Predators at Penguins - 03-22-12

-The Penguins' starters are Sidney Crosby, Jordan Staal, Steve Sullivan, Zbynek Michalek, Brooks Orpik and Marc-Andre Fleury.

-Their scratches are Dustin Jeffrey, Brent Johnson, Ben Lovejoy, Eric Tangradi and the great Joe Vitale.

-The Predators' starters are Patric Hornqvist, David Legwand, Alexander Radulov, Ryan Suter, Shea Weber and Pekka Rinne.

-Their scratches are Ryan Ellis, Paul Gaustad, Matt Halischuk, Roman Josi, Jack MacLellan, Brian McGrattan and Colin Wilson.

-No Jimerson. No photo.

FIRST PERIOD

19:14: Radulov's first NHL shift of the season lasts roughly 45 seconds.

18:37: Evgeni Malkin. So dangerous with time and space. A puck bounces loose at the Nashville blue line on the left wing. Malkin hustles after it, gains the offensive zone and coasts in on net. Jack Hillen applies light pressure with a stick on puck. Malkin winds up and cranks a knuckle puck which flutters in on net. It should be an easy save for Rinne but the puck glances off his glove and and trickles into the net. Ouch. He needs to make that save. Kris Letang and James Neal get assists. The "Woo-Hoo!" song and the "Malkamania" videos are played. "MVP!" chants rain down. Malkin has goals in five consecutive games. Penguins 1-0.

15:54: The Penguisn are all over the Predators like... well... predators. Dupuis swings a pass from behind the net to Letang at the right point. Letang settles the puck, holds, holds, holds and pumps a slapper towards the cage. Dupuis positions himself in front of the net and re-directs the puck down under Rinne's blocker and into the cage. What a start. It's Dupuis' 22nd goal of the season. Letang and Sullivan get assists. The "Woo-Hoo!" song double shifts. Dupuis has points in eight consecutive games. Penguins 2-0.

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14:27: Richard Park gets a chance in the left circle and pumps a wrister wide.

13:39: During a television stoppage, the "Super Duper!" clip from "Anchorman" is played:

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12:06: Former Penguin Hal Gill floats a wrister from the left point. Fleury snags it.

10:45: Orpik blocks a shot by Jordin Tootoo from the right circle with a stick on puck.

10:11: Craig Adams beats Francis Bouillon one-on-one in a puck battle behidn the Predators' net, turns and deals a pass to Malkin who streaks and and punches a one-timer wide.

8:31: Crosby is on the left wing with Staal at center and Sullivan on the right wing.

8:22: Engelland tees up a slapper from the right point. The puck hits a stick and bounces wide.

8:01: What a shift. Crosby ctonrls the puck behind the Nashville net with his back to the cage. He looks back and slides a slick backhanded pass to Sullivan in the slot. Sullivan chops a low shot on net. Rinne holds it out.

7:23: Kennedy, working on the right wing with Cooke on the left and Park at center, chases after a puck in the left wing corner, roams behidn the net, emerges in the right circle and clunks a wrister off the far post.

6:25: Letang is working with Zbynek Michalek.

5:44: Gabriel Bourque lifts a wrister from the left circle. Fleury fights it off.

5:00: Crosby is back with Cooke and Kennedy.

4:27: Bouillon tries to hit a pass from the left point to Martin Erat in the right circle. Paul Martin goes stick on puck and breaks it up.

3:35: Weber chops a one-timer feed from the right circle wide to the far side.

2:56: Kevin Klein tries to sweep around the net on a forehand wraparound attemp from the left of the cage. Fleury puts the paddle down and fights it off. Bourque is in tight battling for a rebound but no dice.

2:33: Off a give and go with Malkin, Neal snaps off a lethal wrister from the left circle. It appears to go wide.

1:58: Brandon Yip lifts a wrister from above the left circle. It hits a stick in front and deflects wide to the far side.

1:42: Kennedy rips a wrister from the slot. Rinne bodies it away.

1:19: Sergei Kostitsyn whips a wrister from the left circle. Fleury eats it up.

0:58: Weber is called for interference against Dupuis behind the Nashville net.. Tough time to take a penalty. Crosby, Kunitz, Malkin, Letang and Neal take the ice.

0:38: Neal chops a one-timer froma bove the left circle wide to the far side.

