Coming into the Eastern Conference Final, most NHL pundits and fans expected a "fast" series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Carolina Hurricanes.
One with a lot of skating, and a lot of pace and flow, if not a lot of scoring chances, too.
Game 1 lived up to that billing, but the difference for the Penguins in their 3-2 victory was at the position where most felt they had a disadvantage coming into this series.
In goal.
Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 23 of 25 shots last night, outdueling his Carolina counterpart in goal, Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe winner Cam Ward.
Fleury was especially sharp early last night, stopping several good scoring chances by the Hurricanes early and giving his team the chance to ramp things up.
Ward?
Not so much.
The guy who most felt was the more consistent goaltender in this series -- by the way, the same netminder who, despite his 2006 resume, has failed to get his team in the post-season either of the last 2 seasons -- couldn't keep the Penguins off the board in the first when they scored 2 quick goals to get their crowd rocking and stake them to a 2-0 lead.
After failing on two early power plays of their own, the Penguins just finished killing off an interference penalty to RW Miroslav Satan when Satan stepped out of the penalty box and got a breakaway chance after a Hal Gill clear.
Satan skated in clean from 90 feet with speed, got Ward to bite on his shoulder drop deke, then went to the backhand and easily deposited the biscuit behind the Hurricanes' netminder 9 minutes in.
90 seconds later, defenseman Philippe Boucher led a 3-on-2 rush before finding the trailer, Evgeni Malkin, who deked to the backhand and deposited the puck far side past Ward from the slot to give Pittsburgh the lead by 2.
That held up until 13 minutes into the 2nd period when Carolina confused the Pens' defenseman by criss-crossing in the slot and completing a rush with a goal by LW Chad LaRose, who beat Fleury 5-hole to cut the lead in half.
Then, with about 8 and 1/2 minutes to go in the third period, while on power play thanks to Canes' center Matt Cullen shooting the puck over the glass from his own zone, Crosby found Boucher at the left point, who skated in to the top of the circle before wristing a stoppable shot that beat Ward between the legs to give the Penguins another big 2 goal cushion.
Pittsburgh needed that lead, too, because when defenseman Brooks Orpik was sent off for elbowing with about 2 and 1/2 minutes to go, Carolina defensman Joe Corvo got a goal a minute later that ping-ponged around and somehow found it's way past Fleury to cut the lead to one again.
Given the number of comebacks the Hurricanes have pulled off this post-season so far, that had to make a few people -- this writer included -- a little unsettled, but Fleury managed to make 2 more good stops in those last 90 seconds, including one on Eric Staal and another on a puck that took a strange bounce on him from about 120 feet, to secure the victory.
I'd have to say the Penguins' got a little bit better of the play overall last night, although not by a large margin. In fact, the hits and face-offs were about even. Pittsburgh did have 6 more shots than Carolina and took advantage of those chances.
But the story of the game was definitely #29.
You'll likely hear about a few injuries sustained by 2 Carolina forwards the next two days -- one by LW Tuomo Ruutu, who was wiped out by Pens' defenseman Mark Eaton in the first period, and another by LW Eric Cole, who collided with Pittsburgh LW Matt Cooke in an awkward collision about halfway through the third frame.
Canes' coach Paul Maurice felt Cooke's hit on Cole was knee-on-knee, but I disagree. Cooke turned his body to the side before colliding with Cole and, at least as far as I could see, didn't really stick out his leg. As I mentioned, the collision was just awkward. If he wants a true knee-on-knee hit, Maurice should go back and watch what Ovechkin did to Gonchar in the last round.
Personally, I think Eaton's hit was a bit more questionable. That was more like a slew foot and, while Ruutu seemingly trying to step out of the way from a bodycheck at the last minute was what likely put Eaton in a position of only wiping out Ruutu's leg, I think that should have been a penalty. It wasn't called, however.
Ruutu did not return, but Cole managed to at least get in one or two more shifts before the game ended.
These situations bear watching because, as I indicated yesterday, Carolina's success is based in large part on its depth, and Ruutu and Cole are soild parts of that depth. Of the two injuries, Ruutu's is said to be a bit more serious. Time will tell if they play in game 2.
So, at this point, the Penguins have started out strong, but that won't deter the Hurricanes, who have lost game 1 in 4 straight playoff series' now. In the end, they won each one of those series'. Because they'll be looking just to get a split on the road in Pittsburgh in this one, they can still achieve that by winning game 2, which makes it critical that the Penguins come out with a stronger effort in the next contest and put the pressure on Carolina going back home for game 3.
With 2 days off until that game on Thursday, they'll be plenty of time for both teams to prepare.
Maybe even for the Flower to bloom some more.
More tomorrow.
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