Secondary - Penguins 5, Avalanche 1

So what happened?

The Avalanche came out and fired the first seven shots of the hockey game.  It was as one-sided as it sounds, as the Pens were slow to get things going.  Fortunately, that sluggishness only lasted about five minutes, and from that point, it was a good old-fashioned beat down.

Asham scored on a 3-on-2 slapper, Engelland scored on a beautiful deflection off the rush from Staal, Geno scored by out muscling Hejda and putting a rebound in (the original shot was Neal hitting the crossbar), Park scored coming out of the penalty box on a breakaway and Sullivan scored into the empty net.

The game really wasn't close enough to pull the goalie, but I guess the Avs figured "Why not?"

Nice to get the two points in a laugher and wrap up a successful road trip.

Who scored?

Asham (3), Engelland (4), Malkin (38), Park (6), Sullivan (13)

The Good?

• Look at the names that scored - Asham, Engelland and Park - three great names to see if your a Pens' fan.  That is a huge lift for a team that can sometimes be top-heavy.
• The fans traveled well - I can't remember a road game with so many vocal Pittsburgh supporters.
• Fleury, fortunately, was ready to start the game, even if all of his teammates weren't quite there yet.
• The defense was really good.  Paul Martin had a good game with two assists and a +3 rating.

The Bad?

• The Avalanche were just plain bad.  They didn't seem to respond to any challenges very well.
• Maybe you could say the Pens took a few too many careless penalties, but let's face it - the game was largely out of reach.

The Ugly?

• Um - the faceoffs.  We won't mention that Staal won just three out of 15 and the team as a whole won just 19 out of 53.  Not a good night at all in the faceoff circle.

Any Surprises?

• Erik Johnson, former #1 overall pick, was a -4 on the night.  Some folks complain about Paul Martin - this guy couldn't get out of his own way tonight.

What's their record now?

The Pens are 38-21-5.  They are all alone in fourth place in the conference, four points ahead of Philly and New Jersey, and eight points behind the Rangers.

Who's next?

Phoenix comes to Consol on Monday night for the start of a four-game home stand.