The Penguins brought their game tonight. But Price took it...and stomped on it.
Pens won the faceoff, but off that, the Habs gain possession and Andre Kostitsyn gets a goal. Orpik and Scudsie just stare at the puck and Flower can’t grab it. Geno is called for holding the stick. On the power play, Dups goes with Staalsy shorthanded and shoots it hard right into Price’s logo. Penalty killed. Sid and Geno go back and forth, but the Habs’ defense clears it. They turn to bring it back in, but are called offsides when it was clearly on sides.
Josh Gorges is called for holding. Pens make a solid power play effort, but no score. Dups makes a nice pass to Sid but his shot is deflected off the post. Sykie lost a chance from Malkin. Matt D’Agostini loses the puck right in front of MAF, haha. Flower’s net dislodged and play is stopped. Commercial break. Whitters shoots a muffin. Pens apply pressure, Eaton between his legs to Dups who misses the shot. Malkin and Crosby playing on the same line now. Malkin goes for it, but he’s sandwiched by two Canadiens and loses the puck. Gogo plays the biscuit well in the Pens zone. Fast, solid skating. Dups shot twice and missed. Nice passing. Dups hits it off Price’s pad and it looks like Sid tapped it over the line to tie it up. Dups gets credit for the goal, however.
A penalty is called against the Habs and a scrum ensues at center ice as CBC breaks for commercial. (Tom Kostopoulos is called for trippimg Fedo.) The Pens hustle during power play. Malkin with a nice slapper from the top of the zone but missed. Sykie made a nice shot but it was high. Pens did not capitalize on the advantage. Tim Wallace passed it up to Maxie who waited for help. He ended up taking a shot that was blocked by Price. With one second to go, Andre Kostitsyn got another goal. Again, all five Penguins around the goal were watching as it went in. Hmm…next period, we’ll come back. Period over.
Dupuis is interviewed during intermission and he puts my thoughts into words: “We need to come out hard in the second,” he said.
Staalsy was held in the Habs zone but it wasn’t called. Dups shoots a muffin and then Sid missed a wide open net. The Penguins’ problem is missing opportunities. Price makes a great left-pad save. Playing against great goalies is frustrating. Fedo’s shot fired off the post. Staalsy makes a shot, blocked. Sid wrapped around the net and dumps it in. Sid is tied with Geno for the most goals on the team with 15. Sid’s tying goal seems to have lit a fire under the lethargic Penguins and they are full of energy.
Latendresse gets two shots but MAF shut him out. Sid is crosschecked across the back of the neck hard by Latendresse, but no penalty is called. He’s slow to get up, then hits Latendresse back in pursuit of the puck. Sid is shown on the bench talking to the medical staff. They are talking about his neck and checking his left wrist. We can only hope it’s not too serious.
Lucky for us, the Habs are missing opportunities too. Fleury makes a great glove save on Sergei Kostitsyn. Replay shows Sid getting hit right between the eyes by the puck: thank God for the shield. Maxie makes a great hit on Roman Hamrlik on the forecheck and then dumps it into the Habs’ zone as the Pens change. Geno goes for it again, but is triple teamed and loses the puck. Cookie Monster gets the puck in and protects it and sends in to Gronk who cannot keep it. The Habs take it down the pond. Fleury was behind the net when the puck came at the net; he dived to save but it sailed wide of the net anyway. Geno passes right to a Hab…stop with the turnovers, bud! Sid hit Mike Komisarek hard and he was slow getting up. The play has stopped being aggressive as the period winds down and ends.
Staalsy missed a great opportunity right off the bat. Pens turn on the pressure. D’Agostini shoots wide and both teams change. Andre Kostitsyn gets his third goal of the night for his first career hat trick. MAF was way out of the net and the puck went right between Orpik, then Flower’s legs. MAF is visibly upset. Tomas Plenkanec is called for hooking Staalsy. Sid shot, then Sykie got a stick on the rebound but Price is there. Geno allows another turnover but MAF makes a huge sprawling save. Staalsy would have had a good opportunity if he would have seen the puck bouncing between his skates. Wallace, Bissonnette and Talbot make a great play but the shot is blocked. Jeffery tried to slap it in but Price blocked it…and another one from Dups. Whitters to Dups, blocked by Price.
Pens keep racking up the shots on Price, hoping to wear him down. Geno, Sid and Staalsy all out on the ice. Therrien is rotating lines like crazy. Gorges is called for tripping Sid, who would have had at least a good scoring chance if not tripped. Staal plays the puck beautifully. Sykie’s shot went off a leg and the puck is cleared by the Habs. Bad bounces are killing the Penguins. Sykie, Sid, Dups and Staalsy all make crazy shots but none of them connect. Penguins are sharp, but Price and bad bounces abound. Miro Satan makes a shot which ricochets over the glass.
During the commercial, Penguins fans can barely breathe. Staalsy sets up Satan but his shot cannot get through. It’s starting to get tense now, with about 5 minutes left and the Habs winning by one. We keep missing chances which is the most frustrating thing. Malkin cannot get a break; the Habs obviously got the message that Geno is dangerous. Tanguay high sticked Dups in the face and heads to the sin bin. The Pens need a PPG like never before. Sid to Geno and Price makes an incredible save. Geno shakes his head; he needed that goal. Cookie Monster hits some jerk hard. Geno makes another shot, rebound denied. Empty net for Pittsburgh. Price is way too on tonight. Wow. 34-19: we have outshot the Habs, but Price is in top form. Habs almost got an empty netter but Whitters gets the icing call. Sid won the faceoff to Sykie. Sykie shot and Price saved. 1.2 seconds left.
Penguins lose. That was just brutal. Playing against a goalie when he’s “on” is so frustrating. Whitters hit his stick off the glass as time expired…that just about sums up the game.
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