Saturday, December 5, 2015

The Pens look to dethrone the Kings

By: MF,

Good afternoon Penguin fans! This afternoon the Pittsburgh Penguins are in Los Angeles to battle the Kings. The Penguins are on a long 12-day road trip through the West, which started off in San Jose with a huge win. It was the first time the team has won in San Jose in 18 years and the first time this season they have scored five goals.

Hopefully, the Penguins can keep the momentum going in their favor today in LA. However, that could prove to be harder as Kris Letang could be out of the lineup. Letang missed the team’s Friday practice with an undisclosed injury. Per Head Coach Mike Johnston (HCMJ), Letang has been a lingering injury for the defenseman. He will be a big loss on the backend for the Penguins. Some good news though for the defense, Olli Matta will make his return after missing six games with an upper-body injury. The Penguins will have to pick up the slack if Letang is out. They cannot allow Marc-Andre Fleury to carry the defense on his back as they have in the past. Though Fleury earned two shutouts last season against the Kings, he needs to be helped out.

The Penguins have the second line clicking on all cylinders with Evgeni Malkin, David Perron, and Phil Kessel lighting the lamp often. I have a feeling that Sidney Crosby will break out soon, but HCMJ must stop juggling the first line. It seems he is messing with that line every game and every few shifts. Crosby needs time to mesh with his linemates. I hope HCMJ will leave that line alone for a bit and see if it works for a few games, not one.


This game will not be an easy one for the Penguins. They must stay out of the penalty box, battle for pucks, get pucks on net, and put traffic in front. Time to play a consistent 60-minute game! Lets Go Pens!  

The Pens lineup is as follows:

Forwards
Kunitz - Crosby - Dupuis
Perron - Malkin - Kessel
Bennett - Bonino - Hornqvist
Plotnikov - Cullen - Fehr

Defense
Maatta - Cole
Dumoulin - Lovejoy
Warsofsky - Scuderi

Fleury in the net! 

Play By Play

3rd Period
0:00 - The Kings get the 5-3 win over the Pens. I feel especially bad for Fleury once again as he was pepper all game. The Pens got behind early and couldn't dig themselves out.

1:10 - Lucic Scores an empty netter. Lucic blows past Kessel and puts the puck in the empty net. 5-3 Kings

2:20 - Dupuis is on the bench. Equipment issue. The Pens have an empty net.

2:21 - Bonino lets go of a fast shot that is gobbled up by Quick.

3:04 - Dupuis doesn't appear to be on the Pens bench. Not sure why.

5:03 - Fehr causes the Kings to turnover the puck and Cullen comes flying into the slot area to direct it on the net! Quick is just able to get the save.

7:27 - Fleury makes a huge pad save while sliding on Lucic's chance! Unreal save!

8:27 - Kings will get a penalty shot.....Fleury makes the save!

8:38 - Crosby gets the puck from behind the net and outlets to Bennett in the slot. Bennett just can't get all on the shot.

9:05 - Successful kill by the Pens. Malkin gets a chance, but Quick makes the save.

10:05 - Crosby gets a shorthanded chance, but his shot is blocked!

11:15 - Horrible time for the Pens to take a penalty. Bonino will sit for tripping as the Kings head ont the power play.

11:40 - Maatta does some a great job of keeping Clifford from getting a shot off.

12:29 - The Pens power play is killed off.

14:29 - Clifford takes a seat for high sticking. Huge chance for the Pens to tie things up on the power play.

17:21 - CROSBY SCORES! Dumoulin makes a hard pass from the blue line and Crosby (in front) deflects the puck over the shoulder of Quick! 4-3 Kings

17:44 - Fleury makes two solid saves to start this period.

20:00 - The guys are back for the third period! The Pens better come out as a different team and get things back on track! Lets Go Pens!


2nd Period
0:00 - The second period horn sounds and the Kings lead 4-2 over the Pens.

1:58 - MAATTA SCORES! Kunitz finds Maatta in the slot area! Maatta puts in a backhander! 4-2 Kings

2:15 - Kessel with a shot that just goes wide. Best chance the Pens have had in a long time.

4:02 - Kings getting too many chances and Pens are allow them to crowd the front of the net.

7:42 - Muzzin Scores. A big battle in the corner and the Kings come out victorious. They find Muzzin wide open on the weak side and he scores. 4-1 Kings

8:40 - KUNITZ SCORES! Crosby finds Kunitz in the slot from behind the net! Kunitz fires it past the blocker and off the post into the net! 3-1 Kings

9:03 - Lucic Scores. Lucic skates right in and goes five hole. 3-0 Kings

10:07 - Ehrhoff Scores. The Pens fall back and give Kings room. Ehrhoff enters the zone and uses Scuderi as a screen to put the puck past the blocker of Fleury. 2-0 Kings

11:03 - The Flower once again saves the Pens.

12:10 - Perron is robbed by Quick!

12:25 - Fleury makes another save on a point blank shot. He is holding down the fort.

14:01 - Plotnikov emerges from behind the net and gets a backhander off that is saved by Quick.

14:45 - Fleury makes an unreal save. Keeping the Pens in this one as the Kings are getting chances.

16:41 - Malkin and Kessel make a tic-tac-toe play. Malkin fakes a shot and slides the puck to Kessel. Kessel shoots it wide.

17:34 - Doughty Scores on the power play. Doughty fires a rocket shot while sliding back to the boards. The laser shot goes over Fleury's glove. 1-0 Kings

17:38 - Scuderi heads back to the box for delay of game. Kings back to the power play.

19:07 - The Pens kill off the Kings power play.

20:00 - Time for the second period! The Pens have to kill off a Kings power play for 54 seconds to start! Lets Go Pens!


1st Period
0:00 - First period ends and things are scoreless.

1:07 - Now the Kings will head to the power play as Scuderi is off to the box for holding.

1:56 - The Pens turnover the puck in their own zone. Shore is all alone in the slot, but blows a tire as he fires the puck and it goes wide. Lucky break for the Pens.

2:28 - The power play for the Pens is killed off by the Kings. They need to get the puck to the net more often, way too much passing.

3:24 - Warsofsky fires from the blue line, but it's deflected into the netting. At least someone is shooting the puck towards the net.

3:55 - Kessel makes a diving play to keep the puck in the offensive zone.

4:28 - The Pens are getting the first power play of the game as Shore heads to the box for tripping.

6:13 - Fleury once again makes a tough save with tons of traffic in front of him. Kings are out shooting Pens 7-1.

8:24 - The Kings crash and get traffic in front, but Fleury is able to make two great saves to keep things scoreless.

9:15 - Kings get a chance for a 2 on 1 rush, but Fehr with the great back-checking effort to break things up.

11:54 - Carter gets a chance on a rush, but the pass doesn't get through cleanly.

16:41 - Crosby and Kunitz battle in the corner for the puck. Crosby was battle hard against a big Kings defense. 

18:04 - Warsofsky fires a shot that is steered to the corner by Quick. 

20:00 - The puck has dropped in LA! The Pens battle the Kings! Lets Go Pens! 

No comments:

Post a Comment