Blame last night’s loss on the rain falling last night as fans funneled into the Igloo for Game 7? Nope. Blame it on the Fleury – Marc-Andre Fleury. The Penguins netminder had a game that all Pens fans and even he would sooner forget.

Sure, the Canadiens capitalized on their first shot after Sid took a terrible boarding penalty. Sure Gonchar looked like he was already making plans about where he would be playing next year. But those are the sorts of stops a goalie the caliber of Fleury is supposed to make. And that was the story of the night on three of the Canadiens first four goals as all were stops Fleury is supposed to make. But he didn’t and the Pens are off to the golf course for the summer awaiting next year and the opening of the Consol Energy Center.

Fans on hand tried their darndest to get the home team fired up but slowly and surely they fell down 4-0 half way through the second before coming to life with a goal by Chris Kunitz. The fans were loud and cheered even when the Pens were down. They cheered their hearts out. But this was not the year for another Stanley Cup.

Too many players just went through the motions after falling behind last night and when they finally got a fire lit under their asses it was too late. Too many players on the team just played like there was another chance to win the series when there was none and it will lead to one interesting off season as several players on this year’s team will almost certainly not return from Fedotenko to Ponikarovksy to most likely Gonchar as well.

Time for Shero to work his magic and get this team set for next year. And he’ll have a little bit longer than last year to do so.

There have been bad bounces a plenty for the Penguins as they now find themselves in a Game 7, winner take all match up with the Montreal Canadiens. Whether it is shots by Penguins players deflecting wide of Halak or clanging off the post, sticks missing pucks by a country mile with a yawning net waiting for the shot or pucks shot by Habs that seem to always find the net things have certainly not bounced the Penguins way. Which is why we are where we are. Forget the “mythical” Jaroslav Halak people keep talking about. The Penguins are beating themselves. Halak is not.

Halak’s weaknesses are well known by now. They are rebounds and the five hole. He is mortal. He bleeds. He can be killed. Get to the rebounds, shoot for the five hole and get a little offense from the defense and the Penguins win. Well, that is if Fleury shows up for Game 7.

Marc-Andre Fleury has played, well, good but not Fleury like in this second round matchup. Yes, most of the goals he has given up have been ones he should have stopped or have been fluke bounces but when push comes to shove tonight on the ice at the Igloo Fleury will have to find a way to end those all too frequent of occurrences. No excuses.

The defense can help by thinking about where they are throwing the puck in the defensive zone and making sure pucks get up ice onto the sticks of other Penguins. The offense can help out by not turning the puck over in the neutral zone and not pussyfooting pucks weakly around the offensive boards and ending any chance of sustained pressure. But in the end Fleury must rise to the occasion and get those flippers and his glove hand working in sync with his brain.

Fleury, and the whole team, must guard the cage he stands in front of like Spartans at the battle of Battle of Thermopylae in the movie 300. Although hopefully, I admit, with a slightly better outcome for the heroes tonight than death at the hands of the ravenous and barbaric enemy from the Great White North.

Fleury must be King Leonidas. He must hold the line. He must make the stand. He must declare that while he lives and breathes that no pucks shall pass. No one else will save this team from an all too early exit from the playoffs. Not Sid. Not Geno. Not even Mad Max Talbot. Not even the legion of 17,132 that will be sitting at the Igloo cheering the Penguins on.

Time to rise up Fleury. Time to be great. Time to become a legend.

Once again, the only reason game 5 of the series between the Pens and the Habs was close was a man named Halak.  But while Halak stood tall in net for the Canadiens he was again outshone by Pens netminder Marc-Andre Fleury.   Montreal out shot the Penguins 33-25 but Fleury made 32 saves while Halak made only 23.  It was a dangerous game for Pittsburgh who could have by all rights once again blown out the Habs but couldn’t get pucks in nets as often as they should have.

And as usual Pittsburgh had to not only beat Halak but also the refs who seem to prefer a return to the clutch and grab era of hockey in order to give Montreal a chance while allowing every Hab on the ice to whack at Matt Cooke with impunity.  That’s ok because so far so good.

