Grind: This annihilation of the Avalanche just adds affirmation
Good Tuesday morning!
• One would think that these Penguins, already a mile high in the most literal way, might feel that much higher in this particular moment.
One would be mistaken, as I found out upon asking Bryan Rust about that following this massively unmistakable peak to their season, a 7-2 absolute annihilation of the Avalanche, the NHL's best team by any measure, Monday night here at Ball Arena.
"We've been high all year," he'd respond, as only he can. "I mean, I don't know how much higher you can get than high, but I think, for us in this room, we've felt that way the entire year. Doesn't matter what anybody else is saying. We've demanded excellence, and we've demanded that we play good hockey and compete in this league, and that's exactly what we've done and what we're going to continue that throughout March and into April and hopefully well beyond that."
That's it. That's my column. Thanks for reading. Check's in the mail, No. 17.
No, but seriously ...
... what's left to say?
I mean, other than that Evgeni Malkin returned from his five-game NHL suspension with two early goals, an assist and, by evening's end, an acknowledgement that Kyle Dubas has essentially promised he'll be back next season.
Because if trampling by a touchdown the league's leader in victories, points, goals scored, goals allowed, save percentage and probably swell sportsmanship, too ... if that isn't excellence, then I'm not sure how else I'd define it unless, say, Sidney Crosby weren't playing and ... oh, right.
But there it was. And here, my friends, it is.
Listen, I get that no Stanley Cup playoff spot's been clinched. Far from it, in fact:
NHL
In the same breath, though, I'm comfortable pointing out that the Penguins, now seventh in the NHL's overall standings, have beaten every team in front of them at least once except the Stars, and even that lone meeting, Dec. 7 in Dallas, was utterly dominated by the visitors until the damned shootout.
NHL
Wild, huh?
Or, it isn't. Not anymore.
If anything, in this post-Olympic, no-Sid atmosphere, there's possibly been more proven than at any point all winter: 5-3-3 in that span, 2-1-2 when both Sid and Geno were out and, thus far, 2-1-1 on this critical cross-continent trip that concludes Wednesday night in Raleigh, N.C.
They're dynamic enough that, in those five games when both Sid and Geno were out, they had the NHL's No. 2 and 3 scorers in Erik Karlsson and Egor Chinakhov, each with a goal and six assists. To say nothing of Karlsson adding another goal and two assists in this one, and Chinakhov's elegant two-on-one feed for one Geno's goals.
They're deep enough that, once everyone's back, it'll be crazy-hard carving room in the lineup for young Elmer Soderblom, who had a goal and an assist here and has impressed management with more than his 6-foot-8 stature. Or Ville Koivunen. Or a lot of others.
They're diligent enough that, as this second period demonstrated powerfully, they could decide to transform a track meet into a setting that "really settled things down," as Ryan Shea would tell me. That was the plan, and it'd turn the Avalanche's 18 first-period shots into just four.
"Four shots," as Jared Bednar, Colorado's coach, would bemoan. "Four."
They're dogged enough that, even being up by a handful of goals in the third, Connor Clifton embraced the opportunity to fight Jack Drury when challenged, and made Drury regret it:
They're determined enough that ... well, take it from them:
“Anytime you can win on the road, or anywhere, playing a team like that, to come out with two points, it’s definitely huge,” Dan Muse would say. “As you go through the year, all these positive things stack up. You own these experiences. You take it and move it forward. I think the guys should take some confidence from it. Not just in one area, but a lot of different areas.”
“It's a good confidence booster for our team,” Anthony Mantha would say. “Obviously, we know we're able to play with every team. And the way we played tonight, it just shows how resilient our team is and how special we are in here.”
"We hope Sid's back soon," Geno would say. "If we play at the same level, we have a great team. We miss three years playoffs. It's not what we want. Now? It's probably time to be back."
No probably about it.
At least not if all involved heed his advice upon being awarded the postgame helmet by his teammates:
• Thanks for reading my hockey coverage. One more to go. Taylor Haase and I are double-teaming the entire trip, a commitment to our readers in this regard that's unmatched by any other media outlet, and we're proud of that.
THE ASYLUM
Grind: This annihilation of the Avalanche just adds affirmation
Good Tuesday morning!
