Canadiens at Penguins - 03-12-11
PREGAME
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-Greetings from a wonderfully sunny day in Pittsburgh. It's in the low 50s with very few clouds in the sky. On account of the flooding and the St. Patrick's Day parade, we were running a little late so no walk up from downtown. Consol Energy Center:
-An autographed Ben Love___ Wilkes-Barre/Scranton jersey:
-A Marc-Andre Fleury Wilkes-Barre/Scranton military tribute jersey:
-A fitting jersey for today on account of the parad. Patrick Roy Canadiens:
-The Pittsburgh Power signage is still hanging around in the lower levels of the stadium:
-The ice:
-Some more jersey sightings. Alex Kovalev:
-Paul Coffey:
-"Malkin" is apparently an Irish name:
-Bill Guerin:
-As usual, there are more than a few Habs fans on hand:
-Mike Cammalleri:
-Saku Koivu:
-Mario Lemieux Wales Conference All-Star:
-Sigh... If you're playing a team literally named after that country, why would you wear a Sidney Crosby Team Canada jersey?
-Former Penguins and Canadiens forward Mark Recchi:
-Martin Straka:
-We're willing to bet this Craig Adams fan is happy Alex Kovalev did change his number:
-We just don't get the St. Patrick Day jersey:
-We're not sure we get this at all on any level:
-Tons of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton fans here today. Mark Letestu military tribute:
-Deryk Engelland:
-Brad Thiessen:
-Here's a good Irish name. Joe Mullen:
-Patrick Lalime:
-Andy Bathgate:
-Rob Brown:
(This gentleman said his name was Rob Brown as well.)
-Arron A__m:
-Uh...:
-A good green jersey for today. Gilles Meloche California Seals:
-Another good green jersey. Ron Francis Whalers:
-Crosby Rimouski Oceanic:
-Jaromir Jagr:
-Petr Nedved:
-Ulf Samuelsson with a Stanley Cup 100th anniversary patch:
-Kris Letang and Chris Kunitz are popular:
-A beautiful day for the Civic Arena (and Steve Mears' head):
-And downtown too:
-Jersey of the Day: Grant Jennings:
(This gentleman admitting he's an EN reader didn't hurt his chances for this honor.)
-Warm ups:
-The Penguins are wearing their blue jerseys from this season's Winter Classic.
-Their starters are Matt Cooke, Pascal Dupuis, Dustin Jeffrey, Kris Letang, Matt Niskanen and Marc-Andre Fleury.
-Their scratches are Chris Conner and Eric Godard.
-The Canadiens' starters are Brian Gionta, Scott Gomez, Travis Moen, Hal Gill, P.K. Subban and Carey Price.
-Their scratches are Alexandre Picard and Brent Sopel.
-Jimerson is all business with the anthems:
-We're happy to report Pittsburgh fans offered an enthusiastic cheer for both songs.
FIRST PERIOD
19:42: Jeffrey gains the offensive zone on the left wing and rips a wrister from the left circle. It hits off the far post and deflects out.
19:17: Scott Gomez pumps a slapper on net from the right point. Fleury knocks it dead and covers.
19:14: Well that doesn't take long to kill the early buzz in this building. Off a faceoff win in the left circle, Cammalleri claims the puck, cirles through a few defenders and deals a forehand pass to Plekanec in the slot. Plekanec lifts it over Fleury's glove hand with a backhander. Fleury was all jammed up there. Cammalleri gets the only assist. Canadiens 1-0.
18:37: Tyler Kenney snaps one off on net from the right wing. Price eats it up.
17:17: Paul Mara snaps off a wrister from the left half wall. Fleury knocks it down and covers.
14:53: James Neal chucks a wrister on the net from the top of the slot. It hits a body in front and bounces at the top of the crease. Mark Letestu spins off a check and deflects the puck on net. Price holds it out with his right leg.
13:34: Letang coasts up the right wing and puts a pedestrian wrister on net. Price eats it up.
13:22: Off a turnover by the Penguins in their own zone, Gionta puts a wrister on net. Fleury fights it off.
11:52: Michalek has a wrister blocked at the right point by Mike Cammalleri. Cammalleri settles the puck and and deals a pass to Plekanec at center ice. Plekanec races in on net an a partial breakaway. Paul Martin makes up the ground and pressures Plekanec. Plekanec lifts a wrister from the slot. Fleury fights it off.
9:17: Jordan Staal fire a wrister from the right circle. It hits a body and deflects to Martin in the left circle. Martin snaps off a wrister which also appears to get blocked wide.
