Friday, November 14, 2008

Goligoski the Hero in Rivalry Game

The Pittsburgh Penguins have been nothing short of entertaining over the past couple of weeks. There hasn't been anything perfect about the Penguins' play, and most of their wins have come with last minute heroics, but they have gotten the job done for their 5th straight win.

Let's put a little Tarantino in this and get to the excitement. Alex Goligoski got his first NHL shootout goligoski_winneropportunity tonight, but it took 5 shooters to get it. He was the 6th Penguins shooter and took the cha nce to net his first shootout goal. Goligoski was actually the only scorer during the overtime finish as Dany Sabourin stopped all of Philadelphia's shooters. If you haven't been keeping track, that brings Sabou to 13 of 14 on the year. His near perfect shootout performances this year have him sitting at a 93% save percentage. NHL goaltenders would kill for that percentage during a game, yet alone their shootout save percentage.

Sabourin's win gives him his third of the year (3-1-0; 3-0 in OT), but he didn't start the game. Marc-Andre Fleury began the game and kept the Flyers scoreless through the first period. After the 6 goals he let in against the Champion Red Wings, it looked to be a great start for The Flower. Malkin and Crosby both scored to make it a 3-0 game. With 15 minutes left in the period, we felt that we were going to see one of those classic one-sided Pens vs Flyers games. Something happened during the second period to change how we felt about that... The Penguins were 1-7 on the power play, but managed to allow 2 short handed goals. The 2 goals moved the Penguins into 2nd place behind the Columbus Blue-Jackets for short handed goals allowed. Gagne's short handers made it a 3-3 game and the Flyers would go on to take the lead with 4 seconds remaining in the 2nd. After 10 goals being allowed by Flower in only 5 periods, Sabou would come out for the 3rd.

Once again, it took 15+ minutes in the 3rd for the Penguins to find their ability to tie any game in any situation. Sid scored his 2nd of the night (1st multi-goal game of the season) in the 17th minute of the 3rd. This marks 3 straight games where the Pens have been down with 5 minutes left and have won--Heartbreak Kids back at it again.

Official game score sheet.

***Note***

Malkin scored a goal and an assist on the night. He now has a 12 game point streak as well as a 12 game assist streak. His 20 assists lead the league and he is looking at a 100 assist season if he keeps going like he has. We expected that kind of passing from The Kid, but having two guys to feed from anywhere is a beautiful thing.

Let's Go Pens!

Matt@Penstation