There's no truth to the rumor that I didn't post a recap of Saturday night's Penguins' 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers because it was the third time in three tries Pittsburgh beat the Panthers in OT by the same score this year.
Admittedly, while the game Saturday evening at Mellon Arena played out mostly to script when compared to the prior 3-2 overtime victories the Pens' have put on the Panthers to-date this year, I simply got tied up unexpectedly yesterday and didn't get a post out.
In any event, Evgeni Malkin delivered the Penguins their victory against the Panthers this time, hammering home a slap shot on -- get this, a power play -- early in the OT to deliver Pittsburgh's latest heartbreak to the cats from the sunshine state.
If someone would have told me the Pens would actually score on their man-advantage opportunity in overtime, I wouldn't have believed them. In fact, I was hoping at the time they'd decline the penalty.
Good thing they didn't beacuse that tally -- Malkin's first in 6 games -- was the only one they scored on in the contest, after failing on five prior attempts.
Even in the unlikely event that his goal gets Pittsburgh's stagnant power play going, hopefully the tally will at least get Malkin going a bit. It was only his 9th of the season (Sidney Crosby has 20 by comparison), and he hasn't had a great deal of confidence out on the ice lately.
Another guy who will -- with any luck -- get going now a little bit after a goal is Ruslan Fedotenko.
Fedeotenko scored an easy tap-in goal on a nice feed from Geno in the second period for his first tally in 14 contests.
Pascal Dupuis continued his hot streak in the game, also, scoring in the first period. It was his 9th goal of the year.
Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 29 of 31 shots, while the Penguins -- true to form -- launched another 40 at Panthers' netminder Tomas Vokoun.
The game Saturday night marked the return to the lineup of LW Chris Kunitz. It was the first time #14 suited up in about a dozen games, and he looked pretty good for a guy that missed a lot of time. He was physical, and had some good scoring chances, too. I can't be surprised that he didn't convert them, but I wasn't disappointed in Kunitz's overall play Saturday night after missing so much time.
There was some talk that Max Talbot, who hasn't played all that well since returning to play after off-season shoulder surgery, might be a scratch for Kunitz, but #25 did suit up, and Eric Godard sat in the press-box for the game instead.
It will be interesting to see if Head Coach Dan Bylsma makes the same decision for their upcoming home-and-home set against the rough-and-tumble Philadelphia Flyers this week.
I think not.
I suspect we're more likely to see Craig Adams take a seat for these contests.
I'll preview the next 2 games against the Flyers tomorrow.
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