When Mike Rupp fakes you out and puts the puck behind you, as a goalie you have every right to be a little upset. Cam Ward certainly did and while Mike Rupp is not a fourth line scrub and does have hockey skills, they don’t admittedly get showcased on a nightly basis. So when he came in on a two on one with Cam Ward sitting between the pipes, moved to the forehand and then at the last second, with Ward leaning, flipped back to his back hand and buried the puck to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead you could almost see Ward’s eyes rolling under his mask.

It was Rupp’s first goal of the season and it won’t be his last.

Malkin (3) scored early in the second to put the Penguins up 2-0 but the Hurricanes answered back in the third with two redirects from Ray Whitney (2, 3) to tie the game up and Cam Ward committed highway robbery on a point blank chance from Bill Guerin. Guerin was standing in the crease when the puck came to his stick and Ward was halfway passed the post but still was just barely able to snatch out his glove hand and put it right where the puck was headed into the net. A video review showed that while close his glove was not completely in the net which would have made the play a goal.

In overtime both teams played up and down the ice trying to end the game to no avail. Fleury was one again solid in goal stopping 27 of 29 shots on the night.

In the shootout it took a while to determine who would earn the extra point for the win. Fleury stopped Samsonov then Ward stopped Letang. In round two both Jussi Jokinen and Sidney Crosby found the net. Then came round three and both Ruutu and Guerin were stopped. Off to round four … Matt Cullen and Alex Goligoski both missed the net. Round five anyone? Fleury redeemed himself by stopping Whitney and Ward answered by stopping Evgeni Malkin who looked less than enthusiastic in his attempt. But it was round six that would decide everything.

Eric Staal was tapped for Carolina and Chris Kunitz got the nod for the Penguins. Fleury stopped Staal but Ward could not do the same against Kunitz. Kunitz buried his shot five hole against the Carolina net minder and the rest, as they say, is history. The Penguins capped a 5-0 road trip record to start the season and moved to 6-1-0 (12 pts) on the season.

They return home Saturday to face the Tampa Bay Lightning who are 2-1-2 and leading the once again anemic South East with just 6 points.

Notes:

- Chris Kunitz has been under a little heat this year for not having scored a goal during regulation or overtime. Although he has registered 4 assists and is a plus one, most people expect him to put the puck in the net playing along side Crosby and Guerin. The truth is that not everyone can score and sometimes players have droughts. It is not like Kunitz has not contributed and hopefully his goal in the shootout last night will silence some of his critics.
- Marc-Andre Fleury continues to make a case that he belongs on Canada’s Olympic team and possibly even be the starter. He is 6-0 with a .917 Sv% and a 2.27 GAA this season.
- -5? Yep that is what Sergei Gonchar is after six games this season. Maybe not that big of a deal you say? Well, he has 5 points himself (4 of which have come at even strength) … that means that he has been on the ice for 9 of the opposition’s even strength goals! The Penguins have allowed 17 goals (6 on the PP and 11 at even strength). That means that Gonchar has been on the ice for 82% (9 / 11 = .818%) of the opposition’s even strength goals which is unacceptable and I am sure Sarge knows that.

Here we are, just a short time faceoff in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals and the Hurricanes are Dead Men Skating. They hope to get a reprieve from the governor at the 11th hour on an appeal for a little more life.

Whether or not such will be the case remains to be seen.

As a Penguins fan I have mixed feelings about this series so far. On one hand I love the fact that the Penguins are up 3-0 and have turned Cam Ward into Swiss cheese and made Carolina fans really and honestly consider if the empty net is not a better option considering that it has only allowed 2 goals so far compared to Ward’s 14. On the other hand the series, while each game has had bouts of excitement beyond seeing how many goals Evgeni and His Sidness can score, they have been pretty lopsided and boring. Then there is the problem that I really don’t want to spend another $200 on tickets to watch another shooting gallery win if the Penguins slump tonight and send this game into a Friday night showdown in Pittsburgh. I would rather save that money for the Stanley Cup Final tickets sitting in my little binder on the kitchen counter. But I can always sell my Game 5 tickets I suppose.

