Pen Vs. Sens: VICTORY!

The Pens started the game playing like minor-leagers. They were sloppy, couldn't finish a pass, and couldn't shoot on the net.

Cullen, Neil, and Alfredsson scored in the first and second periods. When it became 3-0, I thought it was over. If they were playing their game, I would've believed that they would make it. But they were playing crappy. What was wrong with the PEns? Well, Jordy said that they needed a killer instinct.

"We need to find that better and really finish them when they're down. We didn't do that," Jordan said. "But I just love the character in this room and the way we can bounce back from things and forget about things and work for the next shift and the next game."

Then, a banger around the net was shoved in by Cookie. Hope arose out of the icy bleakness.

Poni scored...or so we thought...by they refs called "goalie interference" on Gino. However, it was a Sens who shoved Malkin down. It was a bad call. There were many crazy calls in the game...no, make that the series!
However, Billy G made up for it and scored on the power-play.
Then, a lucky shot by Cookie went in! Cookie was a hero! We now had a chance! A few amazing plays by Flower were enough to send us to overtime...again.

Then, Duper scored 9:56 into the 1rst overtime! We had won!

With guys other than Sid and Gino scoring, it rpoved that the Pens really are a team of talant.

"It says a lot," said Crosby, who recorded 14 points through the first five games. "We're going to do our best to create things, but there are going to be nights where it's tougher than others.
"Some nights it may not go in, or whatever the case is, but we've still got to do things out there. We've still got to be productive, whether it's not on the score sheet. We've got to be responsible out there and find ways to help, but certainly there are other guys who can step up and score those goals like we saw tonight."

And they did step up...will they do it again? I think so. 

Game 3: Pens Win Again 4-2!

The game was only 1:17 in, when Poni hesitated for a minute and then slap-shot an innocent looking play at Elliott. It went through the five-hole and right to the back of the net...goal! Poni scored his first play-off goal this season! Later in the first period, it seemed as if Peter Regin scored on Flower, but on further review, it was rightly determined that it was kicked it...so it didn't count. 
Then, in the second peroid, Mike Fisher took a pass from Peter Regin and blasted it past Flower only 1:53 into the period.  About four minutes later, Max  passed to Gino Malkin and he slammed an easy goal right past Elliott. Right before the end of the period, Sid the Kid scored on a power-play, eventually that goal pretty much became the game winner.
Early in the third period Billy G passed a nice one to Kunie and beat n edgy Elliott on a breakaway.
However, Matt Cullen scored on a power-play making it 4-2. But that is as close as the Sens came to the Pens and they won it 4-2. And once again, Max Talbot (AKA The Superstar) has been playing AMAZING! 

Woken from Their Slumber...

The Penguins sure did wake up last night. They were like a bear woke from his hibernation.The Sens scored first...and us fans were like, "Oh no! Not again!" Then, Sid scored giving us all hope. Not too long after Sid helped Flower out and literally saved the game. He dove and swatted the puck quite literally out of the net.

"It's a split second, but 8,000 things go through your mind," Crosby said. "It was one of those delicate things you're watching, not sure what to do."

 Crosby might not have been sure, but Flower was.

"I knew I couldn't get there," Fleury said.

So Crosby did.

He dove with his backhand, saving a sure goal.

"I was happy to see Sid diving by," Fleury said. So were the 17,132 fans packed into Mellon Arena. 

Then, during the third period, Sid danced around the net again and again, evading the Senator defense-man. 

He was going to shoot it, but saw that there was too much traffic around the net. On one knee, he passed it to Letang and he scored! 

The Pens rallied around their Captain...

"You see your leader do that and it's like, 'Holy (expletive), I have to put my (butt) in gear,' " Penguins forward Pascal Dupuis said. "You see a young guy with a 'C' on his jersey, our leader who does it night after night — it's like, 'All right, I guess we need to work too.' " And that's what they did. there were 52 hits...Max played AMAZING, Rupp hit a guy out of the Zamboni door, and all of the penguins stood up for the team. However, Leopold got knocked-out...I hope he's well enough to play tomorrow...

Sid was a Champion last night...and what did Ovie do when he played his game???? Nothing....

The Wake Up Call

"We didn’t come in here expecting to win four straight. It’s going to be a tough series. If anything, last game should motivate us even more. We hadn’t played Ottawa for a long time. We have a history with them in the playoffs, and I don’t think that the element of not liking them was really there enough because of the long period that it has been since we played them. That’s definitely there now," Sidney Crosby said after a tiring loss by Ottawa.
 The Pens loss to the Senators 5-4. The fault was on both the offense and the defense. The Pens misjudged the Senators. the offense was not making plays or shooting on the net enough, and the defense was letting to many pucks in. And last night was not Flower's night. He's amazing at the big plays, but he tends to let the soft ones in...he even admitted so at the Stanley Cup Parade.
Fleury stated, "Thank you guys for supporting me, for as you know, sometimes I let the soft ones in."
However,  Crosby said Fleury's play was the least of his team's worries.
"He's got high expectations of himself," Crosby said. "I'm sure he'll bounce back."
The game was amazing in the first 5-7 minutes of the 1rst period...the Pens were flying down the ice, making plays, and Gino scored a power-play goal. But the Pens (as they tend to do) pulled the reigns in on their intensity and the Sens took over.  Although Gino scored twice, Sid got three assists, Gologoski  scored and (finally) Adams scored, the Pens were not able to tie it up. Hopefully, the Pens will have a short memory of the feeling of their loss, but a long memory of the reasons why they lost....