Key Indicators Through 4 Games

The up and down roller coaster continues, after a 6-4 win in Toronto. Stats courtesy NHL.com

The Good:
--7th in the league in goals per game (3.5)
--1st in the league is shots per game (35.8)

Kind of Acceptable:
--14th in penalty kill (83.3%)
--18th in faceoff percentage (49.8%)

Needs work:
--18th in the league in power play efficiency (16.7%)
--21st in the league in shots allowed (29.5 a game)
--27th in the league in goals against average (3.75)


The Toronto scorefest blew these stats out of line a little bit, but the bottom line is the Pens have been, as usual, an action packed team. Taking the most shots, but allowed a lot of rubber too. Goals everywhere.

I think an important figure is faceoff percentage. It's practically 50%. Seemingly for a long time this franchise has always been notoriously weak on draws, so it's good to see that Sidney Crosby is clicking at 58%, and Adam Hall's at 61.2%, Malkin has some room for improvement, as the big guy is only winning 41.7%. The other regular center, Maxime Talbot is not much better at 42.2%. However if he keeps pace with Crosby in scoring goals, I think that will be forgiven!