---

Penguins Drop to Devils in Overtime

The Pittsburgh Penguins gave up a late 2-goal lead on Friday night against the New Jersey Devils to send it into overtime, before losing with 1-minute left in the extra frame.  The Penguins’ 2-goal lead was broken midway through the 3rd period after Petr Sykora took a double minor (hooking/unsportsmanlike), and the Devils converted just 4-seconds into the powerplay on a blast by Brendan Shanahan.  The Penguins hung on to cancel out the 2nd minor, but gave up the game tying goal with just 31-seconds to go in regulation as Jamie Langenbrunner beat Fleury to send it into overtime.   Marc-Andre Fleury was strong in net for the Penguins stopping 39-shots on goal, but had no chance on the OT game winner by Jamie Langenbrunner.  The Pittsburgh Penguins managed to grab a point out of the game, but really needed both as they continue their quest to claim a playoff seeding.

The Penguins got the early advantage in the game, despite being outshot 19-7 in the first period.  At 9:33 of the period, Max Talbot recorded his 6th goal of the season as he deflected a Ryan Whitney slapshot past Scott Clemmensen to make it 1-0.  Rob Scuderi picked up the other assist.  The goal came just after the killing off the second penalty of the period.  The Penguins pounced on that momentum and immediately cashed in by scoring 20-seconds later on the next shift.  This time it was Sidney Crosby taking an excellent pass from Evgeni Malkin and sending a stifling backhand shot past Clemmensen to make it 2-0.  Petr Sykora also assisted on the play.  At 11:21, the Devils fought back with a sneaky goal by Bobby Holik that quickly found its way between the pads of Marc-Andre Fleury to make it 2-1.  The Penguins went 3-for-3 on the penalty kill and 0-for-1 on the powerplay in the first.

The second period was marked by a much tighter defensive style with the Devils outshooting the Penguins 7-6, but neither team managed to get on the scoresheet.  The Penguins went 0-for-2 on the powerplay and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill in the period, and managed to take a 2-1 lead into the 3rd. 

In the 3rd, the Penguins looked as if they got the insurance goal at 8:35.  In a tremendous defensive play along the boards, Sidney Crosby stopped the puck and moved it up to Evgeni Malkin who powered into the Devils zone and launched the puck past Clemmensen to trickle across the goal line.  The goal was Malkin’s 20th of the season, and 100th of his young career.  With the score 3-1, the Penguins tried to tighten up the defense to protect the lead.  At 11:55, however, Petr Sykora took a hooking penalty near the Penguins’ blue line, and then must have said something that angered the referee who slapped Sykie with the extra 2-minutes for unsportsmanlike.  The Devils immediately pounced on the opportunity as Brendan Shanahan collected the puck off from the ensuing face-off and launched it past Fleury just 4-seconds into the powerplay to make it a 1-goal game.  The Penguins defense redoubled their efforts after the goal and managed to kill-off the back half of Sykora’s double-minor, but it now became a much different game.  With just 31-seconds left in regulation and Clemmensen pulled from the net in favor of the extra attacker, Jamie Langenbrunner threw a backhander from the side of the net that deflected off from the skate of Ryan Whitney and past Fleury to tie the game.  The Penguins then missed on a 2-on-1 scoring opportunity in the final seconds of the game to send it into overtime tied at 3-3.  The Devils again peppered the Penguins goaltender in the 3rd period as they outshot them 13-3. 

In the overtime frame, it appeared as if the Penguins might be able to hold on for the shootout, but a late barrage and offensive zone pressure by the Devils paid off with the game winner.  Skating out from the right boards, Travis Zajac fed a cross-ice pass to Jamie Langenbrunner who unleashed a quick shot that caught goalie Marc Andre Fleury out of position. It was Langenbrunner’s 14th goal of the season and second overtime winner in two games, as he had the OT winner against Boston on Thursday night. 

 

• PHOTOS:  Game Photos
• Game Rosters
• Game Summary
• Boxscore
• Shots Summary
• Faceoff Summary
• Pittsburgh TOI Report

The Penguins head to Toronto on Saturday where they will face off against the Maple Leafs and look to get one back in the winning column.

Comment on this post: - (1) Posts

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.

Comment on this post: - (1) Posts

Penguins Get Bruined

The Pittsburgh Penguins lost the home portion in the first game of a home-and-home series with the red-hot Boston Bruins 5-2 on Tuesday night.  The seemingly unstoppable Bruins won their 9th straight game and finished the month of December with an amazing 12-1 record.  Even more impressive, they are 23-2-1 since the beginning of November.  For the Penguins, it has been a December to forget as their record for the month sunk to 5-8-1.  To their credit, the struggling Penguins put up 34-shots against the oppressive Bruins defense and were robbed several times by the stellar play of goaltender Tim Thomas.  The difference maker ultimately was Boston’s special teams, which scored 2 powerplay goals and a short-hander while stopping the few man-advantage opportunities for the Penguins.  Officiating seemed to favor the Bruins with some questionable calls against the Penguins, most notably a hooking call against Evgeni Malkin sprawling on the ice with one hand on his stick.  I saw at least 2 more obvious hooks by the Bruins uncalled.  That, however, is the type of adversity that great teams find ways to play through and tonight it just wasn’t in the cards for the Penguins against a team as strong as the Bruins. 

