Recap: Pens Fall to Stars

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  The Pittsburgh Penguins suffered their first loss of the season and under the Mike Johnston administration on Thursday, falling to the Dallas Stars 3-2. The Penguins lost with just 3.9 seconds left on the clock as Tyler Seguin buried a beautiful cross-crease pass from Jason Spezza on the powerplay. However, that was not the only loss of the night as Pascal Dupuis was stretchered off the ice with an apparent neck / shoulder injury after being crosschecked by former Penguins defenseman Alex Goligoski in the second period. While Dupuis was down after the check, defenseman Kris Letang shot the puck and happened to hit Duper in and around the neck or shoulder area. This was by far the most significant loss of the night...

  The first period of hockey was all Penguins. The powerplay is unreal clicking at 6/13 on the season, AKA 46.2% and or best in the NHL. Both of the Penguins first period goals came out the powerplay. The first goal came just 2:28 into the first period by #BestInTheWorld Sidney Crosby. It was good to see Hornqvist in front of the net but it was more of a shot-pass intended for Chris Kunitz which tipped of Star's defenseman Jordie Benn's stick and into the net behind Lehtonen. So Crosby the goal with assists from Kunitz and Malkin. The second goal came about five minutes later with a powerplay goal by Chris Kunitz. Letang casually puts a shot on net (something that was illegal to do under Bylsma)  Hornqvist was right in front (again) and Kunitz casually puts the rebound past Lehtonen. So Kunitz the goal with assists from Hornqvist and Letang. The Penguins carried the play in the first, outshooting Dallas 9-7. 

  The second period really felt like the turning point in the game as the Stars scored to make it 2-1 and Pascal Dupuis suffered a head / neck injury. Antoine Roussel scored the only goal in the second period at 6:08 into the period. Basically Roussel brought the puck into the zone, tied himself up along the boards, got the puck deep, got the puck back on a beautiful pass by Vernon Fiddler to beat Fleury shortside. So Dallas goal by Roussel from Fiddler and soon to be anti-christ Alex Goligoski. The only other highlight more like lowlight came when Pascal Dupuis had to be stretchered off the ice at 13:42 into the second period. Duper was in front of the net and was crosschecked by former Penguins defenseman Alex Goligoski. The check was not as bad as some of the checks that happen in front of the net, but nonetheless it put Dupuis down in front. While down, Dupuis took a slapshot (luckily it did not look like Letang got all of the shot) to the neck / back area and stayed down. He was then stretchered off the ice with "numbness in his arm." The feeling was said to have improved after the game but it did not look good.

   The Stars picked up their game in the third period scoring basically three goals to beat the Penguins. One goal was waived off due to Tyler Seguin being tripped by Evgeni Malkin and interfering with Marc-Andre Fleury while Jason Spezza tapped the puck into an empty net. The disallowed goal fired up the Stars and their coach Lindy Ruff decided to stack the lines. In response to the disallowed goal, Ruff threw Spezza, Benn and Seguin out there together, basically Dallas's first powerplay unit to try and tie the Penguins. With just 2:57 left in the third Jamie Benn tied the game for Dallas. Basically Jason Spezza throws another cross-crease pass allowing Benn to get to the net and get the rebound. It was a good hockey goal and almost felt inevitable after the disallowed goal. Dallas had all the momentum at this point. So Benn the goal, assists from Daley and Spezza. Just when you think, "oh let's take this game to overtime and just get the point out of it" because Dallas had the momentum, Jamie Benn is good at hockey and baits Sidney Crosby #BestInTheWorld into taking a tripping penalty. Crosby takes a tripping penalty with just ten seconds left, which sets up that deadly Stars powerplay unit. Benn wins the faceoff back to Goligoski who throws it to Spezza, who throws an amazing slap-pass to Tyler Seguin for the winning goal with 3.9 seconds left. What a dagger. The Stars outshot the Penguins 11-10 in the third although the Pens outshot Dallas for the game 29-28. Dallas went 1/4 on the powerplay and the Penguins went 2/4. A tough one to swallow with a goal in the final seconds and Dupuis injury. 

1st: Tyler Seguin - 1 goal, GWG

                         2nd: Jamie Benn - 1 goal, being good at hockey

3rd: Chris Kunitz - 1 goal, 1 assist 

*Yinzers blaming Fleury already*

Game Notes

• Despite people saying Fleury sucked, he did make 28 saves in a losing effort
• After the game Dupuis regained feeling in his arm so that's a positive sign
• Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Jason Spezza can play some hockey
• Pens powerplay is sitting pretty at 46.2%, best in the NHL going 2/4 against the Stars
• Malkin has 4 assists already on the season, while Crosby has 4 goals
• Look for Andrew Ebbett to fill in for Dupuis as Comeau will probably jump up in the lines
• Penguins outhit Dallas 33-12

Stay tuned for the next game Saturday against John Tavares and the godly New York Islanders

We're still 

Face of defeat