Pens Win: Force of Hab-it...

Back to their ol' winning ways again. The Pens were offensively minded this evening and fired off 41 shots, 8 coming from a scoreless Geno. Despite a solid effort from the man selected 4 slots down from Sid, he wasn't able to keep the door shut long enough. Goals from role players like Dupuis and Cooke sealed the deal as the Pens beats the Canadians for the third time this season.

I'm sure Bylsma shared the statistic bandied about that the Habs are 10-1 this season when scoring first. As such you could tell right off the back the Pens wanted to get on the board first. And score they did, as our very own Will Eller previously mentioned they should in the pregame. A pretty assist from Guerin-T-it over to Gonchar who beat Price made it [1-0]. Crosby had a good hand in the series of events prior to the goal. But it was Dupuis (getting a chance to skate in Talbot's place on the top line) who kept the cycle in play and worked the puck around the net.

The Pens continued to cruise in the period. Dad then had a two on one with Sid only to decide take this one himself, shoot and unfortunately miss the net. After a huge hit from Ryan O’Byrne on Cooke, Staal nearly put the Pens up by 2 with a great break only to be broken up by Laraque. From then on the period was intense. Hits left and right led to Sid and Geno to feed off the vibe. Both had great chances down the stretch but nothing to show for it.

The period started out about even for the first 5-7 minutes. The Habs for sure turned up the volume and were rewarded for doing so. At the 10:48 mark Matt D'Agostini scores off a face-off win from Metropolit right after what appeared Jordan Staal fanned on a token, [1-1].


Prior to the Habs tying things up the Penguins went on two different power plays with absolutely zero to show for it. Then after one of the worst calls I've ever seen, Fedotenko heads to the box for "delay of game." He was shoved into the net knocking it off and gets called for a penalty...? Anyway, the other unfortunate aspect of that was Roman Hammerhead scoring to take a [1-2] lead.

Just went it appeared the Habs were gaining momentum and about to take the lead into the locker room and into the third, Gonchar strikes again. With just over 2 minutes remaining in the period Sergei tosses one toward the net with Cooke and Kennedy creating traffic. It appeared Kennedy got a piece of it but the goal was awarded to Cookie, [2-2]. At this point, it didn't matter to us who scored, I'm sure the players didn't care either.Once again outshooting the Habs, this time by 7 SOG, the Pens wouldn't lay down for nothing.

We were looking at a very similar period to the second to start things off. Both teams had some good chances, but it was the crowd who started to make the difference. Seemed every time the Habs had the puck the crowd roared in anticipation. Though ultimately the period (and game) belonged to the Pens. After a controversial call by the ref who thought Fleury covered the puck and ended up blowing the whistle and calling the play dead, thereby eliminating a clear goal for the Habs, Pascal Dupuis fired a howitzer on Price who fumbled it into his net, [3-2]. And that was about it. Habs pulled Price, nothing doin.

Here are the highlights. No TWEET OF THE NIGHT since I don't have a phone and can barely participate in the action via twitter. That will all change tomorrow...DROID ERIS.

• Happy to see Gogo, missed Skoula though. Rock solid is he. 
• Geno was on a mission and played well. Improvement is key.
• Eaton, 4 blocked shots...gold.
• Sesame Street Line looked real good. Staal with a another nice shorthanded chance.
• Letang and Talbot haven't gotten their mojo back yet. 
• Craig Adams has yet to score in the regular season with the Pens...odd.
  

Posted in: Canadians,Penguins,post game analysis