Penguins Head Into Showdown With Devils On Down Note After Falling To Carolina, 4-3 (OT)

On the ice, things looked relatively good.

They controlled play, limited the opposition's scoring chances, and rang up a 40-21 advantage in shots.

In short, they did so many of the things they've been doing well since the Olympic break.

On the scoreboard, though -- which is really the only place that matters -- the Pittsburgh Penguins came up on the short end to the Carolina Hurricanes last night in a 4-3 overtime loss at the RBC Center in Raleigh, NC.

Where was Bill Cowher when you need Carolina to fall at home?

Pittsburgh started the game blazing on goals in the first 5-minutes by Jordan Staal (even strength) and Bill Guerin (power play), but Carolina creeped back into the game later that period on a man-advantage goal by Ray Whitney and just the 2nd goal of the season by center Zach Boychuk.

I'm still shaking my head a little bit at Boychuk's goal. It came right off a faceoff play just outside the Penguins' blueline. Boychuk didn't take the draw, but the puck came to him on the left wing and he immediately stormed into the Pens' zone, cut across the middle and tossed a backhand that went top corner over the right shoulder of Pittsburgh backup goaltender Brent Johnson to tie the score.

When Eric Staal scored early in the 2nd period on a soft, bank-in goal past Johnson to give the Hurricanes a 3-2 lead, I was struggling to see how the Penguins' lead had evaporated.

Fortunately, the league didn't suspend Matt Cooke, because he made me temporarily forget about that when he tied the game for the Penguins on a backhander from the slot about 4 minutes later.

The game remained tied at 3 until overtime -- thanks to a solid stop by Johnson on a breakaway by Carolina forward Erik Cole in the 3rd period -- but only 23 seconds into the extra frame, each one of the Penguins on the ice suffered the most common 4-on-4 overtime malaise at the same time, and it cost them.

Each of them got caught looking at the puck carrier.

That indiscretion allowed Whitney to send the puck through the crease from low in the near corner to defenseman Brian Pothier in the far circle. Pothier made a shot he couldn't make again in 50 tries when he one timed the pass over Johnson's glove hand top corner for the winner.

And with that, the Penguins' 4-game winning streak ended.

Of course, Pittsburgh pulled in a point for stretching the game to OT, but they have to be frustrated about not being able to get more pucks past Carolina's third-string goalie, Justin Peters -- in the lineup because of an injury to starter Cam Ward, and because backup Manny Legace had played the night before against the Washington Capitals.

Peters played relatively well, but I don't think the Penguins challenged him enough, despite the 40 shots they posted.

They also missed several good scoring chances by fanning on the puck or missing the net.

That said, the Penguins played well overall and know it, so they still feel pretty good about their game going into tonight's showdown with the New Jersey Devils -- a team they will play twice in their next 3 games.

While the Penguins have yet to beat New Jersey this year in 4 tries, they know that these next two games could do a lot to decide who wins the Atlantic Division title -- and the likely #2 playoff seed that goes with it.

The Pens' are up 4 points on the Devils at this point, but if Pittsburgh manages to beat New Jersey in both contests, that's an 8 point swing, and they could stand to be up on New Jersey by 8 points next week with about 14 games left in the season. Even with the current 2 games in hand that the Devils have, that wouldn't be an easy deficit for them to overcome.

Marc-Andre Fleury will be back in goal for Pittsburgh tonight.

There's no word whether Tyler Kennedy -- who sat out last night's game with a nagging groin problem, but who otherwise probably would have been in the lineup anyway if not for the fact that he's been struggling so much offensively -- will return to the ice this evening.

More this weekend.

Let's Go Pens!


NOTES:

Stop the press! Sidney Crosby's missing Olympic glove and stick have been found!!!

I meant to mention this the other day in my off day notes post, but apparently, lost in the Canadian Olympic men's hockey team's on-ice celebration after winning the gold medal a few weeks ago were one of Crosby's gloves and his stick, which he tossed in the air together with his other glove and mouthpiece after scoring the Golden Goal in overtime. Eventually, the glove was found in a Boston Bruins equipment bag, and likely traveled back to the B's with Canadian teammate Patrice Bergeron somehow. The stick was found with a bunch of other items from the games that were headed from Toronto to the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in Russia. Of course, both items only turned up after Hockey Canada posted a reward for their return .....