Through nearly the 4th of the regular season the Penguins sit in third place in the metro and 3 points out of first place. What was a great October has been a sluggish November so far. This shouldn’t be completely unexpected though as injuries to the likes of Rickard Rakell, Tristan Jarry, and Justin Brazeau among other penguins are hurt. The team has struggled offensively since then however they have got most of their goals from their league best power play.
Despite the fact the team has an impressive 10-5-4 record they have no wiggle room as just 4 points separate them between third to last. Every single team in the metro currently has a winning record or better which goes to show how competitive this season has started out to be.
The team just wrapped up their international games which took place in Sweden. Friday’s game they held a 1-0 lead for most of the game until they allowed a late goal with about a minute left to force overtime. The Predators were able to capitalize off a rush and were able to pull off the comeback. The team was not pleased with their effort and made it a mission to respond on Sunday which was the last of the games in Sweden. It was also Sergei Murashov’s second career nhl game.
The team started fast, and it carried through the whole first period where the Penguins found themselves up 3-0 after the first. The Predators started the second period off slow and struggled to even get a shot on goal. However, at about halfway through the period the Preds got some life, and it was time for the Penguins to defend. The team did so and did for the rest of the game while getting some great scoring chances themselves. In the end it was a 4-0 win for the Penguins and marked Murashov’s first career nhl shutout.
Another injury that hit the team just recently is forward Ville Koivunen who is now out week to week with a lower body injury. On the plus side of things Rutger McGroarty scored in his debut back with the baby pens and looks to work his way back up into the nhl roster. The team also announced that they called up Sam Poulin from the ahl and have put Philip Tomasino on waivers due to his poor performance.
Ben Kindel who got to play with Sidney Crosby at wing for a few games looked good and put up production on the powerplay, however, has been sent down to the third line. While he gave a boost on the top line the depth of the team ended up hurting badly with Kindel not at the third line center. He looks to continue his very strong rookie campaign and continue to grow his game.
Harrison Brunicke is an interesting name that has come up. He has been a scratch for multiple games and is now eligible to be sent down to the ahl for a limited number of games. Brunicke hasn’t played his 10th nhl game yet meaning he can still get sent back to juniors as well. The rookie defenseman has shown lots of promise, however, needs to fix the simple parts of his game if he wants to become a full time nhler.
The Penguins look to have a successful end of November as they play 5 games in that span. It will be important for them to get as many points as possible. History shows that teams that sit in a playoff spot at Thanksgiving have a 75-80 percent chance of making the playoffs. While it is early still in the season and the metro division is as tight as ever, so every point will matter for this team for the upcoming future.
