The Pittsburgh Penguins opened the season last night by raising their championship banner to the rafters and then dispatching the New York Rangers before yet another sell out crowd. Powered by goals by Evgeni Maklin (1), Sidney Crosby (1) and Mr. (Tyler) Kennedy (1) the Penguins downed the Rangers 3-2.

The Penguins looked good last night despite a preseason in which they won only 1 game. Of course that was because their stars were not the focus of those games and a lot of players no longer with the team were getting much of the icetime. Fleury looked sharp making some spectacular saves by flashing his glove hand and stopped 25 of 27 shots and looked like he hasn’t missed a beat since the Finals ended a few months ago.

Yes, it is still early. But this is an encouraging sign for a team that played late into the year last season and had a very short off season. The third line of Stall, Cooke and Kennedy also played yet another strong game leading me to once again call them the best third line in all of hockey. They cycled, checked, and shot like a top line at many times and that is what you like to see from guys on the #3 line. I was also happy to see that Bylsma decided to keep Kennedy on the third line rather than move him up to the second line. Dupuis played there most of the night instead. Kennedy is a great fit for the third line and while I have no doubt that he can play on the second line with Malkin, his chemistry with his current linemates should not be sacrificed.

Today the Penguins are in New York to play the Islanders in the second game of the season. The Islanders have not taken to the ice yet in the regular season so far.