FIRST PERIOD
20:00: Sidney Crosby starts with Ruslan Fedotenko, Evgeni Malkin, Ben Lovejoy and Martin Skoula.
19:51: Right off the draw, Sidney Crosby zips a shot on net from the slot. Giguere kicks it to the side.
19:13: The Penguisn swithc lines. Jordan Staal takes the ice with Matt Cooke, Bill Guerin,Deryk Engelland and Mark Eaton.
18:34: Guerin snaps off a wrister from the left wing. Guerin makes the save.
18:29: Ryan Getzlaf makes a brutal turnover in his own zone and the Penguins make him pay. He dishes a weak backhandes pass to Cooke in the slot. Cooke says thank you and smacks a backhander that beats Giguere on the blocker side. Ugggggg..... lleeeeeee.... The goals is unassisted. Getzlaf should get two assists. The "Hey Song" is played. Penguins 1-0.
17:50: The Ducks make another mistake in ther own zone. Former Flyer Joffrey Lupul has a flashback to his Flyers days and runs Chris Bourque from behind into the boards. Bourque okay thankfully. Lupul gets two minutes for boarding.Crosby, Malkin, Fedotenko, Mark Eaton and Guerin take the ice. Malkin is on the point with Eaton.
17:46: Off a faceoff, Malkin smacks a one timer that hits a stick in front and deflects far and wide.
16:29: The Ducks create a two-on-one shorthanded. They don't get a shot off but Corey Perry runs over Fleury. There's a shocker. Corey Perry running over someone's goaltender. In all fairness, he seemed to be pushed into Fleury. But he didn't do much to get out of the way. Play is stopped as the net is dislodged. Jordan Staal, Bourque, Mark Letestu, Skoula and Lovejoy take the ice.
15:50: Lupul's penalty is killed. Not a lot going on for the Penguins.
15:34: Another mistake for the Ducks. They have too many men on the ice. Bobby Ryan will serve the penalty. Crosby, Guerin, Fedotenko, Eaton and Malkin take the ice.
15:21: Crosby tries to hit Eaton on the "Whitney Play" off the left wing. Eaton taps the pass wide.
14:47: The streak ends! Crosby takes a pass on the right wing and centers it to Guerin in the slot. Guerin drops the hammer and blasts a one-timer that beats Giguere five-hole. It's the Penguins' first power play goal in 30 chances. Promote Mike Yeo. Crosby gets the only assist. The "Hey Song" is played. Penguins 2-0.
13:19: Whitney tries to sneak a wrister from the left point. It his a body in front and deflects wide.
12:49: Whitney steps up and completely runs over Matt Cooke inside the Penguins' blue line. That might've been the most physical play Whitney's ever had on this rink.
12:41: Getzlaf gets loose on a mini-breakaway and tries to go five hole on Fleury. The puck hops up and is gloved by Fleury.
12:30: Rough period for Getzlaf so far. He's nabbed for hooking. Crosby, Malkin, Eaton, Fedotenko and Guerin take the ice.
11:58: Petteri Nokelainen chips the puck up off the boards and kills some time.
11:30ish: To say the least, we never see a power play with Crosby and Malkin on the points and Mark Eaton dishes passes from behind the cage.
10:54: And the Ducks get one back shorthanded. Off a bad line change by the Penguins, Scott Niedermayer dishes it up to Corey Perry at the Penguins' blue line. From the left wing, Perry flicks it to Todd Marchant in the slot. Marchant gets behind the only Penguin back, moves in on net, gets Fleury to commit and sneaks a backhander by Fleury's left leg for a shorthanded goal. That's a killer there. Perry and Niedermayer get assists. Penguins 2-1.
10:30: Getzlaf's penalty is killed. Awful effort for the Penguins there.
7:45: Off a delayed penalty, James Wisniewski smacks a one-timer from the left point. It hits a body in front.
7:34: Engelland is nabbed for interference in front of his own net against Kyle Clader. Cooke, Staal, Eaton and Jay McKee are on for the kill.
6:34: Getzlaf snaps off a wrister from the left faceoff circle. It hits a cluster of bodies and deflects weide.
6:14: After some prolonged pressure, Eaton jumps on a loose puck and smacks it down ice allowing his team a much-needed change. Craig Adams, Pascal Dupuis, Skoula and Lovejoy take the ice.
5:34: Engelland's penalty is killed.
5:28: Whitney snaps off a wrister from the left point. Fleury eats it up. A brief scrum ensues in the crease.
4:40: Nate Guenin makes a nifty pass from the right point into the crase for Malkin. Malkin is in the slot and re-directs it on net. GIguere is able to slide to his right and trap it between his legs. Big save by Giguere. Nice pass by Guenin.
3:53: Staal sneaks in from the right wing and rips a wrister wide and far of the net.
2:35: Dupuis steals a pass in the neutral zone and dishes it to a winger on the left wing. As he relases the puck, Nokelainen tries to hit him. Dupuis braces himself and sticks Nokelainen on his back.
2:28: Dupuis is right on the doorstep and swats a bouncing puck on net. Giguere slides to his left and fights off the puck.
0:53: Guenin sneaks a wrister on net from the right point. It's going wide but Giguere lunges to his left and gloves the puck to freeze play.
0:00: End of period. Penguins 2, Ducks 1.
FIRST INTERMISSION
-Nice period by the Penguins. They attacked the offensive zone throughout most of the period and just tried to get the puck on or near the net. They kept things fairly basic and it paid off.
-The power play was kind of ying and yang there. They finally broke the streak but then followed it up by allowing a shorthanded goal.
-Nate Guenin's been strong so far. He looks like he belongs.
-The Penguins have a 9-6 lead in shots.
-Guerin, Malkin, Perry and Getzlaf each have two shots.
-Niedermayer leads the game with 9:34 of ice time.
-Eaton leads the Penguins with 8:44.
-The Ducks have an 9-8 lead in faceoffs (53 percent).
-Getzlaf is 3 for 5 (60 percent).
-Letestu is 2 for 3 (67 percent).
-Steve Eminger and McKee each lead the game with two blocked shots.
-We neglected to mention this but the announcement of Ryan Whitney as a starter brought a mixture of boos and cheers. We'd say the cheers outweighed the boos.
-Guenin is the first Penguin to wear No. 2 since Hal Gill last season. His predecessors:
-EN reader Mike Bober is on hand and spotted a jersey foul:
-And a life foul in the form of a Milan Kraft jersey:
-Click here for the second period.
Posted
Nov 16 2009, 06:15 PM
by
Seth Rorabaugh