The Confluence
Fleury douses Flames in 2-0 slugfest
by Tony on 03/26/09 at 08:29 AM ET
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Was that the Flyers out there facing the Penguins last night ?? No ?? How about the Rangers ?? The Bruins ??
The Penguins faced an unfamiliar foe in the Calgary Flames at the Igloo last night, but after 60 minutes of play you’d have thought that these two teams were bitter rivals.
In a bruising battle, the Penguins and Flames combined for 69 hits, but it was Marc-Andre Fleury who turned away all 31 Flames’ shots on goal in a 2-0 Penguins win for his fourth shutout of the season.
Both Pens’ goals came from their blueline, with Kris Letang scoring on a powerplay tap-in and that speedy wannabe winger Hal Gill scoring a highly unlikely goal on a 2-on-1 break with Evgeni Malkin.
The win kept the Penguins in 6th place in the East and kept pace with the red-hot Carolina Hurricanes, whom the Penguins are one point behind, albeit with one game in hand.
The Penguins got on the scoreboard first on the powerplay in the opening period, as Malkin’s wrister from the right slot was blocked. Chris Kunitz and Sidney Crosby got their sticks on the puck to get it to the other side of the goal crease, where Letang was waiting for the easy tap-in to give the Pens a 1-0 lead at the 8:20 mark.
It remained that way until about six minutes into the third period, when Rob Scuderi made a nice pokecheck on a Flames’ drive into the Pens’ zone. Gill took possession of the puck and fed it to Malkin. Malkin skated the puck into the Flames’ zone and as he was getting ready to drive towards the net, made a no-look pass behind him to Gill. Gill fired a one-time wrister to the top shelf past Flames’ goalie Mikka Kiprusoff to make it 2-0 Pens.
Matt Cooke provided some comic relief for the Pens and their fans when he failed on not one, but two attempts to score an empty netter in the final minute.
Other notes:
- Brooks Orpik was en fuego on the hit parade, getting credit for ten hits. Flames’ D-man Dion Phaneuf was no slouch himself with nine.
- Good night in faceoff circle for Crosby, going 11 for 17, and Max Talbot, who went 6 for 7.
- Orpik also led the Pens with 7 blocked shots.
The Pens continue their homestand on Saturday afternoon against the Rangers.
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Tags: Calgary+Flames, NHL-Hockey, Pittsburgh+Penguins,
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