RECAP: I'm A Mike Johnston Guy. Pens WIN.

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The Mike Johnston era got off to a solid start with the Penguins 6-4 win over the Ducks at Consol Energy Center last night. Pascal Dupuis and Olli Maatta looked like robots with both players coming off of somewhat serious surgeries. Sidney Crosby looked incredible and probably has a shot to have one of his best seasons of all time with the way that Mike Johnston coaches. We know that a lot can change over the next 81 games and 6 months, but we're definitely convinced with the coaching change and we like what we see.

The Penguins opened up the game with a lot of puck possession and a trap. Anaheim didn't have much of an answer early and turned the puck over in the neutral zone. About 5 minutes into the game, the Penguins got a faceoff in their own zone, Sid tried to win the draw to the boards but the puck bounced to the center of the ice where Patric Hornqvist was, Hornqvist just shot the puck towards the net, it bounced off of everyone infront of the net and Grant Street and it went in. 1-0 Pens. (Hornqvist 1 Neal 0). Two minutes later, the Penguins had the puck behind their own net when Olli Maatta gave Chris Kunitz a little soft suttle 40 foot pass (which is a lot better than a 110 foot pass *cough Bylsma cough*) who then dished a pass between his legs to Sid and hit Sid in stride. Sid then took the puck with speed, Kunitz and Hornqvist came with him and pushed the defensemen back and Sid shot the puck, handcuffed Johnny Whitehall and it went in. 2-0 Pens.

The Penguins then got their first power play as Getzlaf went off for having too much back hair or some shit but the Penguins didn't get much going. After the Ducks killed it, their was a faceoff outside of the Offside dots and Geno got the puck going into the zone, stopped on a dime right above the red line, turned around and found Olli Maatta streaking into the slot who then dished a perfect pass to Pascal Dupuis who buried it into a wide open net. 3-0 Pens.

Two minutes later, Kunitz went off for cross checking Corey Perry and the Ducks got a power play. Christian Ehrhoff bought his stick at Wal-Mart and it shattered to start the Kill so Dupuis gave him his stick. Dupuis then gets undressed by Getzlaf who finds Ryan Kesler wide open on the other dot for the One T and Kesler blasted one top shelf on Fleury. Hell of a shot IMO. 3-1 Pens after 1.

There was a good pace to start the 2nd period and the Penguins were getting the majority of the shots until Marc-Andre Fleury had a brain fart. He decided to try to play a puck before the Anaheim guys could get to it. He turned it over, Patrick Maroon got it behind the net, dished to Perry who almost fumbled it but buried it into a wide open net before getting taken out by Letang and Fleury trying to make a desperation save. That goal cut the Penguin lead to 3-2 and it kinda looked like this...

 The game still had a good flow to it and the Penguins had a really good chance at one point in the period. Johnny Whitehall made a big save on someone (can't remember who) and the puck went directly to Pascal Dupuis. Malkin was crashing the front of the net (that's allowed) and Ben Lovejoy pushed him slightly into Johnny Whitehall who then fell down (there was probably more contact with a Southside Bum and a Southside Hooker than there was on that play) and Dupuis put the puck into the net but the ref blew it off right away and stated Gibson had no chance to play the position properly. Bullshit tbh. Anyways right after that, the Penguins had one of the worst line changes in hockey history and had like 1542 players on the ice at one time. On the delayed penalty, the Ducks had a semi-breakaway and Christian Ehrhoff hooked Nate Thompson and they awarded him a penalty shot (Fleury was like no dice). The Ducks still had a power play to ensue and the Penguins left Corey Perry stand wide open in the middle of the ice. He shot towards Fleury, the puck hit something and went in, tied at 3-3. Corey Perry is a hell of a player. With about 3:30 left in the period, Matt Beleskey high sticked Simon Despres and it gave the Penguins another power play. This power play was the best one they've had. Hornqvist got the puck at the blue line and gave it to Dupuis who found Sidney Crosby streaking down the left side. Not sure what the Ducks defensemen were doing but they both stuck to the Penguins crashing the net and Sid found a lane, shot the puck short side on Johnny Whitehall and made it 4-3. Not sure why anyone would leave Sidney Crosby that wide open tbqh.

A minute later, Dupuis found Olli Maatta who set Blake Comeau up for a One T who blasted a shot bar down on Johnny Whitehall to make it 5-3 Pens. As I mentioned to the other guys on this blog, Joe Vitale doesn't convert that shot and Nate mentioned that he probably falls over, so theres that. The period ended right after that with the Penguins leading 5-3. The only other notable thing to take place in the 2nd was Steve Downie got annihilated by the Ducks net and it turned on his "I'm going to fucking kill you" meter on.

The 3rd started with Evgeni Malkin taking a dumb penalty. During the kill, one of the Ducks players threw a dumb cross ice pass to a Ducks player who was streaking up the right side and was already past the puck. Pascal Dupuis got to the loose puck and 3 Ducks went after him leaving Brandon Sutter wide open. He crossed Johnny Whitehall up and tucked one behind him easier than Letang left the door open for everyone to see his dick last year in the locker room. 6-3 Pens and that pretty much took the air out of the Ducks. Later in the period, Fleury made about 6 point blank saves on one of the Ducks that kept the game out of reach. With 5:10 left, Zach Sill and Clayton Stoner dropped the gloves and it was a pretty good battle. At one point in there, Ryan Kesler went after Kris Letang and Steve Downie went after Kesler and basically told him that he was gonna break his fucking neck. What a player. With about 3:15 left, Corey Perry was wide open in the slot on a Power play and rifled one past Fleury for his Hat Trick to make it 6-4 Pens. Anaheim tried to pull Gibson but Emerson Etem took a dumb penalty and ran Fleury with about 1:40 left and that's about all that happened.

1. Pascal Dupuis (1 goal 3 assists)

2. Sidney Crosby (2 goals 1 assist)

3. Corey Perry (3 goals 0 assist)

Game Notes:

• Olli Maatta first career 3 point night
• Pascal Dupuis first 4 point night in 10 years
• Crosby might score 4392043 goals this year
• John Gibson didn't have a great homecoming but Ducks left him out to dry
• Kris Letang and Simon Despres looked like different players
• Pens were 1-4 on the PP, Anaheim was 3-6.
• Pens looked good but there's room to grow and that's their goal for the season going to the playoffs, so we're definitely okay with that

Next game tomorrow in Toronto at 7 (more like 7:38 probably because Leafs and ceremony*

*maybe not true)