The Confluence
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“New” Penguins’ winning streak hits 5, down Panthers 4-1
by Tony on 03/05/09 at 10:38 PM ET
Comments (10)
The Florida Panthers are not a fluke. That is one talented young team.
The Panthers held their own with the Penguins for two periods. But in the end, the Pens pulled away with three third period goals for a 4-1 win over the Panthers and a huge four-point swing in the Eastern Conference Standings.
The Pens are now in a 3-way tie with the Panthers and New York Rangers for 6th in the East with 74 points. Both teams have a game in hand over the Penguins, however the Pens have one more win than either team.
Tonight’s game was the debut for the top line of Chris Kunitz, Sidney Crosby and Bill Guerin. I think it was apparent that they were trying to get used to each other, but they still looked awfully impressive.
It was a pretty wide open game all around. There were numerous scoring opportunities for both teams, but for the majority of the first two periods, it was strictly a goaltending dual between Marc-Andre Fleury and Tomas Vokoun.
For the first time in a while, the Penguins didn’t get the first goal of the game. Gregory Campbell brought the puck around the back of the Pens’ net and fed it to Radek Dvorak, who was able to poke the puck in the air and rebound it off Fleury and into the net to make it 1-0 Panthers at the 17:49 mark of the second period.
That joy didn’t long, though. Only 24 seconds later, new Penguin Bill Guerin made a nice backhanded centering pass to Crosby, who split the Florida D-men and fired a quick wrister that beat Vokoun to tie the game at one.
The Pens took the lead a couple of minutes into the third period when the third line of Matt Cooke, Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy cycled the puck in the Panthers’ zone. Cooke was able to pass a loose puck to Kennedy alone in the slot for a one-timer to the top shelf that beat Vokoun to make it 2-1 Penguins.
Only a couple of minutes later, Kris Letang took a pass at the right point. As Letang faked a shot, Campbell dove to attempt to block it. Letang calmly skated around him, and fired a wrister to the top shelf past Vokoun making it 3-1.
The final Penguins’ tally happened with about five minutes left in the game on a 2-on-1 break with Evgeni Malkin and Kennedy. Malkin waited until the last second, then fed Kennedy for the one-timer past Vokoun to make it 4-1 Penguins.
Other notes:
- 47 shots on net tonight for the Pens, highest total this season. Hopefully, that’ll be a sign of good things to come.
- Sergei Gonchar’s wife and new baby daughter are fine after she was born tonight.
- The powerplay, with the new players, looked tentative, and as a result went 0-for-4.
- Crosby won 17 of 23 faceoffs tonight.
- 5 blocked shots for Hal Gill.
- +3 for both Brooks Orpik and Letang.
The next huge game for the Penguins will be Sunday afternoon in Washington against the Caps.
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Tags: Florida+Panthers, NHL-Hockey, Pittsburgh+Penguins,
Comments
Actually, i thought for the first time since he has been here, that Kuntiz was invisible out there. I would like to see him back with Staal, and maybe move cooke up on sids line.
You don’t pay a guy 3.7 mil a year to play third line. Which is exactly why Staal is either going to have to adapt to that top 6 winger role next year, or he is going to be gone sooner rather than later. Kunitz was not brought here to be Staal’s winger. Cooke’s skillset limits him to a 3rd or 4th line role. He’s at his best when he is forechecking hard, hitting, and playing dump and chase hockey, when you place him on a top scoring line that really limits what that line can do and what it is designed to do.
Posted by Russian Rocket on 03/06/09 at 10:30 AM ET
I really like the way the Pens looked last night. Specifically, I like the overall team makeup of the four lines. All four lines have some amount of speed and can pressure the puck awfully well. I’m interested to see how well that top line works out, but they need a couple of games I think.
I am really just happy to see Goddard out so that our fourth line is totally apt to just give up penalties and plays.
Posted by umphrey1012 on 03/06/09 at 10:42 AM ET
We need to give that first line some time to get some chemistry….
Staal is not going to be a top-6 winger, it’s been tried several times and it just doesn’t work….
Don’t be surprised to see Godard on Sunday, that game’s gonna be nasty…
Posted by Tony F from Virginia Beach, VA on 03/06/09 at 10:47 AM ET
With a team that’s supposed to be focused on speed, I just don’t like to see Godard out there struggling to get to the puck and make plays. I’d rather have guys out there with some speed and playmaking ability to make the other team pay by keeping it in the zone and scoring. It’s not as though the other guys can’t play physical hockey too. Of course with all that said, there is no way I’d want to fight anyone (well maybe Semin) on the Caps.
Posted by umphrey1012 on 03/06/09 at 10:51 AM ET
You’ve gotta have Godard on the ice on Sunday… Brashear is going to be mixing it up, Godard has to be in the lineup to meet that….
Posted by Tony F from Virginia Beach, VA on 03/06/09 at 10:54 AM ET
Like I said, take this all with a grain of salt because I wouldn’t want Brashear punching me in the head.
I hate that argument. Brashear is gonna be pushing people around, fine. But have Talbot, Cooke and Dupuis skate right past him and get chances on net. He is gonna hit people, fine, that’s legal.
I just don’t like the argument that because they have X, we need Y. Because if Godard is in, then he is gonna fight Brashear and you’ve got no advantage.
Of course maybe Brashear will go out there and rip the heads off of every Pens player, and then I’ll be wishing we had Godard in…
Posted by umphrey1012 on 03/06/09 at 11:00 AM ET
Well, if Godard is in, Brashear is neutralized….
You know, push/shove, then the faceoff, then the fight, then that’s it….
Posted by Tony F from Virginia Beach, VA on 03/06/09 at 11:04 AM ET
While I got to watch Calgary dismantle Philly last night, it sure would have been nice to be able to click over to Versus to see this or any other game. But no…Goldie Hawn in “Wildcats” was their programming last night. Why the heck can’t Versus show more games?
Posted by dip from philly on 03/06/09 at 11:05 AM ET
Tony I agree, Staal will not be a top 6 winger, but you can’t keep him around with 3rd line status making that kind of money. Either give him a good, extended look at wing, like more than 2 games…or trade him at the draft.
Speaking of, just a thought but it would be interesting to see if Phoenix would be willing to deal Doan. He’ll have 3 years left at 4.5, bring tons of leadership, grit, and more scoring. Jordan would be able to be a 1 or 2 center there. Also, Phoenix has Jordan’s little brother Jared in their system. Might help bring him along a bit.
Posted by Russian Rocket on 03/06/09 at 11:56 AM ET
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Actually, i thought for the first time since he has been here, that Kuntiz was invisible out there. I would like to see him back with Staal, and maybe move cooke up on sids line.
Posted by Gretzky_to_Lemiuex on 03/06/09 at 09:00 AM ET