Seattle appears to be peaking | Forum
miaowang123
Feb 27 '18
PITTSBURGH -- The steady stream of bold-faced names heading to injured reserve shows no signs of abating for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Cody Parkey Jersey . Thankfully for the Penguins, neither is Sidney Crosby. Crosbys 19th goal of the season broke a tie with just over 6 minutes remaining and Pittsburgh edged the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 on Monday night for their fourth straight victory. Chris Conner and Brandon Sutter also scored for the Penguins, who were playing without a number of regulars, including forward Evgeni Malkin. "We keep finding ways," Crosby said. "A lot has to do with the way the (new guys) are playing." Pittsburgh took the ice with a handful of players who have spent the majority of the season at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League and only one defenceman -- Matt Niskanen -- with more than one year of NHL experience. It hardly mattered on a night the Penguins kept the speedy Maple Leafs in check. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 25 shots for Pittsburgh to improve to 27-3 in his past 30 home starts. Pittsburgh has won four straight and nine of 10. "Its a pretty unique situation," Niskanen said. "One rookie and five young guys playing. ... These guys have been coming up and playing with confidence and doing a good job. Thats exciting for the organization." Morgan Rielly scored the first goal of his career for the Maple Leafs. Jonathan Bernier made 28 saves, but couldnt stop Toronto from losing for the fourth time in its past five games. "We just werent sharp," Maple Leafs coach Randy Carlyle said. The Penguins have a firm grip on the top of the Metropolitan Division despite a series of injuries to high-profile players. Kris Letang joined fellow defenceman Brooks Orpik (concussion), Paul Martin (broken leg) and Rob Scuderi (broken ankle) on the IR Monday with an upper-body injury of his own, forcing coach Dan Bylsma to get creative with his pairings. Rookie Philip Samuelsson, whose father Ulf won a pair of Stanley Cups with the Penguins in the early 1990s, made his NHL debut against the Maple Leafs. The younger Samuelsson received a quick lesson from his teammates on the level of expectation from Brian Dumoulin, playing in just the second game of his career. Dumoulin helped give the Penguins a quick 1-0 lead, collecting the puck near the point then firing it on net, allowing Conner to jab it by Bernier for his third goal of the season 39 seconds into the game. The tally seemed to embolden Pittsburgh, which controlled play for long stretches in the first period, keeping Bernier busy while the defence did a fine job of neutralizing Torontos speedy counterattack. The Maple Leafs tied it 6:03 into the second as Rielly, the fifth overall pick in the 2012 draft, skated through the Pittsburgh zone and beat Fleury over the goaltenders right shoulder for the highly regarded defencemans first career goal. The power-play score ended the Penguins streak of 18 consecutive penalty kills, though the score had less to do with any kind of breakdown and more to do with Riellys wicked wrist shot. Toronto kept the pressure on well into the third period, but Pittsburgh regained control after killing off an illegal check to the head penalty on Robert Bortuzzo, who levelled Maple Leaf forward Jerry DAmigo during a collision near centre ice. The 6-foot-4 defenceman, who has struggled to crack the lineup, shook off the penalty and even picked up his first point of the season on Crosbys winner. The Maple Leafs won the draw deep in their zone but Bortuzzo knocked down the clearing attempt then fed the puck up the wall to Pascal Dupuis, who slipped a quick pass to Crosby between the circles. "There was a lot of room there," Crosby said. "(Dupuis) made a great pass on my tape and I found the back of the net. Sutters short-handed empty-net goal with 3 seconds left sealed it and the Penguins remained hot while the Maple Leafs couldnt back up a promising 7-3 romp over defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago on Saturday night. "We were a little inconsistent, but we did do some good things," Torontos Dion Phaneuf said. "Weve got to capitalize on the power play and do some things better." NOTES: Toronto finished 1 of 5 on the power play. ... The Penguins are 13-1 when leading after the first period. ... Pittsburgh has won eight straight games at Consol Energy Center. ... The Maple Leafs begin a three-game homestand on Tuesday against Florida. ... Pittsburgh forward Jason Megna left with a lower body injury and did not return. He is