DEAN JACOBS-OVATHLETICS.COM
It’s a new month; the season is now in March. There are only 20 games left in the regular season for the Pittsburgh Penguins. The NHL and over a handful of Penguin’s players are returning from their Olympic experience, as the League is entering the final stretch of the season.
To start this week and month, the Pens have high expectations. Sitting in a pretty prime spot, and posed to pounce, returning from the World’s Games. The Penguins were 1 point behind Jersey in the Atlantic, going into this week, and with 4 games in 7 days, the Guins looked to get a couple big wins. In addition, off the ice the Penguins made some key acquisitions to the squad, which have already paid off on the ice.
Tuesday night was the Penguins return to the NHL season, it was a home game against the Buffalo Sabres and Olympic tournament MVP goalie Ryan Miller. But unfortunately for fans and the Sabres, Miller didn’t play; he was getting some much-deserved rest after his Silver medal run in the Olympics. Pen’s net minder Marc Andre Fleury didn’t play either. But the rest of the Olympians on these teams came out and played on Tuesday night. They honored all the Olympians before the game at Mellon Arena. Immediately after, the game got underway.
In the 1st period, the Penguins outplayed and out shot the Sabres. But didn’t get their first goal until a power play with 5:02 left in the period. It was the 1st goal of the game for either team. The goal came from a long shot from Sergei Gonchar, around the left circle. Not to mention the goal came against the best penalty killing team in the League. The Pens were looking strong, and playing very solid team hockey ending the first and heading into the 2nd period. A couple minutes into the second period, Pascal Dupuis got his 14th goal of the year, with assists from Fedotenko and Malkin, putting the Penguins up 2-0 and looking good. But the Sabres answered quickly, cutting the Pens lead back down to one goal. It wasn’t really until mid-second period that the Sabres started connecting as a team, but they still trailed on the scoreboard.
The Penguins dominated the Sabres through most of 2 periods, but only led by 1. In the 3rd period, the game became much tighter, with both teams playing defensively. With less than 10 minutes left in the period, Ruslan Fedotenko scored his first goal in 18 games, making the game 3-1 in favor of the Pittsburgh Penguins. But as soon as fans in Pittsburgh thought their Pens definitely had it wrapped up, the Sabres got another one past Penguin’s goalie Brad Johnson, bring the game back to within 1 with about 5 minutes to go. Through a lot of good chances from Buffalo, including a crazy scramble right at the end, the Penguins managed to hold on and get the win on Tuesday night, their first for the week, and their first after the Olympic break. It was a good return to Pittsburgh for the Penguins, beating the Buffalo Sabres 3-2 in a good game.
Thursday’s game was away against the New York Rangers, which is usually a win for the Penguins. Per their usual, Pittsburgh won the game 5-4, but the Rangers stretched the game into OT before the Penguins finally got the win. And on the way to getting it, there was certainly no shortness of excitement. The game was great, and the Pens fought hard, but it was a rough night for Penguin’s goalie Marc Andre Fleury, being pulled after just 12 shots and a dismal 4 goals allowed. Another interesting aside from Thursday’s game: For almost two days, just about everyone thought that Jordan Stall had the game winning goal in Overtime, but it was actually touched in by Evgeni Malkin for the winning score. Both teams had two goals in the 1st, for the Penguins, they came from Stall and Kunitz. In the 2nd, the Rangers had two goals, while Rupp had the solo goal for the Pens. The score was 4-3 Rangers heading into the final period, but about halfway through the period, Alex Goligoski got one by Lundqvist for the tying goal. The rest is history. The game went to overtime and conclusive evidence proves that Malkin not Stall scored the Power play game-winner, to give the Guins their 2nd win for the week. The Penguins had 2 Power play goals on the night.
The weekend in Pittsburgh highlighted two home games at Mellon arena. Saturday’s puck dropped early in the afternoon, at 1pm against the Dallas Stars. The Pens got another huge home win, continuing their streak, extending the winning to 3 games. The game ended 6-3, and fans at Mellon got to leave the arena and start the rest of their Saturday on a good note. Fleury’s second game back, after his poor showing the game prior. But on Saturday afternoon Marc Andre Fleury returned to his normal form. He played spectacular, making multiple crucial saves, including some astonishing mid and late game stops, to ensure a win for his team.
The scoring went as follows: Both team notched a goal in the first, the Penguins came from Mr. Consistent of late, Jordan Stall. In the 2nd period the Stars got 2 goals within the first 3 minutes, but the rest was all the Guins. The home team mounted another comeback behind 2 Crosby goals, and a Power play goal later in the 3rd, from newly acquired Pen, Alexei Ponikarovsky. The game was sealed and the Pens won their third straight game.
Following Saturday’s win against Dallas, the Guins team had to turn right around and play another afternoon game at Mellon arena the next day, Sunday at 3pm. The game was against the Boston Bruins, and the Pens were running on adrenaline from the winning streak they’d built for themselves the previous 3 games. With a record of 29-23, the Bruins were a perfectly cushy opponent for Pittsburgh to finish out the week. The Bruins were handed their 24th loss for the season, at the hands of the always solid, and currently streaking Pittsburgh Penguins.
It was a tight and rather sluggish start for both teams on Sunday afternoon. But the Penguins looked a bit more together than the Boston Bruins early in the game. The opponent Bruins are the lowest scoring team in the league. And by the end of the first period the Penguins were out shooting the Bruins by more shots than you can count one hand. However, the first period came and went without a goal for either team. The pace picked up and the hits became harder in the 2nd period, while the score remain blank until 3:12 when the Bruins scored on a Power play, to take the lead. Wheeler jammed it in for Boston while Fleury was sprawled out on his stomach. Then, At 8:57 In the 2nd, the Penguins tied the game, by way of Pascal Dupuis doing the same thing to Bruin’s goalie, Tim Thomas, and jamming the Penguin’s first goal in the net. The game was tied at one. In the 3rd Period Evgeni Malkin’s early goal at 1:27 proved to be the game winner. The Pens simply grinded it out on Sunday afternoon, and rounded out the week in style, continuing their winning ways.
The Pittsburgh Penguins have not lost a game from returning from the Olympic break. In addition, the Penguins started this, their first week back, sitting one point behind the New Jersey Devils, who are in 1st place in the Division. By the end of the week the Penguins had won 4 straight games, and now sit somewhat comfortably in front of the Devils, with a 5-point lead securing their 1st place slot. Pittsburgh is also second in the conference, behind the beastly Washington Capitals, but at the moment isn’t really within reach, and would probably need the rest of the regular season to catch up. But as it stands right now, the Penguins are looking absolutely terrific, and with a short week coming up, and 2 games against Jersey in the next 4, hopefully the Pittsburgh Penguins can get a few more W’s and hand a couple of losses to their rivals along the way.
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