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Penguins Find Something to Build On

The Pittsburgh Penguins put an end to the Philadelphia Flyers 8-game home winning streak, but more importantly found something to build upon in notably well-coached and well-executed 4-2 win over their cross-state rivals.  Despite giving up an early goal on a botched play by Marc-Andre Fleury, the Penguins quickly regained their composure and put up 4-straight goals to gain the 3-goal advantage going into the 3rd period.  The Penguins then hung on, giving up just 1-goal in the 3rd despite being outshot 14-4.  Pittsburgh played a disciplined game, giving the Flyers just 1 man-advantage on the night.  While the Penguins powerplay went 0-for-4, three of the chances came late in the 3rd and prevented the Flyers from getting back into the game.  The game featured a new look as Matt Cooke was moved to play on the top line with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, a combination that appeared to work very well.  The Penguins also reverted to a trapping style of defensive play that stifled the Flyers offensive game. 

In the 1st period, the Flyers got on the board first at 7:36 as Mike Knuble made Marc-Andre Fleury pay for a bad bounce from behind the net.  Simon Gagne and Kimmo Timonen picked up the assists on the play to make it 1-0.  At 9:44, Eric Godard lined up with Riley Cote in a brief, one-sided dance that Cote lost before it even started.  At 16:47, the Penguins tied the game at 1-1 as Tyler Kennedy collected a pass that ultimately came from Paul Bissonnette from along the boards and backhanded the puck past Martin Biron.  Max Talbot picked up an assist, along with Bissonnette’s first of the season.  Bissonnette punctuated the play by squaring off with Arron Asham after the next faceoff, and again the Penguins held the upper hand in the fight.  The Penguins outshot the Flyers 11-7 in the 1st, and were 1-for-1 on their only penalty kill of the game.

In the 2nd period, the Penguins got moving quickly as Evgeni Malkin posted his 17th goal of the season on a blistering shot off from a beautiful pass from Sidney Crosby that caught the corner of the net.  Crosby had the lone assist on the play to make it 2-1.  Then at 12:25, Jordan Staal notched his 14th goal of the season on a nifty backhander that beat Biron high side as he skated into the zone protecting the puck from the Flyers defense.  Miroslav Satan and Kris Letang picked up the assists.  The goal was Staal’s 3rd in as many games, leaving me to believe he could hit a scoring spell now that he is no longer encumbered with contract distractions.  Then, with just 26-seconds left in the period, Matt Cooke drove the net and chipped in a puck thrown to the front of the net by Sidney Crosby.  It was a well-deserved goal by Cooke, who played a gritty, determined game all evening.  Sidney Crosby and Brooks Orpik picked up the assists.  The Penguins outshot the Flyers 11-8 in the period, and were 0-for-1 on the powerplay.

In the final period, the Penguins played to protect their 3-goal lead by not getting too aggressive against the Flyers, particularly on the powerplay.  The Flyers got a goal at 8:07 as Joffrey Lupul wristed a shot past Fleury to make it 4-2.  Scott Hartnell and Jeff Carter picked up the assists.  While the goal could have spelled trouble for the Penguins, they buckled down and got good goaltending from Marc-Andre Fleury through the rest of the game.  The Penguins were ultimately outshot 14-4 in the 3rd, and were 0-for-3 on the powerplay, including a brief 5-on-3.  The Penguins failed to score on the empty net at the end of the period, and skated away with a well-earned 4-2 win on the Flyer’s turf. 

• VIDEO:  Game Highlights
• PHOTOS:  In-Game Photos
• Game Rosters
• Game Summary
• Boxscore
• Faceoff Summary
• Shot Summary
• Penguins TOI

Sidney Crosby led the team with 2-points (2A), while Evgeni Malkin (1G), Matt Cooke (1G), Jordan Staal (1G), Tyler Kennedy (1G), Paul Bissonnette (1A), Max Talbot (1A), Brooks Orpik (1A), Kris Letang (1A) and Miroslav Satan (1A) all had 1-point.  The Penguins were out-hit 23-17, with Matt Cooke and Brooks Orpik each having 4-hits, and Max Talbot having 3.  The Penguins won 52% of their faceoffs with Jordan Staal going 14/23 for 61%.  Tyler Kennedy led the team with 4-shots on net, while Jordan Staal, Matt Cooke and Petr Sykora each having 3.  Kris Letang led all Penguins with 25:34 of ice time and Jordan Staal led all forwards with 21:18.  Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 27-0f-29 shots on net for a 0.931 save percentage.  Mark Eaton, Pascal Dupuis and Philippe Boucher were all scratches for the game. 

The Penguins will look to perform an encore on Wednesday night as they play host to the Washington Capitals at Mellon Arena.  The Capitals will also be playing their second night of back-to-back games after losing to Edmonton 5-2 on Tuesaday night.

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Penguins Unleash the Hounds in 3rd Period, Beat Sabres 5-2

Donning their new powder blue 3rd Jerseys, the Pittsburgh Penguins posted yet another late game comeback by scoring 4-goals in the last 8:17 of the game to beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-2 on Saturday night.  Trailing 2-1 with less than 9-minutes to go in the game, the Penguins converted on a powerplay to tie the game, and then unleashed 3 more, including an empty netter to clinch the win.  Evgeni Malkin not only kept his league leading scoring streak alive at 13-games, he picked up 4-points (1G, 3A) to regain the NHL scoring lead and increased his league leading assists total.  Malkin now has 3-more points (30) than #2 Alexander Semin (27) and 7 more assists (23) than #2 Sidney Crosby (16). 

