Sunday, March 15, 2009

Penguins 6, Bruins 4

This was a nice win against the top team in the East. The game was completely up for grabs, essentially until Staal iced it with an empty net goal.

The line of Guerin, Kunitz and Crosby combined for 9 points (3 + 6). That's great, because it gives Crosby a chance to work with guys who are showing that they can finish when they're on the ice with him. Guerin's goal especially stood out, as Bill moved to the center slot area, took a nice pass from Sid and beat Thomas. If you remember Guerin's first game, there was almost the exact same play and Bill wasn't ready for the pass.

Kunitz didn't stop trying to hit Chara all game long. He did manage to put Chara on his wallet once, but I think he just made Zdeno angry, because Chris was roadkill shortly thereafter at the hands of the giant.

Kunitz is also a class individual - he was credited with a hat trick originally, but he said the second goal he "scored" never touched him, and he told the official scorer that. The goal was changed to Gonchar and Kunitz lost the hat trick. He said it was more about being honest than anything else. Lots of credit to Mr Kunitz for that classy move.

On the negative side, Garon played like a goalie that was very rusty. That's never a good sign from your backup - you need him to come in and play well.

On the positive side, the Pens were able to muster enough offense to cover up for their shaky goaltender.

To Garon's credit, he made some key saves late in the game to help preserve the lead and earn the two points.

Speaking of those two points, the Pens are now standing all alone in the 5th spot, though they've played 1-2 more games than anyone else around them (except Carolina).

Next up: The Thrashers, who are hot right now, come to the Igloo on Tuesday.

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