Penguins 7, Hurricanes 4 - Final - 5-21-09

PREGAME

You are reading live from a hot, sweltering day in Pittsburgh. It was 93 degrees when we got out of our car and walked up to the arena. No need for an umbrella on this day. You might actually need some sun screen.

The old Westinghouse Building:

-If you didn't know anything about Reverend Denys Baron, you do know:

-A vacant storefront in PPG Plaza:

-The Carlyle (the old Union National Bank Building):

-Kids having fun in the fountains at Mellon Center:

-Someone's not happy with Bill Cowher:

-Are we the only ones who get a kick out of the fact that Robert Morris' original "main" campus is downtown?

-Consol Energy Center:

-Mellon Arena:

-Paul Coffey jersey:

-This is easily the biggest crowd they've had in front of Gate 3 for these playoffs:

-Look at all these people not watching NBC:

-Some lifesize bobbleheads of Sidney Crosby and Iceburgh. Well lifesize if you're Daniel Briere:

-Kevin Stevens jersey:

-The towels and t-shirts being given out tonight:

-No wonder James Harrison skipped the visit to the White House. He had tickets to the game:

-The Hurricanes playing soccer:

The ice:

-Some additional sights around the arena. The air conditioning tubes pouring some much needed cold air into this drafty barn:

-Miroslav Satan jerseys all of a sudden don't seem like such regrettable purchases:

-We were assured this was an Aleksey Morozov game-worn jersey:

-This jersey foul isn't exactly helping in regards to an unfortunate stereotype of Carolina fans:

-We can only speculate this fan with the Mats Sundin Team Sweden jersey and green swim trunks was in the midst of a laundry day:

-No description necessary:

-Some more folks showed up outside Gate 3:

-The outdoor party on the terrace:

-This.... is just... tragic:

-The new barn:

-Joe Mullen "Snoop Dogg" style:

-Jeff Flipping Jimerson rocking outside:

-Shawn McEachern in the "Snoop Dogg" style:

-Warm ups:

(Notice Ruslan Fedotenko flipping pucks to kids in the crowd.)

-We have a major game-time decision here at Mellon Arena. It's not the Cotton Candy Guy tonight. He's the... Coke and Water Guy?!?!

(Kudos to EN reader Joshua McElhattan for the heads up.)

-We'll have a bit more on this later. Penguins' assistant general manager Chuck Fletcher will be named the next general manager of the Minnesota Wild.

-The Penguins are going with seven defensemen again. Their scratches are Alex Goligoski, Pascal Dupuis, Petr Sykora, Jeff Taffe, Eric Godard, Chris Minard, Dustin Jeffrey, Ben Lovejoy and John Curry.

-The Hurricane's scratches are Drayson Bowman, Tuomo Ruutu, Brandon Sutter, Michael Ryan, Zach Boychuk, Brett Carson, Bryan Rodney, Anton Babchuk, Tim Conboy, Dwight Helminen and Justin Peters.

-Marc-Andre Fleury and Cam Ward are your starting goaltenders.

-It just got dark in here:

-Brooks Orpik is quite literally getting ice time:

The team's take the ice:

-In case you're wondering, we're aren't in the back of C-2 any more. We're now watching the game in the club seats over the east end of the arena. We were up here for the bulk of last season's playoffs and loved it. Only Chris Osgood had a better view of Marian Hossa's near goal at the end of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final.

-Jimerson:

FIRST PERIOD

 20:00: The Staals take the opening faceoff once again in Game 2.

19:00: This place is white:

18:35ish: Fleury denies a Carolina play in tight with a big time left toe save.

18:25: Cam Ward fights off a shot from the slot.

