There are some things you never get tired of......the Penguins again show their mental toughness and offensive firepower as they weather a first period flurry to beat the Canes again. After falling behind 1-0 early on a goal by Cullen, the Pens score a power play goal by Malkin to tie the score. The Pens then end the period with the two headed monster striking with 42 seconds and 7 seconds left in the period. Crosby took a beautiful feed from Guerin, and as he has done all spring, went to the net and buried it! As the period ended, Dr. Malkenstein swooped and buried another goal, and just like that the Pens silenced the RBC crowd with a 3-1 lead. After a second period in which the Pens seemed to take their foot off the gas, neither team scored. The Canes struck quickly in the third scoring to make it 3-2 within the first two minutes, and it appeared as if a storm was brewing!! Again, Malkamania runs wild as Evgeni Malkin leads a rush up ice, and as the entire Canes defense collapsed to keep him in front of them, Malkin drops a pass to Ruslan Fedotenko, who took a laser of a wrist shot, and bingo, it is 4-2 Pens and you could feel the Hurricanes get downgraded to a tropical depression. Craig Adams sealed the deal with an empty netter right off the face off, and Billy Guerin rubbed some salt in the wound with a late backhander that beat Ward to make it 6-2. The Pens still have another game to win to clinch the Series, but only the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and the 1975 New York Islanders have erased 3-0 deficits in the Stanley Cup playoffs, so the Canes have their work cut out for them.
Evgeni Malkin is the NHL Playoff scoring leader with 28 points, and Sid is second with 26. Crosby is the playoffs goal scoring leader with 14, and Geno is second with 12........Truly amazing! Chris Kunitz followed up his great performance in Game 2 with two more assists, tremendous back checking, and his usual physical play............Bill Guerin's assist on Crosby's goal was a thing of beauty and he finished with a goal of his own. The top two lines were unreal tonite, and if Talbot had his A game tonite, Geno has two MORE assists, setting up Mad Max for a point blank chance with an open net, and setting him free for a breakaway with a beautiful 80 foot pass..............tonite, Max did not have his hands, and he missed both chances......or Geno would be sitting with 30 pts!!! I almost forgot to mention that Genos sixth straight multi point playoff game is the first time that has occured since Dale Hawerchuk did it in 1993, and is two shy of the NHL record set by Wayne Gretzky in that same year!
The series is never over until it is over, and the fourth win in a series is always the toughest one to get, but the Pens SEEM to be too much for the Canes. Without Cam Ward in the net, the Pens may have scored in double digits in each of the last two games. In addition, the interview with Joe Corvo, one of the Canes leaders between the second and third periods was the most dejected I have seen a player look while still in a game and series. The post game interviews with Eric Staal and Erik Cole had a similar feel. The three day separation in games is exactly what the Canes need right now, and I hate to see the Pens go idle while hitting on all cylinders, but this team is so focused, I am not expecting it to change their style. If the Pens finish off the Canes, they will be the first team since the '83-'84 Oilers to go the Stanley Cup Finals and lose in one year, then return the next. The Oilers won the Stanley Cup on their second try, ending the Islanders' dynasty and starting their own. The situation would be eerily similar to the potential changing of the guard this time too! Enjoy this while you can Pens fans, it is UNREAL!!
No comments:
Post a Comment