On March 8, 1971, heavyweight boxing champion Joe Frazier met former champ Muhammad Ali in the first of an epic three-fight trilogy. Appropriately dubbed the “Fight of the Century,” the bout hung in the balance until Frazier floored Ali with a vicious left hook in the 15th round to earn a unanimous decision.
A different type of slugger-vs-boxer matchup played out on the Nationwide Arena ice last night, pitting our high-flying Penguins against the bruising Columbus Blue Jackets.
Round One went to the slugger. Big time.
To put it bluntly, the Pens had the stuffing knocked out of them.
For boxing aficionados, think Joe Louis vs Max Schmeling. Sonny Liston vs Floyd Patterson. Or Ken Norton vs Duane Bobick.
It didn’t start out that way. Quite the opposite, in fact.
On their toes—in pugilistic vernacular—the Pens used their superior speed to pepper the Blue Jackets through the early going. Sidney Crosby struck just 2:39 into the contest with a stinging right cross of a goal off a juicy rebound.
The locals proceeded to jab their way to a 7-1 edge in shots (remember those numbers) when Ian Cole nailed Josh Anderson square in the schnozz with an errant high stick midway through the opening frame.
Outlasting a determined Pens penalty kill, the Jackets knotted the score on a classic Cam Atkinson counter punch.
The rest of the game bore an eerie resemblance to Rocky III. Using their superior size and strength to full advantage, the Jackets (Clubber Lang) pinned the defending Cup champs (Rocky Balboa) against the ropes and wouldn’t let them escape.
After softening our Penguins up, William Karlsson beat a wilting Derrick Pouliot and goalie Matt Murray like a pair of announcer Mike Lange’s proverbial rented mules.
Two minutes later ex-Flyers villain Scott Hartnell victimized Pouliot and Murray again. While the Jackets piled up a decisive 12-6 edge in second-period shots on goal, heavyweight defenseman Jack Johnson reinforced the home team’s domination by flinging Pens middleweight Scott Wilson to the ice like a rag doll during a net-front tussle.
If the black and gold harbored any hopes for a dramatic third-period rally, they quickly dissolved. Plain and simple, the Blue Jackets took the Pens apart in the final 20 minutes. Giving the Columbus “Goal Cannon” a strenuous workout Hartnell, Brandon Saad and Boone Jenner turned our guys into their personal punching bag while beating a shell-shocked Murray three times in a span of 51 seconds.
Enter Marc-Andre Fleury.
“Flower” had barely finished stretching when Hartnell landed the knockout blow (his third goal of the night) to run the score to 7-1.
No one would’ve blamed Pens coach Mike Sullivan had he elected to throw in the towel. Mercifully, the Blue Jackets inflicted minimal damage the rest of the way.
My impressions? Columbus is for real. Pouliot is not (sorry kid). And I’d love to see how the Pens fare with a healthy Kris Letang and Trevor Daley defending the back end the next time the rivals clash in Pittsburgh on February 3.
Back to the scorecard. Columbus by kayo.
Hey Rick
Fyi Blj just beat Montreal last night…again
Last time Blj beat them as well and scored 10 goals on them.( Price was not in goal ).
These guys in Columbus are real.
Better watch out.
Merry Christmas All.
Pouliot is not. Amen.
Hey all,
I just wanted to wish all our faithful PenguinPoop readers, commenters and contributors (and their families) a truly wonderful Christmas!
GO PENS!
Rick
Hey Rick, Jim,
Really inspired analogy Rick; although the Pens really don’t fit the mold of a heavy weight fighter. They can strike really hard but aren’t big in height or weight; particularly on D. One thing I always loved about the Lemieux era Pens was that they were big and heavy, therefore it was really hard to intimidate them with size or talent. Perhaps that is why I have a hard time letting go over the Lovejoy-Despres trade.
I mean no disrespect to Lovejoy, like Cole, he came back from his benching last year like a man on a mission and was a serious contributor to winning the Cup. However, I still can’t help but wonder how Despres would have fared under Sullivan. But that is all I am going to say on that subject.
I think all three of us looked at CBJ, even before last night, with respect, so I don’t think any of us was floored by the outcome. I think we all felt that something like that may happen, particularly in the absence of Letang and Daley. However, I do think that last nights game could have gone either way and pivoted on two factors:
First the choice of playing Oleksy instead of Rhuwedel; I like Oleksy and wouldn’t mind seeing get more playing time, however, he seems to only get into games when the Pens are playing bigger, tougher teams. This is strategy problem in my book. Psychologically, it would seem to me to exacerbate an intimidation factor, and let’s face it, CBJ does seem to intimidate our flightless foul. If the team were feeling intimidated, they would tend to cough up the puck easier and make mistakes looking over their shoulders, approach loose pucks slower, and play timidly. The Pens may have only had 6 give aways but CBJ took the puck away 11 times and only won 24 of 61 face-offs, while only being able to eek out 26 shots.
