Penguins Pound Panthers

     The Pittsburgh Penguins made their second and final appearance this season in Sunrise on Saturday night and easily handled the Florida Panthers 5-1 at BB&T Center. The Cats defeated them in their home opener 6-3 back on October 11. Florida(7-15-5) have now lost four of their last five games.
     Pittsburgh(18-9-1) were outshot 7-1 in the first eight minutes of this contest. They scored on their first power play in an unusual way. Evgeni Malkin threw the puck on net from the left corner which was saved by Tim Thomas. Chris Kunitz was in the low slot area and softly snapped a shot that seemed to be in slow-motion when it went past the goal line at 10:45 of the first period. It was the 14th goal for Kunitz who moved ahead of Sidney Crosby for the team-high in scoring this year.
     Joe Vitale would add on to the Penguins margin just 32 seconds later when he scored from point-blank range in the crease area to make it 2-0.
     The Pens increased their lead to 3-0 at 7:23 of the second period. Olli Maatta was on the left-wing wall and connected with a streaking Malkin in the left circle. He skated in on net and switched to a backhand shot in the high crease area.
     Things were not going the Cats way when Sean Bergenheim had a goal disallowed when he was on the edge of the crease at 10:15 of the second and Florida remained three goals behind.
     Florida got back that goal and broke the shutout with a power-play goal at 17:53. Brian Campbell carried the puck up of his own zone and sent an outlet pass to Jonathan Huberdeau. He moved it to Upshall who skated through the left circle and put a backhand shot over the left shoulder of Jeff Zatkoff. Upshall has a point in six of his last seven games.
     The Penguins bounced back 29 seconds later when Malkin controlled the puck on the end wall,  spinned away from a defender and waited behind the Panthers cage. He sent it to James Neal in the low right circle and he nailed a one-time slapshot. Scott Clemmensen came into to relieve Thomas following the end of the second period.
    Jussi Jokinen compiled another goal for the Pens and extended their lead to 5-1 at 6:10 of the third. Malkin, who picked up his third assist and fourth point of the game on that play, fed Jokinen in the slot area where he ripped a snapshot.
     Thomas was pulled from net after two periods by head coach Peter Horachek after he surrendered four goals on only 13 shots and dropped his record to 6-9-1. After losing to the Cats during their home opener back in October, Zatkoff stopped 39 of 40 shots and raised his mark to 4-2-0. Both squads scored on the power play as Pittsburgh went a perfect 1-for-1 while Florida were 1-for-4.