Anytime you go down 3-0 in a hockey game, you may think it's not your night (again). But as long as you score the next 5 goals, snap a losing streak and embarrass an NHL superstar in front of his father, all is well.
There was a buzz in the rink Thursday night, as Sidney (Sid the Kid) Crosby was in town. Camera flashes all over the place during warmups - already a dozen people deep against the glass "oohing and ahhing" as he skated by. All this for a 21 year old. And he's the real deal, apparently.
Over at the Predators end, the team had lost 5 in a row and seemed unable to score more than a goal. And now a defensive team with a handful of superstar offensive players is in town.
Right off the faceoff, the Predators outshot the Pens and had numerous scoring chances. And yet, we found ourselves down 2-0. Trotzy pulled Ellis for Pekka Rinne and 30 seconds later we were down 3-0. the first period ended and the feeling was not good.
But then in the second period, the Preds didn't give up, continued to play hard, and things started...finally...to go their way. From John Glennon's account in The Tennessean:
The Predators' rally began with 12:03 remaining in the second period. Martin Erat lifted a rebound from the crease over Fleury.
David Legwand's short-handed goal with 6:28 left in the period trimmed Pittsburgh's lead to 3-2. Jerred Smithson tied the game on a short-range shot with 54.6 seconds left in the period after some good forechecking by Joel Ward.
The score tied at 3-3 in the third, Ryan Suter scored the game winner on a slapshot. The Predators survived a charge at the end and added an empty netter to award fans with a 5 goal Frosty from Wendy's.
"Sid the Kid" was Sid "The Escape Artist" after the game, standing up a number of kids waiting for a chance at an autograph. That kind of thing will happen when the home team embarrasses a kid in front of his father, who was in attendance with a number of Pens Dad's accompanying the team on the road trip. Sorry, Kid. Better luck next time.
