Dany Gets The Job Done: Malkin, Pens Beat Bruins in Shootout, 2-1

Regular readers of my work in this forum know that I have my doubts about Penguins' backup netminder Dany Sabourin.

I have been critical of his consistency and his penchant for letting up soft goals.

Last night, in his first start of the season on the road against the Boston Bruins, Sabourin not only was consistently excellent in stopping 35 of 36 Boston shots, the only goal he let up in regulation and overtime was a top corner shot from Bruins' sniper Phil Kessel.

It's not a stetch to say that the Penguins' 2 points earned last night were attributable solely to Sabourin, Evgeni Malkin's winner in round 5 of the shootout notwithstanding.

With the win, the Penguins were able to keep things rolling a little bit. They've won 3 of their last 4 and come back home to play the Carolina Hurricanes Thursday night before embarking on a 4-game road trip, including some games out west.

The New York Rangers also lost in regulation to the Dallas Stars last night. The Penguins currently sit 3 points behind them in the standings, with a game in hand.

A few other notes:

Malkin -- historically poor in shootouts (3 for 19, I believe) made a great move to beat Thomas for the winner, faking a shot and getting Bruins' goaltender Tim Thomas to drop, before a quick shot to the far side. Even though I don't expect Therein to call upon him in the top 3 in future shootouts, hopefully that goal will give him some confidence when he is needed in subsequent rounds.

Miroslav Satan scored the other Penguin goal, giving him 4 in the Penguins' first 7 games. That works out to about 47 goals over the course of the year.

As I said yesterday, the Satan critics should be quiet.

F-Hossa.

Letang, Sykora, Crosby and Satan took the other shootout attempts for the Penguins. Only Sykora scored. He buried a quick backhander behind Thomas.

The only Bruins' player to beat Sabourin in the shootout was --- sound familiar? --- Kessel.

I still can't believe Bruins coach Claude Julien actually benched him in 3 straight games early in their 7-game playoff series loss to the Canadiens last year. Had he played Kessel, the Bruins could have won that series.

Anyway, more later this week before the Staal brothers go head-to-head. Jordan actually is a player I've been planning on talking about a little.

Until then ....