Big win in Boston 5-3

Before I get to the game tonight, I just want to finish some house keeping items related to the Flyers game on Sunday and some of the BS that came from it.  First, that douchebag Milbury gave a cursory apology to the "Penguins organization and its fans" for the remarks he now realizes were out of line the other day.  Pretty funny and very minimal effort at some PR from a very very stupid man.  With regard to Danny Briere and his injury, I have to ask if it is now okay to refer to him as Danielle based on his assertion that the Vitale hit was clean, BUT, Vitale intended to injure him.  For a group that loves to refer to Sidney Crosby as Cindy Crysby, I would think they are a little embarrassed by that comment, and so it goes.  Finally, I have had the opportunity to communicate with a few cool Flyer fans outside of the ones I am aleady friendly with.  First, my man Petey Cobretti, a cool guy to talk some puck with @SlyRocky4.  Knows the game, but can appreciate quality players on both sides of the shop.  Hates the Rangas!  Me too.  Also, if you want to get the Flyer perspective from two quality writers, look for Ed Miller @PhillyEdMiller or at hockeywriters.com.  Great guy, also knows the game, and can appreciate passionate fans and their perspectives.  Finally, today had some great feedback from Michael DeNicola, from OrangeandBlackPack.com.  The posts I read, even on the game Sunday were well written, detailed and fairly represented in my opinion what occurred.  Solid guy to communicate with also.  With a couple of weeks coming up of intense cross state warfare, these are some guys you can have a friendly, intelligent debate with, and get som real insight into the perspective of the "enemy."

On to the game tonight.  First, it was a win and a big two points, but it did little to quell my concerns about the Penguins attention to detail in the defensive zone.  The Penguins again gave up prime chances to a Boston team who had literally NOTHING but pride to play for tonight.  Brent Johnson seems a lot more like the Beej of the past couple of years.  I am not sure what to make of the defense, and losing Niskanen for any length of time would hurt, as Lovejoy is gone for a few weeks already, and as tweeted by NHL writer Mike Colligan, Paul Martin is playing like a guy looking to be a healthy scratch.  That pairing accounted for a goal by Martin and 3 assists by Letang tonight, but they were also on the ice for all three Boston goals.  Two more games to get your act together defensively.   The Penguins are getting offense, averaging 4.5 goals per game since Crosby returned, and they are hitting, but they seem to be lost at times in terms of defensive zone coverage.  The Rangers handed Philadelphia a 5-3 loss tonight, which clinched first place for them.  That loss, combined with the Penguins victory means that the Penguins magic number to clinch the 4th seed is 2.  They have the Rangers in town Thursday, with nothing to play for, starting Marty Biron.  This would be a great chance to grab a win, making Saturday's game irrelevant, and possibly saving some wear and tear on some key bodies.

Game Summary:

Period One

The Penguins jumped out to another lead today, when at 7:41 of the period Crosby scored his 7th goal of the season, assisted by Pascal Dupuis (33) and Kris Letang (28).  The point extended Duper's NHL leading scoring streak to 15 games, matching Geno's longest point scoring streak of his career.  Not bad, when you add 24 goals and top PK minutes for the "thrown-in" to the Hossa deal.  Pens lead 1-0. Then at 14:58, the world stopped, when much maligned Paul Martin got his second goal of the year driving to the net when a Kennedy shot that was ON THE NET caromed off his hand and into the net.  The fact that Martin did something positive AND a Kennedy shot was on the net ALL AT ONCE is amazing.  The assist was Kennedy's 22nd and Letang earned his second assist of the night and 29th of the season, giving the Penguins a 2-0 lead.  At 16:57 Pouliot makes it 2-1.  The period ened that way.

Period Two

18 seconds in, the Penguins give up their 2-0 lead in a row when Milan Lucic tallies to even the score.  The two teams played a physical period with Matt Niskanen leaving after a big  hit in the corner with a bad shoulder, but neither team was able to score until the Penguins manufactured a power play with a high stick call effectively bought by Kris Letang.  On the ensuing 5 on 3 power play at the 18:11 mark, James Neal blistered a shot that Kunitz fanned on past Turco to get his 40th goal and league leading 18th power play goal of the year to restore the lead at 3-2.   Steve Sullivan collected his 33rd assist of the season on the play, and Sidney Crosby his 27th.  Right after the goal James Neal had a spirited bout with Andrew Ference after Neal hit Boychuk behind the net.  Both left with 5 minute majors, after a slight decision for Neal.   The Penguins struck again on the remaining power play at 18:59 when Sidney Crosby scored his second goal of the game and 7th of the year, assisted by Kris Letang (30) and Evgeni Malkin (57).  The Penguins now led 4-2 after two quick power play goals.  I like Letang back on the point on the power play that is for sure.

Period Three

Game, set, match, when those 4th line grinders came out and scored the back breaker at 6:15 of the period when Arron Asham hammered home his 5th goal of the season, assisted by Craig Adams(13) and Joe Vitale (10).  The Penguins took a 5-2 lead.  Then each team took another injury when Arron Asham levelled Johnny Boychuk who looked like he may have broken his leg on the play, and the Philadelphia Mayoral candidate Joe Vitale took a Chara shot to the face.  At the 8:04 mark Rich Peverly closed the gap with a goal to make the score 5-3 and it ended that way. 

Some notes from tonight.  The third line centered by Jordan Staal was quiet on the scoresheet tonight, but Staalsy had 8 hits in a surprsingly physical game.  James Neal played another physical two way game tonight, and was an assist away from a Gordie Howe hat trick.  The power play was 2 for 4 tonight, which is a good sign.  Crosby had 2 goals and an assist and is now averaging 1.7 points per game, a blistering pace.  He has 34 points in 20 games, as many as Jeff Carter has collected in the 55 games he played this year, and his 27 assists match Ovechkin's season long totals already.  With Nealer at 40 goals and Geno at 48 goals, the Penguins have their first 40 goal duo since Jagr and Kovalev!  Malkin's assist gives him 105 points on the season, a 10 point bulge over second place Steven Stamkos who now has to average more than 3 points per game in his last 3 games to catch Geno for the Art Ross Trophy if Geno does not score another point.  So, now there are two games left in the season, both at home, one against the Rangers and the finale Saturday against the Flyers.  GO PENS!