Sidney Crosby gave it his best shot, at times it seemed like he was trying single handedly to put a notch in the W column for his owner and his landlord as well as his other team mates. Facing a distracted Florida Panthers team (many wondering how their families fared under the howling winds of Wilma) Crosby played large, as he did his share in trying to end the Pens frustrating streak of non wins.
While he only placed one point on the scoring sheet, his play contributed to six power play opportunities as the Panthers flustered by the speed of Crosby, corralled him time and time again, incidents for which they were penalized time and time again.
Yet in the end it was a penalty to Mario Lemieux that dashed the hopes for a Penguin victory, Lemieux picked up an interference penalty in the last seventeen seconds of the third period, a power play opportunity that carried over into overtime for the Panthers and was rewarded with a goal by Stephen Weiss 53 seconds into OT, securing the win for Florida.
Lemieux left the ice in rather foul mood, letting the referee's crew know that he was not impressed with their work on the night. With Pittsburgh's record now 0-4-5, nowhere near where Lemieux had hoped to have them considering the sizeable investment made in players in the off season.
Mario may not be happy with the refs, but he should really direct his angst towards the power play, the Pens had 12 power play opportunities and only converted two of them into goals. That is more of an indication as to where the work needs to be done. Between that and shoddy work in their own end the Pens have more than enough things to worry about besides the officiating. With the team already suffering the longest winless streak in its history, the pressure will be on to snare a win soon.
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