18:09: That didn't take long. The Hurricanes gets a little loose with thier covers near their own net and the Penguins make them pay. Bill Guerin chips a puck around the board behind the Carolina net. Chris Kunitz gathers it and plays the puck across the crease from the side of the net. Sidney Crosby takes the pass and buries it by a helpless Ward on the glove side. Ward had no chance there. How is Crosby so wide open on that play? Kunitz and Guerin get assists. That's Crosby's 13th goal of the playoffs. The "Hey Song" doesn't even have a chance to sit down. Penguins 1-0.

16:53: Buckle up. The Hurricanes get it right back. Chad LaRose plays the puck around the board behind the Penguins' net. Eric Staal takes the puck and from the goal line whips it into Fleury's equipment. Fleury can't corral it. The puck trickles loose in the crease. LaRose crashes in and bangs it by Fleury on the glove side. Not a great goal for Fleury to allow. Eric Staal and Niclas Wallin get assists. Hurricanes 1, Penguins 1.

16:09: Versus just showed a clip of Craig Adams getting dumped on his head.

14:52: Eric Staal re-directs a puck played in from the right wing out of play. That must've went off Fleury or the net because the faceoff is in the Penguins' zone.

14:23: Tyler Kennedy comes flying into the offensive zone and leaves a drop pass for Matt Cooke in the slot. Cooke can't control the puck and loses it. Ward covers to freeze play. Play is delayed as Ward fixes a piece of equpment. Ward takes his good time doing it too and gets booed by the fans in attendance.

14:19: Off a faceoff win, Sergei Gonchar tosses a wrister at the net. Ward hops up to make the save. Dennis Seidenberg dumps Craig Adams in front of the net. A small scrum ensues.

13:17: Jordan Staal and Seidenberg have a pretty rough collision along the boards in the Carolina zone.

13:00: Bill Guerin just rocked the world of a Carolina player along the boards in the Penguins' zone.

12:30: Fleury kicks away a wrister by Ray Whitney from the

12:20: Ward fights off a slapper mailed in from the neutral zone by Hal Gill. 

11:45: Garbage time for Geno. Tyler Kennedy tries to jam in a puck from the right side of the net. Ward stops him but the puck trickles in to the crease. Malkin comes flying in off the bench and slams it home. He skates off to the left wing and celebrates. Kennedy and Cooke get assists. The "Hey Song" gets a drink of water and is played again. Penguins 2-1.

11:20: Geez. This is insane. Carolina ties the game immediately once again. Rod Brind'Amour controls the puck behind the Carolina net. He draws two Penguins with him and flicks it out to Scott Walker coming in from the right wing. Walker puts a quick wrister on net. Fleury stops that. Jussi Jokinen pounces on the reound band roofs it over Fleury on the glove side. Three garbage goals in this game so far. Hopefully you have some Penguins and Hurricanes in your playoff pool. Hurricanes 2, Penguins 2.

10:51: Two Carolina players just ran over each other behind Penguins' net away from the puck. Weird. That would've been interference if one of those players was in a black jersey.

8:09: Erik Cole dishes a cross ice pass to Sergei Samsonov on the left wing. Samsonov gets a shot off. Fleury fights it off with his glove.

7:50: Carolina gets its first lead of the series. Kris Letang makes a dreadful turnover in his own end and basically dishes a backhanded pass to Seidenberg at the right point. Seidenberg goes all Russ Tyler and puts a knuckle puck slapper at the net. Matt Cullen has a nice screen set up and prevents Fleury from getting a look at it. The puck beats Fleury on the blocker side. The goal is unassisted. Letang should get the primary and secondary assist there. That was bad. But something tells us this won't be the last goal in this game. Hurricanes 3-2.

7:20: Guerin coasts down the right wing and whips a puck at the net. Ward fights it off.

6:50: After a Carolina icing, the faceoff is in the Carolina zone. Before the puck is dropped, Kennedy and Jokinen kind of wave their sticks at each other. Kennedy stops when Scott Walker says something from behind. Kennedy and Walker would be a battle of unfortunate noses:

5:31: Brooks Orpik pumps a slapper from the left point. Ward kicks it out despite a ton of traffic.

