Post Game: How Many Minutes in a Game?

Yea, that’s right.  SIXTY.  Not 43, not 51, or 56.  SIXTY.

Someday this team will learn that’s how many minutes you HAVE to play in this game.  Last night shades of Jacques Martin hockey (i.e. playing not to lose) crept into the Florida Panthers as they blew it once again in the late minutes of  the third period.  With a fairly quick 2-0 lead in the first on goals by Steven Reinprecht, the Panthers seemed to be playing better than Wednesday night, yet you just weren’t completely confident that they could hang on.  And surely they did not.

Going into the third with a 2-0 lead which they were bascially sitting on, the Panthers who were receiving excellent goaltending from Tomas Vokoun found a way to have some defensive lapses and let the Penguins back into the game. Just over two minutes into the third, Cindy Crosbitch, scored on a powerplay to start the ultimate fail of the Panthers. You could feel the momentum start to swing in favor of the Pens. In addition the Panthers had to kill 5 penalties that period which really took them out of their game, whatever it may have been, and gave Pittsburgh all the chances they would need.

The tying goal came on a very poor attempt by Rusty Olesz, trying to keep the puck in the offensive zone, and it was quickly picked up by Evgeni Malkin. What followed was a complete defensive blunder. As Malkin was skating down the wing, Panthers defenceman Dennis Seidenberg was skating back, but in my mind made one of the poorest efforts I have ever seen. Instead of forcing Malkin towards the boards and taking away some skating space, Seidenberg allowed Malkin room down the wing, virtually untouched, as he skated behind the net and got the puck to Crosbitch, who wasted no time and shot past Vokoun to tie the game with a little over 3 minutes left. UGH!

Crosbitch proceeded to score in the shootout the winning goal for Pittsburgh, thus giving the defending Stanley Cup Champions a come from behind victory against the hapless Panthers.

Now, I have not read any post game reviews, blogs, or newspaper articles about this game. I wanted my opinions not to be influenced by anything or anyone. If any Panther fan is out there saying, “well at least we got a point”, you should be shot on the spot! This is the type of game that we need to win. This one point crap is what killed us last year. It’s one thing to go on the road and come from behind and win, but when you are on the road and you have the lead for over 40 minutes, you must figure out a way to play to win and not to lose. Especially against a team as talented as the Penguins. They hung in there, and waited for the Panthers to falter, and they did.

No time to think and brood about this one. Another contest tonight in Philly.

Preview will be posted in a couple hours.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers

Tags: dennis seidenberg, florida panthers, pittsburgh penguins, sidney crosby, tomas vokoun