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 Game Recaps for 2006/2007 Season Thursday, November 20, 2008 -- Evening The Pens were in Atlanta this evening to play the Thrashers. Dany Sabourin was in goal again for an injured Marc-Andre Fleury. The Pens and Thrashers traded goals in the first two periods. Then with 2:40 left in the tied 2-2 game, Sidney Crosby shot at the net, and had it tipped in by Petr Sykora to give the Pens the lead. The Pens managed to hold off the Thrashers to win with a final score of 3-2. Nineteenth Game of the season
Tuesday, November 18, 2008 -- Evening The Pens played the Minnesota Wild this evening. Marc-Andre Fleury didn't play this evening because he is out with an undisclosed injury. It seems he got injured some time during the third period of Saturday's game. The Pens have called up John Curry from the Baby Pens. Dany Sabourin was in goal for the Pens. Both the Wild and the Pens scored in the first period. Then in the second period, Evgeni Malkin got hit in the mouth with a puck. He left the ice with six or seven minutes left in the period, dripping blood into a towel. Malkin did return for the start of the third period with a much swollen lip. There was no score in the third period, and the game went into overtime. No score during the overtime, so it went to a shootout. First up was Petr Sykora for the Pens. Sykora was stopped. Next up for the Wild was Marek Zidlicky who scored. Then Alex Goligoski was up, and he couldn't score. Then Antti Miettinen was up for the Wild, and Sabourin stopped him. Then Sidney Crosby couldn't get one past Niklas Backstrom. The Wild won in the shootout with a final score of 2-1. Eighteenth Game of the season
Saturday, November 15, 2008 -- Evening The Pens played the Buffalo Sabres this evening. The Pens wore their third uniform, the powder blue uniforms. Marc-Andre Fleury was back in goal, and did a good job. Jordan Staal got two goals in the game (one was an empty netter) and Evgeni Malkin got three points (one goal and two assists). Malkin is now leading the points race. The Pens won with a final score of 5-2. This is the sixth win in a row for the Pens. Seventeenth Game of the season
Thursday, November 13, 2008 -- Evening The Pens played the Flyers. The Pens took an early 3-0 lead. However, we've see this before, and the Flyers came back to tie the game up. In fact, Simon Gagne scored two short handed goals to tie things up. The Flyers took the lead in the last four seconds of the second period on a power play goal. Marc-Andre Fleury didn't go back into goal for the third period. Dany Sabourin was put into goal for the third. It wasn't looking good for the Pens when with two and a half minutes left in the game, Sidney Crosby scored the tying goal. The game went into overtime. Neither team could score in OT, so the game went to a shootout! First up was the Pens. Petr Sykora was first against Martin Biron. Biron stopped him though. Then it was Simon Gagne's turn. Sabourin stopped Gagne though with a poke check. Next up was Kris Letang, and he missed. Then it was MIke Richards' turn. He tried a tricky move, trying to get the puck past Sabourin, but Sabourin stopped him with the stick. Then it was Crosby's turn, and he missed the goal. Next was Jeff Carter for the Flyers, and he was stopped. The shootout continues. Evgeni Malkin was up next. He missed while trying to dump it with his backhand. Then it was Kimmo Timonen who missed. Next it was Miroslav Satan, but he was stopped by a poke check. Then it was Joffrey Lupal who missed. Then Alex Goligoski scored in the 6th round. It was up to Scott Hartnell who missed and ran into Sabourin. The Pens won in a shootout. What a finish! The Pens win with a final score of 5-4. Unfortunately, the Flyers got a point out of it, but it is the fifth win in a row for the Pens. Sixteenth Game of the season
Tuesday, November 11, 2008 -- Evening The Pens were in Motown to play the Detroit Red Wings. The Pens looked like there were coming out to play when Sidney Crosby got the first goal, but then Detroit got two goals in the first period to take the lead. Meanwhile, halfway through the first period, Rob Scuderi was hit by a puck around the ankle, and he hobbled off the ice on one leg. At the start of the second period, the Pens were on a penalty kill when Brooks Orpik got out of position, and the Red Wings got the puck past Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury had dived for the puck, but it was too late. The game was a scoring fest. The Red Wings would score and pull ahead by two, and the Pens would score to get within one. Then the Red Wings would score again. With only 20 seconds left in the game, and the Red Wings up by a point, Jordan Staal got his third goal of the game to tie things up! It was great to see Staal celebrating when he scored. The Red Wings got called on a penalty to give the Pens a man advantage in overtime. The Pens were in a frenzy during the power play in OT. It was amazing how they hammered at Chris Osgood. Staal fed the puck to Ruslan Fedotenko in OT who scored to give the Pens the win. My gosh! This was some game! Especially in the third period. Congrats to Jordan Staal for getting the three goals and showing his star caliber. Final score: Pens 7 - Red Wings 6. Fifteenth Game of the season
