PENGUINS HOLD OFF CANES TO WIN GAME 1 OF EAST FINALS

The Pittsburgh Penguins used some important contributions from role players and the goaltending of Marc-Andre Fleury to hold off the Carolina Hurricanes by a 3-2 score on Monday night.  The victory gives Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead in the best of seven NHL Eastern Conference Finals, with game two scheduled for the Penguins’ Mellon Arena home ice on Thursday night.  The series then shifts to Raleigh, NC for games three and four beginning on Saturday evening.

Sports betting enthusiasts who chose to back the Penguins as -205 home favorites were rewarded by the victory, with the 5 combined goals dipping just UNDER the posted total of 5’.  Pittsburgh had gone OVER in their previous four playoff games, and failed to surpass the total for only the third time in their prior nine postseason contests.  Carolina, conversely, has only two OVERs in their previous ten playoff games with five going UNDER and three pushes. 

The Penguins quickly opened up a two goal lead in the first period, with veteran Miroslav Satan getting his first goal of the playoffs at 9:17 to open the scoring assisted by Matt Cooke and Hal Gill.   Evgeni Malkin would strike next for his 7^th of the postseason at 10:41 assisted by Phillipe Boucher.  Carolina would get on the board at 13:04 of the second period as Chad LaRose lit the lamp assisted by Erik Cole and Matt Cullen.  Philippe Boucher would tally on the power play early in the third period assisted by Malkin and Sidney Crosby to stretch the Penguins lead to 3-1.  Carolina’s Joe Corvo would make it a one goal game late with his power play marker assisted by Ray Whitney and Rod Brind'Amour but the ‘canes were unable to knock in the equalizer.

Boucher in particular was a surprise contributor for the Penguins.  He’d played in only four of Pittsburgh’s first 13 playoff games, and was in the lineup here due to Sergei Gonchar’s ailing right knee.  He responded with a goal and assist, earning the game’s ‘first star’ award and these words of praise from head coach Dan Blysma:

"He's been ready, he stayed ready and worked hard. He didn't get a lot of minutes but when he did he cashed in."

Boucher focused on the Pens’ depth in discussing his contribution to the victory, along with that of Miroslav Satan:

“We like to believe we're deep -- whoever we dress, we've got some good players that are not playing right now and everybody can come in and help out. It's good that we both did it"

Carolina’s Eric Staal wasn’t demoralized by his team’s setback, though admitted some improvements were in order:

"I thought our game was there, and Fleury made some huge saves in the first period. We've just got to be better, tighten up and not have breakdowns early."

Pittsburgh is once again a -210 home favorite in game two, with the total set at 5’ UN -120.  The Penguins have prevailed in five of the last seven head to head matchups on their home ice, with six of those games playing UNDER the total.