Beaver County Times
May 2, 2013
Penguins wing Pascal Dupuis celebrates his first-period goal during Game 1 against the Islanders in Pittsburgh. Dupuis added another goal in the second as Boston rolled by New York 5-0. Charles LeClaire, USA TODAY
As an eight-seed, the Islanders have a fair idea that they face pretty long odds of winning the Stanley Cup. On Wednesday they received a rather rude reminder of just how long courtesy of the top-seeded Penguins. With their methodical and convincing 5-0 victory over the upstart Islanders, the Penguins took Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinals before a rambunctious crowd at Consol Energy Center. Oh, and they did so without Sidney Crosby. The Penguins’ superstar captain, out since March 30 with a broken jaw, did not receive clearance to play. No matter. Beau Bennett, a surprise late addition to the lineup, opened the scoring just 3:30 into the first period to open the proverbial floodgates. Pascal Dupuis scored twice and Kris Letang and Tanner Glass, who scored just once during the regular season, added goals.
By Chris Bradford
NOTEWORTHY
If C Sidney Crosby was ruled out on Wednesday afternoon after he did not receive the medical clearance he had been hoping for when he met doctors a day earlier. Though there is still no timetable for the captain’s return, he is continuing to progress and has not had a setback.
RW Beau Bennett became the first Penguins rookie to score the team’s opening goal of the playoffs since Jordan Staal did so in the first round against Ottawa in 2007. Bennett adds his name to an impressive list that features Staal, Crosby and Pierre Larouche that have scored goals in their postseason debuts.
The Penguins lost two players to injury – RW James Neal and LW Jussi Jokinen both left with what looked to be lower body injuries. Dan Bylsma offered no update in his post-game commentary.
The Penguins improved to 25-28 in Game 1s in franchise history. The win also improves the Penguins’ home record in Game 1 to 18-12.
The Penguins’ five goals marked the fifth-straight series opener that Pittsburgh has scored three or more goals in Game 1. The last time they failed to score three or more in a series opener was in the 2009 Cup Final against Detroit.
The 5-0 margin of victory was the largest since a 6-0 win in Game 5 of the 2008 conference finals against Philadelphia.
The Penguins are perfect on the penalty kill over their past nine games overall, but their four kills on Wednesday marked the first time they were perfect in a playoff game since Game 7 of the first round against Tampa Bay.
The Penguins scored two power-play goals, pushing their record to 7-2 in playoff games where they score two or more power-play goals.
With the shutout, G Marc-Andre Fleury ties G Tom Barrasso for the most career playoff shutouts in Penguins history with six. They shutout was Fleury’s first in the playoffs since April 13, 2011 against the Lightning.
LW Tanner Glass scored his first ever playoff goal during the second period.
LW Pascal Dupuis scored two-goals and now has eight points (four goals) over his last seven playoff games dating back to last season.
With his marker in the second period, D Kris Letang now has 11 career playoff goals. Only Larry Murphy has more (15) among on the Penguins’ all-time list.
C Evgeni Malkin finished with two assists. It was Malkin’s 25th career multi-point game in the playoffs. He now has 83 career playoff points (32 goals).
The Islanders allowed 2.83 goals per game during the regular season, most of any team in the playoffs.
Islanders C John Tavares was held to zero shots on goal and a minus-1.
Islanders G Evgeni Nabokov was pulled from the game early in the second period after allowing two-goals in 31 seconds. He stopped 11 of the 15 shots that he faced on the night. Kevin Poulin finished the game stopping 10 of 11.
The Penguins have won Game 1 in two (1975 and 1993) of their three previous meetings against New York.
By Brian Metzer
HIDDEN STAT
31. Pascal Dupuis’s league-leading plus-minus rating. Dupuis is the first Penguins player to lead the league in the category since C Ron Francis did it during the 1994-95 season. Dupuis’s linemates for most of the season Chris Kunitz (plus-30) and Sidney Crosby (plus-26) finished second and fourth, respectively.
THREE STARS
1. Marc-Andre Fleury, Pit.
2. Pascal Dupuis, Pit.
3. Jarome Iginla, Pit.
KEY PLAY
The Penguins started the second period on a power play that had carried over from the first. Up 2-0 with a chance to put a stranglehold on the game, they did that at the 1:19 mark. RW Jarome Iginla took a pass from C Evgeni Malkin as he slid down the left wing board. D Kris Letang drifted to the top of the left circle and Iginla slid a pass right into his wheelhouse where he lashed a one-timer that beat G Evgeni Nabokov over the glove hand, putting the Penguins up 3-0. They would score again just 32 seconds later, allowing them to coast to a 5-0 victory. “It’s a 5-on-3 so you don’t have much pressure but it’s fun to get the puck as close as that,” Letang said. “You just wait until there’s an opening or a passing lane. I was looking to pass first because we made a quick play down low. I was waiting for a pass and kind of looked off the goalie and shot it.”
By Brian Metzer
QUOTABLE
“It’s simple plays: Just chipping pucks and guys that don’t necessarily want to make those plays are buying in. Geno’s (Malkin) one of those guys that is sacrificing some plays to do what’s right for the team and you saw that right from the opening faceoff tonight.”
- LW Brenden Morrow on the team’s buy-in to Dan Bylsma’s system
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