Sidney over Tomas, Pens beat Panthers 3-2 in shootout

by Hooks Orpik on Oct 23, 2009 11:22 PM EDT in News Comment 21 comments

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

His name is SIDDDDDD, SID ROCK! (boo) (Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

[Panthers vs Penguins coverage - Blues vs Penguins recap- SB Nation blog Litter Box Cats]

For a while there, in the first 100 minutes of his Penguins career, Brent Johnson must have been thinking what's going on here? 0 goals of support by the high powered team in front of him. Luckily for Johnny, Sidney Crosby would score two goals in the third (and the only shootout goal for both sides) to lift Pittsburgh over Florida and get BJ's record up to 1-1.

Tomas Vokoun always seems to have a great game against Pittsburgh and tonight was no different. 41 shots on 43 saves, including several awesome ones. He should have earned Florida the win, all things considered.
Crosby took over in the 3rd: a power-play goal to get the Pens on the board and a short-handed goal to tie it up. Mario Lemieux says "talk to me kid when you get an even strength, penalty shot and empty netter".
Alex Goligoski led all Penguins with 26:22 of icetime. Kris Letang 24:19 and Mark Eaton had 22:45. In case you were wondering who picked up the slack this night with the ice-time.
The Penguins total team strategy extended to blocked shots and hits, as it does on most nights. Pittsburgh racked up 23 hits (with Matt Cooke's 5 showing the way) and 24 blocked shots (with Goligoski and newcomer Martin Skoula with 4). Florida, by comparison, only had 11 hits and 14 blocked shots.
Steven Reinprecht was a force for Florida with two 1st period goals. Noted Penguin killer Cory Stillman got two assists on those goals. Luckily for Pittsburgh, the first period would be the only time Florida would beat them.
David Booth gets the "Hard Knock" and "WTF" awards of the night. Booth recorded a game high 8 shots on goal, including one dynamite chance. The WTF moment of the night came when the former Michigan State player (go figure) closed his hand on the puck and tossed it all the way down the rink.
Chris Bourque got in the lineup and got a couple chances to play with Evgeni Malkin and Crosby. And while Bourque took 3 shots on goal (and had 2 hits), he didn't seem very dangerous.
Skoula was decent in his first night as a Penguin. Didn't stand out for the wrong reasons, which is probably a good thing for a guy who hasn't played a meaningful NHL game in half a year. He was good enough to make the plays he needed to make and didn't make any obvious mistakes. They didn't ask him for much, and more importantly he didn't disappoint. All you can ask for in a debut for the first game.

The game was decided by the gimmick, but it's fitting that Sidney Crosby scored the only goal, and that Brent Johnson was rewarded with the victory. The Pens push their mark to 9-1-0 and, for a moment anyways, survive a game without Sergei Gonchar.

While Florida (particularly Tomas Vokoun) played a commendable game, they didn't do enough to breakaway early in the game when they had the chance. Pittsburgh was in the game up to the 3rd period and Sidney Crosby did the rest. Another game, another win (even if it was a shootout). No time to rest to the laurels as New Jersey comes into town tomorrow well rested for the next game.

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Chris Bourque got in the lineup and got a couple chances to play with Evgeni Malkin and Crosby. And while Bourque took 3 shots on goal (and had 2 hits), he didn’t seem very dangerous.

while he didnt seem dangerous he made the most of his oppertunities and brought a lot of energy to genos line. he looked more at home there then dups did…by far

" Lord Stanley, scratch thier names on your fabled cup" Mike Lange june 12, 2009

by oldtimehockey09 on Oct 23, 2009 11:29 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Energy is one thing, results are another. Still, nothing. Though if it was a healthy Talbot it’d probably be no different.

The Pens need to figure out something for Malkin’s line, and so far nothing is there

Pensburgh.com -- it's like the Max Talbot of blogs*

*not just because we only work for 12 minutes a night

by Hooks Orpik on Oct 23, 2009 11:32 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah…let’s not go calling Chris Bourque ‘not dangerous’ on team that has Chris Kunitz in their top 6. Compared to Kunitz, he was good last night.

by ButchersDog on Oct 24, 2009 9:29 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions 0 recs

Good? Yeah.

Better than Kunitz? Not hardly.

by SlayerGhaleon on Oct 24, 2009 11:16 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don’t know, I thought I saw some flashes of “danger”, if you will, in Bourque’s game. I remember a really good-looking shot from the slot in the second period (on the PP, I think). I also feel like he had another decent opportunity in the second, I just can’t recall what it was precisely – it was a Friday night after all.

I suppose I would like to see some better work along the boards, some better offensive zone containment, to be truly convinced that he is an “answer” for a top 6 winger. But those are cumulative things and don’t really show themselves without time, i.e. more time than has been given.

I think we can all agree that he has more offensive upside than Duper, but considering Dupuis PK contributions, the coaching staff is hesitant (and rightfully so) to scratch Dupuis on nights they dress Goddard.

by 4-1-True on Oct 24, 2009 12:40 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I thought that he did all the right things when he was out there, especially for a young guy. Even if he’s not the next Tyler Kennedy, he’s a far cry better than Godard. Let’s keep the kid in the lineup and see where it goes, you can’t have too much energy. He seems defensively responsible too.

