Funny thing about last night’s game. When Evgeni Malkin roofed a wrist shot just 1:34 in, I thought to myself, “This is a good start. Might be another easy win against Ottawa.” Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Hey, I never said I was smart.
Ottawa continued its torrid hot streak, beating the Pens 4-1 to win a franchise-record eighth straight. The Sens have allowed only eight goals over that stretch. I have no clue what sparked this turnaround (they lost five in a row prior to this streak), but it looks like Ottawa is a team to be reckoned with the rest of the way. The win moved them to within three points of the Pens in the standings.
Brian Elliott is sure doing his job – he’s won six straight and stopped 30 shots last night, including a couple of biggies on Kris Letang. None was bigger than his save on a Letang wrist shot with under a minute to go in the second that would have tied the game at 2.
But Ottawa also played a very solid team game last night, dominating play at times, and the duo of Volchenkov-Phillips did a good job against the Pens’ top lines. Mike Fisher and Chris Kelly got first-period goals, and Jason Spezza broke the Pens’ backs with a goal 4:27 into the third. Spezza’s been on fire since returning from a knee injury and looked damn good last night. Nick Foligno added an empty netter.
I don’t think there’s much blame to go around on the Pens’ side. They just ran into a hot team at the wrong time. But I did think Kelly’s goal was awfully weak. Fleury couldn’t contain what should have been a harmless shot from Jarkko Ruutu, and Kelly pounced on the loose puck. Was #29’s injured finger a factor on the play? Bob Errey seemed to think so. To be fair, Fleury did make a couple of big saves, including one on Spezza late in the second that kept it a one-goal game.
That’s it for this one. Detroit comes to town on Sunday. I’d be more excited, but I despise these 12:30 start times. Thanks, NBC.
Injury Notes:
- Eric Godard will miss 4-6 weeks with a groin injury. He was playing less than two minutes a game (despite my pleas for my time), so I’m not sure how much the Pens will miss him. There’s only 7 games left before the Olympics begin, so hopefully he’ll be able to return after the break.
- Tyler Kennedy and Alex Goligoski were both out of the lineup last night. Guerin and Talbot both returned, and Chris Conner and Nick Johnson were recalled from the minors and suited up. Johnson set up Malkin’s goal with a nice pass, and Conner looked good when he was playing on the top line in the third. Adams filled in for Kennedy on the third line. I’m an Adams fan, but he hasn’t scored a goal in 84 friggin’ games. That’s not going to help Staal and Cooke. Here’s hoping Goligoski returns soon. McKee and Skoula may be one of the slowest pairings in the league.
Random Thoughts:
- An FSN graphic showed that the Pens have 41.7% of their points from centers, best in the NHL. Not sure what to make of that stat other than Crosby, Malkin and Staal score a lot. No shit.
- Mark Eaton got absolutely crushed by Chris Neil early in the third. Fortunately, he wasn’t injured. Not sure how – it was a hell of a hit.
- The Pens fell to 3-9-2 in their last 14 at home against the Sens. Weird.