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Penguins pound Canadiens for third straight win, 3-1

by Tony on 11/25/09 at 10:21 PM ET
Comments (11)

The Penguins’ gameplan going into tonight’s 3-1 win over Montreal was pretty clear from the start:  Finish your checks.

I’d say they executed that plan very well, as the Pens were awarded with 45 hits on the Habs, playing on the 2nd night of back-to-back games after playing last night in Montreal vs. Columbus.

Sidney Crosby, Bill Guerin and Sergei Gonchar scored for the Pens, while Max Pacioretty had the lone tally for the Habs.

The Pens were the clear aggressors throughout the game with a good portion being played in the Habs’ zone.  As a result, Marc-Andre Fleury only saw 19 shots on goal, 18 of those he saved.

The Penguins got on the board first midway through the first period when Max Talbot stole the puck at center ice.  Talbot fed Crosby, who brought the puck into the Habs’ zone and fired a wrister from the top of the slot to the top shelf that Habs’ goalie Carey Price couldn’t stop, giving the Pens a 1-0 lead.

They doubled their lead about six minutes into the second period on an extended possession in the Habs’ zone, mostly via cycling between Evgeni Malkin and Guerin.  Eventually, Guerin grabbed the puck and went to the net, where he then was able to get the puck squeezed through the five-hole of Price, making it 2-0 Pens.

The Pens increased their lead to 3-0 late in the second when Crosby made a great spinning backhanded pass to Gonchar, who then went backhand five-hole past Price and into the net.

The Habs got their only goal about seven minutes into the third period on a 3-on-2 break when Pacioretty took a feed from Sergei Kostitsyn and fired a wrister past Fleury to make it 3-1 Pens at 7:17.  The Habs had a big chance to cut the lead to 3-2 midway through the third period when Ryan O’Byrne was all alone in the slot, but Fleury made a great point blank glove save.

Notes:
- Only three penalties in the game.  The Pens’ powerplay went 0-for-2.
- Nice game for Jordan Staal in the faceoff circle, going 10-for-15.
- Three blocked shots for Martin Skoula.
- Huge game for Mike Rupp, awarded 9 of the Pens’ 45 hits.
- Guerin led the Pens with six blocked shots.

The Pens now head to Long Island for a Friday afternoon matchup vs. the Islanders.

Filed in: | The Confluence | Permalink
 Tags: Montreal+Canadiens, NHL-Hockey, Pittsburgh+Penguins,

Comments

Max looked a hell of a lot better in this game. He’s rounding into game shape.
Guerin’s goal was at even strength but right after the PP ended, so in essence it was like a PP goal. They kept the Habs pinned in on one of those 2-minute offensive zone shifts they’ve been displaying lately and ended up scoring.
BTW, the PP is looking better lately. Baby steps,right?
A solid win, a very good all around performance by the team.

Posted by Lindas1st from New England on 11/25/09 at 11:30 PM ET

Marginally better… And really the only reason I say that is that at least they haven’t been as stubborn as they usually are, and simply got the puck on net… That’s how you get goals like Skoula’s deflected one, and Sid’s OT winner.... Those goals have nothing to do with Yeo’s system, simply fortunate bounces....

I will say that the passing has been a little crisper, but they’re still too damn stationary....

Posted by Tony from Virginia Beach, VA on 11/25/09 at 11:35 PM ET

The Penguins are rounding back into form. Five wins in six games. Six of the next nine at home. Letang and Kennedy nearing return. It’s looking good.

Posted by cs6687 on 11/25/09 at 11:38 PM ET

In what universe is a 3-1 victory a pounding?

Posted by Harrald The Red on 11/26/09 at 12:50 AM ET

Read the article and comprehend it, harrald.

Posted by cs6687 on 11/26/09 at 02:17 AM ET

I was expecting a lot more - the game was pretty much guaranteed to be a Pittsburgh win, but 3-1 is hardly a pounding.

With both teams healthy, Pittsburgh is the better team. There’s no doubt about that. And the Pens are starting to get healthy again now, really the only two notables out at this point are Letang and Goligoski. You could argue Kunitz, but I wouldn’t.

Then look at the Habs, missing 3 of their top players, along with a lot of their depth:
- Markov
- Gionta
- Gomez
- A. Kostitsyn
- Spacek
- D’Agostini
even the newly acquired Pouliot.

The Pens winning was a foregone conclusion - but hardly a ‘pounding’ against a hard-up team.

Posted by That Bird Guy on 11/26/09 at 08:25 AM ET

actually, i watched the game, i saw the pens beat the habs, outplay the habs, but i saw no pounding.

Posted by Harrald The Red on 11/26/09 at 09:28 AM ET

I’m pretty sure he means ‘pound’ literally as in ‘to hit’.  As in the Pens were finishing all of their checks and hitting the Habs a lot?

I for one appreciate the use of alliteration.  Too bad a few other people never bothered to read the article (or comprehend what the read if they did read it) to appreciate the effort.

Posted by CrackDealer on 11/26/09 at 10:16 AM ET

Geezus, “pounding” was an analogy towards the physical play the Pens used against a Habs team playing on the 2nd of back-to-back nights....

Posted by Tony from Virginia Beach, VA on 11/26/09 at 11:47 AM ET

3-1, what a “pounding”

Posted by Red Winger from Sault Ste. Marie on 11/26/09 at 12:23 PM ET

You’re a little late Winger, you’re slipping…

Posted by Tony from Virginia Beach, VA on 11/26/09 at 05:39 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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