Penguins shut down Avalanche
Official game recap Pittsburgh Penguins vs Colorado Avalanche.Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves and Blake Comeau scored 2:24 into overtime to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 1-0 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Consol Energy Center on Thursday.
Rob Scuderi sent a slap shot off of Evgeni Malkin’s stick that bounced off Avalanche goalie Calvin Pickard’s pad and to Comeau, who shoveled the puck past Pickard for his 11th goal of the season.
The Penguins (21-6-4) have started their three-game homestand with two wins.
Fleury recorded his sixth shutout of the season, a career-high, in a game he was not expected to start. He missed the Penguins’ practice on Wednesday while undergoing precautionary testing for the mumps. Pittsburgh announced Thursday that Fleury’s test results came back negative and he was cleared to play against Colorado.
Pickard made several impressive saves without surrendering many rebounds to allow the Avalanche to reach overtime despite being outshot 19-7 in the third period. The 22-year-old made 47 saves. Colorado (10-13-8) earned a point in its first game of a three-game road trip.
Center Sidney Crosby’s return to the Pittsburgh lineup was less impactful. After missing three games with the mumps, Crosby centered the Penguins’ top line that included a few different configurations.
Crosby struggled through the first two periods and didn't record a shot until 2:07 into the third. He had a chance to score the game’s first goal 39 seconds later after receiving a lob pass from Malkin that sailed over Crosby’s head.
The pass sent Crosby on a breakaway, but his snap shot sailed into Pickard’s glove, which kept the game scoreless.
Crosby started the game playing between left wing Nick Spaling and right wing Patric Hornqvist. Malkin played on Crosby’s left wing several times and forward Bryan Rust, who spent some time playing next to Malkin against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday, played alongside Crosby for one shift.
The Penguins and Avalanche played a scoreless first two periods despite each team earning two power-play opportunities.
Colorado’s 26th-ranked unit failed to get anything going on its two opportunities and the Penguins didn't fare much better with Brad Stuart, who returned after missing 16 games because of a hamstring injury, in the penalty box for tripping Malkin.
Pittsburgh finished the first period with an 8-7 shot advantage and had its best scoring chance when defenseman Kris Letang took a slap shot that might have been tipped by Hornqvist before hitting the right post.
Comeau also had a chance to put the Penguins ahead late in the period while having a clear lane to shoot on Pickard from about 15 feet outside of the net. Comeau instead elected to pass to forward Steve Downie, who was battling with an Avalanche defenseman to the left of the Colorado net.
Downie could not settle the puck and it was cleared without Pickard having to make a save.
The teams managed a higher volume of shots in the second period, but the quality of the chances seemed to fall. Each goalie was impressive in the second, but Pickard was forced to make several key saves late in the period to preserve the scoreless tie.
Pickard stopped shots from Letang, Scuderi, Scott Harrington and Hornqvist over a 1:52 span. He made 16 second-period saves, which was matched by Fleury’s 15 saves.
Penguins defenseman Christian Ehrhoff did not return to the game following the first intermission because of undisclosed reasons. His last shift came with 35 seconds remaining in the first period.
-- by Wes Crosby for NHL.com --
Eurolanche.com, Worldwide, eurolanche@eurolanche.com
19/12/2014 - 04:01
