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Sidney Crosby Hat Trick Bedevils New Jersey

The Pittsburgh Penguins bounced back from Friday’s loss to the Buffalo Sabres by posting a 4-1 win against division rival New Jersey Devils on Saturday night.  Team Captain Sidney Crosby netted 4-points (3G, 1A) and proved that he is returning to form by scoring his second career hat trick, his first on home ice.  In the last few games, Sidney Crosby has been playing with the fire and intensity that hasn’t been evident since before he went down last season with the high ankle sprain.  In the words of Devil’s goaltender Scott Clemmenson, Crosby is an elite player who is “scary good” when he outworks everyone on the ice.  Crosby has exploded for 9-points (6G, 3A) in his last 3-outings, and is ranked 2nd in the league with 34-points (13G, 21A) behind Evgeni Malkin who has 39-points (10G, 29A).  Improving their record to 14-6-3, the Penguins are in 5th place in the league with 31-points. 

In the 1st, it took just a little over a minute for the Penguins to get on the board.  AFter splitting the defense, Sidney Crosby eluded a poke-check and backhanded the puck through the Devils’ netminder Clemmenson to take the 1-0 lead.  “The guy never gives up on the play, that’s for sure,” Clemmensen said after the game.  Miroslav Satan and Hal Gill picked up the assists on Crosby’s goal.  The Penguins went on to outshoot the Devils 16-12 in the first period, but went 0-for-2 on the powerplay.  They managed to kill off penalties to Petr Sykora (high stick) and Mark Eaton (holding). 

In the 2nd period, the Penguins finally managed to convert on a powerplay opportunity at 12:34.  After keeping the puck in at the blueline, Evgeni Malkin moved the puck up to Tyler Kennedy who made a tremendous blind pass between his legs to Sidney Crosby.  Crosby dished a pass over the sticks of 2 New Jersey defenders onto the tape of Petr Sykora who was posted on the empty side of the net.  Sykora popped the puck into the net, beating Clemmenson.  Then at 11:29 while skating 4-on-4, Evgeni Malkin blocked a cross-ice pass in front of the Devils’ net and then in a diving play poked the puck to Sidney Crosby on of the side of the net.  Crosby stopped the puck with the back of his stick, moved it to his forehand and chipped it into the net to make it 3-0.  The Penguins again outshot the Devils 12-8, were 1-for-2 on the power play, and 1-for-1 on the kill. 

In the 3rd period, the Devils picked up their game and tried to put pressure on the Penguins.  With the Penguins a bit sloppy in their own end, Mike Rupp took advantage of Rob Scuderi’s mishandling of the puck in front of his own net and laced into the corner of the net, beating Dany Sabourin.  Patrik Elias and Brian Gionta had the assists.  But that was all that the Devils were able to get past Dany Sabourin.  With Clemmonson pulled early for the extra attacker, Sidney Crosby again split the defense and fell to the ice while getting hooked from behind as he steamed towards the empty net.  He still managed to use on hand on his stick as he was sliding down the ice on his stomach to redirect the puck into the empty net for the Hat Trick and the final 4-1 tally.  It was one of the more spectacular empty net goals I have seen.  “It’s nice to do it at home,” Crosby said after the game. “It’s something that you don’t know when it’s going to happen again, so it’s nice.”  Evgeni Malkin and Mike Zigomanis had the assists on the play.  The Penguins were outshot 10-7 in the final frame. 

• VIDEO:  Game Highlights
• VIDEO:  Post-Game Press Conference w/Coach Therrien
• VIDEO:  Crosby Post-Game
• VIDEO:  Sabourin Post-Game
• VIDEO:  Orpik Post-Game
• AUDIO:  Mike Lange Highlights
• AUDIO:  Penguins Hotline Show
• PHOTOS:  In-Game Photos
• Game Rosters
• Game Summary
• Boxscore
• Shots Summary
• Face-off Comparison
• Penguins Ice Time Report

Tyler Kennedy led all players with 7-shots on net.  Sidney Crosby had 6-shots on goal and netted 4-points (3G, 1A).  Petr Sykora had 5-shots on net and 1-goal.  Evgeni Malkin picked up 2 more assists and had 4-shots on net.  Dany Sabourin stopped 29-of-30 shots for an impressive performance with a 0.967 save percentage.  Evgeni Malkin led with 22:54 of ice time across 23 shifts.  Sidney Crosby had 20:14 in ice time and 23 shifts.  Kris Letang led all defensemen with 21:53.  Mike Zigomanis was once again impressive in the faceoff circle winning 11 of 14 for 79% effectiveness.  Pascale Dupuis was a healthy scratch, while Phillipe Boucher and Marc-Andre Fleury were out with injury. 

The Penguins will take a few days off before hitting a 3-game road trip with back to back games against the New York Rangers on Wednesday and the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday, before heading to Ottawa to take on the Senators on Saturday.

