Saturday, February 10, 2007

Pens 6, Leafs 5 (OT); Staal's Hat Trick bails out Pens' defense....

It really shouldn't have come down to Jordan Staal nailing the wrister in overtime for his first career hat trick to win the game for the Pens in Toronto tonight, 6-5.

After a very methodical first period for both teams in which the Pens led 1-0, the Pens took a 3-0 lead courtesy of Staal and Malkin.

But once that happened, the Pens defense basically stood stationary while the Leafs grabbed every loose puck, put shots on net, and were wide open for the tap-ins.

And before you knew it, the game was tied at 3-3 after 2 periods.

Make that 4-3.

Malone tied it up after a nice feed from Recchi to make it 4-4.

After yet another Leafs goal in which McCabe was wide open from the point to make it 5-4, Max Talbot scored on a nice wrister to the top shelf to tie it at 5.

Ron Petrovicky knocked Newbury clean out cold in a fight with a little over 5 minutes left in the 3rd period. I'm not really sure if Newbury was out old before he hit the ice, or when his head hit the ice. Either way, that really brought the crowd down to a hush.

Which leads us back to Staal's heroics in OT.

You can't help but be impressed with the Pens' determination and willingness to not give up, especially in a hostile environment like Toronto.

But the Penguins defense, especially around the net, is definitely not protecting Fleury as well as they have been since the Pens' hot streak began, and it needs to change.

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