Saturday, November 8, 2008 -- Evening The Pens played the New York Islanders this evening. It was the first time this season that the teams met, and the first time that Miroslav Satan got to play again his former teammates. Dany Sabourin was in goal for the Pens. Surprisingly, Sidney Crosby played in the game. Crosby didn't practice yesterday because of the undisclosed injury that has been bothering him for several days now. Crosby is that kind of player. He doesn't like to give in to injury or illnss. The Islanders were the first to score in the last three minutes of the first period when the Pens made a sloppy line change, and Hal Gill blocked the puck into the Pens' end of the ice. The shots on goal in the first period were pitiful with the Pens getting three and the Islanders five. Tyler Kennedy scored the first goal for the Pens, but the Islanders went on to score two more. The Pens were playing listless in the end of the second period until Jordan Staal scored his second goal of the season, only this time, it wasn't an empty netter. With 3:15 left in the game, Tyler Kennedy got his second goal of the game to tie things up. The Islanders were really played like a tired team in the third period, and it may have been due in part because of the poor condition of the ice due to humidity. The game went into overtime. It was not pretty too watch because players were falling all over the place because of the poor condition of the ice. Neither team could score in overtime, so it went to a shootout. The Islanders went first. Doug Weight missed his change. Then it was Petr Sykora's chance, and he scored. Bill Guerin went next for the Islanders, and he was stopped by Sabourin. Satan went next and he was stopped by goalie, Joey MacDonald. Then Trent Hunter went, and it looked like Sabourin stopped him, but Sabourin slid into the net. The puck was stuck in Sabourin's leg padding (way down by his ankle), and the refs spend a few minutes reviewing the play. But Sabourin kept his left leg (the leg with the puck) outside of the net. After the review, it was called a no goal. The Pens won with a final score of 4-3. Fourteenth Game of the season
Friday, November 7, 2008 -- Evening Last night's game between the Pens and Edmonton Oilers was a mix of emotions. The first two periods were great for the Pens. They took a 5 - 0 lead, and the whole crowd was energized. The problem is that they have been falling apart in the third period and that happened last night. It was painful to watch because once the Oilers pulled their goalie in the waning minutes of the second period, the Oiler players just seemed really energized. They scored one goal in the last two minutes of the second and three more in the third. In fact, for awhile in the third it looked like the Pens were going to lose the game after having a five point lead. Fortunately, they somehow managed to hold on to get the win. Miroslav Satan scored a beautiful goal (his first in the game) where he pushed the puck between his legs, and then shooting the puck from that location, managed to get past Mathieu Garon. There was also a really good fight between Eric Godard and Steve MacIntyre. The final score was Pens 5 - Oilers 4. Check out my pictures of the game. Thirteenth Game of the season
Thursday, November 6, 2008 -- Afternoon Pictures and game recap from tonight's Pens vs. Edmonton Oilers game will be posted Friday afternoon. Check the game recaps page for information on this season's home and away games. Saturday, November 1, 2008 -- Evening The Pens played the St. Louis Blues this evening. Sidney Crosby played in the game tonight, and didn't look as if he had any problems. Obviously his injury was just a temporary one. Ruslan Fedotenko was out of the game though with another one of those undisclosed injuries. The Pens had called up Janne Pesonen was called up from the Baby Pens to play in his first NHL game. It wasn't looking good when the Blues scored first in the middle of the first period. As the period was winding down, Miroslav Satan scored one for the Pens, and then the Blues came back 17 seconds later to take the lead again. In the second period, the Pens took a two goal lead. The Blues came on in the last four minutes to score, but within seconds, Max Talbot got the goal back to keep the Pens two ahead of the Blues. With only seconds left, and an empty net in the Blues end, Evgeni Malkin had the puck near the empty net, but passed it to Jordan Staal so he could get his first goal of the season. i thought that was a really nice move on Malkin's part, and shows how the team is a team. The final score: Pens 6 - Blues 3. Twelfth Game of the season