0:33: So much for that power play. Malkin is called for tripping David Legwand on the right wing boards of the Nashville zone. Four on four for 1:35.

0:06: Mike Fisher guns a one-timer from the left circle over the net.

0:00: End of period. Penguins 2, Predators 0.

FIRST INTERMISSION

-What a start for the Penguins. They came out flying to start the game and got a two-goal lead. Things kind of evened out as the period wore on and the Predator generated some solid scoring chances. The Penguins' goaltending proved to be the difference.

-The most amazing part of this stretch of games with Crosby back is how much Dan Bylsma is mixing and matching the lines. Crosby played on the third line with Cooke and Kennedy then he also took a shift with Staal at center and Sullivan on the right wing. Dan Bylsma has option available to him and he's using all of them.

-Pekka Rinne has had better starts in his career.

-Alexander Radulov was hard to notice. He had 5:08 of ice time on seven shifts and no shots.

-The Predators have a 9-8 edge in shots.

-Malkin leads the game with three shots.

-Bourque leads the Predators with two.

-Faceoffs are even, 9-9 (50 percent).

-Crosby is 5 for 8 (63 percent).

-Nick Spaling and Legwand are each 3 for 6 (60 percent).

-Bouillon leads the game with two blocked shots.

THIRD PERIOD

19:25: Letang and Erat accidentally collide in the right wing corners of the Penguins' zone. The bang knees. Letang gets the worst of it and skates off the ice gingerly.

18:58: The Weber penalty is killed. The Predators will have 25 seconds of a power play.

18:33: The Malkin minors expires.

18:02: What a play! Bouillon tries to skate a puck out of the right wing corner of his own zone. Malkin gives chase and pesters him. Neal comes flying in and steals the puck off his stick. he moves in on net and deals a little pass to Cooke to the right of the blue paint. Kevin Klein tries to chop Cooke's stick but can't do so before Cooke taps the puck into the cage. What a play by Neal! Neal gets the only assist. It's his 80th career point with the Penguins. He's tied with Michel "Miss The Net" Ouellet for 100th-most in franchise history. The "Woo-Hoo!" song is played along with some vide of the Cookie Monster. Penguins 3-0.

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17:42: Hillen whips a wrister from the slot wide of the cage.

16:49: Andrei Kostitsyn whips a heavy wrister from the left wing boards on net. Fleury gloves it.

14:39: Erat has a partial breakaway off a pass in the left circle but kind of just runs out of rooms as a sprawling Fleury knocks the puck away.

13:34: Malkin races upth left wing, fakes a slapper, pulls it down and lifts a little wrister from the left circle. Rinne battles it away.

13:12: Tootoo gives Malkin a solid hit in the neutral zone.

12:25: Just. Not. Fair. Kunitz picks up a bouncing puck at the Nasvhille blue line in the slot. He hustles to the left circle and whips a feed towards teh blue paint at Crosby. Weber has Crosby covered but allows the puck to hit off his right skate and deflect into the cage. Some awful luck there. Neal and Orpik get assists. The "Woo-Hoo!" song is getting worn out. Penguins 4-0.

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12:05: Sergei Kostitsyn races up the left wing with the puck and BLAM! He's pounded into the boards. He ends up bouncing back off the curved piece of glass on the end of the Predators' bench. What a hit! if there was still a turnbuckle there, we might have had a Max Pacioretty type of situation.

11:07: Off a give and go with Fisher, Andrei Kostitysn whiffs on a wide open one-timer attempt from the right of the cage.  He had a sure goal there.

10:20: After an icing, the Predators call a timeout to get a breather.

9:40: During a stoppage, "Cotton-Eyed Joe is busted out:

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9:00: From the left circle, Arron Asham sneaks a wrister through traffic on net. Rinne eats it up.

8:40: A shot by Suter from the left wing almost squirts through Fleury's equipment but he falls back and holds it out.

7:59: Welcome back Alexander Radulov. Hal Gill fires a slapper from the left point. It hits off the skates of Dupuis and Orpik and trickles to Radulov in the slot. Radulov swats the rebound by the left skate of Fleury. A nice dirty goal in his first NHL game of the season. Gill and Hornqvist get assists. Penguins 4-1.

4:56: Staal chops a shot from the left circle wide of the cage.

2:10: Staal is back with Cooke and Kennedy.

