Penguins/Flames Recap: Calgary ends Pittsburgh’s winning streak

Pregame

Bryan Rust is out injured so the Penguins have to shake the lineup up a bit. Tommy Novak bumps up to Rust’s spot on the first line, Kevin Hayes gets back into the game lineup in Novak’s old spot.

First period

Calgary opens the scoring in the early going. Ryan Shea hesitates on making a cross-ice pass, telegraphs it and then attempts it anyways. Bad idea, Connor Zary steps into it and is off on a breakaway. Zary beats Arturs Silovs low, 1-0 CGY.

The Penguins get the game’s first power play, can hardly get setup in the zone during it.

As time expires, tempers start to flare. Rasmus Anderssen charges in at the final second and jumps at Parker Wotherspoon. Wotherspoon turned to confront Anderssen and he slipped and fell, looking like Wotherspoon had hit it the rest of the Flames crashed down and a scrum ensued. Wotherspoon and Anderssen pick up matching minors for causing the ruckus. Shots go 9-6 for the Flames, sleepy start for the Pens.

Second period

Yegor Chinakhov tries to cut into the middle of the ice, Brayden Pachal introduces himself with a massive open ice hit.

Kevin Hayes takes the first Pittsburgh penalty, the Pens kill it off. Soon after, Evgeni Malkin bullies a Flame to create a turnover, the play goes the other way and Malkin sets Chinakhov up for a goal on the rush. 1-1 game.

In the celebration Malkin goes out of his way to bump a Flame, it’s a feisty game! The refs are none too pleased and ring Malkin up for roughing. Calgary gets caught during it with too many players on the ice to even it back out.

The Pens get a late power play but don’t do much with it.

Even score after two periods. Only two total goals belies the excitement of this scrappy battle. These teams are playing more like division rivals than out of conference opponents that barely see one another.

Third period

Calgary gets back in front early, Matt Coronato beats Silovs on the rush 42 seconds into the third.

Justin Brazeau knocks Morgan Frost behind the net with Frost falling awkwardly on his leg. He stays down behind the play but the Pens can’t take advantage of the numerical advantage before goalie Devin Cooley can freeze the puck.

The crowd gets rolling halfway through the period trying to will the Pens to a goal courtesy of a little Renegade to stoke the collective fires. The team pushes, it looks like Tommy Novak puts the puck in the net with Cooley down and out, but Cooley was knocked over by Sidney Crosby, the refs immediately waive it off.

It gets wilder yet, Brazeau gets tangled up and falls in an exaggerated manner, even up penalties. It’s the Flames who turn up the heat with several good chances and near misses at another goal. Brett Kulak takes a tripping minor during the rush. Silovs has to make a sprawling save and Nazem Kadri bumps the goalie while he was spread out and exposed, he would shake it off and stay in the game.

The Pens kill it off and it gets to crunch time. Silovs is pulled for the extra attacker, tons of zone time for Pittsburgh. The timeout is utilized with 1:01 left to regroup and give the top players a breather. Crosby loses the faceoff and Pittsburgh isn’t able to recover from there. Time runs out.

Some thoughts

• Fun game to watch, lively crows, both teams raised the intensity level early and just got chippier from there.
• Great response goal from Chinakhov, he got totally lit up with a monster body check, certainly one of the hardest of the season in games that the Pens have played. He didn’t sink away afterwards and was able to fire in a quality shot.
• As mentioned in the last recap it was seen again today that the Malkin-Kindel-Chinakhov line has something going as far as transition offense goes. They get headed up the ice in a hurry and are creating a ton of chances off the rush, that’s a fun new dynamic for the team these days.
• Off hand, but I wonder if this was the tallest game in Pens history. Has to be right up there (no pun intended) with the 6’3” Kevin Hayes (who looks bigger than that) joining the 6’5” Malkin, Anthony Mantha and the 6’6” Justin Brazeau. Add in 6’8” Adam Klapka for Calgary with a 6’6” Kevin Bahl and a couple of 6’4” guys in Yan Kuznetsov and Jack St. Ivany and there was some serious length out there at times in this game, with the 6’5” Cooley and 6’4” Silovs fitting right in. That’s even before someone like a 6’2” Brayden Pachal laid a heavy hit.
• Interesting usage on the final Calgary power play, there was a TV timeout and the Pens went with Shea and St. Ivany to start the PK. Kulak was in the box, might have expected the Wotherspoon/Karlsson pair in the situation but the third pair ended up playing a 1:20 shift and doing well.
• It turned out to be a streak-breaker of a day. Calgary’s four-game losing streak, over. Pittsburgh’s six-game winning streak, done. Silovs’ four-game winning streak, nada. Crosby’s eight-game point streak, finished. Karlsson’s nine-game home point streak, thing of the past. Modest other items like three-game point streaks for Rickard Rakell and Connor Dewar also evaporated.

It wasn’t for a lack of effort but it ended up being an empty day for the Penguins. They won’t have to stew on it long, a plane trip and game against Boston tomorrow is next on the agenda.