Friday, October 31, 2008 -- Early Morning Last night's Pens game was more of the same sort of play. The Pens came out in the first period, and only two, yes, two shots on goal in the whole period. They picked things up in the second period, and missed some good opportunities, but the Phoenix Coyotes came on in the third period to pull away and win with a final score of Phoenix 4 - Pens 1. There is something just not right with the team yet. It could be the lose of Sergei Gonchar or something else. The team just doesn't seem to be gelling, or at least none of the lines is gelling offensively. Eleventh Game of the season
Wednesday, October 29, 2008 -- Late Morning The Pens did not play well last night against the San Jose Sharks. Well, at least Dany Sabourin, in goal, played better than the rest of them. The offense really needs to understand that shooting the puck at the net results in goals. The Pens only managed a total of 11 shots on goal the entire game! Yes, you did read that correctly. How can you expect to score if you don't shoot at the fricking net? I'm not sure what the problem is other than the fact that the offensive lines don't seem to be gelling or producing. Should they be scrambled up some more? Maybe. The final score in the game was Pens 1 - Sharks 2. Tenth Game of the season
Tuesday, October 28, 2008 -- Evening The Pens are playing the San Jose Sharks later this evening. I'll report on the game tomorrow morning. Saturday, October 25, 2008 -- Evening The Pens played the New York Rangers this evening at Madison Square Garden. The Pens played well in the game and had a great deal of energy. Darryl Sydor was the first person to score in the first period, and then Sidney Crosby snuck a puck in behind Henrik Lundqvist in the second for the Pens to take a 2-0 lead. In the third period, the Pens took a penalty that cost them when the Rangers broke the shutout to get a goal. In the last minute, the Rangers pulled Lundqvist, and the Rangers scored with only 8.1 seconds left in the game to take the game in to overtime. Just as with the Capitals, the Pens just really stopped playing in the third period. I mean, the Pens only had two shots on goal in the third while the Rangers had 18! Although the Pens tried hard during the overtime, they couldn't score. It went to a shootout. The Rangers wanted to go first, and they sent out Nikolai Zherdev couldn't score for them. Kris Letang went first for the Pens, and didn't score. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped Nigel Dawes. Petr Sykora went next and he couldn't score. Fredrik Sjostrom managed to get one past Fleury. It was all down to Sidney Crosby, and Lundqvist made the save. The Rangers won with a final score of 3-2. Ninth Game of the season
Friday, October 24, 2008 -- Afternoon The Pens vs. Carolina Hurricanes game last night was quite exciting, at least in the third period. The Pens started the game in a rather lackluster fashion. In fact, Brooks Orpik gave up the puck that allowed Brandon Sutter to score the Hurricane goal in the first period. Everyone can make a mistake, and the defensive guys had their rank lessened when Hal Gill was scratched due to an undisclosed injury. Sitting through most of the first two periods, it looked like it was going to wind up being a 1-0 win for the Hurricanes. But the players started to pick up some momentum at the end of the second period, and it carried through with a vengence to the third period. Sidney Crosby, Ruslan Fedotenko, Max Talbot, and Evgeni Malkin all scored goals (Malkin's was an empty netter.) Marc-Andre Fleury tried to get into the act by chucking one at the empty net from his end of the ice, but he just missed the goal. The third period was full of energy, and the Pens really pulled out all stops. Now if only they could spread that over the whole game. Fleury got his 80th career win. The final score: Pens 4 - Hurricanes 1. Check out my pictures of the game. Eighth Game of the season
