It was only this morning that the Post Gazette featured a column about Geno's struggles of late. The sun goes down, the Sens come in, and BOOM Geno light's the lamp 3 times and it coulda been 5 or 6 the way he was playin' tonight at the Igloo. His new linemates Guerin and Kunitz, had themselves a 4 point night to add to the demolition of the feisty Sens.
What a weird game. The 1st period was as dominant as any team has ever been against the Pens in the Bylsma era. The Sens outshot the Pens 24-9. 24 shots! That's a legit amount for a game already. The Pens PP was terrific. Scoring 3 goals on 6 chances, and boy has it been awhile since the PP lit the lamp this often and looked this dangerous.
On the 1st Pens goal Leclaire was scattering back and forth for a good minute before Sid found a wide open Geno for the old backdoor play. Remember Ryan Whitney 2 years ago? Yeah he used to be decent at it, but that was all he could do. One of the guy's acquired for him had his best night of the year, Mr. Kunitz. He was forechecking, making nice passes, and driving hard to the net. 'Atta boy Chris.
If Kovalev scores on the wide open net chance he had in the 1st, the game changes completely. What seemed to change the flow was Adams's hit on Alfredsson in the 1st. Alfy has been the heart and soul of the Sens franchise for so many years and the Sens really felt his absence in this game. Not to mention Spezza was injured as well.
The Pens scored 5, yes 5 unanswered goals in the 2nd after they couldn't even manage one goal on Monday night against the Devils. The Pens are now 2-1 against the Sens on the season and each game could've gone either way really. We have to give props to one of the best rebound goalies ever, Fleury. This wasn't a surprise. We have seen when he gets pulled or has a bad game in the playoffs or whenever, the next game is always a special one.
Fleury stopped 36 of 38 shots and the Sens were throwin the puck from all cylinders and he had to be sharp. Fisher, Kovy, Michalek, Kuba, etc. were all makin their presence felt. As was that Chris Neil guy. The man is a frake train headed for hell. He had about 4 to 5 bone crunching hits tonight and had a nice fight with Rupp as well. This was the best Rupp looked in a fight all year, nice job.
Billy G had a couple huge goals in this game. One was off a power move on the PP and the other on a 3 on 1 when Sid fed him for an easy goal. The Pens had much more life and passion in this game than they did against the Devils. They have to take this energy and use it against NJ next week. The whole team was involved in this game and every pass was tape to tape and very clean.
Congrats to Geno for shutting the critics up and having a special night while being watched by Team Russia's GM Tretiak. He came to see Geno, Kovy, Gonch, and Volchenkov and he got Kovy being fancy but ineffective, Geno being dynamite, Gonch being solid, and Volchenkov scoring a goal and then having a nice knee on knee hit on Geno. Is that a scary 1st line for Team Russia: Ovie, Geno, and Datsyuk?....Yeah I just got the shivers.
Have a safe Christmas my friends and see you on Sunday for a Preview of the Pens-Leafs game.
-IN GENO WE TRUST
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