The CBJ rolled into Pittsburgh hoping to come away from the Metropolitan Division’s first place team with 2 points. For the first 40 minutes and much of the final 20 they dictated the pace of play and did nearly everything right, short of burying the puck early. McElhinney had a good evening in net. He gambled and lost with an aggressive poke check on a Malkin who absolutely smoked Tyutin entering the zone and was the victim of some flukey bounces off of Nick Foligno and Sidney Crosby’s equipment for the second and ultimately game-winning goal. Without further ado, here are the 3 stars per NHL.com.
3rd Star: Sidney Crosby
As mentioned above, Sid the Kid netted the Penguin’s 2nd and game-winning goal by making a great play to get to the front of the net so he’d be in ideal position to redirect or cover a rebound. While the Jackets did a fair job neutralizing him early, he managed 5 shots on goal. There aren’t many teams that can allow that and expect to come out of the ‘burgh with a win.
2nd Star: Evgeni Malkin
Malkin showed his power, speed and patience on an outstanding individual effort. Fedor Tyutin may still be coughing up smoke from trailing him.
1st Star: Marc-Andre Fleury
Fleury protected his 24 square feet up until the 60th minute where Matt Calvert was able to tap in a gorgeous feed from former Penguin Mark Letestu. The Jackets managed to put 33 shots on the Pen’s netminder, which is a welcome boost but it ultimate proved to be the quality of shots that were the issue, not quantity.
Game in One Picture
Stud: David Savard
Savard had an absolutely solid game tonight. He was physical, blocked shots and cleared floating pucks that could have ended up in the net. While not a household name in most hockey markets outside of Columbus, he consistently impressed the NBC Sports staff tonight. Say what you will about their coverage, I have to agree with their assessment.
Dud: Brandon Dubinsky
OK, Dubi’s performance tonight was actually very good. It was high-energy, fear nobody, aggressive play that I’ve come to love from him. Blowing his top and getting himself ejected with 11 minutes to go in regulation can’t happen. The way his line was producing all night, I can’t help but think that they could have possibly broken through Pittsburgh’s defense and snuck one past Fleury to tie it. Love the passion, but you can’t smack the stick out of an opposing player’s hand in front of the refs. If you’re going to do something stupid, don’t get caught.
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