Pittsburgh Penguins Dropped by Familiar Faces in OT Loss to St. Louis
After seemingly getting back on their feet and putting together a solid string of wins, the Pittsburgh Penguins have fallen back into their inconsistent ways. The team has lost 6 of their last 8 contests, including tonight’s overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues.
The Pens were done in by some familiar faces this time around as former Penguins Robert Bortuzzo and Marcel Goc (both of whom were traded to the Blues by Pittsburgh earlier this season) both scored goals against their former club.
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Pittsburgh’s depth scoring earned them a 2-0 lead in the first half of the contest, as Blake Comeau and Steve Downie both tallied goals.
Comeau’s came at 8:42 of the second period when the veteran winger finished a beautiful play from linemate Daniel Winnik to earn his 16th goal of the season.
Downie scored his 13th of the season just 17 seconds later as he showed off his deceptively smooth stickhandling skills. Collecting the puck with his back turned towards Blues netminder Jake Allen, Downie whirled around while flipping the puck to his forehand, before wiring it into the top of the cage.
Bortuzzo and Goc would register their goals in the final five minutes of the second period, however, evening the score up at 2-2.
Both teams mounted numerous scoring chances in the third period, with the Blues getting a slight edge in shots (12-11).
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby came close to ending it with two minutes left in the third. Defenseman Derrick Pouliot fired the puck from the point only to see it get blocked and float back out away from the net. With Allen down on the ice and the top of the net wide open, Crosby swooped in and got a backhand shot off.
Unfortunately, the puck sailed wide, keeping the game all tied up.
As 60 minutes expired, the score remained 2-2, prompting overtime.
It didn’t take long for St. Louis to end it. Just 35 seconds into the extra frame, Blues forward Alex Steen wired home his 24th goal of the season, tipping a point-shot by Marc-Andre Fleury to end the game.
With the overtime loss, the Pens’ record moves to 40-22-11. With 91 points, they remain the third seed in the Metropolitan division.
While Pittsburgh failed to get the win, the team is surely more concerned with another loss that occurred against the Blues.
Veteran defenseman Christian Ehrhoff, who has missed time dealing with a concussion, played only 1:13 tonight before being forced out of the game after going hard into the boards following a hit from Vladamir Tarasenko.
The Pens have not yet released any news regarding Ehrhoff, but considering the nature of the hit and Ehrhoff’s concussion history, the defender could be slated to miss some more time.
Pittsburgh’s next test will come on March 26th when they face the Carolina Hurricanes.