Thursday, March 01, 2007

Penguins 4, Rangers 3 (OT - SO - 1-0)

The Pens win a HUGE game with a third period comeback. They were down 2-0 going into the third, courtesy of two quick goals late in the second by New York. The first one was a fluke, bouncing off of Scuderi's skate after a hard rebound. The second was less of a fluke - it was simply a nice shot by Nylander.

The Pens got two shorties in the third, one by Staal and one by Army. Staal is now tied for the NHL record for short-handed goals by a rookie. The Rangers took back the lead for a little while on the same power play that Army nabbed a short-handed goal, but Sergei Gonchar tied the game again with the power play expiring.

Fleury was great tonight, making several key saves at key times.

In the shootout, Christensen hit the post, but Fleury stopped all three Rangers. Crosby converted to give the Pens the win. He went to the 5-hole on Lundqvist, which is all the more impressive given that the Rangers goalie is terrific at taking away the low shots.

This one was a great confidence booster for the Pens. They're floundering a bit right now, but they're sticking to their system and not panicking. They managed to gut out two points tonight.

Mark Eaton was hurt early in the first, but no word on the nature or extent of the injury (it's the dreaded "lower body injury"). I wouldn't expect him to play tomorrow night.

Next up: at Carolina on Friday. Another key game on not much rest.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

What did you guys think of the new guys? I thought Roberts was great. He was all over the place hitting people and that really seemed to rub off on others. He had some mistakes but it just seemed due to being on a line with new guys. Laraque did good. Had some big checks and NO ONE on the Rangers wanted anything to do with him. I was surprised how well he did behind the new in the off. zone. He's no Crosby but he did good for a 4th liner keeping the puck deep. Like you mentioned, huge win even if it was kind of sloppy. Carolina tonight and a chance to go up 8 or 9 points above 9th place with a win. LET'S GO PENS!

Unknown said...

I forgot to mention Staal's shortie... that was just an amazing shot. To think that they almost sent that dude back to his junior team and he turns out to be the best offensive penalty killer in the league so far
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