Pens fall again as Olympic break begins

By Bud L. Ellis

With four losses in the past five games, maybe the Olympics are coming at just the right time for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

For the third time in four games, the Pens fell in extra time, this time falling Sunday at home to Nashville in a shootout, 4-3. With the loss, the Penguins hit the Olympic break at 36-22-4, just one point behind New Jersey for first place in the Atlantic Division and 14 behind Washington in the Eastern Conference.

The Penguins opened the scoring with a Sidney Crosby power-play goal at the 14:43 mark of the first. Crosby’s goal, his 42nd of the year, tied Washington’s Alex Ovechkin for the league lead entering the Olympic break. Matt Cooke scored at 2:09 of the second, and Brooks Orpik made it 3-2 Pittsburgh at the 4:51 mark of the third.

Nashville tied the game with 7:43 left on a Shea Weber goal.

The Penguins open the stretch drive on March 2 with a home game against Buffalo.

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Sunday, February 14, 2010 at 5:52 pm by bud

Tags: Alex Ovechkin, Brooks Orpik, Buffalo Sabres, Matt Cooke, Nashville Predators, National Hockey League, New Jersey Devils, Pittsburgh Penguins, Shea Weber, Sidney Crosby, Washington Capitals