Wipe Your Nose, Score The Game Winner In OT.

Our Pens played the Florida Panthers, which could mean only two things. Vokoun would stand on his head and stop a lot of shots, but the Pens would win 3-2 in overtime. And that's exactly what happened for the third time this year. Oct. 23 = 3-2 win in shootout. Nov.23 = 3-2 win in OT on a PP goal. And now a 3-2 win in OT on a PP goal. Gotta love the little quirks in the game like this. Let's hit the recap.




FIRST PERIOD

-First off, Kunikaze returns to the lineup finally. Everyone is now back. Weird, we thought we would never see the Pens with their full lineup at their disposal.

-Johnsson and Vokoun both look solid early.

-Rupp gets sent to the sin bin for hooking.

-Panthers capitalize on the PP with a dirty goal from Reinprecht. 1-0 Panthers.

-Adams floats a pass to Dupuis who is screaming down the wing. A Panther poops his pants and falls over, Dups skates in on net and stuns Vokoun with a sweet wrister. 1-1. Nice goal. Adams and Goggles get the assists.

-As Johnson tries to freeze a puck, a douche named Mike Duco cross checks McKee into Johnson and Johnson cracks his head off something. Thankfully he's ok. But somehow Geno gets a 4 minute high stick penalty in the scrum and the Panthers get a PP.

-Pens PK mops up this time.

-Pens get a PP near the end of the period.



SECOND PERIOD

-Pens PP is killed.

-Kunitz gets called for hooking.

-Dvorak gets a big taste of Free Candy. Dvorak = stunned.

-Pens kill the Kunitz penalty.

-Rupp wins a battle in the corner for the puck against 2 Panthers and gets it to Geno. Geno quickly gets it in front of the Panthers net where Fed-Ex redirects it past Vokoun. The relieved look on Fedotenko's face is priceless. His first goal in 13 games. Rupp and Geno get the helpers. 2-1 Pens.

-McKee makes a big shot block. Growing accustomed to that.

-Pens get a PP. No dice.

-Adams destroys Kulikov with nice hit.


THIRD PERIOD

-Talbot get destroyed by Ballard. At least Ballard remembers to hit the other team's guys.

-Pens get a PP. Again, nothing...

-As McCabe comes out the box, he gets sprung on a breakaway. Johnson denies him, but dishes a big juicy rebound. Weiss pounces on it as Johnson flails about to try to poke check it away. Weiss calmly drags it around Johnson and puts it into the empty cage. Ugly. 2-2.

-Another Pens PP gets killed.

-Jeff "since when did he play for Florida" Taffe gets loose on a breakaway and Johnson makes a huge save.

-Pens get another PP, but it's snuffed out by a weak makeup call.

-Job, job, overtime.


OVERTIME

-30 seconds in, Staal get hauled down. PP city.

-7 seconds after the penalty is called, Bing wins a faceoff back to Geno. Geno to Gonch. Malkin takes a second to wipe his nose before Gonch dishes the puck back to him and he unleashes a wicked one-timer past Voukoun. Game. Bing and Gonch get the assists. 3-2 Pens.

THOUGHTS

-The PP can look bad at times, but it's when it comes through that matters. And a game winning PP goal in overtime is big. (though it would have been nice to put the game away in regulation)

-Johnson is a very solid backup for Fleury.

-Kunitz was quiet tonight, but it's his first game back in awhile.

-Free Candy was everywhere last night. Rupp, Cooke, and Adams were crunching as well. I love this stat, Pens are first in the NHL in hits.

-Vokoun is up all night crying after playing the Pens. 1-1-4 in his past 6 games against the Pens. I almost feel bad. Almost.

-I'm gonna say it. Sign Pascal Dupuis.

-Pens are 22-10-1. And near the top of the East. Let's not complain too much. Remember where the Pens were last December? And it's not like they lost to the Browns or anything...

-Home and home series against the Cryers this week. Gonna be nasty. Love it.

-LETS GO PENS!



-the Blueline Bandit