Penguins right winger Colby Armstrong celebrates scoring the winning goal in overtime against Panthers goalie Ed Belfour last night.
Colby Armstrong's rising shot breaks his 15-game goal-scoring drought as well as the Florida Panthers' heart
Friday, February 23, 2007
By Dave Molinari, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
SUNRISE, Fla. -- Yeah, Colby Armstrong said, it had been awhile.
Way too long, really.
Fifteen games and more than a month, if anyone was keeping track.
But he figures it was worth every frustrating shift and second of it to get a goal like this, the winner in the Penguins' 2-1 overtime victory against Florida at the BankAtlantic Center last night.
Armstrong scored it at 2:39 of overtime when, after using Maxime Talbot as a decoy on a two-on-one break, he beat Panthers goalie Ed Belfour high on the glove side.
"It was a good feeling," Armstrong said.
Belfour had been nearly unbeatable all night -- he stopped 39 of 41 shots -- but gave Armstrong a bit of room on the short side, and Armstrong lasered the puck there.
"Their [defenseman] kind of got back on me, and I think then [Belfour] started cheating over when he thought I was going to maybe pass it," Armstrong said. "And I decided to shoot just when he came off [the post] a little bit. He went down, so I put it up high."
If Belfour was the major reason the Penguins had to work beyond regulation for the victory -- "He made a lot of real good saves on us," right winger Mark Recchi said -- goalie Jocelyn Thibault was the biggest one for why they were able to survive Belfour's brilliance.
He finished with 32 saves and, while he wasn't forced to be quite as spectacular as Belfour, he made numerous stops on quality scoring chances for the Panthers.
"It was a pretty good goaltending duel," Armstrong said. "[Thibault] played awesome for us. He made some huge saves."
The victory was Thibault's third in his past three starts and, although he insisted he is not looking to plant the seeds of a goaltending controversy, his strong play of late does give Penguins coach Michel Therrien an option if he remains dissatisfied with the performance of No. 1 goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.
"I've been working real hard all year in practice and watching Marc-Andre play," Thibault said. "I was just waiting for my chance and, when I get a chance to play, I try to make the best of it. ... It's a great feeling to be able to chip in like that toward the end of the season."
The victory elevated the Penguins' record to 33-18-9, and kept them in fourth place in the Eastern Conference.
"Who would believe the Pittsburgh Penguins would be in fourth place in the Eastern Conference?" Panthers center Olli Jokinen said. "They struggled in the past few years, but they've been rebuilding and getting players like [Sidney] Crosby and [Evgeni] Malkin and doing good drafting."
Florida, meanwhile, remains mired in 13th place and surrendered a precious point by losing in overtime.
"It's tough, but, as long as you still have a chance, you have to keep fighting," Panthers defenseman Jay Bouwmeester said. "We still have a lot of games against the team's we're chasing. We need a lot of help, but, at the same time, all you can worry about is what you're doing."
Penguins rookie Jordan Staal got the only goal of the first period when he deflected a Malkin shot past Belfour during a five-on-three power play at 16:25 for his 25th of the season.
Crosby picked up the second assist, raising his league-leading points total to 96.
Despite giving up that goal to Staal, Belfour had a strong first period, a portent of his play all night.
He stopped Crosby from the left side just 15 seconds after the opening faceoff, scurried across the crease and threw out his left leg to deny Malkin from inside the right circle during an early Penguins power play, then rejected an uncontested shot by Recchi from in front with 1:52 to go before the intermission.
Neither goalie lost his edge during the intermission as Belfour stopped Recchi from the slot at 8:50, and 90 seconds later, Thibault thwarted Ville Peltonen from the inner edge of the left circle.
"I had some great chances," Recchi said. "Obviously, you'd like to put them in, but Belfour's done that to a lot of people."
The Panthers finally spoiled Thibault's bid for his first shutout since Oct. 8, 2003, at 17:41, when Juraj Kolnik took a feed from Chris Gratton and beat Thibault from the front edge of the crease.
That was the final goal either team got until Armstrong buried the overtime winner behind Belfour.
"He's a good goalie," Thibault said. "It's nice to beat him."
And even nicer to get a superb performance from Thibault at a time when Fleury is not at his best.
"This gives [Fleury] a little breather, and we'll get him sharp again," Recchi said. "Then we'll be rolling."
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(Dave Molinari can be reached at DWMolinari@Yahoo.com. )
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