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All season we are waiting for this moment when things suddenly decide to Click on for the Pittsburgh Penguins. After months of exasperating incoherence and reworking, they could finally begin to get to the point where everything goes as it should.
With Thursday's 5-0 win over the Buffalo Sabers, the Penguins will face Friday with a six-point cushion on non-playoff teams. The playoffs have won seven of their last nine games, have scored at least one point on nine of their last ten games and are 11-3-2 in their last 16 games.
What is most impressive is that they are not yet completely healthy.
Let us check and see who helped get them back on track in this week's edition of Trending Penguins Players.
Who is hot
Erik Gudbranson – It still shocks me. The Penguins do not produce much attack when it is on the ice (you have to wait for it, I think), but they do not give up anything either (a surprise!). We are not just talking about goals. The shots, the scoring chances, everything was great from a defense point of view and I really do not think he played a bad game since coming to the Penguins. I remain skeptical, but he has played 20 minutes a night until now and has played exceptionally well. Congratulations, Erik. Glory.
Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel – This is perhaps the best duet in the league right now. In every game, you can count on them for at least one goal, and maybe two. Or even three. At this point, I have no more positive things to say about them. At worst, Sidney Crosby will be finalist for the MVP and Jake Guentzel has a legitimate chance to score 40 goals.
Jared McCann – Yes, he's an empty vulture today (and it's not a bad thing because he says a lot when your coach is constantly trusting you in these situations) but he's still a fantastic addition to the lineup and lately the line from the top alongside Crosby and Guentzel. His game to strip Evgeny Kuznetsov off the puck on Tuesday night changed the game against the Washington Capitals because, until then, the Penguins seemed … to have lost the inspiration for such a big game. Then they scored three goals in less than two minutes to take control of the match. It all started with McCann's defensive play that created an offensive game.
Goalkeepers – Goalkeepers were an important part of this recent turnaround, especially for Matt Murray, who started nine straight games and has continued to play at a fairly dominant level since returning from injury in mid-December. . Then Casey DeSmith enters the lineup after not appearing in a match in three weeks and has a shutout Thursday night. That decision to start it was a decision I did not agree with, because I thought they should have continued to press for keeping two important points in the standings and then letting Murray sit for a while. the weekend. (What else could they do?), but in the end, the Buffalo Sabers, especially without Jack Eichel, are such a distressing team right now that the goalkeeper's goal probably did not really matter.
Which are not
Garrett Wilson – At this point, we know what Garrett Wilson is as an NHL player and he will not score. At all. So, the fact that it does not produce an offense is not a real surprise, and it's not even the reason that lies here in the "Who does not?" Section. ;is not". It's just that I feel that his game has regressed somewhat compared to what he was two weeks ago, because even then, when he did not score and score the points, I still had the impression of creating opportunities, playing and getting close to scoring a goal. I have not really seen much lately. Granted, I am also nervous here because there are not many players who really belong to this section right now.
Dominik Simon – The most polarizing player in Pittsburgh right now. I still think he's a good NHL player with only one major flaw in his game – he can not score. Of course, it's a big flaw, but it does enough to be a useful player. But he has not had a strong week, his free ice time has been drastically reduced in recent games and he has had only one assist in his last seven games.
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