Pens Rebound from Weekend, Down Islanders

Is Kunitz back to form? He scored two against the Isle.

The Islanders are what they are – a last place team whose leading scorer has fewer points than Sidney Crosby has goals. Nonetheless, they’re a scrappy bunch that can give any team trouble. As it turned out, N.Y. didn’t go quietly last night.

The Pens had a somewhat commanding 2-0 lead after the second period, but Frans Nielsen made things interesting midway through the third. Left alone in front of the net, he beat a helpless Marc-Andre Fleury to make it a one-goal game and make me a nervous wreck. After a couple days of shoveling feet of snow, I couldn’t stomach a loss to the Isle.

I guess that’s why I was immensely relieved when Chris Kunitz scored on a breakaway with 5:12 left in the game to give the Pens a 3-1 lead that would stand up after 60 minutes.

Kunitz had a big game. He opened the scoring midway through the second, taking a drop pass from Evgeni Malkin and sending a shot past Dwayne Roloson. Malkin deflected a Sergei Gonchar slapshot from the point to make it 2-0 with 3:00 left in the frame. Malkin, by the way, now has an 11-game scoring streak and is climbing the ladder that is the NHL scoring race.

It should be noted that Kunitz’s first goal came a couple minutes after the Pens killed of an Isle two-man advantage – with Brooks Orpik and Jordan Staal in the box. The successful effort gave the Pens some much-needed momentum.

New York, which outshot the Pens 38-28, had their chances throughout. They hit two posts on a first-period PP and had a sure goal stopped on a diving defensive effort from Kris Letang. Fleury, who’s been getting a little heat for his recent play, was on his game last night.

A trend continued for both teams. New York fell to 3-10-1 in the second of back-to-back games this season. The Pens, meanwhile, improved to 11-3-1 when playing teams in that exact situation. Way to take advantage of the schedule.

If the Pens’ victory wasn’t sweet enough, Montreal ended Washington’s 14-game winning streak last night. We can all sleep a little better (I know I will) knowing the hated Caps won’t break the 1992-93 Pens’ record 17-game streak.

 Random Notes

•  Mark Eaton, who’s playing alongside Gonchar, was +3.
• Amazing stat courtesy of FSN: Crosby or Malkin had figured in on 27 of the team’s last 29 goals entering last night’s game. (It’s now 29 of the last 32.) I don’t know if that’s an indictment of the rest of the team or proof of the duo’s dominance. I’ll go with a little bit of both.
• Isle #1 draft pick John Tavares is struggling after a somewhat hot start. He hasn’t scored in 12 games and is -14 on the season.
• I absolutely love it when Tyler Kennedy drops the gloves. Win, lose or draw, he always puts on a show. Enjoy.