HEATHER WAMPLER – OVATHLETICS.COM
The Pens took on the New York Islanders Sunday evening for their final regular season game. Forwards Chris Kunitz, Matt Cooke and defenseman Brooks Orpik were scratches from the game with various injuries. Cooke and Orpik are likely to be back for Wednesday’s game. Left winger Alexei Ponikarovsky was serving his final game suspension and in turn the Pens had to call up left winger Eric Tangardi from the baby Pens. On a bigger note, or at least one that surprised me, backup goaltender Brent Johnson started in goal instead of Marc-Andre Fleury. I must say what a way to end the season! It was probably one of the best games. Captain Sidney Crosby finally scored his 50th and his 51st goals tying with Steven Stamkos for the Rocket Richard Trophy. Guess who didn’t make it, Alex Ovechkin. All I have to say is…Ovie who?
The Pens were able to get the scoring opened early. At 3:09 defenseman Alex Goligoski picked up the puck and sent a pass to center Evgeni Malkin who then wristed it in behind Islanders goaltender Dwayne Roloson. Captain Crosby picked up the second assist. The Pens penalty killers were out shortly after the goal. 3:30 had right winger Craig Adams skating off to the box for tripping. The first fight of the game occurred earlier than I would have guessed. 6:05 into the first Pens center Mike Rupp and Islanders right winger Joel Rechlicz dropped gloves and went at it. Both players received five minute fighting majors. The Pens were quick to take the lead. Right winger Eric Godard was able to pick up his first goal of the season at 6:35 when Crosby sent him a beautiful pass enabling Godard to wrist the puck right in. Defenseman Sergei Gonchar received the second assist. The next off to the sin bin was Islanders left winger Trevor Gilles for interference at 8:55. The Pens power play unit was unable to make anything happen in their two minutes. Center Jordan Staal was sent to the box at 11:28 for hooking but luckily his penalty was negated when Islanders defenseman Mark Streit joined him at 12:35 for interference. With a few seconds left on the penalty to Streit, Pens right winger Billy Guerin was the next to the penalty box at 14:21. He was sent for interference. Yes, another high penalty game but unlike Saturday’s game against the Rangers this was also high scoring. 17:03 of the first was a big moment for our Captain Crosby. It was the moment he joined the 50 goal club. Malkin sent a pass up to Crosby who made a simple snap shot in past Roloson. It was a thing of beauty. Left winger Pascal Dupuis picked up the second assist. A goal for the Islanders was inevitable. Especially after the two big mistakes the Pens made. The first came at 18:18 when Staal was penalized for cross checking and was joined by defenseman Kris Letang at 18:54 for delay of game when he sent the puck over the glass. With 5-on-3 play Islanders center John Tavares managed to wrist the puck in past Pens goaltender Brent Johnson at 19:16. Streit and right winger Kyle Okposo received the assists. The Pens outshot the Islanders 12-10.
Our fearless captain Crosby wasted no time getting his 51st goal. 55 seconds into the second center Max Talbot sent the puck sailing to Crosby who was waiting in the neutral zone. Crosby then skated up into the Islanders zone and was able to land the puck behind Roloson. Unfortunately the Islanders were able to get one goal closer to tying. They were able to take advantage of their 4-on-3 at 1:17 when Pens captain Crosby and Dupuis were given cross checking penalties while their own defenseman Jack Hillen was off for interference. 1:55 Islanders Streit fired the puck at the net but it was tipped in by left winger Matt Moulson. Center Frans Nielsen received the second assist. Shortly after the goal chaos ensued. Godard got another fight. He dropped gloves with Islanders Rechlicz. After a good go around both players received five minute fighting majors and Rechlicz also received an additional unsportsmanlike conduct. I’m not sure how Malkin ended up in the box. I think he was missing it or jealous that Godard was in. But he was off for unsportsmanlike along with Islanders right winger Tim Jackman. I don’t know what it was that set those two off but the two minutes in the box didn’t cool them down. 5:52 saw the both of them right back in those boxes. Jackman received a misconduct while Malkin received a double minor of interference and unsportsmanlike conduct. After the Pens killed off their stretch of penalties they were sent onto the power play when Islanders center Michael Haley picked up an interference penalty at 10:41. Malkin got his second goal of the game at 11:09 when he took a pass from Crosby and was able to slam a one-timer home. Gols received the second assist. Crosby and Malkin both had an opportunity to get hat tricks. How awesome would it have been if they did? I’m not sure I would have been able to control my excitement. I was already pretty riled up and excited. Islanders Haley was penalized again at 16:57 for interference on the goaltender but due to an injury he was escorted off the ice and left winger Jeff Tambellini served in his place. The last one to head off to the sin bin was Pens Dupuis at 19:28. The Islanders would get a 1 ½ minute power play to start the third. The Pens were outshot 9-16 by the end of the second.
The third period was not a good period for the Pens. Starting out they were ahead 5-2. An easy win right? Wrong. They had to finish off a second period penalty which they managed to do but at 4:29 Islanders Okposo was able to get the third goal when he wristed the puck over Johnson’s arm. He was assisted by Streit and Tavares. They only needed two more goals to tie and three to win and they still had 16 more minutes left. My fingers were crossed Johnson and the Pens Defense would be able to hold them off. I didn’t have a lot of time to wonder seeing as how they were able to turn around and get their fourth goal at 4:53 when left winger John Sim was able to slip the puck in behind Johnson assisted by right winger Trent Hunter and Hillen. What makes this period is even worse is that the Pens had two power play opportunities. Not one but two. Do you know how many the Islanders had? None. The first chance the Pens had was at 8:32 when Islanders defenseman Bruno Gervais was sent off to the box for holding. Not only did they have two power plays, but they were back to back power plays. The second came less than ten seconds after the Gervais penalty was up. Islanders Hillen was off at 10:40 for interference. The disappointment was setting in and the happy world of winning the final regular season game came crashing down at 15:47 when Islanders Tavares was able to tie up the game with a wrister assisted by defenseman Freddy Meyer and Okposo. To add insult to injury, the Pens outshot the Islanders 13-9.
The game went into OT. Granted this OT wasn’t as gripping as the Flyers/Rangers OT which determined who would go on to the playoffs. Flyers won it in the shootout. I do love OT as I’ve stated many times before. This game though, shouldn’t have gone into it. They had the game but didn’t seem to show up for the third period. Luckily, the horrible third lead to a great OT. With only 35 seconds left our new comer defenseman Jordan Leopold scored the game winning OT goal for the second time this season. He was assisted by Malkin and his fellow defenseman Mark Eaton.
The Playoffs start in TWO days!!!! Yes, two days. The Pens play the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday, March 14 @ 7:00 pm @ the Mellon Arena. The final playoffs our arena will ever see.
For those who do read my articles and enjoy them you’ll be pleased to know I’ll be covering the playoffs.
