Sole Possession of First Place
Wow - being that it's eight games into the season, that's a nice thing to be able to say. Granted, it IS only eight games in, so this really means nothing in the long run, but it's nice to have.
Anyway, the game last night was great. The Penguins are learning how to win. They allowed only 22 shots to the Devils, which was HUGE for them. That shot total is the lowest of the season, and quite amazing, considering the only other game where they were under 34 was the Detroit game.
What can be said about Malkin's goal? It was a highlight reel goal, and perhaps more importantly, it came at a critical time. The Pens were only up one goal when Malkin took an outlet pass from Crosby, split two defenders, waited for Brodeur to go down and scored on one of those reach-back-across backhand shots in close. Take a look at it for yourself on ESPN - quite worth the time to see. I think the best part is that the happiest guy in the building, besides Evgeni himself, is Sidney Crosby. That's really great to see.
Other random thoughts:
- Crosby, Staal and Malkin scored goals. This is what we were hoping for - all of the young guys on the team contributing. Fleury had 20 saves on 22 shots.
- The arena attendence seems to be down this year. They were only at a little over 13,000 last night.
- Max Talbot played on a line with Ruutu and Thorburn. Nice to see Max back in Pittsburgh.
- Will Jordan Staal stay in the NHL? He only has one more game until he would have to be returned to junior. I think you have to keep him.
3 comments:
I know Staal is young but he's making it really hard to find reasons to send him back down. He looks comfortable out there and sure he makes some mistakes here and there but I think he's showed (at least up to this point) he can produce at this level.
It was great to see Talbot out there mixing it up again. He had about 3 really good hits. Caused some great offensive zone turnovers and seemed to be a perfect fit on that line with his speed.
I have a feeling the game against the Flyers could turn ugly. With all the changes going on there this could be one of those lets go get in lots of fights for eachother to gel the team... just like the Pens did against Columbus last year!
Anyways, great game last night and let's hope they keep it up on Sat.
Awesome game to watch... and did anyone else get tired of hearing Mike Emrick say "Maxime" Ouellet's name wrong? Actually made me wish I was listening to Steigy instead...
1) If this team doesn't begin to sell out now with all these young exciting players AND winning, then perhaps Pittsburgh doesn't deserve to keep its team!
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