The Penguins left a valuable point on the table in Philadelphia today. At the end of two periods, they seemed comfortably ahead of a tough Philadelphia squad 2-0, leading them in shots on goal at the end of the second period 27-10, and holding a potent offense shotless for an 18 minute stretch of the second period. Then with about 30 seconds remaining, Michalek took a penalty that would prove most costly, as it led to a power play goal early in the third period by Kimo Timonen that led to the comeback win for Philadelphia. Crosby, a Flyer killer had more than 17 and a half minutes of ice time, but was unable to get on the scoresheet today, ending his scoring streak, and running a goal less streak to 10 games. Jordan Staal's career high 10 game scoring streak came to an end today as well. The OT loss left the Penguins only one point behind conference leading New York, and two points ahead of Philadelphia for fourth place with a game in hand. Despite the frustration I felt when Fartsmell buried a puck behind Fleury with only .9 seconds left in OT, you have to keep it in perspective. The Penguins are 11-0-1 in the past 12 games, and just came back from a three game road trip against the best the conference has to offer with 5 of a possible six points in hand. The power play today was 0-2, and the PK gave up an unusual goal killing 3 of 4 Philadelphia penalties. The Penguins were goaded into several post whistle scrums, and took some bad penalties, leading to the eventual loss today. A recap of the scoring is as follows. Craig Adams scored his 5th goal of the season, with a brilliant deflection of a Kris Letang shot to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead. Letang collected his 24th assist of the season, and Pascal Dupuis his 25th. Then late in the second period at 19:07 Evgeni Malkin got his 41st goal of the season, bring a puck out of the corner, and getting Bryzgalov to commit, while Geno tucked the puck under his skate on the backhand. He was assisted by Kris Letang (25), and Craig Adams (10). The Penguins were up 2-0. Then early in the third Timonen scored a power play goal at :31 to give the Flyers life. Then Scott Hartnell tied the game at 4:47 with his first of two goals today. The game ended in a 2-2, and ALMOST of all of OT expired when Hartnell scored his 35th goal of the season, and second goal of the game to give the Flyers a big win on home ice. Briere hit Hartnell trailing the play late, and he made no mistake. It was a frustrating play to watch that late in the OT, as Pittsburgh is a very strong shootout team, and had the game gone that route, Pittsburgh had a great chance to tie the Rangers for the conference lead. In the long run, I hope this is a loss that will get the team re-focused. I don't like everyone calling them the best team in the league, and perhaps getting beat in the manner that they had will remind them that whether you are the best or not, you need to be focused and disciplined to beat good teams right now. Tuesday is a new day, and hopefully the beginning of a new win streak for the Pens. Lets Go Pens!
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