Pens-Wings Highlights: Staal plays game to remember

November 14, 2008   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

It’s a couple of days late but I mentioned it in the Devils-Rangers preview about how great a game was played the other night at The Joe between the defending Cup champion Red Wings and the runner-up Penguins.

The game featured 13 goals with the Wings blowing 5-2 and 6-4 leads thanks in large part to a gigantic performance by Jordan Staal, who scored a natural hat trick tying the contest up with the goalie pulled with only 24 ticks left in regulation on a rebound.

And for good measure, he setup the winner in overtime by stripping Pavel Datsyuk cleanly on an unreal backcheck and then passing across for an open Ruslan Fedotenko, who buried it for the winner stunning the Red Wings 7-6 and most of their fans with the exception of a few Pens jerseys in the crowd who enjoyed their team’s amazing turnaround.

The game had great scoring prowess. Heck. The goal Datsyuk setup to a cutting Henrik Zetterberg was tremendous. And that wicked twisted wrister Evgeni Malkin stepped into wiring it off the far right post past a helpless Chris Osgood was the stuff of dreams. Or maybe nightmares if you’re a goalie.

But the best aspect of this game was Staal, who is the forgotten guy at times with Malkin and Sidney Crosby (goal, 2 A) front and center 24/7. Sometimes, we forget that he was chosen second overall in 2006 and had one of the better rookie seasons scoring 29 times including a freshman record seven shorthanded goals, four deciding markers, 42 points and an impressive plus-16 rating.

There’s little doubt that last season, he suffered a sophomore jinx. It happens. But this kid is awfully talented and the special skills are still there and were on full display the other night in front of a national TV audience on Versus. If that game didn’t do a good rating, I don’t know of another that could because it was that special.

Ed Olczyk summed it up best praising Staal for taking his team on his back carrying them to an inspiring victory. Believe it or not, the kid from Thunder Bay, Ontario who’s part of the royal hockey family that includes brothers Eric, Marc and Jared is only 20 and can become a Group II restricted next summer. It’d be very wise for the Pens to get him squared away.

His four-point performance even drew high praise from 33-year veteran Pens’ colorful Hall of Fame broadcaster Mike Lange who’s no stranger to witnessing/calling such special nights:

“He just took over the game. I’ve seen it enough to know what I was watching. I’ve seen it a few times from Mario (Lemieux), (Jaromir) Jagr and (Paul) Coffey. What he did was up there with memorable performances from those guys. It was Jordan Staal’s special night.”

The thing I’ve always liked about Staal is that he knows where to go. That’s something which can’t be taught. His hockey instincts are great. It’s rare though that you see such a sound overall player who enters this league. Once he starts scoring more, this kid could be scary.

The Pens sure have a lot going for them from Marc-Andre Fleury in net to the promise of young blueliners Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski. Just wait till Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney return. They’re going to be tough to beat.

In all the discussion about how they lost Marian Hossa and Ryan Malone, maybe we forgot that one of them was made by Crosby and Malkin which explains why the latter is struggling with Tampa Bay. Hossa’s just a great player and he’s fitting in very well with the Wings pacing them with 21 points (8-13-21). But maybe gambling on Miroslav Satan and Fedotenko wasn’t as bad as I previously thought.

Not when you look at what else they’re surrounded with including Petr Sykora along with overlooked grinders Tyler Kennedy and Max Talbot. The addition of vet Matt Cooke was a wise one. He’s not going to put up a ton of points but he’s a solid overall player who just improves their depth.

Also flying under the radar was the pickup of Mike Zigomanis from Phoenix earlier this season for future considerations. He’s only 27 and was a former second rounder of Carolina who’s evolved into a late bloomer that can contribute offensively and win faceoffs like the big one he won over Zetterberg to setup Staal’s tying marker. It was a couple of seasons ago in The Desert that he played on a decent support scoring line with Georges Laraque (seriously) and Oleg Saprykin scoring a career high 14 goals and 23 points.

Solid addition. Most impressive might be the Pens’ depth on the back line where vet Darryl Sydor has given them good mileage in the absence of Hal Gill. Heck. Even Mark Eaton has played alright. Perhaps the most unheralded holdover is Rob Scuderi, who doesn’t really standout but rarely makes any glaring mistakes with the puck in his end.

The 29 year-old out of Syosset, New York just does his job logging big minutes playing solid D. Guys like him will always be underappreciated cause they’re not flashy but just get the job done.

Is anyone else kinda depressed about the rest of the Atlantic’s chances after reading this? Ahh.