However they didn’t start out that way, as you noted Rick, the Pens came out flying and had a 7 to 1 shot lead at one point and that brings me to my second point; Cole’s double minor. The Pens managed to kill off the first of those penalties, but CBJ was the second leading scoring team, so giving them 4 straight minutes was almost like giving them a goal. I am a big proponent for cleaning up the game and holding players to some level of accountability to controlling their stick. However, if you look at the replay, it looks pretty much like one of the CBJ players actually lifted Cole’s stick up. The problem I finds here is the inconsistent application of this rule. Just a couple of games back, Crosby was the recipient of a play like that. A penguin lifted the opponent’s stick and the stick clipped Crosby, knocking Crosby out of the game for several minutes and got nothing with the league citing the players stick was lifted for their non-action.
If the rules were applied equally and Cole got a free pass as well, the Pens may not have wilted, but stayed in the fast lane and posted 40 or more shots one more time.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not crying sour grapes, inconsistency and NHL officiating goes hand-in-hand. I expect it. All I am pointing out is that the Pens just may return the favor in their next meeting with CBJ.
Hey Coach,
I know darn well you are trying to be a diplomat my friend. You and I are on the same page in most respects, Rick too, as you said. I posted to a friend late last night about the face offs and takeaways as well.That is a disturbing trend. Respectfully, I differ in that I do not believe that game could not go either way.The best team won last night and this is a wake up call.
I remember several seasons in the past where we as a team did very well in the regular season,( everybody cheered and said the Cup was ours ), but we were easily eliminated in the playoff’s. Why? Because we could not penetrate the other teams defense and have any sustained offense for an entire game. We failed to recognize that changes needed to be done.
I am afraid the same may happen to us again unless personnel changes are not made. I know others will disagree with me,and the good Lord knows I have been wrong many times in the past, but that game last night was not close in my opinion.
Have a Merry Christmas Coach if we do not text soon !!
Hey Jim,
You are right, you and I are pretty much on the same page. But with respect to last night’s game I do believe that confidence, luck, and, momentum are very important, so I strain over decisions or plays that may affect the mental state of the players.
To quote from Snoopy and the Red Baron “Merry Christmas mein friend!”
👍👍
Hey Other Rick,
Interesting stuff. Just wanted to say more about the Oleksy instead of Rhuwedel comment. I thought that was weird. I understand the chemistry part and all that, but they have moved defensemen to other sides already because of Letang & Daley. Pouliot had played 6 minutes to Rhuwedel’s 15 minutes the other night until the game was in hand then Pouliot got a little more playing time. Why not bring in Oleksy for Pouliot?
Probably a poor time to mention it after last nights game, but if the Pens do end up able to move Fleury which I doubt the will, they can package him with Fehr and have about $8 mil available for a really good big solid defenseman who can move guys from in front.
Hey Phil,
Your Oleksy for Pouliot flip is a very good point. I hadn’t thought that far through it when I made my comment. Even though Oleksy, Rhuwedel, and Pouliot all have limited NHL experience, Pouliot is still very much a kid at 22yrs of age. Oleksy is 30 and Rhuwedel is 26. They would seem to be better choices to play against CBJ. They would be less likely to crack under pressure.
I vasillate over Fleury. Like you I think the Pens will have a hard time finding a viable trading partner for him. If the Pens do trade him, I would want him to go somewhere where he can start. I think he still is a number 1 and can be for a couple of more years. If they do trade him, I would hope that they could arrange a trade down the line or resign him at some point to bring him back and give him a chance to retire a Pen, like Denis Herron.
The $8 mil that he and Fehr would free up could bring in an important puzzle piece. In fact, it is one of the better ideas for a trade I have read. With Rust, Kuhnhackl and Sprong when he gets healthy and some time in WBS, Fehr as a RW does seem extraneous.
Sorry, if I meander a bit here I am digesting that trade idea as I write.
If they do make that move I would have a couple of worries; next season in the FO circle, Bonino and Cullen are both UFA and at Cullen’s age, does he come back? Fehr can play C and has looked better when playing there, at least faster. I do want Sundqvist to start playing for the big club, I love his positional hockey, but if we lose Bonino, Cullen, and Fehr, barring a UFA signing or trade, next year Wilson may have to move back to C with Sundqvist. Also as it stands right now, this year, outside of Cullen, only Fehr seems able to win draws (although limited sample of FOs)
Hey Rick
Well used boxing comparison .
To me this is the wake up call.My anology is the dead canary that miners used to have underground at the turn of the century.When the bird died, you were next.
We were simply outplayed and our weakest players were exposed. Would not matter who played in nets….nobody can handle that style of play and not retaliate.
Our wings are to small and the d men can be intimidated. As for DP, I have been saying this for 3 seasons.We drafted the wrong guy!
So put together a trade with MAF and get us a quality d man with size.Maybe two? We could have used a Hedman or Ekblad last night.
Thank goodness this is not April and we had to play them 7 times in the playoffs.
We all have been saying this would happen Their record is no fluke.
Wake up and make the trades. …This is not last year. Plus we both know Rick there are at least 3 more teams that are built the same way and we will have go thru them to get to the Cup.
Did anybody notice their team defense and how it handled our speed? SIZE MATTERS.
Cheers