May 16 Recap

Crosby Breaks Scoring Drought, Helps Penguins Even Series

         The Pittsburgh Penguins entered Monday night trailing 1-0 in the best of 7 series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. It was a must-win situation in a crucial game 2. If the Penguins did go down 2-0 in the series heading to Tampa, I think they would have been in deep trouble.

         The Penguins got off to a quick start, with veteran Matt Cullen scoring off a rebound at 4:32. The Penguins dictated the pace for most of the 1^st period, adding another goal from Phil Kessel to make it 2-0 at 9:37. Things didn’t look good for the Lightning until Anton Stralman, who had just returned from a broken leg, wristed the puck over Murray’s glove to get the Lightning on the board at 16:37. Shortly after, at 19:10, rookie Johnathan Drouin sniped a shot under Murray’s arm to tie the game at 2, sucking the momentum out of the building.

         Not only did the Lightning tie the game, they scored 2 goals 2:33 apart, which turned the momentum in their favor, putting them in position to take the lead. Both teams, however, played very conservatively in the 2^nd. Neither team was pushing the offensive envelope, but were instead looking for a weakness to exploit. At the end of the period, it looked as though Alex Killorn would break the tie. Matt Murray, however, had returned to form after allowing a bad goal, and robbed him on the breakaway.

         The Penguins would press the attack in the 3^rd, getting a majority of the scoring chances. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy once again stood tall, stopping all 16 shots thrown at him that period. The home crowd became more energetic towards the end of regulation, when it looked like the Penguins were awfully close to a goal. The Penguins got the goal they were hoping for 40 seconds into overtime when Sidney Crosby’s game winner broke his 8-game playoff goalless drought. Even at 1 game apiece, this series now heads to Tampa and continues with game 3 on Wednesday.