The Pittsburgh Penguins continued their winning ways with a 3-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who made 23 saves on 25 shots, is now 5-for-5 when hosting a Game 1 of a playoff series.

Miroslav Satan scored the first goal of the game 9:17 into the first period to draw first blood. A minute-and-a-half later, Evgeni Malkin increased the lead to two with his seventh goal of the postseason. After one period, the Penguins led 2-0.

Chad LaRose halved the lead with his third goal of the playoffs with seven minutes left in the second period. After two, Pittsburgh led 2-1.

Philippe Boucher netted a power play marker that restored Pittsburgh’s 2-goal lead. Joe Corvo made it a game, however, when he scored a power play goal of his own with 1:26 left in the game. However, it wasn’t enough as Carolina has lost its third consecutive Game 1 in this postseason.

Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby are now the only players with 20+ points in this year’s playoffs. Malkin has 21 while Crosby has 22.

Not even a four-goal second period could help the Philadelphia Flyers defeat their Pennsylvania rival. Despite blowing a 3-0 lead, the Pittsburgh Penguins found a way to come back and defeat the Flyers in a six-round shootout by a score of 5 to 4.

Former Washington forward Matt Cooke scored the first goal of the game 7:06 into the first period to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead after the first period. Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby added goals to put Pittsburgh up three just four minutes into the second period.

However, Jeff Carter answered right back 4 minutes after Crosby scored to cut the Pittsburgh lead to two. Simon Gagne would answer Carter’s goal with two shorthanded goals to tie the game at three. Then, Joffrey Lupul deflected a Kimmo Timonen shot past Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury with 4 seconds left in the second period to give the Flyers a 4-3 lead after two.

Fleury was consequently pulled for backup goaltender Dany Sabourin in the third period. Down by a goal with 2:33 left in the third period, Sidney Crosby found the net for the second time in the game to tie the game at 4. After 7 minutes and 33 minutes of additional scoreless hockey, the game went into a shootout.

In the first round of the shootout, Petr Sykora and Simon Gagne failed to score. Kris Letang in the second round was denied by Flyers goalie Martin Biron. Then, Flyers captain Mike Richards deked Dany Sabourin out of his crease only to be denied by the stick of Sabourin at the goal line. Sidney Crosby and Jeff Carter fail to score in the third round, so extra rounds were needed. Miroslav Satan missed on his opportunity in the 4th round. Kimmo Timonen nearly won the game for Philadelphia, but was denied by the crossbar. After another scoreless round, Alex Goligoski finally found the net after sneaking the puck past Biron. Scott Hartnell had a chance to extend the shootout, but was denied on a horrid shootout attempt.

The 17,030 in attendance at Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, saw a great game of ice hockey in which their Pittsburgh Penguins scored the first three goals of the game on power plays…only to see the Capitals score four unanswered to defeat the Penguins by a score of 4 to 3. A three-point night for Evgeni Malkin was not enough to defeat Alexander Ovechkin’s Washington Capitals as Tomas Fleischmann, Alexander Semin, Michael Nylander, and Boyd Gordon all found the net in the last 35 minutes of regulation.

Alex Goligoski scored the first goal of the game 12:58 into the 1st period with assists from Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby. Malkin would score with 43 seconds left in the 1st period to put the Penguins up 2-0 after one period of play.

In the second period, a Miroslav Satan power play goal put the Penguins up by three just 1:51 into the 2nd period. 4 minutes later, Tomas Fleischmann answered right back with his first goal of the season to bring the Capitals to within two heading into the third period.

3:38 into the third period, Alexander Semin scored to bring the Capitals to within one goal. Then, at the halfway point of the 3rd period, Michael Nylander slammed the puck past Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to bring the Capitals to a 3-3 tie. Finally, with less than 5 minutes left in the game, Boyd Gordon won a faceoff against Sidney Crosby and snapped a shot into the back of the net. The puck rebounded onto the ice so quickly that the referees initially said “no goal.” After two minutes of additional play, referees looked at replays of Gordon’s shot and confirmed the goal.

Sidney Crosby failed to score a goal for the 5th straight game as the Penguins have lost three of their last four games. Despite Ovechkin not scoring a single point, the Capitals extended their winning streak to three games.

Washington’s Jose Theodore saved 23 of 26 Penguin shots while Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 26 of 30 shots.