Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Bruins 4, Pens 3 (SO); Pens give Boston an early Christmas present

Gift wrapped, with a nice big bow on it.

The Pens absolutely shot themselves in the foot, nearly laying a goose egg on nine power plays, but came away with a point that didn't seem likely after about 50 minutes of play.

Geno's goal coming out of the penalty box, coming after another great save by MAF, brought the Pens back to 3-2 with about half of the 3rd period to go. The Pens finally scored on the power play in the final minute of regulation, when MAF was pulled for a 6-to-4 advantage. Recchi's 2nd goal of the game, on a nice backhanded pass from Geno, tied the game at 3. The overtime solved nothing, although both teams had chances to win it, including Malkin from point-blank range.

Someone needs to explain to me how Gonchar gets on the top 3 of the shootout over Ekman and Christensen. And did anyone besides me wonder why both Ouellet and Malkin shot so far from the net during the shootout ??

The absence of Sid on the power play was easily noticeable, the Pens had very few scoring opportunities with the man advantage. Not only that, but the majority of the time they weren't even getting the puck on net, which is unfortunately becoming too common.

I did like Erik Christensen's 2006 debut with the Pens. Just as he's always done, he got off some good shots.

So now it's onto Long Island for a 2PM start against the Islanders on Friday. Hopefully, #87 will be in uniform.

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