The Penguins beat the Rangers at home 6-2 with a third period explosion. This is more like the Pens we want to see. Playing pretty decent hockey all game and putting it away in the third. We can deal with that completely.
This game started out fast with a fight between Eric Godard and Colton Orr, which was definitely won by Godard. Nice final punch.
Then, almost as fast, the Rangers' Nikolai Zherdev score a goal with 17:36 left in the first period. Now we definitely didn't think the game was over on one goal so extremely early in the game, but it was a kind of oh boy here we go again feeling. You want your team to score first and often.
Not too long after the Rangers' goal, Petr Sykora puts the Pens on the board with 13:25 left in the first. Chris Minard and Jordan Staal get the assists. The Pens are in business.
Pascal Dupuis gets a penalty for an accidental high stick and the Pens are on the penalty kill and they succeed. Dupuis also had a nice chance to score towards the end of the period, but Lundqvist makes the save.
The second period wasn't too full of excitement. With 12:20 left in the second, Talbot gets called for charging after he bumps Lundqvist after being pushed by a Rangers player. WTF?! Terrible call. Nice flop to the ground by Lundqvist too. The Pens kill it no problem. Just after Talbot gets out of the sin bin, he gets another penalty for delay of game for sending the puck over the glass. Ugh. No problem though, the Pens have it covered.
Fleury made a nice save with 3:10 remaining that only flexible goalies like himself could make. Sidney Crosby also got a steal behind his own net to get something going for the Pens. As Bob Errey said, he got on his horse and was off to the races. Getting the puck, he made some sweet moves, but unfortunately nothing comes of it. On to the third...
Soon after the period started with 18:49 left in the third, Staal gets a goal to make it 2-1 Pens. Whitney gets the only assist. Shortly after the Rangers take a penalty and the Pens are on the power play, but no goal.
With 13:42 left in the game, Kris Letang scores his second goal of the season to make it 3-1 Pens. Crosby and Eaton get the assists. Letang was looking good.
The Rangers are called for hooking Malkin with 11:45 left and the Pens get another power play. Nothing was happening at first and then the Rangers get called for another penalty for sending the puck over the glass. Now it's a 5-on-3 for 53 seconds. Then the unimaginable happens, the Pens score on a 5-on-3! Sykora scores his second goal of the game to make it 4-1 Pens with Crosby and Whitney getting the assists. They still has the rest of the second penalty, but no goal.
Later on, the Pens and Rangers both get penalties and it's 4-on-4 hockey for two minutes. Nothing much brewing here. With 6:05 left in the game, Marc Staal scores a goal for the Rangers to make it 4-2. But the Pens wouldn't be stopped there.
With 3:39 left Letang has a nice five-hole goal. He looked like Sid or Geno on that shot. He needs to go to All-Star activities more often or something because he was definitely playing hot last night. Dupuis and Crosby get the assists.
Another 4-on-4 ensues in the game, and with 1:40 left Crosby puts a beautiful backhander in on Lundqvist to make the game 6-2. Malkin and Boucher get the assists on that one. Crosby had a four point game to move higher up on the scoring list. Rangers take a penalty to end the game, Pens win 6-2.
What a goal here. For those who want to say Sidney Crosby isn't special, let's see you score a goal like that. Not happening. He didn't even look. Top that nay sayers.
- Marc-Andre Fleury was good tonight and kept the Pens in the game in the first two periods especially.
-Tyler Kennedy might not have made the scoring sheet but we definitely still notice him out there. He's everywhere.
-Why is Alex Goligoski a healthy scratch yet again? Was he really that bad? We didn't notice anything and thought he was playing well.
-This is exactly what the Pens needed tonight and they need to keep the momentum going and string together a few wins.
Seth over at Empty Netters caught this interview with Sergei Kostitsyn, the latest player to diss Sidney Crosby. This is getting to be like other teams' fans. You know, how it's so cool to say Crosby sucks and whatever else negative they can come up with. We have no idea what the point is of even doing this, publicity maybe?, but Crosby obviously doesn't care. He'll only respond with goals like above. Wonder if Kostitsyn liked that one?
A couple Steelers things:
Coach Dick LeBeau decided to shoot down rumors that he was going to retire after the Super Bowl. We have no idea where these started and we're glad we didn't hear them before he refuted them because we'd hate to see him go. He may be 71 but he sure doesn't look like it and he's still a great coach that his players love. He said they're going to have to run him out of there with the way his players are playing. Good to hear.
And lastly, a new episode of Yinz Luv 'Da Stillers. It's the Bowl that is Super special. Enjoy!
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