Penguins face very tough test against Boston Bruins

The Pittsburgh Penguins will face their toughest opponent yet when they square off against the Boston Bruins on Monday, Nov. 3.

Even though the score did not indicate it, the Pittsburgh Penguins played a tremendous game in Saturday’s 2-1 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers. They’ll have to play a similar game on Monday, as they face the NHL’s top team and reigning Eastern Conference champions in the Boston Bruins.

Per Natural Stat Trick, Pittsburgh generated a whopping 70% of the shot attempts, 74% of the shots, and 65% of the scoring chances during the course of 5-on-5 play against the Oilers.

The top defense pair of Brian Dumoulin and Kris Letang was dominant yet again. They played a significant role in shutting down the best player in the world and his wingman.

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Yes, you are reading that right. With Connor McDavid on the ice, the Oilers generated just three shot attempts for, while the Penguins attempted 28.

While Draisaitl scored the game-winning goal, the Oilers’ primary dominant forces were pinned in their own defensive zone for the entire game. Edmonton was lucky to even make it to overtime. They got peppered. Pittsburgh’s process was great, and they deserved a better result.

Pittsburgh’s forward depth is beginning to resemble that of their championship team in the 2015-16 season. Consider the following.

• Jake Guentzel has essentially replaced Phil Kessel as the third dominant offensive force on the team.
• Dominik Simon complements Sidney Crosby’s game very well and is a lesser version of Chris Kunitz in that regard. The top line of Guentzel-Crosby-Simon needs to remain in-tact.
• Brandon Tanev brings many of the same attributes that Carl Hagelin brought. Hagelin is the better skater, but Tanev has better hands. I will take that trade-off. Tanev has been a positive possession player and has been great at baiting opponents into taking penalties.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman wrote this week that “Pittsburgh is absolutely going to add. It is just a matter of when GM Jim Rutherford decides to.” If the Penguins can upgrade the left side on their third defense pair, then they will be in business.

As the reigning Eastern Conference champions, the Bruins are picking up right where they left off. They have won five straight games. 13 games into the season, the Bruins have just one loss in regulation. They are currently the second-best possession team and have the highest five-on-five goals for percentage (61.90%) in the league.

Their top line of Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-David Pastrnak is amongst the best in the league. Pastrnak leads the league in goals with 13. It appears as though he is scoring highlight-reel goals on a nightly basis. Here is a great individual effort from Saturday night against Ottawa.

The Penguins will have their hands-full in slowing this trio down. Possession wise, Boston’s second defense pair of Torey Krug and Brandon Carlo have been very good thus far. However, their opponents are generating the majority of the even-strength scoring chances against this pair and the Zdeno Chara-Charlie McAvoy pair.

In net, the tandem of Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak is fantastic. The Bruins have the luxury to basically split the net throughout the season if they chose to do so. I often have deja-vu when watching either one of these goalies, as both netminders stole postseason series from the Dan Bylsma-era Penguins.

The Penguins got fully healthy just in the knick of time. With the Bruins and red hot Islanders up next on their schedule, they will face their most difficult tests of the season this week. If Pittsburgh can build off Saturday’s performance and continue to outplay opponents, the results will follow. Thanks for reading!