Penguins Open Up On Montreal

Friday night opened up the series between the Canadiens and Penguins and it got started in Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh. The Canadiens rode a little bit of their Game Seven momentum early on in the game, but then the Penguins decided to flex their own offensive muscle, taking advantage of some quickly fatigued legs.  The Penguins won each period 2-1, easily taking the game 6-3 in the end.  The game within the game will be keeping down the attrition, which we will catch up on a little bit further down in this post.

The big players in the pool tonight all had 2 points each tonight and there was a bundle of those players between both teams.  Marc-Andre Fleury, Sidney Crosby, Kristopher Letang, Alex Goligoski and Bill Guerin had a pair of points each for the Penguins, while Brian Gionta and Scott Gomez each had a pair of points for the Canadiens.  In a 6-3 game, we're definitely going to see a lot of key points for the pool, especially when all the best players come out to play.

It's too bad our winning goal was stolen from the pool again.  Craig Adams picked up credit for the Penguins' 4th goal of the game... well, not so much getting credit more than being on the other end of a beautiful pass from Pascal Dupuis and deflecting it into a wide open cage. This means the lead in the hockey pool bonus point doesn't change... for now.

Game-Winning Goals
Injuries are going to be a part of the game, but both the Canadiens and Penguins suffered major injuries in Game One.  The Canadiens lost their best defenseman in Andrei Markov, as he left the game with what appeared to be a right knee injury, falling awkwardly after colliding with Matt Cooke in the 1st period.  There was word that Markov was seen leaving the building on crutches and there is significant fear that the has yet another major knee injury involving ligaments.  Stay tuned to find out more.

The Penguins also lost a significant part of their line-up after Jordan Staal fell awkwardly in a collision with the Canadiens' PK Subban.  Staal seemed to favour his leg/ankle when he left the ice before the end of the 2nd period.  I haven't seen an update on Staal or his availability going forward, but I'm sure the blog will be updated when it knows what's going on.

Saturday's Games


Game One of the Flyers and Bruins series goes nice & early on Saturday.  The afternoon/morning game of this physical series should be a dandy.  Both teams have a bit of a physical history together and I think we're all expecting a few fireworks.  If you've read the preview for the second round, you'd know.



In the evening, the Canucks invade Chicago for some revenge of 2009 against the Blackhawks.  This game will also have it's fair share of fireworks, so this one will definitely be one to see.  I know I'll be watching and I'll also be micro-blogging on Twitter as the game goes on.  Stay tuned to my Twitter feed... @opiatedsherpa.