RECAP. You Have Downs. Pens WIN

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The Penguins opened up 2015 with a complete performance against the Atlantic Division leading Tampa Bay Lightning. They got to the cheat code early and the Lightning had to pull Bishop early in the first. The Pens played solid at both ends of the ice. Next game is in like 4 minutes. Anthem pic and recap to follow

Mike Johnston switched the Penguins lines up before the game. He went with Spaling-Crosby-Downie, Ebbett-Malkin-Rust, and kept Kunitz-Sutter-Bennett and Farnham-Goc-Adams together and it paid dividends early. A minute and a half in, Bryan Rust got his feet moving and Anton Stralman tripped him up and it didn't take long for the Power Play to get going. They simplified things and Kris Letang shot the puck and Chris Kunitz went to the next hard and chipped on past Bishop. 1-0 Pens less than 2 minutes in.

Five minutes later, the Pens went to work again. Malkin came flying into the zone and had a semi-breakaway. He shot the puck and beat Bishop but he hit the post. The goal horn and goal song started playing and Tampa quit but Andrew Ebbett didn't. He picked up the rebound and lifted one over Bishop's shoulder for a pretty goal. It was also Ebbett's birthday and he basically said that's the only time that he scores goals or something. 2-0 Pens.

After the Ebbett goal, with about 8 minutes left in the 1st, something that no one has ever seen in a hockey game happened. The Penguins got the puck into their end, and the Lightning started a breakout when ref Mike Leggo blew his whistle. No one knew what happened until you looked in the corner where Leggo was. He started to vomit everywhere on the ice. Here's vine proof if you can handle it.

Leggo Vomit

About seven minutes later, the Ebbett-Malkin-Rust line went to work again. Rust found Ebbett streaking in who put one on Bishop. The puck was deflected into the crease for a wide open Evgeni Malkin who taps it in to make it 3-0 Pens on 9 shots.

He also had an unreal celebration like always

Tampa pulled Bishop and put Nabokov in after the Malkin goal and Tampa started coming at the Pens. With just under 5 minutes left, they finally cashed in. Matthew HOT Carle got the puck to Palat in front of the net, they kept chipping at it when finally Andre the Giant, Brian Boyle got one past Greiss to cut the Penguin lead to 3-1. That's pretty much all that happened in the 1st other than Steve Downie took a penalty on the ensuing faceoff after the Boyle goal. And Christian Ehrhoff got called for one of the worst crosschecking calls we've ever seen, I guess that's what you expect when Paul Devorski is the lone ref. Whatever. 3-1 after 1.

The Penguins killed off the Ehrhoff minor fairly easy to start the second. But a little later in the period, Devorski got Ehrhoff again. This time he called him for holding Ryan Callahan, which was absolutely a brutal call considering they were battling for the puck in the boards. Pens killed it off though so no harm done. Both teams were trading chances when Victor Hedman got Tampa within one by scoring one behind the net off Thomas Greiss. Pretty weird goal. We're still not sure how exactly it went in.

Andrej Sustr then got called for a pretty dangerous, brutal cross check to Brandon Sutter in front of the net. The Penguins sustained pretty good pressure and someone (I forget who) threw one on net, and the puck ended up in the net, but somehow, someway, Paul Devorski decided that Tampa gained possession of the puck and blew the whistle. What a terrible official he is. The Penguins had a pretty good Power Play but couldn't get anything to go in. Right after the penalty expired, Beau Bennett made one of the best passes we might ever see, right on to the tape of Christian Ehrhoff. And as you all may know, once Ehrhoff gets the puck in a shooting lane, it's either hitting the glass, hitting someone in front, or hitting the back of the net. This one found the back of the net to give the Pens a 4-2 lead.

What a shot

That's pretty much all that happened during the second. The game started to open up a little bit towards the end. Pens head to the dressing room up 4-2.

The third was kind of a feeling out period to start and then the game opened up. Both teams started trading chances, including a couple of 2 on 1's by the Penguins but Nabokov was up to the challenge. Greiss also made a few big saves as Tampa started to sustain some serious pressure. Right after the 10:00 tv timeout, Tampa won a draw in the neutral zone, found Alex Killorn streaking down the right side, who got around a flat footed Simon Despres and NHL 15 glitched Greiss to cut the lead to 4-3. After the goal, the Penguins countered and Crosby and Spaling won a huge battle on the boards, Crosby threw a perfect backhand pass right to Steve Downie's tape, he toe dragged around a spraling out Victor Hedman and sniped the shit out of Nabokov to give the Penguins another 2 goal lead.

Tampa was flying after that, pulling Nabokov with about a minute and half left but the Penguins answered the bell. Crosby then found Letang with a perfect outlet pass and he gave it to Downie who scored into the empty net with about 5 seconds left. Game.

1. Steve Downie (2 goals)

2. Andrew Ebbett (1 goal, 1 assist)

3. Sidney Crosby (4 assists)

#GameNotes

• Downie looked good with Sid in his first game back from the mumps. What a move on his first goal. That's one reason why he has a spot on this team
• Andrew Ebbett and Bryan Rust looked really good with Evgeni Malkin.
• Malkin and Crosby continued point streaks against the Lightning.
• Despite allowing 3 goals, Thomas Greiss played an excellent game. He's a hell of a backup considering he doesn't get rattled after a bad goal (exhibit A: the Hedman goal)
• We didn't mention him much in the recap, but Beau Bennett played another solid game. If he can *insert H word here* look out

Next game is in like 6 minutes vs Montreal

Go Pens

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