Hey all. I just have time for a bare bones recap of yesterday’s 3-2 loss to the Kings at PPG Paints Arena. I’ll try to hit the noteworthy items.
- First Period (8:48): Tommy Novak staked us to a 1-0 lead, courtesy of a beautiful net-front feed from Evgeni Malkin;
- First Period (14:58): Anže Kopitar tied the game at 1-apiece with a power-play goal when his sharp-angle pass from the corner deflected off Parker Wotherspoon’s stick blade and fooled rookie goalie Sergei Murashov;
- Second Period (7:48): Anthony Mantha restored the Pens’ lead with a short-side snipe on the power play, set up by Kris Letang and Ville Koivunen;
- Third Period (4:49): 40-year-old Corey Perry rambled down Main Street and scored off the rush to knot the score at 2-apiece;
- Third Period (11:52): Kevin Fiala streaked around Erik Karlsson and crossed in front of the net before beating a spread-eagled Murashov up high for the game-winner;
- Murashov stopped 24 of 27 shots (.889 save percentage) and generally earned solid reviews. His cat-like quickness and athleticism were obvious and his rebound control was particularly good. The Kings’ two late goals stemmed as much from defensive lapses as any glaring weakness on the kid’s part. (A random observation: he does tend to play in a crouch. I wonder if he’ll be vulnerable to high shots to high shots like Fiala’s game winner?);
- Team-wise, we outshot the Kings, 33-27, and played a strong 40 minutes before fading a bit in third. Tired legs from playing back-backs and three games in four days? Perhaps. A shame we couldn’t hang on to earn at least a point.