So here are tonight’s BIG questions to be answered:

1) Will Cam Ward plug all those holes the Penguins have been finding in his pads?
2) Will Sidney Crosby be the victim of a tragic hit and run by some crazed Carolina fan screaming, “Go Canes!”?
3) Will it finally be revealed that under Malkin’s apparent human looking exterior really lies a cybernetic exoskeleton?
4) Will Jordan get to give his older brother Erik a noogie while in the hand shake line?
5) Is anyone foolish enough to take the “under” for tonight’s game on goals scored?
6) On that same subject, what exactly is the over/under for tonight’s game? 15?
7) How many Carolina fans have sold their tickets to Penguins fans and how many black or baby blue jerseys will be in the stands?
Will Bill Cower show up with his horn again?
9) Will we really have to wait over a week for the Finals to start pending the outcome of this series and the Detroit series? (note: the league has already hinted that it is moving up the start date of the finals to this weekend if both Pittsburgh and Detroit end it in their next games)
10) Exactly how many times will the Staal’s sod farm be referenced during the game?

Game two of the Eastern Conference Finals started out much the same way Game one did; with both teams throwing pucks at each other. The difference this time around is that during the first twenty minutes of play the Penguins could not keep the Hurricanes out from in front of the net and despite his best efforts, Fleury could not provide another one man show and shut down Carolina.

The game started out well enough for Pittsburgh as the offense was in full flight again. Just 1:51 in Crosby (13) scored after being fed through the crease by Chris Kunitz picking up right where the team left off in game one. About a minute later however Carolina tied it up with Larose (4) scoring on Fleury. At 8:15 of the first Malkin (8) added a second goal off of a Tyler Kennedy rebound for the Penguins to give them the lead again. 0:25 later Jokinen (7) beat Fleury to tie up the game again. Then at 12:10 of the first things got bad for the Penguins. That’s when Seidenberg (1) scored his first goal of the playoffs to give the Hurricanes their first lead in the series.

After the Seidenberg goal however the Penguins seemed to figure out things defensively and clamped down.

In the second period the Penguins got back on track and all but challenged the Hurricanes to get into a shooting match with them. About three minutes in Crosby chipped a puck up to Malkin who then chipped a puck up to Maxime Talbot in stride. Talbot (3) then pulled into the Carolina zone and fired a puck from Cam Ward’s right that beat him cleanly to tie the game. Fisticuffs broke out midway through the second with Malkin and LaRose each getting roughing calls. For Malkin the call was not that bad. He was just coming off an extended shift and needed the rest … I joke. But seriously, the scrum seemed to ignite Malkin who played with a passion and intensity that Carolina would regret ever igniting later. With eight seconds remaining in the period the Penguins regained the lead on Kunitz (1) first goal of the playoffs.

Eaves (1) pulled the Hurricanes even at 2:35 of the third seeming to give Carolina new life. But then the Evgeni Malkin show began and when it was over, Sidney Crosby had to be wondering if he was about to be demoted to the second line for Game 3. First Malkin jumped on the ice just after the eight minute mark of the period and raced into the Carolina zone. Kunitz tossed a puck on net and the rebound came to Malkin’s stick. He slammed the puck home for a 5-4 lead. Four minutes later, Malkin scored his tenth unassisted coasting out to Ward’s left. He won a faceoff, raced into the corner then around the net, turned and on his back hand roofed a puck that beat the Carolina net minder to give the Penguins the all important two goal lead and bringing truth to the saying that it is best to let sleeping dogs (or in this case Russians) lie.

Mister (Tyler) Kennedy (3) added an empty net goal at 18:11 to seal the deal. But Carolina was not done yet. If you ask my opinion, the Hurricanes had been head hunting all game in response to pretend outrage over two borderline but legal hits in game one against Rutuu and Cole. 0:30 after the Kennedy goal, the Canes got nasty as Gleason, Eaves and Bayda found Penguins to dance with including Satan and Letang. Satan was up to the task and looked like he had been a scrapper all his career. Bayda received a rare match penalty for intent to injure and for his role in the altercation that showed the frustration of the Carolina squad.

After struggling in the first period both Fleury and the Penguins defense clamped down. After allowed 3 goals on 14 shots in the first, the Penguins allowed just 1 goal on 14 shots the rest of the way. Now it is time for Game 3 in Carolina and they had better hope that Hurricane Geno has blown over by Saturday night if the Canes have any hope of gaining any sort of foothold in this series and not get blown away by the wind.

For the Penguins part, they continued the high pressure offense that Washington was barely able to hold off while stretching the previous series to seven games. If they keep it up, this series, and Hurricane season, could be over in very short order.