Pittsburgh Penguins Lose 3-2, Dupuis Stretchered Off the Ice
The Pittsburgh Penguins started strong on Thursday night, putting up 2 powerplay goals from Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz in a first period that had them looking too strong for the Dallas Stars to handle.
Once the second period began, however, things started to unravel.
Dallas cut the Penguins’ lead down to one with a goal from Antoine Roussel six minutes into the period, and with the six minutes remaining, things got ugly.
Pascal Dupuis set himself up in front of the Stars’ net while the Pens cycled the puck. Former Penguin Alex Goligoski delivered a hard cross-check to Dupuis’ back, sending him to the ice as a hard shot came in from the point, hitting Dupuis in the upper back area. He remained down in obvious pain before play was stopped. Though he showed he was able to still move his fingers and his legs, the trainers carried Dupuis off the ice on a stretcher as players from both teams looked on with concern.
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It was a scary sight for Dupuis, who is only three games into his return from a long absence due to a knee injury that kept him out of the latter half of the 2013-14 season.
Pittsburgh didn’t fare much better in the third period, as it was the Stars who came through with enough emotion to power themselves to a win, rather than the Penguins – who seemed to be distracted by the incident involving Dupuis.
With just a few minutes left in the period, Dallas put one behind a sprawling Marc-Andre Fleury, who slid wide after Stars’ forward Tyler Seguin barreled into him and knocked him to the ice. The goal was waved off after it was deemed Fleury was interfered with, prompting a tirade of angry comments from Seguin and captain Jaime Benn, who both argued that Seguin was tripped on his way to the net.
The argument became irrelevant moments later, as Benn powered his way to the front of the net and flipped one past Fleury to tie the game. The Stars’ emotion was evident as they celebrated the goal, and the Pens never managed to get the momentum back after that.
With under a minute to go, Crosby was sent to the box on a tripping call. Dallas made no mistake on the powerplay opportunity, as Seguin scored the game-winner on a swift one-timer with seconds to go.
The Pens performed well up until the end-of-game gaffe, finishing ahead of the Stars in shots, hits, faceoffs won, and powerplay tallies. Poor timed errors and a lack of emotion down the stretch proved to be their downfall in this one, however. It’s a loss that will surely sting, and cause unrest with Crosby especially, as the team awaits news on the extent of Dupuis’ injury.
Pittsburgh will look to get back on track this Saturday when the face off against the New York Islanders at home.
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