Pens Jolt Lightning And Win By A Touchdown, 8-1

Okay, so their timing was off by one game.

If there was a game to win by a touchdown, it was the Pittsburgh Penguins' LAST game. 

You know, the one at the football stadium against the Washington Capitals?

Yeah, that Heinz Field Winter Classic thing.

Well, since that didn't work out, I suppose the Penguins will have to be content with beating the Tampa Bay Lightning by a touchdown instead, which they did last night at the CONSOL Energy Center by running up a 5-0 first period lead and ultimately browbeating the Lightning, 8-1.

Pittsburgh certainly wasted no time getting back into their regular routine last night without the HBO cameras around and without all the buildup that accompanied them kicking off the New Year in primetime, as Evgeni Malkin intercepted a pass right off the opening faceoff won by the Lightning, danced into the offensive zone, then flipped a puck past new Tampa Bay goaltender Dwayne Roloson -- the hero from the night before in the Lightning's 1-0 overtime win over the Caps.

Before most people were even in their seats, the onslaught continued 2 minutes later when an Alex Goligoski point shot went off forward Chris Conner's skate and behind Roloson, and then Tyler Kennedy chased Roloson to the bench at the 7 minute mark when he broke across the slot and showed a lot of patience before firing a shot that went through Roloson's legs and off the skate of Lightning blueliner Pavel Kubina and in for a 3-0 lead.

LW Chris Kunitz wasted no time welcoming new Tampa Bay netminder Dan Ellis to the party by beating him top corner glove side 30 seconds later, and Kunitz added another goal before the period ended when he deflected a Goligoski point shot past Ellis on the power play.

Leading 5-0 at that point, the Penguins had to wonder whether they were going to hit double digits before the end of the second frame.   They hadn't scored 5 goals in the opening period of a game in the last 18 or so years.

You knew Tampa should have just packed up and returned to Florida a few minutes into the second period when Steven Stamkos was awarded a penalty shot, but lost both the puck and his skate edge when he just fell down 45-feet out as he approached Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

That was just desserts for a lame call awarding the shot in the first place, if you ask me.

Meanwhile, Roloson returned to the game in the 2nd period in time for Pens' forward Mark Letestu to flash some incredible individual skill when he scored to make it 6-0 past the 12 minute mark.  Test tube took a nice, short dish pass from Tyler Kennedy before going inside out on Roloson, leaving him on the parkway headed to the airport (as Pens' hall-of-fame radio play-by-play man Mike Lange would say), and roofing a backhander into the otherwise vacated cage.

Credit has to go to TK on the play.  He made just an oustanding pass to Letestu.  I spoke yesterday in this space how he needs to do more besides skate fast and shoot pucks.  He definitely did the job on that sequence. 

Kunitz kept things going when he notched a hat trick before the period expired, deflecting another GoGo point shot past Roloson on the power play for a 7-0 advantage.

While former Penguin Adam Hall managed to bang one past Fleury early in the third period, Goligoski quickly reminded Tampa of their place when he finished a 4-on-1 rush a minute later by scoring on a wrister from the slot top corner, glove side over Ellis -- who had been re-inserted into the game for more abuse.

At 8-1, that pretty much put the Lightning out of their misery.

Pittsburgh outshot the Lighting 41-32 on the night.  

You may have noticed that I haven't mentioned Sidney Crosby's name a single time in this post so-far.  That's because -- surprisingly -- he was mostly a non-factor last night.   His only point in the 8-goal Penguin outburst was an assist on Kunitz's first goal.

Center Jordan Staal also went pointless on the night while making his 'home' debut.

And, considering that Malkin's only point of the game was on his opening goal, most of the damage done against Tampa Bay occurred at the hands of Pittsburgh's support players, together with blueliners Goligoski -- who finished with 4 points on the night -- and Kris Letang, who had 3 assists.

Sure, the Penguins were given a little bit of a break by the schedule maker on this one, what with the Lightning playing in a key division battle the night before against one of their biggest rivals.

But aside from the fact that the Pens will repay that favor since they have to play in Montreal tonight against the Canadiens, Tampa Bay still came into the game as one of the better clubs in the Eastern Conference, tied with Pittsburgh and the Philadelphia Flyers for the top spot with 53 points.  And remember, they achieved that total with some of the worst goaltending in the league this season --- which is why they went out and acquired Roloson a few days ago -- and that says something about their club.

However, last night's game may have showed that, for all their supreme offensive skill up front, they may not quite be ready to compete with the big boys in the East yet -- especially on the blueline.

That's all for now boys and girls.  I'll have a recap of tonight's Pens'/Canadiens tilt tomorrow.  I know I didn't get something up yesterday on the third 24/7 episode, so what I'll just do at this point is post a piece reviewing that episode and last night's outstanding 24/7 finale.  Hopefully that will come this weekend.

I also hope to have mid-season grades sometime this weekend, so keep your eyes peeled for that.

Let's Go Pens!