Last night, the Florida Panthers came to Pittsburgh and brought former Penguin Jaromir Jagr with them. It was the only time this season that Jagr travels to Pittsburgh for a regulation game, so it very well could have been his last trip to town as a player.
Marc-Andre Fleury allowed two goals; one was a beauty from Quinton Howden on a very patient play, and another shot from in between three Pens defensemen who failed to react to the odd bounce. A Panthers penalty with 24.7 seconds remaining in regulation lead to an Evgeni Malkin 4-3 overtime walk-off goal. After a long goal review initiated by the NHL, the goal stood and the Pens walked away with 2 points.
Points of Emphasis:
Pointless in Pittsburgh No More
http://gty.im/493609510
Sidney Crosby finally lit the lamp after being held without a point during the first five games of the season.
He was able to find whatever it was he was lacking last night, tying a career high with nine shots and ending up with 3 points. It was the 6th time in his career that he fired as many shots in a game, and the first time since October 21st 2010 at Nashville – only one day off from it being five years to the day.
It’s true that Crosby has not been himself early this season. While that could be chalked up to a mixture of rustiness, bad puck luck, and playing with a new line-mate in Phil Kessel; the “schneid” he’s been on looks to be coming to a thankful end.
“It was nice to see that first one go in,” Crosby said. “Hopefully we can build off of it.”
Jagr Is Old, but Not Obsolete.
Jagr is 43 years old while his two line-mates, Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau have combined ages of 42. What’s more, he’s still producing; having scored 7 points (4 goals) over his first 6 games.
Streaking!
http://gty.im/493167714
The Pens currently are riding the wave of a 3-game winning streak, and are 3-1 on this current 5-game home stand. Malkin has scored a goal in three consecutive games, and has now scored the game winning goal twice this season. He’s also riding a 4-game points streak. Fleury is also riding the 3-game winning streak, where he has allowed only 3 goals on those 3 wins.
Overturned Goals:
There were a couple overturned goals. The one that Chris Kunitz had waived off comes with an explanation:
https://twitter.com/PressBoxHero/status/656645245484986368
How Not to Win a T-Shirt:
https://twitter.com/CFSmoke/status/656639058014289921
https://twitter.com/CFSmoke/status/656641261462495232
Lee is a contributor here at The Hockey Writers as well as at Pens Initiative. A graduate of Pennsylvania State University, he worked an internship at VH1 Radio in NYC and served as Editor-in-Chief of the Penn State – New Kensington campus student newspaper, The Nittany Pride. You can visit Lee’s website here: leecjsobotka.com.
