Thursday, July 23, 2009

Round 3... Pens vs Canes... 5.21.09

My dad and I went to see the Pens play the 'Canes in Round 3 of the 2009 playoffs. Upon entering the arena, everyone was given a really cool t-shirt that had a close-up picture of the eye from the penguin and underneath the eye, it said, "The real eye of the storm". This game lacked the intense emotion of the games against the Flyers and the Capitols- it barely even felt like a playoff game, let alone an Eastern Conference final game, until the middle of the 3rd when the Pens began to dominate.

Sid scored a goal in the first few minutes of play, but the Canes scored soon after to even the game. The score went back and forth through the first and second. At the beginning of the third, Geno decided to take over the game and scored 2 of his 3 goals. His third goal was absolutely incredible; after watching the replay hundreds of times, I still cannot believe that the puck actually went in the net. To score, he won the face off, threw the puck to the wall, beat the center to the puck, skated with it behind the net and then shot it on the backhand while turning away from the net to score the goal.

This goal got Geno a hat trick, and it was the first hat trick I have been in attendance for. It was so neat to see all the hats on the ice and watch the players while the ice was cleared. Geno actually looked upset that he had to wait while they stopped the game to clean the ice.

With about 7 minutes left in the game, they showed a few Steelers on the jumbo-tron and played Renegade during a tv time out. My dad looked at me and said, "If we were at Heinz field, we'd be standing for the next 7 minutes." With a minute left, Tyler Kennedy scored an empty net goal to give the Penguins a 7-4 win.

The Pens went on to sweep the 'Canes and earn a trip to the Stanley Cup Final.


I had great seats for this game. Here are some of the pictures I took.
Kris during warm-up

Really cool signs hanging on the F balcony

Pens bench during the national anthem

Hats on the ice for Geno's hat trick

Players waiting for the hats to be cleared

Pens win

No comments: