The Pittsburgh Penguins eked out a 2-1victory over the Nashville Predators last night on the back of their goaltender.
The Nashville Predators dominated the Penguins for much of the evening but it was Marc-Andre Fleury who slammed the door shut on the opportunistic opponent.
Fleury flipped the early season script which has had the Penguins on the wrong end of excellent goaltending for much of the season. Pittsburgh had no business winning this game.
As you can see the Predators only got better as the game went on
And here are the shot locations from the game
Fleury stopped 38 out of 39 shots and earned the Penguins the right to flash their incredible high end skill in a 3 on 3 overtime session.
Phil Kessel did what you think Phil Kessel would do with all that wide open space
i might've saved this as philthethrill.gif pic.twitter.com/nqqXG5v75K
— Stephanie (@myregularface) October 25, 2015
The goal officially stole the two points the Penguins were in great need of.
Evgeni Malkin had a clever trip on the game winning play. It was a penalty that was missed but it was clever.
argument could be made that Malkin tripped Forsberg on the play seconds before Kessel scored pic.twitter.com/5HI5rYtybe
— Stephanie (@myregularface) October 25, 2015
Nashville’s James Neal scored to tie the game in the third period. There is an argument to be had that there was a reviewable goaltender interference call on the play but Mike Johnston and the Penguins declined the opportunity to challenge.
James Neal now has nine points in eight games which includes six goals.
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Chris Kunitz scored a beautiful goal on a one timer from Evgeni Malkin. It was nice to see him score that goal as well as the reaction from his teammates. He hasn’t complained and has consistently worked hard throughout his egregious offensive slump. He hasn’t been good enough. He knows it, his teammates know it, it took a while for the coaches to know it, but he kept working.
Kunitz goal, 1-0 Pens pic.twitter.com/8JxSfa67ko
— Stephanie (@myregularface) October 25, 2015
Pens bench hugs Kunitz pic.twitter.com/9WrhK3cLwY
— Stephanie (@myregularface) October 25, 2015
Austin Watson took a well-deserved five minute boarding penalty against Penguins defender Brian Dumoulin. The hit had nothing to do with puck possession and solely existed for the purpose of inflicting bodily harm and did. Instead of setting the tone and scoring on the five minute power play the Penguins sputtered around for the entirety of the man advantage.
The chart below shows the period where Pittsburgh had the five minute advantage (gray bar). You will notice that there were no shot attempts for either team during that time period. Truly pathetic
The coaches and players need to both step it up as this is worse than anybody could have imagined.
Two points is two points and the Penguins will gladly take them. The red hot Washington Capitals await the Penguins on Wednesday.
Thanks for reading!