Pittsburgh Penguins at Ottawa Senators 10/9/09

[PaulAbbott]

PENGUINS (4-1-0) at SENATORS (3-1-0)

Season series -- Ottawa won the head-to-head last year 3-0-1, splitting the Premiere series in Stockholm and taking the remaining two North American matchups.

Big Story -- We've barely covered five percent of the season but the Penguins and Senators have already risen to first place in their respective divisions, each holding a one-point lead.

Team Scope

Penguins -- The Pens responded to their one hiccup so far -- a 3-0 loss to the Coyotes last Wednesday -- with back-to-back victories, out-grinding the Flyers 5-4 and turning the Maple Leafs' physical style against them, scoring three times on the power play, two by Sidney Crosby, in a 5-2 road win.

"Right from the start our power play was executing and set the tone for our team," coach Dan Bylsma said. "When you win the special teams (battle), that’s a good recipe (for success)."

More importantly, the Pens showed they weren't easily fazed by teams trying to outmuscle them.

"It's going to be like that against a lot of teams this year," defenseman Alex Goligoski told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "They're going to want to set a tone with physical games against us.

"We've handled it pretty well so far."

Senators -- Rust is the bane of any goaltender, and Brian Elliott certainly could have had some in his first start of the season, but he turned in a solid performance against the sharp-shooting Atlanta Thrashers, turning back 26 of 28 shots ina 4-2 win.

"The first period, I felt a little rusty right off the bat, but I made a couple of saves and felt better after that," said Elliott to the Ottawa Citizen. "The guys played great in front of me and shut down their top guys and that was overall a good game."

Mike Fisher, meanwhile, had a productive night with linemates Alex Kovalev and Daniel Alfredsson, assisting on a Kovalev goal and knocking in one of his own on the power play. Coach Cory Clouston had switched up the top two lines in an effort to get more production out of them and not rely too much on the solid third and fourth lines.

Who's Hot -- Fisher also scored the overtime goal that netted the Senators a win over the Islanders. Evgeni Malkin set up both of Crosby's power play tallies Saturday and leads the team with five assists and seven points.

Injury Report -- Ottawa defenseman Filip Kuba (upper body) and centers Peter Regin (upper body) and Ryan Shannon (concussion) remain questionable

Stat Pack -- The win in Toronto marked the second time in three seasons the Penguins have started 3-0 on the road. The only other time the Pens started 3-0 or better away was 1994-95, when they started 4-0-1. Fisher's power-play goal 3:44 into the second period of the Atlanta game ended an 0-for-8 drought to start the season.

Puck Drop -- “To get a goal when we did, I think, was very important," Clouston said about Fisher's game-winning power play goal against the Thrashers. "Sometimes it’s not how many, but when you score them.”

-- Matt Mankiewich, NHL.com






My Vote, Pittsburgh wins a close one with Godard game misconduct after winning and losing a fight. Also an Ottawa fan jumps onto the ice and runs around. Sorry started the Vodka/Cranberries a little early tonight.

[PaulAbbott]

5:36 left in 1st. No score. Penguins are looking sharp and Ottawa is looking smart. Fleury is looking real good as well, LeClaire I can't seem to judge. Craig Adams looks frustrated, may fight at some point. Crosby got knocked on his ass when he was going for a puck. Brooks Orpik's FSN spot is the worst promotion i've ever seen. "This is how I defy ordinary." By watching FSN Pittsburgh.

Ottawa scores at 4:01 left in first. Milan Michalek (Spezza, Cheechoo)

Penguins score at 3:22 left in first. Billy Guerin

Score: 1-1

[PaulAbbott]

13:45 PIT Kennedy Scores

[poopies]

Spezza looked solid in this game. The Sens were on the wrong side of luck all game.

The Pens 3rd line was huge tonight. Oh and that goal by Billy G was awesome!

[poopies]

Hey check your calendar, by the way. You're 3 days behind the rest of the world.

[PaulAbbott]

yeah heh I actually came to the realization it was the 13th today. Thought it was like the 7th for a week or something, lol.