Time to make St.Louis sing the Blues!

The Pittsburgh Penguins will close out their four-game homestead as they host the St. Louis Blues at Consol Energy Center tonight. All four games have been against Western Conference teams. The Penguins are ranked first among Eastern Conference teams as they have 40 wins against the West in the last three years.

Currently, the Blues are 8-4 on the road and only trail the Dallas Stars by four points for the Central Division’s top spot. On the road, Vladimir Tarasenko and Alexander Sheen have scored six goals each in the last 12 road games for the Blues. They are a team that knows how to put up points while on the road. This will be even truer as Paul Statsny is healthy once again. He will join Steen and David Backes, giving the Blues a more solid offensive front that will go perfectly with their deep defensive core, which is tops in the league.

With such a solid team, the Blues are a force that is not to be taken lightly. The Penguins will have to get their power play on track to start. Through the first nine games, the power play went two for 31 (6.5%). Then from October 29-November 7, they went five for 13 (38.5%). Now in the last three games the power play is four for 16 (25%). It has improved, but it should be lethal with the amount of talent on it. It still has flaws and is not very consistent. If they want to get wins and make a deep run in the playoffs, their power play woes need to be solved.

The Penguins must also focus on getting traffic in front of Jake Allen, who has been great in the net for the Blues. The Penguins have to pressure him and make his job even harder. That means firing shots, shots, and more shots on him every chance they get.

As for defense, there must be cleaner playing and puck clearing. The Penguins cannot afford any messy plays or turnovers. They must also keep the front of the net clear for Marc-Andre Fleury, who has been a wall and kept the team in games. He needs a clear front to make the crucial saves. Most importantly, the Penguins have to help him out. He has been left out to dry way too much.

This game needs to be a consistent, 60-minute effort by the Penguins!

Lets Go Pens! 

The Pens lineup is as follows:

Forwards
Dupuis - Crosby - Hornqivst
Perron - Malkin - Kessel
Kunitz - Bonino - Bennett
Plotnikov - Cullen - Fehr

Defense
Scuderi - Letang
Dumoulin - Lovejoy
Cole - Clendening

Fleury in the net!

Play By Play
PENS 4 Blues 3

Overtime
THE PENS GET THE 4-3 WIN IN OVERTIME! WHAT A GREAT JOB BY THE GUYS TO GET THIS WIN! WAY TO CLOSE AT HOME! 

3:40 - MALKIN SCORES! Kessel and Malkin come flying into the offensive zone! Kessel passes over to Malkin who stick handles around Allen's outstretched pad into the net! 4-3 Pens!

5:00 - Time for overtime! The Pens need to end this one early! Lets Go Pens!


3rd Period
0:00 - We are headed to Overtime!

3:22 - Malkin stick handles around two Blues, but is denied by a sprawling save.

5:41 - Pietrangelo Scores. Pietrangelo comes flying in and sneaks one between the arm and body of Fleury. 3-3 tie game.

7:40 - Lightning quick pad by Fleury to deny Tarasenko!

10:48 - The Pens kill it!

12:48 - Bortuzzo hooks up Kunitz and will go to the sin bin.

13:11 - LOVEJOY SCORES! Perron puts the puck back to the point, where Lovejoy fires a rocket shot past Allen! 3-2 Pens!

14:35 - The Pens kill off the Blues power play.

15:45 - Fleury with a few great saves to keep things tied at two.

16:33 - Now a power play for the Blues.

16:35 - Pens power play ends as Kunitz heads to the box. Crosby also had the hatter. 4 on 4 for two seconds.

18:33 - The Pens will head onto the power play and look to take back the lead.

18:48 - Fabbri Scores. Fabbri skates backwards into the Pens zone and looks like he is going to pass the puck. He holds and fires a wrister past Fleury. 2-2 tie game.

20:00 - Third period time! The Pens have to keep their foot on the gas pedal! Lets Go Pens!


2nd Period

0:00 - Second period ends and the Pens have the 2-1 lead over the Blues!

2:20 - Plotnikov is on it tonight. I wouldn't be surprise to see him get one.

4:21 - Fleury is looking good in net.

8:02 - The Pens fourth line is grinding things out.

10:03 - CROSBY SCORES ON THE POWER PLAY! Malkin fires the puck on net and Crosby deflects it past Allen! 2-1 Pens!

11:30 - Power play for the Pens.

11:53 - Crosby protects the puck while coming down the wing. Allen makes the save on Crosby's backhand shot. 

15:35 - The Pens fourth line is doing work as they keep the Blues from getting any offensive momentum. 

17:37 - Fleury makes an unreal left arm save on Tarasenko. 

17:58 - The Blues fire one over the net. Close one there. 

20:00 - Second period is underway! The Pens have to get more shots on net and pressure the Blues in their own zone! Lets Go Pens! 

1st Period

0:00 - First period ends and this game is tied at one a piece. 

3:41 - CROSBY SCORES! Dupuis forces a turnover in the Blues zone and the puck is left in the slot area! Crosby gets to it and slaps one past Allen! 1-1 tie game. 

4:51 - The Pens power play ends with zero registered shots. 

6:51 - Malkin draws a hooking penalty on Statsny. Pens to the power play. 

7:55 - Plotnikov just misses a rebound chance. 

10:45 - Statsny Scores on the power play. Steen makes a shot pass to Statsny down low by the goal post. He doesn't miss. 1-0 Blues. 

10:52 - Cole to the box for holding the stick and the Blues get the first power play of the game. 

12:06 - Crosby backhands one that is saved and Dupuis just misses the rebound chance. 

12:52 - Kunitz fires, but Allen makes the save. 

15:38 - Blues creating some traffic in front of Fleury. 

17:20 - The first line gets to work. Crosby with some unreal stick handling moves!

20:00 - The puck has dropped at Consol! Lets Go Pens!