The Penguins Escape Montreal With A Point
No matter how well the Pittsburgh Penguins are playing at any point in time, this poor performing Montreal Canadiens team gives them everything they can handle, especially at home. That was certainly the case last night as the Canadiens were able to get a win in an 8 round shootout against the Pens for a final of 3-2.
Montreal scored first in the second period from a wrist shot by Louis Leblanc to make it 1-0. The Penguins were able to tie things up with a Short Handed goal by Pascal Dupuis in the 3rd period. Nearly 2 minutes after that, Fluery who had a great game up to that point let in a wrist shot from the Blue Line from Lars Eller. A shot that Fleury should have stopped and one that he did not let get to him beyond that point.
Fleury was very sharp after the softy that got by and he needed to be last night. The Penguins gave up breakaways and open scoring chances throughout the evening. Paul Martin had an especially difficult night as he was on the ice more than any other Penguin, he still continued to struggled for what would be about the 3rd or 4th game in a row. Martin was giving the puck up in bad spots and making poor passes which has been a trend recently.
The Pens were able to get the the equalizing goal with a terrific set up by Malkin and the goal by James Neal. There was no more scoring during the rest of the regular time and the overtime period. The shootout went all the way to the 8th round with each team getting 2 goals a piece, including a sparkling spin-o rama goal. The Canadiens were able to get a 3rd puck by Fleury in the 8th round of the shootout with a pretty goal by Tomas Plekanic. The Pens were not able to score to extend and the Canadiens were able to escape with the 2 points.
During the game, PK Subban continued his thuggery with some cheap shots against Malkin. The NHL does not call this stuff, and because of that, Kris Letang went after Suban. I understand that sports like to police themselves, but stupidity like this should not continue. While listening to a mid day radio show in Pittsburgh, former Coach Michel Therrien was interviewed and was asked about Subban. He said that he is a kid with a lot of talent and a great many tools in his bag. But, he lacks discipline and maturity and because of that, these type of things happen.(interview from 93.7 THE FAN)
That of course paraphrased, but why the rest of the NHL has to put up with a guy that is “struggling with maturity issues” makes no sense to me. If the NHL were to suspend players for stupidity like this, or the consistent slew footing that takes place, they may be able to control this part of the game without players having to jump other players. And As I have written about in the past, $2500 fines will not fix anything.
The Penguins are off again till Saturday when they will once again play back to back games again. If you would like to continue to follow me you can here and on Twitter at Sports Monger. You can also follow me on Facebook at Pittsburgh Sports Monger. Lastly, you can listen to the latest episode of The Penslabyrith.com Pens Lab Report on Sports Monger Radio.