Good news, everyone! Penguins 5, Lightning 1

psht, my poll was waaaaaay better /eyeroll

 I thought we might have to make a call-up from the past.
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i actually rewrote another song’s lyrics for MAF’s comeback…

Too much free time in the jungle. Too bad I’ve not the time to type it out yet so after this game it’s a little outdated.

The last two games have been like an express elevator back down to Earth for Tampa.

Strong game by the Pens. That’s definitely the way you need to rebound from that Wednesday debacle.

Time to get off of Fleurys butt! We have been mean to him for too long! Lets support our #1!

I stopped COMPLETELY listening to “The X”…Mark Madden is so negative about the Pens and sounds like a slobbering 12 year old when he talks, plus he is so damn fat.

Anyways, he had a porn star on his show and she said that we should everyone with down syndrome to an island and put them there, Mark Madden let this continue, I was like WOW what a DOUCHER! So I have cut off the station and listen to the 93.7 The Fan more, the guys know way more than Madden and anyay and bring on more awesome guests.

I am sick of Madden ripping the Pens and then saying he is a fan, that station lost me as a consumer.

As well as a solid defensive performance in front of him..I would say yes. Great game by all for sure. I bet, if anything, Fleury took a HUGE deep breath as soon as that last buzzer sounded.

Shameless plug: I left Tumblr and started a blogspot for my posts.

-Man, tonight was awesome. Great effort from everyone. When, I look at the score of this game a few months from now, I’m going to have to remind myself that this wasn’t a blowout and that it was actually a really close game for a long time.

-Tonight was all about the role players. Want to know why guys like TK, Talbot, and Dupuis are on the team? Watch this game.

-Flower was tested maybe once or twice in the first two periods, but really came up big in the third. He needed this win so badly. I really believe that this kind of start is all he’ll need to officially be back on track. I loved the fan support he got. He’s been mock cheered and really ridiculed before, so to hear the support he got from the fans must have been really nice. He’ll be alright.

-Dupuis was probably the best Pens player tonight. Yeah sure, he’s not a first line player, but he gives just as much effort as his centerman each and every shift. He went to the front of the net, got a dirty goal. Then, had a nasty steal to feed his captain for a goal. It’s these kind of games that we’ve come accustomed to from Dupes and I love it.

-If Dupuis wasn’t the best guy on the ice, Michalek was. He read almost every play the Bolts wanted to make perfectly. Best game in a Pens uniform after probably having his worst one on Wednesday.
-The whole defense really played a good game in general.

-Congrats to Engo on his first career goal! After being scratched in the previous game, he was physical and made the most of the ice time he was given. He’s quickly becoming one of my favorite Pens. I love that he spent so many games in the minors and now is basically an NHL regular.

-Max Talbot is back to being Max Talbot. He looked great on the PK, got dirty in front of the net, and sniped a shot past Mike Smith.

-Speaking of PKs, both teams have great ones. Seemed like the Pens PP was ready to go, but the Bolts’ personnel wouldn’t let them.

-I didn’t notice Stamkos hardly at all tonight. The Pens let him rip that shot past MAF, but, other than that, he had a pretty bad night. In both games we’ve seen him this year, I haven’t been impressed with him at all. Seems a bit premature to start calling him the best player in the league. You’re behind Sid and Ovechkin until you prove otherwise, kid.

-Sid had a pretty good game tonight. He had some good chances in the first two periods and was sort of coasting through the third, until-bam-he’s got two points. Although that goal should’ve been stopped by Smith, it was nice to see Sid shoot from there. Oh, and Sid now has 4 straight multi-point games.

-Geno was just okay, but the effort he gave tonight was much better than the effort he’d give over long stretches of games last season. Progress. Luckily, he didn’t have to be great tonight.

-The third line of TK-TestTube-Conner really impressed me. They’re small, but wicked fast. TK and Conner have really similar games; I would love to see him get another game. Let’s see what this kid can do.

-This was exactly the type of game the Pens needed. A game where Sid and Geno didn’t dominate, but the role players made up for it.

