Los Angeles Kings bows down to Pittsburgh Penguins while on the road by 2-1 – NHL Updates
Weak but Strong
Pittsburgh Penguins deserved the win on Thursday night against Los Angeles Kings, 2-1, who are both incomparable with each other at the moment. Penguins are brittle and lacking most of their key players, but they still managed to hang on till the final moments
and take the match at the Consol Energy Center in hometown, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where a full turnout crowd cheered them on.
Surprisingly Pittsburgh has been able to win 4 out of 6 matches this month, but as the problems began, this has been the first win in the past 3 games this week.
Penguins is devastated by many losses such as captain, Sidney Crosby, out indefinitely with a concussion, vital centre, Evgeni Malkin, recovering from a knee surgery, two of its key forwards, Chris Kunitz and Mark Letestu, both absent with upper body injuries
and right wing, Matt Cooke, who has served his first out of a four-game suspension for a hit from behind on a Columbus player.
"The bottom line to me is this is a team with four or five regulars out of the lineup -- especially in the offensive end, this was a great chance for us", Kings’ defenseman, Rob Scuderi, said pondering upon the missed opportunity.
It was a once in a lifetime chance for Kings which was on a 2-game winning streak, emerging victorious previously against the pumped up Calgary Flames, now desperate to capture more wins if it wants to get into the playoffs, currently at the 10th
place in the Western Conference.
Staal and Fleury rise to the Occasion
Both teams remained tied at 1-1 after the first period when backup player Brett Sterling showed some skills by shooting the puck into the net in the first 7 minutes for Penguins but answered by Jarret Stoll, with less than 3 minutes remaining in the opening
20 minutes.
"Just being in the NHL is obviously a great opportunity, and obviously scoring a goal is huge, and doing it against L.A. was really cool", AHL player, Brett Sterling, said. "It's better for all of us, especially the guys that are fighting for positions here".
Along with Sterling, three other players were called to play from the AHL farm league.
The remaining 40 minutes were a drought for both teams but proved to be helpful for Penguins, as goalie, Marc-Andre Fleury, made over 32 saves, letting the players-deprived team concentrate on winning.
All-Star team captain, Jordan Staal, took charge of the game, missing an amazing shot in the closing minutes of the final period of regulation time.
Staal went for a wrap around shot with the opposing goalie, Jonathan Quick, not knowing, but was deflected by Kings’ defenseman, Rob Scuderi, sliding his stick in front of the puck leading to overtime.
Staal didn’t let that bring him down as he went racing down to the net and shot it through Quick with a little over 18 seconds remaining in OT, winning the match from what could have been a loss in a forced shootout.
"I just buried my head and fired it as hard as I could", Staal said after firing the game winning shot.
It was Staal’s first OT goal, since his hat-trick in Toronto over four years ago.
Penguins’ coach, Dan Bylsma, rejoiced at the occasion, winning his 100th game with Penguins being only the third coach to do so in Pittsburgh.
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