JESSICA BOPP – OVATHLETICS.COM
The Penguins have been inconsistent over the past week, and that didn’t change this week. Wednesday’s game against the New Jersey Devils was a hard game to watch as the Devils rubbed a win in the Penguins’ faces.
The Penguins got the first goal of the night from Chris Kunitz just 4:01 into the game. Bill Guerin and Kris Letang assisted on the goal.
But the Devils, wearing their throwback red and green uniforms, jumped right back into the game, scoring the next two goals.
Penguin Kris Letang gave up a pass to Patrik Elias at the Pens’ blue line. Elias passed to puck to Dainius Zubrus, who put the puck past Marc-Andre Fleury, who lay on his back after being beat by Zubrus.
Then, Paul Martin, who just returned to the ice after suffering from a broken forearm, scored an unassisted goal on a breakaway with less than two minutes left in the period. Martin scooped up a bad pass from Bill Guerin intended for Tyler Kennedy and took it straight to the net, giving the Devils a 2-1 lead at the end of one.
In the second period, the Devils scored another two goals—and the Penguins didn’t score any despite two power play chances.
Twenty seconds after Fleury made an amazing save on Travis Zajac, Elias intercepted Jordan Leopold’s pass and put it in the net for an unassisted, shorthanded goal.
Zach Parise scored his 33rd goal of the season at 10:17 in the second, making the score 4-1 in favor of the Devils. Zajac and Martin Skoula assisted.
The goal sent Fleury out of net and Brent Johnson stepped in. He only made nine saves and was 0-5-0 against the Devils this season.
Ruslan Fedotenko attempted to enliven the Penguins with a nice goal that went past Martin Brodeur just 5:23 into the third period. Alex Goligoski registered the assist.
Things got out of hand near the end of the game when Devils forward Rod Pelley slammed Goligoski headfirst into the boards. The hit was similar to that of Alexander Ovechkin on Brian Campbell that gave him a two-game suspension. Goligoski was fine and returned to the ice.
Kris Letang took it into his own hands and charged at Pelley. Pelley was given a five-minute major for boarding and Letang got a two-minute penalty for roughing, but the Pens were unable to score during the 3-minute power play.
To top it all off, Rob Niedermayer scored on an empty net from Zach Parise.
The Devils defeated the Penguins 5-2, sweeping Pittsburgh for the season for the first time. The Penguins outshout the Devils 187-165, but were outscored by 22-5.
Thursday’s game against the Boston Bruins was an uplifting game for the Penguins.
Fans and both teams were anticipating a night filled with revenge after Matt Cooke rammed into Bruins center—and arguably, their best player—Marc Savard on March 7 and gave him a concussion. Cooke was not suspended and the Bruins were without a doubt angry.
When Cooke came on the ice just 1:53 into the game, he was received with loud boos. Five seconds after he stepped foot on the ice, he and Shawn Thornton dropped their gloves. Both players received five minutes for fighting, but Thornton also was given a 10-minute misconduct for swinging after Cooke fell to the ice.
But, only 44 seconds after that, Tyler Kennedy took a nice shot from the right circle and it went in past Tuukka Rask, giving the Pens a 1-0 lead. Ruslan Fedotenko and Brooks Orpik assisted Kennedy.
The second period saw another fight. This time it was between Zdeno Chara and Mike Rupp, both of who are known for fighting.
With only 15 seconds left in the second, Alexei Ponikarovsky redirected Kris Letang’s shot in the net for a goal. Sergei Gonchar also recorded an assist.
And in the third period, Mike Rupp scored an unassisted goal at 5:14 by sneaking the puck past Rask on the far side.
Pittsburgh’s last shutout in Boston came 42 years ago when Les Binkley beat the Bruins 1-0 in the Penguins’ first season. The Penguins had been the only team without a shutout this season.
The Penguins beat the Boston Bruins 3-0, outshooting them 31-17. It was Fleury’s first shutout of the season.
The Penguins took on the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday afternoon at Mellon Arena.
Carolina was on the board first when Zach Boychuk slammed one in past Marc-Andre Fleury from Joni Pitkanen and Jamie McBain as Mark Eaton fell in front of the net.
Jordan Staal tied the game at one late in the second. He blasted a shot to the net off of a pass from Alexei Ponikarovsky. The power play goal was also assisted by Sidney Crosby.
Tyler Kennedy was called for goaltender interference at 6:43. Legace stayed in the game for a bit but left the ice less than a minute later due to an unspecified lower body injury. He was replaced by back-up goaltender Justin Peters.
Then, in the third period, Evgeni Malkin who returned to the ice after suffering from a bruised right foot last Sunday, put the Penguins in the lead with a wrist shot. Ruslan Fedotenko and Alexei Ponikarovsky got the assists.
But Joni Pitkanen took the game into overtime with just four minute left in the game.
Despite the hard work, the Penguins lost to Carolina 3-2 in OT. Jamie McBain took a shot from the blue line with just .9 seconds left in the game. The Penguins tried so hard, but with two broken sticks, it was hard to stop the Hurricanes. Fleury stopped Chad LaRose’s wrist shot—what everyone imagined as the game winning save—but McBain managed to get a shot off before the clock expired.
