Reeling a bit after blowing a 4-2 third-period lead to the tune of 5 goals and a 7-4 home loss to the Boston Bruins this past Wednesday night, the Penguins had two choices going into their weekend slate of games -- on Friday at home against the Tampa Bay Lightning, and on Saturday on the road against the Atlanta Thrashers.
Find a way to bounce back.
Or continue to spiral into the season's quarter pole with seemingly little direction.
The Penguins wisely chose the former -- temporarily at least -- by stepping up their game when it counted to beat the Lightning, 5-1, then followed that up with a 4-2 victory over the Thrashers.
Both games were close, but Pittsburgh took over each in the third period.
And they did so behind beleaguered netminder Marc-Andre Fleury, who started -- and played well in -- both contests.
Fleury was particularly good early in each game, making several good saves to keep the Pens' in each until they were able to take over in the third period.
After a scoreless first period on Friday night against Tampa Bay, the Pens' upped the ante in the second period with a deflection goal by Pascal Dupuis -- his 5th of the season -- and an virtual open netter by pinching rearguard Alex Goligoski.
While Lightning All-Star Steven Stamkos took advantage of a 5-on-3 power play early in the 3rd period to tie the game, Pittsburgh held the fort and then blew the game open with 3 goals ina 6-minute span -- including a 2-on-1 goal by Max Talbot, a goal by Captain Sidney Crosby, and the first career NHL goal by defenseman Deryk Engelland on a point blast.
The Penguins did a great job against the Lightning defensively. They only allowed Tampa 16 shots in the game, and shut down the Lightning power play on every chance out of 8 except the 5-on-3 tally by Stamkos.
Pittsburgh had to rely on Fleury a lot more on Saturday night, and again, he was up for the task. The Flower made several big stops and let the Penguins ultimately pull away from what had been a 1-1 3rd period tie which had been forged to that point thanks to goals by defenseman Brent Sopel for Atlanta and Evgeni Malkin for the Penguins.
When Crosby tallied once and Malkin scored twice (including an empty netter, for a hat trick) in the third period, it was clear that the Penguins have started to regain their focus some.
Sid assisted on both of Malkin's 3rd period scores, by the way, giving him 5-straight multi-point games right now -- a first of his career, believe it or not. He's playing really well right now.
After the weekend, the Penguins now sit at 9-8-1 and 2nd place in the Atlantic Division with 19 points. They're 5 behind the first-place Philadelphia Flyers, and they're right back in action back at The Bird House looking to gain more ground tomorrow (Monday) night hosting the New York Rangers for the first time this season.
Can they -- and Fleury -- keep it going? That will be a true test of how much identity they've gained over the weekend. While the two back-to-back wins this weekend were positive, the Penguins need to get on a streak, beacuse the stark reality of their uneven play so far this season remains evident simply by recognizing that if the Rangers beat them, they're still at a below-standard .500 record.
We'll see.
More this week.
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