10 things I’d like to see in tonight’s Penguins-Islanders game:
1) Tristan Jarry at the top of the blue paint looking square and comfortable. Tuesday was better than Sunday for Jarry. Tonight needs to be better still.
2) A Penguin scores his second goal of the series, giving the team a semblance of a “hot” player. Kasperi Kapanen seems likely.
3) Sidney Crosby scores. That comes under the domain of the previous item, but you need your best player to produce. At some point, Crosby is going to rip a game to shreds.
4) Mathew Barzal doesn’t score. It’s good if their best player doesn’t produce.
5) A Penguins defenseman scores. If the Penguins defensemen are going to activate constantly, you need something to show for it. Otherwise, it’s not worth the risk.
6) The power play not sucking. Enter the zone clean and set up more often. Seize momentum at the very least.
7) A goal from the bottom six like Troy Loney used to get. It rallies the troops.
8) Brian Dumoulin and Jake Guentzel have a game where they don’t absorb mega-punishment.
9) The Penguins take a two-goal lead into the third period. Then the Islanders can’t play their usual game.
10) Brandon Tanev gets mad. It’s great when he gets mad. It’s lots of fun to watch.
Ten is a trite number, I know. I hate lists in general. Very clichéd.
What I’d really like to see tonight is a 7-0 Penguins win. RKO out of nowhere. Like Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final vs. Ottawa in 2017. That was a tight series with close scores. But the Penguins won Game 5, 7-0.
That provided no guarantees. Ottawa won Game 6, 2-1. The Penguins won Game 7 in double overtime, 3-2, when Chris Kunitz netted.
But it was still nice to win Game 5 big and take a breath.
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