The Pittsburgh Penguins extended their points streak to eight games with a 3-2 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers. The Pens now have points in more consecutive games than there were fans at Philips Arena tonight.
Recap
The first period was brutal. There's really no other way to put it. It seemed like the clock couldn't run for more than 25 seconds without a whistle.
Icing, offside, icing, offside, penalty to Bobby Boucher at 2:59. The Thrashers PA announcer proceeded to let all 12 people in the arena, and the rest of the city of Atlanta, know that the Thrashers were on the POOOOOWWWWEERRRR PPPLLLLAAAYYYY!!!! The guy obviously forgot where he was, because no one in Philips Arena has been that excited about a power play, ever.
The Pens had the penalty killed until Hal Gill was called for hooking in front of the net. The Thrashers scored when Slava Kozlov corralled a rebound in front of the net with more room than a fan in Section 137 of Philips Arena, allowing him to get the puck past Dany Sabourin. 1-0 Atlanta, Pens still short-handed.
The Pens killed off the rest of the Gill penalty. The teams then got back to playing the sloppiest period of the 21st century.
Pascal Dupuis finally did something effective when he took a pass from Crosby and sailed down the left wing. Dupuis held the puck until the last-possible minute, then threw one of his patented 97-mph passes to the front of the net.
Satan made a sick play by stopping the puck with his skate, and then banging it home to even the score at one.
The rest of the first period sucked. Malkin must have called Michel Therrien a joke on the bench, because he wasn't getting any ice time. He had four shifts in the first period, one of which was on the penalty kill. That should never happen.
Kris Letang made a play that Penguins' color commentator Bob Errey is probably still aroused by when he kept his head up on the rush and sent a shot-pass to the stick of Jordan Staal. Staal directed the puck wide of the net, but Errey talked about it for the rest of the period.
The second line finally got a shift with about 30 seconds to go in the period, and Malkin forechecked like a demon to force a turnover. Sykora picked up the loose puck, but his shot hit Andrej Pavelec right in the logo.
All you could hope for in the second period was something better than the first, which wasn't asking for much.
Early in the second period, Matt Schneider gave the Pens a power play, but they couldn't get anything going. Mike Yeo had Malkin back on the wing instead of at the point for the first time this season. He can create more on the wing, but doesn't get as many good looks at the net to unleash his wicked one-timer.
Matt Cooke hit the ice, and absolutely destroyed Kozlov along the boards. It was a clean hit, but the Thrashers didn't like it. Some Ostrich guy took a run at Cooke and was called for interference.
During the penalty, Reasoner was booked for hooking, and the Pens had a two-man advantage.
The power play has been experiencing a power outage recently, and this five-on-three wasn't much different. The Thrashers killed it off and stole the momentum.
Atlanta got a power play, but Sabourin made some solid saves to keep the score even.
After the Pens PK, Tyler Kennedy went balls-to-the-wall and flew in on Schneider behind the Thrashers' goal. Schneider blew a tire and coughed up the puck to TK.
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