Rags sting Pens in OT

Jonathan Farzalo | Pittsburgh Penguins

Mar 31, 10:28 PM | Hype this story!
1 2 3 OT Tot.
0 0 1 0 1
 
Tot. 1 2 3 OT
2 0 1 0 1
 
Summary
Battling for the Atlantic division crown still continues as the Penguins squandered the chance to wrap it up tonight in New York.

For the 2nd half of a back-to-back with the New York Rangers the Penguins came out and played a pretty poor game offensively.  They never generated chances almost all night, registering a pathetic single shot on goal in the first period.  This was completely unacceptable for a team fielding Crosby, Malkin, Hossa, and Sykora up front.  The Rangers didn’t fair much better, but the was more due to Fleury’s great play in net then anything the rest of the team seemed to be doing.  The defensive pairings for the Pens chased Jagr and company around all night, and if not for steady play by Marc-Andre, would have hit the back of the net more than once in the first 3 periods.  And speaking of their lone regulation goal, the puck was put in off his goalie mask by one Rob Scuderi, and really can’t be blamed on number 29 for the Penguins.

The Pens battled back in the 3rd, and actually showed signs of life out of the gate.  Max Talbot tied the game at the halfway point of the period, and if not for great play by Henrik Lundqvist in goal, the Penguins could have come away with the win, even with their poor first two periods of play.

That was all negated when 29 seconds into overtime "captain hook" aka Sergei Gonchar, was called for holding…but really was a hook.  The Rangers didn’t waste their opportunity on the Powerplay, unlike the Pens who went 0-4, and buried a shot a little over a minute later.

Side Note:  The Penguins are 3 for 25 on the Powerplay the last 5 games.  12%
 
Three Stars
# Player Team Pos. Stats
1 Drury NYR C 1 Goal, 1 Assist
2 Lundqvist NYR G 21 Saves
3 Callahan NYR W  
 
Stat Line
  Shots Faceoffs Power Plays
  1 2 3 OT Total Won Lost Converted Total
Pittsburgh 1 9 12 0 22 25 23 0 4
Rangers 9 8 9 1 27 23 25 2 5
 
Scoring Summary
Per. Time Team Goal Assist Assist
1 - - - - -
2 11:43 NYR Jaromir Jagr Drury Shanahan
3 10:03 Pit Max Talbot Malone Laraque
OT 01:46 NYR Chris Drury Jagr Gomez
 
Penalty Summary
Per. Time Team Player Penalty
1 05:22
05:22
13:45
16:17		 NYR
Pit
NYR
Pit		 Avery
Malone
Gomez
Laraque		 Fighting – 5 min
Fighting – 5 min
Tripping – 2 min
Boarding – 2 min

2		 10:27
10:27
17:02		 Pit
Pit
NYR		 Whitney
Taffe
Mara		 Roughing – 2 min
Hooking – 2 min
Hold Stick – 2 min
3 05:08
06:56
14:48		 Pit
NYR
NYR		 Ruuru
Rozsival
Avery		 Highstick – 2 min
Interfer. – 2 min
Highstick – 2 min
OT 00:24 Pit Gonchar Holding – 2 min

Comments

  1. Beav

    Apr 1, 01:48 AM

    haha glad to see others picking up on the captain hook nickname

  2. DaBich

    Apr 1, 07:42 AM

    I was so frustrated watching this game and screaming “shoot the friggin puck!”
    Why won’t these guys just SHOOT it?????
    All that offensive firepower…wasted.

    Our PP has to improve or our playoffs are limited big time. Putting Sid and Malkin on the same PP spells disaster every time.
    They mess each other up. Split them up, please!

  3. Ashley Gallant

    Apr 1, 10:29 AM

    Putting Sid on a different PP than Geno also spreads the wealth a little more. Maybe Sid-Hossa-Dupuis on Unit 1A and then Geno-Malone-Sykora on Unit 1B?

    I don’t know about you guys, but that seems a lot harder to defend. Very few teams would have the defensemen to shut down that PP night after night.

    Maybe then, after the PP is over, Unit 1A could come back on the ice.

    Just a thought – it’s not like I’m a coach or anything :)

  4. DaBich

    Apr 1, 10:33 AM

    Ashley, you make more sense than the Pens coaches on that! I’m pulling my hair out every time they put Geno and Sid on the ice together on the PP. AARRGGHH!

  5. Jonathan Farzalo

    Apr 1, 02:16 PM

    I also feel like for the Pens, there is no reason to “load up” the PP, as our lines are already pretty loaded. Just take our lines, 1a, 1b, as ashley said, and just use them as your PP lines. Some teams have to put players from other lines together, but for the Pens, it just seems that we have two lines that are already heaping with talent. Simply have d pairings of Whitney/Gonchar and Letang/Gonchar and now you have 2 SOLID PP lines to go against…instead of front loading one and mish-mashing the other.

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