Categories: PenguinPoop

Penguins Game Four Loss: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

In the wake of the Penguins’ brutal 4-3 overtime loss to Columbus in Game 4, I decided to summarize the team’s Jekyll-and-Hyde performance by breaking it down into three categories: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

THE GOOD

— The First Period (or at least the first 11 minutes): The Pens looked fast, crisp and confident as they bolted to a 3-0 lead on goals by Craig Adams, Chris Kunitz, and James Neal.

Marc-Andre Fleury: For 59 minutes and change “Flower” was superb as he kept the swarming Blue Jackets at bay. But the playoff demons he’s worked so hard to suppress sprang forth like a crazed jack-in-the-box at crunch time (see The Ugly).

The Third Period: The Penguins held Columbus to nine shots and did a decent job of playing playoff-style defense—until the final 22.5 seconds.

THE BAD

The Second Period: The black and gold barely touched the puck while Columbus peppered Fleury with 18 shots. Lee Stempniak’s unfortunate double-minor and a delay of game penalty to Brandon Sutter opened the door for the Blue Jackets and led to a 5-on-3 goal.

The Two-Headed Monster: Chalk up another O-fer for Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Geno picked up an assist, but failed to register a shot on goal. Sid had three shots, but was a minus-2. The Pens need a lot more from the former dynamic duo.

Faceoffs: Crosby won 16 of 25 draws, but Columbus dominated the faceoff circle (39-29). For a prolonged stretch of the second period the Pens couldn’t buy a faceoff win.

Power Play: The locals were 1-for-4 with the man-advantage. However, when James Wisniewski drew a tripping minor midway through the third period to hand the Penguins a golden opportunity, the power play sputtered.

Muscle Beach: The bigger, stronger Blue Jackets (51 hits) continued to bully the lightweight Pens.

THE UGLY

Marc-Andre Fleury: His dreadful puck-handling gaffe in the waning seconds of the third period led to Brandon Dubinsky’s game-tying goal. Then, at 2:49 of overtime, he allowed Nick Foligno’s game-winner on a knuckling wrister from inside the blue line.

Rick Buker

Recent Posts

Penguins an Easy Mark(strom), No Match for the Devils

In keeping with last night’s low-event Metro clash with the Devils at the Prudential Center,…

10 hours ago

Penguins Update: Is This What Kyle Dubas Intended?

In Mel Brooks’ comedy, The Producers, Max Bialystock (brilliantly played by Zero Mostel) and his…

1 day ago

The Pen(guin) is Mightier, Prevails over Preds in OT

On Tuesday night, I thought our Penguins played perhaps their best game of the season,…

2 days ago

Penguins Update: Is Mike Sullivan Reinventing Himself?

Anyone who’s read PenguinPoop for any length of time knows black-and-gold coach Mike Sullivan doesn’t…

3 days ago

Penguins Acquire Joseph from the Blues

The Penguins added a new/old face to their roster today, acquiring defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph from…

4 days ago

Penguins Crown Kings, 3-2, in OT

I’ll be honest. I wasn’t too enthused about the Penguins’ chances for victory ahead of…

5 days ago