If there's one bright spot to take away from the Penguins' 6-3 loss to the Lightning on Thursday, it's that Sam Girard played his best game as a Penguin.
Girard assisted on the Penguins' first two goals, the primary helper on Rickard Rakell's goal and the secondary one on Egor Chinakhov's goal. He had to work to protect the puck behind the net for Rakell's goal:
Girard wasn't just showing up offensively -- he had a team-high six blocked shots, a third of the team's entire total. The highlight of his game was early in the second period when the puck got past Stuart Skinner, but Girard dove behind him in the crease to make the save and then clear it away from danger.
Though the Penguins were outplayed by the Lightning, Girard led the defensemen with a 48.54% expected goals share at five-on-five -- still below 50%, but a 19.19% increase over the Penguins' rate without him on the ice.
I spoke with Girard for last week's Friday Insider, and he said then that he felt as if he's started to turn the page in terms of adjusting to a new team, new system and new partner, and feels comfortable here.
THE ASYLUM
Girard plays his best game
If there's one bright spot to take away from the Penguins' 6-3 loss to the Lightning on Thursday, it's that Sam Girard played his best game as a Penguin.
Girard assisted on the Penguins' first two goals, the primary helper on Rickard Rakell's goal and the secondary one on Egor Chinakhov's goal. He had to work to protect the puck behind the net for Rakell's goal:
Girard wasn't just showing up offensively -- he had a team-high six blocked shots, a third of the team's entire total. The highlight of his game was early in the second period when the puck got past Stuart Skinner, but Girard dove behind him in the crease to make the save and then clear it away from danger.
Though the Penguins were outplayed by the Lightning, Girard led the defensemen with a 48.54% expected goals share at five-on-five -- still below 50%, but a 19.19% increase over the Penguins' rate without him on the ice.
I spoke with Girard for last week's Friday Insider, and he said then that he felt as if he's started to turn the page in terms of adjusting to a new team, new system and new partner, and feels comfortable here.
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