Monday, May 12th, 2008 by Adam Wagner
Crosby returns to form in Pens’ victory
The Penguins came up victorious again on Sunday night, winning 4-2 to take a 2-0 lead on the Flyers in the Eastern Conference Finals. Tonight’s difference maker was not Evgeni Malkin, who has frequently done the job lately, but instead Sidney Crosby, who had only been playing at star level as opposed to the superstar level he played at tonight.
There is no doubt that this series is beginning to get more violent as Jarko Ruutu, in particular, seems to be unsurprisingly in the middle of incidents again as, at one point, Martin Biron became so upset with his presence that he hit Ruutu in the back with his stick, sending the winger sprawling to the ice. Biron then stood over Ruutu menacingly, looking more like Jason Vorhees than like an NHL goalie. Ruutu did receive a diving penalty on the play, but apparently he’s a professional diver since I was sure that he had been pushed over.
Tyler Kennedy also proved his worth as an energy player, getting in a fight with Scott Upshall in the first five minutes of action. The impressive part about this fight was that Kennedy was pulled down, but he just yanked himself back to his feet. When a player like that just keeps getting up and continues to win the fight, it is an energy boost to the whole entire team.
Crosby’s first goal came on a deflection off of a random defenseman (some European guy with a name that I can’t remember and don’t want to spell out right now) who was only in the game because Braydon Coburn took a puck to the face in the early goings. The Coburn injury gives the Flyers another opportunity to whine about how hurt they lose in four or five games, but they would be ignoring the fact that injuries are part of the game.
There should have been a second Crosby goal as well as he hammered at a puck on Biron’s pads that appeared to trickle over the line before being enveloped in the goalie’s glove. The league office disagreed, however, supporting the no-goal call on the ice and preventing Crosby from having a multi-goal playoff game and a goal that he definitely deserved.
The Penguins then let the Flyers tie the game up only to have Marian Hossa fire a shot into the back of the net to put the Pens up 2-1. Hossa does not figure to be back next season, particularly now that the Bruins, Canadians and Rangers all figure to chase them, but thus far he has been a treat to watch in this playoffs and continues to consistently thrill fans with his play. If he doesn’t end up staying after this run, the trade for him will still have been a success just based on how well he has played in the last two series.
Marc-Andre Fleury then allowed Mike Richards to tie the game up on a short-handed breakaway that is exactly the kind of play that shouldn’t happen during a Penguin powerplay. Fleury really didn’t have that much of a chance on the play, as Richards completely faked him out. The other major issue for Fleury, though, is that he continues to jump in the air for pucks. French-Canadians can’t jump, everybody knows that. Why doesn’t Marc-Andre or, for that matter, Michel Therrien?
The most unlikely goal scorer of the playoffs for the Penguins thus far, though, came early in the third as Max Talbot took a pass from Gary Roberts in front of the net and put it behind Biron to put the Penguins ahead for good. As has been noted in the AP report, Talbot was playing his first game back from a foot injury and was only a game time decision.
For him to score took a huge effort as well as heart on his part and only affirmed the belief that seems to be running rampant in Pittsburgh that this is, in fact, a Pittsburgh kind of team, one that plays with all of the toughness, heart and grit that are so emblematic of Pittsburgh sports through the years.
Next up is a trip to Philadelphia where, hopefully, the Penguins and their fans will ensure that the Rocky statue is wearing a Crosby jersey by the time they leave.
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