It may have been ugly sweater night at Consol Energy Center, but the Pittsburgh Penguins performance was anything but ugly as they beat the Florida Panthers 3-1. It was the fifth consecutive home victory for the Pens, and they are 5-0-2 in their last seven games
“Florida pushed us very hard. I thought those guys responded really well,” said coach Mike Johnston on the challenging and physical game.
Derrick Pouliot made his NHL debut in style, scoring the game-winning goal with his first NHL shot, making him the fifth Penguins player to score their first NHL goal this season.
“Its incredible,” said Pouliot. “You dream about that moment happening, so it was very exciting, good to get the win, and get the first goal.”
Sidney Crosby sealed the victory with an insurance goal in the third period. It was Crosby’s tenth goal of the season.
“It felt good,” said Crosby. “[I’ve had] some good chances the last couple games, and nice to finally put in a great play by Tanger, he made that whole play happen, bring guys to him and then great pass.”
Kris Letang and Simon Despres assisted on the goal. In addition to the assist, Despres had ten hits, which was a career high.
Nick Spaling got the Penguins started with his fifth goal of the season on a knuckling shot that eluded Florida goaltender Roberto Luongo just 1:48 into the first period. Steve Downie and Marcel Goc assisted on the goal.
“Nice to get that early,” said Spaling. “That’s a big thing. We wanted to establish the forecheck; establish a good shots. I did see it as a little bit of a fluke, but it was nice to get that early.”
Steve Downie had two assists despite spending 17 minutes in the penalty box. Downie has six multi-point games through 32 games. The Penguins penalty killers were hard at work, killing all six Panthers power plays.
Marc-Andre Fleury earned the win in goal for the Penguins by stopping 45 of 46 Panthers shots. The lone shot that beat him came from Panthers forward Vince Trocheck, a Pittsburgh native playing in his first NHL game in the city.
The Penguins will travel to Florida for the second game of the home-and-home series on Monday.
Photo credit: ESPN
