HEATHER WAMPLER – OVATHLETICS.COM
The Pen met with the Montreal Canadiens for game one in the second series. I was ecstatic going into this game and not just for the fact the 4th seeded Pens were playing the 8th seeded Habs but because the Capitals and the New Jersey Devils are out of the running for the cup. I’ve been watching the other games all week with the husband anxiously awaiting the end of both of their series. I can’t even begin to describe how thrilled I was that they were both eliminated. Left winger Ruslan Fedotenko returned to the lineup replacing Chris Conner. Forward Tyler Kennedy and defenseman Jordan Leopold are still out from injuries received while playing the Ottawa Senators.
Like the Sens the Habs were able to get a shot in early to open the scoring. At 4:30 defenseman P K Subban wristed a shot toward Pens goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. The puck deflected off of Pen’s defenseman Mark Eaton’s skate and into the net. To make things worse center Evgeni Malkin received an interference penalty at 5:29. Fortunately for the Pen’s the penalty killers showed up for the game despite the long break. They were on fire. Shortly after killing the Habs power play they were on one of their own. Habs right winger Brian Gionta was sent to the box for tripping at 8:12. While on the power play the Pens were able to tie up the score. Defenseman Kris Letang sent a pass to fellow defenseman Sergei Gonchar who slapped a shot past Habs goaltender Jaroslav Halak. Malkin was given the second assist. Chaos ensued at 11:46 when left winger Matt Cooke made his presence known. He knocked Habs defenseman Andrei Markov out (ruled a clean hit) in the Montreal zone. As Markov lay on the ice, still out, Cooke is jumped by center Scott Gomez and a few of his fellow teammates. Defenseman Mark Eaton joins in and drops gloves with left winger Travis Moen. Eaton, Gomez and Moen are all given roughing penalties. The power play has been great. This one is no exception. At 13:27 the Pens got their second power play goal. Center Jordan Staal and left winger Alexei Ponikarovsky play catch as they go up the boards. Staal then buries the puck in over Halak’s glove. Defenseman Alex Goligoski received the second assist. The Pens and Habs were tied at 7 in shots at the end of the first.
The Pens got an early gift going into the second. Habs left winger Andrei Kostitsyn was penalized at 1:09 for too many men on the ice. They were able to make it 3-3 on their power play. Captain Sidney Crosby was able to win the puck in a battle from Gomez and fed it to Letang. Tanger then sent a snap shot into the Habs net for a 3-1 lead. Center Max Talbot is the last to go to the box at 10:52 for hooking. Luckily the penalty killers were able to hold the Habs back. They are 0-2 on the power play. Montreal does cut the lead a bit at 15:27 when Gomez finding left winger Michael Cammalleri, who was able to snap a one-timer in past Fleury. Gionta was given the second assist. Halak was definitely rattled. Apparently he did not think the Pens would be harder than the Caps.
Welcome to Pittsburgh Halak. Meet the Pens. Oh you don’t remember them from regular season? Please let them remind you. Oh, wait, they did.
Right winger Craig Adams upped the Pens lead at 18:36. Left winger Pascal Dupuis took a pass from Cooke and sent it to Adams. Adams was able to wrist the puck in through Halak’s legs. By the end of the Pens were outshot 12-9.
Again the Pens were given a power play early on. Gionta was off to the box for delay of game when he sent the puck soaring over the net. The power play unit was absolutely amazing. I wish I’d had tickets to that game. At 2:59 captain Crosby was able to set up another great play to defenseman Alex Goligoski who was able to wrist the puck in for a 5-2 lead. Right winger Billy Guerin was given the second assist. I was going nuts. Jumping up and down. There was no way the Habs could catch up. Then at 9:17 a bit more chaos. Pens center Mike Rupp and Habs Gomez got into a bit of a skirmish in front of Montreal’s bench. I was hoping to see some fists flying and blood going but the refs broke them up before anything good could get started. Rupp was given two roughing penalties; one of which was served by left winger Alexei Ponikarovsky and Gomez was dealt one roughing penalty. Before the Rupp and Gomez penalties were up left winger Chris Kunitz was sent to the sin bin for slashing. This opened up the ice for the Habs and they were able to cut the lead again. At 12:29 Gionta took a pass from defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron and slapped the puck in past Fleury. Gomez was the second assist. Former Pen (yes I still LOVE Hal Gill) defenseman Hal Gill was off to the box at 15:24 for holding while Fedotenko was given a diving penalty. It was a very obvious enthused dive. Habs head coach Jacques Martin made the decision to pull Halak so they would have a man-advantage. It did nothing to help them. In fact at 19:11 Guerin was able to get an empty netter goal. Pens won game one 6-3 and had more power play goals in the first period than the Caps did the entire series.
San Jose Sharks beat the Detroit Redwings 4-3 yesterday. The Pens and Habs were the only teams who played on Friday. The Philly Flyers and Boston Bruins, Vancouver Cannucks and Chicago Blackhawks play on Saturday.
The Pens play the Habs on Sunday, May, 2 @ 2:00 pm @ the Mellon Arena.
