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Penguins’ peppering not enough, lose to Wild 2-1

by Tony on 10/31/09 at 11:19 PM ET
Comments (6)

I think we Penguins fans better get used to these wacky games while they have a chunk of their lineup out.

Like tonight, where the Pens are awarded with 35 shots on goal, compared to only 15 for the visiting Minnesota Wild, but lose 2-1.

Kyle Brodziak and Eric Belanger scored for the Wild, while Pascal Dupuis had the only tally for the Penguins.

Niklas Backstrom stopped all but one of those 35 shots, so tip your hat.  However, while the Pens certainly got plenty of pucks to the net, it really didn’t seem that Backstrom had to make that many quality saves.  That is, unless you listened to Paul Steigerwald all night long, who made Backstrom out to be the next coming of Patrick Roy throughout the telecast.

The play of the game that most will talk about from this game will be the 4th career fighting major for Sidney Crosby at 16:38 of the second period.  This time, Crosby squared off with Marek Zidlicky after both of them tussled and slashed each other for a while.  What that fight did, though was get Crosby off the ice for not five, but seven minutes of the game, after the officials gave he and Zidlicky slashing penalties as well as fighting.

The Wild got on the board in the first period when Brent Burns fired a wrister from the right point that Chuck Kobesew barely deflected.  Marc-Andre Fleury made the stop, but left a rebound right to the stick of Brodziak all alone to his right for easy tap-in and a 1-0 Wild lead at 12:11 of the first.

The Penguins were able to tie it up a few minutes later after a faceoff win in the Wild zone by Craig Adams.  The puck went back to Martin Skoula along the left boards, then quickly passed to Dupuis in the slot for a hard one-timer that Backstrom never had a chance on to tie the game at 1-1.

Minnesota got the eventual game-winner in the last second of the first period.  The Wild were applying pressure in the waning seconds of the period, including a shot off the post by Greg Zanon from the left point.  Eventually, Martin Havlat gathered the puck on the end boards and made a centering pass to Belanger, who wristed it past Fleury with only .06 seconds remaining in the first period for the 2-1 Wild lead.

Notes:
- The Penguins are now only 5-3 at home, while being 6-0 on the road.
- With a win, the Penguins would have set the NHL record for most wins in October with 12, but that’s out the window now.
- Pens’ powerplay went 0-for-3.  Don’t know about anyone else, but I’d like to see Jordan Staal replacing Chris Kunitz on the 1st PP unit
- Alex Goligoski was a -1, first time this season he has been a minus player.
- Eight hits tonight for Brooks Orpik.
- Three hits apiece for Dupuis, Skoula and Jay McKee.
- Nice effort in the faceoff circle for Adams, winning 6-for-9.

The Pens now hit the Left Coast for games in Anaheim on Tuesday, Los Angeles on Thursday and San Jose on Saturday.

Filed in: | The Confluence | Permalink
 Tags: Minnesota+Wild, NHL-Hockey, Pittsburgh+Penguins,

Comments

We saw the real Crosby last night against the Wild, now that the opposing team could put all their focus on him.

Worst.
Captain.
In.
History.

Well done, Pittsburgh.

Posted by Red Winger from Sault Ste. Marie on 11/01/09 at 09:28 AM ET

11-3.

How’s old Nikky Lidstrom’s superbly captained team doing this year?  Oh…

Posted by Flashtastick56 from Milford, CT on 11/01/09 at 01:38 PM ET

How’s old Nikky Lidstrom’s superbly captained team doing this year?  Oh…

It’s been a slow start. However, unlike the Pens, the Wings will not have to threaten bankruptcy because of a fan-base made up 80% of bandwagon jumpers.

Enjoy your day!

Posted by Red Winger from Sault Ste. Marie on 11/01/09 at 02:31 PM ET

I think Staal needs to step up NOW with Geno out.

Posted by Lindas1st from New England on 11/01/09 at 03:16 PM ET

We saw the real Crosby last night....

Sort of like Datsyuk in the playoffs. The dropoff is collar induced!
R.S.  ppg- .99
S.C.P. ppg- .64

Posted by Lindas1st from New England on 11/01/09 at 03:20 PM ET

Do you ever have anything insightful to add on here?  If you have, I’ve never seen it.  And, really, as much as us Penguins fans are told we obsess over the Wings, you guys over @ A2Y seem just as obsessed with posting stuff about the Pens and on Penguins blogs.  Seems a little peculiar to me.  Double standard much?

Anyways…

Just for the record, how does it feel when your team gets beat in the Stanley Cup Finals by a team captained by the “Worst. Captain. In. History” (and a “mediocre” goalie)?  Really not saying a whole lot about the team the Red Wings put on the ice last year, huh?  Ouch.

Oh, and surprising enough, there has been no mention of Zidlicky not dropping his stick right away when he and Crosby started fighting.  That should be a suspension, right?

AND you really don’t expect the loss of Gonchar and Malkin (not to mention Tyler Kennedy and Red Wing killer himself Max Talbot) to take its toll?  You say you saw the “real” Crosby last night because the Wild could focus all their attention on him - so what happened during the Blue Jackets game the night before (2 assists and the shootout game-winner)?  If anyone should know what happens when you lose a couple of your best players it should be the Red Wings, right?  I mean...that’s one of the major reasons the Wings “lost” the Cup last year!  (excuse my exclamation point)

He says things to the refs, so he’s complaining.  He stands up for himself, so he’s a petulant little bitch.  (insert “OMG HE PUNCHED A DUDE IN THE BALLZ!!1 - - yep, got it...) He doesn’t celebrate after he scores goals, so he doesn’t have any passion.  Damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t.

They’re still the defending champs and 11-3 this year.  You know what?  I’ll take it.

I know how much you dislike reading long comments, so I’m prepared to not be surprised by you ignoring it and saying “it looks impressive”, because you’re so witty and (possibly) have a short attention span.

Enjoy YOUR Tuesdays, sweetheart.

Posted by Flashtastick56 from Milford, CT on 11/01/09 at 03:31 PM ET

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Welcome to The Confluence, a Pittsburgh Penguins blog since 2006.  Originally at Blogspot, then at MVN, The Confluence has over 1000 articles reporting Penguins news as well as jumping on my soapbox to opine constructive Penguins criticism.  My posts are regularly linked by hockey websites such as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Empty Netters and Yahoo!’s Puck Daddy, and I’ve done guest blogger spots on such websites as the New York Times.  I invite you to spend a little time and peruse the archives at all of the sites for some of my better work.  I am a retired U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer, but don’t confuse me with my fellow Chief at A2Y.

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