Hello, I just wanted to give heads up to any pens fans that are out of the FSN PGH feed area that the game tonight will be live on Yahoo! Just go to the web page and look for schedule then pick the Pens and Flyers game. There is a live feed at the bottom of the box with a little video camera icon. It will tune you into the FSN PGH feed.Click here to watch the Pens pwn the Flyers. We'll just say that a victory can be Siddo's birthday gift to me. ;)
Yes, today was my thirty-first birthday. Sid answered my call for a win with 2 goals. (Thanks for those, Siddo!)
FIRST PERIOD
Have I mentioned lately that every time I have to endure Paul Steigerwald's insanity, I miss Mike Lange a little more? He started the night out by telling us that Jordan Staal had a "coming out party" in the game against Detroit. o_O Just over a minute into the game, Saint Siddo was off to the sin bin for tripping. Halfway through the penalty kill, Superstar Max Talbot drew a holding penalty on Kimmo Timonen. Neither team scored on the 4-on-4. With 4 seconds left on Sid's penalty, a Flyer iced the puck. As it traveled the length of the ice, Sid emerged. The whistle blew, and the officials signaled that the faceoff would be to the side of Martin Biron. The call prompted Biron to get in one of the ref's faces and argue the call - to no avail. The faceoff went as scheduled, but the Pens didn't capitalize on their advantage.
Kris Letang gave the puck away at neutral ice. No harm was done though, because the best third line in the NHL (at least it is in my opinion!) was on the ice. Letang stole the puck right back and passed it to Tyler Kennedy. TK quickly sent it to Matt Cooke, who promptly scored his first goal as a Pittsburgh Penguin. [Pens 1, Flyers 0]
Eric Godard and Brad Richards had words as they returned to their benches, which forced a reporting-between-the-benches Bob Errey to lean back and duck out of their way. Brooks Orpik did what he's getting paid for when he nailed Richards. Brooksie was "rewarded" for his efforts with a return hit from Mike Knuble. Seconds later, Brooks took a hooking penalty. The Pens successfully killed the penalty due in part to TK's unreal ability to simply take the puck from whomever he wants, whenever he wants.
Braydon Coburn and Geno Malkin were racing to the puck when Coburn pushed Geno in the small of the back as he was losing an edge. Geno fell awkwardly into the boards, and Ruslan Fedotenko rushed in to confront the man responsible. Coburn then pushed Raggedy Ruslan to down to the ice just before he was lead off to the penalty box for holding. On the ensuing power play, Richards and another Flyer had a shorthanded chance, but our title man sped in and stripped the puck away. The Pens didn't score on their power play. In the last seconds of the period, Rob Scuderi blocked another shot, this time with his right foot. (FYI - Neither Geno nor Scuds were seriously injured.)
SECOND PERIOD
After an extended shift, the puck went from Geno to Ruslan back to Geno for the goal! [Pens 2, Flyers 0] Later Jeff Carter was given a delayed penalty for hooking. During the delay, a Flyer upended Mike Zigomanis, but another call was not made. On the ensuing power play, Siddo took the pass at the blueline and found a seam between Timonen and Coburn. Sid moved the puck from his forehand to his backhand for the goal as Coburn hooked him. [Pens 3, Flyers 0]
With Coburn in the box, there was a shift in the planetary alignment. There had to have been because it was after this scoreless power play that the Flyers opened up and took ownership of the game. The first marker for the Flyers came from a redirection from Carter. [Pens 3, Flyers 1]
It only got worse. After a 3-on-2 chance for the Flyers, Scott Hartnell took what should have been a ridiculously dumb charging penalty after he took a cheap shot on Petr Sykora. (Scottie Upshall tried in vain to goad Syko into an even-up penalty.) While the Penguins were the team with the man advantage, Simon Gagne blocked a shot from Alex Goligoski, got the rebound, beat both Gogo and Geno, and promptly scored a shorthanded goal. [Pens 3, Flyers 2] For what it's worth, Marc-Andre Fleury was thisclose to stopping him with the poke check, but we all know that "close" only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.
Oh, and the bad times weren't over - not by a long shot. Mad Max took a penalty for hooking, but the Flyers didn't score on their advantage. As Max came out of the box, he was able to take the lead pass, but Luca Sbisa hooked him up. Superstar ended up straddling his stick as a result, but he didn't let that stop him from trying to get a shot in. So with Sbisa in the box, the Flyers got a 3-on-1 that resulted in Gagne's 2nd shorthanded goal of the night. [Pens 3, Flyers 3]
Then Mark Eaton took a penalty for interference that resulted in a PPG for Joffrey Lupul with only 4 seconds left in the period. [Pens 3, Flyers 4]
THIRD PERIOD
There's not much to say about most of the 3rd period. Both teams played well, and the action was end to end right to the last second of the game. Dany Sabourin was in goal to replace the rattled MAF. Later Carter nailed Geno into the boards. Poor Geno fell on top of his own leg behind him (his skate was under his butt), and he slowly got up to return to the bench. The Flyers began taking some liberties. They finally paid for it when Lupul was given a penalty for high-sticking. Geno the BEAST was back out on the ice for the power play, but the Pens didn't score on their advantage.
Siddo must have read this post prior to hitting the ice (LOL) because with just over 2:30 left in the game, he scored the tying goal from one knee after Richards turned the puck over to Superstar in front of the net. Mad Max did attempt to shoot the puck but fanned on it, and the puck went right to Sid, who swooped in on one knee to send that sucker into the twine. [Pens 4, Flyers 4] This recap wouldn't be coming so late if we hadn't gone to...
OVERTIME
Despite a beautiful breakout by Sid and some fantastic hockey from our Boys, the overtime period wasn't long enough to decide a winner. It was time for a...
SHOOTOUT
You can choose to believe this next part or not, it really doesn't matter: When I take notes for a shootout, I generally number from 1 to 8 before it gets underway to allow for instances when 3 shots per team isn't enough to break the tie. Tonight, I was absent mindedly numbering the page as I talked with my husband during the commercial. I ended up numbering from 1 to 12.
The Pens shot first.
- Syko → Blocked
- Gagne → Stopped with a nice poke check by Sabou
- Letang → Blocked
- Richards → Blocked with a stunning stick save right on the goal line by Sabou
- Sid → Blocked
- Carter → Blocked
- Geno → Blocked
- Timonen → Had Sabou fooled, but his shot hit the goal post
- Miroslav Satan → Blocked
- Lupul → Blocked
- Gogo → Moves the puck back and forth and back and through Biron's 5 hole for the GOAL!
- Hartnell → Nearly lost the puck on the way there, lost it when he got there, and hauled Sabou down after missing
As Friend of The Show TheNWChica pointed out in The Friends' Zone: #13 wins it on the 13th (on my 31st birthday)!!! What a present! ;)
Now if you want to vote for the Pens who are nominated on the All Star ballot, you can click here to VOTE FOR OUR BOYS OF WINTER. Another thing you can do is text the word "PENS" to 81812 to vote for all of them at once. (I already texted, and I'm going to fill out the online ballot as soon as I'm done writing this recap.) I strongly encourage you to do both, too!! Then when you're done with that, CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR THE GREATEST CAPTAINS. Each week, they're going to have different captains from different decades going head to head for the Greatest Captain title.
The Pens play the Sabres on Saturday. They'll be debuting their "new" third jerseys, and I will be in attendance. :D
GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BIG thanks to Diana for the heads up about the Yahoo! feed, to everyone who reminded me to link the All Star ballot, and to everyone for the birthday wishes!! :D
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