Young Guns Step Up For Pens In Opener

As the old saying goes: Speed Kills! Both teams playing in this years Stanley Cup Finals could be considered lethal, especially those ion Pittsburgh, who could be called Serial Killers after game one. San Jose put up a good fight in the opener of the Finals, but the Penguins were just better, coming away with a 3-2 victory, gaining a 1-0 lead in the finals. Both teams played the speed game to perfection, and both teams got solid production out of their top lines: Sidney Crosby, Conor Sheary and Patric Hornqvist for Pittsburgh, and Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski and Tomas Hertl for San Jose. But at the end of the night, it was the HBK line for Pittsburgh that came up the biggest.

Pittsburgh got off to a quick start, spending most of the 1st period on the attack. San Jose really looked like they got off to a slow start and had flat feet. It took a little while but the Penguins struck first. Bryan Rust kept up his hot shooting, by netting his 6th of the playoffs at the 12:43 mark of the opening period. Then just 1:02 later, at 13:48, Conor Sheary took a pass from Crosby and rifled a shot high past Martin Jones to give the Pens a 2-0 lead. Before the period was over, Jones came up big to help keep San Jose in the hockey game. Brent Burns took a shot, it got blocked and sailed out to center. Carl Hagenlin got a step on the defense and had a breakaway. Jones made the save and then followed that up with two huge kick saves on Nick Bonino, who was following up the play. Those two huge saves kept San Jose in the game, but Pittsburgh still held a 2-0 lead after twenty minutes.

Once the 2nd period got rolling, it appeared as the Sharks found their skating legs again. Ian Cole of the Penguins got called for hooking a little over a minute into the middle frame, thus putting the Sharks deadly powerplay to work. Didn't take very long. At the 3:06 mark, San Jose connected on a pretty passing play as Joonas Donskoi found Tomas Hertl at the side of the net for the goal. For Hertl it was his 6th goal of the playoffs. San Jose was back in the game. San Jose controlled the middle period, pressing to get the tying goal. That goal came at the 18:12 mark of the middle frame, when Patrick Marleau scored his 5th of the playoffs. The Marleau goal was a direct result of the style they want to play. They sustained pressure in the offensive zone. Couture passed to the point and Burns got a shot through. Marleau picked up a rebound and scored on a wraparound. So we head to the final period tied at two.

This final frame was a pretty evenly played period. San Jose and Pittsburgh traded quality chances in this 3rd period. Finally, late in the period, Pittsburgh broke through:


For Nick Bonino, the goal was his 4th of the playoffs. It also came on a bad defensive breakdown buy the Sharks. It started with a good pinch in by Letang to carry the puck behind the net. Brent Burns, who had lost his stick on the play, went to Letang. Paul Martin, the other Sharks defender, was standing between Bonino and Burns was so focused on what Burns was doing he forgot about Bonino. When the pass came out, Martin was surprised by it and came a little flat footed. That's what gave Bonino, a member of the HBK line (Bonino Hagelin and Kessel), time to settle the puck down and get his shot off and beat Jones high. San Jose got some pressure late but Murray held fort and the Pens walked away with the win. Shot totals favored the Penguins, 41-26 in the hockey game.

Both teams played a quick game, but the Penguins stuck to the course of action, while San Jose seemed to lose their way for a brief moment. What made the Sharks successful against the Blues in the previous round was that they were able to maintain pressure and wear the Blues down over the length of the series. San Jose never really got the chance to establish that kind of presence in this game against the Penguins. That's why its a seven game series and not a one and done playoff. So there is still plenty of time for the Sharks to get settled and play their game.

Game two of the series is Wednesday night back in Pittsburgh!