Penguins 2, Canucks 1 (OT - SO - 2-1)

This was another terrific, exciting hockey game. The Western Conference really knows how to play hockey. They skate, use speed and keep the play going. Play tends to be more up and down, rather than the grinding, clog the neutral zone stuff that we usually see in the East (like the Isles, Devils, Caps and Lightning).

The game was 1-1 at the end of regulation. Sykora had a great goal off of a nice saucer backhand feed from Laraque. Not an easy goal to pull off, but they managed to get it past Luongo. For the Canucks, Kesler had a great individual effort to score.

There were two reasons the game was tied going into the shootout:

• The goalies were incredible. Both matched each other. Luongo probably made the better saves, but Sabu played really well. Luongo stopped Crosby on a penalty shot in OT, mainly because Sid couldn't get the puck up on his backhand attempt.
• Neither power play could score, despite numerous chances.

In the shootout, Crusher was back in the lineup and calmly resumed making goalies look stupid. Trevor Linden knotted it at 1 for the Canucks, using what had to be Old Man Magic. That set the stage for the hero from the Calgary game, Kris Letang. This guy is for real. He made Luongo look pretty bad and used a nice forehand move, sliding the puck just under Roberto's glove. That was the ball game.

Orpik and Hall were the scratches. Nice to see Therrien keeps rotating the scratches around for now. I know it's probably situational, but it helps to keep everyone involved, IMHO.

Next up: at Philly on Tuesday