Penguins 4, Islanders 2

Great win on the road for the Pens tonight. You almost expected them to win this one, which says something about how the team has grown.

The Isles out shot the Pens 50-19. The Pens made their shots count. The Isles weren't able to get enough past Conklin to make a difference.

First period:

Reduced roster tonight, due to the trades made earlier today. The Pens only had 10 forwards and six defensemen.

Penalty parade early on, but nothing doing for either team. The Pens start out killing three penalties, though two of them were pretty short. Nice to get the stat sheet stuffers.

Conklin was brilliant early on, keeping the Pens in the game while the Isles out shot them 13-0.

Malkin said "we don't need tons of shots" and buried the puck on just the Pens second shot.

The Pens quickly decided they needed a challenge, so after Gonchar took a penalty, Whitney shot the puck up over the glass from his own end. The two man disadvantage was over 90 seconds, and Conklin was the Pens best penalty killer.

The Pens go back on the power play late in the first. They gave up two different two on one chances. Conklin was up to the challenge again.

Malkin went busting into the Islander's zone and drew another call, putting the Pens on two man advantage. The second power play unit (Minard, Kennedy and Taffe) wasted no time, scoring on a scrum around the net. Taffe got the goal.

Second period:

Staal was called for a high stick just one minute into the second period. It was Staal's second penalty of the game. The Pens killed the penalty.

Laraque was called for a hook. Sticking with the theme of the night, the Pens killed the penalty. Hearing the boo birds from the limited fans at the game was entertaining.

The Isles had a two on none, but Whitney got back to break things up when the Isles started trying to pass the puck around. It was one of the few times thus far that the Isles didn't get a shot off.

The Isles scored on a redirection by Frans Nielsen. It was his first goal of the year and second of his NHL career. Nothing Conk could do on that one.

Connor James and Nathan Smith finally arrived at the arena, dressed and got onto the ice. That gave the Pens a full compliment of forwards. That was a good thing, because Scuderi took a puck off of his pinky finger and didn't return.

Laraque took his second penalty of the period, but the Pens were able to kill off yet another penalty.

The Pens had two bad turnovers in their own end late in the second. The Isles converted them into two great scoring chances. Conklin was up to the challenge.

Letang took a slashing penalty late in the second. That was the 8th penalty called on the Pens. The remainder of the penalty carried over to the third period.

Third period:

The Pens killed off the rest of the penalty. Islanders were 0-8 on the power play at that point.

Conklin made another two ridiculous saves, one with his head and the other going left to right across his crease. He needs to remain the #1 goaltender until he plays his way out of the job.

Things started to turn a bit more physical around the 10:00 mark of the third period. Expect more of that when Hal Gill arrives.

Staal put what looked like a nail in the coffin, beating Ricky over the right shoulder. Great goal at a great time.

The Isles took another dumb penalty. They can't be surprised these are getting called - the Pens took approximately 36 penalties in the second period.

Connor James scored on a nice move on the ensuing power play.

Malkin tripped up Martinek with 1:30 remaining in the game (I thought Martinek dove, personally). The Isles scored, just to make things interesting.

The Pens clogged things up in the Islanders zone after that - the Isles couldn't get the puck out of their own zone until there were just 13 seconds left. DiPietro never got to leave the ice.

Notes:

• All three new guys will be at practice tomorrow, and should all play on Thursday.
• Gonchar - 23 minutes, Malkin and Malone - 24 minutes, Whitney - 26 minutes.
• How much will Ryan Malone cost after this season?