8:37: Cammalleri rips a wrister from above the right circle. Fleury kicks it out.
8:16: Lars Eller snaps off a wrister from the left circle. Fleury kicks that out as well.
7:43: Benoit Pouliot puts a slapper on net from the slot. Fleury kicks it out.
6:56: Niskanen pumps a slapper from the right point. it hits a stick in front and deflects wide.
4:57: P.K. Subban controls the puck behind his own net to some booing.
4:28: From the right point, Kovalev taps a little pass to the slot. Letestu takes the pass and rips a wrister to the far wide waaaayyy wide of the cage.
4:25: Attendance is announced as 18,310. It is a standing-room only sellout. It is the team's 200th consecutive sellout. Wow.
3:31: Letang makes an awful turnover from the right wing corner of his own zone to the slot. Cammalleri has a chance with the puck but before he can truly even take possession of it, Fleury snaps out a poke check. Wow. Letang owes Fleury a beer.
2:37: Subban pushes the puck up deep into the offensive zone and is knocked to the ice in the left wing corner by Zbynek Michalek for his troubles.
1:49: Off a careless turnover by the Canadiens just beyond their blue line, Talbot has a chance in the left circle and rips a wrister high over the cage and out of play. That may have been deflected.
0:21: Off another bad turnover in the neutral zone by Letang, Plekanec pushes the puck up ice and seems to have chance. Letang makes up for his gaffe and knocks it away with a diving poke check. Letang is not playing well.
0:12: Dupuis rips a wrister on net from above the right circle. Price makes the easy glove save.
0:00: End of period. Canadiens 1, Penguins 0.
FIRST INTERMISSION
-A pretty rotten period for the Penguins. They just seemed to be in a funk. They always are for day games.
-The Canadiens didn't do anything particularly dominating. The Penguins have just been that bad.
-Kris Letang looked like he didn't eat breakfast or was out to late or something. He's just out of it.
-The Canadiens have a 9-5 lead in shots.
-Plekanec and Letagn each leads the game with two,
-Letang leads the game with 8:39 of ice time.-Roman Hamrlik leads the Canadiens with 8:02.
-The Penguins have a 10-8 lead in faceoffs (56 percent).
-Jeffrey is 4 for 5 (80 percent)
-Eller is 2 for 3 (67 percent).
-Hamrlik leads the game with three blocked shots.
-None of the Penguins has more than one.
-Two additional jersey sighting. This is the first we've seen of a Kovalev No. 72 jersey:
-And this fan, much like Shero, was a little too optimistic. Alexei Ponikarovsky:
SECOND PERIOD
19:36: Letang is playing like he celebrated St. Patrick's day last night. Letang makes yet another poor turnover from his own zone. Gomez steals the puck the neutral zone and moves it to Gionta. Gionta then distributes a pass to Travis Moen in the right circle. Moen rips a wrister which burns Fleury. Ugh. Gionta and Gomez get assist. Letang could claim one. Canadiens 2-0.
18:40: Neal forces a turnover by Ryan White at the Montreal blue line and rips a wrister from above the right circle. Price eats it up.
16:34: After the Penguins control play in the offensive zone for over a minute, David Desharnais is nabbed for tripping Niskanen. Neal, Letest, Kunitz, Kovalev and Letang take the ice. Kovalev mans the right point.
15:40: Kovalev taps a puck by Hal Gill from behind the net to the slot. Neal is there. He has forever and a day to pull the trigger as Price slides to his knee. Neal finally does shoot but Price is able to deflects the puck out of play. Great save by Price but Neal needs to score there.
14:34: The Desharnais penalty is killed. Other than Neal's chance, that was a pretty dreadful two minutes for the Penguins.
13:17: Plekanec pushes the puck up the right wing, spins and whips a wrister on net. Fleury kicks it out.
13:09: This is getting ugly. What was Staal doing there? Staal kind of knocks over Michalek in the slot while trying to check a Montreal defender. That leaves Cammalleri wide open in the slot. Jeff Halpern has the puck to the right of the crease and centers it to the slot. Cammalleri is there and rips it under the right arm of Fleury. Oof. Halpern gets the only assist. Staal could claim one. Fleury is pulled for Brent Johnson. Fleury does not deserve any blame for this. His teammates have been flat. Canadiens 3-0.
10:26: Kennedy pushes a puck to the crease with a backhander from the right circle. Staal is there. He stops the puck with his left skate, turns and pushes it on net while falling. Price holds it out with his right leg.
