Thanksgiving on the Island

The Penguins traveled a day early to Long Island to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday together at the Guerin household. At his Oyster Bay residence, Bill Guerin had additional house guests for turkey day and the team shared some quality bonding time watching football and lounging on the couch before turning their attention to preparing for their game tonight against the Islanders. This game will feature Brent Johnson in net for the Penguins as a result of the back to back scenario with the Pens back in action tomorrow night at home against the Rangers. For the Isles, the revolving door in goal continues, but today’s contestant Dwayne Roloson has certainly been the better half of the duo that has split time thus far this season. Roloson has compiled a fantastic .916 save percentage and is coming off of a thrilling 58 save performance in New York’s overtime victory over Toronto in his last taste of action. In this rare weekday afternoon tilt, the key for Pittsburgh getting some pucks behind Roloson will be getting bodies to the net and crashing the crease on every shot looking for loose pucks. Some positive news on the injury front as both Tyler Kennedy and Kris Letang appear close to a return to the ice as both players have ditched the protection of the red jersey in practice. In addition to those two additions appearing near, both Alex Goligoski and Jay McKee are back out on the ice skating now and it doesn’t appear it will be long before the Penguins can add some more bodies to their ever fleeting depth.

Even though the Islanders are in last place in the Atlantic division they are just 9 points behind the Penguins in the standings and are a team on the rise on the offensive end. The rookie John Tavares is doing his best to live up to his first overall selection status and is going to be a force for years to come for the Isles. The Pens get started looking for the fourth straight win with a spirited bout as Deryk Engelland and Tim Jackman drop the gloves just thirteen seconds into the game. After the early animosity settles, the Isles sustain some decent pressure on the Penguins net firing a handful of solid shots toward Johnson’s net. The penalty box is filling up early as Evgeni Malkin and Andy Sutton join the fighters in their respective boxes to spur on some four on four. Traffic around the Penguins net leads to the first blood of the game as the Islanders Mark Streit throws a puck into the pads of Johnson who gives up a rebound which is buried into the net by Josh Bailey for a 1-0 Isles lead. Brooks Orpik takes an undisciplined holding penalty giving the Islanders more life as they pressure Johnson again ringing a shot off of the post but no further damage is done and Orpik returns to the ice. Jordan Staal’s tough on the puck mentality draws a penalty on the Islanders as Jack Hillen is unable to deal with his physical nature and heads to the sin bin. Pittsburgh’s power play struggles giving up a great shorthanded chance to the Islanders in the process. A little Evgeni Malkin magic to finish off the second frame as he storms down the right wing boards and threads a backhand under the glove, between the pad and the post of Roloson, and into the net to draw the Penguins even with New York at 1-1 after one

Aside from the Malkin brilliance, there weren’t many bright spots in that opening period for the Pens as they didn’t sustain much pressure in the zone or play very sound defensively. Somehow in spite of the slow start the Penguins find themselves even with the Isles, but they need to show something more organized in the next two periods. The 2nd period gets going and the Penguins still look a bit disorganized on defense allowing New York some really good possession in the Pittsburgh end. Penalties to Craig Adams of Pittsburgh and Trent Hunter of New York lead to some wide open four on four as the tempo of the game again picks up. Staal comes down the right wing boards and throws a shot on the net to create a rebound chance for Matt Cooke who deposits the rebound into the netting behind Roloson to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead. The Islanders again sustain some relentless pressure in the Penguins zone forcing them to run around to prevent any clear lanes to the net. After the Cooke tally, the ice has really been tilted in the Islanders favor but thankfully Johnson has played a solid game moving well in net and cutting down the shooting angles always staying a step ahead of the attackers. On a Penguins breakout through the neutral zone Hillen takes a penalty for impeding Crosby’s progress for interference. On minute into the power play Malkin takes a high stick to the face from Sutton and that is a four minute double minor as Malkin’s chin is opened up. The initial penalty expires freeing Hillen as he takes the puck into the Pittsburgh zone all alone and a brave poke check from Johnson in the net nullifies the chance and keeps the momentum in the Penguins favor. A huge kill for the Isles as they prevent the Pens from stretching their lead on that extended man advantage could swing the momentum as this one heads into the final period 2-1 Pittsburgh.

Even though the Penguins are ahead in this one, the game has been quite even with New York getting their fair share of solid chances on the Pittsburgh net. The Pens will need the top notch play from Johnson to continue in the last twenty minutes to maintain their lead and get out of this one with two points. Period three starts rather unpleasantly for the Pens as a shot from Sean Bergenheim beats Johnson as he is caught a bit out of position not cutting down the angle enough and this game is knotted up at 2-2. A fight erupts as a result of a cheap shot by Nate Thompson on Martin Skoula behind the Penguins net as Staal comes in and exchanges blows with Thompson and his instigator penalty offsets the minor for boarding Skoula initially. A crazy exchange as the Isles continue to pressure the Pens and Pittsburgh gets penalty for too many men on the ice and will have to kill this one off without the services of their top penalty killer Staal who is still off for the fighting infraction. Brent Johnson turns into the Penguins best penalty killer on this occasion making three marvelous stops to keep this one even. Pittsburgh has been much more sound defensively here in the 3rd as they are taking away the majority of options available to Islander attackers and forcing them to make an early choice rather than allowing them to dictate. More persistent pressure from the Islanders pays off as a shot from Freddy Meyer creates a rebound buried by Tavares to puts the Isles up 3-2. More shots by the Islanders keep Johnson running around in his own end making a plethora of saves to keep this one close, but the Pens need some possession in the New York end to get this one evened up.

Pulling the goaltender gives the Penguins some of their best pressure of the hockey game getting rubber to the pads of Roloson, but too little too late for the Pens as they fall to the Isles here today. Pittsburgh was for the most part beaten at their own game today as the Islanders just continued to put pucks on net especially in the 3rd period outshooting the Pens 18-5 in the final frame. This game looked like a lackadaisical turkey hangover for Pittsburgh with very little energy for much of this one getting outplayed by the Isles today. New York, New York. A bit of Frank Sinatra has to be playing in the heads of the Penguins players and staff as this crazy stretch has the Pens playing the Rangers after today’s game at home tomorrow night and then traveling back to Manhattan to face those same Rangers on Monday night for their third game in a four day stretch all of which will be against teams from the Big Apple.

Tags: Alex Goligoski, Bill Guerin, Brent Johnson, Brooks Orpik, Craig Adams, Deryk Engelland, Dwayne Roloson, Evgeni Malkin, Frank Sinatra, Freddy Meyer, Jack Hillen, Jay McKee, John Tavares, Jordan Staal, Kris Letang, Mark Streit, Martin Skoula, Matt Cooke, Nate Thompson, New York Islanders, New York New York, New York Rangers, Sean Bergenheim, Tim Jackman, Trent Hunter, Tyler Kennedy