Grand Opening

The Pittsburgh Penguins opened the 2008-09 season in Stockholm, Sweden against the Ottawa Senators. Having spent close to a week in Europe the team was completely adjusted when it came to the time difference at game time. The game started at close to nine pm Sweden time, three pm Pittsburgh time.

Unlike in the opener last season the Pens seemed ready, even early in the first period. Tyler Kennedy scored forty seconds in to give the Pens a 1-0 lead; Jordan Staal got his first point of the regular season with the assist.

The Sens scored next, a goal by former Penguin Sean Donavan with help from Dean McAmmond and Filip Kuba at 9:13.

In the first the Sens killed off all five penalties, keeping the game tied at one. The Pens on the other hand only had one penalty in the first twenty minutes & they too killed off the Sens chance with the man advantage.

The shots, saves, and face-off won were tied at the end of the first, something that rarely happens.

Early in the second Evgeni Malkin got the puck in the neutral zone, short-handed, & as Mike Lange would say, “Was off to the races.” His first goal of the season came while Brooks Orpik served two minutes for interference. The unassisted goal was scored at 3:18.

From there however the Sens dominated, scoring at power play goal at 12:15. Dany Heatley scored with help from Jason Spezza & Filip Kiba while Eric Godard was in the box for hooking. Another Sens goal was scored in the second, this time short-handed, by Spezza from Antoine Volchenkov at 17:55.

At the end of the second the Sens had the lead score-wise but everything else was pretty even. The shots & saves were tied; the Pens however won one more face-off than the Sens.

In the third period the Pens faired better than they had in the second, scoring the only goal of the period. Rob Scuderi took a pass along the far boards from Sidney Crosby. Looking much like injured defenseman Ryan Whitney, Scuderi stepped up & snapped a wrister from the hash. Smiling like a child on Christmas Scuderi celebrated with his line mates; this was only his third NHL goal, his last game 96 games ago. Miroslav Satan received the secondary assist at 3:56.

With the game tied at three at the end of sixty minutes the two teams were headed to overtime. Jordan Staal had a chance to end the game with a minute & a half left in the period, but was stopped by Martin Gerber. However Jason Spezza was stripped of the puck by Tyler Kennedy. Kennedy blasted a shot from almost the same spot that Scuderi scored from to end the game with twenty-three seconds remaining.

Alex Goligoski, Bill Thomas, & John Curry were the healthy scratches. Ryan Whitney (foot), Sergei Gonchar (shoulder), & Petr Sykora (groin) also missed the game. The three stars were 3. Evgeni Malkin 2. Jason Spezza 1. Tyler Kennedy. The Guins take on the Sens again tomorrow afternoon at 2:30 in Stockholm, the Pens will be the home team.