Penguins Douse Lightning in Opener

I’d like to give full credit for the Penguins’ surprising season-opening 6-2 swamping of Tampa Bay to my esteemed colleague, Other Rick. You see, yesterday at Wright’s Gym he wagered a gym member a cup of coffee that our Pens wouldn’t score more than six goals in their first four games sans Sidney Crosby.

While I wasn’t in full agreement, I wasn’t expecting a deluge of goals, either. In fact, I predicted we’d lose to the two-time defending Cup champs, 4-1.

Fortunately, the reverse PenguinPoop curse is alive and well…lol.

Desperately undermanned, our patchwork Pens pulled together and played a near flawless road game. Granted, the Lightning weren’t striking…a meager 15 shots on goal through two mostly somnambulant periods. The epitome of a team nursing a Stanley Cup hangover, not to mention one that bled off an outstanding third line during the offseason. But give our boys…Mike Sullivan and the coaching staff included…full credit. Skating with surprising cohesiveness and attention to detail, we dominated the action for nearly a full 60 minutes.

David slayed Goliath.

The Pens set the tone from the outset, ringing up a 14-7 edge in first-period shots on goal while controlling the territorial play. We snatched the lead on the opening shift of the second period, thanks to a hustling play by Jeff Carter, who intercepted a lazy clearing attempt by the usually redoubtable Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. Carter promptly dished the biscuit to newcomer Danton Heinen, who arrived as Johnny-on-the-spot to wire the puck home.

Four minutes later ex-Lightning forward Brian Boyle rambled down the slot. Taking a picture-perfect pass from Sam Lafferty in stride, the big guy beat Vasilevskiy like Mike Lange’s proverbial rented mule through the five hole. Two-nothing Pens.

We nearly expanded our lead midway through the period, but the harried Lightning netminder blunted a great chance by Jason Zucker off a slick setup from Kasperi Kapanen. With Heinen in the box, the Pens managed to short-circuit the fearsome Lightning power play and hold serve entering the third period.

Could we possibly hang on and pull off an upset?

Yes.

At 11:32 of the final frame, Dominik Simon spun off the boards and flicked a harmless-looking shot from long range that somehow picked its way through traffic and into the net. Proving once again that good things happen when you shoot the puck.

Stunned that the much-maligned winger had actually scored, I was reminded of a Bill Murray line from Ghostbusters…”Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria.” But I digress.

Desperate to light any kind of fire under his sleepwalking troops, Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper yanked Vasilevskiy for an extra attacker with six minutes remaining. His move worked…sort of…as Anthony Cirelli scored to spoil Tristan Jarry’s shutout bid and close the gap to 3-1. However, Teddy Blueger promptly countered with an empty-netter to restore our three-goal cushion.

Two minutes later the Lightning struck again on a goal by Alex Killorn. For the first time I began to feel uneasy…that Jarry might unravel a la Game 6 of the Islanders series last spring. But Cooper kept Vasilevskiy tethered to the bench and the Lightning net empty and our guys kept filling it, with Evan Rodrigues and Bryan Rust doing the honors. Putting the finishing touches on a delicious season-opening win.

With an assist from Other Rick!

Puckpourri

The Pens outshot the Lightning, 35-28. The defending Cup champs held a slight edge in the faceoff circle (51 percent) and in hits (31-28).

Jarry stopped 26 of 28 shots, good for a .929 save percentage.

Embracing a total team concept, six different Pens scored goals and a dozen tallied at least a point. Kris Letang paved the way with two points (both assists) while logging a team-high 25:16 of ice time.

The line of Blueger, Simon and Brock McGinn was very effective. The trio combined for two goals, nine shots on goal (four by Simon) and five hits (a game-high four by McGinn).

Not to be outdone, the Heinen-Carter-Rust combo unleashed eight shots on goal, as did the Zucker-Rodrigues-Kapanen unit. Drew O’Connor, Boyle and Lafferty tallied four shots on goal. Again, credit to Sullivan and his staff for deploying balanced line combinations.

Speaking of “Sully,” congrats to the Pens’ skipper. He tied Dan Bylsma for the most regular-season wins in franchise history with 252.

Mark Friedman replaced injured Mike Matheson on defense and registered two shots, two hits and two blocked shots in 14:07 of ice time.

Next up for the black and gold…the Florida Panthers on Thursday night.