Game 4 Loss Spells Trouble For Penguins

In our series preview, we noted that this year’s Stanley Cup Finals would be a battle of experience versus youth.  Right now, experience has the strong upper hand as the Pittsburgh Penguins lost Game 4 to the Detroit Red Wings by a score of 2-1, and now trail 3-1 in the series.  The Red Wings are well positioned to win the Stanley Cup, and will try to do so on Monday night at Joe Louis Arena.  For the Penguins to take home the Cup, they would need to be perfect and win the remaining 3-games of the series, including 2 in Detroit.  While still a possibility, the odds are stacked heavily against the Penguins at this point. 

Things looked good in the early going for the Penguins.  In the first period, they were afforded 3-power play opportunities and capitalized on one to grab an early 1-0 lead.  The goal came on the first penalty at 2:11 against Dallas Drake for roughing.  With the Penguins’ loaded powerplay on the ice, Sidney Crosby broke into the zone and circled around before passing the puck along the blue line to Sergei Gonchar.  Gonchar let a blast go that was stopped by Chris Osgood, but the rebound found the stick of Marian Hossa.  Hossa took the puck and looked as if he was going to circle around behind the net, but instead quickly tucked the puck in behind Osgood for the goal.  The Red Wings fought back, however, scoring a goal just 2-seconds after a penalty to Pascal Dupuis (cross-checking) had expired.  Veteran defenseman Niklas Lidstrom found room just inside the blueline and let a rocket go that beat a screened Marc-Andre Fleury to tie the game 1-1.  The Penguins were 1-for-3 on the powerplay and 1-for-1 on the kill, but were outshot 14-9 in the first period. 

Image details: Detroit Red Wings v Pittsburgh Penguins – Game Four served by picapp.com

The second period was a tightly played battle between both teams as the Penguins managed to outshoot the Red Wings 8-7.  Both teams were afforded just 1 powerplay, but neither were able to convert.  The Penguins had 3-really good chances during the period, but were stoned at every chance by Chris Osgood.  The first opportunity came at 3:24 as Crosby deflected the puck right in front of the net, but Osgood held on.  Then at 9:36, Pascal Dupuis had two excellent chances that were stopped by Osgood.  And again at 13:28, Sidney Crosby had an great chance on the backhand that was shut off by Osgood.  Despite it all, neither team scored in teh second and the 1-1 tie carried into the third period. Early in the third period, the Penguins got into trouble as they were unable to clear their zone.  The Red Wings took advantage of the opportunity, as Jiri Hudler flipped a dirty backhander that tipped off from Fleury’s shoulder and into the net to break the tie.  The Penguins had an outsanding opportunity to even the game back up in the middle of the period as they were afforded 1:26 of a 5-on-3 powerplay.  In a defining moment of the game, Henrik Zetterberg made an oustanding stick-on-stick defensive play on Sidney Crosby that prevented Crosby from tapping in the tying goal on the powerplay.  The Penguins ultimately failed to convert on the 5-on-3 opportunity, swinging the momentum decidedly to the Red Wings.  With time running out in the period, the Penguins made a frantic attempt to get the tying goal, but Osgood was equal to the challenge as he shut the door tight. 

Image details: Detroit Red Wings v Pittsburgh Penguins – Game Four served by picapp.com

• VIDEO:  Game Highlights
• VIDEO:  Post-Game Press Conference w/Coach Therrien
• VIDEO:  Game 4 Wrap and Interviews
• PHOTOS:  In-Game Photos
• AUDIO:  Post-Game Rink Rat Report
• AUDIO:  Post-Game Hotline
• NHL OFFICIAL:  Game Rosters
• NHL OFFICIAL:  Summary
• NHL OFFICIAL:  Boxscore
• NHL OFFICIAL:  Play-by-Play

The loss, the Penguins first on home-ice in the playoffs,  was a disappointment for the Penguins who played a strong game, but failed to score at a critical point in the game to tie it up.  Unfortunately, the loss makes a huge difference in the series as the Penguins head back to Detroit down 3-1, rather than tied 2-2.  Evgeni Malkin continued to be frustrated with his play and inability to be the difference like he had been up until this series.  For Malkin, this is the longest season of hockey that he has ever seen, and it appears that he has possibly run out of gas.  Where Malkin has fizzled, Marian Hossa has stepped up and continues to shine in the playoffs.  Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 28-of-30 for a 0.933 save percentage, and had a good night in net. 

Game 5 will be played Monday night in Detroit, where the Red Wings will look to finish things off on their own ice and the Penguins will be battling to stay alive.  It will be a tall order for the Penguins to bounce back emotionally from the loss, and they will need to execute to perfection on the Red WIngs’ ice if they want to bring the series back to Pittsburgh. 

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