Monday, October 20, 2008

Pens v Bruins (W 2-1 SO)

Last season, Sid had his first NHL fight against Andrew Ference at the TD Banknorth Garden, and now it seems like his favorite place to throw down. This was a great, fast-paced, hard-hitting game. Bonus: We got to see Geno's 1st FSN Pittsburgh commercial. Hopefully someone gets that up on YouTube soon. (He says the standard "You're watching FSN Pittsburgh" and then makes a goofy smiley face at the camera. It's awesome!)

FIRST PERIOD

Our Siddo is suffering from a head cold. (In the post game interview, he sounded like an 80 year old ex-smoker!) On the first play, Sid and Geno had a quick chance, but Tim Thomas hugged the post and made the save. Michael Ryder put a big hit Miro Satan, followed by a huge questionable hit on Mad Max Talbot. Patrice Bergeron fired a quick shot off a rebound, but Dany Sabourin, in for the first time this season, made a great save to keep the game scoreless. Ference hit the goalpost off a faceoff. Tyler Kennedy fired a shot that Thomas blocked. The rebound went right to Mad Max, but he fell as he was speeding down the ice so he couldn't fire a shot. Mad Max took another big hit, this time from Milan Lucic. A giveaway to Bergeron as he came off the bench resulted in a great chance for the Bruins, but luckily Sabou made a better save.


Siddo made the most beautiful drop pass between his legs for Geno, who was only a few feet behind him, but Geno's shot was blocked. The first penalty of the night went to Eric Godard for hooking. The Bruins didn't score on their power play. TK made back to back amazing passes - to make the first one, he redirected the puck to Satan with his skate; to make the second, he used his stick to chip the puck off the boards to Jordan Staal. The Saint became a sinner when he got nailed with hooking penalty after he got tangled up with Marco Sturm. The Pens successfully killed this one.

I'm not sure if the ice was bad because towards the end of the period, bodies seemed to be flying everywhere. Then Godard and Shawn Thornton decided to drop their gloves. It wasn't a great fight at all. They each got only one decent punch in, but since Godard's punch was slightly better and Thornton lost his helmet and ended up slipping and falling, we'll give this one to the good guy. Advantage: Godard.



Satan was penalized for hooking, but the Bruins didn't capitalize on their advantage. Then, as Satan was released from the sin bin, Geno got the puck. He fired a shot that Thomas blocked. It seemed like Thomas was moving in slow motion as Satan flew in and promptly scored with just over a minute left in the period. [Pens 1, Bruins 0]


SECOND PERIOD

To start things off, Sid got a chance on a feed from Geno, but Thomas made the save. Vladimir Sobotka drills Paul Bissonnette into the glass. It obviously irked Biz, as he wanted to dance with Thornton (who wisely declined). Lucic hit Brooks Orpik from behind. Geno drew an obvious slashing penalty on Dennis Wideman. The crowd (still smarting from the Red Sox loss last night??) started an uncensored "B.S.!!!" chant. On the ensuing power play, Geno made a ridiculous shot in the corner that hit the effing goalpost. The Pens didn't capitalize on their advantage. The game went to break, and they played Geno's FSN commercial. (Seriously - if anyone can get it on YouTube, that would be great!)

At the end of the next play, a Bruin grabbed Biz's jersey from behind and stretched it. If looks could punch a guy in the face, a lot of Bruins would be bruised. Staalsy stole the puck in front of the net. He centered it for Petr Sykora, but Ference broke up the play like a champ. Staalsy then lost his stick and then got nailed for holding. It would prove to be a costly mistake as Phil Kessel went high on Sabou's glove side and scored. [Pens 1, Bruins 1]


Stephane Yelle was called for hooking, which again prompted the cranky crowd to shout "B.S.!!!" The Pens had the advantage, but the Bruins had the best scoring chance when Sturm got the puck around Alex Goligoski with a pretty little move. Fortunately, Sabou made a pretty little save. The Pens didn't score on their power play. Then the puck took a fluky bounce off one of the officials or it may very well have bounced into the net as Thomas was out behind the net waiting to play the puck. Then Siddo got a little fiesty. After getting fed up with Marc Savard, our captain went after him. They fell, and then Siddo wouldn't let Savard get back up as they pawed at one another. The refs came in and seperated them as the crowd chanted, "CROSBY SUCKS!!" Brooksie was tripped but no call was made. Pascal Dupuis then did something I've never seen him do before - he came full speed ahead and nearly killed Wideman with the hit that earned the title "Subway Sandwich of the Game." Then, somehow Bergeron shot wide on an open net as the period came to a close.

THIRD PERIOD

Sabou made several great saves in the third to keep the Pens in the game. I don't know if the officials get hazard pay, but linesman Steve Barton certainly deserved some tonight. First, he was hit in the shin by a lightning fast shot from Satan. Then, after taking a few seconds to regain his wits, he was sandwiched between Biz and a Bruin on the very next play. OUCH. Geno and Savard mixed it up after a whistle. Later, Savard was high in the slot and fired a shot that Sabou unbelievably was able to keep his eyes on and make the save. Right off a faceoff, Ruslan Fedotenko was thisclose to scoring (Thomas made a great save), and then he helped out at the other end of the rink by backchecking a Bruin to help Sabou out. Kessel was taken down by a Penguin, and the fans wanted a penalty. They might have gotten one had Kessel not embellished it. The fans began the "B.S!!!" chant again. The period ended with the teams tied at one goal each. So that means, once again, we're heading to...


OVERTIME

With less than 2 minutes left in overtime, Geno and Staalsy went 2-on-1, and Thomas made a set of unreal saves to keep the game going. But, they drew a hooking penalty on Savard. Less than 20 seconds later, though, Staal was penalized for slashing to negate the advantage. It was a dumb penalty to take. The OT then went to 3-on-3. A few seconds later, a Bruin broke his stick, so it was more like 3-on-2½. The Pens were able to keep the stickless Bruin pinned in his own zone until the clock ticked down, but they were unable to capitalize on their slight advantage.

We're getting our first shootout of the season!

SHOOTOUT

The Pens were up first.
  1. Kris Letang → Blocked
  2. Kessel → SCORED
  3. Syko → SCORED
  4. Bergeron → Blocked
  5. Siddo → Blocked
  6. Ryder → Blocked
  7. Satan → Blocked
  8. David Krejci → Blocked
  9. Geno → SCORED
  10. Savard → Blocked
PENS WIN!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! Geno gets the GWG as Sabou saves the day!


By the way, our title man deserves kudos for earning another record: He registered the NHL’s first ever milestone hat trick Saturday night when he hit 100 goals, 200 assists, and 300 points all with different goals, all in the same game! CONGRATS, SIDDO!!! :)

The Boys don't play again until Eric Staal and his Carolina Hurricanes team comes to town on Thursday.

GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Okay, just so you all know, tomorrow is going to be an extremely tough day for me. I may or may not have a post for you - I just have no idea how I'm going to feel after the funeral. It seems weird to ask you to "Wish me luck" because what I really mean is "Wish me strength." And thank you so much again to all of you for the kind comments and emails. It's so, so nice to have Friends like you to help me get through the rough parts of life.)

Labels:







Creative Commons License
The Sidney Crosby Show
is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
(Based on all work at sidcrosby.blogspot.com.)