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Tuesday, 24 January 2012 20:48

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

PREGAME

-First things first. Penguins stat god Bob Grove put together a nice video piece about the 1974-75 Penguins and their rivalry with the Blues:

-EN Read Leah Backus is at the game and sends in this view of the rink at Scottrade Center:

(1296 x 968)

-Warm ups:

-The Penguins' starters are Craig Adams, Matt Cooke, the great Joe Vitale, Paul Martin, Zbynek Michalek and Marc-Andre Fleury.

-Classy move by Dan Bylsma to start the great Joe Joe Vitale, a native of St. Louis, in this game.

16:34: With just 10 seconds left in the power play, the Penguins' strike. Martin and Kuniz battle Polak for a puck in the left wing corner of the St. Louis' zone. Martin claims the puck and slides a soft pass to Neal. Neal immediately whips a low wrister on net which trickles through Halak's five hole and in on net. Neal ties a career high with his 27th goal of the season. Its also his 100th career goal. Martin and Kunitz get assists. Penguins 1-0.

14:27: MacIntyre trips up Backes in the Blues' zone. That's two minutes. MacIntyre can't be doing things like that if he wants to keep earning what little playing time he might get.  Dustin Jeffrey, Craig Adams, Michalek and Orpik take the ice.

12:40: Adams shoves Oshie into the right wing boarsd of the Penguins zone from behind. Oshie takes a tumble into the boards face first. No call.

12:27: The Blues' power play is killed. Not much going on for the Blues that two minutes.

12:04: Neal rushes into the offensive zone with speed and lifts a backhander from the right circle over the cage.

11:53: Malkin snaps off a wrister from the right circle. Elliott fights it off. The rebound hops out to the slot. Niskanen jumps on it and whips a wrister at the cage. Elliott eats it up.

11:23: After a turnover by Jeffrey in the  neutral zone, Chris Stewart rushes up the left wing on a partial two-on-one with Langenbrunner against Engelland. Stewart shoots low. Fleury holds it out as Engelland and Langenbrunner crashes into Fleury and dislodge the net. Tough save.

9:41: Jackman chops a half slapper from the left point. Fleury kicks it out. The rebound is kicked out to the right of the crease. David Perron is right there but whips the wrister high of the cage.

9:29: After an icing call, the Penguins take a time out to get a breather.

9:00: Adams chops a partial one-timer from the right circle wide to the far side.

7:44: Welcome back to the score sheet Steve Sullivan. Deryk Engelland chips a wrister on net from the right point. Elliott makes the save. The rebound hops up in the air. Sullivan beats Carlo Colaiacovo to the puck and swats it out of mid-air on net. Nice effort by Sullivan. Engelland and Cooke get assists. Z.Z. Top celebrates:

Penguins 2-0.

6:26: Off a give and go with Oshie, Pietrangelo rips a wrister on net from the left circle. Fleury kicks it out. The rebound ends up at the top of the slot. Colaiacovo booms it on net with a slapper. Fleury gloves it.

4:44: Wow. Some lethal quick hands there lead to a goal. After a turnover by Jeffrey in the neutral zone. Langenbrunner recovers the puck and deals to Stewart. Stewart gains the offensive zone, pulls in Orpik and chips a pass to Berglund in the slot. Berglund takes the pass, puts a few nasty dekes on Fleury. Fleury gets all jamed up and can't stop Berglund's forehand shot by his blocker. What a display by Berglund. Stewart and Langenbrunner get assists. Penguins, 2-1.

2:20: Oshie chips a puck up the right wing. He senses a hit form Engelland and slams him to the ice. Oshie goes to the bench in discomfort.

1:35: Tough, tough save. Malkin leads a two-on-one up the left wing with Neal against Colaiacovo. Malkin chips a pass to Neal in the right circle. Neal guns a one-timer. Elliott reads it all the way and eats it up.

0:57: David Perron whips a wrister from the right circle. Michalek goes stick on puck and gets a piece of the shot. That sort of turns it into an "off-speed pitch." Fleury kicks it out with his right skate and covers to freeze play. Tough save.

0:00: End of period. Penguins 2, Blues 1.

