Penguins Burn Leafs 5-4 in Shootout

I’ve pretty much given up trying to come up with superlatives to describe the Penguins’ 5-4 shootout win over Toronto at CONSOL Energy Center on Tuesday night. Awesome? Too trite. Spine-tingling? Close, but no cigar. Amazing? Gettin’ warm.

It wasn’t enough that the Pens overcame a 4-1 third-period deficit—not to mention a stirring two-goal effort by birthday boy Mikhail Grabovski—to snatch their eighth win in a row. Rather, it was the way they accomplished the feat. They won with a riveting display of purpose and intensity that bordered on sheer savagery.

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THE KID, MALKIN in the MIDDLE and the PICKLESTABBING PINBALL WIZARD STAAL

Three centers — three lines and an obscene number of shots on goal. If it wasn’t for Vokoun’s outstanding goaltending they might have called the game using the mercy rule. Fleury who had a little shaky 2nd period made up for that in the 3rd, the OT and put up another stonewall in the gimmick shootout.

But once again it’s the picklestabbing Jordan Staal to the rescue… (Staal is going to end-up being the best draft pick in the SUPER 2006 Entry Draft Class that also included Jonathan Toews, Nicklas Backstrom, Erik Johnson, Phil Kessel to name a few). The Pens got the early 3rd period goal that they needed and the fans who had been watching a shooting gallery began to feel it. That puck ricocheted around the goal crease and the pinball wizard, picklestabbing Staal knocks the puck down and ...