Friday, February 06, 2009

Penguins 4, Blue Jackets 1

Domination. We saw domination in effect at the Igloo tonight. This is what the Pens were doing to teams late last season, and it's the most encouraging showing of the year, in my opinion.

The Jackets kept things close. Captain Alphabet stood tall between the pipes for the men from Columbus during the first. The Jackets somehow had 15 shots, but I can't remember the last time I saw so few good scoring chances come from 15 shots in a period.

The Pens turned it on in the second, beginning with their one and one power play. Letang scored the first of his two goals on the night to give the Pens a 1-0 lead. Sykora made it 2-0 and Letang's second made it 3-0.

That made the game feel like it was about 79-0, because the Pens were outplaying the Jackets in just about every aspect of the game. The two most encouraging signs were the plays along the boards (soundly won by the Pens) and the defensive shutdown after a shot by Columbus. There were few second chance opportunities, and Fleury only had to make a few great saves.

Great game to follow the great comeback on Wednesday.

Next up: This was just the warm-up. The Red Wings come to town on Sunday. National TV. NBC. The NHL sent me a promo video to use. Expect to see that on the site tomorrow.

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