No Catch-22 here: Penguins 5, Panthers 2

by JustinM on Dec 22, 2010 9:45 PM EST in Game Recaps

PITTSBURGH PA - DECEMBER 22: Brent Johnson #1 of the Pittsburgh Penguins makes a save against the Florida Panthers at Consol Energy Center on December 22 2010 in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)

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Sports talk was abuzz with worry that the Penguins were going to look past the Panthers toward the Capitals game the next night. The Pens showed that those worries were unfounded tonight in a 5-2 rout.

The first period started off like a house afire. Just 1:30 into the game, Mark Letestu buried a surprisingly pretty pass from Tyler Kennedy, and Chris Conner got the secondary assist. Unfortunately, Brent Johnson allowed a soft goal by Stephen Weiss only 73 seconds later from Michael Frolik and Mike Weaver.

On everyone's minds, though, was Sidney Crosby's points streak. He needed only one more game to match the longest streak since the lockout, that by Dany Heatley in 2005, at 22 games. Before the first period was even halfway over, Sid streaked up the left wing and burned Tomas Vokoun with a slapshot. Assisting on the goal were Chris Kunitz and Brent Johnson, his first point of the season.

This game was clearly not meant to be for Vokoun, in my opinion the best goalie since the lockout, when Maxime Talbot took an Evgeni Malkin rebound and passed it to Matt Cooke who flung a wrist shot through traffic that happened to find twine at 10:57 of the first period. Florida coach Peter DeBoer apparently had enough, and decided Scott Clemmensen needed some work. Ben Lovejoy, of all people, dropped the gloves for the first time in the NHL and danced a sprightly tango with Shawn Matthias, much to the confusion of everyone who witnessed it.

The first period ended with an interference call on Brooks Orpik, which got killed about a minute into the second.

Not quite seven minutes into the second period, Clemmensen finally cracked a bit when Ben Lovejoy notched his first career goal, unassisted, on a slapshot that deflected off Dennis Wideman's leg and into the net. Other than a terrible showing in a fight from Michael Rupp, the rest of the period was uneventful.

Brent Johnson appeared to tweak his groin toward the end of the second period, however, after making a left pad save from the butterfly. He did play the remainder of the period, but surrendered to Marc-Andre Fleury to start the third. Fleury looked shaky to start, but managed to stay between the puck and the net while cold long enough to get his bearings despite being shelled early in the period by a Panthers team desperate to come from behind.

The game was getting into garbage time when two bad things happened. The first was Lovejoy taking a shot off the visor. He appeared to be cut below the eye; hopefully nothing more serious happened. The second was a boomer of a slapshot by Bryan McCabe found the net behind a well-screened Fleury to make the score 4-2.

Pascal Dupuis put the cap on the game with an empty net goal, assisted by Kris Letang and Chris Kunitz.

Come back for more fun against the Capitals Thursday at 7!

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The boys are going to need to play a LOT better tomorrow if they don’t want to get blown out by the caps. I was pretty surprised how off Malkin and the entire D corps seemed tonight.

Hockey Blogger at Pensburgh.com

by GoPens! on Dec 22, 2010 9:53 PM EST reply actions

agreed. Though they did come out well. Perhaps they were relaxing a bit to save energy for 2 in a row. They really shouldn’t, though. Let Dan reduce the minutes but play every second like it’s your last one. That’s what worked well with the last game.

Go Pens tomorrow. Play your game for 60 minutes!

by SuMac on Dec 22, 2010 9:59 PM EST up reply actions

It was 4-1 pretty quick

can’t really blame them for relaxing some, although if you can relax and only give up 2 goals, I’ll take it every night ;)

I don’t really think they relaxed that much… it’s hard to completely control a game for 60 minutes against any team… Fleury looked a little sketchy when he came in which I think attributed to the perception of them relaxing as they looked pretty sloppy due to that, but either way… 2 goals against, no problems here.

by Stros Bro on Dec 22, 2010 11:12 PM EST up reply actions

Put it in cruise control a bit early

Hey anytime you can get a 3 goal win over another hockey club it is positive. BJ solid stats and MAF another good job spelling him. Glad BJ was able to put in 2 periods so MAF didn’t have to labor too much tonight. Sid keeps his scoring streak going and more importantly the guys go in on a high note vs. Washington. Bit inevitable that they would waiver somewhat with a 3 goal lead much of the game, but too many shots given up to a more offensively gifted team like washington is dangerous. Good job Ben Lovejoy of all guys, an assist short of a Gordie Howe Hat Trick! Go Pens Go!

by Dutch71 on Dec 22, 2010 10:08 PM EST reply actions

Missed the first two periods. Thanks for the recap.

by -CEZ- on Dec 22, 2010 10:10 PM EST reply actions

Play for 60 minutes tomorrow….Pens will be ok……

What you see is what you get: and with Sidney Crosby:
He is God's gift to Hockey.
Any questions?

by PensFanInDenver on Dec 22, 2010 10:28 PM EST reply actions

Love the recap

Ben Lovejoy, of all people, dropped the gloves for the first time in the NHL and danced a sprightly tango with Shawn Matthias, much to the confusion of everyone who witnessed it.

