In this universe, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, giving the Penguins six more weeks of good hockey.
What a difference one win makes. The Penguins went 6-6-0 in December, which felt incredibly disappointing; in January, however, a 7-5-0 record brought the Pens good luck.
Perhaps it was the surge of Mario Lemieux, who scored an astounding 24 points in these 12 games, or the continued strength of Sidney Crosby, who padded his point total with 21 of his own. Maybe it was Matt Murray, who brought his save percentage back above .900. Or maybe it was the Pens' climb in the standings, going from third in the Eastern Conference to first. (I guess the other teams suffer from seasonal depression, too.)
Regardless of the reason, the Penguins had a strong showing in January and continue to lead the Metropolitan Division with 66 points, though the New Jersey Devils stand just one point behind the Pens.
While much of the focus has been on Pittsburgh's main offensive threats — that is, Crosby and Lemieux — their depth has been outstanding this month as well. Jake Guentzel added four goals and 10 points to his stat sheet in January, and Alex Galchenyuk nearly followed, scoring four goals and eight points. Beau Bennett has been a shockingly good addition to the team, netting himself 20 points in 25 NHL games this season, nine of those points coming in January. And while Evgeni Malkin's production slowed, he still added six points to his season total.
The team's defense, though, continues to struggle. The league average in goals against per game is around 2.8, but the Pens' opponents scored just under 3.2 goals against them each game. A small difference, sure, but one large enough to impact the team's record.
In terms of transactions, the Penguins traded Ryan Reaves, who had been benched for poor performance, to the New York Rangers for defenseman Michael Del Zotto. Del Zotto has played in a handful of games for the Penguins and has been a strong two-way D-man on the ice.
### Team statistics
Pittsburgh Penguins February 1 Stats - 2019-20
Skaters
GP
G
A
PTS
+/-
GW
PIM
SOG
SPCT
Mario Lemieux
51
46
31
77
26
2
48
247
18.6%
Sidney Crosby
51
39
38
77
27
4
52
194
20.1%
Evgeni Malkin
51
19
27
46
-9
7
25
175
10.9%
Jake Guentzel
51
16
25
41
9
1
28
120
13.3%
Alex Galchenyuk
50
19
21
40
20
3
18
116
16.4%
Kris Letang
51
6
25
31
-3
2
76
97
6.2%
Jared Spurgeon
51
5
19
24
14
1
18
84
6.0%
Beau Bennett
25
6
14
20
-3
1
6
51
11.8%
Niklas Hjalmarsson
50
1
18
19
5
0
33
45
2.2%
Jared McCann
51
6
11
17
-4
1
36
65
9.2%
Bryan Rust
40
6
7
13
E
0
33
86
7.0%
Justin Schultz
44
0
13
13
2
0
16
45
0%
Brian Dumoulin
49
3
9
12
14
0
35
37
8.1%
Tyler Ennis
43
6
5
11
2
0
12
83
7.2%
Dominik Kahun
46
5
6
11
-4
1
29
31
16.1%
Marcus Pettersson
48
0
11
11
7
0
44
45
0%
Brandon Tanev
45
4
3
7
5
0
46
42
9.5%
Zach Aston-Reese
37
3
4
7
-5
1
28
40
7.5%
Michael Del Zotto
8
0
3
3
-4
0
4
4
0%
Teddy Blueger
6
0
1
1
-1
0
2
3
0%
Goalies
GP
W
L
T
GAA
TOI
SV
SV%
SHO
Matt Murray
35
22
10
1
2.89
1948
923
.907
0
Terry Sawchuk
21
10
7
1
3.50
1130
461
.874
1
### January by the numbers
Team record: 7-5-0
Points percentage: 58.3%
Goals for: 43
Goals for per game: 3.58
Goals against: 38
Goals against per game: 3.17
Pittsburgh Penguins team statistics
Team record: 32-17-2
Points percentage: 64.7%
Goals for: 199
Goals for per game: 3.90
Goals against: 165
Goals against per game: 3.24
04-21-2020, 08:55 PM
