Pens/Ducks review: Sidney Crosby provides all the offense Pittsburgh needs to end its losing streak

Before the game

Blake Lizotte can make his season debut for the Penguins, who have Jesse Puljujarvi out and Alex Nedeljkovic with these lines in front of him in net.

The visiting Anaheim Ducks are bringing the following lineup to the Halloween party.

First period

It's all early for Pittsburgh, they dominate puck control and jump out early with shots 7-2. Anaheim beats Evgeni Malkin and the Pens get their first power play. They don't score a goal but add three more shots on Lukas Dostal.

Anaheim finally comes to life after the Pens are up 13-2 on the shot clock. Nedeljkovic is hesitant about dropping the puck after a big save and Kris Letang keeps it away from the net, but a scramble ensues. Brian Dumoulin almost scores for the Ducks, but hits the post.

The Ducks score with 4:10 left. Ryan Graves pounces on the rush and sniffs the puck, he comes back into play but lets a pass from underneath the net go right past him and Alex Killorn is there to take that pass.

Sidney Crosby takes a penalty in the offensive zone and the Pens end the period with the penalty kick.

Shots are 18-7 in favor of PIT. Moneypuck has an xGF of 1.39 – 0.54 in the first period, but Pittsburgh can't crack Dostal and a defensive error (surprisingly) results in a puck in the net.

Second period

Good start for the Pens and they get another power play when Mason McTavish scores Nedeljkovic. Unlike the first power play, this one is an incoherent mess.

Pittsburgh returns to the power play when Cody Glass is pinned. It looks a bit nicer, but can't crack Dostal.

The Pens get rolling late, Crosby passes to Rakell in front of the net, but Dostal fends him off. Pittsburgh gets sloppy and is immediately caught with too many players on the ice.

The shots are 11-11. Kind of a boring time for the Pens, they don't show much dynamic play and Dostal had all the answers for 40 minutes to maintain Anaheim's 1-0 lead.

Third period

The Penguins crack Dostal early on. Matt Grzelcyk sends a shot from the point into the goal, Crosby deflects it, then it hits the ice and bounces past the Anaheim goalie. It takes Pittsburgh 31 shots, but they finally score their first goal of the night.

The Ducks appear out of nowhere with about four minutes left and Nedeljkovic robs Trevor Zegras after a turnover by Marcus Pettersson. Pettersson comes back to help keep the puck out, and then Cutter Gauthier's rebound chance somehow hits Nedeljkovic's loose stick and stays out of the net as well.

Gauthier managed a breakaway with 90 seconds left, but Nedeljkovic stopped him.

Nedeljokvic had to make another good save with about 10 seconds left after Pavel Mintuykov slipped past Erik Karlsson and received a centered pass from close range.

Crazy enough, Nedeljokvic had little to do until the final five minutes and had more quality stopping than he had in the first 55 minutes of the entire game combined. Overall shots for the Pens are 45-23. But the score is even after regulation.

Over time

Crosby-Rakell-Karlsson starts for the Pens. Sid wins the faceoff and Pittsburgh maintains control of the puck long enough to make a full substitution 30 seconds later, trapping the Anaheim players.

The Ducks get the puck back and control it for a while, eventually the Pens wrestle it away, Cody Glass makes a nice hustle play at the end of the shift and Crosby wins the puck for himself. The captain has a lot of time to stand all alone in front of the net, he pulls Dostal out of his corner and shoots a forehand shot into the net. Win pens.

Some thoughts

• The Ducks didn't have much juice to begin with. They seemed a step slow and could barely keep up. You know, a bit like the Pens when they play a team like NYR or Carolina. Typically, when these teams take 18 shots in a period of play, they score at least one or two goals.
• There's something about Erik Karlsson now, like he has a mental block or something that makes him allergic to making the right decision now. He shoots when he should pass (and too often misses), he passes when he should shoot, it's like no matter what he's trying to do, it doesn't quite work out.
• Dostal was the best goalie in the league this year in save percentage and GSAA, and it showed. He's pretty good and just dialed in. It's a shame he had to take the loss because at the end of regulation time Moneypuck had xGF at 4.6 – 2. The only reason this game wasn't a regulation Penguin win was because Dostal was at his best.
• The Pens' first line was a goal that was waiting to happen all night. The shots on goal while they were on the ice were 26-13 in their favor, and at one point the score was 18-4. Pure dominance and control, even if it lacked a certain finishing touch.
• Tonight we saw goals 594 and 595 for Crosby. Oddly enough, he currently has more OT goals scored this year (2) than he scored in the regular season (1).
• Whenever you see something with a negative connotation about the Pens being the second oldest team in the league, then you have seen what the fourth youngest team in the league (ANA) looks like in comparison. Young isn't always good, being too young usually means having to keep up with the speed of the game. The old Penguins overtook and overtook Anaheim today by a 2-1 margin, making for a fitting final result. (That's not to say Pittsburgh can't and shouldn't strive to get younger, which they will).
• For Nedeljkovic it was a kind of Martin Brodeur evening. Not that Ned is at the level of the HOFs, but in so many games, Brodeur had 22 saves on 23 shots, barely having to be called up at times and then having to make a few big stops to help his low-scoring team's chances in the game to preserve game without margin for error. That can be a challenge all its own, but for once the Penguins goaltender certainly had to be happy to watch his opponent get bombarded with more than 40 shots and endure a night of relative inactivity.

Another home game in that order, Saturday night against Montreal. The Pens have already beaten the Habs once this year, and they will look to do so again to continue building and potentially turn the losing streak into a successful home run and a modest winning streak to get them back on the path to respectability.