The Penguins four game West Coast Trip got off to a sour start last night as they fell to the Colorado Avalanche 3-1. The loss left the Penguins 4 points back of both the New York Rangers and New York Islanders while the Colorado Avalanche climbed above the Dallas Stars into 11th place in the Western Conference, 8 points back of the final wild card spot.
The Penguins got off to a sluggish start as they were out shot 9-5 by the Avalanche in the first period and had to kill two Blake Comeau penalties to go into the first intermission tied at 0-0. The second period did not start off well also as the former Penguin, Jarome Iginla scored a power play goal 13 seconds into the period on a big slap shot that got by a screened Marc- Andre Fleury. The rest of the period went back and forth until Nathan Mackinnon put in a deflection at 14:29 to give Colorado a 2-0 heading into the third period. The third period was much better for the Penguins as they controlled most of the action but weren't able to beat Semyon Varlamov until 9:45 on a great effort by Evgeni Malkin. After that goal the Penguins sprung to life as they put an assault on the Avalache net, including a great individual effort by Malkin at was denied by Varlamov. The game was effectively put to an end on a goal by Gabriel Landeskog off of a Malkin turnover. The Penguins pulled Fleury but were unable to beat Varlamov.
Overall, the game was a poor showing by the Penguins in a game against a team that is on the outside looking in on the playoff picture. Off of a 4 game winning streak the loss is somewhat excusable as they were playing against a desperate team but points at this time of the season of precious and a loss to a team in Colorado's position could be extremely costly. The Penguins trip continues tomorrow night at 10:00 as they travel to Anaheim to take on the league leading Ducks.
No comments:
Post a Comment