Watching the Pittsburgh FSN broadcast tonight, Paul Steigerwald and Bob Errey. Somewhere in a box in my basement, I have a hockey card of Bob Errey where the angle of the picture makes him look like he's about 5' tall. That, of course, has absolutely no relevance to the game whatsoever. But it might make me giggle a few times.
Again, I applaud the Center Ice people for giving us both feeds of the game, but PLEASE can you figure out a way to indicate which feed is on which channel?
Dany Sabourin tonight vs Jose Theodore. Sabourin is getting back to back starts for the first time in his NHL career.
1st Period
20:00 Sakic Smyth and Svatos to start the game. Same line as Sunday's game (which feels like a month ago). Sauer and Clark start out on D together.
19:24 Nice play from Smyth – Smyth drops it back to Sakic and dives right for the net looking for a deflection. It's poked away
19:08 It's Arnason, Brunette and Hlinka – an interesting line. I could see this working out ok. That must mean the 2nd line is Stastny, Wolski and Hejduk.
19:00 Theodore flubs a shootaround from behind the net. Stickhandling is not his strong suit.
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18:18 Cumiskey is out with Hannan; I was hoping Jillson might get a shot tonight, but I guess that's not happening.
17:18 Crosby punches Svatos after the whistle. It earns a roughing penalty and puts the Avalanche on the powerplay.
16:56 5 on 3 coming up. Strangely, the Avs take their time letting the Penguins get possession. Jordan Staal goes to the box for hooking. Happy to have this shorthanded thread off the ice for the PP. Avs have 2 man advantaged for 1:28
14:50 Steigerwald refers to the goal as a "cage" for the 2nd time on the PP, at least 1 time too many. Pittsburgh kills of both penalties with some superb work on the PK.
13:50 Frankly, I'm scared to death to have Theo in net tonight. To his defense, his lateral movement was terrific against Calgary last Friday. The way Malkin and Crosby move the puck back and forth, he will need to repeat that tonight.
10:17 Brunette feeds Hlinka in the slot. Hlinka's shot goes wide
9:39 Penguins 1, Theo's lateral movement 0. Crosby makes a pretty move to center the puck in the direction of Malone. Theodore seems frozen for a few moments, and when he finally gets up to move across the crease, the puck has bounced in off the skate of Brett Clark. Okay, I'm not going to blame Theo for a deflection like that, but it's slow reaction time like that that has plagued Theodore during his stint in Denver.
5:50 Hlinka already looks 10x better than he has been on the 4th line.
2:37 I want to call up the FSN hotline and say "it's CUMISKEY, not KAMENSKY"
2:25 Hannan, 2 minutes for holding
2:06 Fun fact of the night – Theodore has yet to allow a PP goal.
1:53 Fun fact is redacted. Crosby blows a rocket over Theo's glove. 2-0 Pittsburgh.
2nd Period
19:45 Sakic fails to clear in the defensive zone. It leads to a Malone chance and a Colorado penalty (Sakic for holding).
19:11 Malkin interferes with Ben Guite to end the Pittsburgh PP chance.
18:14 Avs get a couple of good scoring chances on the 4 on 4
17:47 Andrew Brunette is behind the cage. That's three.
17:08 Sakic gets a backhand off right next to the net. Stopped by Sabourin
16:46 Sauer appears to get his stick up on Crosby behind the Colorado net. Crosby holds his neck all the way to the bench, but doesn't draw a call.
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14:42 Hlinka penalized for hooking
13:50 The Penguins PP looks scary good. The move the puck around so quickly.
13:16 Guite gets a shorthanded chance
13:14 Avs have a big faceoff lead so far. That, of course, hasn't translated to a lead in the game
12:55 Hejduk gets smooshed by Orpik along the side boards.
10:18 Laperriere tries to goad Orpik into a fight, but isn't successful
10:11 Penguins get called for too many men. Avs opponents seem to be getting called for this a lot this year. At this point last year, the Avs were the ones plagued by these
9:38 Colorado scores. Stastny shoots it from the point. Sabourin makes the save, but can't control the rebound. There's a mad scramble for the puck in front. Smyth is there, Hejduk is there…ultimately, it's Liles that creeps in and pokes it in. Amusingly, Errey and Steigerwald name every player on the ice as possible goal scorers before getting to Lilles. It's Liles' first of the season.
9:21 Smyth gets credit for the goal, though. So, maybe Liles doesn't have his first of the year.
8:53 With Theodore skating off for a delayed penalty on Pittsburgh, the Avs move in on a harmless looking play. Sauer carries in, centers to Guite who touches it back to Lappy. Lappy passes to Wolski on the left. Woslki's shot is stopped by Sabourin – it deflects up off the blocker and behind him into the net. The Avs tie the game 2-2 and Wolski has a point in 8 straight. Crosby goes to the box after the goal, 2 minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct.
6:36 Ugly turnover from "Kamensky" in the zone, leading to a Pittsburgh scoring chance.
6:04 Guite with a wraparound goal to make it 3-2. The Avs have all the momentum. Let's see. Guite has a goal in his career against Hasek, Joseph and Sabourin (is there one more?). Anyway, one of those names just doesn't fit. Oh, by the way, Guite came from behind the "cage" on that one.
5:46 Ruutu trips Wolski, but I think the refs feel sorry for Pittsburgh.
5:21 Or not – Pittsburgh takes another penalty.
3:42 Talbot takes a puck off the face.
3:25 Malone skates across the goal line and runs over Theodore. Crosby comes in and fires the rebound at the net. Somehow, Theodore on his back makes the CRAZY save.
2:35 Both teams are flying at the moment.
1:51 Crosby finally draws a penalty – Clark interferes with him next to the goal.
1:50 Before the draw, Crosby goes off to change sticks. To add to the strangeness, after they try one draw (it's gets whistled off), he goes off to change sticks again, while one of the refs follows at him complaining about the delay. They should have just dropped the puck while Crosby was pulling this crap. This is a rather wild period.
3rd Period
17:05 Crosby breaks in on Theo. Theo stands tall.
16:29 Scuderi deflects a Sakic rebound that was, regrettably, headed for an empty "cage". They need to stop that.
15:33 Cumiskey falls going back to touch up on an icing play. He hits the ice 2 or 3 times a game it seems. Maybe he needs to put the training wheels back on the skates?
14:23 Sakic fires it over the glass. Delay of game on Colorado. Yes, I still hate this penalty.
13:23 Wyatt Smith makes a solid play to clear the puck on the PK
11:57 Sauer lays on the puck on the blueline for what looks like 10 seconds. No whistle. The Penguins finally get the puck loose. Malone breaks in, and draws a penalty.
11:47 Ryan Smyth is the guy in the box (interference)
11:03 Avalanche penalty killers have done a nice job against the Pittsburgh PP tonight. They've kept them in check much better than I thought they would.
10:12 Theo makes a pad save on Sergei Gonchar
9:46 The Smyth penalty is over. Let's make that the last one, please.
3:10 Avs are in full trap mode now.
1:05 Sabourin is off, extra attacker for the Penguins
:32 Smart play from Malkin. The linesmen were about to drop the puck, the the Penguins weren't ready (maybe Crosby was still choosing his stick). Malkin jumps over quickly and jumps the draw, slowing things up. Avs win the faceoff, but can't clear
:06 Last gasp from Gonchar – Lappy blocks the shot.
Colorado wins – 4th straight win, and they remain perfect at home.
Line Report & Shift Charts are up. Recap will be tomorrow as normal.