Penguins win 3-2 to take 2-1 series lead

In a tight checking physical prototypical playoff game, the Penguins go into Tampa Bay for Game 3 and leave with a hard fought 3-2 victory. All things considered, the numbers were in their favor. First off, Marc Andre Fleury is now 12-4 in games following a loss in ths post season since 2008. This road win adds to the Penguins league leading road wins in the playoffs since 2008, pushing them to their 17th road victory. The Penguins are now 6-2 in their last 8 road playoff games, and finally they are now 10-1 in Game 3's since 2008. Some other thoughts from this game. When the Penguins sigend Arron Asham this summer as a free agent, I was thrilled to see him come here as I had been very impressed with him during the Flyers run to the Finals last season. After a regular season marred by injury and inconsistent play, Asham has been the most productive Penguin through 3 playoff games, with 2 goals and an assist. In both victories, Asham followed up a Penguins goal with quick strike second goals. He has been a smart physical presence as well. So far, Ash is as advertised in the post season gaining his 6th point (4G and 2A) in his past 10 playoff games. I cannot fail to mention the great play made by Mike Rupp to set up the goal by Asham, first playing the puck off the wall to himself to gain the zone, and then sliding a pass under the sliding Pavel Kubina for Asham to bury to make it 2-0. On that note, the Penguins first goal was set up after Lovejoy took a nasty charging call from Downie to get the puck up ice, for Max Talbot to bury behind Roloson on a delayed penalty. It will be interesting to see what Dumb and Dumber's Kangaroo Court has to say about that hit by Downie and the hit by Kunitz to the head of Gagne. Tampa made it 2-1 late in the first period, after a horrible call on Kovalev for goaltender interfernce, despite the fact that Kovalev had obviously been cross checked into Roloson. After a scoreless 2nd period, the Penguins carried a one goal lead into the third period. Early in the third period, after a Paul Martin penalty, Marty St. Louis cashes in AGAIN on the power play to tie the game at 2-2. The bad feelings that generated did not last long, as 31 seconds later Tyler Kennedy responds with a big time goal, the eventual game winner to make it 3-2. I LOVE how the Penguins responded tonight when they had to take a big win and a 2-1 series lead. Some other random thoughts: Fleury, as he usually does responded with a big game after a rather poor one in Game 2, to take the number 3 star with 25 saves, and a .926 save percentage; Kris Letang responded from a rather brutal game two to take the number one star by logging 24:22 of ice time, recording 2 assists, a +1 and 5 shots on goal; The Penguins top 4 defense in general was stellar tonight; Tyler Kennedy continues to be a big time player for the Penguins in the absence of their big guns; The first line had another game where it offered nothing in the way of points and I cannot keep talking about the other things Neal does; The Penguins PK misses Matt Cooke, as it has allowed the Tampa power play to go 4 for 11 thus far in the series; on that note, if you would have told me that after 3 games, the Penguins would be 0 for 15 on the power play, and that Tampa would be 4 for 11, I would not think we had a series lead; Similarly, if you would have said that our top 3 lines would combine for 3 goals in the first 3 games, I would think we were behind in the series; the good news is that Talbot, Adams, and Asham have provided great secondary scoring, the bad news is that guys like Staal, Neal, and Kovalev need to do more;Orpik and Asham lead this team in scoring with 3 points a piece, go figure; Finally, should the Penguins get out of this round and Crosby comes back, how many more options would they have up front by adding Matt Cooke and Sidney Crosby to the mix? Time for this team to activate its killer instinct, and put a stranglehold on the Lightning Wednesday night. How nice would it be to come back here Saturday night with a chance to close out a series on home ice? Go Pens!!