The BJs Blow Another One

If you are a coach in the NHL and your next opponent is the Pittsburgh Penguins, how the fuck do you go about constructing a game plan to beat them? And I'm not talking about beating them for a period or even two, I'm talking about putting your name next to the winning side and their name next to the losing side. Because tonight the Columbus Blue Jackets had a two goal advantage with under three minutes to go in the game in front of their 'home' crowd and they will wake up tomorrow with an OTL in the standings. How do you prepare for that? Newsflash: You can't.

Playing their first game without Evgeni Malkin, the Pens pretty much were sleep walking through the first two periods. There were shifts here and there which contained effort, but for the most part it was all Columbus. Brent Johnson was the only reason they weren't getting blown out early in the game. The Blue Jackets were the beneficiaries of several questionable calls, including the worst penalty called on Brooks Orpik I think I've ever seen. He put a solid check on a guy near the net and he got called for slashing? His stick never touched the guy! Of course, like it usually happens when bad penalties are called, the BJs scored on the power play when Rick Nash smacked in a rebound from his knees. This of course led to Paul Steigerwald racing to say "Monster Nash" as much as he could before the commercial break.

The second period was more of the same. Mike Commodore had a questionable keep at the blueline and the BJs capitalized again when all three forwards decided to stay high instead of covering Nash on the boards. After that the Penguins got into penalty trouble again. But with Bill Guerin in the box for hooking, Chris Kunitz got a semi-breakaway short handed. THe BJ defenseman dove to hit the puck, but never touched it while taking out Kunitz's legs. Somehow the ref, who saw the whole thing, decided that wasn't a penalty. It didn't matter because Sidney Crosby would pick up the loose puck, end up behind the net and fire a pass to Kunitz in the slot and he would bang it home for his second in two games. The rally would be short lived however when Derek Dorsett got a goal late in the second which seemed to salt the game away.

The Pens came out with a little fire in the third, but it wasn't until Crosby laid out some dude on a hard check that the tide started to turn. Columbus started playing the hockey equivalent of the prevent defense, which we all know only prevents you from winning. But to their credit they had only given up one goal through the first 57 minutes of play. But you have to play a full 60 to win. The Pens second line started getting pressure and eventually the puck came to Martin Skoula at the point. His shot went way wide but bounced off the boards to a wide open Ruslan Fedotenko who buried it into an empty net since Steve Mason was tied up with Jordan Staal in front. Just 39 seconds after that, Crosby got the puck down low and fed Alex Goligoski at the point. GoGo settled the puck down, picked his spot, and fired it above Mason's glove to tie the game. You would have thought it was a home game with how the crowd reacted.

The overtime was the typical waste of time. The shootout started and if you don't have butterflies at the beginning you are not normal. The BJs decided to go first and Antoine Vermette missed the net. Kris Letang was the first shooter for the Pens and he promptly rung one off the post. Nash got his chance and didn't even come close to hitting the net. Crosby took his chance and his attempt at putting the puck through the five hole was denied, but the puck so desperately wanted to go in that it willed itself over the line. How Mason missed that one is beyond me. It was up to Kristian Huselius to keep the game going, but Johnson robbed him with a great glove save and the Pens road winning streak was able to continue.

Funny side note. When I looked at the box score before I did this post, I noticed the scratches for the game. While we all know about Malkin and Tyler Kennedy being out of the lineup, I was surprised to learn that Kris Letang was out due to knee surgery. If Letang was having knee surgery, who was that guy wearing his jersey playing 25 minutes tonight? Was it his brother? The plot thickens...


Next up the Pens return home to face the Minnesota Wild on Saturday. The Wild snapped a two game losing streak with a victory over the Rangers tonight but currently sit in last place in the Northwest Division.

Notes: Crosby has a 6 game scoring streak and Goligoski has a 7 game scoring streak...Crosby is 4 for 4 in shootouts this year...Kunitz has more points in the last two games than the previous 11 games combined...Skoula got his first point in a Penguins' uniform...Goligoski has the highest shooting percentage on the team...former Penguin Mathieu Garon watched the game from the bench...The Crypt-Kicker Five are too cool to let Nash join their group.