Penguins Playoff Thursday

Yinzers,

The picture posted above is a graphical representation of the hockey played by the Pittsburgh Penguins for the first 45 minutes of last night's playoff game. The Pens came out flat and played sloppy hockey at best for the first period and a half and then decided to wake up in the third period. The biggest thing everybody, including this analyst, was talking about was the need for strength down the middle, i.e. centermen and goaltending. Excluding Evgeni Malkin, there were sub-par performances by the Penguins' center ice, and we are NOT playing golf score.

The Penguins seemed to come out ready to play with Evgeni Malkin scoring his first of the playoffs at 3:03 on the power play. I was walking to a meeting when this goal occurred and heard a roar from Rotelli, a chain Italian restaurant owned by a Pittsburgher in State College. By the time I reached my meeting and set up a free webcast using http://www.myp2p.edu, the game was tied 1-1 when Peter Regin scored for Ottawa. It's not like the Senators were going to go quietly into the night like a date that ends up "just friends," come on...this is playoff hockey. The Senators then added a second goal, this time by Chris Neal and took a 2-1 lead into the locker room after one complete. As I said before, the Penguins looked very sloppy in the defensive zone, doing a lot of running around and leaving Senators unattended to. It was almost a gift that they were only down by 1 after the first period.

The second period started out with a fluke goal by Ottawa. On the power play, the Senators' Chris Campoli gained the red line and dumped the puck into the zone high off the glass to the right of Marc-Andre Fleury, who went out into the corner to cut it off from the Ottawa pursuit. The puck then careened off of a partition between panes of plexiglass, depositing the puck in the high slot to an awaiting Chris Kelly, giving him an uncontested, wide open 4x6...3-1 Ottawa. About half way through the second period, the Penguins did answer off the stick of Evgeni Malkin, his second goal of the game, this one also coming on the power play. The Penguins promptly returned to play sloppy Joe, skating in circles in their defensive zone and eventually leaving 19 year old Ottawa Senator Erik Karlsson wide open to put the Senators up 4-2. That is how the score would remain through two complete.

The Penguins finally woke up around five minutes into the third period. The alarm was sounded by Craig Adams at 5:16, Adams' first goal in what seems like decades. The score was now 4-3 and the Penguins had the momentum and their confidence back. This would be stolen away by former Penguin Jarkko Ruutu 4 minutes later. Sloppy play came back to bite the Penguins again when Kris Letang joined the offensive rush and nobody covered for him. The Senators came back 2-1 and Ruutu took advantage of a slow-moving Marc-Andre Fleury, giving the senators a 5-3 lead. I will give it to our boys, they really poured it on after that goal, but it should have been in the 1st period. Alex Goligoski pulled the Pens within 1 off of a sweet, no-look pass from Sidney Crosby below the goal line to bring the game to 5-4. The Pens pulled Marc-Andre Fleury with 1:12 to go, hoping to get that equalizer, but it was nowhere to be found. The Senators collapsed around their net and prevented the Penguins from getting that late goal. Final score: Ottawa 5 - Pittsburgh 4.

The next game of this series is on Friday night at 7:00 in Pittsburgh. Some things to look for are for the Penguins to solve the neutral zone trap of the Senators. The Sens are forcing the Penguins to go up the middle to their waiting forwards and defensemen. The only way to beat this trap is with speed through the neutral zone. The Pens need to bring the forwards deeper into the defensive zone and come out with their feet flying...kid of like Scott Gomez used to do to the Pens as a member of the Devils. That is how you beat the trap, by catching the trappers flat-footed in the neutral zone. I would also watch out for a big night from line 3: Cooke, Kennedy and Staal. Their hard work in the offensive zone will be key in wearing down the Senators' defense. The Pens need to bring smelling salts, energy drinks, expensive prostitutes off Liberty Avenue, whatever they need to wake up early in the game and come out guns-a-blazing. It'll be interesting on Friday night.

Senators 1
Penguins 0

Let's Go Pens,
B Brog