Follow me on twitter
The Pittsburgh Penguins dropped their first regular season game in regulation to the Florida Panthers 6-3. The Panthers were fresh off of being defeated handedly by the Tampa Bay Lightning 7-2 and rebounded nicely against the Penguins.
Here are the game highlights:
The game featured Jeff Zatkoff’s first ever NHL start and nobody would confuse it for not being Jeff Zatkoff’s first ever NHL start. The Penguins played far from a perfect game, but the young netminder was not up to the task either.
Zatkoff got off to a rough start by allowing a goal on a Brad Boyes snap shot which went short side high glove. Zatkoff went down early on the shot before actually tracking it. The shot went high; he had already gone down low. The result was a 1-0 Panther lead.
The night did not get much better for the Penguins backup goaltender. The Panthers were able to generate a few more goals by shooting it high on Zatkoff. On the Panthers third goal Kris Versteeg takes another short side high shot towards Zatkoff and he is able to produce an opportunity for Jonathan Huberdeau to tip the puck home. Once again Zatkoff was down before reading where the shot was going and it led to a Panthers goal. The Panthers fifth goal was a high wrist shot where Zatkoff did not control the rebound. The rebound was kicked right out front and Fleischmann was able to get his own rebound and score a goal.
Its only one game for Jeff Zatkoff but the returns were not good. Do the Penguins need to scramble to find another backup goalie right now? Absolutely not. Do the Penguins need to find another backup goalie if Tomas Vokoun is not able to come back this season? Absolutely.
As for the Penguins as a team, they had their worst game of the young 2013-2014 season, but that doesn’t mean they were outright bad. In fact, the Penguins weren’t really outplayed at all.
At the end of the day this was a game that featured some back and forth action that allowed both teams the opportunity to score goals. The Panthers players were able to make more plays than the Penguins players and it was highlighted by the fact that Markstrom outplayed Zatkoff. Markstrom has now stopped 92 out of 100 shots in his career when facing the Penguins (s/t @emptynetters).
****
One thing that did bother me was Sidney Crosby’s actions at the end of the game. Pascal Dupuis was rocked by a very clean check by Mike Weaver towards the end of the game. Crosby took exception to the hit and went after Weaver in the neutral zone. I hate hate hate that players can’t drill the opposition with clean hard body checks anymore without somebody trying to come after them right after.
Crosby’s actions earned a deserving trip to the penalty box and instead of the Penguins trying to claw back from a 2 goal deficit in the last 2 minutes, they had to kill off a penalty where they gave up the 6th goal of the game.
I understand the emotion of wanting to avenge your linemate getting decked, but it’s part of the game, you have to move on. The Captain needs to be better in that situation.
****
Craig Adams scored again bringing his season total to 3 goals. He is on pace for 62.5 goals this year, he won’t see 10.
****
The Penguins have a quick turnaround and will play the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night. Look out for the GAMEDAY blog which should be out around noon.
Thanks for reading!
Follow me on twitter
Pittsburgh Penguins Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»