Marc Andre-Fleury Saves the Day for Pitt in Game 1
Sometimes no matter how gritty a team is, talent is so hard to overcome. The Penguins won Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals 3-2 over the Carolina Hurricanes. The Canes were feeling the effects of two 7 game grueling series with the Devils and Bruins. Pittsburgh outshot the Canes 31-25 as well. Carolina got some early pressure on Fleury. Fleury made a wonderful stop on Chad Larose on a short handed chance. Then a bit later with his glove hand on Tuomo Ruutu. The Penguins struck first when Miroslav Satan scored on a clean breakaway on Cam Ward to put Pitt up 1-0. Satan skated on the left wing faked Ward to the left and then tucked a backhander into an empty net to score his first goal on the playoffs. Satan had just come out of the penalty box to get the breakaway. Evgeni Malkin the leading scorer in the NHL with 35 goals and 113 pts had a wonderful game with 6 shots on net. It seemed like every time he had the puck he had a chance to score. Fleury then stopped Eric Staal in the high slot to keep it at 2-0. This was a very entertaining first period.
The second period started with Pitt getting the first real good chance of the period. Sidney Crosby had the puck behind his net fed a nice backhander to Bill Guerin who tried to go upstairs on Ward, but Ward made a wonderful stop on Guerin to heep the game at 2-0. The next real good chance came about 10 minutes in to the second period. Rod Brindamour stole a pass just inside the line and fed Sergei Samsonov down low. Samsonov then feathered a pass to Jussi Joken just near the right face-off circle and Fleury robbed him. With about 5 minutes left in the second Eric Cole set up the gritty Chad Larose and he beat Fleury with a low hard through the 5-hole to get Carolina right back in the game. Larose then thought he tied the game up with a hard shot just inside the post, but Erik Cole was called for goaltender interference to wipe out the goal. Ward kept the game at 2-1 when he stopped Malkin by dropping his left pad on the ice. He then stopped Bill Guerin as well on the power play. Pittsburgh did outshoot the Canes 12-6 in the second and did have the better of the play, but as he does on most nights, Cam Ward gave the Canes a chance to win this game still in the third.
The Canes did have the first good chance of the third period stopping Staal to keep the score at 2-1 Pitt. Fleury did have a very strong game with some really good saves on glorious chances. The Pens then got the next real good scoring opportunity when Samsonov made a horrible play at his own blue line to give Malkin a clean breakway and Ward stopped him with his right pad. Malkin tried to score on his forehand. Ward then stopped Bill Guerin again to keep the game at 2-1. About halfway through the third period, Matt Cullen was called for a costly delay of game penalty when he was pressured in his own zone and flipped the puck into the crowd. Phillipe Boucher, who was set up by Sidney Crosby, scored from just above the right circle to make it 3-1. The Canes as they have shown throughout these playoffs next quit. Brooks Orpik took an elbowing penalty for the Pens and Carolina responded when Joe Corvo set up by Ray Whitney beat Fleury to make it 3-2, with a shot from the point. Carolina had pulled Ward to get extra pressure on Fleury. With about 30 seconds left, I thought the game would be tied but Eric Staal could not corral cleanly a beautiful pass from Brindamour on a back door play. He did get the puck somewhat on net but Fleury stopped him. Then with just 19 seconds left, Joe Corvo decided to flip a shot on Fleury, the puck took a weird bounce and Fleury had to be magnificent with his blocker to heep the game 3-2. This his how the game ended.
All in all I thought Pittsbugh had the better of the chances but Ward kept Carolina alive. The Pens have such a fast team that anyone that tried to play up and down with them are usually going to pay with some odd man rushes against them. I think Pitt had 3 breakaways and did score the opening goal but Satan on one. The Canes must not turn the puck over so much if they want to have any chance in this series. Pitt just has to play the same as they did tonight and they will most likely be victorious. Also Marc Andre-Fleury who gets unjustly criticized was key at the beginning of the game to keep Carolina off the board. He was very strong also at the end of the game as well when needed. All in all a very fun game to watch. A footnote as well, Erik Cole and Tuomo Ruutu both getting knee injuries was not a good sign for the Canes. Cole got hurt trying to cross the middle when making a play in the Pitt zone. I don't think this was dirty. However Ruutu getting his knee cut out from behind by Mark Eaton was a bit questionable in my opinion. I hope both return for Game 2 on Thursday night in Pitt. The Canes must win this game if they are to have a legitimate chance of beating the Pens. Thank you all for reading this I really appreciate it very much so. Even though the team I wanted to win lost, I still enjoy doing a summation of what happened. I may be a Canes fan first, but I am also an NHL fan and respect how good Pittsburgh is and how much fun they are to watch. Hope you read again after Game 2.
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