did a little pirouette and backhanded it in off Condon's rear end. On this play, Hagelin's hands were as good as his feet:
Just to update, Hagelin now has 13 points -- four goals, nine assists -- in the past 14 games.
There have been a lot of moving parts at left wing in Sullivan's lines of late. Dominik Simon, Aston-Reese and Guentzel have all seen time with different centers but Hagelin seems to have found some strong chemistry with Malkin as his center on the second line. That shouldn't change.
5. Hockey is a strange game.
And Tuesday was yet another perfect example of that.
The Penguins were badly outshot most of the game and still won. They got multi-goal games from Guentzel and Aston-Reese. Crosby had a relatively quiet night and still had three assists to move to within a point of the team scoring lead and six of league leader Nikita Kucherov.
Oh, and did I mention that Brian Dumoulin was a plus-4, a new career-high? His previous best this season was a plus-2, accomplished six times. And for the fancy-stats crowd, Dumoulin's 61.29 Corsi For Percentage at even strength was second only to defense partner Kris Letang's 63.33.
One other thing -- Dumoulin had two assists in the third period to give him his first multi-point game this season and just the second of his career.
"Dumo, I thought, had a strong game, him and Tanger both," Sullivan said. "I thought they played really well. They were making good decisions with the puck. They defended hard. They're two really important players for us. They play against the other team's top players, play real important minutes. When they chip in offensively the way they do, it gives us a big boost."