The Pittsburgh Penguins decided last night to hand over the last game ever played at Mellon Arena. The same place that housed some of hockey's greatest players (Lemieux, Jagr) and hosted many more (Gretzky, Brodeur, Yzerman), was given a farewell from its team the equivalent of an uninvited money shot.
After watching the horrid display from last night, and because I am uncreative, I decided to post a mental diary of the game.
At 7:00 pm, my friend Jake and I attempt to walk into Carson City Saloon, but it is so packed the fire marshal should have been involved. Jake and I decided to walk down the street to the ATM, then probably go to a different bar. As we stop so Jake can feed his bad habit (smoking) I receive a text from my friend in Altoona saying "you have got to be shitting me". I knew already they had given up a shitty goal very early into the game.
As we walk into the bar, it is about 5 minutes into the game. (I will display everything in hockey time, counting up from 0:00 through the period)
1st Period
4:59 Halak has just made a long save on an Alex Goligoski shot. My friend and I buy beers and get ready to watch what will become a loooooong slow death.
7:28 Gonchar draws a penalty. The Pens have been very good on the power play this entire post season. This was not a night for that. 1:30 into the power play, they only had 1 shot, turned over the puck and Fleury had to make a save short handed.
14:23 Terrible defense allows for a quick wristshot by Dominic Moore and Montreal is suddenly up 2-0. You could just feel the air get sucked out of the Mellon Arena like MegaMaid from Spaceballs.
(Up 2-0, Montreal is pretty much impossible to beat. They go into a heavily defensive setting. They start launching shots on Fleury from the blue line to force Pittsburgh to push the puck
around behind their own net. They also keep their defensemen back far and play a man at center ice. Every time the Pens try taking the puck into the offensive zone, it gets taken away.)
20:00 Period ends. The place is so quite, you can hear Malkin's parents struggling to speak English.
2nd Period
3:32 Pittsburgh continues put play lifeless. Chris Kunitz turns the puck over. Montreal snaps a quick shot and suddenly its 3-0.
(At this point the bar is in shock. I look at Jake and say "We will do a shot for every Pens goal. It will be perfect, because if they come back and win this, I will need at least 4 shots." )
3:59 Montreal goes to the box for roughing Gonchar. Pens have a fantastic chance to make this a 2 goal game with over half the game left. Plenty of time to make a comeback, especially with their talent. But....
5:14 Chris Kunitz has another terrible turnover leading to a fast break. Travis Moen has a 1 on 3 short handed, shoots a shitty little floating shot at Fleury.... AND IT GOES IN!!! 4-0 Canadians 26 minutes into the game. This is unreal. I have not seem Pens fans this deflated since before the lockout.
(Two things happened here: (1) This is the WORST goal I have ever seen. Ever. It starts out with a bad turnover on a power play they desperately needed down 3-0 in game 7 at home. Then no one pressures the puck as he easily skates in against a 1 on 3. Then the puck just floats into the net. (2) Fleury was absolutely horrible last night. Definitely the worst I have seen him in a while. He allowed 3 really bad goals. I always try to support him, even when he has a bad game, but last night was inexcusable. You wanna have a bad game on December 12th, thats ok. You cannot have a bad game on May 12th, in game 7, at home.)
(The bar is starting to fill up. The people walking in are looking at the screen like there was a natural disaster. )
As we walk into the bar, it is about 5 minutes into the game. (I will display everything in hockey time, counting up from 0:00 through the period)
1st Period
4:59 Halak has just made a long save on an Alex Goligoski shot. My friend and I buy beers and get ready to watch what will become a loooooong slow death.
7:28 Gonchar draws a penalty. The Pens have been very good on the power play this entire post season. This was not a night for that. 1:30 into the power play, they only had 1 shot, turned over the puck and Fleury had to make a save short handed.
14:23 Terrible defense allows for a quick wristshot by Dominic Moore and Montreal is suddenly up 2-0. You could just feel the air get sucked out of the Mellon Arena like MegaMaid from Spaceballs.
(Up 2-0, Montreal is pretty much impossible to beat. They go into a heavily defensive setting. They start launching shots on Fleury from the blue line to force Pittsburgh to push the puck
around behind their own net. They also keep their defensemen back far and play a man at center ice. Every time the Pens try taking the puck into the offensive zone, it gets taken away.)20:00 Period ends. The place is so quite, you can hear Malkin's parents struggling to speak English.
2nd Period
3:32 Pittsburgh continues put play lifeless. Chris Kunitz turns the puck over. Montreal snaps a quick shot and suddenly its 3-0.
(At this point the bar is in shock. I look at Jake and say "We will do a shot for every Pens goal. It will be perfect, because if they come back and win this, I will need at least 4 shots." )
3:59 Montreal goes to the box for roughing Gonchar. Pens have a fantastic chance to make this a 2 goal game with over half the game left. Plenty of time to make a comeback, especially with their talent. But....