5:16: Sergei Gonchar blasts a slapper from the slot. Ward juuuust gets a piece of it with his glove and directs it wide.

4:27: Kunitz is nabbed for high sticking. Gill, Scuderi, Maxime Talbot and Cooke are on for the penalty kill.

3:34: Ward makes a poor play with the puck in his own end and basically passes it to Jordan Staal. Staal takes it, moves in and rips a wrister to the far side. Ward is up to the task and kicks it out.

2:47: Cooke gets a shorthanded chance in deep. Seidenberg gets a piece of Cooke's wrister and it flutters over the net.

2:33: Mark Eaton flicks a wrister down ice around the boards dand essentially kills off the rest of Kunitz's penalty.

1:54: Cullen dumps Crosby into Fleury. No call.

1:22: Fedotenko whips a wrister from the slot while falling down. It goes wide.

1:10: LaRose trips up Orpik in front of the Penguins' bench. That's two minutes for tripping. Crosby, Malkin, Guerin, Gonchar and Letang are on for the power play.

0:54: After a turnover by Letang at the left point, Jokinen works it up the right wing and dumps it deep at the Penguins' blue line. Letang slams him to the ice after dumping the puck.

0:00: End of period. Hurricanes 3,  Penguins 2.

FIRST INTERMISSION

-That was a really wild entertaining period of hockey. Carolina might not have a ton of big names on their roster, but they play a fun brand of hockey. They go after you offensively. And they went after the Penguins in the first period.

-If you thought the Hurricanes would roll over and give the Penguins an easy route to the Stanley Cup final, think again. This team is no joke.

-Defensively, the Penguins were not strong. They allowed the Hurricanes a little too much room to operate in the offensive zone.

-Fleury wasn't awful, but tha twas hardly his best period of hockey.

-Dennis Seidenberg has really stood out if you ask us.

-Letang has had too pretty rough turnovers in this game.

-The Hurricanes have a 14-12 edge in shots.

-Guerin and Walker each have three shots.

-Faceoffs are even, 13-13.

-Brind'Amour is 6-for-9 (67 percent).

-Jordan Staal is 3-for-5 (60 percent).

-Joe Corvo leads the game with 8:26 of ice time.

-Crosby leads the Penguins with 7:11.

-No one has more than one blocked shot.

-Erik Cole's beard is in vintage form:

-EN reader Vincent Mancuso spotted a Hanson Brother:

-Reader Frank Oberlitner spotted this jersey foul Ramzi Abid would be displeased with:

-There is a lot of mediocrity associated with that number in this franchise's history by the way:

SECOND PERIOD

20:00: The Penguins will have 49 seconds of power-play tim on fresh ice. Malkin, Gonchar, Letang, Crosby and Guerin are on.

19:16: Letang moves down the left wing and cracks a half slapper off the near post.

19:10: Just as LaRose's penalty is killed, Crosby is nabbed for tripping. Adams, Talbot, Gill and Scuderi are on for the kill.

19:01: Fleury fights off a slapper by Seidenberg from the right point.

17:21: Talbot works the puck up ice on a two-on-two with Adams. Talbot chips a puck into the slot. Adams tips it just wide.

17:10: Crosby's penalty is killed.

16:49: From his own corner, Crosby clunks the puck up ice off the boards. Talbot gets it in the neutral zone and has a bit of a breakaway. With a Carolina player moving in on him, Talbot fires a slapper that appears to beat Ward on the glove side. Awful goal. The goaltending for both teams has been soft tonight. Crosby gets the only assist. The "Hey Song" is played. Hurricanes 3, Penguins 3.

15:27: Malkin gets taken out with a low hit by Scott Walker near the Penguins' net. Walker's intent was pretty clear there. He was trying to take out Malkin. A scrum develops near the team's benches. Walker seems like he's threatening someone from his bench as well.

