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Penguins Spoil Habs’ Comeback with One of Their Own
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Penguins Spoil Habs’ Comeback with One of Their Own
Here's the first article from Matt, who will be primarily a Penguins contributor to RTJR:
The Pittsburgh Penguins are playing some kind of hockey right now. Winners of six of their last eight games, the Pens have stormed up the standings in the Atlantic Division all the way to the top (where they currently are tied with the New Jersey Devils). Last night’s game against the Montreal Canadiens was an important stepping stone to Saturday’s colossal match-up against the Ottawa Senators. Before the game last night, the Canadians were two points ahead of the Pens and were alone in 4th place in the Eastern conference. Winners of four in a row, including a historic five-goal comeback against the New York Rangers on Tuesday night, the Canadiens were primed to keep their winning ways going; right into first place in the Northeast Division. But unfortunately for them the Penguins were also on a winning streak and looking to take first in their division too. The Penguins played fantastic in the first period; out-shooting the Canadiens 15 to 8 with two pucks getting past Cristobal Huet from Ryan Whitney and Jarkko Ruutu. At this point in the game it looked like the Penguins were in an excellent position to hold the lead and win the game, but after the Habs’ latest come-back nothing could be assured. The second period would begin with a fight between two Max’s, the Penguin’s Maxime Talbot and the Canadien’s Maxim Lapierre. With tensions rising from the fight and those insane Canadian fans, the second period was sure to be a battle for the ages. Saku Koivu scored early for Montreal to give the Habs’ fans some life. He was quickly answered though, with Ryan Malone’s 20th goal of the season. Up 3 to 1 the Pens were in a good position, but Jarkko Ruutu took the Penguins’ first minor penalty of the game with less than two minutes to play in the second, which allowed the number one power play unit in the league a chance to score. Christopher Higgins delivered for the Canadiens to bring Montreal within one goal at the end of the second period. Out of the three periods the third and final was the most eventful. The Canadiens, with the crowd on their side, scored the tying goal only 21 seconds into the period and later, on a power play yet again, they would score the go-ahead goal. For a while the Pens seemed to be dominated by the Canadiens, not able to get the puck into their zone at all. The Pen’s Evgeni Malkin would take a penalty about half way through the third on a high-stick. Things seemed grim for the Pens, but after killing the penalty, Malone would hit Malkin, who was coming out of the box, down the ice for the tying goal. Not too long after Malkin’s incredible goal, the Penguins' Sergei Gonchar would score the game winning goal on a power play. This Penguin victory is a great morale boost for Saturday’s game against the Ottawa Senators. The Senators have 76 points, which means the Pens will pass them in the standings, should the Penguins win in regulation. Also up for grabs on Saturday is the race for the Scoring title. Evgeni Malkin leads the league with 82 points as of Thursday and is 4 points up on the Washington Capitals’ Alexander Ovechkin. Malkin will look to keep his 10-game points streak alive and remain atop the league in points and the MVP runnings.
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