Pens Give Devils 2 Points - Lose 4-3 in OT
Jonathan Farzalo | Pittsburgh Penguins
Jan 30, 11:29 PM | Hype this story!
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| Summary |
| The Pittsburgh Penguins caught a break, they played two
games this week against teams in their own division who were coming
off a game the night before, a recipe that should allow the Penguins
to gain 2 points and make up some ground in the standings. They
did just that on Wednesday night but simply gave away the 2nd point
Friday evening after being severely outplayed most of the game yet
having a lead with 30 seconds to play. The first period started with major penalty trouble for the Pens, however the team rallied together and kept the very hot Devils offense at bay. Marc-Andre Fleury held his ground and simply stood on his head for much of the first period while the Devils threw everything the could at the net, registering more shots in the period then the Penguins could all game. After holding off the onslaught the Pens stormed to a 2-0 lead after Max Talbot and Sidney Crosby each scored within 20 seconds of one another (2 goals on 3 shots total). Soon after, the Devils struck to bring it within one, after a blatant high-sticking no-call from Bobby Holik on Ryan Whitney left him holding his face while Holik punched it home. The 2nd period was a tight checking affair, with neither team doing much of anything. Aside from Evgeni Malkin scoring his 20th goal of the year (100th of his career) the 3rd period and overtime were a complete schooling by the Devils to the Penguins. They outshot the Pens 13-3 in the 3rd and 4-0 in overtime, with the Penguins being hemmed in their own end much of the time. Around the halfway point of the period Petr Sykora took a penalty and decided that putting his team down a man for only two minutes wasn’t enough, so he argued the call and got an additional two. It didn’t make a difference in the end however as the Penguins let in the powerplay goal almost immediately off a great shot by Brendan Shanahan. Even with their complete domination the Devils were still trailing with 30 seconds to go. They flung the puck to the net, Marc-Andre Fleury gloved it and could not move the play. With the goaltender pulled for the faceoff the Devils blocked a clearing attempt and threw it towards the net, the puck ricocheted off the pads of Fleury and then off the skate of Ryan Whitney and into the twine to tie it up. In overtime the Penguins never got it going. They constantly made bad plays and passes, Staal, Malkin, Talbot, Boucher, and finally Whitney and Scuderi let the Devils offense simply create chance after chance. Finally Whitney was left wondering what happened as he and company let an easy one-time play develop into a goal, a shot Fleury had no chance on . Game Over. Two points given away due to bad judgment and lack of shots on net. |
| Three Stars | ||||
| # | Player | Team | Pos. | Stats |
| 1 | Jamie Langenbrunner | NJD | W | 2 goals |
| 2 | Evgeni Malkin | PIT | C/W | 1 Goal, 1 assist |
| 3 | Sidney Crosby | PIT | C | 1 Goal, 1 assist |
| Stat Line | |||||||||
| Shots | Faceoffs | Power Plays | |||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | Total | Won | Lost | Convert | Total | |
| Penguins | 7 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 16 | 27 | 30 | 0 | 3 |
| Devils | 19 | 7 | 13 | 4 | 43 | 30 | 27 | 1 | 6 |
| Scoring Summary | |||||
| Per. | Time | Team | Goal | Assist 1 | Assist 2 |
| 1 | 09:33 09:53 11:21 |
PIT PIT NJD |
Talbot, 6 Crosby, 19 Holik, 3 |
Whitney Malkin Shanahan |
Scuderi Sykora Rupp |
| 2 | - | - | - | - | - |
| 3 | 08:35 11:59 19:29 |
PIT NJD NJD |
Malkin, 20 Shanahan, 3 Langenbrunner, 13 |
Crosby Gionta Parise |
- Zubrus Zajac |
| OT | 4:00 | NJD | Langenbrunner, 14 | Zajac | Greene |
| Penalty Summary | ||||
| Per. | Time | Team | Player | Penalty |
| 1 | 0:18 7:09 14:14 16:22 |
PIT PIT PIT NJD |
Letang Minard Orpik Martin |
hooking – 2 min delay of game – 2 min interference – 2 min hooking – 2 min |
| 2 | 8:40 17:09 19:07 |
NJD NJD PIT |
Holik Holik Crosby |
cross check – 2 min goalie interfer. – 2 min slashing – 2 min |
| 3 | 11:55 11:55 |
PIT PIT |
Sykora Sykora |
hooking – 2 min unsport. cond. – 2 min |
| OT | - | - | - | - |
Comments
TheOneAndOnlySurge
Jan 31, 03:20 AM
This was a great game to watch, as far as talent goes. It sucked in the end for the Pens but they still put out a solid effort. Sykora’s unsport. cond. was a joke. But it was the hooking penalty that hurt them.