9:59: Things just get worse for the Penguins as Talbot is sent to the penalty box for slashing Subban. Michalek, Dupuis, Adams and Martin take the ice.
9:08: Martin intercepts a pass by Jame Wisniewski and taps it down ice off the left wing boards for a big clear.
7:59: The Talbot penalty is killed. That's pretty much the first thing that which has gone right fo the Penguins today.
7:32: Neal steals a puck off Hamrlik on the right wing wall in the neutral zone and creates a two-on-one with Talbot against Paul Mara. Neal rips a shot which Price fights off. Great play by Neal to crete that.
7:13: Talbot injects some life into the building by dropping the gloves with Paul mara to the left of the Montreal cage. Mara (6-foot-4, 211 pounds) is a bigger man and lands a few early rights. Talbot (5-foot-11, 190 pounds) fends him off as they skate towards the boards.Talbot gets his right hand free and lands a few rabbit punches. They mostly wrestle before the officials step in. This place is noisy for the first time since the opening faceoff. That said, give Mara the advantage in that fight.
7:02: Off a drop pass from Neal, Letest rips a wrister from above the left circle wide on the near side.
6:44: Niskanen appears to get away with a trip in the right circle.
6:38: And Adams appears to get away with a trip on Gionta on the left wing boards.
4:18: Rupp slams Subban into the left wing corner boards of the Motnreal zone with nice fore check. Subban responds by swiping him in the head with slash. Cooke then gets slammed on a fair hit by Yannick Weber into the corner. Weber and Cooke scrum for about 20 seconds in the slot. Play is halted as Rupp tosses Ryan White to the ice and knocks his helmet to the ice. A whole mess of penalties are dole out. Cooke and Weber get roughing minors. Rupp gets a cross checking minor. The Canadiens end up with a power play. Staal, Adams, Michalek and Martin take the ice.
2:21: WHAT A SAVE! Andrei Kostitsyn deals a pass to the slot from the left wing. Cammalleri snaps off a partial wrister on net. Johnson kicks it out with is left leg. Desharnais is there with a wide open net to shoot out and hurries his shot. Johnson stretches out his left leg. Wow!
2:18: The Penguins return to full strength. They needed that kill badly.
1:58: Stubban drives to the net, lose the puck and socks Deryk Engelland in the face. That's two minutes for elbowing. The Penguins send out Neal, letest, Kunitz, Letang and Kovalev
1:43: Kovalev rips a wrister from the right point. Price makes the save desptie a screen by Kunitz.
0:58: Letestu rips a wrister from the left half circle. Kunitz is infront and deflects it wide to the far side.
0:00: End of period. Penguins 3, Canadiens 0.
SECOND INTERMISSION
-The Penguins have played well at points during this game. Too bad they waited until midway through the second to start.
-What is it about day games and this team?
-We're not blaming the result on the officials - The Penguins have "earned" this 3-0 deficit - but the officiating has been poor today. There have been several missed call on both teams.
-Letang and Jordan Staal are playing like garbage. They better just go home after the game and hide under the sheets after this display.
-Give the Canadiens credit. They're opportunistic. They take advantage of mistakes and cash them in.
-Price has robbed the Penguins of a few goals.
-The Penguins' power play continues to struggle.
-The Canadiens have an 18-16 edge in shots.
-Cammalleri and Plekanec, two of the Canadiens' best offensive weapons, lead the game with four shots.
-Kovalev and Staal, two of the Penguins' best remaining healthy offensive weapons, have combined for one shot.
-Letestu and Neal each lead the Penguins with three.
-Letang leads the game with 17:08 of ice time.
-Hamrlik leads the Canadiens with 16:26.
-The Canadiens have a 20-19 edge in faceoffs (51 percent).
-Plekanec is 8 for 12 (67 percent).
-Staal is 7 for 12 (58 percent).
-Hamrlik leads the game with four shots.
-None of the Penguins has more than one.
-Your cover of IceTime honors the team's 200th consecutive sellout:
-AC/DC's "Thudnerstuck" warms the crowd up prior to the start of the third:
THIRD PERIOD
19:58: Subban's penalty expires.
18:23: Letang whips a wrister on net from the left point Price eats it up.
17:49: Letestu coasts up the left wing and saucers a pass across the slot. Kovalev is there but Gill uses his pool skimmer of a stick to deflect the puck behind the net. What a play.
