"Shoot more. Shoot everybody. Everybody play hard. It's good game."That guy is AWESOME. Tonight, between his efforts and Sid's, the Penguins were able to stage an amazing Thanksgiving comeback with 5 - count 'em - five unanswered goals. Though, technically, there was one goal that didn't count... But we'll get to that a little later.
~ Evegeni Malkin
FIRST PERIOD
Early on, Doug Weight was called for slashing. Geno fired a shot that left the puck loose in front of the net, but Joey MacDonald beat Tyler Kennedy (whom Paul Steigerwald hasn't called "the little tiger" in a few games...) to it. The Pens looked good on the first power play, but MacDonald kept them from scoring. The Isles got their first chance on the advantage when Philippe Boucher crosschecked an Islander in front of the net to prevent a scoring chance. With 21 seconds left in Boucher's penalty, Mike Zigomanis was called for interference after running right over MacDonald. Just as Boucher returned to the ice for the 5-on-4, Dany Sabourin made a great pad save. But the rebound went to Weight, who managed to get the puck behind Sabou's pad but NOT over the goal line. Rob Scuderi rushed in to help out Sabou but instead accidentally banked the puck off Sabou's skate and into the goal. [Pens 0, Isles 1]
It only took a minute and 10 seconds for the Islanders to add to the lead. An Islander to lob the puck (Murphy dump style), and a Penguin used the blade of his stick to interrupt the pass and redirect it to Kris Letang. (I'm sorry; I didn't see who either of those first two players were. But I won't have to worry about that for long - I'm getting DVR service on Tuesday!!!) Letang seemed unsure of whether he should get the puck with his hand, foot, or stick, so instead he let Trent Hunter go in for the steal and the goal. [Pens 0, Isles 2]
Then there was even more bad news. Radek Martinek took a hard slapshot about four or five feet away from Mad Max Talbot. Max turned sideways as Martinek fired and ended up taking the brunt of the shot on the inside of his left foot. He literally hopped off the ice and did not return to the game. His future status as of this time is still unknown. Then the battle of the big men happened. Enjoy this clip of Eric Godard v Mitch Fritz:
Advantage: Godard. Why? 1.) For having the stones to take on a man that is 3 inches taller and 20 pounds heavier, and 2.) for getting a few decent shots in while in the process of being stripped (WTF?). Before the end of the period, the Pens got a power play chance when Andy Hilbert was busted for boarding Raggedy Ruslan Fedotenko, but they did not score.
SECOND PERIOD - NOTE: My husband deserves the credit for my being able to recap all of the second and most of the third period of this game. I was watching, but I was elbow deep in pumpkin and unable to take proper notes. ;)
Sabou misplayed the puck and it nearly went into his own net. Speaking of own net goals in favor of the Islanders, check this disaster out - Montreal Canadien Ryan O'Byrne didn't realize his goalie was pulled for a delayed penalty and, well, just watch:
Man, even though he's a Hab, I feel kind of bad for him! Obviously there was a serious lack of communication there. The Isles ended up winning that game in the shootout. (Many thanks to Friend of The Show DayWalk3r for sending in that clip!) But back to our game: Sid was tripped up (no call) and while he was on his wallet, he made two stick moves and passed the puck cleanly to the point.
Geno was penalized for for high sticking, and on the ensuing Islanders power play, Bill Guerin fired a knuckle puck from the point to beat Sabou. [Pens 0, Isles 3] Head Coach Michel Therrien decided to pull Sabou and put John Curry in for his first NHL appearance.
While the Isles got another power play when Pascal Dupuis was called for hooking, it actually ended up looking more like the Pens were the ones with the advantage. Geno had two shorthanded chances, but the first shot rang off the post and the second shot went high. Then Jordan Staal took a stunning pass from Siddo and fired a shot that MacDonald had to block with his pads. Neither the Pens nor the Isles scored while Dups was in the box.
Just seconds before the period ended, Dups passed the puck to Brooks Orpik, who fired a shot from the point that ricocheted off a skate and into the goal. [Pens 1, Isles 3]
THIRD PERIOD
Crosby drove to the net and shot the puck. As the puck crossed the goal line, Saint Siddo was pushed into MacDonald and the net lifted. After the net came off its moorings, the puck was (literally) about a foot over the goal line. The on ice call was NO GOAL, but anyone with half a brain knew that we'd be going to the War Room for this one. After only a brief wait, the ref came out with the most ridiculous explanation that I've heard in years: The on ice NO GOAL call stood because "the player hit the other player into the net." WHAT?! That makes absolutely no sense. It didn't matter anyways. That call may have actually worked in our favor because it was like a very angry switch got turned on inside Siddo's head. He became a man possessed. Therrien no doubt sensed this when he made the decision to pair up the dynamic duo. He and we were not disappointed with the results.
Geno got the puck and sent it to Tanger in the Pens' zone. Tanger, in turn, sent a lead pass to Sid, who then made a brilliant drop pass to Geno. Geno made a move along the boards and went to the middle to pass back to Sid on the side of the goal. There was absolutely no doubt this time - SID SHOOTS AND SCORES!!! [Pens 2, Isles 3]
Another strange incident occurred in this game that I don't think I've ever seen before. There was a faceoff in the neutral zone that Ziggy cleanly won, but the ref called for a do-over because the Islanders player wasn't ready. ??? Ziggy won the do-over to a Penguin who dumped the puck around the boards. It took a yet another weird bounce (this time in favor of the Pens) and went right to Miroslav Satan, but his shot was stopped by MacDonald.
The duo came back out to the ice. Sid took a pass from Geno, gained the blue line, then found Geno skating through the wide open through the slot. It's a no brainer again - of COURSE he scored! [Pens 3, Isles 3]
Fifty seconds later, the duo put on yet another show for us. Andy Sutton was behind MacDonald when Siddo swooped in seemingly from out of nowhere to steal the puck as he was falling down to the ice. Still in the process of falling, he centered a pass for Geno who promptly banged one home. [Pens 4, Isles 3] With the go ahead goal, Curry became the goaltender of record.
The Islanders made things worse for themselves when, after Matt Cooke cleanly hit Weight at center ice, Guerin went after Cookie and took a retaliatory roughing penalty for his efforts. (Stupid move! But thanks for that, on behalf of all Pens fans, LOL!) The Pens didn't score on their power play. Nothing else of note really happened until MacDonald was pulled in favor of the extra attacker with about 45 seconds left in the game. Geno and Siddo developed an odd man rush towards the empty net. Geno (no doubt with the captain's blessing) fired the shot that gave him his 3rd career hat trick!!! [Pens 5, Isles 3]
Geno and Curry were interviewed (separately) during the post-game show. Geno said the quote at the beginning of this post, and when asked about Sid, he replied that Sid "is best player in NHL." Oh yes, I found the video:
While Curry was being interviewed, FSN PGH drew the camera back to reveal Godard slowly creeping up and creaming Curry in the face with a towel full of shaving cream!! I was unable to find a clip of that, but when I do, I'll make sure I post it because it is freaking gold!! :)
Check out ESPN's highlight reel from the game:
(BTW, the Talbot translation post is coming soon. When I said yesterday that I'd post it today, I was thinking that today was going to be Tuesday. Oops! :P)
HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!!!
GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!
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