Sorry for the title, I couldn't resist. The Penguins' came out on top over the Ducks after a somewhat sloppy game that still managed to get five goals in the net by the final score of 5-3. Two goals from Penguins new-comer Petr Sykora, a goal from Malkin, Malone and Armstrong. The Armstrong goal in the second period was later dubbbed by 105.9 WXDX's Phil Bourque as "Crosby-esque". Speaking of Crosby, he finally got a point on the year with a diving assist to Malone, which later proved to be the game winning goal.
Main hightlight on the night - The Pens scored two goals in the second period within 20 seconds, and repeated again with back-to-back goals coming in the third within 19 seconds.
Ruutu was scratched on the night, so recent acquisition Adam Hall made his black and gold debut. Although scoreless on the night, Hall certainly hustled hard deep in the zone, kicking the puck back out and even winning some key faceoffs later in the game.
Another big man who was relatively quiet last season; Georges Laraque. Not tonight. Laraque used his huge frame to his advantage, opening up some room in front of the net that allowed Sykora to slip in for a third period goal on Laraque's assist.
For a second consecutive night the Penguins defense was anything but stellar in their own zone. Some poor puck movement and key mid-ice turnovers should have made the game an Anaheim victory. Luckily the Ducks fired wide on net a few times and mishandled the puck on the rare but still detrimental occasion. They still went out there looking like a Stanley Cup team willing to compete. I'm gonna go on the record of saying - if Giguirre was in net, it would have been a Ducks victory.
Hopefully this isn't the method in which Pittsburgh hopes to win games. Last season it was all about out-scoring. Obviously that is the point in any situation where there is a winner and a loser, but what I'm trying to say is the Pens can't get themselves in to too many 9 goal games and expect to come out the winner. With the extra attacker the Ducks brought the game to within a goal, but were unable to do it again in the last 22. Yet had there been 25 seconds left on the clock, it may have gone to overtime. The last minute pressure and the crash on the net ran the chance of the puck finding its way in. Lucky for the Pens and the sold out crowd of 17,000+, time ran out.
The Pens can't hope to play this sort of game all season. For the time being, they gratefully walked away the victor. I also don't expect there to be many 1-0 and 2-1 games in the Pens' future, they're just not that sort of team. As a final thought (how Jerry Springer of me) the Pens need to work on a tighter defense, more fluent puck movement and the right mind to not take stupid penalties. They stick to that, and they're a division winner.
Goals
Sykora
Armstrong
Malkin
Sykora
Malone
Assists
Roberts
Christensen
Roberts
Sykora
Laraque
Malkin
Crosby
Scuderi
