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Pens defeat Rangers 4-3, no thanks to the power-play

Let's play read between the lines with new New York Rangers coach John Torture-ella.

"I guess the thing that's frustrating is two teams with the type of (playoff) position we're in this time of year, I just hope that we allow the teams to make the difference, to determine the results. I'll leave it at that."

As you can tell he's clearly taking a shot at the refs; and the Blueshirts were whistled for 12 penalties and 41 total minutes....10 of those were fighting majors and the other huge chunk was a rare five minute major for high-sticking and 10 minute game misconduct for Colton Orr.  I hope Tortorella made his comment before seeing a replay, as Orr definitely charged in on Mark Eaton (who didn't have the puck) and levelled him in a defenseless position into the boards.  The high-stick call may have been the most questionable part; I thought it could have been charging, boarding, roughing, pick your poison.  If someone like Chris Drury hit Eaton, they probably don't get the misconduct--but for a neanderthal enforcer like Orr, that's just the refs taking charge of the game and not letting things get out of control.

Of the other seven minor penalties: two happened in garbage times when Rangers had to take down Penguins from scoring in an empty net otherwise NYR took interference, hooking and tripping penalties...You know who else took those same calls?  The Penguins.  It seemed to me that the refs were consistent in calling a tight game--if a team got speed and caused their opponent to hook or interfere it was getting called no matter the color of the jersey.

  • Breakout game for a guy who needed it; Ruslan Fedotenko.  1 goal, 2 assists in just 10:29 of ice-time, all of it on even strength. 
  • Production wise Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are always going to get theirs and put up numbers..  The last couple of weeks it was Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin stepping it up.  Along with Feds today, Superstar Max Talbot notched a goal and an assist and Matt Cooke started the scoring.  Maybe next week it'll be guys like Jordan StaalPetr Sykora and Tyler Kennedy pitching in.  The more even the contributions, the easier it'll be. 
  • The 0 for 8 power-play needs to be addressed.  For all the pieces the Penguins have; a Crosby, a Malkin, a Sergei Gonchar, it doesn't seem like anyone is running the show.  It seems like they all defer to one another and no one quite knows what the "go to" shot is that they're looking to get.  With so much talent, don't freak out, it'll be there in time.  Despite how it may look at times they really are not trying not to score.
  • I bet Marc-Andre Fleury would like that second goal back on the wraparound.  But other than that, I thought he did his part hanging tough and making some saves to keep his team in there.
  • Rob Scuderi is probably the most offensive-defensive-defenseman in the game.  Confused?  Follow me; last game he made a poke check that turned into the play going the other way and a goal for the Pens, earning Scuderi an assist.  Today Scuderi clears a trickling puck from almost the goal line and Fedotenko ended up making that the primary assist.  The lesson to take out of all of this?  Sometimes assists are more just passes.

So that closes the books on the month of March for the Penguins.  And it as an impressive march of 10 wins, 1 regulation loss and 2 shootout losses.  But, as we know, it's not how you do in March, it's what happens in April, May and June to make a successful season.  Still, nice to see the Pens likely catapult themselves into post-season with a solid effort in March.

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High-Sticking

The High-Sticking was actually Interference…

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by toad268 on Mar 28, 2009 9:42 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

yeah, you’re right toad…on FSN they kept calling it a high-stick call and that stuck in my head.

no matter what you call it, it was a vicous hit to a players head against the boards by an enforcer who had him lined up for three-four strides.

i think the 5 and the game was justified….and i’d think the same thing if eric godard did it on wade redden.

by Hooks Orpik on Mar 28, 2009 10:08 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

if the league is sooo against hits to the head and want to cut it out of the game i can see this hit get Colton Orr in a bit more trouble IMO

by lambofgad on Mar 28, 2009 11:12 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

I screamed “That should be four” right after the hit, so I wasn’t taken back by the misconduct call.

Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com

by FrankD on Mar 29, 2009 12:44 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

Besides that’s a lot of complaining considering that neither team got a powerplay goal. Also considering that its not like the Rangers have the most potent powerplay in the league anyway.

by muskid on Mar 28, 2009 11:06 PM EDT reply actions   0 recs

True, but the PP is really the sort of thing you want to have working for you in the playoffs. If the Pens can still get the job done at even strength then that’s cool, but you have to imagine that whatever team they go up against will have a better PP than the Rangers.

Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com

by FrankD on Mar 29, 2009 12:42 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

The Penguins power play was not really clicking, but i think more credit has to go to the New York Rangers penalty kill which is # 1 in the league at 88%. They keep you off balance and make it difficult for you to set up, take away the cross ice pass and lundquist often saves the day with the few chances any team can muster up.

Phili B

by ColeHarbour on Mar 29, 2009 1:18 AM EDT reply actions   0 recs

You should update that with the Panthers’ loss. It may change the story a bit.

Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com

by FrankD on Mar 29, 2009 11:46 AM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

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