Fleury Comes Up Big in Game 1 for Pittsburgh

Is it possible for a pass to be too good?

That could be a question that Carolina's Eric Stall and Jussi Jokinen might be asking themselves in the immediate aftermath of Pittsburgh's 3-2 win over the Hurricanes in Game 1 of the NHL Eastern Conference Finals.

With less than 30 seconds remaining and the Hurricanes pressing to tie the game and send it to overtime, Jokinen fired a pass from the right wing faceoff circle through the crease to a waiting Staal on the opposite post.  The pass was perfect, but Staal, for whatever reason, wasn't ready, and the puck deflected off his stick straight back to Fleury, who promptly fell on it to stop play.

The Penguins goalie was the difference on Monday night stopping 25 shots, including 12 in the first period and then withstanding a final charge from the visitors in the game's final three minutes to secure the win.

Despite Carolina's early offensive pressure, it was Pittsburgh who got on the board first with a pair of goals in less than 90 seconds. The first came at 9:17 when Miroslav Satan popped out of the penalty box and stepped behind the Carolina defense for a breakaway, finishing things off with a backhand that beat a helpless Cam Ward (28 saves) for a 1-0 lead. Then at 10:41, Philippe Boucher found a trailing Evgeni Malkin who put another pretty backhand past Ward to make it 2-0.

Carolina got on the board at 13:04 of the second period when a Chad LaRose wrist shot beat Fleury to cut the lead in half.  A few minutes later, it appeared that Carolina tied the game on another goal by LaRose, but it was wisely washed out by the referees after Carolina winger Erik Cole checked Pittsburgh defenseman Hal Gill into Fleury.

Heading into the third period, Pittsburgh seemed content to tighten down defensively, though it was able to stretch its lead to 3-1 courtesy of a power play goal from Boucher, his first playoff goal since 2004.  For most of the period, Pittsburgh played its defensive game to perfection, as it took the Hurricanes almost 13 minutes before they registered their first shot on goal.

Things finally started turning Carolina's way with 2:34 remaining as Brooks Orpik was sent off for elbowing. Lifting Ward for an extra attacker, the Hurricanes pressed home their advantage and cut the deficit to just one goal when defenseman Joe Corvo scored on a slap shot with 1:26 to go.

From there, the Hurricanes kept up the pressure after the ensuing faceoff, but Fleury was equal to the challenge, with the closest calls coming on Jokinen's pass to Staal as well as a long distance wrist shot from Corvo in the final seconds that Fleury nearly fumbled.

The loss came with other costs for Carolina.  Hurricanes winger Tuomo Ruutu left the game in the first period after being clipped from behind by Pittsburgh defender Mark Eaton, while Erik Cole was knocked from the game in the third period after a knee-to-knee hit by Penguins winger Matt Cooke. Lucky for them and their teammates, they'll have an extra day to heal before returning to the ice for Game 2 of the series on Thursday night in Pittsburgh.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.