PITTSBURGH VS COLUMBUS
NATIONWIDE ARENA – COLUMBUS, OHIO
6:00 PM EST. CNBC/ROOT SPORTS
PENS LEAD THE SERIES 2-0
After another impressive and comfortable victory in game 2 the Pens head to the home of that stupid god damn cannon for game 3.
Before game 2 I mentioned that there really hadn’t been any build up or animosity going into Friday night….
Great stuff from Matt Calvert at the end of the PIT-CBJ game pic.twitter.com/DKx788BZf6
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) April 15, 2017
Sooooooooooo yeah, that changed QUICKLY (also please go read the replies to that tweet. Sarcasm is hard).
Matt Calvert was suspended one game for Bo Jacksoning his stick across Kuhnhackl’s neck and then running him for good measure. Let’s go to a live look at Torts reaction to the news
Lines: No expected changes coming on the Penguins side although Kunitz and Hagelin are both skating. Hagelin is currently the closest to returning. Fleury is still on the bump (RIP Matt Murray’s groin). Lumbus will choose between the recently recalled Sonny Milano and Lauri Korpikoski to replace Calvert on the 4th line.
Pittsburgh:
Guentzel-Crosby-Sheary
Rust-Malkin-Kessel
Wilson-Bonino-Hornqvist
Rowney-Cullen-Kuhnhackl
Dumolin-Hainsey
Cole-Schultz
Maatta-Daley
Fleury-Jarry
Cbus:
Saad-Wennberg-Foligno
Jenner-Dubinsky-Atkinson
Hartnell-Gagner-Bjorkstrand
Korpikosi OR Milano-Karlsson-Anderson
Jones-Werenski
Johnson-Savard
Harrington-Carlsson
To this point I haven’t really had the chance to introduce myself or anything. My twitter handle and stuff is sort of an alias because I’m a high school teacher (I use the alias because I like to say curse words on the internet). Game 3 kind of reminds me of the 2nd week of a new semester. You know who the kids are and they know you, but there’s still an uncertainty in the air. Like, is Timmy going to do alright and skate by with a C? Or is he gonna freak out one day when I tell him to put his phone away, tell me to fuck off, and storm out.
Timmy in this scenario is Scott Hartnell.
Game 3 is a powder keg (kind of literally because like I said there’s an actual god damn cannon in the building) anything can, and probably will happen. The Pens could easily win 4-2 or they could lose 7-1 and Tom Sestito could drop down from the rafters like Sting and attack Boone Jenner with a Louisville Slugger.
I haven’t even mentioned this yet
The Dispatch has since deleted its tweet, but here is the screen grab of the crying Crosby mask https://t.co/76UTGRzjmA pic.twitter.com/hlYrOc6637
— Josh Cooper (@JoshuaCooper) April 15, 2017
I know my main strategy in a playoff series would be to piss off the best player in the world in the most provocative way possible. Columbus really has their shit together as a franchise.
If nothing else it feels like this game is destined to be bizarre. The Pens made two trips to Columbus this season losing both, 7-1 and 2-1 in OT. The last time the Pens won a game at Nationwide was March 11th of last year, the score was 3-2 with goals from (and I’m not making this up) Letang, Kunitz, and Hagelin.
Ghosts of Penguins injured be with us. Let’s get weird with it.
GO PENS.
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