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Penguins beat Carolina to win Game 1, 3-2
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The Penguins' Miroslav Satan celebrates after scoring the first goal against the Hurricanes in their first Eastern Conference final game at Mellon Arena tonight.
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The Penguins opened the Eastern Conference final with a 3-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes tonight at Mellon Arena.
Winger Miroslav Satan opened the scoring when, coming out of the penalty box, he caught up with a clearing pass by winger Matt Cooke near center ice for a breakaway and beat Carolina goaltender Cam Ward with a backhander at 9:17 of the first period for his first goal of the playoffs.
Center Evgeni Malkin made it 2-0 1:24 later when he got things going from the neutral zone with a pass to defenseman Philippe Boucher, then drove the slot, took a pass back from Boucher and scored from the inner edge of the right circle.
That gave the Penguins two goals on their first five shots against Ward, the 2006 Conn Smythe winner as playoff MVP when Carolina won the Stanley Cup.
Carolina cut the lead to 2-1 at 13:04 of the second period when center Matt Cullen carried the puck into the Penguins zone and sent it to winger Erik Cole, whose backhand pass set up Chad LaRose for goal from just beneath the right hash marks.
The Penguins restored their two-goal lead when Boucher scored on a power play from the left dot -- a shot that went off Ward and trickled over the goal line -- at 11:33 of the third period to make it 3-1.
With Ward pulled and the Hurricanes on a power play, defenseman Joe Corvo scored at 18:34 of the third period to make it 3-2. His shot went in off Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who had lost his stick in a goal-mouth scramble and was playing with defenseman Rob Scuderi's stick.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Thursday night at Mellon Arena.
First Published May 18, 2009 8:21 pm
