Ah an afternoon game, which means I didn’t have time this morning to write a Game Day post. Today the pens are taking on the Florida Panthers at home. The biggest news is that Tyler Kennedy will be back in the lineup, that will really charge up that third line. The Pens are in the power blues today, should be a good game!
First Period
The Pens start out the game with some energy and draw a penalty. Pens on the power play, their second unit looks better than the first, but they don’t even get a shot. It would have been great to start the game with a power play goal.
Talbot steals the puck and he makes a nice move around the Panthers defense and then tries to pass it over to Wallace, but the Panthers break it up. Wow what a sick move by Talbot.
The Game slows down a bit, the Panthers are feeling the Pens out a little more.
Gill takes an interference penalty, Panthers on the power play. The Pens get a short handed chance, but Anderson makes the save. The Panther are getting some chances, the move the puck from the point to the high slot, and they rip one towards the net and it beats Fluery. 1-0 Panthers.
Both teams are exchanging chances.
The Panthers get a 2 on 1, the drive to the net and take a shot and it beats Fluery through the 6 hole and goes into the net. 2-0 Panthers.
Dupuis goes to the box for hooking. Panthers on the power play, they are getting some shots on net, one appears to go off the outside of the post. The Panthers have 1 final rush before the period ends, they come into the pens zone and Orpik just nails a panther!
End of the first.
Second Period
Sabu is in net to start the second period, interesting since Fluery only let in 2 goals, maybe he could be hurt? Or Therrien is just sending a message to him. The Panthers start the second with 14s on the power play. The Pens kill it off.
The Pens lose a faceoff in the offensive zone, the Panthers try to go behind the net, but Fedotenko gets the puck and feathers it past Anderson. 2-1 Panthers. Great way to start the second!
The pens are getting more pressure on the Panthers, Jeffery takes a shot Anderson makes the initial save and then Wallace follows on. Anderson hits the puck up in the air with his stick and out of play, thats a penalty. Pens on the power play, they work it from the point to the high slot, Malkin takes a shot, the rebound comes out and Crosy tries to wrap it around but the Panthers defense makes the save for Anderson, so close! The Pens don’t convert on the power play, but looked really good.
Satan takes a roughing penalty. Panthers on the power play, they move it down low then pass it right through the slot and McCabe is open and puts it past Sabu. 3-1 Panthers.
The Pens come flying into the Panthers zone, Malkin flips the puck over to Sykora, he puts in on net, Malkin comes flying in there after the puck and knocks McCabe into Anderson the goalie, they call Malkin for interference, bad call. Panthers back on the power play, they are moving the puck well in the pens zone. The move it D to D and McCabe takes a 1-timer, Sabu makes the save and the rebound comes out and the Panthers put it in. 4-1 Panthers.
The Pens call a timeout, on the net play the Pathers come to the Pens net and Sabu covers it, a scrum insues and Crosby has Campbell in a headlock, they both exchange blows. Both go off for roughing, 4 on 4 action. Both penalties expire.
Pens are trying to get something going, Cooke gets level and the puck is not even near him….no call. Off the faceoff Campbell and Talbot squareoff, Talbot wins that fight for sure. Off the next faceoff Crosby drops the gloves with Mclean, I don’t think Mclean knew what was even going on. Crosby gets an extra penalty.
Malkin breaks through the Panthers defense and has a clear path to the net, he gets hooked but still gets a shot on net. Finally a penalty call. 4 on 4 action. Kennedy is passing in front of the Panthers net and gets knocked over….no call, Fedotenko gets clearly hooked, no call. The Pathers break the pens defense and get a breakaway and beat the Sabu. 5-1 Panthers.
End of the second, what a horrible period 3 unanswered goals.
Third Period
Therrien puts Fluery back in to start the third period, should he have even been taken out after the first? Panthers start the third on the power play. The Pens do a great job and kill off the penalty.
The pens third line comes flying into the panthers zone, Kennedy passes it to Staal who passes it to Cooke, he puts it on net but Anderson is strong on net.
Cooke takes a hooking penalty, before it is called Frolik puts another one past Fluery. 6-1 Panthers. This is just horrible.
David Booths takes a slashing call, Pens on the power play. They really can’t get anything going, another power play chance wasted.
The Panthers are still putting pressure on the pens, they ring one off the post behind Fluery.
Gill takes a slashing call, Panthers get another power play. The Panthers are getting to all of the loose pucks but the Pens are able to kill off the Penalty.
The Pens 4th line is getting a little bit of pressure, but Anderson is like a wall in net, stopping everything the pens throw at the net!
The Panthers ring another one off the post behind Fluery.
