We Made It! Pens beat Lightning 6-4

The Pens made it! They clinched a playoff spot by beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-4. They were making it look easy until they decided to give up a goal. And then another one. And another one. And another one. A tad embarrassing, but we'll take it. Although it's not time to let go of leads, no game is really over until the clock says 0:00 in the third period. Nonetheless, the Pens are heading to the post-season and Geno collected a couple of points (thank goodness). Crosby also got his 100th point of the season, putting both him and Geno over that mark.

The first period ended without either team scoring a goal and things were just kind of eh. Nothing all too exciting going on that period. The best thing we saw was a shot off the post to Fleury's left and he gave that post some lovin'. A little rub, a couple of taps for his beloved post. Say it with us now, AWWWWW!

The second period things started heating up. The Pens had a power play early and ended up with 1:30 of 5-on-3 time. NOTHING! C'mon Pens, that can't happen. With 15:00 left in the second, Fedotenko scores a nice goal with the assists going to Kennedy and Staal. Pens up 1-0.

Edited to add:

There were a couple of penalties and a 4 on 4 in there before the Pens would score on a power play with Crosby scoring a goal, assists to Malkin and Kunitz. Pens up 2-0. It wouldn't take Sid long to get on the scoreboard again when he scored another power play goal about a minute after the first one with assists going to Malkin and Kunitz yet again. Pens up 3-0. Pens had to kill another 5-on-3 but no problems there.

The third is where it got interesting. A little over a minute into the period, the Pens would score again with Matt Cooke punching in a rebound just before getting hit with a high stick. Letang and Staal get the assists on that one, Pens up 4-0. The David Koci decided he would have some "fun." He checked Max Talbot into the boards and then decided to put him in a headlock. Talbot skated down ice and Koci decided to follow and do a little cross-checking. Then Eric Godard decided that was enough and got the best of Koci in a fight.

Then the Pens started losing their lead. The Pens were on a power play and the Lightning get a shorthanded goal. The Pens were up 4-0 and one goal is obviously not the end of the world but a shorthanded goal? That just felt so wrong and it was only the beginning. Martin St. Louis would score on a nice give-and-go with Steven Stamkos. You had to admit that was pretty. Then less than a minute later, they would score again when Marc-Andre Fleury is run into and is forced off balance. Score is now 4-3 and it's time to worry. You didn't have to worry too long though because Sykora finally got his 300th career goal two minutes later to put the Pens up by two, 5-3. 

The Lightning just wouldn't go away though and scored yet another goal with 40.6 seconds left in the game to make it a one goal game yet again. But with 12.5 seconds left in the game, Jordan Staal out-skated Stamkos to get to the puck and score into an empty net. At least Staal could get it into the empty net. Pens win 6-4 and clinch a playoff spot. Playoffs here we come!

The Pens made us nervous and let up a four goal lead, not exactly soothing by any means, but they did clinch a playoff spot. That trip to the playoffs is something none of us thought was going to happen just a short time ago. With only two games left in the regular season, we can't even digest the thought of the Pens being out of the playoffs. Thank goodness for Dan Bylsma. 

Game recap

Aftermath: Playoff Bound

Pens will play again on Thursday at home against the New York Islanders. This will be fan appreciation night which means the shirt off our backs promotion. Wish we could be there for that one. The Islanders just got beat by Carolina last night 9-0. Yes, you read that right. Geno needs to get as many points as possible that night. Ovie, you're going down!

We couldn't resist mentioning this one. The Pens post-game show on FSN mentioned that Ben Roethlisberger is one of nine finalists to make it on the cover of Madden '10. The "winner" will be announced the day of the NFL draft. We can only hope he's so lucky as to NOT win this prize. He has a questionable O-line, he really doesn't need the "Madden curse" too.

Go Pens!