Marc-Andre Fleury had a chance to get real familiar with Blues captain David Backes Sunday.
In fact it was a tip-in by Backes that provided the only scoring of the day
as the top team in the Western Conference came into Consol Energy Center
and managed to push the Pens around a bit on their way to a hard fought 1-0 victory.
We were there and managed to get a few photos from the cozy confines of section 105.
Check them out after the jump.
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We were deep in the Blues zone for warm-ups, so I took the opportunity to get
some shots of the opposing team.
This was Ryan Miller's first trip to Pittsburgh since being traded from Buffalo.
Unfortunately, Miller spent the game on a stool at the end of the bench.
The Pens would have to face Elliott in net.
There were more than a few Blues fans in attendance.
And some Buffalo fans, here to pay tribute to their departed goaltender.
Heck, there were even some Morrow fans.
Always a favorite of Pens fans since his days with Montreal,
Maxim Lapierre has a face you'd just love to punch.
I did have a mission for this game,
to get a better pic of T.J. Oshie than this one from back in 2011:
And so, I give you, our 2014 Winter Olympic Preliminary Round Shootout Hero.
Oh yeah, the Pens were warming up a couple hundred feet away.
Anthem:
First Period:
The Blues D made life pretty tough for any Pens trying to get close to their net.
The period ended with two Blues in the box.
The Pens would start the second with a minute and a half of a two-man advantage.
Second Period:
Geno, trying to get things going on the power play.
But the Pens failed to capitalize.
Backes, getting real comfortable in Fleury's kitchen.
Sid looks to a higher power (Mario).
Eventually, we knew that Maxim was going to be Maxim and piss somebody off.
In this case it was CFA, who responded
by trying to unscrew Lapierre's head.
Embarrassingly, they earned only two minute roughing calls for their efforts,
plus the extra two to Lapierre for charging.
Back to hockey, and another fruitless Pens power play.
Third Period:
The Pens were putting on some pressure early in the third,
but then Geno went off for high sticking.
The Blues used their timeout to settle things down on the power play.
Though the Pens were able to kill of the penalty,
the Blues got the goal just seconds after Geno got out of the box.
And then Neal made this face.
To make up for his costly penalty earlier in the period,
Geno drew the tripping call on Bouwmeester to give the Pens a late power play.
Can't say the Pens didn't have their chances,
but Elliott and the Blues D proved unbeatable today.
Time for one last stand.
Geno, totally gassed, looked for anything left in the tank.
No miracle ending was to come.
St. Louis held on for the 1-0 win.
Knitting Lady and I saw our regular season win streak end at 20.
Hugs all around on the Blues side.
Oh well, it was a good game.
Maybe we've been saying it a little too much lately,
but the Pens played tough against a top team,
a team they could very well be facing down the road.
Anyway, that's the end of the regular season for us.
We hope to get back for some playoff action.
Until then
LET'S GO PENS!!!
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