The losing streak is FINALLY over and the Penguins finally get some offense as they defeat the Panthers 4-1 in Sunrise Florida. The win marked the 136th victory for Coach Bylsma, putting him in sole possession of 2nd place all time in coaching victories for the Penguins, trailing first place Eddie Johnston by 96 wins and surpassing Michel Therrien. The Penguins did what they have done plenty of times during the streak including outshooting the Panthers 41 to 26, and taking a 1-0 lead. But they did a lot of things differently tonight too. First, related to the shots, they were different shots tonight. The shots taken in the past few games seemed to be perimeter shots that were akin to pitch and catch for a good goaltender. Tonight the Penguins were skating well, attacking on the rush, and involving 3 or 4 players and often a trailer coming late. They also played a much tighter brand of defense in front of Fleury, who posted his second stellar performance in a row, saving 25 of 26 shots. Fleury was at his best late in the second, when it was still 1-0, making several stops during a furious late period shift by Florida's top line. Right after that, Malkin gets his 18th and for the first time in 2012 the Penguins had a two goal lead. They played well in all three zones tonight, finished checks, had good gap control, and attacked consistently on the rush. During a dominant first period, the Penguins had 18 shots on goal, hit four posts, and had two breakaways, but were unable to score. Early in the second period, at 1:49 Steve Sullivan scored his 8th goal into an open net, as Matt Cooke notched his seventh assist digging a puck out from behind the net and finding Sullivan in the slot. Penguins up 1-0. Then the Penguins got a late goal from Malkin at 19:25 of the period, his 18th of the season. Malkin got his rebound on a breakaway and put in the goal from behind Clemensen to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead. Neal (16) and Kunitz (15) assisted on the goal. Late period goals are often back breakers, as are goals to start a period. And to start period three, Tyler Kennedy got the back breaker at :36 of the third period as he scored his 6th goal of the year on a beautiful tic tac toe play from Dupuis(15) to Orpik to Kennedy(6). What a play by all three players, but I loved seeing Orpik who has picked up his physical play of late, make such a nifty offensive play. Penguins up 3-0. Florida made it a little interesting as Repik made it 3-1 Penguins at 6:55 of the third. But the Real Deal put the final nail in the coffin notching his 22nd goal of the year at 15:43 on a wicked wrist shot to put the Penguins up 4-1. Chris Kunitz picked up his sixteenth assist of the season on the play. The goal ended a seven game goal scoring drought by Neal, his longest of the season, and after waiting a second to see if somebody was going to wave it off due to contact by Kunitz, I could breathe again! All in all, a very solid effort by the Penguins to end their streak, and their second well played game in a row. I liked the physical play of the Penguins tonight, with both Orpik and Engellend thumping Panthers all night long, and Asham and Tangradi dropping the mits. Neal and Kunitz both played a physical game and each notched two points. Malkin was a force all over the ice, and Fleury was strong in the cage. They got secondary scoring from Sullivan and Kennedy as well. It is only one victory, but given all of the adversity and current controversy surrounding Crosby and his captaincy/injury, this could be the type of win that could galvanize a team and mark a turning point in a season. Or it could be an anamoloy. Time will tell. Tampa for a Sunday matinee up next for a badly needed two points! GO PENS!
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