As I am sure you guys could hear, the whole arena was chanting Fleury’s name. There was something in the air tonight, you just had a feeling he was going to bring it. He did. Awesome game tonight! Not for nothing, but the only time the Pens lost when I have been in attendance in the past 4 years has been the game I attended that Hooks and Frank were present. Just sayin’

now THIS is what i like to come home to.

yet… he had 1 good game.. don’t go giving him the Vezina yet…

Although, this game is EXACTLY what he needed to get back on track… I’m very happy and I hope the controversy is over… but it’s still just one game.

Just got back from hockey… looks like we had a great game… I was checking the score on my phone when it was 3-1, while I was going to twitter it was 4-1, then I switched back to gamecenter and it was 5-1! Needless to say I was very pleased. The role players stepped up big time, and Fleury, well I called it before the game he’d win tonight :)
Great job Pens! Lets do it again tomorrow!

That smile of Sid after he scored that goal looked like the weight of the world came off of his shoulders. Anybody else also notice this?

I’m so happy for Fleury!! I was out to dinner tonight and when I got my mobile alert I couldn’t stop smiling… it was exactly what I hoped it would say. 1) Fleury

I love you Flower!!!! I’m a little drunk right now but eeeeee

Looked at the box score, thought Fleury would have been ok, only 15 saves. Just watched the highlights and he looked great, let’s hope he’s back to form

Happy to see everyone happy :D

My first consol experience was AWESOME! Much nicer than the Well in philly. My husband decided to wear his Richards jersey. The pg blog reporter asked his permission to take a picture actually asked permission. … The picture of His back is on the blog empty netters. They never take my picture of my
Crosby in Philly!:) and MAF wow talk about a confidence boost!

It was such a treat last night to see the whole team work hard and do well the whole game. I’m sure people will be piling on Fleury again—maybe even tonight!—but his performance was great last night. I think the team as well as the fans really needed to see that. I actually started tearing up when the team touched helmets with him, because I’m a Pisces girl like that.

Engelland’s first goal was great to see, too.

We still have issues, like the powerplay. This win doesn’t say any more about the overall season than Wednesday’s loss. But damn, we so needed this!

Thanks for the re-cap. I missed the game, and as always I love reading the re-caps you guys do because they give me more of a sense of the flavour of the game than boxscores provide.

One question for whoever … I know Fleury was great & got first star and everything … but was this still a “team win”? i.e. Did the team play well overall? Did our defense step it up?

Okay, that’s three questions. But I’m curious as to whether Fleury got a win despite the team, or if they combined forces and played good hockey.

A winning season but it is a start. So nice to see.
Let’s hope they build on this and keep up the good habits and work effort from
last night.

Go Pens!!

It appears that Mike Comrie has become expendable with Chris Conner. I guess Mr. Hillary Duff will be moving on here within the next month.

It was great to see everyone hustling last night. Michalek looked 100 times better tonight, Wednesday night he was much slower, lazy to get to loose pucks. Talbot’s goal…Awesome! I liked the vintage feel it had, yeah that’s right, vintage Game 7 2009 Stanley Cup Finals. Everyone was smiling, especially Rupp posing for pictures in the penalty box. Not to mention Rupp’s pass to Gogo, great heads up play to feed him the puck for a WIDE open goal. Flower was awesome, got a few breaks, got bailed out a few times…that’s alright though, he needed the breaks to go his way last night and yet did. My girlfriend enjoyed my mood much better than Wednesday, which is good for me in the long run.

reminded me of most of the games we had while on the road to Lord Stanley. It started slow with a defensive battle. We could not convert on our initial PPs. We gave the opposition enough PP time to get on the scoring board. We cracked the open late in the second. We, again, could not capitalize on a 4 min PP to put the game away. Gave up two unnecessary 5 on 3’s so that the opponent could catch up. They almost did save for the brilliant play from our goalie and special units play. We capitalized on a 2-on-1. Sid put the game away. All in all a classic nerve wrecking heart stopping Pens game that ended with a lopsided score. Very famiiliar!