PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – It was not an active off-season for the Penguins, but a trio of newcomers scored the only goals a 6-2 opening night win at Tampa Bay.
The Lightning raised a second Stanley Cup championship banner in as many years, but the Pens quickly established control. No goals scored, but the Pens outshot the Lightning 14-7 in the first period.
That momentum carried over seconds into the second period as Jeff Carter blocked a clearing attempt by Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. The 36-year-old current top line center quickly gathered it and found Danton Heinen in the slot. In his first game with the Pens, Heinen found the empty net as Vasilevskiy tried to dive back in the play.
Three minutes and 59 seconds later Brian Boyle showed he still has the hands, settling down a perfect cross-ice pass from Sam Lafferty and beat his old teammate 5-hole.
In the third, a free agent returnee, Dominik Simon threw a slapper at the net. It deflected off a Lightning player for his first goal in 20 months, back when he was a Penguin scoring against Washington.
Pulling the goalie
Over six minutes to play down 3-0, Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper decided to shake it up and pull the goalie. While it proved to be a smart strategy early, the Pens got the best of that as well.
· Anthony Circelli scored at 14:23 to make it 3-1
· Teddy Blueger empty-netter at 14:53, 4-1
· Alex Killorn scored at 16:49, 4-2
· Evan Rodrigues empty-netter at 17:35, 5-2
· Bryan Rust empty-netter at 18:11, 6-2
Tristan Jarry stopped 26 of 28 shots on the night.
Pens Perks
· Mike Sullivan now tied with Dan Bylsma as the all-time winningest regular season coach in Pens history with 252.
· Brian Boyle has now scored goals for seven different teams (LAK, NYR, TB, NJ, NSH, FLA)
· Pens are 23-22-9 all-time in road openers.
· Without Malkin and Crosby since 2006-07, Pens are now 32-15-6
First game lines
Danton Heinen-Jeff Carter-Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker-Evan Rodrigues-Kasperi Kapanen
Brock McGinn-Teddy Blueger-Dominik Simon
Drew O'Connor-Brian Boyle-Sam Lafferty
Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson-John Marino
Mark Friedman-Chad Ruhwedel
No NHL Love
Of the 16 NHL.com writers and contributors, only five predict the Pens will make the playoffs and only one of those has the Pens top three in the Metropolitan Division, and that is finishing third.
Islanders picked by nine to win the Metro with Carolina getting five votes and the Capitals two.
Colorado, Las Vegas, Tampa Bay, Toronto and the Islanders are choices to win the Stanley Cup. Nathan MacKinnon is far-and-away the favorite for the Conn Smythe Trophy.
Connor McDavid is +200 to win the Hart Trophy, followed by MacKinnon at +650 and Auston Matthews at +950. Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin are +3500. Jake Guentzel and Marc-Andre Fleury are +4000
Up Next
Pens continue in Florida to face the Panthers at 7p on Thursday. The rest of the October schedule played at PPG Paints Arena.
