Narrow Escape

After four days off from play the Pens took the ice at home against the Edmonton Oilers Thursday night.

Not even six minutes into the game Eric Godard dropped the gloves with Steve MacIntyre. MacIntyre stands at 6'5'' 250 lbs, Eric Godard stands at 6'4'' 214lbs. Godard won the fight receiving a few bloody knuckles while MacIntyre was sent to the locker room for stitches.

Mid-way through the first frame Miroslav stuffed the puck under goaltender Mathieu Garon's pads for his seventh goal of the season. Brooks Orpik and Ruslan Fedotenko assisted at 9:14.

Kris Letang who had been slashed across the wrist against the St. Louis Blues did the exact same thing to an Oiler and was sent to the box. While his team mates were killing of his penalty Sidney Crosby was off on a break-away from center ice. His shot to Garon's pads was tipped in by Max Talbot at 15:58, a short-handed goal.

Late in the period Kris Letang was hit late in the defensive zone receiving a bloody nose and went to the bench a little shaken up. Team mate Eric Godard spoke to the official about how no penalty was called for the late hit and the official called Godard for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Early in the second period Miroslav Satan was in front of the net again and deflected a Malkin blast from the point past Garon. Satan's eighth of the season and second of the game was assisted by Evgeni Malkin and Alex Goligoski at 7:05.

Petr Sykora only had one goal on the season that is until Evgeni Malkin won a face-off in the offensive zone and passed to Sykora. The puck went top shelf passed Garon for Sykora second of the year at 11:24.

Not even two minutes later Petr Sykora was again in front of the net when Malkin`s shot bounced of his chest before he flicked it into the net for his third of the season and second of the night. Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang assisted on the power play goal at 13:03.

Following the Pens fifth goal Garon was replaced in net by back-up goalie Jeff Dourin-Deslauriers, however Garon still received the loss.

After a great first two periods the Pens seemed to lose both their momentum and their focus, the Oilers scored four unanswered goals. Fernando Pisani, Tom Gilbert, Ales Hemsky, and Sheldon Souray all scored, the second and third goals were only twenty-eight seconds apart. Their first goal was scored while a broken stick in front of the net distracted Pens goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.

The third period was not only filled with Oilers goal action but also some physicality between the two teams. Matt Cooke and Tyler Kennedy sandwiched an Oiler leading to a five on three for the Pens. Theo Peckham who was not the man who was hit received an instigator for coming after Cooke. Peckham also received a fighting penalty while Cooke was only given two minutes for roughing, this penalty was served by Sam Ganger as Peckham received a ten minute misconduct penalty and was sent to the locker room.

Two minutes later there was confrontation in front of the net where Tyler Kennedy was pushed down to the ice and received a roughing call along with Sheldon Souray.

The Pens managed to somehow survive the third period holding onto a one goal lead and win the game.

The three stars were 3. Ales Hemsky, 2. Miroslav Satan, 1. Petr Sykora.

Ryan Whitney (foot) and Sergei Gonchar (shoulder) missed the game along with healthy scratches Mark Eaton and Paul Bissonnette. Pascal Dupuis and Ruslan Fedotenko who had both missed games due to injury returned to play while Ryan Whitney has started skating.

The Pens go on the road again to take on the New York Islanders Saturday at 7:08.