Penguins 4, Hurricanes 1

The Pens were a bit slow of foot in the first period.  Paul Bissonnette tried to get them fired up, fighting Dan LaCouture pretty effectively, but the Pens were missing that spark.

The Canes took advantage of a flubbed pass by Brooks Orpik, allowing the latest in the Sutter family (Brandon) to walk in alone and flip a backhand shot past MAF.

That goal was the only gaffe by Fleury on the night.  He did mishandle the puck one or two times, but none led to a goal.

The Pens woke up in the later half of the second period with two amazing shifts of puck possession in the offensive zone.  They out shot the Canes 13-6 in the second and generally dominated the period, but had nothing to show for it going to the third down 1-0.

It's a testament to the mental state of the team that they came up and kept up the pressure in the third.  Malkin put on a dazzling display of puck possession, though he was probably trying to do too much and wound up losing the puck and taking a hooking penalty.  That was the Canes only power play, and the Pens killed it off.

Just a few minutes later Malkin was hooked, sending the Pens on their second power play chance of the night.  Malkin fired a puck that Sid somehow tipped past Leighton, the Carolina goaltender who had stood on his head until that point in the game.

The Pens, playing with renewed confidence quickly added two more goals, one by Fedotenko just 32 seconds later, and one by Talbot three minutes after that.  They were the first goals of the year by those players, and they were much needed.

Malkin added an empty netter after Fleury had missed an attempt to score when the Canes pulled Leighton.

Great win for the Pens.  They kept working and never gave up.  Tonight, it paid off.

Next up:  Out on the road for the start of a four game trip on Saturday at MSG.  Big game.