With the game moving at a frenzied pace in the 1st period, Marc-Andre Fleury was outstanding in net and stopped all 16-shots thrown his way.  The Penguins took two penalties in the first period, but managed to escape unscathed.  Then, with 3-minutes left in the period, the Penguins’ Dustin Jeffrey threw a sharp angle shot on net that rebounded out to Ruslan Fedotenko and then onto the backhand of Petr Sykora in front of a gaping net.  Sykora threw his 13th goal of the season into the net to make it 1-0, giving Dustin Jeffrey his first NHL-point.  Fedotenko picked up the other assist.  Just 50-seconds later, the Penguins went on the powerplay but were ultimately unable to connect and extend their 1-goal lead.  The Penguins were outshot 16-10 in the first, with 5-shots coming from the Bruins powerplay.

In the 2nd period, the Penguins found themselves in penalty trouble as they found themselves short-handed three times with no powerplay chances of their own to balance things out.  What’s worse, the league’s #3 powerplay made them pay as the Bruins scored on the first 2-chances.  At 4:24, Brooks Orpik took 2-minutes for intereference that led to a powerplay goal by Zdeno Chara, from P.J. Axelsson and Dennis Wideman.  Chara ended up sneaking in a wide-open back door at 4:46 where he took a cross-ice pass to make an easy goal.  Then at 8:56, Evgeni Malkin was called for a questionable hooking penalty as he was mostly prone on the ice with one hand on his stick.  Just 34-seconds later, Marc Savard roofed an impressive powerplay goal that rocketed over Fleury’s shoulder as he hugged the post and sent the water bottle airborne.  David Krejci and Dennis Wideman picked up the assists on the play to make it 2-1.  At 15:13, the Penguins managed to tie it back up as Sidney Crosby gloved down a failed clearing attempt by Zdeno Chara and passed the puck across the ice to Pascal Dupuis who launched a missile over Tim Thomas’ shoulder to make it 2-2.  The tie was short-lived, however, as Phil Kessel grabbed a turnover off from Evgeni Malkin and passed it to Marc Savard before getting it back and beating Marc-Andre Fleury at 6:43 to make it 3-2, Boston.   The Bruins again outshot the Penguins 14-11 in the period, and were 2-for-3 on the powerplay.

Although the Penguins went into the 3rd period down by just a goal, they lost any momentum they could have had when Sidney Crosby turned over the puck and they gave up a short-handed goal at 5:38 instead of converting on a rare powerplay opportunity.  Athough the Penguins did manage to outshoot the Bruins in the 3rd, the short-handed goal seemed to punctuate how the rest of the period would play out.  On the short-hander, it was Martin St. Pierre with a nifty wrister for his first goal of the season on a pass from none other than the NHL’s plus/minus leader Marc Savard.  Then at 9:38, the Bruins put the game completely out of reach as Dennis Wideman notched his 8th of the season from Zdeno Chara and P.J. Axelsson to make it 5-2.  Late in the frame, call-up Tim Wallace got a shot to the back of the head by Milan Lucic and he responded with a valiant attempt against the much larger Lucic.  A number of shots were exchanged, and while it was hardly a fair matchup, Wallace held his own in the lengthy battle.  Personally, I would have preferred to have seen a Godard or Bissonnette on the Penguins’ side as I suspect that result would have resonated with Lucic longer, but that was an impossible scenario with both players out of the lineup. 

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

Jordan Staal became the youngest player to appear in 200 NHL games at 20 years, 111 days, four days younger than San Jose’s Patrick Marleau was when he played in his 200th during the 1999-2000 season.  The Penguins are heading to Boston next for a New Year’s Day rematch against the Bruins.

