FIRST PERIOD
19:45: "LET'S GO PENS!" LET'S GO PENS!"
19:30: Chris Kunitz gets a shift with Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
18:36: Bill Guerin is on with Craig Adams and Ruslan Fedotenko.
17:50: Malkin hustles up the left wing, enters the offensive zone and leaves a drop pass for Mike Rupp. Rupp steps up and cranks a slapper wide of the net.
17:06: Matt Cooke gives his former Canucks teammate Mattias Ohlund a stiff check into the boards.
17:02: Brooks Oprik cranks Steve Downie with a big hit just outside the Penguins' blue line. He caught Downie with a shoulder to the head by the looks of things. Orpik seems a bit dazed after the hit. Replays show it seemed to be problem with a contact lense.
16:42: Kennedy fires a slap/pass towards the slot. Jordan Staal re-directs it on net.
16:20: Drew Miller is nabbed for high sticking Tyler Kennedy. Crosby, Malkin, Sergei Gonchar, Guerin and Alex Goligoski are on for the power play.
16:02: Crosby dishes a quick feed to Guerin in the slot. Guerin gets off a quick shot. Niittymaki covers it to freeze play.
15:55: Goligoski snaps off a wrister from the left point. Niittymaki fights it off.
15:03: The Penguins get their power play going with a garbage goal. Malkin takes a pass on the right wing, fakes a slapper and cuts to the slot. He rips a wrister. Niittymaki makes the save but gives up a big rebound to his right. Bill Guerin is right there and punches it into a wide open net. Malkin and Goligoski get assists. The "Hey Song" is played. Penguins 1-0.
14:26: Lecavalier flicks a wrister on net from the left wing. Fleury makes the easy save.
14:20: Goligoski is called for tripping Stephane Veilleux. Staal, Cooke, Orpik and Mark Eaton are on for the penalty kill.
12:20: The Penguins kill off the penalty. Not a lot going on there for Tampa Bay.
10:50: Rusland Fedotenko gets James Wright with a solid check along the boards just inside the Tampa Bay blue line.
8:48: From the right wing, Letang snaps off a wrister. It hits the side of the cage and deflects out of play.
7:55: Malone digs the puck out from behind the Penguins' net and tries to jam one in by Fleury on the stick side. Fleury holds it out. Malone takes a few stabs at it. Oprik gives Malone a shove. Nothing comes of it. During a stoppage for television, a short tribute to Rick Tocchet is played. His two-goal game against the Blackhawks in 1992 with a broken jaw is noted. Tocchet gives the crowd a brief wave as they give him a fairly enthusiastic applause.
7:23: St. Louis tosses a wrister on net with Malone running a moving screen. FLeury makes the save. Malone seems to take a playful jab at his former teammate's glove well after the play. Fleury seemed like he laughed it off.
4:30: Very little of note has really taken place for the last three minutes or so. This period has really slowed down since the Guerin goal.
3:56: Fedotenko snaps off a shot from the slot that goes wide.
3:06: Staal gets dumped awkwardly at the Tampa Bay blue line by Andrej Mesza
2:56: Staal skates a bit out of his way behind the Tampa Bay net and dumps Meszaros.
2:50: Just as former Pitt linebacker Scott McKillop is shown in the crowd, the Penguins score. From the left point, Orpik slides a pass to Gonchar along the blue line. Gonchar drops the hammer and cranks a one-timer that beats Niittymaki on the stick side. Not a good goal for Nittymaki. He didn't appear to be screened. Orpik and Crosby get assists. The "Hey Song" is played. Penguins 2-0.
1:25: Eaton gets off a quick wrister from the slot. Niittymaker fights it off.
1:03: Kennedy tries to feed a puck into the slot for a re-direct with Staal. They juuuuust miss. They had the goal too. Niittymaki was really out of place. Staal lifts his head in anger.
0:08: Malkin moves into the offensive zone and snaps off a wrister from the right wing. Niittymaki punches it away.
0:00: End of period. Penguins 2, Lightning 0.
FIRST INTERMISSION
-That was a fairly dominant period of hockey. It was pretty evident which team had a lottery pick in the draft and which team spent the summer celebrating a championship.
-The Penguins just controlled play for the most part.
-Dan Bylsma continues to mix and match his lines. You don't really see them sticking with one combination all that long.
-Oddly enough, the pairings on defense (Gonchar-Orpik, Letang-Eaton, McKee-Goligoski) seem to be set in stone.
-The Penguins have an 11-5 lead in shots.
-Malkin leads the game with four.
-None of the Lightning have more than one.
-Gonchar leads the game with 8:15.
-Alex Tanguay leads the Lightning with 7:23.
-The Lightning have an 11-8 lead in faceoffs (58 percent).
-Zenon Konopka is 3 for 4 (75 percent).
-Crosby is 4 for 7 (57 percent).
-Jay McKee (Who else?) leads the game with two blocked shots.
-Cotton candy heeeee!!!! Cotton candy heeee!!!
-Click here for the second period.
Posted
Oct 17 2009, 07:34 PM
by
Seth Rorabaugh