SECOND INTERMISSION

-For whatever reason, the Blues took their foot off the gas and let up in terms of physical play. The Penguins took advantage of that cashed in with some goals in tight.

-Fleury ahs been pretty sharp tonight. He's had to be. The Blues have had some excellent chances tonight.

-Paul Martin has been taking a ton of chances with some deep rushes up ice. One of them paid off.

-Dustin Jeffrey had a rough period with two neutral zone turnovers that resulted in plum scoring chances, including one which led to Berglund's goal.

-The Penguins have a 22-19 lead in shots.

-Neal leads the game with four shots.

-Pietrangelo and Backes each lead the Blues with three.

-Pietrangelo leads the game wih 16:35 of ice time.

-Letang leads the Penguins with 16:23 of ice time.

-Faceoffs are tied, 20-20 (50 percent).

-Malkin is 7 for 14 (50 percent).

-Arnott is 6 for 11 (55 percent).

-Martin leads the game with three shots.

-Colaiacovov and Oshie each lead the Blues with two.

THIRD PERIOD

19:19: Off some sharp passing by Malkin and Kunitz, Neal snaps off a wrister from the right wing. Elliott knocks it down and covers.

18:47: Berglund snaps off a wrister from a tough angle on the left wing. Fleury fights it off.

18:35: Off a turnover by Stewart,  Vitale snaps off a wrister from the left circle. Elliott knocks it down and covers.

18:28: Off the ensuing faceoff, Niskanen taps a pass to Dupuis above the left circle. Dupuis booms a one-timer which Elliott fights off.

17:29: Nichol appears to slew foot Vitale in the right circle. It was subtle, but it was dirty. No call.

16:23: Sobotka cross check Malkins' face in front of the Blues bench. That's two minutes. Malkin, Kunitz, Letang, Martin and neal take the ice.

16:06: Malkin booms a one-timer from the right point. It completely misses the net.

15:47: From the right circle, Malkin snaps off a pass to the slot. Kunitz crashes in and re-directs it on net. Elliott kicks it out with his right skate.

14:56: Letang and Niskanen fumble a puck in the offensive zone. Berglund picks it up and appears to be off to the races. Niskanen chases him and holds him up a bit. Officials aware a penalty shot. Berglund takes the puck, coasts slightly to the right and moves towards the crease. He makes another wicked deke and snaps off a sick wrister by the blocker of Fleury. Fleury was paralyzed there. What a shot. The Scottrade Center goes nuts.  Blues 2, Penguins 2.

(We'll forever be fans of the Blues for using an organ for their goal song.)

12:18: Letang snaps off a wrister from the right wing. Colaiacovo kicks it out.

12:11: Adams pumps a slapper from the top of the slot. It hits a body in front. Vitale has a chanc eon the rebound but no dice.

10:42: Backes rushes into the offensive zone ththe puck on his backand. He flings a shot on net. Fleury kicks it out. Oshie follows up on the rebound and puts it off the right post. Fleury covers the rebound. The Penguins caught a break there.

9:41: Langenbrunner snaps off a wrister from the right circle. Fleury kicks it out.

8:10: Niskanen lifts a wrister from the right wing. Elliott gloves it.

7:05: Neal snaps off a wrister from the right wing to the far side. Elliott steers it away with his blocker.

6:22: B.J. Crombeen flings a backhander from the slot. Fleury fights it off. Michalek skates the rebound away from danger.

5:30: Adams slides a wrister from the right circle. Elliot denies it.

5:21: Jackman pumps a slapper on net from above the left circle. Fleury kicks it out.

3:43: Berglund snaps off a backhander from along the goal line on the left wing. Fleury holds it out.

2:06: Malkin sprints into the offensive zone, fakes a slapper, then snaps off a wrister from deep on the left wing. Elliott eats it up. The Blues call a timeout to get organized.

1:19: Cooke and Jackman race for a puck in the right wing corner. Cooke puts his arms on the side of Jackman's back. Jackman crashes into the boards. Jackman lays on the ice clutching his head. Cooke looks up in confusion. He eventually recovers to his skates and makes his way to the bench and the dressing room. Cooke gets a boarding minor. The NHL will look at that hit but Jackman sold that big time. Orpik, Michalek, Park and Dupuis take the ice.