Comment on this post: - (1) Posts

Penguins Uninspired in 7-3 Loss to Leafs

The Pittsburgh Penguins found themselves in very unfamiliar territory on Saturday night as the Mellon Arena’s “standing-room only” crowd showered them with boos during a sloppy, undisciplined, and uninspired 7-3 loss against the Toronto Maple Leafs.  With the Penguins being outshot 33-13 through the first 2-periods, Marc-Andre Fleury was given little help from his teammates when he needed it most.  Fleury ended up giving up 5-goals, including 2-while the Penguins were short-handed, before being pulled in favor of Dany Sabourin after the 2nd intermission.  Evgeni Malkin’s 1st period goal and 3rd period assist were just enough to negate two sloppy turnovers he committed that led to a pair of Maple Leafs’ goals.  Just to prove that when things go bad they go horribly bad, Eric Godard waited too long to engage the Leafs physically in an attempt to rouse some life in his team.  When Godard finally did drop the gloves, he was left standing alone like a jilted bride at the altar as the Leafs’ Andre Deveaux smartly refused to oblige.  Godard’s actions sent him flying solo into the penalty box and resulted in a Maple Leaf’s powerplay goal to give them a 5-1 lead late in the 2nd.  Early in the 3rd, when the Penguins still had a remote chance of a comeback, Sidney Crosby’s frustrations boiled over in the form of an undisciplined cross-check and the Maple Leafs again made the Penguins pay with a powerplay goal to make it unrecoverable at 7-2.

In the 1st period, the Leafs got out to a great start by peppering Marc-Andre Fleury at every chance they could.  The aggressive play gave the Leafs a 16-6 advantage in shots in the period and put the Penguins firmly on their heels.  At 6:56, call-up Ryan Stone took the game’s first penalty on a 2-minute roughing call.  In the ensuing powerplay, the Leafs converted on a backhander by Dominic Moore, with assists by Pavel Kubina and Tomas Kaberle.  At 9:49, Evgeni Malkin stepped onto the ice and took a nice up-ice pass from Miroslav Satan, crossed the blueline and walked in to beat Vesa Toskala with a nifty backhand maneuver.  Mark Eaton picked up the other assist on the play to tie it 1-1.  The Leafs needed just a little over a minute to regain the lead as Jeremy Williams snapped his 4th goal of the season past Fleury at 11:03.  Jason Blake and Tomas Kaberle racked up the assists.  Then again at 12:56, the Leafs scored again to make it 3-1 as Jonas Frogren’s slap shot got past Fleury again.  Nik Antropov and Matt Stajan contributed on the play and earned the assists.  The Penguins ended up going 0-for-1 on the powerplay and 0-for-1 on the penalty kill in the period.

In the 2nd period, the Leafs continued their offensive onslaught as they outshot the Penguins 17-7.  Things went bad 8:31 into the period when Evgeni Malkin opted to dangerously carry the puck right in front of his own net in traffic rather than go around behind it.  Realizing he made a bad decision, he tried to dump the puck off to a Penguins defensemen.  Instead, he put the puck squarely on the tape of Niklas Hagman right in front of the Penguins’ net.  Hagman wasted no time roofing thepuck over the shoulder of a shell-shocked and surprised Fleury to make it 4-1.  At 14:39, Eric Godard dropped the gloves but was turned down for the dance as mentioned above.  At 16:20, with 19-seconds left on the ensuing powerplay, Pavel Kubina made the Penguins pay as his slap shot found the twine behind Fleury.  Nik Antropov and Tomas Kaberle picked up the assists on the play to make it 5-1 Leafs.  Then at 19:40, Matt Cooke was on the receiving end of a punch to the head by Jaime Sifers.  A scuffle ensued that sent both Cooke and Sifers to the box for roughing, with Sifers getting the extra two for initiating the dust-up with the shot to Cooke’s head.  The Penguins failed to score in the 20-second of thier powerplay at the end of the 2nd, and were 1-for-2 on the penalty kill in the period.  The Penguins late powerplay carried over into the 3rd, but Marc-Andre Fleury would watch it from the bench as he was pulled in favor of Dany Sabourin. 

In the 3rd period, it looked like the Penguins might be able to turn the sinking ship around as they quickly scored on the powerplay just 58-seconds in.  Petr Sykora redirected a pass from Evgeni Malkin into the net behind Vesa Toskala to make it 5-2 with plenty of time left for a miracle comeback.  Kris Letang was also in on the action with an assist.  However, at 5:23 the Leafs eliminated any hail mary momentum that the Penguins were trying to build as they again found the back of the net on a snap shot by Alexei Ponikarovsky that found its way past Dany Sabourin.  Matt Stajan assisted on the Leafs’ 6th goal of the evening to restore the Penguins’ 4-goal defecit.  At 6:19, Sidney Crosby flexed his lumber a few times into a Leafs’ player and earned a seat in the penalty box.  The Leafs responded by rubbing salt in an already sore wound as Nik Antropov wristed their 7th goal of the night into the net.  Alexei Ponikarovsky and Jaime Sifers picked up the assists.  At 9:50, Eric Godard decided he had had enough and he also cross-checked a Leafs’ player and took a game misconduct so that he could get showered up early.  At 17:01, Petr Sykora tipped in a token goal for the Penguins off from a shot by Alex Goligoski to end the scoring at 7-3.  But there was a little more action before this one ended.  At 17:38, Ruslan Fedotenko briefly lost his mind as he took on the much bigger Andre Deveaux.  A surprised Deveaux decided not to turtle away this time like he had earlier with Godard and gave Rusty a few good shots before the linesmen came to his rescue.  Then, as if a 7-3 drubbing wasn’t enough, Brooks Orpik took a nasty stick to the face from Antropov at 18:08 that sent him to the ice with blood running out of his mouth.  The resulting 1:52 of a 4-minute powerplay was fruitless for the Penguins.  The Penguins did manage to outshoot the Leafs 10-7 in the 3rd, but it was utterly useless.     

