(AP)
What a great night for Pens fans. A win with a chance at home ice advantage and Geno winning the Art Ross trophy for being the league's leading scorer. Alexander Ovechkin made the race close in the end but after going scoreless in his last game and having two points last night, Geno won with 113 points to Ovie's 110. Congratulations Geno, you deserve it.
Geno said he was nervous. Did he look it? We don't think so.
Besides Geno winning the scoring title, the Pens know who they'll be playing in the first round of the playoffs and they also still have a chance at home ice advantage since they won last night. Philly needs to lose today against the Rangers in regulation for the Pens to move into the fourth spot. Even if the Flyers lose in OT or a shootout, they will remain in fourth place because they would have one more point than the Pens. With a loss they would be tied with the Pens in fourth and the Pens would have the tiebreaker. The only problem with this is the Rangers don't have a whole lot to play for today. They are locked into their 7th place position and can't move up or down, but we can still hope they beat Philly. We know it sounds nuts, but be a Rangers fan today.
Last night's game against the Canadiens was a little odd overall we thought. Carey Price basically stood on his head and made save after save as the Pens swarmed him. The Pens were badly out-shooting the Habs in the first two periods. Geno didn't waste any time getting a point in this game by making it 1-0 early with less than two minutes played. With 4:25 left in the period the Pens thought they were up 2-0, but Talbot's "goal" was called a no-goal because of a high stick. Not long after that the Habs would score to make it 1-1.
The Pens had a lot of chances in the second period but Carey Price was robbing them left and right. No score in the second, game still tied 1-1.
About halfway into the third the Habs would be on a power play when Max Talbot would score on a breakaway with Pascal Dupuis to put the Pens up 2-1. Dupuis' backhand pass was a nice one that Price didn't think was coming. Then on the same power play, Letang gets the puck and skates down ice to the far faceoff circle and lets a slap shot fly that burned Carey Price. Pens up 3-1 and win the game.
The schedule for the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs will be announced sometime today. They will not start any sooner than Wednesday.
We weren't thrilled to hear the Pens would play the Flyers in the first round but there probably won't be a more exciting match-up. We obviously worry about the physical aspect that generally comes with a Philly match-up. Whichever team comes out of this alive will surely be a bit bruised and tired. Buckle up because here we go and it may be a bumpy ride.
Go Pens!
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