Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Dany Sabourin stopped Marc Savard’s’ last shot to earn the win over the Bruins.
BOSTON (AP) — Evgeni Malkin scored in the second extra round of the shootout to lift the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 2-1 win over Boston on Monday night in the Bruins’ home opener.
Phil Kessel scored on Boston’s first shootout attempt before Petr Sykora tied it on the Penguins’ second shot.
Malkin beat goaltender Tim Thomas with a forehand shot inside the left post, and Pittsburgh goalie Dany Sabourin stopped Boston’s Marc Savard’s wrist shot, ending the contest.
It was the Penguins’ fourth overtime game (3-1) in their seven contests this season.
Kessel also scored a power-play goal in regulation for the Bruins. Miroslav Satan had the Penguins’ score.
The Penguins went ahead 1-0 when Satan scored on the rebound of Evgeni Malkin’s shot 18:51 into the opening period. Malkin broke down the right wing and fired a backhander on Thomas, before Satan flipped the rebound in from the left side of the crease.
Satan, signed as a free agent on July 3, has a team-leading four goals.
Boston tied it 1-all on Kessel’s power-play goal 13:53 into the second when he unloaded a wrister over Sabourin’s glove from the top of the right circle.
Sabourin had 35 saves and Thomas 31.
The teams played 3-on-3 for the final 1:35 of the extra period after Savard was whistled for hooking and Jordan Staal was sent off for slashing 17 seconds later.
With the local sports landscape crowded by the Red Sox recent AL championship series loss against Tampa Bay on Sunday night, the Patriots’ Monday night matchup against Denver about 35 miles southwest of the city and the defending NBA champion Celtics season-opener a week away, the Bruins were looking to earn some of the fans’ interest with a good start this season.
Playing in front of a sellout crowd of 17,565 that often broke into chants of “Let’s Go Bruins”, they came out strong in the first, outshooting the defending Eastern Conference champion Penguins, 16-10.
Play remained fairly wide-open in the second, but the good scoring chances were limited.
The Bruins nearly took the lead in the closing seconds of the second when Patrice Bergeron’s rebound of his own shot caromed off Sabourin and trickled past the side of the net with 2.8 seconds to play.
Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs met the media before the game and discussed the dwindling interest in the team the past few seasons when crowds were commonly about two-thirds full: “If this team wins, people are going to come back,” he said.
Sidney Crosby has a three-game point streak with a goal and six assists. Crosby, who had his first career fight against the Bruins’ Andrew Ference at the TD Banknorth Garden last season, was whistled for roughing along with Savard.