5:14 Chris Kunitz has another terrible turnover leading to a fast break. Travis Moen has a 1 on 3 short handed, shoots a shitty little floating shot at Fleury.... AND IT GOES IN!!! 4-0 Canadians 26 minutes into the game. This is unreal. I have not seem Pens fans this deflated since before the lockout.
(Two things happened here: (1) This is the WORST goal I have ever seen. Ever. It starts out with a bad turnover on a power play they desperately needed down 3-0 in game 7 at home. Then no one pressures the puck as he easily skates in against a 1 on 3. Then the puck just floats into the net. (2) Fleury was absolutely horrible last night. Definitely the worst I have seen him in a while. He allowed 3 really bad goals. I always try to support him, even when he has a bad game, but last night was inexcusable. You wanna have a bad game on December 12th, thats ok. You cannot have a bad game on May 12th, in game 7, at home.)
(The bar is starting to fill up. The people walking in are looking at the screen like there was a natural disaster. )
5:14 Fleury gets pulled.
(The bar erupts in applause. This is the first clapping I have heard since I got there. Not a good sign)
6:08 Brent Johnson makes a save and the crowd gets excited.
(People begin talking about other things. The focus goes off the game, but the whole bar has a tension. Like something could happen any minute and the Pens could make a run.)
7:41 After 2 quick shots on net by the Penguins there is a stoppage in play and a TV timeout.
(The energy in the bar is growing and you can feel Mellon Arena waking up.)
8:36 Letang missed the net wide, the puck rolls to the left side and... BOOM! Chris Kunitz finally gets one past Halak.
(The bar erupts! I have never seen a place more excited to be down by 3 goals. We are all saying the same thing, "Pens need one more before the end of the period. If they get that, they are definitely in it!")
12:06 The Penguins are gaining momentum. There is an icing on Pittsburgh that bring it back down to their end.
13:31 Brent Johnson makes another save and freezes the puck.
(The noise grows.)
13:49 Roman Hamerlik is whistled for holding.
(The crown approves.)
14:09 Blocked shot
15:03 Blocked shot
15: 46 Gonchar blasts a shot from the point. Halak makes a good save, but you can just feel a goal coming.
16:30 Shot from the point is redirected by Jordan Stahl... GOAL!!!!
(We have ourselves a game folks. Mellon Arena is rocking and Pittsburgh has all the momentum now.)
16:48 Brent Johnson makes a huge save.
(The crowd continues to roar.)
17:47 Goligoski ripped a slapper from the point. Halak makes a save. The crowd is going
absolutely insane. Lets go to commercial.
(This was by far the best part of the game. When they return from commercial, they show Malkin's dad, standing up, waving a white towel like a mad man and screaming "LETS GO PENS!". So is the entire crowd. The place is absolutely bonkers.)
19:00 Tyler Kennedy and Mike Cammalleri get into a scuffle and each get 2 minutes for roughing. 4 on 4 hockey, where Pittsburgh excels.
(Everyone again is saying, "If we can get one more before the end of the period we can win this game!")
19:50 Pascal Dupius gets cross checked and draws a penalty. Pittsburgh is about to get 1:30 of 4 on 3. This is the time to strike.
20:00 They loose the faceoff, and the period ends.
3rd Period
0:00 Pittsburgh is riding high off of the 2nd period.
0:27 Slapshot by Malkin; saved!
0:28 Crosby rebound, saved again!
(Halak has returned to being a brick wall at this point. He has let 2 in, but has also made several big saves. These start to push the momentum back to Montreal.)
6:40 Hal Gill FINALLY gets called for holding on Crosby. It is kind of a ticky tacky call, but this was a "make up call" for the last 20 periods of hockey they have let Gill molest Crosby.
6:50/6:51 Malkin has back to back slap shots that are saved by Halak. (The crowd is going nuts.)
8:40 The Pens played their first PP line for the full 2 minutes of the man advantage in desperation. (Other than game 5, this is the first time Pittsburgh has showed any desperation in the playoffs. This was the turning point of the game though.) Montreal makes a push and forces a tired line to play defense for another 15 seconds until...
8:58 Pens finally clear the zone, while lazily changing lines, it happens. TOO MANY MEN ON THE ICE.
(We now have 11 minutes left, and the Pens are going on the penalty kill for the worst possible reason. If it would have been a big hit or a fight, this gives them momentum. But an undisciplined penalty from a tired shift just kills them.)
10:00 Montreal gets traffic in front and makes a great play. Brian Gionta pops one in from the left side and it is a 3 goal lead again for Montreal.
15:31 Pens get another PP, and for the next 2 minutes the Pens launch pucks at the net, but nothing gets past Halak. We are now at 17:31 as the penalty ends and this is no longer a feasible come back.
