Pens gain a point, lose to Canes

The Pens lost 3-2 in overtime against the Hurricanes last night. Cam Ward was ridiculous for the Canes and really the reason the Canes won. The Pens had a ton of good scoring chances and just couldn't put them past Ward. Getting a point out of this game was a positive for sure and life will go on. Unfortunately for the Pens it will go on in the form of a 5 o'clock game against the Florida Panthers today. Talk about bad scheduling. Who schedules another game less than 24 hours from the first one? Especially when they have to travel. Stupid.

Last night's game was definitely entertaining. Up and down hockey and not a ton of penalties. Both teams had good chances and both goalies were good, but Cam Ward was just a bit better. The Pens definitely had more chances but couldn't cash in on enough of them. Either that or your teammate took a penalty mere seconds before you score a goal, but that's something else entirely. 

The Pens third line was playing great hockey and produced both of the Pens' goals. Tyler Kennedy had a great game, getting a goal and a point on the other Pens goal. TK was working hard along the boards to gain control of the puck and ended up putting a nice backhand shot behind Cam Ward to put the Pens up 1-0. Nice. There would be a 4-on-4 where Sidney Crosby ends up with a ridiculously long breakaway from his own end in which he couldn't score on Ward. Bummer. You could smell 2-0. Before the period was over though, one of the Staals on the ice would score a goal and it wasn't Jordan. Eric Staal puts one home to tie up the game. The Staal parents are proud.

The second period would bring a Canes goal not even a minute into the period. Matt Cooke attempted a pass at the blue line that was intercepted by the Canes and turned into a goal for Chad LaRose. Canes up 2-1. Bill Guerin would appear to score a goal about halfway through the period but hang on to your hats, no goal. Chris Kunitz was called for tripping just seconds before Guerin "scores" so no goal. Talk about bad luck.

Moving on to the third, just a few minutes in, TK comes up big again and makes a play to get the puck to Staal who put a nice shot behind Ward. The Staal parents are pround once again. The Pens tie it up at two and things are looking pretty good. Lots of physical play, not a lot of penalties, just a lot of up and down hockey. Then Geno gets a breakaway that gets interfered with and that's a penalty shot. Geno never seems to thrilled with this or shootouts and hasn't really been too good in them for whatever reason, excluding his shootout goal earlier this season when he used that sick move to get the goalie to belly flop. Anywho, Geno fails to score on his penalty shot and we're still tied at two. The Canes would get a power play with less than two minutes left in the period but the Pens would kill it. Even though they did, it obviously was not a good time (if there ever is one) for a penalty.

Overtime didn't last too long as the Pens really couldn't get out of their own zone and Babchuk wound up for a slap shot that would win the game for the Canes.

Overall we think the Pens played really well and so did Cam Ward. Ward really was the reason the Canes won because the Pens had plenty of really good scoring chances that not all goalies would have stood up against. They did torch Martin Brodeur the other night after all. The Pens third line looks good and got all the points last night, with Crosby and Geno's points streaks stopped. Geno needs to start gaining some points though because Ovechkin is only four behind him in the points race. Ovechkin somehow pulling out the scoring title in the last few games of the season would make us utterly sick. Geno needs to at least claim this one for himself if the media is going to take the MVP away from him. (Yes, that post is still coming soon)

Game recap

Aftermath: Canes 3, Pens 2 OT

Penguins lose to Hurricanes in overtime, 3-2

Thanks to the cruel scheduling of the NHL the Pens will play the Florida Panthers today at 5 p.m. Win today and the Pens are in the playoffs. Sweet.

Game preview

Go Pens!