PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – You knew Colorado was going to come out flying after losing to the Pens 7-2 at home last Monday. It was a tight game for most of the first period until three goals in 1:55 late in the first frame and the Avalanche was a noun and verb in a 6-2 win at PPG Paints Arena.
After being pulled early eight days ago against the Pens, Colorado goalie Scott Wedgewood was outstanding with 29 saves in 31 shots.
“It was that,” said Pens head coach Dan Muse of Wedgewood’s performance. “Some of it we may have missed on a couple, he also made some big saves. Some of the saves in the moments that he did, things could have felt different there if we had scored on any of those.”
Overturned goal
It appeared the Pens scored on one more of those chances. Avs up 4-1 midway through the second period, the Pens Justin Brazeau came up from behind the net, dove for a rebound and on his belly was able to get his stick on the puck and slide it in.
There was contact with Wedgewood as Brazeau fought for position and Colorado challenged. The refs ruled goaltender interference and disallowed the goal, it’s back to 4-1 Avalanche.
“Did it impact the game, yeah,” Muse said. “I felt like… I doesn’t matter what I felt. At the end of the day we got to respond. If that goal goes in and we get a power play because they challenged, it could be very different. I felt differently than the league on that one.”
“I don’t really know,” Brazeau said when asked if he interfered. “I was just trying to get position inside. I thought he made a little bit of contact with him. I didn’t think there was much there to be honest. It’s just one of those things you got to fight through.
“It would have been a two-goal game giving us some momentum,” said forward Rickard Rakell. “We got to fight through that. Right now it’s a frustrating feeling coming up short.”
Dan Muse has challenged goalie interference eight times and lost every challenge. Teams have challenged against the Pens and won three of the four times.
“That’s how it goes,” Muse said. “We got to make sure we respond to the situation at hand.”
800
His first point came when President Bush was in office at Madison Square Garden in 2006 (in his third career NHL game), Tuesday night an assist on Egor Chinakhov’s goal was his 800th career point. That’s 20th all-time among NHL defensemen and 11 behind former teammate Sergei Gonchar and Victor Hedman. The 622 assists is 19th on the all-time list.
Up next
Pens continue the crazy month at Ottawa Thursday night. With a Senators win Tuesday they are just a point behind the Pens in the overall Eastern Conference standings. After Thursday, the Pens are back home Saturday at 5p against playoff-bound Dallas.
“Nobody is going to feel sorry for us, not inside or outside,” said forward Bryan Rust. “We got to get back to work. We are in the fight of our lives right now. Things are extremely tight with a lot of teams. We got to get points.”
What the Pens said about the disallowed goal & performance in 6-2 loss
