The Pens made their way through the tears of Rangers fan to MSG for the first time this season. And like the title says shot themselves in the foot countless times. The Pens has 24589 power plays in the first period but were only able to cash in on 1. Pens could have and should have been up 3-0 going into the second. But instead were only up 1-0 and the Rags made them pay in the 2nd. The Pens somehow had a chance to tie it in the 3rd but went to the penalty bow faster than Rags fans cried about getting called for a blatant penalty.
1st Period
TK and Avery roughed each other up early in the game. Avery was probably pissed TK wasn't watching some fashion show. They would both get 2 for roughing. Staal had a chance in close early but missed the net. Engelland hit a post somewhere in there too. Then as Engelland had another great scoring chance TK, and Avery dropped the gloves and actually fought. Had Engelland scored it may not have counted.
Then the Pens would go on their first of 37457 power plays in the first period. Nothing. Then another. Again, nothing. Then Vitale had his balls in Lundqvists mouth. Lundqvist got pissed and punched Vitale in the head. Pens got another power play and finally cashed in. Sid dished a pass to Neal and Neal sniped Lundqvist to make it 1-0 Pens. According to a Rangers fan Sidney Crosby blew the refs that period. Like we never heard that one before.
2nd Period.
Go look up meltdown in the dictionary. Pretty sure the Pens 2nd period will be listed there. Rags got a power play early and Callahan tied it at 1. Neal had a chance to possibly make this period look different when he had a chance in close but Lundqvist kept it out. Then before you know it John Mitchell, Brad Richards and Mary Ann Gaborik made it 4-1 Rags. Yikes. Then it looked as if Matt Cooke had made the score 4-2 but the goal was waived off. Cooke hit the puck with a high stick it deflected off of Lundqvist off Michael Sauer and into the net. Ok here is where it gets confusing.
RULE 80.3 Disallowed Goal: When an attacking player causes the puck to enter the opponent's goal by contacting the puck above the height of the crossbar, either directly or deflected off any player or official, the goal shall not be allowed. The determining factor is where the puck makes contact with the stick. If the puck makes contact with the stick below the level of the crossbar and enters the goal, this goal should be allowed.
A goal scored as a result of the defending player striking the puck with his stick carried above the height of the crossbar of the goal frame into his own goal shall be allowed.
Ok. That's easy to understand. Think back to the Dallas game when Kunitz deflected the puck into the goal and his stick was above the crossbar. That's basically this rule in a nut shell.
BUT where it gets really confusing is this rule.
RULE 80 - High Sticking the Puck
RULE 80.1 High Sticking the Puck: Batting the puck above the normal height of the shoulders with a stick is prohibited. When a puck is struck with a high stick and subsequently comes into the possession and control of a player from the offending team (including the player who made contact with the puck), either directly or deflected off any player or official, there shall be a whistle.
When a puck has been contacted by a high stick, the play shall be permitted to continue, provided that:
(i) the puck has been batted to an opponent (when a player bats the puck to an opponent, the referee shall give the "washout" signal immediately. Otherwise, he will stop play)
(ii) a player of the defending side shall bat the puck into his own goal in which the goal shall be allowed.
Wait what. So go back read rule 80.3, then read rule 80.1 (ii). If that isn't the definition of contradiction I don't know what is.
The play stood as no goal which ended up being a huge factor in this game. Nothing we can do about it now.
Near the end of the 2nd the Pens would make set up an interesting 3rd period. Malkin gathered the puck in his own zone, took a fairly big hit, and instead of standing around like Alex Semin would do Malkin kept on the puck. Gathered it and dished it to Bortuzzo. Bortuzzo got the puck up the boards and got blasted from behind by Ryan Callahan. A penalty was going to be called on the play but Neal put a shot on Lundqvist who made the save but let up a juicy rebound and Geno came flying in out of no where to put the rebound home to make it 4-2. What a play by Bortuzzo. Hope Callahan gets fined just to hear Rags fans cry some more.
3rd Period
Early in the 3rd Pascal Dupuis would score to make it 4-3 Rags. The disallowed Cooke goal is even bigger now. Pens had a chance to tie it on the power play but couldn't get anything. Gaborik had a chance to probably put the game away but missed the net completely. Then the Pens had an unreal shift and were close to tying the game multiple times. The Rags couldn't get the puck out of the zone. The Malkin made a diving play o keep the puck in and slashed someone. Pens to the PK. Then the Pens took another penalty. Rags had a 5 on 3. Pens killed one of back to 5 on fou......Another penalty to the Pens. Rags back to a 5 on 3. Pens couldn't stop vomiting all over themselves. Pens would kill off the 5 on 3 and eventually the 5 on 4. Rags didn't even get a shot. The Kunitz "boarded" Fedotenko. Fedotenko went down faster than a stripper after Pac Man Jones made it rain. Pens back to the PK. Killed. Pens had 53 seconds to tie it. They pulled MAF but couldn't get anything. Gaborik had a chance at the open net but missed. Surprised he didn't get hurt on the play. Game. Pens would fall 4-3.
3 Stars
1. Mary Ann Gaborik
2. Brenda Richards
3. Evgeni Malkin
Quick Thoughts
- We could take the Rags fan approach to this game and say Torterella blew the refs in between periods. But we won't. Pens deserved to lose.
- Pascal Dupuis still has more points than Ovi
- Solid game from Bortuzzo and Picard
- Matt Cooke is mustache for December.
Caps on Thursday at 7.
Go Pens
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