• VIDEO:  Game Highlights
• VIDEO:  Post-Game Press Conference w/Coach Therrien - “We didn’t show up”
• VIDEO:  Sidney Crosby Post-Game – “We can’t get away with not working hard”
• VIDEO:  Kris Letang Post-Game – “We beat ourselves.  We didn’t show up”
• VIDEO:  Marc-Andre Fleury Post-Game – “Not a good game” 
• PHOTOS:  In-Game Photos
• Game Rosters
• Game Summary
• Boxscore
• Shots Summary
• Faceoff Summary
• Penguins Ice Time Report

The Penguins will have tomorrow to regroup and get their collective act together before heading to Buffalo on Monday to take on the Sabres and then back to Pittsburgh on Tuesday night to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Comment on this post: - (1) Posts

Malkin and Fleury Shine in 6-3 Win Over Thrashers

The Pittsburgh Penguins returned from a 4-day layoff to beat the Atlanta Thrashers 6-3 as they were powered by the offensive prowess of Evgeni Malkin and the excellent netminding of Marc-Andre Fleury.  Malkin picked up 4-points (2G, 2A) to continue his dominating lead in the league scoring race, while Fleury made several highlight reel saves as he stopped 28-of-31 shots in his first action since November 15th.  Malkin’s 4-point night gives him 53-points (14G, 39A) in 31-games, or 1.71 points per game, putting him on pace for a 140-point season.  He is 7-points ahead of Sidney Crosby who is 2nd in the scoring race, and 10-points ahead of 3rd place Alexander Ovechkin.  Despite beating a team near the bottom of the league standings, the Penguins relished the much needed win after losing 4 of their last 5 games.  Although the win was decisive on the scoreboard, the Penguins were outshot 31-20 in the game and were a bit sloppy in their own end as they gave up 7 turnovers.  Marc-Andre Fleury was outstanding in net and showed no signs of the groin injury that has kept him out of the lineup for over a month. 

In the 1st period, the Penguins hopped out to a quick lead as they scored at 5:32.  Taking advantage of a Thrashers’ player who broke his stick on a shot, the Penguins moved the puck quickly out of their zone and up the ice.  Jordan Staal moved the puck to call-up Tim Wallace who found Matt Cooke streaking toward the blueline with a nice cross ice pass.  Cooke protected the puck as he skated into the Thrashers’ zone and let a quick snap shot that beat Ondrej Pavelec on the short side.  Then at 9:40, Evgeni Malkin embarrassed Todd White as he just walked right through him by the side of the goal to put the puck into the empty side of the net.  Petr Sykora assisted on Malkin’s 13th goal of the season to make it 2-0.  At 19:21, however, the Thrashers cut the lead in half as Marty Reasoner was credited with a goal that caromed recklessly off from sticks and bodies to beat Fleury.  Ilya Kovalchuk and Chris Thorburn were credited with the assists that made it 2-1 after one.  A scuffle in front of the net ensued after the goal as Brooks Orpik and Sidney Crosby roughed it up with Boris Valabik, who had fallen awkwardly onto Orpik’s leg during the play.  The 2-on-1 scuffle led to a pair of penalties to the Penguins to send them into the 2nd period shorthanded.  The Penguins were outshot 9-6 in the period and were 2-for-2 on the penalty kill.  Despite being outshot, Marc-Andre Fleury made a number of beautiful saves including a great glove save on Colby Armstrong to keep the Thrashers in check.

