Penguins Replay 3-2 OT Victory Over Panthers

If the Penguins felt a sense of DeJa Vu last night after their 3-2 OT victory against the Florida Panthers, they'd be right.

Back on October 23, the Panthers took a 2-0 lead over Pittsburgh and carried that advantage into the 3rd period, before things collasped into a 3-2 overtime defeat at the hands of the Penguins.

That's exactly what happened last night, except the setting was sunny Florida under the debut of the Panthers new 3rd jerseys -- jerseys which, coincidentally, resembled the Pens' third jerseys, all the way down to the color scheme and circle center logo.

Like at the end of the contest in October, Sidney Crosby again won last night's game in overtime, this time on a 4-on-3 power play when he banged home an Evgeni Malkin rebound to give Pittsburgh's its 4th win in its last 5 contests.

The Pens' were on a power play thanks to a 4-minute, double-minor high sticking penalty assessed to the Panthers' best player last night -- forward Nathan Horton.

Because that call occurred with less than 4 minutes to go in the OT, Pittsburgh had a man advantage for the balance of the extra period, and after about a minute of controlling play in Florida's zone, Crosby tallied a man-advantage goal for the Pens' in their 4th consecutive game.

Horton and defenseman Keith Ballard got the Florida goals in the first and second period, before Pittsburgh's role players went to work in the 3rd.

Pascal Dupuis banged home his 6th goal of the season about half way through the frame when his rebound shot bounced off Panthers' netminder Tomas Vokun's shoulder and rolled up over him and over the goal line before the net was knocked off its moorings.

Then, with under 3 minutes to play and the Penguins having controlled play in Florida's zone for a good 90 consecutive seconds, Mike Rupp scored his 5th of the year by slipping a behind-the-net pass from Malkin under Vokoun uncontested from the crease after just about every Panther defender had zoned in on Geno behind the goal.

That set the stage for Crosby's heroics.

Dupuis has been playing strong hockey the last 2-3 weeks. He's now tied for 2nd on the team in goal-scoring.

And Rupp -- also having a great year for a role player of his caliber -- is breathing down his neck.

The Penguins outshot Florida last night 45-21. Vokoun was brilliant most of the game, as he often is against Pittsburgh. Had the Panthers not gone into shutdown mode in the final period, they might not have subjected him to a 22-3 shot differential during that frame and the OT, and they might have walked away with more than a point. As it is, even Vokoun couldn't do it all for them.

With the victory, the Penguins now have 32 points, to the tune of a 16-8 record. Only the San Jose Sharks, with 35, have more.

It's nice to see the Penguins get on a little run as they start to get more and more players back, especially since they have a 3 games in 4 nights stretch sandwiched around Thanksgiving that begins with a home game against the Montreal Canadiens Wednesday night, a Friday afternoon matinee against the upstart New York Islanders, and a home contest Saturday evening against the arch-rival New York Rangers.

Sometime during that stretch, it stands to reason the Pens' will see the return of at least one -- and perhaps two -- of RW Tyler Kennedy, D Kris Letang, or LW Chris Kunitz.

Letang is probably the most likely to return first. Kennedy was poised to return, but Dan Blysma seemed to indicate he's not quite ready just yet. Kunitz's absence has probably been the least talked about, but he's expected to hit the ice again soon, as well.

The injuries to defenseman Jay McKee and Alex Goligoski are likely to last until the middle of next month.

More over the holiday.