Thursday, October 23, 2008 -- Late Evening Pictures and game recap from tonight's Pens vs. Carolina Hurricanes game will be posted Friday evening. Check the game recaps page for information on this season's home and away games. Monday, October 20, 2008 -- Evening The Pens played the Boston Bruins this evening in an away gaem. Dany Sabourin got to start in goal this evening, and he did a great job stopping the puck. Miroslav Satan scored the first goal in the first period with the assistance of Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby. The Bruins came on to tie things up in the second. The rest of regulation went without a score, mostly because no one on either side wanted to shoot at the net, so the game went into overtime. There was no score in overtime so it went to a shootout. Kris Letang went first and was stopped by Tim Thomas. Phil Kessel scored for the Bruins. Then Petr Sykora went next and scored for the Pens. Patrice Bergeron was stopped by Sabourin, but then Crosby was stopped too. It was down to Michael Ryder, and Sabourin stopped him. Then it was Satan who was stopped by Thomas. David Krejci was next, and he was stopped. Next up was Malkin, and he scored! Then Sabourin stopped Marc Savard, and the Pens got the win! Sabourin was the player of the game this evening, and the Pens win with a final score of 2-1. Seventh Game of the season
Saturday, October 18, 2008 -- Late Evening The Pens played the Toronto Maple Leafs this evening at Mellon Arena. There has been a great deal of controversy over the past two days with people questioning the Pens motivation when they basically just gave up in the third period of the last game to give up a 3-0 lead to lose. Michel Therrien got really testy (and deservedly so) when he was asked if he had told the players to take it easy in the third period. As Therrien said, "do you think I would actually say that?" I really do like Therrien as a coach, and I think that problem is the team trying to generate some chemistry with the new players and line ups. Today was not a bad game. The Maple Leafs scored first, but the Pens came back and played the entire game with a vengenace. Sidney Crosby got his 200th assist, 300th point, and 100th career goal in the game. Then Evgeni Malkin got into the act, and scored his 200th point. Marc-Andre Fleury played a stellar game too. He has really stepped up his performance early this year. Usually Fleury, and the team in general, have a slow start. I'm not as concerned as others are because the season is 82 games long, and we are just at game 6. The Maple Leafs were having problems generating opportunities today. Their first goal came after the Pens had been given 8 straight minutes of penalties. It seemed as soon as one penalty was finished, the refs would call another against them. One other goal was called off because after the play was reviewed, it was determined that the puck was kicked into the net. Final score: Pens 4 - Maple Leafs 1. Check out my pictures of the game. Sixth Game of the season
Thursday, October 16, 2008 -- Evening The Pens played the Washington Capitals this evening at Mellon Arena. Alexander Goligoski scored with assists from Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby. In the last minute of the first, Malkin made a good shot during the power play to score his second goal of the season. Jose Theodore, the Capitals goalie, really seems to be off his game this season. That's what the Caps get for getting rid of Olaf Kolzig. The Capitals were really playing a crappy game. They took a penalty for too many men on the ice at the end of the first period, and then in the start of the second, they took a delay of game penalty. This time, Miroslav Satan got assists from Petr Sykora and Evgeni Malkin. The Pens gave up a goal shortly after that to get the game to Pens 3 - Capitals 1. Meanwhile Alex Ovechkin has been playing like a thug. He seems to love to take dirty hits at people, and he has been charging Malkin the entire game. By the end of the second period, it was so bad that Malkin was yelling so loud you could hear him over the television. Ovechkin just gathers up speed and throws his body at Malkin. I just hope that Malkin doesn't get hurt one of those times, but I would just love it if Ovechkin hurt himself. Unfortnately for the Pens, the Capitals came on in the third period to tie things up at 3-3 and then to take a one goal lead. The difference was the Capitals making 21 shots in the third period while the Pens only had 6 shots on goal. It really sucked because the Pens were doing so well the first half of the game while the Capitals were so bad. Final score: Pens 3 - Capitals 4. Fifth Game of the season