In the 2nd, the Penguins managed to kill off the carryover penalties to Orpik and Crosby before getting a man advantage of their own just 3-minutes into the period, thanks to a holding call on Joseph Crabb.  The Penguins needed just 31-seconds on the powerplay to score on a blast by Evgeni Malkin that appeared to deflect into the net off from Jordan Staal’s leg to make it 3-1.  The powerplay goal was originally given to Malkin, but then later changed to Staal with assists by Malkin and Crosby.  Then at 4:27, former Penguin Colby Armstrong got called for high sticking Evgeni Malkin.  Although it appeared that Malkin showed the referee that there was some blood, Armstrong was assessed a 2-minute minor.  With a little over 30-seconds left on the powerplay, Miroslav Satan found himself all alone in front of goaltender Pavelec and on the receiving end of a beautiful centering pass by Jeff Taffe.  Satan moved the puck to his backhand and easily beat the netminder to make it 4-1.  Ruslan Fedotenko picked up the other assist on the poweplay goal.  At 7:32, with Mark Eaton in the penalty box for hooking, the Thrashers again cut the lead in half as Bryan Little wristed a shot past Fleury to make it 4-2.  Todd White and Vyacheslav Kozlov made the assists on the powerplay goal.  However, just 32-seconds later, the Penguins stole it back on a blistering slapshot by Philippe Boucher to make it 5-2.  Evgeni Malkin picked up his league leading 39th assist on the play along with Petr Sykora.  The goal ended up chasing Pavelec out of the net in favor of former Penguin netminder Johan Hedberg.  The Penguins ended the period being outshot by the Thrashers 10-9, were 2-for-3 on the powerplay and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill.  Fleury was again fabulous in net and made a beautiful kick save and glove save on Eric Perrin with 7:07 left in the period.

Into the 3rd period, the Penguins had to hold off a surging Atlanta Thrashers team as they were outshot 12-5 in the final frame.  The Thrashers came within 2-goals of the Penguins after Miroslav Satan errantly passed the puck to Colby Armstrong loitering all alone in the Penguins zone at 14:55.  Armstrong picked his spot and beat his former teammate Fleury with a slapper to make it 5-3.  But that was the closest they would come as Fleury went on to shut things down despite seeing plenty of rubber in the period.  Late in the period, the Thrashers pulled Hedberg out for the extra attacker but were unable to get one by the Penguins.  With 27-seconds left on the clock, Rob Scuderi moved the puck to Sidney Crosby up the wall who had the chance to put the puck into the empty net, but dished off to Evgeni Malkin instead who easily skated it into the open goal mouth to make it 6-3.  Scuderi and Crosby picked up the assists on the final tally of the game.   

• VIDEO:  Game Highlights
• PHOTOS:  In-Game Photos
• Game Rosters
• Game Summary
• Boxscore
• Shot Summary
• Faceoffs Summary
• Pittsburgh Ice Time Report

Evgeni Malkin picked up 4-points (2G, 2A), while Jordan Staal (1G, 1A), Sidney Crosby (2A) and Petr Sykora (2A) each had 2-points.  Matt Cooke (1G), Miroslav Satan (1G), Philippe Boucher (1G), Tim Wallace (1A), Ruslan Fedotenko (1A), Jeff Taffe (1A) and Rob Scuderi (1A) all contributed with a point.  Petr Sykora led the team with 4-shots on net, while Evgeni Malkin and AHL call-up Ryan Stone each had 3-shots.  Jordan Staal (13/22) led all Penguins with a 59% faceoff win percentage, but collectively the team was outplayed in the faceoff circle winning only 44% of the draws.  The Penguins out-hit the Thrashers 23-17.  Evgeni Malkin led all players with 24:23 of ice time and Rob Scuderi led all Defensemen with 24:00 in ice time.  The active Penguins defense blocked 15-shots on net. 

The Penguins return to Mellon Arena on Saturday night where they will take on the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Comment on this post: - (1) Posts

Crosby Assists Penguins’ Wingers Out of Slump

Sidney Crosby assisted on 4 of his team’s 5 goals on Thursday night to help the Penguins outscore the Carolina Hurricanes 5-2, despite being outshot 36-22 in the game.  For the Penguins, it was a night for their top wingers to snap out of their collective scoring slump as Petr Sykora (2G), Pascal Dupuis (1G), Miroslav Satan (1G) and Ruslan Fedotenko (1G) all put the puck in the net with the assistance of Sidney Crosby and/or Evgeni Malkin.  While accounting for 5-goals tonight, these 4-wingers have together have scored just 5-goals in the prior 10-games.  After Wednesday night’s sub-par shootout performance, Goaltender Dany Sabourin bounced right back to stop 34 of 36 shots on goal, including several fantastic saves late in the game.

The Penguins got rolling at 10:53 of the first period while playing on the powerplay.  With Canes’ Nick Wallin in the box for hooking, Alex Goligoski brought the puck into the Carolina zone and drop passed the puck off the side wall to Sidney Crosby.  Crosby skated the puck to the top of the left circle and passed the puck across to Petr Sykora who was all alone at the top of the right circle.  Sykora unleashed a rising shot that beat Michael Leighton high on the stick side to make it 1-0.  Goligoski and Crosby picked up the assists on Sykora’s 6th of the season.  Then at 12:30, Pascal Dupuis stole the puck on a botched clearing attempt by Josef Melichar and passed the puck to Sidney Crosby as they moved in 2-on-0 on net.  Crosby kept goaltender Leighton moving to the right and then backhanded the puck across the crease to Dupuis, who wristed it into the empty side of the net.  Despite being outshot 11-5 in the period, the Penguins fond themselves up 2-0 going to the intermission.  The Penguins were 1-for-2 on the powerplay and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill. 