1:56: Attendance is announced as 18,579. It is the team's 246th consecutive sellout.

0:59: Off a give and go play with Erat, Fisher chops a feed over the cage from the slot.

0:56: Crosby is called for high sticking Bouillon. Bad time to take a penalty. Orpk, Michalek, Dupuis And Adams take teh ice.

0:00: End of period. Penguins 4, Predators 1.

SECOND INTERMISSION

-As big as the lead int his game is, the Predators actually aren't playing that bad. The Penguins are just taking advantage of a lapse in concentration by the Predators here or there and taking full advantage of it.

-More of the same with Dan Bylsma in regards to the lines. He's mixing and matching like he has attention deficit disorder.

-Fleury has been strong. If not for a fluky bounce off the skates of his defenders, he has a shutout.

-The Predators have a 19-16 lead in shots.

-Malkin leads the game with five shots.

-Bourque leads the Predators with three.

-Suter leads the game with 17:58 of ice time.

-Letang leads the Penguins with 16:19.

-The Predators have a 2-17 lead in faceoffs (56 percent).

-Legwand is 9 for 12 (75 percent).

-Crosby is 7 for 16 (44 percent).

-Michalek, Letang, Weber, Suter, Hillen, Bouillon and Gill each lead the game with two blocked. shots.

THIRD PERIOD

20:00: The Predators have 1:04 of power-play time on fresh ice. A goal here is a must. Cooke, Staal, Michalek and Orpik take the ice.

18:51: As the Crosby minor expires, Bouillon chops a slapper from the left point. FLeury bodies it away despite traffic.

18:01: Malkin takes a pass at the Nashville blue line and races into the offensive zone. He pounds another slapper by Rinne from the left circle and appears to score but an official immediately waves it off. Not sure why. After conferring with the other officials, the rule goal. Fans chant "MVP!" Malkin's dad is hugging fans int he stands. Neal and Kunitz get assists. The "Woo-Hoo!" song isn't played but we'll still post it. Penguins 5-1.

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13:26: Kunitz whips a wrister from the left point. It hits off the stick of Malkin and deflects wide.

13:12: Malkin looks like he's practicing at this point. He winds up and chops a slapper from above the left circle. Rinne knocks it down and covers.

12:54: Andrei Kostitsyn pounds a slapper from the left wing on net. Fleury boots it out.

11:30: Niskanen has not played since there was 9:01 left in the second period. No word on his status.

10:33: Malkin tries to jam a puck in from the right side of the cage. Rinned holds it out. Klein wipes out Malkin on the rebound chance.

10:21: Malkin snaps off a wrister from the left circle. Rinne kicks it out.

9:08: Yip attempts a  wrister from the left circle but Letang goes stick on puck and prevents the shot.

8:53: Craig Smith tries to carry the puck into the offensive zone on the slot with speed and BOOM! Orpik stops him dead in his tricks with a beauty of a shoulder check. Wow.

8:13: Legwand snaps off a wrister from the left circle. Fleury gloves it.

8:02: From the right wing, Cooke zips a cross ice pass to Park above the left circle. Park has his shot cocked but fans on the feed.

7:12: Malkin races behidn the Nashville cage, fend off Bouillon, emerges in the left circle, turns and whips a wrister wide of the net.

5:27: Staal tries to carry the puck into the Nashville zone but Suter goes stick on puck and knocks it away.

4:37: Engelland rattles Hornqvist with a solid hit into the left wing boards of the Penguins' zone. No call.

4:10: Andrei Kostitsyn shuffles a backhander from the top of the slot on net. Fleury steers it away.

3:37: Malkin fakes a slapper from the slot, pulls it down coast ot the left circle and whips a wrister on net. Rinne fights it off.

2:28: Off some solid cycling by Legwand, Hornqvist rips a wrister fromt he left circle. Fleury battles it away.

2:07: Nice save. Bouillon takes a pass in the left circle then distributes it to Hornqvist above the blue paint. Fleury reads it all the way and kicks out Hornqvist's re-direction attempt with his left foot. Wow!

0:20: A "FLERR-EEEE!" chant starts.

0:05: Engelland holds the puck in the left circle and fans offer a standing ovation.

0:00: End of game. The "Woo-Hoo!" song is played. Mike Lange informs us of Elvis' where abouts. Penguins 5, Predators 1.

