The Confluence
Defense is putrid in Penguins’ 6-2 loss to Leafs
by Tony on 02/14/09 at 10:47 PM ET
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Talk about ugly. These games are now being called “must-win” for a reason.
So with the Penguins already five points out of a playoff spot, with games in hand by the teams above them, it’s absolutely unfathomable to see this team get completely outplayed and lay an egg in the last two periods in Toronto tonight.
In a scene that’s happened over and over again this year, the Penguins’ defense was horrible, allowing Leafs’ forwards to skate uncontested around the Pens’ net, where Marc-Andre Fleury, who kept the Pens in the game through two periods, finally couldn’t stop the onslaught. Fleury and the Pens gave up five third period goals that quickly erased a Pens’ 2-1 lead to give the Leafs a 6-2 win.
Things looked great for the Pens in the first period, as they took advantage of a fortunate bounce of the puck and some shaky goaltending to grab a quick 2-0 lead.
The Pens drew first blood only a minute and change into the game when Kris Letang brought the puck towards the Leafs’ goal and fired a wrister that goalie Vesa Toskala stopped. The rebound went to the boards where Evgeni Malkin simply threw it on net. Matt Cooke lunged at the loose puck and was able to poke it past Toskala to give the Pens an early 1-0 lead.
They doubled their lead while short-handed later in the period. Bill Thomas started the play with a blocked shot in the Pens’ zone. Jordan Staal grabbed the loose puck and brought it down into the Leafs’ zone. As three of the Leafs’ defenders kept their attention on Staal, Staal was able to make a cross-ice pass back to Thomas, who was all alone. Thomas fired a slapper from the right slot that beat Toskala to the short side to make it 2-0 Penguins.
The Leafs started to dominate the play in the second period, although the scoreboard didn’t show it. Fleury made several key saves, many from point-blank range.
The Leafs finally were able to get one past Fleury midway through the second period. Just as a Leafs’ powerplay was expiring, Jeff Finger fired a slapper from the right point that was deflected by Nik Antropov not once but twice. The second one was the charm, as it bounced past Fleury to cut the Pens’ lead to 2-1.
The second period ended at 2-1, and to be honest, the Pens had to feel fortunate to still be in the lead.
That changed very quickly as the third period started. The Leafs won a faceoff in the Pens’ zone, Ian White then fired a slapper from the left point that Fleury stopped, but Jason Blake was there by himself to grab the rebound and launch a backhander past Fleury to tie the game at two apiece only 55 seconds into the third.
If that seemed fast, the Leafs next goal was even faster. On the next shift, the Penguins defense bobbled the puck for a good five seconds and were unable to get it out of their zone. Former Pen Dominic Moore grabbed the loose puck and fed Blake again, who again was wide open in front of the net. This time, he went to his forehand and beat Fleury again to make it 3-2 Leafs only 19 seconds after his first goal.
The flood gates were pretty much wide open by that point. The Penguins defense, if not already on their heels for the night, just shut it down completely after that. About five minutes later, on a simple dump-in, the puck was grabbed by Kulemin all alone, who fed Mitchell all alone for the one-timer past Fleury to make it 4-2.
The Leafs padded their lead with about six minutes left in the game on a 3-on-2 break when Antropov’s slapper was stopped, but Ponikarovsky was there, all alone again, to bang the loose puck under Fleury and in the net to make it 5-2.
And just for good measure, Matt Stajan finished off the scoring with a slapper that deflected off Fleury’s shoulder and in the net for the final score of 6-2.
Just an ugly, ugly loss. The trade deadline is still two weeks plus away. I don’t know if Ray Shero is going to wait until the deadline.
Other notes:
- Sergei Gonchar made his debut tonight, and for the most part looked good. He looked a slight bit tentative, but not very much. He actually got 20 minutes of ice time, which was more than probably expected. His slapper on the powerplay looked sharp.
- Speaking of the powerplay, guess what, another goose egg. 0 for 2. I will say, however, that they did look like they had a better flow to it with Gonchar at the right point.
- Pascal Dupuis was -5 tonight, Crosby, Letang and Eaton all -3. Conversely, the Leafs’ Ian White was +5.
- Five blocked shots for Malkin.
The Pens now have a Monday afternoon holiday matinee in Long Island against the Islanders.
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Tags: NHL-Hockey, Pittsburgh+Penguins, Toronto+Maple+Leafs,
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