In the 2nd period, the Penguins extended their lead with another powerplay goal early in the period.  Working near the blueline, Evgeni Malkin set up Sidney Crosby for a one-timer.  Playing well in front of the net, Leighton stopped Crosby’s blast, but lost the rebound to Petr Sykora who collected it and easily moved the puck behind the goaltender and into the net to make it 3-0.  Crosby and Malkin were credited with the assists.  Carolina bounced right back just 19-seconds later as Tuomo Ruutu returned from the penalty box and avenged the Penguins powerplay goal by wristing a shot past Dany Sabourin.  Sergei Samsonov and Josef Melichar each picked up an assist on the play.  At 6:51, the Penguins regained the 3-goal lead as Miroslav Satan skated into the offensive zone with the puck and again caught Leighton way out in front of his net.  Leighton missed on a poke check as Satan skated behind him to the side of the net and backhanded the puck into the crease.  With Crosby and Dupuis on the doorstep, a Canes’ player went sliding into the net taking the puck with him.  Being the last Penguin to touch the puck, Satan was credited with the goal to make it 4-1.  Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang were credited with the assists on the breakout pass.  At 14:15, Eric Godard was called for a hooking penalty and the Carolina Hurricanes made him pay as Matt Cullen connected for a goal from the high slot area.  Ray Whitney and Rod Brind’Amour picked up the assists.  Finally at 18:27, the Penguins again restored their 3-goal advantage as Evgeni Malkin stole the puck at the Canes’ blueline and let one rip on Leighton, who made the stop but gave up the rebound to Ruslan Fedotenko.  Rusty pounced on the puck and rode with it into the net to make it 5-2.  The Penguins were outshot 11-9 in the period, but connected for 3-goals.  The Penguins were 1-for-1 on the powerplay and 1-for-2 on the kill. 

In the 3rd period, the Penguins were outshot 14-8 but there was no scoring as Dany Sabourin shut the Canes down with several key saves.  The Penguins took 2-penalties in the 3rd, but successfully killed them both off as they went on to win the game by a final score of 5-2. 

• VIDEO:  Game Highlights
• PHOTOS:  In-Game Photos
• Game Rosters
• Game Summary
• Boxscore
• Shots Summary
• Faceoff Summary
• Penguins Ice Time Report

Sidney Crosby collected 4-points (4A) on the night.  Evgeni Malkin (2A) and Petr Sykora (2G) each had 2-points.  Miroslav Satan led the team with 3-shots on net, while 8 other players each had 2-shots on net.  Max Talbot won 70% of his faceoffs (7 of 10), and was the only Penguin above 50% that squared off on more than 1-faceoff.  Rob Scuderi led all Penguins in ice time with 23:38, while Sidney Crosby led all forwards with 22:06.  Janne Pesonen and Chris Minard were called up and filled in for Tyler Kenedy and ike Zigomanis who were injured in New York on Wednesday night. 

The Penguins finish up their 3-game road trip on Saturday night when they take on the Senators in Ottawa.

Comment on this post: - (1) Posts

Penguins Come Up Short in Buffalo

The Pittsburgh Penguins gave up 2-goals in the 3rd period and posted none of their own as they lost to the Buffalo Sabres on the road on Friday night 4-3.  John Curry’s first start in goal for the Penguins didn’t go the way he wanted it, despite a couple of spectacular saves late in the game.  He ended up stopping 28-of-32 shots for a 0.875 save percentage.  But don’t pin the blame on Curry.  The Penguins’ defense failed to keep the front of the net cleared, and most of the Sabres’ goals came from the traffic in close.  The Penguins faltering power play resulted in numerous missed opportunities as they went 0-for-7 on the night.   

The Penguins were first to get on the scoreboard at 10:29 of the 1st period as Tyler Kennedy took a cross crease pass from Matt Cooke and popped it into the net.  Rob Scuderi picked up the other assist.  The goal was Kennedy’s 6th on the season and it was Cooke’s 7th assist.  Less than a minute later, however, the Sabres tied it up at 1-1 as Drew Stafford wristed a puck past John Curry.  Maxim Afinogenov and Jaroslav Spacek picked p the assists on the play.  The Penguins went 0-for-3 on the powerplay and 1-for-1 on the kill as they outshot the Sabres 12-11.

