Crosby, Murray Lead Injured Penguins to Huge Win

It does not take a genius to reckon that the Penguins, (1-2-0) coming in, do not have much of a chance against the undefeated Anaheim Ducks , (3-0-0) coming in, especially with goaltender John Gibson only giving up three goals total. Somebody forgot to tell that to Sidney Crosby.

It did not take any goals to start off early fireworks. Not even five minutes into the game, Teddy Blueger stepped in to fight Korbinian Holzer, after he hit rookie Adam Johnson hard into the boards, cutting Johnson’s lip. Blueger showed heart, but was given a total of 17 penalty minutes, between 5 minutes for fighting, a 10-minute misconduct for instigating, and a 2-minute minor of instigation. The Penguins rallied around Blueger’s fight, and killed the ensuing penalty. Adam Johnson was okay, and came back with around 10 minutes left in the first period.

The action quieted down after the Penguins penalty kill, until the Penguins took a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty with around 6 minutes left in the first period. With many rookies and players making their first or second starts, this can definitely be expected. However, the Penguins penalty kill stepped up and killed it off, and their hard work was rewarded when Dom Simon was slashed for the second time in the period, giving the Penguins their second power play of the game. Gibson shut down the Pens only chance on the power play, with 15 seconds left in the period.

It did not take long for the Pens to find their power play stride in the second, after falling to 0-for-2, Josh Manson took a roughing penalty. Crosby deflected a slap-pass from Kris Letang just 8 seconds into the man advantage.

Just 30 seconds later, the Ducks tied it with a sharp angle shot from Ondrej Kase. Nobody really to blame here, the Ducks worked hard and won a battle behind the net, and capitalized on Matt Murray being deep in the goal as a result.

This gave the Ducks all the momentum back, and they even killed a very lackluster 5-on-3 power play from the Pens for 1:01 later on in the second, and virtually dominated the rest of the period.

But whatever Head Coach Mike Sullivan said to the Pens at the end of the second period, it must have worked. The Penguins came out hard, and with 12:36 left in the period, a diving play by Simon in his defensive end sprung Crosby and Jake Guentzel the other way. Crosby took the puck, and using his body as a shield, drove to the net and set up the streaking Guentzel down the middle for one of the prettiest goals you will ever see.

The Penguins rode the momentum from that goal to kill another penalty late in the game, and the late storm when the Ducks pulled the goalie.

This win was crucial for Penguins, who started their 2019-20 campaign with a 4-game homestand. The Pens head out to take on the Minnesota Wild and then a rematch with the Winnipeg Jets in a back-to-back set, before returning home Wednesday.

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