On Friday night, opening their last season at Mellon Arena, the Penguins enjoyed a fabulous 30 minute ceremony complete with the Stanley Cup on hand and a new Cup banner raised to the rafters of The Igloo, then promptly went out and defeated the New York Rangers, 3-2.
On Saturday night, the Penguins were immediately back in action, this time on the road as the opponent for the home opener of the New York Islanders -- and NHL debut of #1 overall draft pick John Tavares -- but shook off two 3rd period deficits to come back and gain 2 more points after a 4-3 shootout victory.
So far, so good.
The banner ceremony Friday night was pretty spectactular. After a 10 minute presentation narrated by comedian Dennis Miller documenting the team's rise to the Stanley Cup last season after the Valentine's Day Massacre loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, white coverings hanging from each side of the scoreboard were dropped to reveal a flashbulb moment that rivaled the kickoff to the Super Bowl:
The Stanley Cup at center ice.
Then, team ownership, the coaching staff, and players were all introduced. The loudest ovations were -- not surprisingly -- given to Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury and Maxime Talbot, the latter of which had his jersey on like the rest of his teammates even though he's out of the lineup recovering from off-season shoulder surgery.
Then, the big moment came as the players and everyone on the ice gathered at the South end of the Arena and watched the banner go up. It was a picture to remember:
After the ceremony concluded, the Penguins power play did, too -- opening up the scoring under 8 minutes into the game when Malkin tipped a Sergei Gonchar slapshot past Rangers' netminder Henrik Lundqvist for a 1-0 lead.
Rangers' center Chris Drury tied the score later in the first period, but the Penguins opened up the game in the 2nd period after a 10-bell save from Fleury on New York forward Vinny Prospal.
Prospal got a pass on a 2-on-1 breaking down the near side and got a nice one-timer off, but Fleury split deftly across the crease before gloving the shot above his pad. Here's a look see at this beauty:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNSeZyi4aOI
Minutes after that save, Crosby knocked home a shot from the lip of the crease after the Penguins failed to capitalize on a 3-on-1, and Tyler Kennedy upped the Pens' lead to 2 goals after he deflected an Alex Goligoski shot past Lundqvist before the frame ended.
Rangers' newly acquired star winger Marion Gaborik got a goal in the 3rd period, but the Rangers got no closer.
Pittsburgh outshot New York 31-27, and went 1 for 2 on the power play, while killing off all 4 Ranger man advantages.
Last night, the Penguins looked a little sluggish out of the gate against the Islanders and, after Crosby got Pittsburgh on the board early, the Isles' took a 2-1 lead before the 2nd intermission.
I was pretty frustrated watching the game at that point. The Islanders are a team the Penguins should dominate, but -- with the exception of last year when Pittsburgh went 5-0-1 against them in 6 contests -- the Penguins always seem to have trouble with them. And that's hard to figure out since you look at their roster and you see guys like Matt Moulson on the first line and Jon Sim on the 2nd line.
Sure, the Islanders have some young talent in Tavares, Josh Bailey and Kyle Okposo, and they have a recognizable name, Doug Weight, on the shelf with an injury right now, but let's face it -- they are overmatched on most nights, and should be especially so against the Penguins.
Fortunately, sandwiched around a goal by Islanders' winger Trent Hunter, Mark Eaton and Ruslan Fedotenko notched markers in the 3rd period for the Penguins -- Fedotenko's garbage goal after a scramble around the net came with about 3 minutes to go -- to force overtime and a shootout, which the Penguins prevailed in easily for a change when Kris Letang and Crosby beat Isles' goaltender Dwayne Rolosen, and Fleury stopped both Islander chances.
In some ways, the result was just, because the Penguins' owned New York in the final period and overtime, outshooting them 22-6 (and 42-28 overall).
So, with that, the Penguins start 2-0 and currently sit atop the Atlantic Division at this early stage of the season with Philadelphia, who has the same 2-0 record.
The Penguins' can rest for a few days, since their next game isn't until Wednesday at home against the downtrodden and almost-without-a-city-until-recently Phoenix Coyotes.
Pittsburgh can play down to their opposition sometimes (as they did for part of the game last night in New York), so let's hope that doesn't happen against Phoenix.
More later this week.
Let's Go Pens
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