In the 2nd period, the Penguins’ defense took a blow when Philippe Boucher left the game after one shift due to an unsepcified injury.  He didn’t return.  The Buffalo Sabres took the lead at 12:21 as they scored on the power play while Brooks Orpik sat for an interference call.   Paul Gaustad picked up his first goal of the season on the tip-in, with assists from Drew Stafford and Mark Mancari to make it 2-1.  Just 34-seconds later, however, Sidney Crosby tied it back up at 2-2 as he collected a rebound off from Evgeni Malkin’s shot and whacked the puck out of mid-air and into the net.  Then at 19:04, Evgeni Malkin created a Buffalo turnover and sent Sidney Crosby streaking in on net.  Crosby faked a slapper and then snapped the puck into the far side of the net, beating Ryan Miller to give the Penguins a 3-2 advantage.  Evgeni Malkin provided the lone assist on both of Crosby’s goals.  The 2nd period was the Penguins best offensive effort of the game as they outshot the Sabres 15-11, but the power play again came up empty on 4 attempts.  The Penguins penalty kill was 1-for-2. 

In the final period, the Penguins offense withered as they only managed to get off 3-shots on net while the Sabres fired 10-shots and connected for 2 goals.  The Sabres tied the game just 3:11 into the third on Drew Stafford’s second goal of the game.  Off the rush, Stafford redirected Thomas Vanek’s pass to beat Curry on the open side.  Then at 16:36, Paul Gaustad redirected a Jason Pominville pass by Curry to put Buffalo ahead for good.  There were no penalties called in the 3rd period.

• VIDEO:  Game Highlights
• PHOTOS: In-Game Photos
• Game Rosters
• Game Summary
• Boxscore
• Penguins Ice Time Report
• Shots Summary
• Faceoff Comparison

Sidney Crosby picked up 2-goals and led the team in shots with 5.  Kris Letang and Tyler Kennedy each posted 4-shots, while Evgeni Malkin only had 1 shot on the evening.  Evgeni Malkin did pick up 2 more assists to boost his NHL-leading points total to 37.  He is 7-points ahead of #2 Alexander Ovechkin (30) and leads the league with 27 assists, 5 ahead of Boston’s Marc Savard.  In the faceoff circle, Tyler Kennedy was 2/2 (100%), Max Talbot was 4/5 (80%) and Mike Zigomanis was 7/12 (58%).  Ruslan Fedotenko and Mark Eaton were healthy scratches.  WBS call-up Janne Pesonen skated 6:02 and had no shots on goal.  Sidney Crosby led all players in ice time with 24:29, with Evgeni Malkin second at 23:25.  Kris Letang led all defensemen with 23:14. 

The loss was just the Penguins’ 2nd regulation loss in November.  They return to Mellon Arena on Saturday to take on the New Jersey Devils.

Comment on this post: - (1) Posts

Penguins’ Effort Falls Short Against Canucks

The Pittsburgh Penguins suffered their first regulation loss during the month of November on Saturday afternoon as they fell 3-1 to the Vancouver Canucks.  Despite an apparent groin injury to Canuck’s tender Roberto Luongo early in the first period that sidelined the two-time Vezina finalist, Vancouver held the Penguins to just one goal to win their 3rd straight on the road.  With the loss,  the Penguins’ November record stands at 7-1-1 for 15 of 18 possible points.  While it remains one of the best starts for the Penguins in over 20-years, the Penguins lost a little ground in the Eastern Conference to the red-hot Boston Bruins who are 9-0-1 in their last 10-games.  The Penguins (27) trail the Bruins (32) by 5-points with a game in hand.  The Penguins also trail the Rangers (30) by 3-points with 3-games in hand. 

Despite playing well from behind this season, the Penguins ran out of time on Saturday against Vancouver.  After falling behind 2-0 on a goal in each of the 1st and 2nd periods, the Penguins looked like they might bounce back as they scored just 22-seconds into the 3rd to make it a 1-goal game with plenty of time left on the clock.  Mike Zigomanis connected with a wrister on a pass by Tyler Kennedy to beat backup netminder Curtis Sanford.  Alex Goligoski collected the other assist.  But that was all the Penguins could muster against the tight trapping system of the Canucks, despite outshooting them 8-3 in the 3rd.  The Canucks finished the Penguins off with an empty net goal by Pavol Demitra with 12-seconds left to go in the game.  Pavol Demitra also scored the Canucks first goal of the game in the 1st period.  Daniel Sedin got the Canucks 2nd goal in the 2nd period and assisted on the other 2-goals for a 3-point night.  Daniel’s brother Henrik Sedin assisted on all 3-goals.  The line of the Sedin brothers and Pavol Demitra has been one of the NHL’s hottest, combining for 23 points during their past 5-games.  “It’s a great feeling playing with guys like that,” Demitra said. “As a team, we didn’t really give (the Penguins) anything, not even on their power play. Our (penalty) killers were playing great.”  Dany Sabourin stopped 16-of-18 shots that he faced for a 0.89 save percentage.