We watch the last 2:30 of hockey ever to be played at Mellon Arena with a sinking feeling in our stomachs. "Is this really how it is going to end? This bad?" The pucks passes up and down the ice and the Pens get nailed for another too many men on the ice penalty.
19:56 Pascal Dupuis slaps an 80 ft slap shot saved by Halak and with 4 seconds left it is officially over.
Now all we can look for is our campaign to have Jean Claude Van Dame be the one to push the button to implode Mellon-Civic Arena.
(The bar erupts in applause. This is the first clapping I have heard since I got there. Not a good sign)
6:08 Brent Johnson makes a save and the crowd gets excited.
(People begin talking about other things. The focus goes off the game, but the whole bar has a tension. Like something could happen any minute and the Pens could make a run.)
7:41 After 2 quick shots on net by the Penguins there is a stoppage in play and a TV timeout.
(The energy in the bar is growing and you can feel Mellon Arena waking up.)
8:36 Letang missed the net wide, the puck rolls to the left side and... BOOM! Chris Kunitz finally gets one past Halak.
(The bar erupts! I have never seen a place more excited to be down by 3 goals. We are all saying the same thing, "Pens need one more before the end of the period. If they get that, they are definitely in it!")
12:06 The Penguins are gaining momentum. There is an icing on Pittsburgh that bring it back down to their end.
13:31 Brent Johnson makes another save and freezes the puck.
(The noise grows.)
13:49 Roman Hamerlik is whistled for holding.
(The crown approves.)
14:09 Blocked shot
15:03 Blocked shot
15: 46 Gonchar blasts a shot from the point. Halak makes a good save, but you can just feel a goal coming.
16:30 Shot from the point is redirected by Jordan Stahl... GOAL!!!!
(We have ourselves a game folks. Mellon Arena is rocking and Pittsburgh has all the momentum now.)
16:48 Brent Johnson makes a huge save.
(The crowd continues to roar.)
17:47 Goligoski ripped a slapper from the point. Halak makes a save. The crowd is going
absolutely insane. Lets go to commercial.(This was by far the best part of the game. When they return from commercial, they show Malkin's dad, standing up, waving a white towel like a mad man and screaming "LETS GO PENS!". So is the entire crowd. The place is absolutely bonkers.)
19:00 Tyler Kennedy and Mike Cammalleri get into a scuffle and each get 2 minutes for roughing. 4 on 4 hockey, where Pittsburgh excels.
(Everyone again is saying, "If we can get one more before the end of the period we can win this game!")
19:50 Pascal Dupius gets cross checked and draws a penalty. Pittsburgh is about to get 1:30 of 4 on 3. This is the time to strike.
20:00 They loose the faceoff, and the period ends.
3rd Period
0:00 Pittsburgh is riding high off of the 2nd period.
0:27 Slapshot by Malkin; saved!
0:28 Crosby rebound, saved again!
(Halak has returned to being a brick wall at this point. He has let 2 in, but has also made several big saves. These start to push the momentum back to Montreal.)
6:40 Hal Gill FINALLY gets called for holding on Crosby. It is kind of a ticky tacky call, but this was a "make up call" for the last 20 periods of hockey they have let Gill molest Crosby.
6:50/6:51 Malkin has back to back slap shots that are saved by Halak. (The crowd is going nuts.)
8:40 The Pens played their first PP line for the full 2 minutes of the man advantage in desperation. (Other than game 5, this is the first time Pittsburgh has showed any desperation in the playoffs. This was the turning point of the game though.) Montreal makes a push and forces a tired line to play defense for another 15 seconds until...
8:58 Pens finally clear the zone, while lazily changing lines, it happens. TOO MANY MEN ON THE ICE.
(We now have 11 minutes left, and the Pens are going on the penalty kill for the worst possible reason. If it would have been a big hit or a fight, this gives them momentum. But an undisciplined penalty from a tired shift just kills them.)
10:00 Montreal gets traffic in front and makes a great play. Brian Gionta pops one in from the left side and it is a 3 goal lead again for Montreal.
15:31 Pens get another PP, and for the next 2 minutes the Pens launch pucks at the net, but nothing gets past Halak. We are now at 17:31 as the penalty ends and this is no longer a feasible come back.
We watch the last 2:30 of hockey ever to be played at Mellon Arena with a sinking feeling in our stomachs. "Is this really how it is going to end? This bad?" The pucks passes up and down the ice and the Pens get nailed for another too many men on the ice penalty.
19:56 Pascal Dupuis slaps an 80 ft slap shot saved by Halak and with 4 seconds left it is officially over.
Now all we can look for is our campaign to have Jean Claude Van Dame be the one to push the button to implode Mellon-Civic Arena.