Speaking of defense, up until they started taking over the game, the Pens were letting way way way too many odd man rushes go by, more than I’ve seen in a long time. Hopefully they get that under control.

by ipenguin67 on Oct 23, 2009 11:32 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Vokoun and Johnson were both good tonight. I’m so happy for Johnson that he got to have a win, especially since it seemed like he wouldn’t. He is largely responsible for that win, too.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing when I saw David Booth grab that puck and throw it! I hope someone caught it on video.

Great comeback, but so nerve-wracking to watch! Hope tomorrow night ends the Devils’ road game streak, and the Pens bring the energy for all three periods.

"Darling, you say Brooks Orpik 'checked' that guy. He did not 'get under him and put him into the wall'."--Beloved to me, Winter 2007

"Don't beat yourself!"--Darrell Waltrip

by GreenEyedLilo on Oct 23, 2009 11:48 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Tomas Vokoun played out of his mind tonight. It’s a shame that guy has to work so hard to keep his team in it, otherwise the Panthers would be incredible around him. But hey, I’m not complaining. That Malkin to Sid shorty in the third is what the team needed at exactly the right time.

Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com and twitter.

by FrankD on Oct 23, 2009 11:48 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Good to see Sid get rewarded for his hard work, and congrats to him on his first shorty. I’m glad he finally shot the puck on that 5 on 3; I couldn’t of been the only one yelling at my TV “Shoot!”.

How about the goaltenders tonight? Vokoun made a lot great saves; if it had been a goalie like Marty Biron (hehe) or Vesa Toskala, the Pens would’ve probably had 5 goals in the third tonight. Isn’t it scary to think Johnson is our backup goaltender? He looked anything but tonight, and was very solid against Phoenix. Hopefully he can continue to be sort of a Ty Conklin for Fleury if he gets injured again or starts to struggle, but with the way Fleury has been playing, we might have ourselves an awesome 1-2 tandem.

Great game, Pens.

by PensFan8725 on Oct 24, 2009 12:10 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

First Two Goals

I really didn’t like those two Florida goals. Two bad defensive breakdowns.

Still, I like the victory. They finally had to overcome a little bit of adversity.

by PaulMorel on Oct 24, 2009 12:35 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

By the way, I just noticed the picture caption. Two thumbs dowwwwwwwwn.

Bahwitduhbah

Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com and twitter.

by FrankD on Oct 24, 2009 2:42 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I just figured Hooks was tired. :-) Oh, well. You and Brent Johnson have convinced me that guys who like Led Zeppelin don’t have to totally suck. (My ex-boyfriend kinda poisoned me against them.)

Just throwing this out—is there anyone who can do Photoshop or some other graphics program who likes this idea? I’m thinking Crosby as Dr. David Banner, a/k/a the guy who becomes the Incredible Hulk: “You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.” Unfortunately, much like Pascal Dupuis, I just can’t make what I’m seeing in my mind happen with my hands.

"Darling, you say Brooks Orpik 'checked' that guy. He did not 'get under him and put him into the wall'."--Beloved to me, Winter 2007

"Don't beat yourself!"--Darrell Waltrip

by GreenEyedLilo on Oct 24, 2009 8:34 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

haha… good one on Dups:)

You have to see it for yourself...

by Bla Razor on Oct 24, 2009 9:17 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I wish I was better at photoshop than I really am. Sadly I was once a graphic design major who knew how to do these things.

And I agree with Bla Razor, your correlation to Dupuis is classic.

Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com and twitter.

by FrankD on Oct 24, 2009 12:12 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thanks, guys!

I learned a little about graphics software to get my interior decorating certification, and promptly forgot most of it because I do things the old-fashioned way when I’m lucky enough to get a job.

"Darling, you say Brooks Orpik 'checked' that guy. He did not 'get under him and put him into the wall'."--Beloved to me, Winter 2007

"Don't beat yourself!"--Darrell Waltrip

by GreenEyedLilo on Oct 24, 2009 2:26 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Skoula impressed me tonight. For not playing in quite a while he showed he is a defensively sound dman who is 9 times out of 10 in the right position. And he blocked a few shots.

With Gonch out we wont have to worry about D, its the powerplay and bringing the puck up were going to miss dearest. GoGo and Letang did a good job for the most part (I cant believe how much speed Letang has)

by Repperson29 on Oct 24, 2009 9:01 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

We were lucky Florida didn’t put another goal or two on board in the first (thanks Johnny!:) and the slow and uncoordinated start is something they should work on…

Great the Pens were finally rewarded for all the pressure and scoring chances in the 3rd… but did anyone count how many shots did Malkin fire wide? I’d say at least 5

You have to see it for yourself...

by Bla Razor on Oct 24, 2009 9:21 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Kunitz Update...

Kunitz runs his current goal scoring drought to 10 games. He was effectively worthless again tonight. He did get a lot of PP time and a few good opportunities, but still nothing. Figures that the one PP goal by Sid never touched his stick during the sequence. He did, however, bring some value to the team by getting in a fight. All I saw was another facet of his game that blows. So…Chris Kunitz is now one step closer to the most expensive goon in all of hockey. Another game on Saturday, keep it up Chris!!

by ButchersDog on Oct 24, 2009 9:48 AM EDT via mobile reply actions 0 recs