vs 
5-2
Last night the Penguins fell to the Detroit Red Wings by the score of 5-2 in front of the home crowd at Mellon Arena. Sometimes in situations in the pre-season, you can shrug off otherwise defamating losses. However last night was not one of those instances for me, and I'll tell you why.
First off, our number one starting goal tender was in net. That means the 5-2 loss was against the same goalie who will be in net for a majority of the 82 game regular season. Now you can attribute a few of those goals to the fact that many of the season's starting defensemen were not there, but I feel that would just be a cop out. Besides, most of the defensemen will be starting the upcoming season. IE Orpik, Gonchar, Eaton, Sydor, Whitney.
Luckily the Wings were only 1-5 on the powerplay, while the Pens stepped it up from the previous night's 0-8 performance on the man advantage to 33% turn around on Saturday night's 2-6.
Pittsburgh was first to strike halfway through the first with a man advantage from Orpik to Crosby to Eaton. From their the Wings took over with three straight goals, till Malkin put one in the back on the net on the powerplay with under 2 minutes remaining in the game. The one goal gap almost seemed feasible, until 46 seconds later on the ensuing shift, the Pens gave up an open-netter to Zetterberg. The goal was his second on the night.
It seemed like an impressive three point night for Zetterberg, who also assisted an earlier goal, til he decided on making it a four point one less than a minute later with a dish to Samuelsson.
Goaltending duties for the Wings were the sole responsibility of Hasek, til the third period when Howard came off the bench. Each netminder gave up a red light.
On 33 shots Fleury stopped 28, but it was his poor play towards the end that truly cost the Pens the game. The loss makes the Penguins 1-3 in the pre-season, as they look to take on the Sabres Friday night in Pittsburgh. Game time is 7:30.
Also worth noting, following the game the Penguins announced they have sent first round draft pick Angelo Esposito back to the QMJHL Remparts. Should his play improve, and perhaps even have a repeater of the 05/06 season, he'll be in the black and gold full time soon enough. Till then, he has a lot to prove and in the process, even more people to disprove.
