Fleury was tested just 90 seconds in when the Dainus Zubrus fired a shot on Fleury that was deflected on goal by Patrik Elias. MAF made the stop, and the puck was cleared.
Pascal Dupuis got a breakaway, but eventually, his incompetence overtook him, and Dupuis flubbed a pass to Miroslav Satan, who in turn fired over the net. Paul Martin had tripped and taken out his own goalie, Scott Clemmensen, in the process. A pretty awful sequence on the part of #9.
Dustin Jeffrey commited his first NHL turnover when he gave the puck away to a New Jersey defenseman and cost his team an odd-man rush. The Devils made nothing of it, though.
The Pens went on the powerplay when Zach Parise went to the box for goalie interference. The powerplay looked like, well, a Penguins road powerplay, as it was squandered without the Penguins even getting control of the puck.
Max Talbot was ridden into the boards with force by Mike Mottau with 9:48 on the clock in the opening frame, and the superstar was shaken up pretty badly. Interference was called on Mottau.
Matt Cooke got himself a ten minute misconduct penalty for retalliating on Mottau, but the Penguins went to the powerplay nonetheless.
On the powerplay, the Pens worked the puck down low, and Petr Sykora and Evgeni Malkin both took hacks at the puck, but neither could manage to put the puck past Clemmensen.
The Pens were moving the puck very quickly in efforts to beat the New Jersey trap, and they did. The swift passing got the Penguins some quality chances, but when the player with those chances is Dupuis, don't expect to get much good out of it.
The Devils almostscored with 15 seconds to go, and it looked at first glance like they did, but Jamie Langenbrunner's shot just missed the cage. Langenbrunner thought the puck was in, and he through his arms up into the air. While that was happening, Malkin and Sykora transitioned up the ice, and Malkin early scored to make it 1-0. He ultimately failed, banking the puck off the outside of the goal, and it was intermission.
The Devils came out with an edge in the second, and their speed caused Mark Eaton to take
a hooking penalty keeping Mike Rupp from getting to the net after Rupp fired one into Fleury's pads.
Eric Godard went down to block an Andy Greene bomb, and he was visibly shaken up after making the block. Props to Godard for taking one for the team. That's the kind of thing that will endear him to the coaching staff and get him more ice time.
The Penguins woke up and started shooting the puck. They got the bulk of the chances during the middle minutes of the second period.
Malkin and Ruslan Fedotenko made an absolutely unreal play with seven minutes left in the middle frame. Fedo broke into the zone and made a behind the back pass to Malkin. The Devils converged on Malkin, and Geno sent it back to Fedo in the high slot. Ruslan fired it, and it was too hard for Clemmensen to control, making it a 1-0 game at long last. 59 points for Malkin.
The Devils almost scored out of a netmouth scramble, but Fleury just managed to keep it out. Brian Gionta picked up a tripping minor out of the whole thing.
The puck was sliding along the goal line, and Mark Eaton made a kicksave. The puck was about 98 percent over the line, but it wasn't totally conclusive that it was entirely in. Big break for the Penguins, good call or not.
On the ensuing PP, Ryan Whitney took a slapshot that almost took off Fedotenko's head. Otherwise, there wasn't a whole lot to write home about.
Marc-Andre Fleury took a minor for taking out Langenbrunner. The Flower had to make that play, or Langenbrunner very conceivably could have cored.
The Pens were outshot 24-13 through two periods, but Fleury was on the ball, Eaton was doing work, and Malkin and Crosby had come to play.
Langenbrunner had another chance, this time from the hashes with no less than 4/5 of the net yawning right in front of him, and again, he found a way to screw it up, this time shooting way high.
Paul Bissonnette drew an interference call in his first game back in the lineup after his promotion from Wilkes Barre. Biz went behind the net with Paul Martin, and Martin impeded him with the stick. Easy call, and it could've been hooking, too.
As for the actual powerplay, you can probably guess how it went.
Langenbrunner, even once more, fanned on a one timer in the slot, and he accidentally whacked Fedotenko with his stick on the follow-through. Powerplay, Pittsburgh.
The Penguins didn't even come close to getting a shot off, and it took a stellar effort by Whitney to keep Jay Pandolfo from very possibly tying it at 1-1 shorthanded.
Sykora went off for putting his stick into some Devil's gut.
The Penguins PK went to work, and they successfully killed it off. Rob Scuderi discovered who he was during those two minutes. What a human being.
Langenbrunner had another chance, and he let loose a rocket slapper. Fleury said no; it was one of the best saves of MAF's life, even in the conversation with his save in Game 5 of the Finals last year.
With Clemmensen pulled, Whitney was called for playing the puck with a broken stick. He didn't even know it, but that's a penalty.
The Devils had a 6 on 4. Penguin Nation held its collective breath.
The hockey gods sent the Penguins a gift at that point. Brian Gionta knocked the stick out of Brooks Orpik's hands, and he was tagged with a slashing penalty, ending the 6 on 4.
The game was over in a flash.
The best game of Marc-Andre Fleury's career, hands down. Yes, better than Game 5.
That, my friends, is why Craig Patrick drafted him first overall in 2003.
Whew.
Let's all hope that this is a season changing "W".
-The team didn't play its best game tonight, but they showed heart, fire, and passion.
-They deserved to win.
-That's how you beat the Devils at their own game.
-Marc-Andre Fleury = winner
-Biz Nasty played a solid game, and so did Jeffrey and Godard on the fourth line
-Defense wins hockey games, and the Pens showed that tonight.
-Big one tomorrow against the Habs.
GO PENS!
5 comments:
Flower is amazing. End of story.
Pretty much.
Thanks in advance for tomorrow's recap. I'll be at the game after all so I can't do it.
didn't i say Biznasty would come through for us?! GO PENS!
Haha, and the guy in the comments said it was all a pipe dream.
^^^ I was talking about Gaborik.
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