RECAP: A Colonial Effort. PENS WIN.

Posted by TPB Staff on Tue, Oct 25, 2011 10:45pm.

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Marc-Andre Unreal went on a safari vacation this past summer. But last night, he took a trip into the mouths of the New York Islanders. Fleury turned away all 33 shots he faced and the Penguins cruised to a 3-0 win.

This game may have been won before a puck was even dropped because of the big-time coaching decisions of Dan Bylsma. Instead of starting fighter Steve MacIntyre, Bylsma choose to play Dustin Jeffrey. This made Islanders Coach Fat Capuano not dress Trevor Gillies. The Islanders were banking on some type of fight or some shit. It never happened. And how about Richard Park? First Penguin in a while to come back and haunt a former team.

Perfect road game for the Pens. They return to CEC against the Islanders on Thursday.

Read More for the recap...

riiiiiight

Great pace to start off. Malkin and Neal almost connected for a goal. It took Malkin one shift to make his presence felt. As we've said recently, Pens fans have been spoiled with elite talent for the past quarter-century, but the feeling never gets old when a player like Malkin grabs a puck at his own blue line, and you freeze where you are to watch what he does.

Isles sustained some pressure for a while after that Neal chance. Game had a good flow to it. There weren't any huge plays happening, but it was still some good hockey to watch. Kunitz committed a bizarre turnover at the blue line. The Isles went the other way, and Kunitz defended it how he had to. Solid.

The rest of the first was pretty much more of the same. It was just great watching Malkin again. He opened up a bake shop on the Isles bench, he was creating so many turnovers.

Late in the period, Brooks Orpik finds Pascal Dupuis breaking. Root Sports was still trying to win a sports Emmy by the time Dupuis was halfway into the Isles zone. Just really idiotic camera work. Pretty much tainted the fact the Pens had scored. Dupuis on the breakaway.

Love the Pens fans in the background getting ready to rejoice. 1-0. As Eric P. said on Twitter, the Dupuis Mouthpiece Grab is probably one of the best goal celebrations in hockey right now.

Meatball city in the blue shirt is pissed. So is Brooklyn Joe bottom left.

The Isles had a great chance to tie it up right afterward, but MAF kept it out. And the period ends.

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@Evil_Bylsma

Pens get a quick chance with Asham-Park-Cooke. It fell apart, and the Isles were headed the other way, but Asham poked it away from Tavares. Jurassic Park grabbed the puck and went back in on Nabokov. He faked a shot, froze the Isles, and put it home.

2-0. Our own personal goal celebration was put on hold, as we were more excited to watch the replay to see who had poked that puck away from Tavares. What a play by Asham.

The Isles started getting their best chances of the game during the second period. Islander fans were too busy looking for Trevor Gillies in the press box to care.

After some shit, Lovejoy has to take down Grabner. By "take down," we mean Grabner just fell. Fucking joke. The Pens jump on the PK and kill it. After the kill, Malkin tried to dance in the neutral zone, and he fell. MAF bailed him out with a save. We'll let Malkin do that every day of the week. No point on a player like Malkin dumping it in every time like Bylsma's system dictates. He makes a move at the blue line, and the Pens immediately have numbers.

Lean year up on Long Island.

These are the type of games that killed the Penguins last season. Up 2 goals going into the third. Add that to the fact it was on the Isle, and there was still an uneasy feeling going into the third.

But Jordan Staal got to his game big-time. He started grinding, and he got sticked (stuck) in the face three minutes into the third. 4-minute power play. Great PP. Setting up shots like a relapsed alcoholic. Malkin stayed on for almost the entire 4 minutes. Nabjokov saw everything. Mark Eaton was up to his old tricks. Islanders killed it. There are dissenting opinions about that 4-minute PP chance. Some people saying it was a good mixture of passing and shots, some saying not enough shots were taken.

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Whatcha gonna do when the fan police comes for you.

Shortly after that, Orpik shot one into the crowd, and the Pens penalty kill wasn't even mad. It was like a dog in the basement got thrown a bone. 22 for 22 on the road.

Islanders didn't know what do. Islanders Head Coach Fat Capuano pulled Nabby with two minutes left. Staal sent Capuno and his stupid hair home 30 seconds later.