Brixton Pen
Jan 31, 08:30 AM
I have been a reader of this site for about a year now, firstly – great job to all, this is my favourite site for Pens info and opinion.
I just came to a point where I have to say something – nothing new to a lot of you I am sure! 3 points from last night’s game (OK, the season):
1. Soff soff defence – as good a Whitney is going forward, man is he soft! We saw the best and worst of him last night again, though IMO more of the latter. Also (and this comes to my second point), what Thierren is doing NOT dressing Gill against Shanny, Holik, etc??? Who was supposed to deal with those big bodies? Letang? Eaton? Boucher? Weak defence stemming from weak Management..
2. Does anyone have a clue? Or are they just too lazy to think? Gross miss-management all year from the coaching staff, especially on the powerplay – I have a lot of faith in Shero and I actually like Thierren at coach, but Yeo, what has that guy brought to the table? The only thing I can think is that that Thierren has told Shero that he and Yeo are a package.. Our powerplay must have lost us at least 10 points this year. Unless something is done in this area now we don’t make the playoffs. Last point on management – what were we doing rolling 4 lines in overtime last night???? Crosby and Malkin must have been out there for a total of 40 secs in OT, enter the tanking for Tavares conspiracy theories :)
3. Consistent calling – Now I am intelligent enough to know this is the NHL and I haven’t done the math, (and I am bias), but I am getting tired of the inconsistent calling – everything from watching the Crosby assassination attempts almost nightly from prison fodder like Orr and then seeing Cooke suspended 2 games for a borderline late hit (not saying don’t suspend him, but why not Orr for his slew foot attempt the other night? eg…) – to Sykora’s joke 4 minutes followed gloriously but the none call in the last 10 seconds on Elias’s hook (potential game saver eh!). The key point on this is the momentum effect – last night the Pens actually had a lot of jump and played well in patches – but they were not allowed to gain any momentum in the game by the calls. Orpik, ok penalty, but most calls last night were weak, especially against what wasn’t being called the other way. You could say the Pens had no business being in the game, the Devils were very good, but so were the Pens when they were allowed to be. The Devils aren’t in this game without the phantom 4 minutes on Syk. This game was not decided by the players, rather the officials IMO...
Lastly, for those patient enough to get this far, to me this game epitomised the Penguins season: Crosby and Malkin flying and making some incredible plays, hauling this team through the season weighed down by a fatal combination of bad luck (injuries), bad management, weak defence, clueless powerplay and inconsistent calls. Watching the Pens this year is like one of those days where you get out of bed and everything is just slightly out of joint, Mondays I think they are called!
Chuck
Jan 31, 09:49 AM
Brixton,
Crosby had an issue with his skate. He tried two shifts in OT and neither lasted more than 10 seconds. They showed Dana Heinze running down the runway with it to get it sharpened.
As for not dressing Gill, he has played poor of late. And I think they were worried about him being skated around like a pylon. This ain’t your grandfather’s Devils. This team is fast and in your face at all times.
Brixton Pen
Jan 31, 10:22 AM
Chuck, thanks for info re. Crosby – I didn’t see that on my coverage..How about Geno? As for Gill, Holik and Shanny are not fast – all I am saying is our D was set to handle the speed, but could not handle to down-low power game the Devils also brought – something Gill is best equipped to handle if anyone on the current roster…
Jonathan Farzalo
Jan 31, 10:31 AM
I agree there were some calls that were missed, on both sides however, and that’s the point. The NHL has been like this for as long as I can remember, it is what it is….We had this same problems, calls, etc last season and overcame them, that’s what “GREAT TEAMS” do. I can’t say that this season. We get a call like the ones on Sykora and we wither, wilt, let the goal in, and then die.
Matt Bodenschatz
Jan 31, 11:44 AM
Jon, once again, thanks for stepping in for my last night!
Brixton, thanks for your support over the previous year, and please make your voice be heard in our comments sections! Clearly, you know hockey and can contribute immensely to conversations!
To all..last night’s game was exactly what cannot happen for the Penguins. They had the game signed, sealed and delivered. They need two out of it, and they just got one. Tonight must have a different outcome. Period.
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