And I thought Steeler fans were the only Pittsburgh sports fans that traveled well.
I was in Columbus, Ohio last night for the Penguins/Blue Jackets contest and the excitement in the city was palpable.
The best part was that it was in large part due to the presence of thousands -- yes, I mean THOUSANDS -- of Penguin fans who descended on the city to watch our flightless waterfowl, the hottest team in the National Hockey League, try to knock off a team in the middle of the Western Conference playoff race. And a team who recently beat both the top teams in each conference at home, the San Jose Sharks and Boston Bruins (and not to mention thrashed the Detroit Red Wings, 8-2, on the road).
Things didn't start out all that well for the Penguins last night, as their relatively lackluster play put them in a 3-0 hole by the time 45 minutes of the game had elapsed.
Kristian Huselius scored in the first on a shot that fooled Fleury after it appeared to be deflected off defenseman Kris Letang's stick.
Jason Williams scored in the 2nd after taking a pass from behind the net on a giveaway behind the net by Fleury and tossing a backhand by #29 from about 25 feet.
New Blue Jacket Antoinne Vermette made a difficult deficit seemingly insurmountable just a few minutes in the 3rd after taking a pass from a teammate who pickpocketed Sergei Gonchar and unleashing a slapper from about 40 feet that beat Fleury far side.
Fleury had to stop that one if the Penguins were to stay in the game against Columbus star rookie goaltender Steve Mason.
Or so I thought.
The Penguins finally started getting penalty calls in the 3rd period, after being victimized by several "homer" calls and being down in that department 4-1 or 5-1 in the first several periods.
And I don't throw out the "homer" label on the officials easily, either. But they zebras simply did not call a good game last night.
Anyway, Gonchar got the Penguins started after hammering a shot from the point past Mason that was deflected on the way. I thought it hit Chris Kunitz, but Gonchar got credit for the goal.
Within a minute, Malkin and Dupuis created a turnover after some hard forechecking behind the Blue Jackets goal. Malkin was ultimatlely able to feed the puck to Dupuis right in front of Mason who was able to bury it to make the game 3-2 before he got buried from behind.
With the Blue Jackets stunned, the Penguins completed the near-improbable comeback just about 2 minutes later when Malkin fed Max Talbot for a shot from the left circle that just squeezed in on the far side to tie the score. Malkin, Talbot and Crosby, who was also on the ice at the time) collapsed behind the Columbus goal in exhiliration after tying the game.
Which means they felt just like me. I was losing my mind -- and all of the goals happened right in front of me in the 3rd.
The Penguins continued to bring the heat for the remainder of the period and had the Blue Jackets on their heels the rest of the game. They ousthot Columbus 19-4 in the 3rd period, but couldn't get the winner.
In overtime, it was more of the same. Kunitz hit the post and Fedotenko set up Letang on a beautiful dipsy-do play but Letang just couldn't finish. In the end, the Penguins lined up for a shootout for 3rd straight game.
Unfortunately, they just ran out of shootout MoJo. Letang, Crosby and Malkin were all stopped by Mason on relatively weak shootout attempts.
Williams and Rick Nash were similarly stopped by Fleury on Columbus' first 2 shots, but Huselius' was able to score between Fleury's wickets for the winner on their 3rd attempt.
The Penguins, in all truthfulness, didn't play all that well. They were strong in the 3rd, but sleepwalked through most of the first 2 periods. And even though Fleury made a few sensational stops, including one on Plum native R.J. Umberger and one at the end of regulation, he wasn't at his best in this one. A fair argument could be made he should have stopped Columbus' first goal, and the 3rd one was a near-killer.
That's why the Penguins should be happy with the point, even though their losing streak came to an end. With losses by Carolina and Florida, the point the Penguins' earned enabled them to stay in 6th place, ahead of those teams, the New York Rangers (who also won) and the Buffalo Sabres, who are doing their best to stay in it (and who beat Carolina). The Montreal Canadiens also lost last night (although their defeat was in OT, so they got a point out of it) and the Philadelphia Flyers fell as well.
The Penguins are one point behind Montreal and 3 behind Philadelphia.
The game was thrilling, even if the end result wasn't everything I and all the other Penguins' faithful who dutifully travelled out there to cheer loudly (and cheer loudly we all did) for the Boys of Winter.
Even Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said after the game their were way too many Penguin fans in the building.
All I know is that there's no other team in the league that can send that many people into Mellon Arena. Not a single other following. I know I'd puke if I saw that many visiting fans in my favorite team's building.
Last night, the Penguin fans simply represented!
The Penguins now return home for an 8 game home stand starting Saturday against the Ottawa Senators.
Mathieu Garon is expected to start his first game in goal for the Penguins in 18 contests.
RW Petr Sykora also should be back in the lineup.
More over the weekend.
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