15:03: Fleury fights off a slapper from the right point by Wallin.

13:13: Jordan Staala nd Patrick Eaves have a wrestling match in the right faceoff circle in front of Fleury.

13:08: Malkin was awarded the primary assist on Talbot's goal. We thought Malkin had a hand in that.

12:06: "LET'S GO PENS! LET'S GO PENS!"

11:15: Eric Staal snaps off a wrister from the left wing. Fleury kicks it out. Whitney crashes in for the rebound but can't get a handle on it.

10:38: Crosby challenges Joni Pitkanen one-on-one. He can't get by the defenseman and Ward covers the puck. Crosby and Pitkanen mix it up and a crowd gathers.

10:34: Guerin gets a feed in the slot and whiffs on it a bit.

10:16: Cullen trips up Crosby in the corner. No call.

9:58: Cullen finally finds something he can get called on as he high sticks Crosby behind the Carolina net. That's two minutes. Malkin, Crosby, Gonchar, Letang and Guerin are on for the kill.

9:22: Malkin snaps off a wrister from the left faceoff circle. Ward fights it off.

9:11: Letang slides a pass to Malkin near the left wing. Malkin cranks a slapper that Ward fights off.

8:43: Kunitz gets denied twice from the right faceoff circle.

7:58: Cullen's penalty is killed.

7:54: After Ward freezes play by covering a puck, a pretty mean scrum breaks out. Malkin's in the middle of it throwing punches at LaRose. It seems pretty evident Malkin's French has improved from the feed we have available to us. Malkin and LaRose each get two for roughing. Four-on-Four.

7:10: Jordan Staal goes against Dennis Seidenberg one-on-one. He makes a nice move to kick the puck around him and pokes it just wide of the net.

6:39: Fedotenko is nabbed for tripping Eric Staal in the slot. Four-on-three for 46 seconds. Carolina calls a time out to get organize. Adams, Scuderi and Cooke are on for the kill.

6:07: Corvo blasts a slapper wide.

5:51: Just as the penalty ot Malkin and LaRose are killed, Cooke chips the puck down ice for a big clear.

5:05: "LET'S GO PENS!" LET'S GO PENS!"

4:39: Fedotenko's penalty is killed.

4:18: Adams snaps off a wrister from the left faceoff circle which Ward kicks out.

3:49: Just what this games needs. Some more wide-open four-on-four hockey. Cole is nabbed for holding. Gonchar is nabbed for interference.

2:17: Fedotenko gives LaRose a stiff shoulder check in the corner.

1:45: Wow what a move. Crosby gets a pass and carries the puck into the offensive zone. He fakes a slapper, tips it behind Pitkanen and moves around the defenseman. Crosby then recovers the puck and backhand tips it on net. Ward is up the challenge.

1:25: Attendance is announced as 17,132. It is the team's 115th consecutive sellout.

0:57: Satan snaps off a wrister from the slot that gets blocked.

0:30: A wrister by Guerin from the slot is blocked wide.

0:21: Malkin spins and hammers a wild slapper on net. Ward fights it off.

0:07: What a time for a goal. What a time for Chris Kunitz to break out of his slump. After Kunitz and Guerin outwork a pair of Carolina defenders in the corner for the puck, Kunitz emerges with it and carries it to the right faceoff circle. From there, he rips a leg-lifting wrister that burns Ward on the blocker side. What a shot. That's Kunitz's first goal in 22 playoff games. Kunitz celebrates like he won freedom from the British. Guerin and Eaton get assists. The "Hey Song" is played. Penguins 4-3.

0:00: End of period. Penguins 4, Hurricanes 3.

SECOND INTERMISSION

-This is some amazing hockey to watch. Up and down. All kinds of shots. Some nastiness. This series doesn't have the rivalry the Flyers or Capitals presented, but it's just as intense.

-We will see some more goals tonight. The goaltending is not sharp for either team.

