Tuesday, February 7, 2017

The Penguins look to extinguish the Flames

By: MF, 

Welcome back everyone for another exciting night of hockey! Tonight the Pittsburgh Penguins are hosting the Calgary Flames.

The main focus of the game tonight for the fans will be Sidney Crosby as he is only three points from reaching 1,000 NHL career points. He would become the 86th player in NHL history to accomplish this, kinda wish he was the 87th. Regardless this is a huge milestone for a player that is still in his prime. Looking at his points, three players stand out as major contributors to his climb to 1,000. First is Evgeni Malkin with 262 points, Chris Kunitz with 183 points, and Kris Letang with 158 points. Maybe Kunitz or Letang will factor into the 1,000th mark.

Now onto the game at hand. Malkin (lower-body), Conor Sheary (upper-body), and Chris Hagelin (concussion) will all be out of the lineup tonight. Malkin did practice Monday, but was wearing a no contact jersey. Still good to see him out on the ice making progress.

Tonight the Penguins need to take advantage of playing at PPG Paints Arena and take it to the Flames early! They need to play smart and stay out of the box. They are tied for second place in the Metropolitan Division with the Columbus Blue Jackets. Two critical points await as the end of the regular season draws near. Lets Go Pens!

The Pens lineup is as follows:

Forwards
Kunitz - Crosby - Rust
Guentzel - Bonino - Kessel
Wilson - Rowney - Hornqvist
Kuhnhackl - Cullen - Fehr

Defense
Dumoulin - Letang
Maatta - Daley
Cole - Schultz

Murray in the net!

Play by Play
Pens 2 Flames 3 SO

Shootout
The Flames end up getting the 3-2 shootout win. Hard loss for the Pens after battling to tie things up and then killing off a huge penalty in overtime. It was a terrible game for the Pens, so they shouldn't feel bad about their overall performance. Onto the next game.

Letang rings one off the goal post.

Monahan is stopped.

Crosby is stopped.

Versteeg scores.

Kessel is stopped by Johnson.


Overtime
0:00 - A shootout is going to decide this game as things are still tied 2-2.

1:10 - What a great kill! Daley is released!

2:03 - Murray holds for the whistle and Flames call a timeout.

2:10 - Bonino and Cole with two huge blocks!

3:01 - Murray loses his mask and the referee ends up blowing the whistle a bit after and waved off a Flames goal. Looks like he thought the Pens were going to have control of the puck soon. Not sure. Pens get lucky.

3:11 - Daley is off to the box and the Flames get a four-on-three power play in overtime.

3:18 - Murray with a blocker save on Bennett.

3:55 - Cullen fires one and it goes up over the net. Giordano with his stick in the way to deflect that shot.

5:00 - Overtime hockey has started! Lets Go Pens!


3rd Period
0:00 - That will bring an end to the third period. Things are tied at 2-2, so we are headed to overtime.

1:37 - Tkackuk goes down and ends up running over Murray. Both are slow to get up. No whistles.

3:00 - Cullen with a wrap around chance. Johnson is able to get over in time to make the save.

4:54 - GUENTZEL SCORES! Cole steps up to take control of the loose puck at the center of the offensive zone! He finds Guentzel at the side who releases a lightning quick shot past Johnson! 2-2 tie game.

8:01 - Gaudreau with a chance, but he is unable to pull the trigger.

8:53 - Crosby being double shifted quite a bit. Flames seeing a lot of him.

12:01 - A great penalty killing effort by the Pens and Letang is released from the sin bin.

14:01 - Flames getting a power play as Letang takes a seat in the sin bin.

14:07 - CROSBY IS AT 998 POINTS! 

14:08 - KUNITZ SCORES! Crosby wins the offensive faceoff and goes back to Letang! Letang goes up to Crosby who feeds Kunitz! Kunitz fires a bad angle shot and it sneaks through Johnson! 2-1 Flames

16:58 - Crosby goes down to one-knee and his shot bounces off both goal post and somehow stays out of the goal. Looks to be a goal, but the referee ways it off right away. That was so close.

20:00 - Time for the third period! The Pens have to get more offensive zone time and put the pressure on the Flames/Johnson! Lets Go Pens!


2nd Period
0:00 - The horn sounds to end the second period and the Flames lead things 2-0.

1:57 - Frolik scores. The Flames get a three-on-two rush. Tkachuk draws attention to him and is able to slip a pass to Frolik, who is alone at the side of the net. He puts it past Murray. 2-0 Flames

3:41 - Ferland scores. Ferland pokes the puck away from Crosby at the blue line and has a step on both Dumoulin and Crosby as he heads towards Murray. He fires one under the glove and over the pad of Murray to put the Flames up 1-0.

4:12 - Finally some offensive zone time as the Pens third line is able to set up and cycle the puck. Johnson gets the puck and holds for the whistle. Wilson ends up heading to the locker room. I am not sure of the reason yet, but I will keep you updated on the situation.

5:41 - Crosby is robbed twice by Johnson! Both chances were right on the doorstep. What moves by Crosby to get the puck.

6:13 - Still a close checking game. Not much established offensive zone time for the Pens or Flames.

10:00 - Some good chances for the Pens, but Johnson has been sharp and the Flames are doing a good job of getting sticks in the way of shots.

11:54 - Close checking, fast pace hockey being played right now. Players are unable to hold onto the puck for long.

15:09 - The Pens are unable to capitalize on their power play chance.

17:09 - Gaudreau heads to the box for high-sticking and the Pens bring out their power play.

18:45 - Successful penalty kill for the Pens. Kinda funny reading Twitter as the site went down for a bit and came back up soon after the second period started.

20:00 - We are back for the second period! The Pens have a penalty kill for 1:15 to start! Get the kill and strike! Lets Go Pens!


1st Period
0:00 - First period comes to a close and things are still scoreless.

0:45 - Pens have to kill off another penalty as Cole sits for tripping.

2:41 - Wilson with a perfect feed to Rowney driving down center. Wideman just gets a piece of Rowney's shot to deflect to over the net.

3:39 - Both penalties have expired and we are back to full strength hockey.

5:39 - Guentzel is ticketed with holding the stick and heads to the box. Also, Brodie sits as he cross-checked Guentzel. Four-on-four hockey time.

8:55 - Daley with a good stick to redirect Hathaway's shot into the netting. If not for Daley getting his stick on the puck, it would of been a goal.

11:35 - Successful penalty kill for the Pens as Schultz is set free from the sin bin.

13:35 - Now the Flames will get a chance on the power play as Schultz heads to the box for tripping. Letang is back on the ice.

13:53 - Letang is hit hard on the boards and is hunched over on the bench.

14:42 - Murray and Johnson with some good saves to start this game. Good flow to this game as there have not been many whistles.

16:39 - Rust with a shot through traffic in the slot area just goes wide. That will be the end of that power play for the Pens as Monahan is released.

18:39 - Cross-checking penalty will got to Monahan and that sends the Pens onto the power play. 

20:00 - It's hockey night in Pittsburgh! The Pens need to take it to the Flames early and keep up the pressure! Lets Go Pens! 

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