Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Panthers fall at end
Penguins get Crosby back, rally 3-2.
PITTSBURGH —The Florida Panthers were absolutely dominating the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins for the first 33 minutes, before committing the cardinal sin of leaving superstar Sidney Crosby alone in the slot during a power play.
Never mind that Crosby was making his long-awaited season debut after sitting out the first six games with another concussion. Crosby ripped his trademark onetimer past goalie James Reimer to ignite a 3-2 comeback victory over the Panthers Tuesday at the PPG Paints Arena.
The 4-2-1 Penguins are now 5-0-2 in their past seven games against the Panthers, who dropped to 3-2-1.
Clinging to a 2-1 lead after two periods, the Panthers caught a break when Pittsburgh’s Phil Kessel rang one off the crossbar at 3:30. But at 5:36, Carl Hagelin’s toe-drag and wrister got past Reimer (19 saves) to tie it at 2.
At 9:42, Matt Cullen’s pass began an odd-man rush in which Tom Kuhnhackl got around Panthers defenseman Jason Demers before spoon-feeding Eric Fehr for a deposit under Reimer’s pads, turning a two-goal deficit into a 3-2 lead.
Leading 1-0 after one, the Panthers continued to skate circles around the Penguins until defenseman Ian Cole had the audacity to collide with former Penguins great Jaromir Jagr at center ice. With Jagr down, Shane Harper, fresh off
his coming-out two-goal party Saturday, fed a streaking Mark Pysyk, who redirected it past Marc-Andre Fleury at 6:08.
For Pysyk, the former Sabres defenseman, it was his sixth career goal in his 131th game and first as a Panther. Jonathan Marchessault got the secondary helper for his teamleading eighth point.
Still, it only took a Greg McKegg high stick to give the Penguins some life as they clicked on the power play when Evgeni Malkin threaded a centering pass to Crosby, who was inexplicably left alone with four Panthers on one side as if they were little kids at a soccer game.
Crosby scored his first regular-season goal since his last game on April 7, not counting the six goals he scored en route to earning the Conn Smythe Trophy while leading the Penguins to the Cup. Reimer made an acrobatic save to stone Scott Wilson to help Florida maintain a 2-1 edge after two.
After morning skate, Crosby was praising the Panthers’ team speed, then he got a first-hand look at it in the first period as Florida’s fast-paced attack led to three Penguins penalties. The Panthers clicked on the third one when Colton Sceviour threw the puck on net, where defenseman Mike Matheson got a piece of it. The loose puck fell in the lap of Reilly Smith, who swatted it past Fleury with 1:58 left in the first period.
It was Smith’s first goal of the season and the Panthers first road power-play goal on their sixth attempt. The Panthers out-shot Pittsburgh 8-4 in the period.
Jagr given plaque
The Penguins are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the franchise this season, so after morning skate a team spokesperson presented Jagr with a silver plaque that was made with material from the old roof of the Civic Arena, a.k.a. the Igloo, with his name and jersey No. 68 inscribed on it.
“Don’t forget it’s a long time ago,’’ said Jagr, who scored 439 of his 750 goals with Pittsburgh, where he also won his only two Stanley Cup titles in his first two NHL seasons (1990-92). “It’s been nearly 15 years, … so those fans that were coming to the arena when I was playing for Pittsburgh, they’re not coming anymore. They’re probably dead or not interested anymore.
“They got new fans; it’s a different team. I would say half the fans now don’t even know I played here.
“We won only two Cups, but if Mario [Lemieux] wouldn’t get back problems it would be three, four more. That team was just too good.’’