(AP)
The Pens played the Stars today in Dallas and had no problem putting the Stars away 4-1. How good did the Pens look? We don't care how many injuries Dallas had or that they played the day before, this was a big two points for the Pens that put them into the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference. You know what that means, the Pens have a playoff spot as of now. Granted the playoffs do not start today, but it's been a while since the Pens have been in that spot and it's nice to be there. If they keep up the pace they're on now, they won't have any problems getting into the playoffs. Especially if those teams ahead of them keep falling.
Florida played the Caps today and gave Ovie and his team a whooping 6-2. Thanks for the help Ovie. No more score watching until Tuesday with only one game being played tonight, Colorado vs. NY Islanders. The Pens will play Tuesday against Tampa Bay. We will not get that game since we don't have Versus. Figures we just had a preview on Dish of that channel. *%$#@&
Getting back to the game, Staal had another goal with 15:52 left in the first period by putting a rebound from a Geno shot past Stars' goalie Tobias Stephan. The Pens and Stars both had a power play that period that didn't capitalize. Letang also had a beautiful backhand goal that we missed live because FSN was having problems. We got excited when something came back on and it turned out it was women's basketball. Ick. Definitely not hockey. Thanks FSN. Although we were thankful we weren't getting a snowstorm. Thanks Atlanta.
With the Pens up 2-0 going into the second period we were feeling good and so was FSN because they brought the game back to us. Thank goodness for that because we had had enough women's basketball. Miroslav Satan scored a nice goal with 11:42 left in the second period by getting Stars' goalie Stephan to bite so he could drag it around him and score. Nice. Even nicer was how the one-on-one came about. Stars' defensemen Trevor Daley decided to play an old Ryan Whitney play and make a D-to-D pass and Satan picked it off to create the one-on-one.
A little later in the period Geno took advantage of a weird bounce to put home a power play goal to put the Pens up 4-0. Yeah! But not long before that, Geno also did a little hitting. He put a hard hit on old teammate Daryl Sydor. Nice job Geno. Maybe save one of those for Ovie on Sunday. ;-)
Like the last couple of games, the Pens weren't as dominate in the third period. In this game, that didn't matter though as the Pens and Fleury only allowed one goal on the power play with 13:58 left in the third. The rest of the game was littered with penalties but no scoring. Pens win 4-1. 2 points.
What's up with Jordan Staal as of late? Hearing those trade rumors and not want to go somewhere else? Whatever it is, we don't care, he needs to step up. He is probably benefiting in terms of ice time with Crosby being out, but this was definitely a time when he needed to elevate his game and he has. Two goals in two games? Nice. Staal joined another rather invisible at times player in Satan who has also scored a goal in the last two games. Is he afraid he's going to be traded too? We did see their names listed as two of the most likely to be moved...
Geno being huge is nothing new but he just continues to play so well. He's a very healthy 10 points ahead of Ovie in the scoring race and also leads in assists. Crosby needs to hurry up and come back and get some points to get ahead of Ovie. Having the top two scorers in the league would be pretty special. We say Geno for MVP.
Another player who has elevated his game lately is Marc-Andre Fleury. He may not have been invisible like some players, but he's made huge saves to give the Pens a chance to win games. He had his 100th career win yesterday with his win over Dallas and he said he didn't even know it. He was playing very well last year at this time and that is exactly what the Pens need in their final games to get them into the playoffs.
How about Dan Bylsma? He's 5-1-1 since he took over for Michel Therrien. That's pretty darn good. We like him. His attitude is good and it looks like he's got this team believing in what he wants to do and the more aggressive hockey they're playing is something we like.
VIDEOS! YAY! Grizelda71 always has us covered when it comes to Geno.
Geno's second intermission interview:
Check out that stick handling. Amazing.
And last but not least...GIVE ME BACK THAT FILET O' FISH, GIVE ME THAT FISH!
And last but not least...GIVE ME BACK THAT FILET O' FISH, GIVE ME THAT FISH!
So dumb it's hilarious.
2 comments:
8th place never felt sooooo good!
You've got that right Greg! :)
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