Thursday Igloo Update

Yinzers,

So the Pens have had two games since the Monday Igloo Update. Both games were against arguably two of the top contenders for Lord Stanley's Cup this year. The Pens traveled to Joe Louis Arena in dahntahn Detroit on Monday night to take on the red-hot Red Wings, who were coming off of a 7-2-1 showing in their last 10. Last night, the Pens traveled to the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. to take on the-well they will be the Eastern Conference Champion Capitals. The Pens came out of the two roadies with two losses and one point. Let's take a look back, shall we?

Penguins v. Red Wings
Anytime you go into Joe Louis Arena, chances are you are going to come home with a loss in hand. The Detroit Red Wings have been essentially unbeatable at the Joe in the last-I don't know-8 years? The Pens have been successful at the Joe in the playoffs, but they have not fared so well during the regular season for the past three years or so. Monday night's game was no different with the Pens losing in regulation 3-1 to the Red Wings. Valtteri Filppula opened up the scoring late in the first period with his 9th of the season, giving the Red Wings a 1-0 lead. From there, the lead would stay with the Red Wings. Henrik Zetterberg added another tally for the Red Wings at 7:38 with his 21st goal of the season. Pascal Dupuis gave the Pens some life at 16:54 of the second, keeping the Pens in the game at 2-1 after two periods. The dagger through the heart came at 1:20 in the third when Henrik Zetterberg added his second of the game and the Red Wings buckled down on defense. The Pens drop this one 3-1 in regulation and drop down to 4th place, tied with the New Jersey Devils.

Penguins v. Capitals
A proverbial clash of titans went down last night in the nation's capital when the Penguins took on the first place Washington Capitals. Let's face it, nobody is going to catch the Caps for the President's Trophy, awarded to the team who finishes the regular season with the most points. Caps' coach Bruce Boudreau was quoted as saying "These guys are the team we will face in the Eastern Conference Finals." That shows this author two things: 1. He is confident that the Caps will make it to the Eastern Conference finals and 2. He believes that the Pens are the most dangerous team in the Eastern Conference in spite of losing all 6 to New Jersey. I can only hope that revenge will be sweet in the playoffs. This game ended up being another classic Pens/Caps match-up, requiring overtime and a shoot out to decide the victor. The first period would be scoreless, even though the Penguins received two power plays, going 0/2. This would be a recurring problem for the Pens all night. The lack of conversion on the power play may have been a defining factor in the score. The Pens got 5 power play chances, compared to the Caps' 1 and could only convert on 1/5, and gave up a short handed goal. Scoring did not open up until the second period when Mike Knuble got his 26th of the season. Max Talbot answered just over a minute later with his 2nd of the season and Billy Guerin slammed home his 19th for the Pens lone power play goal. After two complete, the Pens led 2-1. The Pens broke down at 5:36 in the third period, giving up said short handed goal to Alexander Semin, followed by a goal from Eric Fehr two minutes later. At 16:54, Jordan Staal came through in the clutch with his 21st goal of the season, tying the game at 3 and forcing overtime. The overtime period showed no goals, so this one went to a shoot out. Kris Letang opened up with a tally, beating Jose Theodore on a nifty wrist shot. Marc-Andre Fleury made a sprawling save on Niklas Backstrom to keep the Pens up 1-0. Sidney Crosby then simply undressed Theodore with approximately 35 moves in a matter of 3 feet. Seriously, my eyes could not keep up...bottom line: Pens 2-Caps 0. Needing a goal to stay alive in the shoot out, Alexander Ovechkin lifted a wrist shot over the left pad of Marc-Andre Fleury, keeping the Caps in it at 2-1. Without Malkin in the lineup, Bill Guerin had the anchor position, but Theodore shut him down, leaving the future of the shootout on the stick of Alexander Semin. Semin netted a backhander, tying the shootout at 2. Chris Kunitz was stopped by Theodore and Mike Knuble was the hero for Washington, ripping a wrist shot past Fleury to steal the extra point.

The Pens now sit at 2nd place with 91 points, just one ahead of New Jersey in the Eastern Conference. The next stretch will be vital for the Pens since they will be facing a few teams that are no longer in the playoff picture. The next two games are a back-to-back home stand against Philthadelphia and Toronto on Saturday at 1:00pm and Sunday at 5:00pm, respectively.

Lets go Pens,
B Brog