12/21/14

Pouliot Scores First NHL Goal in Penguins' 3-1 Win

The Pittsburgh Penguins, who were fresh off of a 1-0 overtime win against the Colorado Avalanche, faced off against the Florida Panthers at Consol Energy Center last night. Marc-Andre Fleury was between the pipes for the Penguins and Roberto Luongo opposed him for the Panthers. The Penguins opened the scoring when forward Nick Spaling fired the puck past Luongo at 1:48 of the first period to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead. Derrick Pouliot, making his NHL debut, fired a shot past the glove of Luongo at 6:56 for his first NHL goal and to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead. At 7:15, Penguins' defenseman Scott Harrington was called for a two-minute high sticking penalty. The Panthers capitalized on this advantage when Pittsburgh-born Vince Trocheck deflected Jonathan Huberdeau's shot past Fleury to cut the Penguins' lead to 2-1. After one period of play, the score remained 2-1 in favor of the Penguins. The second period was full of chippiness that continued from the first period. There was a total of 32 penalty minutes in the period including a fight between Penguins' forward Steve Downie and Panthers' defenseman Erik Gudbranson. Downie also received a ten-minute misconduct due to him punching Gudbranson while he was on the ice. There was no scoring in the second period, so the score remained 2-1 Penguins. Sidney Crosby expanded the Penguins' lead to 3-1 when Kris Letang found him at the side of the net and fired the puck past Luongo at 7:01. The score held true and the Penguins won the game 3-1.