Thursday, November 22, 2007

2007-08 Regular Season, Game 21

Penguins 6, Senators 5 (SO)


PRESIDENT’S 2 CENTS: Jarko Ruutu, the most unlikely of psychics, had the last laugh on the night as the Pens’ agitator potted the shootout winner, glove-side, through Martin Gerber’s legs. It was Ruutu, who, after the second diving call in a row against him in the first period, laughed his way over to the sin bin to serve his time. It’s almost as if these sarcastic, laughing facial expressions foreshadowed the fact that he’d be serving up the last laugh. He certainly did, putting an end to what was a weird, wild night of hockey at Snowy-bank Place (three cheers for another Ottawa winter!). Talk about bookending a night, what with that thundering bodycheck on Wade Redden to open up the pleasantries right after puck drop. The best part? With the pay-per-view feed failing (again)—it happened a few times last year—Ottawa viewers watching the subbed-in Fox Sports Net feed from Pittsburgh got to see the hit nominated as the “Subway Sandwich of the Night.” For his part, Redden played the next 24:08 of his night pretty well, making slick passes and taking a few more hits to make plays. As for his favourite sub? Let’s just say Wade won’t ‘Finnish’ his order tonight … Making plays, on the subject, was something first star Jason Spezza did pretty well. Two goals, one assist, plus-1 and the Sens’ only shootout marker. Only problem? A tad too many giveaways tonight. He was dinged with two by the stat crew, but probably had at least five. It’s that leeway we’ve all allowed him to have, and tonight was one of those nights where he tries everyone’s patience to the breaking point but still comes out ahead. He’s still a defensive liability at times, none worse than during Sergei Gonchar’s tying goal, as the sight of Spezza standing at the faceoff dot watching Gonchar (who snuck into the short side uncovered) was painful. Still, the Spezz Dispenser is indispensable. He rung a shot off the crossbar in OT … Speaking of faulthood, callup Alexander Nikulin takes the cake, as he made the fatal mistake of trying to pokecheck at the puck, instead of stopping the man, when he was the last defender back at the blueline. Furthermore, the puck was on the stick of Evgeni Malkin, who of course made quick work of his inexperienced fellow countryman, undressing him for a pretty partial breakaway goal. Speaking of Alex, if you haven’t read his Bingo blog, do so. It’s quite entertaining … Speaking of goals, the shootout-trying goal by Erik Christensen was correctly allowed to stand. Christensen didn’t interfere with Gerbs on the play, which saw the puck bounce off his right pad, onto the keeper’s arm, and into the goal …

… So the flightless birds avenge last year’s playoff loss to the Sens, albeit barely and temporarily. Some things have changed, notably Colby “the witch” Armstrong being usurped by newcomer Ruutu as the thorn-in-the-side. However, most things haven’t, including Marc-André Fleury getting yanked (remember Round 1, Game 1), the overrated Georges Laraque not being a factor, and of course, Sidney Crosby getting booed. Don’t know what to think about the booing – arguably, he’s the next Wayne Gretzky. Would The Great One, or say, Crosby’s former teammate Mario Lemieux, get booed at the Bank? That one’s up for Rhetorical Question of the Year … Speaking of Crosby, one helper got him back on track after being held pointless for the first time in 19 games the night before. The twist? It was such a complete game on the scoresheet for all the other birds that he didn’t need to do much more. Ryan Malone has developed into quite a force (three points on the night) in his young career, as have many of the young core of the team, all of which stepped up tonight. You can bet many GMs will be chomping at the bit with offer sheets once they’re up for some new cash. Malone makes $1.38 million and is unrestricted in the summer. Fleury makes $1.2 million and is up this summer; Jordan Staal and Evgeni Malkin are up in the summer of ’09. All three are restricted and due for hefty raises. Will this core stay together? …

… so Chris Phillips gets a power play goal on some rare PP time. Perhaps that’s the reason Michel Therrien yanked Fleury, trying to jolt the team into shape. If so, it worked … Speaking of working, the captain nearly did his best Ruutu impression in the third, as he fell down when making contact with Malkin to try and draw a penalty. A crafty Alfie drew referee-directed boos from his beloved faithful in protest, but the zebras made the right non-call … Speaking of Malkin, he was stoned cold by Gerber with 2:59 to go from point-blank. Both goalies let in lots of rubber, but both were also good, especially Dany Sabourin in relief, who stopped all but one of the 18 shots he faced during a wild third-period Sens charge … Stat Line of the Night: Sens D-man supreme, Anton Volchenkov, played over 25 minutes but spent a whopping 9:09 on the PK. He blocked three more shots tonight and still leads the league. If you haven’t already, join the ever-growing movement, a la Rory Fitzpatrick last year, to vote the A-Train into the All-Star Game …

FUNNY STUFF: Colour man Gord Wilson, alluding to being able to hear either Phillips or Gerber from the press box as one of them yelled, mistakenly called the Sens keeper “Gerbil.” Laugh if you must, but it kind of makes sense, as he was basically scurrying around the crease all night in this barnburner. Wilson had another funny line when Fleury got pulled: “Maybe he just had to go to the bathroom,” said Wilson just before Fleury re-appeared in the tunnel, mask still on … After Christoph Schubert scored his third-period go-ahead goal, he laid quite the doozy of a smooch on Andrej Meszaros’ helmet. I guess even those tough Germans don’t have a thing for other bearded men. Remember that Doug Gilmour was clean-shaven when Grapes laid one on him … What’s neat about pay-per-view games is that there are no commercials, This means you can hear what’s going on in the arena during scheduled TV timeouts, and during one of those timeouts, you could faintly hear the Foo Fighters’ hit “Hero” being blasted over the PA, except with an unlucky contestant singing along for a karaoke contest. Dave Grohl, your job is safe … One fan in the front row had a sign saying “Gerbie Gerbeson is the REAL #1!” It caused a few players to do double-takes, including the Gerbil himself, apparently … Last but not Least: Sens assistant coach Greg Carvel, answering a question from Ian Mendes on the physical first period, said this: “Our playoff series with them was the most physical series we had.” Really? Oops. I really hope no Anaheim Ducks caught that snippet of the interview.

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