Unlikely scorers chip in as Fleury, Pens survive Game 1

Miroslav Satan and Philippe Boucher were not supposed to be here.

The Penguins assigned Satan to the AHL on March 4th to make salary cap room for Bill Guerin, whom the Penguins acquired at the trade deadline. With Petr Sykora in the lineup and Guerin and Chris Kunitz in the mix, Satan was the odd man out, and it was unlikely that the winger would play in a Penguins uniform ever again.

Boucher, who missed 25 games this season due to surgery on his left foot, also seemed like the odd man out on the blueline once Sergei Gonchar returned to the lineup in February.

But Satan and Boucher were the ones who provided the Pittsburgh Penguins with two thirds of the offense as they beat the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 1 by a score of 3-2 and took a 1-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals.

It was an amazing night at the Igloo, and goalies Cam Ward and Marc-Andre Fleury were spectacular, as the game quickly turned into a goalie duel. If this is what this series is gonna look like, then it might be even better than the Capitals and Penguins in the 2nd round, and that’s saying something.

Both goalies made spectacular highlight-reel stops throughout the night, and none of them were more important than the one Fleury made on Eric Staal with 30 seconds left in the game.

With the Penguins leading 3-2, Staal, who was left all alone in front of Fleury, tried to redirect a hard pass into the net. Instead, the puck caromed off of Fleury’s right pad and towards the goal, and Fleury ended up making a huge desperation save, as he reached back with his stick to keep the puck out.

It was hardly the only desperation save he or Ward had to make, as the two teams exchanged chances throughout the game at a furious pace. Shots on goal were 31 to 25 for the Pens, but at times it seemed like both teams had at least 20 shots per period.

Satan opened up the scoring with a breakaway goal halfway though the first period. The Pens had failed on 2 power plays already, and Fleury made a pair of great saves while they were killing a penalty to Satan to keep the game scoreless.

Then right after the penalty had expired, Cooke cleared the zone and Satan was waiting all alone. He took the puck, skated towards the net, deked Ward out, and lifted a backhand shot to give the Pens a 1-0 lead.

Evgeni Malkin scored his 7th goal of the playoffs only a minute and 24 seconds later. After skating the puck into the zone, Boucher found Malkin in the slot, and then the Pens’ MVP candidate beat Ward with a backhander of his own to make it 2-0.

They were down by two goals, but the Cardiac Canes did not let up. They outshot the Penguins 12-9 in the first period but were unable to beat Fleury until Chad Larose scored his third goal of the playoffs 13 minutes into the second, to cut the Penguins’ lead in half.

The Pens’ defense stepped up in the third period, as they allowed only 7 shots on goal, and then Boucher added a necessary insurance marker on the power play to make it 3-1. This was the kind of power play goal that the Penguins usually did not score for most of the regular season – a timely one.

Boucher and Malkin celebrate the Pens' 3rd goal (Credit: Getty Images)

Boucher took a feed from Sidney Crosby on the second wave of the power play and wristed a quick shot that slipped under the pad of Ward to make it 3-1.

Once again, the Canes answered. This time, they took advantage of an elbowing penalty to Brooks Orpik and scored a questionable power play goal with a minute and 26 seconds to go.

That set the stage for a wild finish. The Canes would knock on the door a couple times, but they never got closer than they did when Staal nearly tied the game. Both teams had to be thankful for their goalies’ effort, but perhaps the Penguins should have been a bit more thankful to Fleury.

3 stars

• 3rd star: Marc-Andre Fleury. He stopped 23 of the 25 shots the Canes threw at him and made several amazing saves.
• 2nd star: Chad Larose. His tally brought the Canes back in the game in the 2nd, and he led the Canes with 4 shots on goal.
• 1st star: Philippe Boucher. The Pens’ defenseman scored the game winning goal on the power play and added an assist.

Slap shots

• Canes right wings Erik Cole and Tuomo Ruutu both left the game with what Carolina head coach Paul Maurice described as lower body injuries.
• The NHL will probably review a questionable knee on knee hit by Matt Cooke. Cooke was the one who knocked Cole out of the game.
• Both teams won 28 faceoffs. The Penguins were dominant in the faceoff circle in the first round against Philadelphia but then struggled against Washington. It’ll be interesting to see who wins the faceoff battle in this series, especially when Jordan and Eric Staal are up against each other.
• Evgeni Malkin and Tyler Kennedy each had 6 shots on goal to lead the Pens. Both of them also missed on breakaways, when the Canes might have gotten away with holding and hooking penalties.
• Sergei Gonchar apparently fell good enough to play 21:42. The Penguins still went with 7 defensemen, and it’s a good thing that they did, because that 7th guy was Boucher. It’s safe to say at this point that he and the other 6 guys will continue to play.

Game highlights

Click on HQ to watch in high quality.

Thanks to AGreatDayForHockey87 on YouTube for the highlights.

Dan Bylsma

Sidney Crosby and Marc-Andre Fleury

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