Pens Win: Smothering Sea of Blue

Title postscript quoting Paul Steigerwald's comment on the Pens play during the 3rd period.

The Penguins dug themselves out of an Avalanche and were able to salvage the win at the Igloo. That line sounds more like something you might read in National Geographic. Nevertheless, that's what really happened here. By taking advantage of their 3rd opponent in the last 4 games who were coming off of back to backs, the Pens saved the best for last by scoring three goals in the third, two of which were without Budaj in the net.

Solid.

The Pens started off looking fairly good with the infamous third line. Staalzy nearly jabs one between Buddha's legs. Later Geurin, Talbot and Crosby had a chance to get on the board, still nothing though. Unfortunately Godawful gets called for hooking Ryan Wilson and resulted in an Avs powerplay goal from Galiardi, [0-1]. The Pens PK has actually been very good as of late and started off that way with this one. Though with a good feed from Tucker and solid positioning from Galiard, the Avs drew first blood.

We then saw some good chances by Fedotenko, who has been the subject of trade rumors as of late. His production has been down this year but as OneSmugPug rightly mentioned, he's not there for the regular season numbers but his clutch play in the postseason.

Dupuis snagged a nice chance off a faceoff win in the Avs zone...Buddha gloves it.

While the Pens had more scoring chances and SOG's this period the Avs seemed to have establish a forecheck easier and keep the puck deep in the Pens zone.

With the period winding down and the Avs sure to keep the lead heading into the 3rd, Geno does what he does best and takes the puck away (play's defense) and get it up to Rupp. He then obliges Sid to carry it in the zone. Mind you there is about 8 seconds left in the period. Sid leads Rupp...Rupp finds Sid, money [1-1].

Buck fifty...

No scoring on either end in this period. It was for the most part played in the neutral zone with back and forth. We did witness another Craig Adams fight which was oh so enthralling. Then the Pens found themselves on the bad end of an interference penalty from Gonchar. Clearly.

Only a minute and a half into the penalty Orpik goes to the box for hooking giving the Avs a 5 on 3 chance.

Too many men.

Right after Gonchar's penalty expired and he found himself on the ice only to acquire a minus. Galiardi appears to tap a goal in Fleury's five-hole to take the 1-2 lead in the game. However the Pens were "Saved by the Whistle" on this play. The linesman blew the whistle before the puck crossed the goal line and it was deemed a no goal.

Proof positive.

After a few deep breathes from the Pens fans we went about our business, and so did the players. The Pens ended up having a PP of their own after Rupp was sacked by Durno, but came up empty handed...again. They only registered 5 shots on goal in the 2nd but kept the game under wraps.

The third period, the Pens bread and butter it seems as of late. Tony G must be saying something in that locker room because the Pens have scored at least three goals in the third period of their last three games, 4 against the Rangers this past Saturday. Might have something to do with giving up 2 goals against the Isles on Thursday.

Fleury decides to give us all a heart attack and leave the net open for anything and everything. Fortunately The Key and Letang stack the pads and force Darcy Tucker to shoot high and wide. Whew.

Little back and forth hockey initially on both sides. Again much of this period was played in the neutral zone. Though this time it was the Pens who found themselves with a 5 on 3 attempt after Foote and Clark hooked and tripped the Two-Headed Monster. And just when Foote's penalty expires Sid finds Billy G with a WIDE open net giving the Pens a [2-1] lead.

After Dad scored the Pens took over the rest of the period. While the Avs did get a few attempts in, the Pens maintained real good puck management all around. They didn't turn the puck over nor did they allow Colorado to set up shop.

Time trickled down to under 2 minutes and the Avs had no other option but to pull Buddha.

Though he wasn't this happy.