Game Thoughts
This is definitely rock bottom for the Pens, I could see losing 6-1 against the Bruins or Rangers, but against the Panthers and at home? It’s really embarrassing! Who knows that was up with Fluery, he did not play like he has, then Therrien pulled him then put him back in. Where was the offense this game? Fedotenko’s goal was really a lucky bounce, they couldn’t do anything on the power play once again. It just seems the Pens don’t know what to do to get a win. It was good to see Kennedy back in the lineup today, he played a good game. It was also good to see Talbot and Crosby mix it up to try to give the Pens some momentum. This is the Pens 4th lose in a row, the 5th lose in a row at home! Not good at all, they need to do something to turn things around.
Wow when I saw this first clip I was amazed, the refs at the Lightning vs. Avalanche game Thursday really did some poor officiating. Thursday night in Tampa, Milan Hejduk of the Avalanche was taking his shootout chance when goaltender Mike Smith lost control of his stick, this is what transpired after…
Ok for those who don’t know as the rules state, “a goal will be awarded when, during a penalty shot, a shot is disrupted by a deliberately thrown stick.” Now with that said and watching the video you can’t possibly say that Smith threw his stick deliberately. To me it looked like he went for the poke check and then he dropped the stick to make a blocker save. The refs discussed it for a while, why did they not go to Toronto to solve the problem? Instead they awarded a goal to the Avalanche, which would decide the shootout. If the Lightning do not already have enough problems this season, to lose a game like that…wow.
Mats Sundin finally decided on a team, he is now a Vancouver Canuck. That is a sigh of relief for Pens fans as it was down to Vancouver and the Rangers for him. He signed a 2 year contract, we are not sure how much it is worth, but we do know it is less than the 10 million originally offered to him over the summer by the Canucks.
Thanks to MotherPucker for the heads up on this, check out NHL mutants Flickr Page. Someone has taken 2 players a morphed them into 1. How about Anson Kennedy, Mike Malkin, or Sidney Jokenin.
Look like the Winter Classic is already having problems, look at what happented when they were trying to unload a Zamboni at the site….haha
The Pens will faceoff against the Flyers today at 1PM in Philly. Unlike most people I am actually a fan of Saturday afternoon games. It is nice spending an afternoon watching hockey. This Flyers team is much different than the team we played back in November. They have really picked up their season and are now in 5th place in the east and second in the Atlantic division. In their last game they came back from a 5-1 Hurricanes lead to beat them in the shootout. Surprisingly Scott Hartnell had a hat trick in that game! It should be a good match up for sure and whoever wins will take over that second place spot in the Atlantic division.
Maxime Talbot will not be in today’s game as he suffered an undisclosed injury in Thursday’s game against the Islanders. Yesterday Fluery was given a clean bill of health from the Pens staff and is ready to play. There is no word yet on who will get the start today, the Pens website has Sabu as the starter, but no official word yet. Because Fluery is healthy Curry has been sent back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton along with Chris Minard. The Pens have recalled Connor James though, we has 17 points (10 goals, seven assists) in 26 games with the baby Pens. Puck drops at 1PM, Go Pens!
The News Reel
The NHL have released a rendering of what the rink for the 2009 Winter Classic will look like at Wrigley Field. I’m not sure if I like hockey on a baseball diamond or a football field better. You can check out the rendering below or watch them explain it on the NHL Network Online.
Mike Brophy checks out some of the great deals you can get on hockey tickets around the League. The Panthers are a great example, you get a $5 gas card, free parking and a Coca-cola combo meal. You get all of this for a whopping $17! Funny that they show a picture from Mellon arena in the article, we have no problem selling out the Igloo. The picture has to be old!
A great story out of DC, since Jose Therdore is out with a hip flexor the Capitals called on their Web site producer Brett Leonhardt as an emergency backup goalie for Brent Johnson against the Ottawa Senators on Friday. You can check out the after-game interview here.
And to end the news reel for today how about a Winter Classic 2009 trailer…
The Pens are in Jersery tonight to take on the Devils for the 3rd time this year. Just like with Buffalo the season series is tied 1-1. The pens won the last game against the Devils 4-1, where Sidney Crosby scored his 2nd career hat-trick. The Devils are having a pretty good season so far with a 14-8-2 record. Having Brodeur out has not made that much of a difference. Scott Clemmensen has held the fort for the Devis, he will get his 6th consecutive start tonight.
The Pens are coming off their 2nd loss so they are going to want to bounce back for sure. They are really going to need to work on their power play that was 1 for 8 on Monday night. Looks the like pens are mixing things up again recalling Taffe and Tim Wallace, who will make his NHL debut, from from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL. With the Pesonen has been demoted back down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Taffe and Wallace will both play on the 4 line. Puck drops at 7:08PM. Go Pens!!
