Yesterday, I spoke in this space about my eagerness to find out how much mettle the Pittsburgh Penguins would show in their next game against Western Conference power Vancouver after their come-from-ahead home OT loss to the New York Rangers on Monday night.
About my anxiousness to see if they'd answer the bell and continue a string of fairly solid play without being brought down by those discouraging circumstances.
Ding.
The Penguins played their most complete game of the season last night in washing their hands of the Vancouver Canucks to the tune of 3-1.
Pittsburgh had just about everything they needed in this game offensively, defensively, and between the pipes.
Offensively, they got out to an early 1-0 lead in the first period when Captain Sidney Crosby just happened to step out of the penalty box when a loose puck came by.
Heading in on a breakaway against Canadian Olympic teammate and Canucks' netminder Roberto Luongo, Sid skated in with purpose and just blew a wrister past Luongo low on the stick side.
The Pens blitzed Luongo and the Canucks with 2 goals in less than a minute in the second period, with Max Talbot scoring on a wraparound -- shorthanded, no less -- and Aaron Asham chipping in a loose puck to pad the Pittsburgh lead to 3-0.
While Vancouver defenseman Dan Hamhuis scored not long after to make it 3-1 on a play where the Penguins got caught running around in their own zone a bit, Marc-Andre Fleury just slammed the door the rest of the way and the Canucks got no closer.
I have to say, this was Fleury's best game this season. I haven't seen him that confident in the cage in a while. He was focused all night, and made several solid stops -- 29 of 30 overall.
The Flower was also very controlled with his movements last night, I thought, which for him is a sign his head is really in the game.
Fleury got a lot of help from the Penguins defensively last night, too. The Canucks can bring it up front, and were strong at times in the offensive zone moving the puck around last night. But the Pens' largely kept them to the outside and limited their good scoring chances.
Pittsburgh's penalty killers also shut down the Canucks power play on all 5 chances last night. They've been fabulous all year -- after all, the PK was ranked 4th best in the league coming into the game -- but Vancouver rolled into The Bird House last night touting one of the NHL's best man-advantages on the road.
Individually, blueliners Brooks' Orpik and Zbynek Michalek were particuarly tough last night. They both had real strong games.
Despite the Penguins' relative control of the game for most of the 60 minutes the teams shared the ice, at least some Canucks' players walked away from their trip to town relatively unimpressed with Pittsburgh.
"This is a team I think we should beat," said Canucks' winger Daniel Sedin.
"I don't think Pittsburgh did anything special," said Luongo.
I don't care that this was their last game on a 9-day, 5-contest road trip. Personally, I'd love to see the Canucks again in the Stanley Cup Final.
Wait a minute -- Luongo isn't good enough to get them there.
Oops.
The Penguins are now 4-1-1 in their last 6. They're 2nd in the Atlantic Division, 4th in the Eastern Conference, and 8th-best league-wide with 22 points. Let's hope they can keep it going in their next contest, at CONSOL on Friday night against a Carolina Hurricanes' team that waxed the Ottawa Senators, 7-1, last night, behind a hat trick by Center Eric Staal.
More soon.
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