Monday, April 14th, 2008 by Adam Wagner
Hossa key in Pens’ win
The Senators seemed to have all the momentum before the game, with stars Daniel Alfreddson and Jason Spezza returning to the lineup even as Pens’ instigator Gary Roberts sat out due to a sore groin. That momentum seemed to work for about two periods, but the third period was dominated by the Pens, who took the game 4-1 and went up three games to none in the series. The largest surprise of the night, however, was that Marian Hossa pushed himself onto the score sheet.
Hossa had largely been a disappointment for the Penguins, having an effect in ways that did not take place on the score sheet and messing up his chances to score. There was the moment where he had the puck being Martin Gerber in Game 2, there was the off-the-post opportunity at the beginning of tonight’s game and there was the chance in the second period where he just missed poking the puck in the net. In the third period, though, there was a mess in front of the net and Hossa just took the puck off of Martin Gerber’s pads and flipped it into the net, adding the Penguins’ fourth goal of the night to his two assists.
If Hossa is able to remain an offensive force, the Penguins are scary. At one point tonight, there was a four-on-three in the Penguins’ advantage and the Penguins had Crosby, Malkin, Hossa and Sergei Gonchar on the ice. Any team that is able to put four players of that ability level on the ice at one time, especially in that situation, is scary good.
Marc-Andre Fleury was awesome again, preventing Ottawa from ever being competitive in this game and keeping the Penguins well ahead of the Senators once they gained the lead. Fleury is the most important part of the Penguins’ success and as long as he continues to play like this, they should be just fine.
It was also crucial for the Penguins that Sidney Crosby scored, as the world’s best hockey player finally looked completely healthy from his ankle injury again and was making all of the plays necessary for the Penguins to win this game. If the Capitals manage to beat Philadelphia, Gary Bettman might pass out from the possibility of a Crosby-Ovechkin-Malkin matchup over the course of a seven game series.
Unfortunately, I was not able to hear the radio broadcast tonight, considering that during game 2 Mike Lange made one of the most off-color comments ever, saying (and I paraphrase most of this but the punchline): “Dany Heatley’s a real quite soul, but he can just kill you,” causing me to gasp in disbelief.
Just think, though, that after tonight it is very likely that Lange and his commentary will have the opportunity to hang around for at least one more four-game series (assuming that Ottawa doesn’t become the third team in NHL history to storm back from a three game deficit).
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