Well I’ll be Cow-Kicked, Undermanned Penguins Stun Avs
I’ll be honest. I tuned into the Penguins-Avalanche game last night fully expecting the worst. After all, the Avs entered the game on a five-game winning streak while we’d dropped four in a row in mostly inglorious fashion.
I certainly didn’t expect our Pens to play a crisp, sure, detailed game. Especially with a defensive corps that’s been decimated by injury. Yet that’s precisely what occurred.
Whether last night’s surprising (okay, shocking!) 5-2 triumph over the Avs at Ball Arena was a last-gasp stand by a fading but proud former champion or the spark that ignites a determined stretch run is anyone’s guess. But at the very least it provided a tantalizing glimpse into what could’ve been (or should’ve been) on at least a semi-regular basis.
It was a total team effort as nine of our skaters tallied at least a point. Indeed, everyone from our stars to our foot soldiers to our patchwork defense chipped in. Perhaps no one more than Tristan Jarry, who resembled his two-time All-Star self and not the sagging underachiever who’d been yanked from the net four times in the past month.
Following an even first period when both clubs gave as good as they got, the Pens took charge in the second.