-The crowd is much better tonight than in Game 1. That said, Game 1 was a regular season game for the first 50 minutes.

-The Penguins have a 28-20 lead in shots.

-Malkin leads the game with five shots.

-Seidenberg, Eric Staal and Walker each lead the Hurricanes with three.

-Faceoffs are even, 21-21.

-Crosby is 12-for-18 (67 percent.)

-Brind'Amour is 10-for-17 (59 percent).

-Pitkanen leads the game with 20:40 of ice time.

-Malkin leads the Penguins with 14:24.

-Gonchar leads the game with three blocked shots.

-Seidenberg and LaRose each have two.

THIRD PERIOD

19:21: Fleury eats up a wrister from Pitkanen from the left wing.

18:15: Brind'Amour gets away with a trip on Talbot just outside the Carolina blue line.

17:25: That wasn't too predictable. Tie game. Ryan Bayda simply outworks Gonchar and Boucher for a puck in the corner. He zips a pass to Patrick Eaves who is all alone in the slot. Eaves rips a wrister that burns Fleury on the glove side. Fleury had no chance there. Awful coverage there by the forwards. Bayda gets the only assists. Hurricanes 4, Penguins 4.

 16:17: Crosby has a chance off a nifty give and go with Kunitz but whiff on the shot.

15:47: Cullen hauls down Crosby in the corner. That's two minutes for tripping. Cullen protests the call and even claps for Crosby and appears to say "Bravo" as if to suggest Crosby took a dive. Whatever. Cullen would've gotten two points for that take down if this was wrestling. Crosby, Guerin, Malkin, Letang and Gonchar are on for the power play.

14:20: Malkin works the puck down low and dishes a pass into the slot for... Chad LaRose. LaRose works the puck up ice to kill time.

13:47: Cullen's penalty is killed. That was a really weak effort by the Penguins.

12:56: Talbot works the puck up ice and snaps off a wrister at the net. Ward knocks it down and covers to freeze play.

12:36: Tim Gleason, who has a quiet night, comes up the left wing and whips a wrister at the cage. Fleury makes the save and gives up a less than stellar rebound. Cole is there but Hal Gill has him tied up.

12:18: Jordan Staal appears to get away with a trip on Eric Staal near the Carolina net.

11:49: Jordan Staal snaps off a rising wrister from the left wing that Ward fights off.

11:26: Gleason gets away with some interference on Malkin. Despite that, Malkin still beats him for a loose puck in the corner.

11:10: What a game. Kunitz blasts a shot from the right point. Ward makes the save. Malkin is right there for the rebound and pokes it a few times before he gets it behind Ward on the glove side. Malkin skates off into the corner to celebrate. Another garbage goal that was the product of hard work. Kunitz and Cooke get assists. The "Hey Song" is played. Penguins 5-4.

10:08: "Caaaaammmm.... Warrrrrrddddd.... Caaaaammmm.... Warrrrrdddd...."

9:02: We're not sure we're down with the Cam Ward sing-song chant. You shouldn't have to say a guy's whole name to do it. We know his first and last name each only have one syllable, but still.

8:34: Apparently you can't get power plays with a lead. Jokinen chops out Malkin's feet near the Penguins' blue line. Malkin tumbles. No call.

8:01: LaRose chops a loose puck at the cage. Fleury makes a nice save on it. That had tie game written all over it.

7:35: Oh dear what a simply amazing shot. Malkin controls the puck behind the net and and works it around to the right of the net. WIth Seidenberg hounding him, He flicks a backhander over Ward on the glove side. There was no room for error on that shot. An inch to the left or right that's a save or it clanks off the post. The scary part is Seidenberg and Ward could not have played Malkin any better there. They were nearly perfect on that shot but Malkin still scored. Hats litter the ice.

