I didn't see the Penguin's victory live last night. My wife and I were at PNC Park in the Heinz Field-esque weather watching Jeff Karstens smoke & mirror his way to six shutout innings and a victory against the mighty St. Louis Cardinals.
Weather Tangent....Weather like last night is one of the downsides of buying a ticket package and picking your games ahead of time. Its actually the second of three games we have gone to that have been unseasonably cold but not raining. Its also further proof that Pittsburgh has the wackiest weather around. Wasn't it 75 and sunny for Thursday and Friday night's games? We were actually hoping for a rainout while driving in a downpour and especially while eating/drinking at the Bettis Grill. However, once we got in the park, we were prepared (bundled up) enough that the cold wasn't that bad. The wind had noticeably died down since 5:30 when we parked the car. Actually, if you take away the annoying clueless wackos behind us, I really have no complaints.
Anyway, the clearest sign it was the city of Pittsburgh's night? When Joel Hanrahan blew away Albert Pujols on strikes to end the eighth inning, stranding two runners on base and perserving the Pirates 1-0 lead (when I think everyone in the building expected a three run homer). It was like the Mighty Casey striking out in shock value. The Pirates added an insurance run in the ninth and Octavio Dotel struck out the last two hitters to end it just a minute or two after the Penguins had survived the Canadiens' last minute push.
I did watch the Penguins game via DVR. Its just not the same when you know the outcome though. I did pick up a couple things:
-Malkin dominated for shifts at a time. Its amazing he only had one assist.
-Fleury faced the most action he has faced in the series and responded accordingly (enjoyed the action actually). Its too bad he didn't get the shutout. I am not sure how the referee still "had sight of the puck" on the Montreal goal. Apparently he has x-ray vision.
-Crosby may have zero goals in the series, but is making a ton of little plays that make a difference. He has not let the goal scoring drought affect his backchecking/defensive effort in general. They will need at least more of the same (if not a goal) to finish Montreal off.
-I'll take Mark Letestu over Fedotenko or Ponikarovsky any day. Letestu is always around the puck and seems this close to scoring a goal. The other two seem bored to be to playing.
-Did Craig Adams have the hardest legal hit of the year at the end of the first? Wow.
-And again, great things happen when Kris Letang hits the net.
Will this frustrating series end on Monday? Or will the Canadiens find a way to send it back to Pittsburgh for potentially the final Mellon Arena showdown? Who knows at this point? Not me. I had this series over two games ago.
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