Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Penguins 5, Sabres 4 (OT - SO - 2-1)

Great game. Great day for hockey in Pittsburgh. I can't throw enough superlatives at what today has meant for the future of the Penguins. The game wasn't bad either. :)

First off, this one should never have made it to overtime. The dump in by the Sabres (Hecht, I think) with about 20 seconds left was from behind the red line by at least three feet. It wasn't even close. That should have been blown dead for icing (the Pens touched the puck first) and the face off moved back to the Sabres end. I'd be willing to bet they wouldn't have tied it, or at least would have had a much harder time.

As for everything else, this was a high intensity, playoff style game. The action was end to end, with very few lulls. The Pens were able to get the better of them, fortunately. The Pens dominated as far as shots are concerned, out shooting the Sabres by a wide margin (38-19). The Sabres were able to do just enough to stay in the game.

Crosby and Christensen were both able to pull of sick moves in the shootout. They essentially did the same thing, but from different sides. Christensen faked forehand, got Miller moving, and pulled back to the backhand. Once Miller started moving and Erik had control enough to pull it to the backhand, there was an empty net to put it into. Crosby did the opposite.

I'm out of time, so that's all I have to say about this one. Great game, great day!

Next up: at New Jersey tomorrow night. Ugh. From high flying end to end to Zzzzzzzzzzzz....

5 comments:

mookieproof said...

Who was the defenseman that got caught pinching in (with a 4-2 lead in the 3rd), leading to Briere's breakaway?

Anonymous said...

I really thought the refs stopped calling stuff when the Pens were up 2 in the 3rd. I know they won't call weak penalties but they let some pretty obvious ones go but give credit to Buffalo, they took advantage. Great goals in the shootout. I'd give the 2nd star (Crosby gets 1st) to Orpik. He made some HUGE hits that I really thought sparked the team. Roberts also had some great scoring chances and some big hits in the 3rd. I also wanted to mention the 3rd and 4th lines. Those guys just go out there and hustle every shift. It really seems to take a toll on the other team in the 3rd.

Anonymous said...

John - I want to say Melichar, but not sure.

Anonymous said...

John - I want to say Melichar, but not sure.

Matt said...

ESPN.com had Melichar down as a -4 last night, so he had to be involved some way in the Briere breakaway goal.

Matt
Wait 'Til Next Year