Sunday, January 28, 2007

Penguins 7, Coyotes 2

There were so many impressive things about this game. I'll just point out several of them:
  • Crosby's goal on the backhand while falling over was another highlight reel goal. He had four points in the game. He leads the scoring race by 10 points. Looks like he's going to run away with it.
  • Every player on the team got almost a full minute of time on the power play. This was largely due to the major penalty assessed to Josh Gratton in the third period with the game already decided. Still, pretty unusual.
  • Among the latest signs the Apocalypse is upon us, the Pens got goals from Talbot, Ruutu and Petrovicky. Ruutu and Talbot continue to show some offensive skill. Ruutu's goal was a really nice one, faking the pass on a two-on-one and the beating Tellqvist by going five-hole.
  • Along the same vein, the third and fourth line have continued to show the ability to generate chances in the offensive zone. The mantra would seem to be "Grinders with some skill".
  • The Pens came out in the third period up 4-2. As we all know, there's nothing more dangerous than a two goal lead, especially when your team might be tired from playing the previous night. There were no signs of fatigue at all, and the Pens dominated.
  • Thibault played his best game of the season. He wasn't asked to carry the team, but he made key saves when they were needed in the second and third periods.
  • The Pens responded to the physical challenges issued by the Coyotes. This is especially important, because other teams are going to try to intimidate them down the stretch by beating on them at every opportunity.
Next up: a three game home stand starting Tuesday vs the Panthers. Time for a little payback.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Another good game for the Pens. I agree, Pat, the production from the 3rd and 4th line has been impressive. Crosby is just freaking amazing. You almost expect him to get a point every shift he's out there. The best part about the game for me was the Pens ability to dictate the flow of the game. They forced Phoenix to play down in their own zone. I don't think I've seen that since 2000/2001.

Another test on Tuesday. I was looking at the rest of the Pens schedule and they better win these kinds of games because they play a lot of playoff teams down the stretch.

Anonymous said...

Unbelievable... that was the best I've seen them play all year. It felt like the Coyotes were in the zone for maybe two minutes the entire game and that's it; the Pens did everything right! I have a very good feeling about the second half of the season.

Big money performance by Thibault as well, he'll definitely need to come up big down the stretch and I'm confident he will.