Ruutu Pushes Penguins Past Senators, 6-5 (SO)
Matt Bodenschatz | Pittsburgh Penguins
Nov 23, 12:27 AM | Hype this story!
In what may have been the most exciting game of the young season, the Pittsburgh Penguins overcame two two-goal deficits to defeat the NHL’s top team, the Ottawa Senators, 6-5 in a shootout.
With nine players showing up on the scoreboard, the Penguins got a balanced attack from their offense for the first time in recent memory and Dany Sabourin — appearing in a relief role — made 17 third period saves to help solidify the back end.
But, in the end, it was fourth liner Jarrko Ruutu’s shootout goal that put the Penguins in the win column.
Overall, Sabourin made 29 saves and an additional four in the shootout in the winning effort, while Martin Gerber made 20 saves and an additional three in the shootout in the losing effort.
Notes of interest: forward Mark Recchi was a healthy scratch for the second consecutive game and defenseman Darryl Sydor was scratched for the fourth consecutive game; Evgeni Malkin extended his point streak to 15 games with a goal; and Marc-Andre Fleury was pulled from the game just minutes in after giving up two goals on four shots.
The Penguins will look to carry their momentum into Saturday night’s game against the Atlanta Thrashers.
Three Stars
3. Malone, F, Pit: 2 goals, 1 assist
2. Alfredsson, F, Ott: 3 assists
1. Spezza, F, Ott: 2 goals, 1 assist
| Scoring Summary | |||||
| Per. | Time | Team | Goal | Assist | Assist |
| 1 | 4:56 10:55 18:07 18:25 |
Ott Ott Pit Pit |
Spezza Phillips (power play) Malkin Malone |
Richardson Kelly Sykora Crosby |
Alfredsson Vermette Armstrong |
| 2 | 8:00 14:20 16:15 |
Pit Ott Ott |
Kennedy Spezza Heatley (power play) |
Staal Redden Alfredsson |
Alfredsson Spezza |
| 3 | 1:04 5:56 7:07 |
Ott Pitt Pitt |
Schubert Malone (power play) Gonchar |
Meszaros Gonchar Armstrong |
Neil Letang Malone |
| OT | |||||
| Shootout Summary | |
| Pittsburgh | Ottawa |
| Erik Christensen shootout goal Petr Sykora shootout saved Sidney Crosby shootout saved Evgeni Malkin shootout saved Jarkko Ruutu shootout goal |
Jason Spezza shootout goal Antoine Vermette shootout miss Dany Heatley shootout saved Mike Fisher shootout saved Dean McAmmond shootout saved |
| Penalty Summary | ||||
| Per. | Time | Team | Player | Penalty |
| 1 | 1:32 1:32 1:32 1:32 2:45 9:01 12:00 14:35 |
Pit Ott Ott Pit Ott Pit Ott Ott |
Laraque Donovan McGratton Ruutu Neil Ruutu Donovan Heatley |
Fighting – 5:00 Roughing – 2:00 Fighting – 5:00 Diving – 2:00 Hooking – 2:00 Diving – 2:00 Holding – 2:00 Cross Checking – 2:00 |
| 2 | 10:27 11:45 15:28 17:49 18:36 |
Ott Ott Pit Ott Pit |
Donovan Phillips Malkin Richardson Sykora |
Holding – 2:00 Tripping – 2:00 Tripping – 2:00 Hooking – 2:00 Holding – 2:00 |
| 3 | 5:13 10:22 17:01 |
Ott Pit Ott |
Neil (Served By Roberts) Vermette |
Hooking – 2:00 Too Many Men On The Ice – 2:00 Hooking – 2:00 |
| Stat Line | |||||||||
| Team | Shots | Faceoffs | Power Plays | ||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | OT | Total | Won | Lost | Total | Converted | |
| Pittsburgh | 9 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 25 | 31 | 37 | 8 | 1 |
| Ottawa | 6 | 9 | 18 | 3 | 36 | 37 | 31 | 4 | 2 |
Comments
DaBich
Nov 23, 05:19 AM
I was going wild! Was it me, or did the refs seem to favor the Sens…how can you play against that?? Well, this team did and WON! Loved the effort by Mark Eaton at the end of OT to stpo the 2 on 1 rush and get us into shoot out. Way to go Eaton!
Matt Bodenschatz
Nov 23, 10:13 AM
I’m not sure I have too many faults with the refs, but, then again, I missed much of the first period. They rarely get the majority of calls right, though, so it’s not like it was anything new.
PS Sorry for the technical error with this story showing up in its entirety on the front page last night into this morning.
Andrew R
Nov 23, 03:28 PM
Finally, a game where we see that resiliency and passion that we knew so well last year. I have been down on my beloved Pens the last few weeks, unable to find much in their play to justify hope they would turn things around.
This is the kind of game they needed. This was the kind of game they can build upon. This is the kind of game that can resurrect a season. It’s only one game, lets keep it in perspective, but there was a lot to feel good about leaving Scotiabank last night.
Matt Bodenschatz
Nov 23, 04:29 PM
Great points Andrew. This was one of those games that, as you said, can turn around a season. I’ve been saying it all along: this team has the talent to win. The passion, the desperation and the resiliency have not been there. Being that this is primarily the same team as last season, I knew it had to show through at some point, but I didn’t know when.
Let’s just hope this is a spark and a much-needed confidence boost for the young team!
Frank D. Murgia
Nov 25, 01:08 AM
This may be the game that exercised some demons. Monkey off their back, Albatross off the neck. Blah, Blah. I would think the Sens have been circled on their calendar for a while now.
Frank D. Murgia
Nov 25, 01:15 AM
Ruutu has a very good Shootout % I believe. 2 years ago he was I think third in shootout %. It took MT almost 3/4 of the season to insert Ruutu last year and he did pretty well. I would not mind seeing him inserted into the 2 slot. Swapped with Sykora.
Matt Bodenschatz
Nov 25, 12:01 PM
I agree, Frank. Sykora hasn’t done much to impress me in shootouts yet.
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