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Penguins vs. Kings recap: I (don't) love LA. Pens lose in OT

Sidney Crosby scores 2 goals for the Penguins, but no one else does and Pittsburgh loses 3-2 in overtime to the Los Angeles Kings

By Hooks Orpik
Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Pregame

Not much exciting, Pens with the same lineup as last night aside from Marc-Andre Fleury getting the crease back.

1st period

Teams trade chances early but the Penguins strike first with another moment of brilliance from Sidney Crosby . Sid steals the puck away and passes off the boards back to the point for Kris Letang. Letang fires on net and the rebound clicks right out to Crosby who buries the puck by a hapless Peter Budaj.

Drew Doughty puts a rock bottom on Crosby and gets a penalty but the Pens have a bad power play. Period ends.

2nd period

Marc-Andre Fleury gifts the Kings their first goal in 13 periods when Trevor Lewis tries to make a centering pass that Fleury deflects a puck right by himself. Not a good one to give up and it's a tie game.

Doughty takes down Letang and goes back to the penalty box, the Pens have a better PP than last time but Phil Kessel kisses a puck off the top of the crossbar and they don't score.

3rd period

Early in the 3rd, following a draw in the Pens d-zone, Jeff Carter wins a faceoff back to Matt Greene who quickly slaps a shot on goal that eludes Fleury. Brian Dumoulin didn't do Fleury any favors flamingoing him there and the keeper couldn't pick up the shot in time and wasn't in position to stop it.

Sidney Crosby to the rescue again, though. Letang starts a breakout, gets the puck in the offensive zone and makes a shot-pass that Crosby ramps off him in a deflection right into the net. Subtle play here by Patric Hornqvist to get the puck back to Letang before Doughty can clean it up.

That would be all the scoring, so overtime

Overtime

The Pens have to kill a penalty (3v4) for almost the first full 2 minutes of OT but the killers do the job. Right after the penalty expires, Evgeni Malkin almost foils Budaj with a shot but it doesn't quite go.

Unfortunately the Kings would take over from there, the Pens were out of sorts in their own end with a broken coverage. Phil Kessel actually with a nice defensive play on a 2-on-1 against but Tanner Pearson makes a nice pass to a wide open Nic Dowd who tucks the puck backhand on a helpless Fleury.

Some Thoughts

  • Peter Budaj is not that good but the Kings defensive effort sure was. Only allowed 8 shots on goal in the first 34 minutes of the game. Can't score if you can't shoot.
  • The Penguins had a power play shortly after Crosby's 3rd period goal in a tie game and didn't do much with it. Power play went 0 for 3 on the night.
  • Flip side of the coin is at the least penalty kill (which hasn't been hot in the season's first month) went 3 for 3 as well. Pittsburgh didn't lose the special teams battle, but they didn't win it either, and that's always a key on the road when the game ends 2-2 in regulation as a potential tipping point.
  • Speaking of the penalty kill, Olli Maatta led the defense with 3:03 played in that department, and 21:03 overall for Maatta. The young Finn has been playing a lot steadier here in recent weeks.
  • The Hagelin-Crosby-Hornqvist line (along with Letang, who is usually played with Crosby) are looking great. The other 3 lines? Not so much on this night.
  • Letang skating the puck as a one-man breakout is a sight to see. He looks in full form just two games back from his injury.
  • It looked like a split second of hesitation on the second GA for Dumoulin whether to block the incoming shot, or move and let the goalie take it. He moved, but didn't give his goalie a great chance to pick up the puck.

1-0-1 on the trip isn't the worst thin in the world and for as much as Crosby and Letang are driving the Penguins, it would be nice if others kicked it into gear too a little bit.

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