Penguins Memorable Moments: Back on the Right Track

The Penguins played very well as a whole, notably playing a tremendous 2nd period. While doing so, they set the tone for the rest of the game.

Lucky Moment: Early in the 1st period, the Pens found themselves down 1-0 with a goal from Gabriel Bourque.

Bad coverage by the defense. You can see the confusion between Evgeni Malkin and Olli Maatta regarding who was responsible to cover the point shot. Kevin Klein put the puck on net and got a little bit of puck luck. Any time a shot can go from stick to skate, and then go between a goalies legs, that's a lucky goal.

Robbery Moment: Marek Mazanec stole a goal from James Neal in the 2nd period.

As a goal scorer, these kind of saves just have to drive you crazy.

Painful Moment: Tanner Glass almost killed a guy. That guy was Eric Nystrom. Yikes.

Nystrom seemed kind of wobbly once he got back on his feet. Hopefully he is alright.

Underrated Moment: Matt D'Agostini made a great, subtle play to set up Pascal Dupuis for his goal tonight. The setup on the face-off reminds me of the James Neal Play, which has resulted in a lot of face-off wins and goals between Malkin and Neal.

The subtle touch pass from D'Agostini was enough to give Dupuis a great puck to put on net and he beat Mazanec.

Bar Down Moment: The moment when there is a 'ping' off of the post or crossbar, followed by a celebration is always. great.

This goal made the score 4-1. Brandon Sutter, late in the 2nd period scored with a beautiful shot. He used Patric Hornqvist as a screen, who was playing back as a defenseman on the rush.

Physical Moment: Beau Bennett is not all that well known for the physical aspect of his game.  When he does show it off, he really can throw the body. Tonight, in the 3rd period, with what I imagine is a game plan for the period of 'lets finish what we started and get out of here with 2 points,' he had a great hit.

Other:

Discussed a little theory with a friend of mine tonight. They pointed out that they think the Pens seem to play better when they have games closer together and I think there is something to that theory. Even if you only focus on the bad games. The Penguins lose to the Rangers, and have 2 days to think about it. They then lose to a good Blues team, followed by 3 days off before losing to the Flyers. If they have to play in back-to-back situations, or 3 games in 4 days and things don't go well, they can brush it off and move along. Not a lot of time to dwell, just another game and another chance to right the ship.

James Neal seems to have found his stride. After missing 15 or so games, and getting back in the lineup, he looks good. Just has that look where he is 'feeling it.' The chemistry that he and Evgeni Malkin show while on the ice together is just something special.

Fleury was quietly good. Had a moment mid-way through the 3rd that bailed out an awful turnover that could have made it 4-2.

Seth Jones is a special kind of hockey player to watch.

Paul Gaustad was chasing Tanner Glass and Deryk Engelland around in the 3rd period, for what can assume is payback for the Nystrom KO.

Bortuzzo was a scratch from the lineup, after Paul Martin returned from injury.

The Pens will travel to New Jersey tonight, where they will take on the Devils tomorrow evening, at 7:00 pm at the Prudential Center in Newark.

'Memorable Moments' is a mini-recap after each game, featuring GIFs and some breakdowns of plays sometimes, You can chirp @MikeDarnay on Twitter (which is highly encouraged).