Pens Need Staal

The Penguins won game three of their Eastern Conference semifinal series with Montreal last night at Bell Centre, taking a 2-1 series lead in the process. The win was not an easy one, however, as the Pens had to withstand a strong surge from the Canadiens in the first period most likely resulting from a rush of adrenaline playing in front of their home crowd. Pittsburgh began applying some pressure of their own in the 2nd period before eventually getting a goal past Jaroslav Halak with a man-advantage in the third period. The Penguins power play goal, scored by Evgeni Malkin, turned out to be the game-winner and the Pens tacked on an empty netter to get the final 2-0 result.

It was a welcome site to see the Penguins play a strong defensive game and get a great performance from goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury who stopped all 18 shots he faced. It was especially comforting to see the great defensive effort after somewhat criticizing the Penguins defense right here on the blog yesterday. The Penguins needed a stronger defensive effort in the absence of center Jordan Staal and winger Billy Guerin and got just what they needed from a makeshift lineup.

I also thought it was very apparent that the Penguins are going to need a healthy Jordan Staal to win the Stanley Cup. That is why it was fantastic news that Staal accompanied the team on the trip to Montreal and participated in a pre-game skate with his teammates. The Penguins managed only 25 shots against the Canadiens in game three, half of which seemed to come on the power play, and were unable to generate much pressure on Montreal outside of a great game by Malkin. The Penguins have gotten exactly two pucks past Halak in the past two games and are struggling to produce the assorted pressure that they normally get from all four of their lines.

Captain Crosby is seeing the Canadiens’ top defensive pairing and is not getting much support from his wingers so far in this series. With Maxime Talbot replacing Staal on the third line, where Staal and his linemates Tyler Kennedy and Matt Cooke do such a great job of cycling the puck, essentially two positions are negatively affected by Staal’s absence; his own and either the 2nd line wing or 4th line center where Talbot usually plays.

Luckily for the Penguins Montreal probably does not have enough fire power to pull the upset in this series with or without Staal and/or Guerin. As long the Penguins continue to stay out of the penalty box and avoid giving Montreal’s dangerous power-play unit too many opportunities, the Penguins should not have too much trouble getting through the Canadiens. It will be in the Eastern Conference Finals and with some good fortune the Stanley Cup Finals where Staal’s presence will be essential for the Penguins to successfully defend their Cup Title.

The Penguins need Staal cycling the puck on the third line with Kennedy and Cooke, they need him wreaking havoc in front of opposing goaltenders and they need that constant pressure from all of their lines. That is why it was great news to hear that Staal is already back on his skates and his return at some point looks promising.