Pens Bounce Back to Beat Atlanta in Overtime

Maybe the closed door meeting held by the players after the horrible performance against the Lightning helped, or maybe it was something else.  The Pens played a better game today against the Thrashers.  The win was made a bit better when considering that Atlanta is a team scrapping for a playoff berth and that former Penguin goalie Johan Hedberg played a very good game….mostly.

The Pens got a lift from the return of Malkin and Gonchar.  This, in turn, gave them a lift by getting the third line back in tact.  In my opinion, it is important to have the third line consistently together.  Though they may not score the most goals, they play consistently good as a unit.

The Pens also got a lift from a very good effort by Goligoski.  He had two assists and played his best game in a long time.  In his defense, I do not understand why the Penguin faithful are so down on this guy.  I am not going to argue that he could/should play better, but his stats aren’t bad.  This guy is second on the Pens roster in points among defense-men and has + 4.  I just don’t think he deserves to be run out of town.  Bear in mind, this is his first full season.  This kid will be good.

Malkin looked like a new man out there this afternoon.  He was wonderful.  He was skating around opponents like they were cones.  With a goal and an assist today, let’s hope he gets on a roll.

On a side note, I am eagerly awaiting my seat assignments for next season in the new arena.  Some people have gotten them already.  It will be interesting to see how things translate from the Igloo to the new building.  More on that later…..

Here are a couple of PenguinPoop faithful who thought they might like to have their picture posted on our site.