Oh What a Save!

Miroslav Satan, Ruslan Fedotenko, and Eric Godard were all free agents this summer, and all played for the New York Islanders at some point. Andy Hilbert, Richard Park, and Jon Sim all play for the Islanders now but have all skated in Mellon Arena wearing black and gold.

Early in the first period Pens and league leading scorer took a slap shot to his left hand and went to the bench wincing in pain. He finished the period but did not take the ice at the beginning of the second. However after a whistle four minutes in the center took the ice and answered everyone’s question of “Can he still shoot?” A blast from the point on the power play directly following his return proved that he in fact could still shoot.

The Isles who are struggling this season managed to get on the board first as the puck floated passed Dany Sabourin’s glove hand. Doug Weight had help from Bill Guerin and Andy Hilbert at 16:23.

With only two shots through the first twenty minutes the Pens needed to get more offense and so did the Isles who only had five themselves.

Early in the second the Pens did manage to get some offense as second year winger Tyler Kennedy went hard to the net and flicked the puck passed Joey MacDonald to tie the game at one. Matt Cooke and Mike Zigomanis assisted on the Pens first goal of the night at 2:15.

But two Isles goals made it seem like they really wanted the game. Tim Jackman was put a rebound passed Sabourin at 8:51 and Andy Hilbert was alone in front of the net where his back-hander made it 3-1 at 14:30.

However the Pens hadn’t given up and this was seen when Jordan Staal took the puck at center ice and was alone in the offensive zone when he flicked a bouncing puck passed MacDonald for his second of the season. Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang assisted at 16:01 and after forty minutes the Pens were only down by one.

Third periods have been a problem for the Pens this season, but that didn`t seem to be the case as they out -shot the Isles 18-1.

Tyler Kennedy who`s first NHL goal came against the Islanders notched his second of the game to get the Pens back into it. An Alex Goligoski slapper from the point grazed off of Kennedy at 16:45. Mike Zigomanis also assisted on the tying goal.

The game was headed to over-time where the Pens were out-shot 4-3, and with two seconds remaining were called for a double minor high sticking call.

The shoot-out however is where things really started to get interesting. The Isles Doug Weight shot first and Dany Sabourin was there to make the save. Petr Sykora was the Pens first shooter and managed to put it behind MacDonald. The next to shooters, Bill Guerin and Miroslav Satan, were held off the score-sheet and the weight of the game was on Dany Sabourin’s pads, literally. Trent Hunter came in and wedged the puck in Sabourin’s left pad which was kept from going across the goal line. Initially it was ruled not goal and there was not enough evidence to tell whether or not it was across the line since it was in Sabourin’s and had to be dug out and given to the official. Sabourin was given the save and the win his second of the season in three starts.

The three stars were 3. Andy Hilbert, 2. Petr Sykora, 1. Tyler Kennedy.

Ryan Whitney (foot) and Sergei Gonchar (shoulder) missed the game along with healthy scratches Darryl Sydor and Paul Bissonnette. Mark Eaton who had missed two games as a healthy scratch returned to play.

It will be a rematch of the Stanley Cup Finals as the Pens take on the Red Wings in Detroit on Tuesday at 7:08.