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| Anton Zlobin led the Penguins attack tonight, with two goals 46 seconds apart late in the 2nd period to pace Penguns past Providence. Photo credit: @ItsJacki. |
Anton Zlobin took over the game late in the 2nd period and his two goals 46 seconds apart broke open a 1-1 game that ended up being a 6-1 rout full of dirty hits, line brawls and a best-of-seven series headed to Providence even at one game apiece.
While the Penguins seemed like they couldn't do anything right 24 hours ago, they seemed to not be able to do anything wrong tonight. What a difference a day makes.
The Penguins went 3-for-6 on the power play tonight, something they haven't been able to do all postseason - capitalize consistently with the man advantage.
The game got ugly in the third period with the Penguins ahead 5-1 as several post-whistle scrums and subsequent line brawls led to 118 penalty minutes in the final 14 minutes alone.
Bobby Robins was in the middle of both of the major line brawls, going after Scott Harrington at the 6:00 mark and attacking Harrington's defensive partner Brendan Mikkelson in an ugly scrum with 7:31 left - an altercation in which Robins led with two cross checks to the face of a player not willing to engage in a fight. I'm sure Penguins head coach John Hynes will send the tape to the league to review but I would be shocked if any supplemental discipline was handed out.
The two teams have time to cool off before the series resumes in Providence for Game Three Wednesday night.
A much better effort in the first frame tonight for the Penguins, who were able to get on the forecheck and create offensive pressure by causing turnovers in the Bruins defensive end. The fourth line in particular (Uher-Sill-Farnham) were causing trouble down-low often in the first period.
The Penguins best chance came on a 2-on-1 chance where Nick Drazenovic opted to shoot and Niklas Svedberg was able to squeeze the pads and prevent Drazenovic from getting the Pens on the board.
The Pens failed to score on their only power play chance of the first frame, but were able to kill off two Bruins power plays thanks in part to some big saves from Peter Mannino.
The Penguins hard work and effort paid off in the second period in a big way, although it didn't appear that way until there was 4:02 left in the middle frame.
With the game tied 1-1 after goals from Conor Sheary and Justin Florek for the Penguins and Bruins, respectively, Anton Zlobin took over the game. Zlobin sniped one to the top left corner and followed it up with a power play tally 46 seconds later to break the game open and give the Penguins a 3-1 lead.
Chuck Kobasew followed it up with a power play goal moments later to make it a 4-1 game heading into the third period.
The Penguins didn't let off the gas in a physical third period, adding goals from Tom Kostopoulos to chase Svedberg 4:26 into the 3rd and a harmless Brian Dumoulin wrist shot from just inside the blue line that eluded an unsuspecting Malcolm Subban halfway through the final frame.
ROSTER NOTES
Peter Mannino got the start in net tonight for the Penguins. Matt Murray was his backup.
Up front, Anton Zlobin - who missed the team's last two games after he sustained an upper body injury in Game Three of their first round series - took the warmup skate and returned to the WBS lineup.
To make room up front for Zlobin, Carter Rowney was scratched. The only line that stayed the same from last night's Game One loss was the fourth line.
No changes were made on defense, although Harrison Ruopp did take the warmup skate tonight.
Scratches for the Penguins: Eric Hartzell, Jeff Deslauries, Philip Samuelsson, Nick D'Agostino, Harrison Ruopp, Mike Carman, Andrew Ebbett, Pierre-Luc Leblond, Josh Archibald, Scott Wilson and Bryan Rust.
Lines
Zlobin - Drazenovic - Machacek
Sheary - Megna - Kobasew
Zolnierczyk - Payerl - Kostopoulos
Uher - Sill - Farnham
McNeill - Despres
Harrington - Mikkelson
Dumoulin - Goers
Mannino - Murray
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