Once again, the Penguins had multiple chances on the powerplay and once again they could not capitalize to even up the score.
Pavel Datsyuk, Johan Franzen, Dan Cleary and Henrik Zetterberg scored as Jimmy Howard made 24 saves en route to his league-leading 18th win of the year. Evgeni Malkin, who missed the morning skate and was listed as a game-time decision, scored the lone goal for Pittsburgh who have suddenly lost 3 of their last 4 games.
Despite what the score may read, the Penguins seemed to control play for the better part of two periods. Going away from their aggressive forechecking system, the Pens opened up the game with a 1-2-2, forcing the Red Wings to play tighter with more players clogging up the neutral zone. The strategy appeared to work as the Penguins were forcing turnovers while remaining defensively responsible in their own end. Both teams had minimal scoring chances and the game acutely resembled the Stanley Cup games from three seasons ago.
With under thirty seconds left in the first, Nicklas Kronwall pinched in with a scoring chance in front of the net. But the shot was blocked by Brooks Orpik, allowing James Neal to feed Malkin off the boards for a 2 on 1. Malkin’s left handed wrist shot sliced past goaltender Jimmy Howard and the Penguins took a 1-0 lead with just seconds left in the period.
The second period started with the Penguins continuing to shut down the Red Wings. But, just when the Penguins thought they had suffocated the Red Wings, Pavel Datsyuk was left wide open in between the faceoff circles and fired a scorching backhand past Marc-Andre Fleury to tie the score at 1. The goal came on just the third shot by the Wings in the second period with under four minutes remaining. Datsyuk, who had scored two goals in his first 17 games of the season, now has seven goals in his last 12 games. The play started with a turnover by Matt Niskanen thanks in large part to Todd Bertuzzi’s aggressive forechecking. Bertuzzi came off the boards with the puck and found a streaking Datsyuk for his eighth assist of the year.
With the score even at 1-1 through two periods, special teams became the difference maker in the third period. Shortly after Malkin’s shot off another 2 on 1 hit the outside of the post, Matt Niskanen took a holding penalty. It took just 24 seconds for the Red Wings to take the lead when Matt Cooke’s clearing attempt was knocked down by Datsyuk who then passed to Johan Franzen. Franzen fired a wrist shot over the stick side of a screened Marc-Andre Fleury.
The Penguins had a chance to tie the score on the powerplay but failed to create any serious chances. The Red Wings killed back to back penalties by Jiri Hudler, then sealed the game on a goal by Dan Cleary. Detroit finished the game 1-2 on the powerplay while Pittsburgh was 0-4.
The powerplay has been alarmingly poor during this mini slide by the Penguins. Against the Boston Bruins, the Penguins had two 5 on 3 powerplays and failed to score. The Flyers also gave the Penguins a 5 on 3 powerplay with 2 of the 3 players breaking their sticks in the process. A Chris Kunitz penalty, however, wiped out their biggest advantage of the season and the Flyers went on to win 3-1. Tonight, the Penguins had four opportunities with a man advantage and had a mix between poor play and poor luck to guide their ineffectiveness.
In particular, Evgeni Malkin, despite scoring the only goal for the Penguins, had many more chances to score, only to see the puck find its way out of the net. In the second period, Malkin took a wrist shot which squirted through Jimmy Howard and trickled towards the net. The puck stopped on the goal line and was swept away by the goal stick of Howard just as Malkin was diving for his second goal of the night. Malkin also had two shots that rang off the post and finished the game with nine shots.
- The Penguins are now 17-10-4 this season which puts them in a tie for fifth in the Eastern Conference with the New York Rangers. Although both teams have 38 points, the Rangers have played three less games.
- The Flyers lead the Eastern Conference with 41 points after their 5-0 shellacking of the Washington Capitals.
- The Penguins are off until Friday when they travel to Ottawa to face the Senators.
- Marc-Andre Fleury was looking to win his 200th career game against the same team that gave him his first career game (October 18th, 2003) and
- first Stanley Cup (June 12th, 2009).
Photo courtesy of mysanantonio.com
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