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POSTGAME

-First things first, Matt Niskanen is day to day due to an "upper-body" injury. He was apparently injured on second period hit by Nashville's Jodin Tootoo.

-Second things second, the Penguins officially clinched a playoff berth for the sixth consecutive season.

-The Penguins looked like they were having fun. They didn't have an overly dominant game by any stretch. But they just kind of did their thing, took advantage of some mistakes and took the win.

-Remember the concern over how Sidney Crosby's potential return could impact Malkin's production in a negative fashion? Well Malkin has seven goals in the last five games with Crosby back in the lineup. So much for that theory.

-Malkin is simply the best player in the NHL right now. Period. No one controls the game with or without the puck the way he does. And when he does have the puck, the flow of the game is just different.

-Of Malkin, Predators coach Barry Trotz said, "He was dynamite. If I had to vote today, there’s no question he’d be the MVP for me. I just saw him once up close and he was great."

-Marc-Andre Fleury went head to head with Pekka Rinne, a finalist for the Vezina Trophy last season. Both players entered the game sharing the league lead for wins with 39. One ended the game in sole possession of the league lead in wins with 40.

-Fleury is having a dynamite season but there are a core of fantasy hockey experts who will dismiss his accomplishments by reguritating a tired script based on two points: A.) He's lucky to play on a good team. B.) His save percentage is low.

-Rubbish. Fleury is a money goaltender. He doesn't have the sexy save percentage of a Henrik Lundqvist or Tim Thomas. But he makes the saves when they need to be made. Tonight, the Penguins jumped out to a 2-0 lead but the Predators settled the game down and pretty much controlled the latter half of the period. Fleury made some tough saves on a pretty solid crew of skilled forwards. If he allows a goal before the first intermission, this is a different game. If not for a bad hop off his teammates' skates, he gets a shutout tonight against a pretty good team.

-Dan Bylsma talks about how Fleury stops the "next puck." That's what he does more often than not. In fact, he's done that at least 40 times this season.

-Sidney Crosby didn't have a great game by his standards. He appeared sluggish a times and had a few turnovers. You won't see this game in a highlights package for him.

-James Neal played a really strong game and ended up with a career-best four assists.  The play he made defensively to force a turnover in the second period by Francis Boullion then set up a goal by Matt Cooke is as good a piece of forechecking as you'll see in the NHL. Pavel Datsyuk would be jealous of that display.

-As much trouble as Neal had scoring last season, he brought it full bore on the backcheck and forecheck in every game after the trade from Dallas. And he continues to do that now. It's a very underrated aspect of his game.

-Paul Martin was a plus-3. Just saying.

-If you can imagine such a thing, Martin is a plus-4 on the season.

-Richard Park was okay in his return to the lineup after several healthy scratches. He was probably used instead of Eric Tangradi on account of his speed since the Predators have some wheels up front.

-The Predators did not look all that hot. They're usually a safe, stay at home type of team and they tried to get into a track meet with the Penguins. Not a good idea.

-Alexander Radulov was okay in his return. Beyond his goal, he was hardly noticeable. He's your typical 20-goal, 50-point winger who will create some offense but little else.  He had 15:54 of ice time on 19 shifts, two shots and one goal. He was a minus-3.

-Rinne did not have his best day. You won't see to many games like that from that guy.

-The Predators led in shots, 30-23.

-Malkin led the game with 10.

-Patric Hornqvist led the Predators with five.

-Brooks Orpik led the game with 23:55 of ice time.

-Shea Weber led the Predators with 23:20.

-Faceoffs were tied, 25-25 (50 percent).

-David Legwand was 9 for 14 (64 percent).

-Malkin was 6 for 11 (55 percent).

-Zbynek Michalek, Martin and Bouillon each led the game with three blocked shots.

-Letang (165 points) moved past Phil Bourque (164) for 47th place on the Penguins' all-time leading scorer list.

-Chris Kunitz (149) moved past Dave Hannan (148) for 55 place.

-Brooks Orpik (110) moved past Wayne Bianchin and Jim Johnson (109 each) for 74th place.

-Orpik has 99 career assists.

-Neal (82) moved past Michel "Miss the Net" Ouellet (80) for 100th place.

-Pascal Dupuis has seven-game winning goals this season. That's tied (nine ways) for the 14th best single-season total in franchise history. Dang.

-Game summary.

-Event summary.

-Highlights: