Blue Jackets at Penguins - Second Period- 9-15-09
SECOND PERIOD
19:42: Antoine Vermette, who just signed an extension, rips a wrister from the left wing, Fleury fights it off.
18:43: Eaton has a wrister from the left point blocked by a cluster of bodies.
18:28: Fleury slides to his right and makes an acrobatic save. The puck pops up in the air. Engelland is behind Fleury and swats it away with his glove.
16:09: Sill blocks a slapper by Lynch from the right point.
15:53: Fedotenko is in midseason for as he passes up an easy shot for a difficult pass. As he moves in on net from the left wing, he forces a pass to Pascal Dupuis in the slot. It gets broken up before it gets to Dupuis.
14:46: Joe Vitale just put on a nice effort with some solid work on the forecheck.
13:21: Despres kneels down to block a pass. The puck hits him low. He gets up with a bit of a limp and lumbers to the bench.
12:09: After about ten minutes of dead silence, a "LET'S GO PENS!" chant starts.
11:39: Marc Methot rips a rising wrister from the left point. Despite traffic, Fleury traps it against his chest and freezes play.
10:36: Alexandre Picard generates two solid opportunities in tight by out-working McKee near the net. McKee did not look good during that sequence.
9:48: Staal leaves a drop pass for Bayda in the offensive zone. Bayda snaps off a soft shot which Garon boots out.
9:34: Clitsome is called for interference. Crosby, Tangradi, Kunitz, Letang and Gonchar are on for the power play.
9:03: On a rush through the neutral zone, Crosby hits Kunitz with a pass. Kunitz can't handle it and a Columbus defender dumps it down ice.
7:58: Bortuzzo tries to hit Eaton on the "Ryan Whitney Play" but Eaton's about 2-3 steps behind and can't get to the pass.
7:34: Clitsome's penalty is killed.
6:43: Fleury fights off a wrister by Methot from the left point.
5:55: "Don't Want to Lose Your Love" by The Outfield is used for Kiss Cam:
-Vitale is called for hooking. Eaton, Bortuzzo, Staal and Kunitz are on for hte kill.
5:47: Staal comes up ice on a two-on-two with Kunitz. He dishes the pass to Kunitz but the play is broken up.
4:39: Andrew Murray hammers a slapper from the left point. Fleury stops it despite a pretty nice screen in front but he gives up a juicy rebound. Maxim Mayorov is right in the slot and punches it high on Fleury. Not a great rebound for Fleury to give up. He can't win the big clutch preseason games. Murray and Nikita Filatov get the assists. Blue Jackets 2-0.
3:10: Tangradi gets a nice chance in front with his back to the cage. He has the puck all alone and forces a pass to Kunitz on the wing. He has to shoot that even with his butt facing the goaltender.
2:29: Gonchar contrls the puck on the right point for about 10 seconds. He surveys the situation and snaps a pass to Kunitz to the right of the cage. Kunitz then tries to dish a bang-bang pass to Tangradi but their timing is off and they can't connect. It was a nice idea though.
1:37: Conner rushes the net from the left wing. With a defender hounding him from behind, he is unable to control it long enough to get a shot off.
0:14: That was a bad goal. Mayorov gets his second goal. He works his way up the left wing and rips a nice wrister that makes its way through Fleury's equipment. Solid shot by Mayorov, but bad goal for Fleury to give up. He had a clear view of the shot and still gave up the goal. Blunden gets the only assist.
0:00: End of period. Blue Jackets 3, Penguins 0.
SECOND INTERMISSION
-We know it's preseason, but Fleury was not sharp that period. And he's not exactly facing Columbus' top lineup either.
-Really very little from a Penguins' perspective to be excited about in that period.
-Tangradi continued to look like a NHL player.
-McKee really hasn't blown us away.
-The Penguins have a 21-19 lead in shots.
-Blunden and Crosby lead the game with four each.
-Gonchar leads the game with 16:35.
-Russell leads Columbus with 16:26.
-Columbus has a 22-19 lead in faceoffs (54 percent).
-Blunden is 5-for-7 (71 percent).
-Staal and Jeffrey are 6-for-11 (55 percent).
-Clitsome leads the game with three blocked shots.
-Dupuis, Staal, Bayda, Sill and Vitale each have one.
-The Penguins' in-game entertainment folks are in midseason form with some "Banquet" by Bloc Party: