Coach Disco said it best when he said that his team was not physically or mentally ready to play this game. The Penguins looked horrid for the first 45 minutes of this game. In short, there was very little they could right for the first two periods plus. The Blues could only muster one goal despite the Penguins poor play due to the stellar effort between the pipes of Marc Andre Fleury. The only goal came on yet another horrid Paul Martin play where he turned the puck over to Scott Nichol, then acted like a screen and ultimately deflected Nichol's shot past Fleury in the first period. So after two of the worst periods I have seen this hockey team play all year, they were still only down 1-0, and I definitely felt like the Blues were going to pay for letting the Penguins hang around. Sure enough Steve Sullivan(3) tied the game at 1-1 fairly early in the third on a power play goal assisted by Malkin and Kennedy. Later in the period Martin again got caught floating around and puck watching, allowing his man to make a perfect pass to a player Staal left open in front of the net for the go ahead goal. The Penguins fought back hard, and finally tied the game again at 2-2 on a goal by James Neal (13), assisted by Evgeni Malkin, whose two assists tonight marked his 6th multi point game of the season. The Penguins then looked like they were about to take this game to a shootout, when the evening's king of turnovers Kris Letang inexplicably threw a no look pass in the defensive zone that led to the Blues retaining possession in the Penguins' zone, and Jamie Langenbrunner gunned home the game winner. This game was not a good game for the Penguins. Maybe they just had a bit of a hangover from the emotions of the game Monday night, but boy there are some habits that need broken from tonight's game. Generally the team was too fancy, making passes that were not there, forcing pucks to 87, passing on shots, and just overall sloppy play. Crosby took 3 penalties, 2 of which were real and needs to be more disciplined, and he knows it......and he will be as a result, I have no doubt. Someone needs to surgically repair the current situation wherein Tanger has his head planted so far up his own ass! He has Norris abilities, but needs to settle down and use his head consistently. Paul Martin.......not sure what to say here. I know how good he has been at times, but man he is having a HORRID season. I am not sure what you do here, but at some point he needs to get his act together. Geno had a nice night tonight with 2 points and a 70% in the faceoff circle. Fleury was outstanding, and Orpik was passing out the free candy tonight. 44 had 8 blocked shots and 9 official hits, including one where he took out two Blues on the same hit. In short, tough to lose that late in OT, after surviving a horrible game during regulation but they did steal a point that they had no business taking. I expect that we will see a much better ready to play team on Friday. GO PENS!
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