Fleury's Dominance Not Enough In 2-1 OT Loss

Matt Bodenschatz | National Hockey League

Oct 11, 11:47 PM | Hype this story!
1 2 3 OT SO Tot.
0 0 1 1 - 2
 
Tot. 1 2 3 OT SO
1 1 0 0 0 -
Attendance: 17,132 (sell out)
 
Summary
A week after returning from the much-analyzed trip to Sweden, the Pittsburgh Penguins returned to their home ice at Mellon Arena looking to prove that the result of their trip abroad was a fluke.

The game started out great, as the tempo was fast, the intensity was high, and the momentum was with the well-rested Penguins.

Eric Godard and Mike Rupp tangoed in the first fight of the season for the Penguins, leading to a string of three power play opportunities for the home team.  And, unlike last weekend, Miroslav Satan buried one, putting his team ahead midway through the first.

The score remained the same until the finals minutes of the game, but everything else changed.  Gone was the high-flying style exhibited in the first period, and in its place was a more conservative, defensive mindset.  At the other end of the ice, the team known as being more methodical and boring stepped up and put on a clinic.

It was as if the teams switched uniforms.

What happened over the final two periods and overtime was all out dominance by the Devils, and a brilliant showing by Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.

Ultimately, the Devils tallied 49 shots, with Fleury stopping 47 of them.  The Penguins, meanwhile, notched one goal on a total of 15 shots.  For the sake of comparison, the Devils tallied 15 and 20 shots in the second and third periods, and their four overtime shots were as many as the Penguins had in the second period and two more than they had in the third.

If it wasn’t for Fleury, the game would have been well out of hand on the score board, not just the shot clock.

And, if it weren’t for Hal Gill’s abnormally large feet, the Penguins likely would have walked away with a regulation win.

With just under two and one half minutes remaining in the game, Patrick Elias fed the puck to the middle of the ice.  Gill did his best to play the puck, but his redirection put it just out of Fleury’s reach and into the back of the net.

Then, in overtime, after a decent offensive attempt by the Penguins, Parise took the puck and took the game with a goal that snuck over Fleury’s shoulder.

It was a game the Penguins didn’t even deserve to earn a point in, yet they came so close to winning.

The Penguins will have two days off before returning to action Tuesday night.  And now a look at the stats…
 
Three Stars
# Player Team Pos. Stats
1 Fleury Pit G 47 Sv, .959 Sv%
2 Parise NJ LW 1 G (GWG)
3 Elias NJ LW 1 G
 
Stat Line
  Shots Faceoffs Power Plays
  1 2 3 OT Total Won Lost Convert Total
Penguins 8 4 2 1 15 23 29 1 4
Devils 10 15 20 4 49 29 23 0 4
 
Scoring Summary
Per. Time Team Goal Assist 1 Assist 2
1 11:52 Pit Satan, 1 (PP) Staal Malkin
2          
3 17:32 NJ Elias, 2    
OT 4:22 NJ Parise, 2 Zajac White
 
Penalty Summary
Per. Time Team Player Penalty
1 6:23
6:23
11:28
12:38
20:00		 NJ
Pit
NJ
NJ
NJ		 Rupp
Godard
Gionta
Langenbrunner
Elias		 Fighting – 5:00
Fighting – 5:00
Hooking – 2:00
Slashing – 2:00
Roughing – 2:00
2 1:20
6:42
6:42
9:23
16:04		 Pit
Pit
NJ
Pit
NJ		 Crosby
Gill
Clarkson
Dupuis
Clarkson		 Interference – 2:00
Fighting – 5:00
Fighting – 5:00
Tripping – 2:00
Tripping – 2:00
3 3:11
3:11
4:04
8:00		 Pit
NJ
Pit
Pit		 Godard
Rupp
Scuderi
Orpik		 Roughing – 2:00
Roughing – 2:00
Hooking – 2:00
Holding – 2:00
OT        

Comments

  1. Alex Kirshner

    Oct 11, 11:54 PM

    Bright spots:

    Goligoski
    Fleury

    Let’s just focus on beating Philly how.

    Put this behind us, because it was too ugly for me to want to remember.

  2. Matt Bodenschatz

    Oct 11, 11:57 PM

    In general, I think you have to be happy with the defense. Goligoski is proving me wrong. He’s NHL-ready, for sure. Letang is playing extremely confident hockey. Orpik is hitting hard and picking up exactly where he left off. I don’t have any complaints with the defense aside from the PP performances.

    Fleury is turning into an elite goalie in front of our eyes.

  3. Alex Kirshner

    Oct 12, 12:25 AM

    Letang was OK, but he was putrid in OT.

    He lost the puck in the 3-2, and then let Parise slip behind him for the GW a few seconds later.

  4. Jesse Marshall

    Oct 12, 02:12 AM

    I actually thought Goligoski had a horrible game. I walked away from the arena tonight feeling as if he was totally out of his element and not ready for the NHL.

  5. andrew13

    Oct 12, 03:06 AM

    anyone know what happened to Bissonnette? he was announced, never went out to the ice, then sydor was put in there for him at 4th line left winger. did he have some sort of last minute injury or something?

  6. Pens1967

    Oct 12, 08:30 AM

    I wouldn’t have thought so, but Sykora’s injury has really messed up the lines. Not so much Malkin, but Therrien putting Kennedy up on his wing has left the team with essentially no 4th line. The Pens can’t win with a 3 line rotation. It’s clear that Eric Godard really offers little in the way of hockey skill and should not dress unless it’s for a game where lots of goonery is expected. Bissonnette has more talent and can handle the enforcer requirement and he can play defense in a pinch. At least Therrien won’t be afraid to play a line with Kennedy/Z/Bissonnette/Thomas.

  7. Dabich

    Oct 12, 08:38 PM

    You can’t win a game with 14 shots to 45.
    Shoot the puck, darnit!

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