Penguins at Hurricanes - Game 3 - Second Period - 5-23-09
SECOND PERIOD
18:51: It doesn't lead to anything, but Malkin completely abuses Pitkanen and muscles him away from a loose puck in the Carolina zone. His strength is amazing sometimes.
18:39: Maxime Talbot gets denied in tight by Ward.
18:30: With Ward scrambling away from the net, Talbot gets a pass in the slot but can't handle it cleanly. Carolina dodged one there.
17:34: Off a deliberate tic-tac-toe play, Tyler Kennedy whips a big wrister from the slot. Ward eats it up.
15:45: This is the last thing the Hurricanes need. Seidenberg flips a puck out of play. That's two minutes for delay of game.
15:05: Gonchar fires a slapper from the top of the slot. Eric Staal deflects it out of play.
14:50: Malkin hammers a one-timer from the right wing. Pitkanen shows some guts and blocks it.
14:18: Carolina almost got a big break. Niclas Wallin pushes the puck up the right wing shorthanded and snaps off a wrister. Fleury makes the save but it biffs off his glove and trickles just wide of the near post. Ugh... The Penguins dodged one there.
13:45: Carolina gets a much-needed penalty kill.
13:09: Eric Staal backhander is kicked out by Fleury.
12:43: Frantisek Kaberle loses control of a puck at the right point. Talbot outworks him for possession. With Kaberle hounding him all the way up ice, Talbot is able to push a backhander at the net. Ward makes the save. Kaberle might've gotten away with interference or holding or something there.
12:08: LaRose is denied in tight by Fleury.
11:45: LaRose makes a few nice moves around a few Penguins defenders and backhands a pass to a wide open Jokinen on the other side of the crease. Jokinen needs to stop it with his foot and can't get a clean shot off. If that pass is to Jokinen's stick, that's a goal.
10:11: Kunitz snaps off a wrister. Ward knocks it down and covers the rebound. The Hurricanes needs to slow this down. They can't play this wide open with the Penguins.
10:00: Ward kicks out a half slapper Letang sneaks in from the left point.
9:27: Off a turnover by Malkin, Samsonov fires a slapper that gets deflected wide.
8:35: From a tough angle, Scott Walker snaps off a wrister. Fleury traps it against the post. Heineken tastes like you could clean brass fixtures with it, but this commercial is sharp:
5:51: After about three minutes of nothing, Malkin steals a puck off Ruutu, pushes it into the offensive zone and cranks a slapper on net that Ward just gets a piece of.
4:22: Kunitz takes a puck behind the net, emerges to the right of the cage and tosses a wrister. Ward fights it off.
4:04: Cole snaps off a wrister at the net from the left wing. Fleury knocks it down and covers.
3:31: Fedotenko gets a chance on the left wing but whiffs on the feed.
3:20: Ward hangs on to a wrister from the right point.
2:55: Brooks Orpik hammers a slapper from the left point. Ward fights it off.
1:08: Kunitz coasts up the left wing and dishes a cross ice pass to Guerin coming fron the right wing. Guerin rips a wrister which Ward knocks away.
0:35: Ward gloves a slapper by Letang coming in from the right point. Ward tosses it away seemingly in disgust. We'd be disgusted too with that defense.
0:00: End of period. Penguins 3, Hurricanes 1.
SECOND INTERMISSION
-Cam Ward deserves 18 beers because he's the only one of the 19 Carolina players on the ice tonight who has showed up. The rest of his teammates don't seem to realize what's at stake. They don't seem to have any sense of urgency to their game. If it's not for Ward this is a 6-1 game.
-The Penguins' don't really need to make any sort of adjustments. That doesn't mean they can coast though the third period though. This is only a two-goal lead and Carolina has shown an ability to make comebacks this postseason. If the Penguins continue pressing the issue offensively and they should be set.
-Chris Kunitz is flying around with a real purpose and creating scoring chances. Maybe that goal in Game 2 woke him up.
-Chris Simpson is interviewing Joe Corvo and he's just desolate. He stammers through some cliched answer and just has this dazed look on his face:
-The Penguins control the shots, 31-16.
-Kunitz and Malkin each lead the game with five.
-Cole and Eric Staal are pacing Carolina with three each.
-The Penguins have a 17-15 lead in faceoffs (53 percent).
-Crosby is 9-for-14 (64 percent).
-Brind'Amour is 3-for-5 (60 percent).
-Seidenberg leads the game with 16:40 of ice time.
-Crosby leads the Penguins with 15:39.
-Pitkanen leads the game with three blocked shots.
-Eaton, Gonchar and Boucher each have two.
-Versus comes through with the stat of the night. Malkin set a franchise record for consecutive playoff games with multiple points:
-That's fuzzy. Sorry.