The Pittsburgh Penguins were in action against the Florida Panthers tonight in Florida. The Pens are 8-2 on the road, and have scored first in the last 5 road games. Pittsburgh has some unfinished business against the Panthers, because the Panthers are the reason that Geno is out with a concussion.
This game would be physical from the drop of the puck, more so from the Pens. Pittsburgh was wanting to come out and hit, seeing what the Panthers did to their star when in Pittsburgh. The first period was played at a very fast passé, with both teams flying around attacking the puck. However, the Panthers were able to get on the board first, breaking that 5 road games with scoring the first goal for the Pens. The goal came on the power-play on Tyler Kenndy for roughing. Now I have a problem with this call because neither player knew it was an icing call, and kept the play going. Pittsburgh was just unable to clear the puck from their zone.
That's not to say that the Pens didn't have any chances to score, because they were able to mustard up 8 scoring chances. Now there is one problem that I have right now with the way the Pens have played without Malkin. They just aren't taking any shots. They are getting too cute, trying to pass the puck around, and wait for the "perfect" shot. They need to star throwing pucks at this goaltender, because he gives up a lot of rebounds.
The Pens were able score within the first min of the second period, but would be give up 2 quick penalties and have to kill a 5 on 3. They were able to kill the one penalty, but were not able to kill both, giving up yet another power-play goal. Then there was a scrum in front of goaltender of Thomas Vokoun. This would give the Pens a power-play of their own to try and tie the game back up. They weren't able to do so, as Florida was able to kill the penalty. Shortly after that the Penguins would go a man down yet again, and give up yet another power-play goal, only to go a man down and give up 4 total power-play goals in the first two periods.
That would do it for goaltender Thomas Vokoun, and the flower would get into the net for the rest of the game. Pittsburgh would come up with another goal in the second period at the 10 min mar, from Dustin Jeffreys, after a monster hit from Derrick Engaland, which would give the Pens new life in this game. They would however, have to try and kill another penalty. They would do just that, and would come back and get another goal off of a turn over. Paul Martin would take a rocket shot and beat Theodore top shelf and off the cross bar. The sore would be 4-3 in favor of the Panthers with just under 5 mins to go in the second period. Pittsburgh would get yet another power-play chance to tie this game up, and Sydney Crosby would capitalize on that and tie the game at 4 goals a piece.
This had to be the craziest second period I've ever seen. There were so many power-plays, so many goals, and so much intensity from both teams. Now a lot of times there's not 7 goals scored in an entire game, and there were 7 total goals scored in the second period alone.
This game had everything that hockey fans know and love. The Pens lost this game 6-4, but they have nothing to hang their heads about. They played a good game, they were very physical, and showed drive to coming back after being down 4-1. One major thing that the Pens do need to work on is taking less penalties. They played a man down 7 times in this game, and 4 of the 6 goals came when the Pens were down a man or two.
My take from this game is that the Pens played a sloppy first period, should have taken less penalties, could have taken a lot more shots, and last but not least they need Malkin back. Malkin adds a certain spark to the Pens offense, and they just seem to play with a different type of intensity. The Pens need to change the way they play without Geno, until they can get him back on the ice.
Until next time,
You keep doing what you do, and I'll keep you up to date with everything sports.
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