14:54: After nearly three minutes of stagnant play, Wisniewski drives a half slapper from the right point. Johnson eats it up.
14:17: Lovejoy smacks a slapper fromt he righ tpoint. It hits a body in front.
14:03: Lovejoy steps up from the right point and drives a loose puck on net with a slapper. Price kicks it out.
12:55: Kennedy snaps off a wshot from the left point. Price gloves it easily.
12:32: Letang direvs deep on the left wing against Subban. he tries to curl towards the net in the left circle but Subban knocks the puck away with a nice poke check.
11:16: Kostitsyn snap off a wrister from above the left circle. Lovejoy blocks it wide.
10:47: Lovejoy sneaks a slapper on net through traffic from the left point. Price fights it off despite being screened by two of his own players.
9:05: Staal tosses a weak wrister on net from the left point. Price steers it to the corner.
8:20: Wisniewski drives a one-timer on net from the right point. Johnson fights it off. Eller chops the backhand on net. Johnson kicks thats out too.
6:09: Adams smacks Halpern to the ice with a solid hit in front of the Penguins' bench.
5:35: Off a drop pas sfrom Neal, Letestu lifts a backhander on net from the left circle. Price kicks it out.
4:59: Pouliot has a chance in tight but Johnson kicks it out.
3:57: A group of Canadiens fans begin an "Ole, Ole, Ole" chant. It gets shouted down by boos then "LET'S GO PENS!"
2:06: Rupp and Adams mise it up with Eller and White in front of the Penguins' bench. No penalties. No whistles even.
1:53: Mara is sent off for cross c hecking Cooke. Letang, Kovalev, Neal, Letestu and Kunitz take theice
1:46: Letestu rips a wrister from the left circle. Price fights it off.
1:36: Give Dan Bylsma credit. He's going down swinging. He replaces Johnson with an extra attacker.
1:02: Letang drives a half slapper from the top of the slot wide to the right of the cage.
0:41: Byslma calls a time out to get his team organized. FSN Pittsburgh shows a replay of Kostitsyn and Staal battling in front of the Penguins' bench. Kostitsyn's stick comes up and smacks Staal in the head on the bench. ouch. During a stoappage, Evgeni malkins parents are shown in the stands on the video board. They get the loudest cheer of the day. Malkin's dad raises his fist with a huge grin. He is the Russian Hines Ward. all he does is smile.
0:00: End of game. Canadiens 3, Penguins 0.
POSTGAME
-For all the Penguins' struggles the past two months (i.e. since Crosby was injured) their effort was never really in question. They might not execute very well some night. Other times, they just didn't have the talent available that night due to injuries. But they always went full bore in terms of effort. Today, they completely abandoned that approach.
-The Penguins looked like their primary goal in this game was to get it over so they could get home to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Outside of a few spurts of energy, there was very little life from the team in blue.
-On top of that, they made tons of just silly mistakes. And more than a few were by some of their best players like Staal and Letang.
-You're never going to give a complete effort for every game of a grueling 82-game season, but you would hope the Penguins would've offered a better game against a team they have something of a rivalry against. On top of that, the Canadiens are making up ground in the Eastern Conference. This game had a ton more riding on it from a tangible and emotional perspective than say... tomorrow's game against the dreadful Oilers.
-Speaking of which, they're here already:
-Don't take anything away from the Oilers. They're coming off a really dreadful loss earlier this week to the Blues. They needed a rebound game. They played their tails off.
-As always, the Canadiens are an team which jumps on an opponent's mistakes. The Penguins makes more than a few. The Canadiens scored goals off some of them.
-Carey Price was hardly tested, but he definitely stole some goals. He earned this shutout.
-Fleury was pretty much left out to dry.
-James Neal had a solid game. He created a few chances but he needs to bury some.
-Is it time to start worrying about where Kovalev's production is?
-Should the Penguins re-unite the first line (sans Crosby) and place Jeffrey at center with Kunitz and Dupuis on the wings?
-The Penguins actually had a 26-20 lead in shots.
-Letang, Neal Cammaller and Plekanec each led the game with four.
-Letang led the game with 25:19 of ice time.
-Hamrlik led the Canadiens with 24:15.
-The Penguins had a 29-22 lead in faceoffs (57 percent).
-Staal was 10 for 15 (67 percent).
-Halbern was 9 for 14 (64 percent).
-The Canadiens got a shutout against the Penguins for the first time since Jose Theodore made 25 saves in an 8-0 win, Jan 10, 2004