Penguins power past Habs 6-3 in opener; Staal out indefinitely

Game 1: Montreal 3 @ Pittsburgh 6

Twenty thoroughbreds thundered through a muddy track at the Kentucky Derby earlier tonight for a chance at horse racing immortality.  Yesterday, in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinal at Pittsburgh, won 6-3 by the hosts over Montreal, the Penguins lost their iron horse for an indefinite amount of time.  Selke Trophy nominee Jordan Staal, who scored one of the Pens’ four power play goals last night, suffered a lacerated tendon in his right foot after a collision with Montreal defenceman P.K. Subban at 10:58 of the second period.  As noted earlier today on this site by Brian Metzer, there are conflicting reports on Staal’s availability for the rest of the playoffs.  Preliminary reports indicated that Staal would miss the rest of the post-season.

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However, after today’s practice, Penguins’ head coach Dan Bylsma issued a clarification.  “There have been a number of rumors.  It is not an Achilles.  He is not ruled out for the remainder of the playoffs.  He had a procedure to repair a tendon on top of his foot.  He will be day-to-day from here on out.  He is not out for the remainder of the playoffs.”  The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, TSN, RDS and CBC all have confirmed that Staal will miss an indefinite amount of time.

What is crushingly definite for the Penguins is that they will skate onto Mellon Arena ice at 2 pm EDT tomorrow for Game 2 without Staal, who has never missed a game in the regular season or playoffs due to injury.  He took a puck to the face in a game against New Jersey just before last Christmas but soldiered on, without taking time off.  In fact, Staal has missed exactly one game in his four-year NHL career.  He was a healthy scratch on December 5, 2006 in a home game against Florida.  (Ironically, current Montreal head coach Jacques Martin was behind the Panthers’ bench that night).  Since then, Staal has played in 358 consecutive games including playoffs, improving every season as the axis of the best third line in hockey and the cornerstone of one of the best penalty killing units in the league.

When the puck drops tomorrow afternoon, expect very different line combinations for the Penguins.  With the status of right wing/centre Tyler Kennedy uncertain until game time, one player from the group of AHL players on stand-by that might find himself dressed for Game 2 is right-shooting centre Mark Letestu, who played 10 games in the regular season with the parent club.  Like Staal, his defensive-conscientiousness is appreciated by the coaching staff and Bylsma likes his ability on faceoffs as well.  The second half of Game 1 gave a preview of other trios that could be seen tomorrow.  Versatile Maxime Talbot who began the night on the wing with Evgeni Malkin skated at centre occasionally with Staal’s linemates Matt Cooke and Pascal Dupuis.  Also, Craig Adams found instant chemistry when skating with Cooke and Dupuis for the first time last night when he tapped in a centering feed from Dupuis to give the Penguins a 4-2 lead with under two minutes left in the second period when it appeared Montreal was seizing momentum.

Despite the sombre post-game mood, the Pens played an exceptional game.  On the strength of a perfect 4-for-4 night on the man advantage, Pittsburgh vaulted into the lead among all eight remaining teams with a power play success rate of 34.4% (11/32).  It was a stunning turn of events for the Canadiens, who had smothered Washington in the first round by killing off 32 of 33 Capitals’ power plays.  The Penguins used different looks inside the Montreal zone.  Sergei Gonchar tied the game 1-1 in the first period by rifling a shot from centre point as Bill Guerin screened Jaroslav Halak in front of the net.  The goals from Staal and Kris Letang came from between the circles after they received quick passes from the boards.  Finally, Alex Goligoski’s PP marker was scored when he one-timed a cross-ice feed as he pinched in to the far faceoff circle.

Game 2 will assuredly be a different story for both teams.  In addition to the adjustments the Penguins must make to compensate for the loss of Staal, Montreal must reconfigure its defence pairings after losing top blueliner Andrei Markov to an apparent knee injury after he absorbed a clean shoulder-to-shoulder hit from Matt Cooke at 11:46 of the first period.  Markov, the Habs’ PP QB, has returned to Montreal for further evaluation and his status for the remainder of the series is equally in doubt.