Good to see Justin is in midseason form.

Hopefully Brent’s issue was nothing too bad. Also nice to see him getting a little screen time on 24/7.

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by PensAreYourDaddy on Dec 22, 2010 11:34 PM EST reply actions

That’s good!

What you see is what you get: and with Sidney Crosby:
He is God's gift to Hockey.
Any questions?

by PensFanInDenver on Dec 22, 2010 11:46 PM EST reply actions

My thoughts

-The Pens closed this one out early, but you gotta give the Panthers credit—they really battled hard to try and get back in this one. If you’re going to lose, you want to lose that way. If I’m Dan Bylsma, I don’t think I’m too happy with the effort the Pens gave in the final 40 minutes. Nevertheless, the Pens got a little lucky tonight in that they were playing a much weaker team. Hopefully, they’re saving their energy for Washington tomorrow.

-Johnny gave up a bad goal to start the game, but man was he solid after that. This game could’ve been a lot more interesting had he not been as sharp as he was in the second period. I hope his injury isn’t too serious.

-Flower gave a pretty valiant effort in his backup role. It’s not the way the Pens wanted him to get in goal but, hey, sometimes it happens.

-For the first period, we saw what a complete team effort looked like. The first line, second line, and third line all chipped in with goals. The fourth line, although not on the score sheet, wasn’t too shabby themselves.

-Sid was just Sid. If there’s something that I can say that I’ve really seen him improve on from last year to this year is his speed. He just flies through the neutral zone now. After not having a shot in the two, he now has taken 16 shots on goal in the two games since. And how about that rocket of a shot for the goal tonight?

-I wasn’t too impressed with Geno. He had a pretty nice first period, but he did not look good in the final two periods. He gave the puck away more than a few times to start the second, then he seemed to take some hard hits. I hope, for the team’s sake, that he’s not hurt again. One thing that’s worse than a lethargic Malkin is no Malkin.

-I’ve been pretty hard on Benny Lovejoy in the past, but he was great tonight. A fight, a goal, and no major defensive lapses. I think he might’ve just earned himself a spot in the lineup tomorrow night.

-I think Michalek is my new favorite Pen player. The guy is just so subtle out there that it’s easy to miss the awesome work he does. This guy will, hands down, be the most underrated and underappreciated Penguin while he’s here.

-The Buzz line did some great work tonight. How about TestTube’s faceoffs? For all the attention Sid gets for his faceoff prowess, Testtube has really stepped up his game.

-Max Talbot brought a lot of energy.
-I wasn’t overly impressed by any one defensive player, but I think I liked how they all worked as one pairing. Each pairing seemed to really click tonight.

-Big, big game against you know who tomorrow.

My Thoughts on the Pens & Twitter
"A player's game is a composition. Sometimes it's a line, sometimes a paragraph. Right now, Crosby's game is a novel." -Scott Burnside

by AllieLXXXVII on Dec 23, 2010 12:19 AM EST reply actions

To add...

I loved the tone of Steigy’s voice when Sid blazes through the neutral zone with the puck, right before he scores.
It’s like “oh…here’s Sid…what could he possibly do next?” I think that says something.

My Thoughts on the Pens & Twitter
"A player's game is a composition. Sometimes it's a line, sometimes a paragraph. Right now, Crosby's game is a novel." -Scott Burnside

by AllieLXXXVII on Dec 23, 2010 12:25 AM EST up reply actions

Third line too small?

The 3rd line is small, in some games they have “played big” Letestu and Kennedy are doing well, but Conner seems to be moved off the puck fairly easy, specially lately. It became obvious against big size defenseman, like against the Flyersand the Rangers, and even last night, This could became more of an issue in the post season.

The Hockey Dr.

by Outcast on Dec 23, 2010 10:31 AM EST reply actions

They get alot bigger

Once Staalsy comes back

The glare of the spotlight is harsh, and the pressure that success breeds immense. We revere our heroes, but expect much. And criticism can come as easily as praise.

by glass0941 on Dec 23, 2010 12:54 PM EST up reply actions

Maybe i Conner is sent back to WBS.

The Hockey Dr.

by Outcast on Dec 23, 2010 1:12 PM EST up reply actions

Either way

he’ll get bumped from that line once he’s back. It’ll in all likelihood be Cooke-Staal-TK

The glare of the spotlight is harsh, and the pressure that success breeds immense. We revere our heroes, but expect much. And criticism can come as easily as praise.

by glass0941 on Dec 23, 2010 1:15 PM EST up reply actions