Thursday, October 16, 2008 -- Afternoon I didn't make it to the Pens game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday, and won't make it tonight either. I have been sick with a bad cold, and just couldn't make it to the games. In fact, I just watched bits and pieces of the Pens-Flyers game through a cold medicine haze. The Pens are still having problems getting some chemistry going. The Pens had a two goal lead in the second period, and let it trickle away in the last minute of the second period to have the Flyers tie things up. The game went into overtime when Pascal Dupuis scored the game winning goal with an assist from Brooks Orpik. Orpik has been earning his salary this year with a the first goal of the game in the second period. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have not been performing up to snuff in the first four games of the season, and there has been alot of concern amongst the fans about the lack of chemistry on their lines. But it is still early days, so I'm not too concerned. Marc-Andre Fleury has been really on top of his game and gave another good performance on Tuesday. The final score was Pens 3 - Flyers 2. Fourth Game of the season
Saturday, October 11, 2008 -- Late Evening The Pens had their home opener this evening against the New Jersey Devils. I wasn't expecting many goals, but I was expecting to see some shots on goal. In regulation, the Pens only had 15 shots on goal, with two of those shots coming in the third period. Marc-Andre Fleury was exception in goal this evening. Fleury blocked over 40 shots before a puck finally slid past him with less than three minutes left in the game. That goal tied the score to 1-1 and took the game into overtime. Unfortunately, the Pens weren't really playing well together in overtime, and the Devils got another one past Fleury. All in all, Fleury stopped 47 of 49 shots. Evgeni Malkin seemed to have alot of problems identifying his own players and made quite a few beautiful passes to a Devil player, who would then take the puck down the ice to shoot at Fleury. The team needs some work, but Fleury was really in the zone today. He is keeping the team in the games if they would only score. Third Game of the season
Sunday, October 5, 2008 -- Late Afternoon The Pens and the Ottawa Senators played again today in Stockholm. In yesterday's game and again in today's, the Pens were having a great deal of difficulty in generating anything with their power play. Unfortunately, the same could not be said of the Senators. They scored on a power play on a Eric Goddard double roughing penalty. Unfortunately, our penalty kill left much to be desired too, and the Senators got another goal in the third period while Mark Eaton was in the box on a holding penalty. The Senators got another goal in the waning minutes of the third period. The Senators almost won in a shutout when Alex Goligoski scored in a power play in the last seconds of the game. There was 1.1 seconds left on the clock, but it counted. The final score was 3-1. Second Game of the season
Saturday, October 4, 2008 -- Evening The Pens played the Ottawa Senators this evening in Stockholm, Sweden. Petr Sykora didn't play today because he has been suffering from a respiratory infection. Tyler Kennedy came out flying and scored the first goal for the Pens in the first 40 seconds of the first period. Kennedy has been really hot this week, and even scored a goal in a pre-season exhibition game against the Finnish club, Jokerit on Thursday. Pens and Senators traded goals through regulation, ending in a tie. The game went into overtime where Tyler Kennedy scored his second goal of the season with 25 seconds left on the clock. The team played well together today, and it was a good start. Of course, I'm not going to put too much into this because last year, the Ottawa Senators started out hot to only fall apart in the last half of the season. Also, one game doesn't mean much. The Pens will play the Senators again tomorrow evening (afternoon here in Pittsburgh.) Evgeni Malkin and Brooks Orpik were the alternate captains in today's game. The management wanted to give the young, up-and-coming players the responsibility of taking leadership roles, and I think that's a good thing. When you get the players involved, it really improves morale. I think that the Pens are a really nicely managed team. They send the players out to deliver tickets to season ticket holders, and had an outdoor display during playoffs so fans could be at the Arena to watch the games. The Pens also did a nice job by opening up Mellon Arena for free this afternoon so fans could watch the Stockholm game there and take tours of the locker rooms. First Game of the Season
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