Colby in the house!!!
Evidently Army took Siddo and some of the other guys out to dinner last night. But as they say, there are no friends on the ice. It's going to be a bittersweet game, for sure. Also, Marc-Andre Fleury is still out.
Until then, enjoy these pictures from Nikoe in Saskatoon, who watches the games with Jordan Penguin:
WOOOOOOOOO! A WIN IN THREE PERIODS FOR ONCE!!!! ;) Due to the fact that there are only 3 photos of the game are available right now in formats that I can easily save, I am filling in the gaps with pictures of my own Roamers tonight. I came home from work after doing the interview with Brian Engblom (which went really well - I'll give you the complete scoop on that experience once Versus has the audio of the conference call ready) to find two new arrivals...
FIRST PERIOD
Early in the game, Philippe Boucher was called for hooking. On the ensuing Thrashers power play, Bryan Little blocked a slap shot by his own teammate, Ilya Kovalchuk - with his foot. He made his way to the bench in obvious pain. Just as Hal Gill was called for a delayed penalty (also for hooking), Vyacheslav Kozlov scored the first goal of the night. [Pens 0, Thrashers 1]
All I need is two d-men and I'd have myself a whole shift of Roamers!
The Thrashers still had two minutes with a man advantage, but they failed to score. A long shot of the ice revealed that about a third of the seats in the arena weren't filled!!! O_o Paul Steigerwald later commented that the Thrashers have been selling some of their weekend games out but their weekday games are suffering. Siddo told Steigy and Bob Errey that it was just like old times at dinner with Colby last night. He was making everyone laugh and teasing everyone (as usual). Errey then said that Army had been asked to wear the microphone for the evening, but he declined saying that he'd do it for any other game except this one. :(
Sid was behind the net working his puck-protecting magic when Army headed straight for him. Sid saw him at the last second and made a spinning move to quickly get out of the way. Later on a different shift, Sid, former Thrasher Pascal Dupuis, and Miroslav Satan went to the net with speed. Sid had control and passed the puck to Dupuis, who sent a hard pass towards Satan. The puck hit his skate, so he kicked it to his stick and promptly scored. [Pens 1, Thrashers 1]
Matt Cooke blocked a shot from Ron Hainsey with his foot. But since he's not a football player (LOL - that still cracks me up), he didn't let it keep him off the ice for long. Kris Letang lined up the puck in mid-stride for a beautiful shot on goal, but Jordan Staal's deflection was just slightly too wide. Then Army hit Sid behind Dany Sabourin. Sid quite obviously didn't like it and gave Colby a quick shove to let him know it. Steigy said that it was great because the two would be fine again for dinner again tonight as Errey laughed and said, "Maybe, maybe not!" In the last seconds of the period, Geno Malkin refused to concede the puck over to the Thrashers, and it led to a great chance for Petr Sykora that Ondrej Pavelec was able to stop.
SECOND PERIOD
Alex Goligoski was the lone man back when Kovalchuk and former Penguin Erik Christensen got control and headed towards Sabou. Gogo didn't sweat it though. He forced Kovalchuk to make an awkward pass on which Christensen couldn't get a shot. Sabou made a stunning pad save when he shut the door on Marty Reasoner, who had taken a sweet centering pass from Army. Superstar Max Talbot took one for his team by taking a stick to his already bruised face. Mathieu Schneider was the guilty man, but the Pens didn't score on their advantage. Sid made a beautiful inside/outside move to get to the net, but it didn't result in a goal.
Cookie Monster was like a bull seeing red. He started hitting anything in blue. One hit in particular was a pretty brutal (legal!) hit on Koslov that sent him down to the ice. Of course, the Thrashers started gunning for the agitating Cookie. Predictably, Cookie ended up drawing an interference on Nathan Oystrick. Forty-one seconds later, the Pens would get a 2 man advantage when Marty Reasoner was called for hooking. Geno hit the goalpost, but the Penguins inexplicably did not score on the 5-on-3, nor did they score on the remaining 5-on-4. (Well, it wasn't completely inexplicable - Pavelec did make a good save or two.)
Right as the power play ended, Boucher was called for tripping. The Thrashers had an extended period of possession in the Pens' zone, but they again did not score on their advantage. A few minutes later, Tyler Kennedy swooped in behind the net and basically ran over Hainsey. Shown from two different angles on the replay, it was difficult to tell whether or not TK got away with a trip. Either way, TK sent the puck to Siddo at the front of the net. As he rushed in, Sid started to fall down. He still managed to fire a forehand shot that went top shelf off the crossbar, then the goalpost, then over the goal line as the Saint fell to his arse. [Pens 2, Thrashers 1] I was hoping Sid would stand up and point at Kovalchuk afterwards, but he didn't. :P
The crowd booed as Sid's name was announced. (Puck Daddy Greg Wyshyski has a good theory why other teams' fans hate our Siddo so much. Also mentioned is an article by good Friend of The Show Tony F. of The Confluence on Kukla's Korner in which he asks if Siddo is a liability on the shootout...) Just under a minute and ½ later, Jim Slater swung out from behind the net to wrap one around and right through Sabou's 5-hole. [Pens 2, Thrashers 2] The period ended at a draw.
THIRD PERIOD
Letang drilled Todd White high and hard as he went after the puck in the corner. White attempted to get up but couldn't, and it became clear that he was disoriented and needed attention. All four officials were positioned in between both teams, but that didn't stop some Thrashers from trying to go after Letang. (It was like a delayed reaction or something.) Sabou made an unreal save on Kovalchuk after he was able to go 1-on-none. On Letang's next shift, he had a little company - Erik Godard. No doubt Michel Therrien put him out there with Tanger to make sure no Thrasher decided to be a hero.
Look at how good Baylee is with our Roamers! Haha, when I tell him to "STAY!" he completely freezes - he seriously won't even lift his head - until I say "Okay, buddy!" so I knew they'd be safe with him. ;)
Gogo put his hip out and clipped Army near the benches. Army took exception to it, but Godard came over and quickly put a stop to any fighting ideas Army may have had. Kovalchuk hit the post. Dupuis was called for hooking, but the Thrashers didn't score. Sabou made a series of amazing saves to preserve the tie. Satan hit Garnet Exelby, which forced a turnover to Dupuis. This led directly to Sid drawing a penalty on Chris Thorburn for interference. On the ensuing power play, Gogo turned the puck over at the blue line to Reasoner for a shorthanded breakaway. It wasn't as clean a breakaway as Reasoner had likely hoped since Siddo skated hard and backchecked him. It forced him to take an awkward shot that Sabou was able to reach out and cover. At the other end of the ice, Sid fired an unreal shot at Syko's stick to score the power play goal. [Pens 3, Thrashers 2] The shot was so hard that it broke Syko's stick!
There were still 2:20 left in the game. With just 0:42 left, Pavelec was pulled in favor of the extra attacker - who, in this case, was none other than Colby. The Thrashers' efforts failed and the Pens won the game - without needing the overtime period! Siddo himself had a hand in each of the 3 goals scored tonight. He leaves Atlanta with a goal and 2 assists. :)
Not all was good, though: during the post-game show, we were informed that Flower is not going to play on Saturday. He is nursing an undisclosed injury that he suffered at the Sabres game I attended, but I can honestly say that, during the game, we didn't even know he had gotten hurt. He hid it very well. Hopefully another couple of days off will be the cure.
After that bad news, I'm sure you need a laugh. So now you MUST check this out. (Hopefully, you all got to see the one from last year when there were multiple Penguins involved...) Thanks to Friend of The Show Carlie D. for sending that gem!! LOL
GO PENS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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