PITTSBURGH, Pa – Apparently you mess with Evgeni Malkin at your own peril. Incensed after a roughing call assessed to him after a tussle with Carolina’s Chad LaRose, Malkin took matters into his own hands to put Pittsburgh up two games to none.
By the time the smoke had cleared Malkin had broken a four-all tie with two third period goals and the Hurricanes could never recover. The sequence started when Malkin was penalized with LaRose mid-way through the second period with the score tied at three. Shortly thereafter Pittsburgh’s Ruslan Fedotenko was assessed a penalty for tripping and the Hurricanes had a chance to go into the lead.
Released from the penalty box after serving his penalty Malkin showed flashes of what was to come as he dominated the rest of the Hurricanes power play. The two clubs would trade goals before Malkin settled the matter in the space of minutes.
E Malkin. Photo courtesy of the National Hockey League.
Chris Kunitz, who scored a late second period goal to give the Penguins a temporary 4-3 lead, helped start Malkin’s minutes of brilliance when Carolina goaltender Cam Ward failed to corral Kunitz’s shot. Malkin picked up the rebound and was stopped by Ward on his first try, but Malkin then lifted the second rebound into the goal. Malkin would need no help on his next goal, a spectacular spinning, no-look backhander that soared over Ward’s shoulder. The NHL’s leading regular season scorer pushed the puck forward after winning a face-off, skated behind the Carolina goal with a defender on his back and then spun in a semi-circle before flicking a backhander behind Ward to finish his hat trick.
Pittsburgh’s Tyler Kennedy would finish the scoring with a wrist shot into an empty net which had been vacated by Ward to allow an extra Hurricanes attacker to come onto the ice.
Until Malkin took over, the game was there for the taking by either team as the clubs traded the lead four times. Early on it appeared Pittsburgh would run away with the contest as they scored just under two minutes into the game. After Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury stopped Carolina’s Scott Walker with a solid toe save, the play went up ice and Sidney Crosby converted a pass from Kunitz into the game’s first lead.
But as would be the case until Malkin began his domination the Hurricanes would scratch back into the game. The Hurricanes tied the score at one when LaRose swiped in a puck from Fleury’s doorstep just about one minute after Crosby’s score. Malkin would then set the foundation for his hat-trick as he jumped off the bench and into the play just in time to jam home a goal at the 8:15 mark of the first period.
Just when it appeared the Penguins had all the momentum in front of their “whited-out” crowd Carolina struck back for the game-tying goal and then a second one which would give them their only lead of the game. In an immediate response to Malkin’s goal Hurricanes forward Jussi Jokinen batted the puck past Fleury just 25 seconds after Pittsburgh had taken the lead. Carolina would then take advantage of a turnover by Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang. Letang tried to toss a puck out of his defensive zone with a soft backhanded pass but the puck was picked off by Dennis Seidenberg who put a puck past Fleury in a blink of an eye.
Pittsburgh scored twice in the second period, including Kunitz’s goal which game with just 7.3 seconds showing on the game clock. Lesser teams would have folded by the Hurricanes battled back one more time to knot the score at four.
Maxime Talbot would team up with Malkin to tie the game at three. Malkin found Talbot alone and sent him in on Ward. Talbot had detected a poor line change by the Hurricanes defenders and headed up ice in on the Carolina goal. While still a step ahead of the chasing defenders Talbot fired a hard slap shot which Ward could not stop. Kunitz then scored his late second period goal, but Carolina would climb back into a tie when the club’s fourth liners would score. Early in the third period Carolina’s Ryan Bayda found teammate Patrick Eaves in the circle to the right of Fleury and Eaves fired the puck home. Eaves goal would shock Pittsburgh’s “Igloo” into near silence until Malkin determined the outcome of the contest with his efforts.
Notes
Carolina forwards Tuomo Ruutu and Erik Cole were questionable heading into the contest, but Cole skated and played while Ruutu was unable to go. If Ruutu cannot play in Game 3 the team might be down two forwards as Bayda was assessed a match penalty at the end of the game for high-sticking a Penguins player prior to a fight near the end of the game. Cole had over 14 minutes of ice time, but did not register a point…Hurricanes history will be tested as they have not lost a series in which they lost the first game over their last five series. Meanwhile the Penguins have won their last five series in which they won the opening game…Patrick Dwyer played in his first career NHL playoff game in place of Ruutu. Dwyer was on ice for only 4:14, but he did pick up an assist on Eaves’ goal…With his four-point night Malkin has moved into the lead in postseason scoring by a 25-24 margin over Crosby…Fleury tied a career playoff high by giving up three goals in a period (first)…The Associated Press is reporting Pittsburgh’s Assistant General Manager Chuck Fletcher has been hired as the Minnesota Wild to be their general manager…Game 3 of the series is scheduled for Saturday night in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Contact tom.schettino@prohockeynews.com
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