Malkin's father is shown on television. He's so happy he's almost in tears. He gives his wife a big smooch on the side of the face. You probably can't find anyone on earth who is happier than Malkin's father. What a moment. The "Hey Song" is played. Penguins 6-4.

6:47: Satan tosses a soft shot at the net from the right wing. Ward kicks it out.

4:32: Cole re-directs a puck played in from the right wing. Fleury hangs on for a big save. "FLERRR-EEEE! FLERRR-EEEE!" Cotton-Eyed Joe is busted out:

3:59: Whitney chops a slapper from the slot over the net.

3:28: Samsonov backhand chops a loose puck at the net. It's blocked and goves over the net.

2:47: Kunitz has Samsonov lined up for a nice hit in the neutral zone but Samsonov avoids it at the last minute.

2:35ish: Ward is pulled for an extra attacker early.

2:08: Ward is sent back to net due to an illegal subtitituion.

1:49: That will seal the win. Cooke collects a loose puck behind the Carolina net. Cooke plays it into the crease and it bounces out to the blue line. Staal grabs it and chops it to the the left boards. Kennedy whips it into the cage for:

-Staal and Cooke get assists. The "Hey Song" is out of breath but it's joined by the WWE "Kennedy" promo.

-Our Kennedy promo we had bookmarked has been pulled off YouTube. Sorry. Penguins 7-4.

1:19: Time for the rough stuff. Letang touches up a puck behind the Penguins' net for icing. Bayda takes a shot at him. A big scrum develops Letang and Gleason start fighing. Letang has his jersey ripped off. Satan sort of starts "fighting" with Eaves. Its more them just giving each other noogies. Still, why would you fight someone named "Satan?" It takes officials 33 minutes to figure out the penalties. Gleason, Eaves, Satan and Letang each get fighting majors. Bayda gets a match penalty. Letang gets a game misconduct. The Penguins end up with a five minute power play. Dan Bylsma shows some restraint and puts his jay-vee power play on the ice. If it's us, we stick the main power play (or whatever is left of it with Letang off the ice) and run the score up. If the Hurricanes want to do something stupid like that, they should pay the price.

1:02: Adams pops Seidenberg in the face with an elbow in the slot. They each get sent off.

0:57: Fedotenko runs over Pitkanen behind the Carolina net.

0:49: Was Ward makes a save. Pitkanen and Guerin seem like they want to fight. But officials step in the way before anything develops.

0:38: Ward makes another save. Fedotenko and Corvo mix it up. This game is going to take ten minutes to close out.

0:00: End of game. The "Woo Hoo!" song plays. Penguins 7, Hurricanes 4.

POSTGAME

-How spoiled are Penguins fans? Or just anyone with a vested interest with the Penguins. We've been fortunate to have Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Peter Ahola and now Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin to watch for almost 25 years. Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist and was an afterthought tonight. Evgeni Malkin took a back an forth game with rollercoaster swings and made it his own personal showcase. His play tonight was one of the best individual performances in the playoff history of the Penguins.

-We're still amazed by what Malkin did on his third goal of the game. Dennis Seidenberg and Cam Ward were perfect in their fundamentals and still couldn't prevent the perfect shot.

-Over all, hockey fans of any allegiance were privy to an amazing game. The three-goal difference wasn't indicative of how close this game truly was. Malkin's hat trick goal didn't even really put this out of reach. Carolina was very much a threat to win this game.

-Marc Andre Fleury didn't have his best game. But he had what we like to call a Grant Fuhr game. When Grant Fuhr was winning Stanley Cup titles with the Oilers in the 1980s, he would let up 5-6 goals a game. But he would make enough stops to make the difference. And that's why Fuhr was one of the best money goaltenders in NHL history. Fleury gave up goals but he made some key stops late that won the game.

-Cam Ward? He clearly needs to rebound for Carolina to have a chance to come back in this series.

-How about Chris Kunitz breaking out of a slump. He scored his first playoff goal in 22 games and his first overall goal in 20 games. He matched a playoff career high with three points.