Pittsburgh got goals from their blue liners as both Kris Letang (4) and Sergei Gonchar (2) scored while Montreal’s lone goal came in the closing seconds on a power play with Halak on the bench.  Oh yeah, and the puck clearly frozen under Marc-Andre Fleury.  But refs allowed the play to continue and the puck got poked into the net.

The series now returns to Montreal Monday night with the Penguins up three games to two and a chance to close out the series.  The problem is that the Penguins have had a nasty habit of not being able to end series on their first attempt.  So the question is out there at to whether or not the clock will strike midnight on Cinderella or whether or not she has a few more dances left in her.

Notes:

Dan Bylsma finally, and I say that enthusiastically, scratched Ponikarovsky who has not been worth the investment the Penguins made in him for the post season.  How bad has Ponikarovsky been?  In 10 games he had just 1 goal, three assists and was a -1 before hugging the pine last night.  Both Matt Cooke and Max Talbot have more points.

Messaged delivered to the Montreal Canadiens – the Pittsburgh Penguins are not the Washington Capitals.  Everything about game 1 last night at the old Igloo was a contrast to how the Canadiens had succeeded to down the “best” team in the NHL.  At least the “best” team based on record anyway.

In their previous series the Canaidens blocked shots, shut down the power play and Jaroslav Halak stoned the Caps to rebound from a deficit of three games to one and win the series.  Last night however the Penguins were methodical in their shot selection, picked the canadiens apart on the power play and chased Halak from the net.  Although it did not start out that way.

PK Subban (1) scored not even five minutes into the game to give Montreal a 1-0 lead and Canadiens fans were over joyed.  But the Penguins took control by picked apart the Habs defense, drawing penalties and converting on the chances they were given on the power play.  Gonchar (1), Staal (2) and Letang (3) each scored with the man advantage in the first and second period to put the Penguins up 3-1.

Michael Cammalleri (6) cut the deficit to one late in the second but Craig Adams (2) extended the score to 4-2 even later in the same period taking a pass from Pascal Dupuis across the front of the net and beating Halak.  Alex Goligoski (2) added yet another power play goal early in the third to make it 5-2 and chase Halak from net in favor of Carey Price.  Price made several saves and the Penguins missed golden opportunities to stretch the lead even further before Brian Gionta (3) scored for Montreal on the power play to make it a 5-3 contest.

Late it was Billy Guerin (3) putting in an empty net goal to end it all at 6-3.

The game was a wake-up call for the Canadiens who basically had their way with a high powered Capitals lineup previously.  But the game should not be taken in and of itself that this series will be a cake walk for the Penguins either.  Montreal did not succeed in shutting down the Pens in game 1 but game 2 will tell whether or not Montreal learns from the experience and adjusts.

Marc-Andre Fleury was able to hold down the fort with several great saves at times against the Canadiens and had any of those found the net this game could have been a lot different.  In fact Montreal out shot the Penguins 31-24 on the night and netted 12 shots in both the second and third periods; way too many.  Pittsburgh will have to hone its defense to prevent that from happening again.  But they may have to do so without Jordan Staal who is as far as I am concerned the premier shut down center in the NHL.  Staal was injured in a collision with Montreal’s PK Subban.  Staal hobbled to the bench and later left the arena on crutches.  As of this morning the injury was still undisclosed as nothing other than a lower body injury.

Notes:

Where was the Penguins power play during the regular season?  Last night was just another dominating perfromance for a unit that couldn’t seem to hit the broad side of the barn during the regular season.  The power play went 4 for 4 in game one against Montreal.

Three of Pittsburgh’s four power play goals were scored by their blue liners.

Jaroslav Halak faced only five shots when the Canadiens were down a man.  He stopped only one.  Marc-Andre Fleury also faced five shots on the penalty kill.  He stopped four.

Jordan Staal logged 8:49 of playing time before being injured with one goal and was a -1.

The Penguins scored six goals.  Each goal was scored by a different player.  Crosby and Malkin had none of them but had two assists and one assist respectively.