0:07: Park has a chance shorthanded form the right circle blocked by Kris Russel.

0:00: End of period. Blues 2, Penguins 2.

THIRD INTERMISSION

The Penguins have a 36-29 lead in shots.

OVERTIME

4:21: Pietrangelo booms a slapper from the left point.  Fleury fights it off.

4:15: HUGE SAVE! Perron collects the rebound deals a pass to Backes on the back door. Backes taps a shot on net and Fleury ROBS him with his left leg. Wow!

2:57: Letang tries to jam in a low shot along the goal line on the left wing but Elliott fights it off.

2:31: Neal rushes up the left wing ona  two-on-one with Dupuis. Neal slides a feed to Dupuis nthe right circle. Dupuis miss-times the pass and whiffs on his one-timer attempt.

0:58: More robbery! From the right circle, Stewart taps a feed to the slot. Berglund

0:41: WOW!!!! Pietrangelo takes a pass on the left wing and chips it to the slot. Sobotka re-directs it on net.

0:33: Malkin spins off a check from Pietrangelo in the slot and flings a backhander on net. Elliot steers it away.

0:00: End of period. Blues 2, Penguins 2.

FOURTH INTERMISSION

-The Penguins have a 39-34 lead in shots.

SHOOTOUT

-Berglund gets the all first. Berglund gets the call. He races in and flings a fwrister on net. Fleury swats it away.

-Letang goes first for the Penguins. H weaves hi wain inte, fakes a wrister, moves in on net and tries to tuck in a forehand shot but Elliott keeps it out with his left skate.

-Kevin Shattenkirk hustles in on net and goes with a forehand shot. Fleury's glove hand holds it out.

-Malkin coasts in, looks at the net and snaps off a lethal wrister by Elliott's blocker. Penguins 1-0.

-Oshie needs to score. He weaves in on net slowly, goes to the slot and clunks in a wrister by Fleury's glove hand. Blues 1, Penguins 1.

-Neal can win it. He goes slightly to the right, moves in on net and snaps off a wrister from the slot wide of the cage.

-The Blues go with another defenseman with Pietrangelo. He goes slightly to the right, heads to the slot and before he can shoot, Fleury poke checks it away.

-Kunitz gets the nod. He zips in on net, gets Elliott to commit to a poke check and lifts a backhander by his left leg. End of shootout. Penguins 2, Blues 1. End of game. Penguins 3, Blues 2.

POSTGAME

-What a game. Two hot teams produced a pretty thrilling 65-plus minutes of hockey (minus the first 20 minutes).

-With all due respect to Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, Marc-Andre Fleury is our MVP of the season. Malkin has put together a hot streak as of late and Letang has made a world of difference on the blue line, but from Game 1 through 48, Fleury has been their most consistent element on this team. Malkin, Letang, Sidney Crosby, Jordan Staal and others have all missed time due to injury. And Brent Johnson has been ineffective most of the season. Fleury has brought stability to this team and is the biggest reason its in playoff contention.

-The officiating was pretty brutal tonight. The officials missed plenty of legit calls and "made up" for it by making several bogus calls.

-One of those bogus calls was Matt Cooke's boarding minor against Barrett Jackman late. This isn't Jackman's first rodeo. He knows Cooke is an easy target for drawing calls like that. He sold that call hard. He might have been legitimately injured, but if so, he made a miraculous recover and played three shifts in overtime. There's no way Cooke should even hear from NHL discipline czar Brendan Shanahan.

-God help whatever team draws the Blues in the playoffs. The Blues will punish someone. Even if you beat them, you're going to be a lesser team from a physical standpoint. They extract their pound of flesh.

-James Neal. He's just a shooter. It's a deadly release.

-Special teams were obivously key. The Penguins went 1 for 4 with the power play. The Blues went 0 for 3.

-Brian Elliott was strong as well. If you're a goaltending fan, this was your game.

-The Penguins led in shots, 39-34.

-Neal and Malkin each led the game with six shots.

-Vladimir Sobotka, David Backes and Patrik Berglund each led the Blues with five.

-Alex Pietrangelo led the game with 28:09 of ice time.

-Paul Martin led the Penguins with 25:56.

-The Blues had a 30-29 edge in faceoffs (51 percent).

