Pregame

Kris Letang can’t go in this game due to an upper-body injury so go ahead and just don’t look at this blueline group tonight.

First period

Pittsburgh gets the first power play, Ryan Shea is out there with all the big guns. He looks nervous and loses the puck over his stick twice for no reason. They do get a few chances down to the net a little after that.

Shea looks a lot more comfortable at 5v5, feathering a shot in that Evgeni Malkin can deflect. Dustin Wolf overplayed the angle and gets caught leaning a little while the puck trickles on in to the far side. 1-0 Pens thanks to Malkin’s 11th goal of the season, 7:49 in.

Rest of the period scoots on along. Calgary is a nothin’ happenin’ team to start things off, generating only five shots on goal. Pittsburgh gets 11 and carries a 1-0 lead

Second period

Connor Dewar comes close to scoring a couple of times but can’t keep his hot hand going.

The second line comes through again, Malkin enters the zone and passes across the middle for Tommy Novak. Novak touches a pass over for Egor Chinakhov who pulls the puck back to change the angle catches Wolf with a hard shot, even though his body momentum is falling back from the net he still gets a lot of velocity on his seventh goal of the season. Pittsburgh pushes their lead to 2-0.

The Flames find a way to get a goal back juuust before the final buzzer. Zach Whitecloud takes a point shot that doesn’t look like much trouble until Yegor Sharangovich makes his way to the middle of the ice and puts a deflection on it. Ends up in the net with 2.7 seconds on the clock.

It was almost all systems under control, right up until the very last bit. Calgary gives themselves more of a chance and something to believe in heading into the third. Shots in the second were 9-8 in favor of CGY but Skinner was making it looks easy right up until a shock out of no where beat the buzzer.

Third period

Pittsburgh comes out the gates strong and responds to Calgary’s late-period goal. Bryan Rust gets down low and throws the puck to the net. Sidney Crosby is right out in front and hacks at a puck that leaks through Wolf and to the back of the net. 3-1 game 50 seconds into the third.

Dewar trips a Flame on the following shift to allow the first Calgary power play of the night, his teammates take care of business and keep the PK going strong.

Calgary has a great chance a little later when Pittsburgh’s defensive structure breaks down a little and an unmarked player in the middle of the ice takes a big shot. Skinner makes a great save with the glove that he can’t control but that ends up working out just as well. Jack St. Ivany plays the puck up for Novak and the Pens have a 2-on-1. The defender completely ignores Novak to take away the pass, so Novak skates the puck all the way in makes a slick backhand deke and casually flips the puck top shelf on Wolf. Pretty stuff for Novak’s ninth goal of the season and extend the lead to 4-1.

That capped off most of the notable moments. Calgary beat Skinner but glanced a shot off the post and from there it was just about riding the game out until the clock reached 0:00.

Some thoughts

• The Malkin line with Chinakhov and Novak are a super-fun watch. There’s obviously the production element on a night like tonight where each member of the line scored a goal. Even beyond those contributions they are playing exciting hockey, working off one another very well and growing in chemistry in the offensive zone as they get more time together. All have some speed on the puck all can handle the puck and are unafraid to carry it in and through opponents when they drive up the ice.
• Sidney Crosby took a Bryan Rust centering pass to what looked like the side of the leg above the knee on the first shift of the game. Looks like the worst was avoided save for a moment of pain that had the captain instantly doubled over and smarting for a bit. That’s all the Pens needed at this point when key players have been dropping like flies lately.
• Our key to the game for the Pens from the preview was out-scoring the expectations to improve over where they stumbled against Calgary two weeks ago in a 2-1 loss. Chinakhov’s second period goal (to make the score 2-0) on 1.04 total expected goals from Moneypuck. It was looking good at that point and continued from there. Crosby’s early third period goal extended that race to 3 actual goals vs 1.52 expected. In the end it shook out to be four goals on just over two expected, which is precisely what was needed. In the last Pens/Flames matchup the Pens weren’t getting the finishes. They had it tonight, leading to a fairly drama-free game of being out in front for most of the contest. That’s a good way to live.
• The developing story of the day for the Pens was breaking the goalie rotation to play Skinner again. Turned out to work very well, Skinner only saw 19 shots but did more than his part in allowing only one goal on 1.77 expected from the Flames.
• Another angle was that bare bones blueline for the evening. Gotta factor in quality of opponent (low!), also gotta tip a cap to those guys for a great effort. It was shades of the 2017 playoff run with an undermanned crew stepping up and doing what it takes to get the job done. Wotherspoon was breaking up plays all over the ice. Connor Clifton, as always, made his presence known with some big hits. Shea pitched in as he could on the one power play of the night. Even Ryan Graves blocked three shots. Forwards, especially centers like Ben Kindel and Blake Lizotte, were drifting way back defensively and appearing mindful to make themselves available as options for quick bail outs.
• One of the few times the Pens got trapped in their defensive zone for a long shift happened during the second period. Wotherspoon was almost 2:30 into his shift and still had enough vinegar in the tank to put Morgan Frost on his wallet twice. I don’t know if you want to call Wotherspoon the most improved player or maybe just the one who has had the opportunity to emerge this season and show his stuff, but my goodness he’s impressed at every turn. What a solid player he is.
• Speaking of that blueline, Kris Letang was only briefly on the ice for the morning skate, taking basically a quick lap around the rink and then leaving. That doesn’t sound like it bodes well for his chances to play tomorrow night against Edmonton. Erik Karlsson has been on the ice much more in recent days, though he couldn’t go today he did make a comment yesterday about not being a “mascot” for this road trip. Wouldn’t expect him to rush into a return three weeks prior to the start Olympics yet it would be a massive benefit if Karlsson can answer the bell tomorrow or at least on Sunday in Vancouver.

So that’s that, another impressive win in the books. Now the Pens move on quickly to Edmonton and get ready to take on an Oiler team that has been quite the boogeymen for them in recent years.