-It'll be interesting to see if any supplementary discipline will come out of the scrum with just over a minute left. Versus reported that Ryan Bayda was booted for intent to injury. We haven't been able to confirm that with the NHL. The offiical scoresheet doesn't indicate that was the penalty. If it is, that carries an automatic suspension per a review by the league. The rule doesnt seem to indicate a match penalty is exclusive to attempt to injure.

-Kudos to EN reader Jeff Faulkner for the heads up with the rule book.

-The defense for neither team was sharp. But we're not going to complain. It was sloppy, but that was amazing hockey to watch.

-Matt Cooke had a nice game. In addition to bringing his usual spit and gravel, he picked up a playoff career high three assists. That also set a career-high for playoff points.

-It seems like we could say this after every game, but the officiating was inconsistent. Lots of uncalled stuff for each team.

-The Penguins dominated in shots, 42-28.

-Who else but Malkin would lead the game with eight?

-Kunitz was second with eight.

-Seidenberg, Staal, Whitney, Walker, Pitkanen and LaRose each led Carolina with three.

-The Penguins had a 38-33 edge in faceoffs (54 percent).

-Crosby was 16-of-26 (62 percent).

-Brind'Amour was 14-of-24 (58 percent).

-We've a bit surprised that the Penguins have done as well as they have against the Hurricanes in faceoffs. In the regular season, Carolina was one of the league's best faceoff teams at 51.3 percent. That was the eighth best percentage in the league. In game one, the team's split faceoffs, 28-28 and tonight the Penguins had the edge.

-Pitkanen led the game with 29:02 of ice time.

-Hal Gill paced the Penguins with 20:33. Sergei Gonchar was right behind him with 20:33.

-Seidenberg and Gonchar each led the game with three blocked shots.

-Maxime Talbot matched a career-high with his third goal of the playoffs. The Penguins are now 6-0 when he scored a playoff goal.

-Kennedy scored for the first time since Game 4 of the first round against the Flyers.

-Malkin's hat trick was the second of these playoff for the Penguins. Sidney Crosby scored three in Game 2 in the second round against the Capitals.

-The last time the Penguins had two hat tricks in the same playoff year was in 1996. Jaromir Jagr and Mario Lemieux each had three in a 7-3 rout of th Rangers, May 11, 1996.

-An official just confirmed Bayda was given a penalty for intent to injure and that brings an automatic suspension pending a review. We're sure the Hurricanes will miss his 4:37 of playing time.

-The Penguins have not scored seven goals in a playoff game since they routed the Capitals, 7-0, in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals April 13, 2000. Ron Tugnutt made 32 saves for hte Penguins. Jan Hrdina had a goal and two assists while Alex Kovalev added three assists.

-The Penguins have been involved in a playoff game with a combined 11 goals since a 6-5 overtime defeat of the Capitals in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, May 14, 1995. That games is otherwise known as the "Luc Robitaille Game:"

-Jordan Staal moved ahead of Ryan Malone and Ulf Samuelsson for 25th place. All three have 16 points but Staal (11) has more goals than Malone (6) and Samuelsson (4).

-Malkin's second goal was his 50th career playoff point. He is in seventh place on the franchise's all-time playoff scoring list with 51.

-Talbot moved into a tie for 30th place with Randy Carlyle on the list. Each player now has 14 points.

-Kennedy moved into the franchise's top 50 career playoff scorers picking up his ninth and 10th career points.

-Eaton now has six points in the playoffs (four goals, two assists). Prior to this year, he had never recorded a single postseason point.

-Fleury recorded his 25th career playoff win. That's the seventh best total among active goaltenders.

-Kind of hard to believe the Penguins' power play was 0-for-4 tonight despite scoring seven goals.

-Kind of hard to believe their penalty kill was 3-for-3 despite allowing four goals.

-Game summary.

-Event summary.

-Highlights.