Saturday, December 4, 2010

Game 28: Pens 7, Blue Jackets 2

Total Domination!

Penguins- 7
-Paul Martin (unassisted) 1-6:43
-Mike Rupp (Godard, Adams) 1-8:59
-Paul Martin (unassisted) 1-12:55
-Sidney Crosby (Letestu, Letang) 1-15:49
-Tyler Kennedy (Letestu, Conner) 2-3:09
-Sidney Crosby (Kunitz, Letang) 2-9:55
-Deryk Engelland (unassisted) 2-18:19
W- Fleury (21-23)

Blue Jackets- 2
-Samuel Pahlsson (Klesla, Moreau) 2-6:21
-Chris Clark (Tyutin, Moreau) 3-1:05
L- Mason (9-13)
ND- Garon (19-22)

RECAP
The Penguins absolutely owned every single facet of the game Saturday night vs Columbus. They owned the puck, the scoreboard, and even the crowd at Nationwide Arena. As with nearly every blowout win, the Pens started off strong in the 1st period.

After weathering a fast start by the Jackets, Paul Martin put the Pens on the board when he threw the puck on the net and it deflected off of a defenseman's skate before trickling through Mason's pads. Things didn't get any better for Mason after that, and he let Eric Godard fire a shot right through his legs a few minutes later. The puck would have certainly wandered into the net if left untouched, but Mike Rupp tapped it in just to make sure. Martin got on the board again on the powerplay at the 13 minute mark. Martin picked up the puck and patiently walked it deeper into the zone before jamming it past Mason for a commanding 3-0 lead. But don't think Sid wasn't going to have his share in the glory. Crosby showed off his stick skills after he mid-air tipped a Letestu pass for the 4-0 lead and the end of Steve Mason's night.

The second period didn't look much better for backup Mattieu Garon. Tyler Kennedy continued the onslaught when he lifted a rebound right into the twine. Midway through the 2nd, Chris Kunitz picked the puck up in the neutral zone and then found his buddy Sid again for Crosby's 2nd of the night and the 6th for the Pens. Deryk Engelland put an exclamation on the scoring when he fired a laser shot into the upper-left corner for his 2nd of the season. Columbus's 2 irrelevant goals were scored by Samuel Pahlsson and Chris Clark.

Columbus looked like they were somewhat trying to make the game ugly, but the Pens stayed focused and simply ran out the clock in the 3rd without doing anything dumb. There was one fight between Mike Rupp and Jared Boll midway through the 2nd, but Rupper hardly had a choice to fight him after Boll slashed Rupp's stick in 2 before a faceoff.

Evgeni Malkin did not play tonight with some sort of undisclosed knee injury he got on Thursday, but after the game Bylsma said that it was nothing serious, but just sore. That's a shame for any of the thousands of Pens fans in attendance that came to see him play. At least half of Nationwide Arena was packed with Pens fans, and they became even louder as the Jackets fans started to leave early. In fact, it got to the point where the Pens received a roaring standing ovation at the end of the game...in Columbus.

Game Changing Play:
This game never really changed much, so the game changing play must be the opening faceoff.

Grades:

Offense: A+ What an onslaught of goals! Best offensive performance of the season.

Defense: A- Sometimes a defense gets lazy when they build up a huge lead. For the most part the Pens didn't so kudos for keeping the eyes on the prize.

Fleury: B+ Same as the defense. He was better than he had to be, and didn't seem to sit back much at the end.

Powerplay: A 3-4 is great. No complaints about that.

Penalty Kill: A- They did give up a goal, but it was long after the game became irrelevant. They killed the ones that counted, including a double minor that stretched between the 1st and 2nd.

3 Big Points:

-Mike Rupp and Deryk Engelland scored. Godard, Adams, and Conner had points. Paul Martin scored 2 goals. Sid was held to just 2 goals (lol). Engelland and Goligoski were each a +3. I'd call that "spreading the wealth."

-As of right now, Columbus would be in the playoffs so it's not like the Pens beat up on a last place team. Just an extra little thing to be proud of tonight.

-Pens third line has been unbelievable since they were paired up a few weeks ago. I know I say this a lot but it probably still doesn't get said enough.

My 3 Stars:

1. Paul Martin
2. Sidney Crosby
3. Mark Letestu

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