The Confluence
Next entry: Penguins recall touted prospect Caputi
Previous entry: Penguins squander 3rd period lead, lose to Devils in OT, 4-3
Rollercoaster season for Penguins stumbles along, lose to Leafs 5-4
by Tony on 01/31/09 at 10:24 PM ET
Comments (0)
One step forward, two steps back.
The Penguins continued their disappointing season with another lackluster effort tonight at the Air Canada Centre, coming back from a 3-1 third period deficit only to lose 5-4.
Mathieu Garon had quite a shaky, to put it politely, debut for the Penguins, stopping only 21 of 26 shots.
Both of the Penguins’ league scoring leaders, Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, scored for the Pens but it wasn’t enough to combat the inconsistent goaltending and porous defense.
It was the Leafs who got on the board first, courtesy of another deflected goal off Ryan Whitney. Ian White took a pass from the right point and threw a backhander towards the net that deflected off Whitney’s knee and past Garon to make it 1-0 Leafs.
Miro Satan got his first goal since the Carter Administration four minutes later on a hard slapper that barely deflected off the Leafs D-man stick to the game at one.
That’s the way it stayed until the Leafs were back on the powerplay in the second period when Garon made two excellent saves on a shot from the right point and another one on the rebound, but couldn’t stop the third shot, a wrister from Nik Antropov to give the Leafs a 2-1 lead.
The Pens’ defense was the culprit on the Leafs third goal of the night. After allowing Jason Blake to skate in unmolested, he fired a wrister that Garon stopped, but Dominic Moore simply took the rebound and backhanded the puck back on net, where Alexei Ponikarovsky was there to poke the puck under Garon’s pad before he could smother it to make it 3-1 Leafs after two periods.
The Penguins started their comeback early in the third after a Malkin shot was stopped by Vesa Toskala, but in the ensuing scrum Crosby was there to somehow poke the puck into the net to cut the lead to 3-2 at the :55 mark. That didn’t last long, as Matt Stajan scored two minutes later to make it 4-2./
A few minutes later, Ryan Whitney fired a slapper from the right point that Malkin tipped past Toskala to cut the lead back down to one at 4-3. This time, the Pens completed the comeback, as a little over a minute later Tyler Kennedy fired a slapper from the right slot that got past Toskala in what had to be described as a soft goal to tie the game at 4-4.
But, the Leafs got the game-winner at the midway mark of the third period after Pavel Kubina fired a slapper from the right point. Garon made the initial stop, but as the Penguins’ defenders had their backs to the puck, Blake calmly grabbed the rebound and fired a wrister to give the Leafs the 5-4 win.
The Pens will now head to Montreal to take on the Habs on Tuesday.
Filed in: | The Confluence | Permalink
Tags: NHL-Hockey, Pittsburgh+Penguins, Toronto+Maple+Leafs,
Comments
Be the first to comment.
Add a Comment
Please limit embedded image or media size to 575 pixels wide.
Add your own avatar by joining Kukla's Korner, or logging in and uploading one in your member control panel.
Captchas bug you? Join KK or log in and you won't have to bother.
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.
Most Recent Blog Posts
Turn Out The Lights, The Party’s Over: I’m Stepping Down
Bill Cowher’s Daughter to Marry Kevin Westgarth
Penguins Sign Forward Steve MacIntyre
Penguins Re-Sign Forward Dustin Jeffrey to Two-Year Deal
Crosby Donation Leads To Renovation at Children’s Hospital
About Kukla’s Korner
Kukla’s Korner is updated around the clock with the work of our own talented bloggers, plus links to the best hockey writing around the internet. We strive to bring you all the breaking hockey news as it happens.
The home page allows you to see the latest postings from every blog on the site. Subscribe here. For general inquiries and more, please contact us anytime.
Get the top online sports betting bonuses available to sports betters!
When learning from experts it’s best to learn personally from them, or from their blog. We can provide that with poker lessons blog, your home to learn poker personally.
Do you get shocked from the luck in the game of poker? Stop getting shocked and start being a Poker Shoker.
As well as reading about hockey games, you can also find info about poker like which poker sites accept American Express or which are the best Canadian poker sites and also find the top rakeback sites at rakeback.net.
Kukla’s Korner is always a free service for readers, but it costs some money to maintain. If you’re ever in a position to donate a few dollars to help out, we’d be very appreciative.