The First Yoel: Resilient Penguins Rebound, Flatten Red Wings 6-3
I gotta tell ya. The first dozen minutes of last night’s contest with the Red Wings constituted about as ugly a display of hockey as I’ve witnessed…well…since Wednesday’s humiliating loss to the Rangers.
Talk about hard on the eyes!
Woof.
In a word, the Penguins were atrocious. We couldn’t generate any offense or sustained pressure. We were so bad defensively, it almost appeared we were playing out of position on purpose. Meanwhile, the speedy Wings made us look like so many black-and-gold pylons super-glued to the ice.
One guy held us in the game…rookie netminder Joel (pronounced Yoel) Blomqvist.
I confess, when pain-in-the-you-know-what Alex DeBrincat beat the kid just 3:46 into the game, visions of his shaky first preseason outing came flooding into my brain. No way Blomqvist would hold up, especially given the lack of defensive support. I mean, the Wings had a guy perpetually open to the left of our net for at least the first 10 minutes it seemed.
But hold up he did. Joel made several big huge stops to keep us in the hunt, 12 in all through a turbulent opening frame.