“It’s a disappointing game for us,” Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. “We didn’t have the right attitude to play that game. They worked harder than us and deserved to win.”  The Penguins had only 11 shots through two periods and were 0-for-4 on the power-play.  The Penguins failed to get a point from Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin for the 2nd time in three games.  It was only the 3rd time this season that both players were held off from the scoring sheet.  “I think when you get chances, you have to put them in,” Crosby said.  “When a team’s playing tight defensively like that, when you get quality chances you have to put them in.  If not, they come back to hurt you.”  The Penguins played most of the game without gritty Matt Cooke after he was ejected from the game just 25-seconds in after a multi-fight melee that sent 3-players from each team into the penalty box.  Jannik Hansen and Matt Cooke both received game misconduct penalties, although it wasn’t entirely clear why Cooke was sent packing. 

• VIDEO:  Game Highlights
• VIDEO:  Therrien Post-Game Press Conference
• VIDEO:  Crosby Post-Game
• VIDEO:  Sabourin Post-Game
• VIDEO:  Orpik Post-Game
• PHOTOS:  In-Game Photos
• AUDIO:  Penguins Post-Game Hotline Show with Grover
• Game Rosters
• Game Summary
• Boxscore
• Faceoffs Report
• Shots Summary

The Penguins get a few days off before playing 3-games in 4-nights starting on Wednesday as they travel to New York to take on the Islanders.  They then head to Buffalo to take on the Sabres on Friday night before hosting the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.

Comment on this post: - (1) Posts

Penguins Ground Flyers 3-2 in Overtime

The Pittsburgh Penguins rebounded from their late overtime loss against the Devils on Saturday to grab a late overtime win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night.  The Penguins used up most of the sudden death overtime before Pascal Dupuis scored the game winner with just 11-seconds left to win the game 3-2.  The win improves the Penguins record to 2-1-1, and will hopefully give the team something to rally around moving forward.  Petr Sykora played in his first game of the season after sitting out 3-games du to a groin pull.

The first period featured some excellent hard-hitting, back and forth Penguins/Flyers action, but no scoring for either side.  Just over 5-minutes into the period, Eric Godard energized Mellon Arena by taking on Riley Cote in a battle of the big boys.  In what was undoubtedly the best fight of the year so far for the Penguins, both players got in plenty of good shots.  It was Godard, however, that got in the most and best hits of the bout, including a haymaker that connected and sent the linesmen in to break it up.  The Penguins were outshot by the Flyers 7-6, went 0-for-2 on the powerplay and 2-for-2 on the kill. 

In the 2nd period, the Penguins’ offense came alive and peppered Flyers’ goaltender Antero Nittymaki.  But despite all of the firepower up front for the Penguins, they managed to pick up 2-quick goals from a couple of unlikely sources.  At 14:12, while working the left point on the 2nd powerplay unit, Brooks Orpik took a hard shot that beat Nittymaki.  Tyler Kennedy and Kris Letang picked up the assists.  It was just Orpik’s 5th career goal, and his first coming on the man advantage.  Then, just 42-seconds later, newly acquired Mike Zigomanis buried Matt Cooke’s pass from behind the net to make it 2-0.  Eric Godard picked up the other assist in a great play by the 4th line.  The goal was the 20th career tally for Zigomanis.  The Flyers bounced back, however, with 2-quick goals of their own with under a minute to go in the period.  At 19:16, Jeff Carter tried to make a pass across the crease and over the blocking stick of Hal Gill, but the puck hit Gill’s stick and bounced into the net past Fleury for a goal.  It was the 2nd consecutive game in which Hal Gill was involved in a flukey goal against his own team.  Then at 19:37, the Flyers won a face-off in the Penguins zone and passed the puck back to Simon Gagne who let a shot rip through traffic that beat Fleury to tie it up.  It was a huge goal for the Flyers to send them to the 2nd intermission with the tie.  Theshots were 12 a side in the 2nd, with the Penguins going 1-for-2 on the powerplay and masterfully killing off 2 penalties. 

The 3rd period again saw good end-to-end action, but no scoring.  The Penguins were outshot 9-8, were 0-for-2 on the powerplay and again did an excellent job of killing off 2-penalties. 

To the overtime period, both teams started a bit conservatively before exchanging a couple of good opportunities at each end of the ice.  But it was a beautiful long up ice pass from Brooks Orpik that gave Pascal Dupuis the opportunity to blast the game winner past Nittymaki with just 11-seconds left on the overtime clock.  The shot caught the upper right hand corner of the net, beating Nittymaki who was well out in front of the net on the play to cut down the angle.  Kris Letang collected the other assist, his second of the night.

• VIDEO:  Game Highlights
• PHOTOS:  Game Photos
• NHL Rosters
• NHL Game Summary
• NHL Boxscore
• NHL Play-by-Play
• NHL Shot Summary

The Penguins will play host to the Washington Capitals on Thursday night at Mellon Arena.

Comment on this post: - (1) Posts

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. 

Comment on this post: - (1) Posts

Next Page »