Bruce Boudreau may have failed to turn the Washington Capitals into a defensive hockey club, but he certainly seems to have the Anahem Ducks on the right track.
The Ducks did what no team has done since February 1st; shut down the Kunitz-Malkin-Neal line en route to their 3rd straight win and 6th win in the last 10 games. Since hiring Boudreau on December 1st, the Ducks are 17-11-5 and have moved from 14th in the Western Conference to 13th and just 6 points back of a playoff spot.
Jordan Staal scored the lone goal for Pittsburgh 6:27 into the first period during a 2 on 1 rush. It would be the only goal allowed by Hiller as he stopped 25 shots in what was a tight checking game.
Both teams combined for 55 shots and just four total penalties of which three were against the Penguins. Pittsburgh had solid goaltending from Marc-Andre Fleury who made several key stops. Fleury robbed Cam Fowler’s slapshot when the Penguins were shorthanded and stopped Niklas Hagman’s breakaway chance when the Penguins were on the power play. However, the Ducks were able to take advantage of two breakdowns and the Penguins were unable to answer.
With the second period winding down to the final minute, Corey Perry made a nifty move around Zbynek Michalek in front of Fleury and fired a shot that went five hole on the goaltender to tie the game at one.
The game continued to have minimal scoring chances on both sides until the midpoint of the third period. The Penguins gained momentum off of an excellent shift from their third line, centered by Joe Vitale. The crowd picked up on Pittsburgh’s effort and tried to rally the Kunitz-Malkin-Neal line to break the tie as they appeared to own the puck in Anaheim’s zone.
But the Penguins couldn’t capitalize and the Ducks found an odd man rush of their own as Pittsburgh’s top line was at the end of a tiring shift. Matt Niskanen failed to keep the puck in the offensive zone and the Ducks created a 2 on 1 rush with James Neal as the lone Penguin back on defense. Matt Belesky fed the puck to Teemu Selanne who appeared to be offside on the play. However, the offsides call was not made and Selanne was able to backhand a shot past the stick side of Marc-Andre Fleury.
Pittsburgh had a few chances in the dying seconds of the game, but the dramatic goal never came and the Penguins ended their three game home stand, 2-1-0.
Photo courtesy of Yahoo!
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