Saturday, January 19th, 2008 by Adam Wagner
Dany Sabourin calms crisis in Pen-Land
It was not Ty Conklin’s turn, as Michel Therrien did exactly what everyone had said he would do and gave Dany Sabourin the start immediately after Conklin lost his first game in a Penguin uniform (last night’s 2-0 loss to Montreal). Sabourin stepped up and earned the Penguins two very valuable points, particularly considering the loss of Sidney Crosby to a high ankle sprain a night ago.
Pittsburgh received offense from two sources, one unexpected and the other increasingly typical. Jeff Taffee was the expected source, as the winger scored his second goal of the season to give the Pens a 1-0 lead, while Evgeni Malkin scored his fourth empty net goal of the year at the end of regulation to cap the victory. The goal tied Malkin with Ottawa’s Daniel Alfredsson for the league lead in empty netters.
The Penguins desperately needed the points tonight in order to prevent the team and the city from hitting the panic button due to Crosby’s injury and two consecutive losses, if they had lost tonight. It is easy for teams, even good ones, to roll over the game after a key player is injured. To the Pens’ (and Therrien’s) credit, however, the team came out and beat a strong Montreal team on the road. Therrien knew that the team would need a change and, even though the move was logical, started Sabourin over Conklin, giving the team a small shift in perspective.
It is worth noting that this is the first time in the last three seasons that the Penguins have won without Crosby in the lineup, but now at least they know that they can accomplish it.
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