• One would think that these Penguins, already a mile high in the most literal way, might feel that much higher in this particular moment.
One would be mistaken, as I found out upon asking Bryan Rust about that following this massively unmistakable peak to their season, a 7-2 absolute annihilation of the Avalanche, the NHL's best team by any measure, Monday night here at Ball Arena.
"We've been high all year," he'd respond, as only he can. "I mean, I don't know how much higher you can get than high, but I think, for us in this room, we've felt that way the entire year. Doesn't matter what anybody else is saying. We've demanded excellence, and we've demanded that we play good hockey and compete in this league, and that's exactly what we've done and what we're going to continue that throughout March and into April and hopefully well beyond that."
That's it. That's my column. Thanks for reading. Check's in the mail, No. 17.
No, but seriously ...
... what's left to say?
I mean, other than that Evgeni Malkin returned from his five-game NHL suspension with two early goals, an assist and, by evening's end, an acknowledgement that Kyle Dubas has essentially promised he'll be back next season.
Because if trampling by a touchdown the league's leader in victories, points, goals scored, goals allowed, save percentage and probably swell sportsmanship, too ... if that isn't excellence, then I'm not sure how else I'd define it unless, say, Sidney Crosby weren't playing and ... oh, right.
But there it was. And here, my friends, it is.
Listen, I get that no Stanley Cup playoff spot's been clinched. Far from it, in fact:
NHL
In the same breath, though, I'm comfortable pointing out that the Penguins, now seventh in the NHL's overall standings, have beaten every team in front of them at least once except the Stars, and even that lone meeting, Dec. 7 in Dallas, was utterly dominated by the visitors until the damned shootout.
NHL
Wild, huh?
Or, it isn't. Not anymore.
If anything, in this post-Olympic, no-Sid atmosphere, there's possibly been more proven than at any point all winter: 5-3-3 in that span, 2-1-2 when both Sid and Geno were out and, thus far, 2-1-1 on this critical cross-continent trip that concludes Wednesday night in Raleigh, N.C.
They're dynamic enough that, in those five games when both Sid and Geno were out, they had the NHL's No. 2 and 3 scorers in Erik Karlsson and Egor Chinakhov, each with a goal and six assists. To say nothing of Karlsson adding another goal and two assists in this one, and Chinakhov's elegant two-on-one feed for one Geno's goals.
They're deep enough that, once everyone's back, it'll be crazy-hard carving room in the lineup for young Elmer Soderblom, who had a goal and an assist here and has impressed management with more than his 6-foot-8 stature. Or Ville Koivunen. Or a lot of others.
They're diligent enough that, as this second period demonstrated powerfully, they could decide to transform a track meet into a setting that "really settled things down," as Ryan Shea would tell me. That was the plan, and it'd turn the Avalanche's 18 first-period shots into just four.
"Four shots," as Jared Bednar, Colorado's coach, would bemoan. "Four."
They're dogged enough that, even being up by a handful of goals in the third, Connor Clifton embraced the opportunity to fight Jack Drury when challenged, and made Drury regret it:
They're determined enough that ... well, take it from them:
“Anytime you can win on the road, or anywhere, playing a team like that, to come out with two points, it’s definitely huge,” Dan Muse would say. “As you go through the year, all these positive things stack up. You own these experiences. You take it and move it forward. I think the guys should take some confidence from it. Not just in one area, but a lot of different areas.”
“It's a good confidence booster for our team,” Anthony Mantha would say. “Obviously, we know we're able to play with every team. And the way we played tonight, it just shows how resilient our team is and how special we are in here.”
"We hope Sid's back soon," Geno would say. "If we play at the same level, we have a great team. We miss three years playoffs. It's not what we want. Now? It's probably time to be back."
No probably about it.
At least not if all involved heed his advice upon being awarded the postgame helmet by his teammates:
"Save this confidence," the man spoke.
They're not great. But they never needed to be great. They needed, all along, to be competitive.
Now, they're contenders. Just ask all the others.
• I whipped up a separate news article from here on the Colorado reaction.
• Thanks for reading my hockey coverage. One more to go. Taylor Haase and I are double-teaming the entire trip, a commitment to our readers in this regard that's unmatched by any other media outlet, and we're proud of that.
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