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.

Three games ago the Capitals were in command of their series against the Montreal Canadiens leading three games to one.  Tonight they are thinking about what tee times they would like to start setting as they lose to the eighth seed in the east four games to three.  Jaroslav Halak shut down Alexander Ovechkin and Washington while shining in net behind a Montreal defense that blocked shot after shot.

Both teams had goals waved off.  For Washington a potential goal that would have tied the game at one was ruled no good after Halak was interfered with.  For Montreal a goal that would have made it 2-0 was called back.  But in the end the long and short of it is that Washington could not find ways to score needing only one win to close out the series and the Capitals folded earning them a new nickname in my book – the Washington Collapsibles.  The team with the best record simply could not finish off an underpowered Montreal squad that limped into the playoffs.

Despite being out shot 42-16 the Canadiens netted the only two goals of the game as Marc-Andre Bergeron (1) and Dominic Moore (2) scored.  The win sets up a second round match up versus the Pittsburgh Penguins and bringing up questions about whether or not Montreal can shut down a Penguins team much deeper than Washington.  Ottawa proved that they could do it sporadically but not over the course of a full series.

Game 1 between the Penguins and Habs will be Friday night and a quick turn around for Montreal while Pittsburgh has been off since last Saturday.  Whether or not Montreal can be giant killers yet again remains to be seen.

Things looked bleak for a second straight game as the Penguins had another chance to close out their first round series against Ottawa after staking out a three games to one lead. After leading in game five on Thursday the Senators tied up the game and won in three over times to force a game six behind Leclair who replaced Elliott as their starting goal tender. Leclair and a plethora of blocked shots were the only reasons the Penguins did not win that game.

Game six looked bad as well for the Penguins as Leclair found ways to keep the Penguins out of the net. Even when he didn’t and with the help of on ice and league officials. With the Senators up 1-0 at 7:20 of the first period Mike Rupp pushed a puck to the net which was called no goal by on ice officials even with Leclair clearly in the net. Replays showed clearly that the puck was also in the net and well behind the goal line. However even league officials in Toronto refused to call it a good goal which just goes to show you that even instant replay cannot correct people unwilling to see the truth. Later in the game the officials would also call off a good goal scored after Malkin was tripped up into the goal tender claiming he interfered with Leclair’s ability to play the puck. Remarkably however there was no penalty on Malkin showing that the refs really knew that they blew the call.

The bad call on the Rupp goal swung momentum away from a surging Penguins team and by midway through the second Ottawa had expanded their lead to 3-0.

But the Penguins began to answer and Marc-Andre Fluery began to lock down the Senators and hold the fort in a manner reminiscent of last year’s series against Philadelphia. Pittsburgh was also down 3-0 in a deciding game in that series too before storming back to win.  Matt Cooke scored at 10:56 of the second to cut the lead to 3-1. Then at 7:03 of the third Billy Guerin fired a shot into the net from the circle as Leclair was playing without his goalie stick. Matt Cooke scored his second of the game at 12:24 of the third to tie it all up and Ottawa looked like they were just getting beat all over by a better team.

As time wound down and this game also headed to overtime there was no doubt that both teams hope for less than the previous three over time affair. And with up and down action it did not. There were saves at both ends made but it was Pascal Dupuis that beat Leclair for the winning goal less than half way through the extra period after being set up by Jordan Staal who brought the puck out from behind the Ottawa net.

The victory means a chance at either Buffalo or Boston in the second round and a couple of days to rest and heal after a hard fought series.

Notes:

The Penguins top line was pretty much neutralized in game six.  Crosby, Guerin and Kunitz were a combined -8 and Guerin’s PP goal was their only point.

The Senators tried to play it safe with a 3-1 lead in the third and learned that you don’t win games against Pittsburgh that way.  The Penguins out shot Ottawa 18-4 in the third and out scored the Senators 2-0.