This is a tale of the powers of light versus the powers of darkness.
It doesn't have a happy ending.
But that doesn't mean there weren't miracles along the way.
Satan, representing the powers of darkness (like anyone else would?), struck first, extending the Islanders lead to 2-0 on the power play.
Following that, one of the miracles of the game happened. Eric Cairns, who spent all of 3:37 on the ice, for some reason wanders down near the net in the offensive zone, puts his stick on the ice, and has Mark Recchi's beautiful pass deflect off of his stick, and into the net. You knew it was a miracle, because Cairns immediately looked to the heavens, as if to say "Thank you!"
Later in the second, the Lord of Darkness did his own dirty work, showing some of the power he possesses. He knocked over a man (Brooks Orpik) who is 30 pounds heavier than he is. Satan earned a trip to the sin bin (you could say he was going home for a short while) for boarding.
In the third, the Pens got a goal early from Recchi, who deflected a shot by Gonchar. The entire sequence was made possible by a great move on the part of Sidney Crosby, who almost scored. In the ensuing melee, the puck was sent back to the point, where Gonchar unleashed the shot that Recchi deflected.
After that, it was time for another miracle. Crosby takes a penalty with 2:26 left in the game. The Islanders go on the power play. Towards the end of the two minutes, the Pens get the puck into the Islanders zone and pull Caron to even the sides at 5 on 5 (with an empty net!) Leclair is the player on for the Pens. He immediately goes down the left boards, making a beeline for Satan himself, who has the puck, along with designs on getting it out of the zone. Leclair makes a great play to knock the puck away from Satan, and the Pens proceed to work their butts off. Why we can't see this kind of effort on a more regular basis, I'm not sure. Anyway, the hard work pays off, the angels sing, and Leclair nets the tying goal (officially a short-handed goal), sending the game to overtime.
The OT is scoreless and the teams go to a shootout. In the shootout, Satan establishes supremacy over the flightless birds, using his dark powers to score the only goal of the shootout, giving the Islanders the win.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Well, I think this was the first game all season (at least the first I can remember) where Pitts. should have won the game because they out-played the other team. The first was a little slow but when the Pens got going I thought they played really well. Caron had a rough night due to some bad plays but he made some seriously good saves along the way. This was also the first time that I have heard another team's announcers compliment the Pens. They kept going on and on about Crosby and also how the Pens are a tough team to play because the work so hard? At first it made me laugh then I thought, hey, at least they're not bashing them :) That goal by LeClair was freaking great. I thought when Crosby went to the box with 2:30 (or so) left in the game, that was it. It was nice to see them scrape a point out of nothing. They really deserved it with the effort they put in. Let's hope they can continue that on for the rest of the season... or at least the next game.
Post a Comment