Monday, December 22, 2008

Penguins 4, Sabres 3 (OT)

This was not one of the better games played by the Pens. It was good enough.

The credit for this win should go to one place - the penalty kill for the Pens. The Sabres had six chances on the power play and the Pens killed them all. That's a great effort for a group that has allowed eight goals in the last three games.

The Versus broadcast was poor, to say the least. They never did put the first penalty up on the screen, so we had no idea how much time was left. They also had horrible camera work on three of the four second period goals. We didn't get to see the lead-up to the goal, as they were either busy with a close up, or lost track of the puck.

Fleury didn't have his best game, but he did enough to keep the team in the game. He was having a hard time with rebound control, but the defense was there to help him out most of the time and he was able to shut the door on his own for the rest.

The team was out shot 35 - 22 and still was able to tie the game on their only power play of the night to earn a point. They earned their second point when Crosby deflected a Malkin knuckle-puck past Ryan Miller. Sid's stick may have been above the crossbar when he deflected it, but the War Room in Toronto didn't see enough evidence of that.

This was the kind of win the Pens badly needed. They didn't have their best night and yet found a way to earn two points.

Next up: Build on success when Pittsburgh South (Tampa) comes to town. Welcome back to Ryan Malone, among others.

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