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Flat start costs Penguins in 3-2 loss to Hurricanes
by Tony on 12/07/09 at 10:45 PM ET
Comments (7)
I remain to be amazed how sometimes the Pittsburgh Steelers and Pittsburgh Penguins play alike. Doesn’t happen that often, but when it does, it’s uncanny.
One day after the Steelers laid a golden stink bomb at Heinz Field against the woeful Oakland Raiders, the Penguins took it easy for the first 25 or so minutes tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes, allowing three goals before finally waking up. However, their comeback was one goal short, as the Canes finally won their first road game of the season at the expense of the Cup champs, 3-2.
Manny Legace got the win for the Canes, remaining unbeaten in his career vs. the Penguins with a 4-0-0 record. Sidney Crosby continued his strong recent play after taking Saturday off with a sore groin with a goal, while the great Mike Rupp scored his 9th of the season.
As has usually been the case with teams coming into the Igloo this season, the Canes came out flying, and tonight the Penguins had relatively nothing to match their intensity.
The Penguins’ flatfootedness caused them to allow the opening goal for the seventh time in their last eight games. And it was scored by quite the unlikely player, that being defenseman Andrew Alberts, who scored his first of the season. Alberts got the puck in the Penguins’ zone as the trailer from Ray Whitney, patiently waited for Marc-Andre Fleury to go down, then kept the puck long enough that Fleury was sprawling, tossing it past Fleury on his backhand for an early 1-0 lead for the Canes at 4:45.
They doubled their lead on the powerplay later in the first period when Jussi Jokinen split the Penguins’ defensemen Mark Eaton and Jay McKee and fired a wrister to the top shelf that beat Fleury to make it 2-0 Canes.
The lead was tripled early in the second period as Ray Whitney took a pass in the left slot and appeared to fool Fleury into thinking that he wasn’t going to shoot, which is exactly what he did on a hard wrister into the net for a 3-0 Canes lead.
The Penguins finally woke up six minutes into the second when Kris Letang made a long pass to the Canes’ blue line to Bill Guerin, who made a nice soft backhanded pass to a streaking Crosby, who then simply swiped at the puck with both hands and found a gap between Legace and the near post to cut the Canes lead to 3-1. It was Crosby’s 20th goal of the year.
Only 49 seconds later, Pascal Dupuis fired a backhander that Legace stopped, but Rupp grabbed the rebound, swung around to the left slot, and fired a wrister that somehow squirted between the pads of Legace and into the net, making it 3-2 Canes.
The Penguins were the more aggressive team in the third period, although you wouldn’t know by looking at the shot chart, with the Pens only leading the shot chart 7-6 in the third period. The Pens attempted a late flurry in the waning minutes, but it wasn’t to be.
Notes:
- Another gooseegg for the Pens’ powerplay, going 0-for-3.
- Once again, Evgeni Malkin was only awarded one giveaway, but geez, he is giving away some significant shots on goal, most of which could be decent scoring chances. For some reason, he is intent on making that extra no-look pass. I know, I know, when those passes connect they look spectacular. But it’s frustrating for him to watch him turn the puck over like that.
- Matt Cooke led the Pens with four hits.
- Another sign of a lackluster effort tonight: Only four blocked shots for the Pens tonight.
The Pens now travel to Montreal to face the Habs on Thursday night.
Filed in: | The Confluence | Permalink
Tags: Carolina+Hurricanes, NHL-Hockey, Pittsburgh+Penguins,
Comments
It’s getting pretty bad, and certainly won’t get any better when Kunitz comes back….
The commonality is that none of them have any finishing ability at all….
Posted by Tony from Virginia Beach, VA on 12/07/09 at 10:53 PM ET
Guerin has had a Hell of a career, But he is skating his ass off to keep up with Sid & his hands are GONE!!
If Sid insists on Playing a Hyperspeed you have to get him a winger who can play at that speed & Finish & that means Jordie Goes BYE BYE
Posted by Evilpens on 12/07/09 at 10:57 PM ET
Well, that center depth and rather unimpressive wingers won us that trophy thingy… Stanley something or other, I can barely remember. After all, several months (with tuesdays) have passed and memory is fragile.
As I’ve written several times in various contexts, we cannot hope to afford accomplished wingers at their peak. The options are capable veterans, underachievers, “slumpers”, and development of prospects. Of course, trades are possible but you can’t expect miracles or getting a lot for nothing. The best option is developing our own talent. However, it is time consuming.
Furthermore, I don’t think it’s fair to single out bad performances to make tenuous points while failing to acknowledge success when it’s there. Despite several injuries and inconsistancies the current Penguins status is a lot better than the Steelers, and certainly nothing to get in a state of distress about.
Posted by Moq from Denmark on 12/08/09 at 07:34 AM ET
And yet another comparison to the Steelers, thanks Moq !!
Just kidding, it’s funny when criticism comes towards the Steelers how many quickly come back with “they won the Super Bowl with them”, etc…..
So yes, I do seem to remember Sid hoisting that silver thingy on June 12th, doesn’t mean some constructive criticism can’t be levied at the same time….
While I agree with you in that it’s not easy at all for GMRS to bring in decent scoring wingers, it’s more than fair to point out that the current group’s offensive production is lacking….
And you’re absolutely correct, they’ve survived remarkably well after their slew of injuries, the fact remains for last night at least that they came out flat, and it cost them a win against one of the worst teams in the league….
Posted by Tony from Virginia Beach, VA on 12/08/09 at 08:25 AM ET
Is Peter Mueller an option? Phoenix apparently is looking for defence (which Penguins have a glut of), and at the risk of making this a story about something it wasn’t originally, he may be a good choice on one of the top two lines and is young/affordable right now.
Posted by Greg on 12/08/09 at 08:52 AM ET
Crosby said after the game that it took about a period or so to comfortable with the groin. Okay, what was everybody else’s reason?
... put Rupp in front of the Net
I’ve been saying this from basically the start of the season. Also, I think a couple of shifts on the top two lines a game would be a good thing.
Most responses are that Rupp won’t be as effective if he’s playing 15 minutes a game as opposed to the 10 minutes a game he gets now. But I think the Pens can manage it where his minutes might only go up to about 12 per game with PP time and some top line shifts.
Finally, the biggest problem the Pens have is the power play. Make no mistake this isn’t some kind of cold streak, this pp SUCKS and needs to be fixed. If it’s not, they will not repeat.
Posted by Lindas1st from New England on 12/08/09 at 02:09 PM ET
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I think Shero’s 3 Centers & no wing offense look grand don’t you Tony ????
Their wingers couldn’t finish a WET DREAM !!!! & Get Guerin the **** off the PP & put Rupp in front of the Net
Posted by Evilpens on 12/07/09 at 10:48 PM ET