General

Fleury Comes Up Big in Game 1 for Pittsburgh

May 19, 2009, 3:51 AM UTC

Is it possible for a pass to be too good?
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â†µThat could be a question that â†µCarolina’s Eric Stall and Jussi Jokinen might be asking themselves in the â†µimmediate aftermath of Pittsburgh’s 3-2 win over the Hurricanes in Game 1 of the â†µNHL Eastern Conference Finals.
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â†µWith less than 30 seconds remaining and â†µthe Hurricanes pressing to tie the game and send it to overtime, Jokinen fired a â†µpass from the right wing faceoff circle through the crease to a waiting Staal on â†µthe opposite post. The pass was perfect, but Staal, for whatever reason, wasn’t â†µready, and the puck deflected off his stick straight back to Fleury, who â†µpromptly fell on it to stop play.
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â†µThe Penguins goalie was the difference â†µon Monday night stopping 25 shots, including 12 in the first period and then â†µwithstanding a final charge from the visitors in the game’s final three minutes â†µto secure the win.
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Despite Carolina’s early offensive pressure, it was â†µPittsburgh who got on the board first with a pair of goals in less than 90 â†µseconds. The first came at 9:17 when Miroslav Satan popped out of the penalty â†µbox and stepped behind the Carolina defense for a breakaway, finishing things â†µoff with a backhand that beat a helpless Cam Ward (28 saves) for a 1-0 lead. â†µThen at 10:41, Philippe Boucher found a trailing Evgeni Malkin who put another â†µpretty backhand past Ward to make it 2-0.
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â†µCarolina got on the board at â†µ13:04 of the second period when a Chad LaRose wrist shot beat Fleury to cut the â†µlead in half. A few minutes later, it appeared that Carolina tied the game on â†µanother goal by LaRose, but it was wisely washed out by the referees after â†µCarolina winger Erik Cole checked Pittsburgh defenseman Hal Gill into â†µFleury.
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â†µHeading into the third period, Pittsburgh seemed content to â†µtighten down defensively, though it was able to stretch its lead to 3-1 courtesy â†µof a power play goal from Boucher, his first playoff goal since 2004. For most â†µof the period, Pittsburgh played its defensive game to perfection, as it took â†µthe Hurricanes almost 13 minutes before they registered their first shot on â†µgoal.
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â†µThings finally started turning Carolina’s way with 2:34 remaining â†µas Brooks Orpik was sent off for elbowing. Lifting Ward for an extra attacker, â†µthe Hurricanes pressed home their advantage and cut the deficit to just one goal â†µwhen defenseman Joe Corvo scored on a slap shot with 1:26 to go.
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â†µFrom â†µthere, the Hurricanes kept up the pressure after the ensuing faceoff, but Fleury â†µwas equal to the challenge, with the closest calls coming on Jokinen’s pass to â†µStaal as well as a long distance wrist shot from Corvo in the final seconds that â†µFleury nearly fumbled.
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â†µThe loss came with other costs for Carolina. â†µHurricanes winger Tuomo Ruutu left the game in the first period after being â†µclipped from behind by Pittsburgh defender Mark Eaton, while Erik Cole was â†µknocked from the game in the third period after a knee-to-knee hit by Penguins â†µwinger Matt Cooke. Lucky for them and their teammates, they’ll have an extra day â†µto heal before returning to the ice for Game 2 of the series on Thursday night â†µin Pittsburgh.â†µ

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.

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