With an injury-filled line up and a three game losing streak, the Pittsburgh Penguins needed a spark to prevail over the Carolina Hurricanes, Monday night.
Enter Jayson Megna.
Playing in his second game for the Penguins since being recalled on October 24th, Megna scored his first career goal and added an assist in a 3-1 victory at PNC Arena. Tanner Glass also scored his second goal of the year and Chris Kunitz finished off a beautiful pass from Sidney Crosby.
Marc-Andre Fleury was sharp, as well, stopping 20 of 21 shots.
The Penguins came into the game without Rob Scuderi, expected to go on IR with a broken ankle, Beau Bennett and James Neal. And yet, despite playing with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, it was Jayson Megna who was the best player on the ice.
Glass got the Penguins on the board on a goal set up from a face-off play in the neutral zone. Brooks Orpik banked the puck off the boards allowing Megna to out skate the defense and get a shot from in close on the goaltender, Justin Peters. The puck was kicked out to the right of the net where Glass closed in and fired the puck into a wide open cage.
Nathan Gerbe knotted the score at one a piece, finishing off a tic-tac-toe play during a five on three man advantage. Alexander Semin went down low to Elias Lindholm who found Gerbe in front of the net with a one-touch pass.
From there, the game trudged along with minimal scoring chances and several whistles. But with a three on three rush, Sidney Crosby found Chris Kunitz streaking to the left side of net with a perfectly placed pass between the Carolina defense. The goal occured 16:24 into the second period and was Kunitz’s fifth of the season.
Megna scored to extend the lead to two 7:11 into the third period. Crosby’s shot from the slot hit Megna’s skate and trickled past Peters to, effectively, put the game out of reach.
- Chuck Kobasew left the game in the first period with what is being described as a lower body injury.
- Brooks Orpik’s three assists are a career high.
- The Penguins are 7-2 when they score at least two goals in a game.
Three Stars
- Jayson Megna
- Sidney Crosby
- Alexander Semin
Photo courtesy of NHL.com