-The Great Joe Vitale was 8 for 13 (62 percent).

-Berglund was 8 for 15 (53 percent).

-Zbynek Michalek led the game with four blocked shots.

-Carlo Colaiacovoc led the Blues with three.

-Kunitz appeared in his 500th career game.

-Neal scored his 100th career goal.

-Kunitz passed Al McDonough for 63rd place on the team's all-time scoring list. Both players have 130 points, but Kunitz (57) has more goals than McDonough (56).

-Berglund is the first Blues player to ever score a penalty shot goal against the Penguins. The only other Blues player to attempt a penalty shot against the Penguins was Doug Gilmour. He was stopped by Pat Riggin, March 1, 1987.

-Game summary.

-Event summary.

-Highlights:

Comments (17)

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written by Hobbs5, January 24, 2012 - 07:37 PM

Quite an intense game. Pens are hanging tough ! Let's get a power play goal here !!

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written by Hobbs5, January 24, 2012 - 08:06 PM

Man Neal has such a quick shot, and still puts so much power on it. Martin has really turned up his game as well. All around, the guys are really clicking !!

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written by KRC, January 24, 2012 - 08:44 PM

Pens really seem to love leaving Fleury hanging out to dry sometimes.. So many potential shutouts killed by crap puck handling in the neutral zone.

I know they are driving hard offensively, but they really should keep in mind: "What if we lose the puck?"

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written by KRC, January 24, 2012 - 09:08 PM

I bet that play, if it happened every Penguin breakaway into the 22nd century would have been given a penalty shot.

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written by KRC, January 24, 2012 - 09:09 PM

Err Wouldn't have even.. Sheesh, I need to proofread better.

Fleury is usually good at those.. Guess you can't get them all.

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written by KRC, January 24, 2012 - 09:15 PM

Malkin has yet to get his obligatory goal.. Watch for it!!

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written by Hobbs5, January 24, 2012 - 09:16 PM

I was thinkin the same thing KRC !! It's comin !! Vitale has been getting some darn close chances.

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written by pensheart, January 24, 2012 - 09:26 PM

I'm really tired of watching the Pens turn the puck over tonight.

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written by KRC, January 24, 2012 - 09:33 PM

I'm tired of watching the Pens turn over the puck all season.. For a while they'll be nailing those passes, then all the sudden it's a bobblefest. It was even worse earlier in the season.

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written by KRC, January 24, 2012 - 09:35 PM

I hate how they gave Cooke an automatic penalty even through they didn't see what happened.

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written by Hobbs5, January 24, 2012 - 09:42 PM

Fleury is just out right amazing tonight !!

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written by KRC, January 24, 2012 - 09:46 PM

Go Malkin!

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written by KRC, January 24, 2012 - 09:48 PM

Fleury seems to have a stuck clutch.

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written by KRC, January 24, 2012 - 09:49 PM

YESSS!! Awesome!

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written by pumpkin_eater, January 24, 2012 - 09:58 PM

1. Could we please NOT start every goddamn live blog with Lucic's face? (Or at least could I get an explanation as to why it's necessary to have an 09-10 Season opening video in the middle of the 11-12 season?)
2. No points for Geno tonight, but he's still a force.
3. The Oscar goes to Hugh Jackman.

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written by rochestermark, January 25, 2012 - 06:20 AM

Congrats to the Pens on a fantastic road win against a hot team and all star goaltender (seems like we face one every night). Also, great to continue the winning streak and grab one right before the break. Pens: take the week off - you all deserve it. No one can say that the Pens don't know how to play when they get a little adversity. That which does not kill us makes us stronger.
@KRC above: agree on some slight adjustments when up 2-0. The Devils, back in the day, were just masters of this (of course that is when you could legally interfere with players who did not have the puck). Anyway, I think we need to think about some tweaks to the DB system for situations when we are up - especially for april and May type hockey.
Also, need to cut down WAY on the turnovers in the neutral zone. Trying to get too cute with long passes.
Enjoy the break!

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written by rog211, January 25, 2012 - 06:35 AM

The thing about Hitchcock coached teams is that they eventually fade down the stretch. His formm of all out hockey every night takes its toll.

Then the players stop listening to him and he's get's canned. he was brought in to stir the pot

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