In the 1st period, the Buffalo Sabres came out shooting, looking to avenge their prior night’s 6-1 loss to the Carolina Bluejackets.  The Sabres ultimately outshot the Penguins 11-6, and connected for an even strength goal at 8:14 to make it 1-0.  Jason Pominville collected his 7th goal of the season on a wrist shot that beat Marc-Andre Fleury.  Andrej Sekera and Adam Mair picked up the assists on the play, the only goal of the period.  The Penguins went 0-for-2 on the powerplay and were 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.   

In the 2nd period, the Penguins’ offensively loaded powerplay beat the 2nd best penalty kill in the league and evened the score at 1-1.  At 11:07,  Evgeni Malkin blistered a shot from the blueline on a perfect feed from Alex Goligoski.  While Sabres netminder Ryan Miller was able to get in front of the heavy shot, he couldn’t stop its momentum as it trickled across the goal line behind him.  Ruslan Fedotenko was credited with the other assist.  At 18:50, Tyler Kennedy was sent to the box on a hooking call giving the Sabres a late chance to restore their lead.  Thomas Vanek, posted in front of the Penguins’ net, pushed off Mark Eaton to free himself up at the side of the net where he took a perfect pass through the crease and deposited it in the net behind Fluery.  Clarke MacArthur and Derek Roy picked up the assists on the goal, putting Vanek in a tie with with Alexander Semin for the league’s most goals (13).  The Penguins outshot the Sabres 10-6 in the 2nd, going 1-for-3 on the powerplay and 2-for-3 on the kill. 

In the 3rd period, the Penguins got one more shot on the powerplay and they made the Sabres pay.  At 11:43 with Henrik Tallinder in the box for tripping, the Penguins #1 powerplay unit went to work.  With 48-seconds left on the powerplay, Evgeni Malkin fed a pass from the blueline to Sidney Crosby working along the walls.  Crosby faked a shot on net that committed Ryan Miller and the defense, and instead made a hard cross-ice pass to a wide open Alex Goligoski who laced it into the open side of the net to tie the game 2-2.  Then with just 4:33 left in the game, Jordan Staal connected on a beautiful bang-bang play on a quick pass from Matt Cooke from behind the net to beat Miller and take the 3-2 lead.  Workhorse Tyler Kennedy picked up the other assist.  Just over a minute later, the Sabres turned the puck over deep in the Penguins zone giving the Pens a 3-on-1 breakout with Evgeni Malkin leading the charge.  With Petr Sykora streaking down the other side of the ice, Ruslan Fedotenko held up ever so slightly to get himself free behind the lone Sabres’ defenseman.  Malkin saw Fedotenko coming late and fed him a tape-to-tape pass that he buried in the net to make it 4-2.  Petr Sykora was credited with the other assist.  Finally at 19:36 with Ryan Miller pulled for the extra attacker, Evgeni Malkin took a chip pass from Petr Sykora and started up ice with Jordan Staal on a 2-on-1.  Malkin unselfishly passed the puck to Staal who deposited the puck in the empty net for his 6th goal and 7th point in the last 4-games.  The Penguins outshot the Sabres 9-6 in the final frame and converted on the period’s only powerplay. 

• VIDEO:  Game Highlights
• VIDEO:  Post-Game Press Conference w/Coach Therrien
• VIDEO:  Post-Game Sidney Crosby Interview
• VIDEO:  Post-Game Jordan Staal Interview
• VIDEO:  Post-Game Alex Goligoski Interview
• PHOTOS  In-Game Photos
• Game Rosters
• Game Summary
• Game Boxscore
• Shots Summary
• Faceoff Summary

Evgeni Malkin led the team with 4-points (1G, 3A).  Jordan Staal (2G), Alex Goligoski (1G, 1A), Ruslan Fedotenko (1G, 1A), and Petr Sykora (2A) all connected for 2-points.  Sidney Crosby (1A), Tyler Kennedy (1A), and Matt Cooke all collected a point.  Max Talbot (2-for-2) was perfect on the faceoff.  Evgeni Malkin (5-for-6) was 83% on the faceoff, while Mike Zigomanis (8-for-14) was 57%.  Evgeni Malkin also led the team in shots with 4, while Jordan Staal, Alex Goligoski, Ruslan Fedotenko, Tyler Kennedy and Miroslav Satan each had 3-shots on net.  Sidney Crosby only had 1-shot on the evening.  Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 21 of 23 shots for a 0.913 save percentage. 

The win improved the Penguins’ record to 11-4-2, extended their unbeaten streak to 6-games, and advanced them into 2nd place in the Eastern Conference (tied in points with Boston, but leading in wins).  Despite their slow starts to games, the Penguins have scored 32 goals in their 6-game winning streak averaging 5.33 goals per game.  In the same stretch, they have given up 22-goals for an average of 3.67 goals against per game.  Evgeni Malkin’s scoring streak was extended to 13 games, the longest active streak in the NHL.  Malkin has accumulated 27-points (6G, 21A) during his 13-game points streak for a 2.08 point per game pace. 

The Penguins get a couple of days off before hosting the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night at Mellon Arena.  The Penguins will again don their powder blue 3rd jerseys for their 2nd of 11-planned times this season.  The game wil be featured on the Versus network.

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