-Well, after a great defensive performance against Vancouver on Wednesday, the Pens and Canes treated us to a back and forth shootout (literally and figuratively). This is one of those games that the fans love, but the coaches hate. What matters is the two points we got in the end.
-Flower certainly wasn’t as sharp as he’s been in the last few games, but don’t let the 4 goals that he gave up fool you; he made some a bunch of great saves in this game plus an awesome toe save on Jokinen to seal the W. Two full days off will do him good, though.
-Justin Peters has put up a couple of good performances against the Pens in the past, but he didn’t look sharp to me at all.
-Kunitz was a monster tonight. He made some athletic plays, chipped in with two goals, then went back to “normal” Kunitz with a few good hits. Not that he hasn’t been good this season (he’s done quite well, actually), but I want to see more games like this from him.
-Sid was, once again, flying in this game. He had a hand in all of the Pens goals (to extend his point streak to 8, I might add) and chipped in a shootout goal. He was also great down low in his own zone towards the end of the game. What can I say? We’re seeing fantastic hockey from him right now. Every time he steps on the ice, it seems like the Pens get a good chance.
-Malkin had a great game as well. He was on the puck and was creating things. Seems like he’s finally starting to get out of that funk that plagued him last season and earlier this season. He got his 400th point tonight in 329 games played; wow, congrats!
-I noticed that Sid and Geno tried to go one on four or one on three more than a few times tonight. I think only Sid got one clear shot on net, but the rest, more often than not, led to the Canes getting it out of their own zone. There’s nothing shameful about dumping the puck in the zone, guys.
-It was interesting because, to start the third period and forward till the end of the game, DB switched up the second line. He put Asham on the fourth line, Talbot at center on the second line, with Geno and Cooke on the wings. I have no idea why he’d want to put Geno back at wing or why he’d want to take Asham off the second line. The only reason that I can think of was that he was trying to reward Talbot, who had quietly had a nice game to that point. However, DB usually only does that when the game is pretty much out of hand instead of when the game is tied and the Pens are entering the third period. Weird. I don’t know if I like the move. Oh, and Geno was at wing in the OT period as well, sometimes even without Talbot at center.
-Everyone was so shocked that the Kuni goal counted that it seemed like they forgot it was a PP goal. It’s was definitely nice to see the PP convert in big situations. I love the movement that the Pens have on the PP right now.
-The defense was definitely not as good as they were in the Vancouver game. Still, it’s so much better than what we’ve seen in some of the other games this past season.
-I’m starting to feel bad for the new third line. They’ve been working their asses off every game and don’t have any points to show for it. Their puck possession in the opposition’s zone is certainly having an impact on the games, though. Hopefully, they’ll start getting rewarded soon.
-I thought Michalek had a very nice defensive night.
-The PK: solid as always.
-4-0-1 in our last 5 games! Let’s keep it going!
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