A pair of 5-1 wins have gotten Pens nation up and going as we head down the stretch. We'll ignore the fact that both games were against the only teams officially eliminated from the playoffs. Everyone was curious to see how Kovalev would do against the Sens. Well, despite a welcome back video on the jumbotron produced by Ottawa, the fans booed him heavily the first time he touched the puck. He played a solid game, you could tell he was pressing a bit to show up the fans, but regardless, we got the win.
The goal scoring started mid way through the first as Paul Martin blasted a slapshot at the net which was deflected by Tyler Kennedy off a post and in the net. The goal was Kennedy's 16th, setting a new career high for goals in a season and he also has a new career high in points with 38 thus far. The rest of the period was pretty quiet with the Penguins largely domination playing. Brent Johnson wasn't really tested. The only excitement the rest of the way was Deryk Engelland fighting Chris Neil in what looked to be an exhausting and even matchup.
The second period started with an explosion of offense. After some good forechecking work around the net by Chris Kunitz and Kennedy, the puck squirted loose on the top of the crease to Jordan Staal who buried it into a wide open net. Less than a minute later, Zbynek Michalek took a tripping penalty and Ottawa scored 6 seconds into their powerplay as Ryan Shannon put in a Nick Foligno rebound. Less than a minute after that, Ben Lovejoy, clearly threatened by Michalek's offense as of late, blasted a low slapshot past Craig Anderson to make it 3-1 Pens. Four minutes later, Dustin Jeffrey took a shot that glanced off of Matt Cooke's skate to give the Pens a 4-1 lead. Finally, everyone decided to relax. The Pens had 2 powerplays and Ottawa had 1 the rest of the period, but neither team succeeded.
The third period was pretty quiet as the game was not exactly in doubt. As Bob Errey told you 30 times if you were watching the broadcast, Ottawa has not won a game in which they've been behind after 2 periods. Just in case, Zbynek Michalek decided to show up Lovejoy and score yet again half way through the period. That's Michalek's 3rd goal in 4 games after going 0 for 92 before that. Final: 5-1 Pens.
3 Stars:
#3 - Staal
#2 - Kunitz
#1 - Kennedy
Notes/Thoughts:
- When on a line together, Kunitz-Staal-Kennedy have shown a great ability to forecheck teams into turnovers that have led to goals. Kunitz had 3 assists and both Staal and Kennedy had a goal and assist.
- The Penguins looked like they were in early season form, getting 41 shots on Anderson much like they did in the first half of the season
- Who would you consider to actually be the first line on this team nowadays? It's hard to tell.
- Potter played well in his debut with the Penguins. He was promptly sent down along with Steve Wagner today though, so expect Niskanen to be back this weekend.
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