not expected to play Wednesday when the Penguins face the Rangers in New York. Brandon Doughty Jersey . Striker Dario Mandzukic scored the opener in the 22nd minute but was given a red card nine minutes later for a reckless tackle and left Croatia with 10 men for the remainder of the match. Dan Marino Jersey . The turf is scheduled to give way to actual grass that is bright green, so we dont have to complain any more—we just have to wait a few years. Instead, do feel free to complain if the roof is closed for any reason other than to allow a game to be played.Now that was ugly.No, not the performance of the Bengals in the second half at Indianapolis in our Upset Special.And not the controversy over the officiating in Dallas victory against Detroit.The way Pro Picks faltered out of the post-season gate, going 0-4 against the spread: THAT was ugly.So its time to rectify. Here we go — but with no upset special this week. Still trying to shake off the effects of the previous one.No. 8 Indianapolis (plus 7) at No. 5 Denver, SundayThe focus, deservedly, will be on Peyton Manning and the quarterback who replaced him in Indianapolis, Andrew Luck. How juicy would a shootout between those two be?This one very well might be decided by the defences, however, which means advantage Denver, despite what Indy did against playoff flop Cincinnati.Denver was undefeated at home this season, including an opening 31-24 victory over the Colts. The Broncos have displayed more balance on defence than Indy, which can be run on. With the way Denver has redesigned its offence recently, that could be a decided edge.As can being off last week. Boy, did Denver need the bye.Luckily, weve played well enough in the season to get a bye week, which helped us, because if we played last week, (linebacker) Brandon Marshall probably doesnt play and (safety) T.J. (Ward) is probably a little rusty, tackle Terrance Knighton said. Those three days off allowed people to refocus and its almost like a new season now.Which will begin with another win.BEST BET: BRONCOS, 33-20No. 10 (tie) Baltimore (plus 7) at No. 2 New England, SaturdayIf theres one team that doesnt fear a journey to Foxborough, its the Ravens. Theyve won there twice in the post-season, including the 2012 AFC title game that preceded their victory over San Francisco in the Super Bowl. The year before, they lost by three points when Billy Cundiff missed a chip-shot field goal to force overtime.New England always is formidable at home, winning all sevenn of the games that meant anything this season. Alterraun Verner Jersey. Having gone a decade since their last Super Bowl crown, the Patriots, most notably Tom Brady, are on a mission.Yes, Baltimore was impressive in winning at Pittsburgh last Saturday night, and Joe Flacco has become just as clutch at quarterback as anyone. But the Ravens secondary remains questionable despite shutting down the Steelers.PATRIOTS, 28-24No. 13 Carolina (plus 10 1/2) at No. 1 Seattle, SaturdayGive credit to the Panthers for winning four straight to take the NFC South, then handling Arizona in the wild-card round. Then consider that the victories were over New Orleans, Tampa, Cleveland and Atlanta — all losing clubs — and the injury-weakened Cardinals.Seattle appears to be peaking, especially on defence, where it has that nasty and stingy edge again. It doesnt usually blow out opponents and probably wont do so against Carolina. But the Seahawks are on a mission, too, trying to become the first repeat Super Bowl champs since the Patriots of 2003-04.SEAHAWKS: 23-13No. 4 Dallas (plus 6) at No. 3 Green Bay, SundayHard to believe the Cowboys have not been back to Lambeau Field in the post-season since the 1967 Ice Bowl. Equally hard to believe this is a matchup (for the first time) of an 8-0 road team against an 8-0 host.Having already won in Seattle, the Cowboys know all about handling the toughest environment in pro football. Except Green Bay in January, with all the weather considerations — not to mention Aaron Rodgers chucking the ball, Eddie Lacy carrying it, and an improving defence led by Clay Matthews — is another animal. A grizzly, perhaps.PACKERS, 27-24___2014 RECORD: Against spread: This week (0-4); Season (128-120-5). Straight up: This week (2-2); Season (171-87-1)Best Bet: 7-11 against spread, 11-7 straight up.Upset special: 9-9 against spread, 7-11 straight up.___AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL ;Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys China Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic Wholesale Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys China NFL Cheap Jerseys ' ' '
Share:
