Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Several Streaks End in Shootout Loss

The Penguins were defeated tonight by the Minnesota Wild in a 2-1 shootout game.  The loss ended the Penguins 6 game winning streak, but they got a point to continue their points streak to 7 straight.  Other losers included Evgeni Malkin (13 game point and assist streaks end), Danny Sabourin (13 straight shootout saves), and the blue jerseys (first modern loss wearing classic blue jerseys).

Mr. Automatic, a.k.a. Mike Zigomanis, was as good as ever from the faceoff dot.  He was so good that he actually won a draw that got past Sabourin in the first.  It was an odd goal awarded to Mikko Koivu to set the Wild up 1-0.  10 seconds later, Matt Cooke scored his second of the season to tie it up.  Cooke now has points in 5 straight and continues to be a big contributor with Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy.  Staal's primary assist on the goal continued his great play over the last several games.

It was good to see Sabourin put up another strong performance in net.  Although the Wild aren't an offensive power house, they moved to 11-4-1 with the win and were a formidable opponent.  Sabourin allowed the first goal of the shootout, but stopped the next 2.  He has now stopped 15 of 17 shootout attempts for the season.

There was a scary moment in the 2nd period when Gino took a puck to the mouth.  It seemed as if he didn't see it coming and couldn't make any adjustment to avoid the rubber.  Luckily, Malks made it back on the ice at the beginning of the 3rd period and appeared to be unaffected.

The Penguins move to 11-4-3 with the loss and are still playing great hockey.  For the complete score sheet, click here.

Matt@Penstation