So what happened?
We saw the other extreme of hockey last night, as neither team was able to register more than 25 shots, and and neither goalie had to make any amazing saves. Neither team could score on the power play, either. No one could even get any sustained offense going.
The difference was one mistake by the Pens, not picking up Clarke MacArthur coming off of the bench from a line change. He came down the right side unattended. The Leafs got him the puck and he cut to the middle and beat Johnson, who had sold out to protect the short side.
There were a few miscues with the Johnson play:
Not marking him when he came off of the bench
Allowing him to cut to the middle when he had the puck - that shouldn't happen
Johnson overplaying and thus being totally unprepared for his cutback
Aside from that, the defense was fine. The offense just wasn't there.
At least the Pens have a few days to work on it before their busy weekend.
Who scored?
No one.
The Good?
- Keeping the Leafs in check offensively. Things never got to be what you'd consider to be wide-open hockey.
The Bad?
- Not establishing any kind of offensive rhythm. They were never able to get to their game.
The Ugly?
- Letang was high-sticked in the face (not called) and twice has his legs kicked out from under him (not called). He was ticked, as was (I think) every Pens fan that was watching.
Any Surprises?
- Geno and company getting shut down, essentially, by the Leafs was surprising.
What's their record now?
The Pens are 29-18-4.
Who's next?
Weekend back-to-back, both in the afternoon. Get used to this - the Pens play back-to-backs every weekend in February, with seven of the eight games being in the afternoon.
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