|
 Greiss got his first win as a Penguin in his second start, making
33 saves in a 4-1 victory on Tuesday night while handing the
Minnesota Wild their first home loss of the season.
Forward Nick Spaling, center Brandon Sutter, left winger Chris
Kunitz and right winger Patrick Hornqvist had goals for the Penguins
(8-2-1), who won their fifth game in a row.
"It was awesome just to get the win," said Greiss, who came to
Pittsburgh as a free agent over the summer after playing 25 games
with the Arizona Coyotes last season. "I didn't feel too sharp.
Bunch of rebounds I wasn't too happy with, bunch of small things,
but it's just nice to get the win."
Goalie Darcy Kuemper had 18 saves for Minnesota (7-4-0).
Minnesota's power play, which is worst in the Western Conference
this season, was 0-for-3 on the night, although right winger Nino
Niederreiter scored short-handed for the team's only offense.
The Minnesota goal snapped a streak of more than 200 minutes the
Penguins had gone without an opponent scoring. They had notched 18
unanswered goals in that stretch.
 "I think we took for granted just being at home," Wild defenseman
Ryan Suter said after his team fell to 5-1-0 at Xcel Energy Center.
"We've had a lot of success here. We just came out flat and we
thought that we just had to show up to get the win. That's obviously
not what happened."
The Wild thought they made the score 3-2 on a late power play when a
shot by center Mikko Koivu was gloved behind the goalie by Penguins
center Marcel Goc during a scramble at the net. Replays showed the
puck had crossed the goal line, but the officials ruled no goal due
to interference with the goaltender.
Hornqvist's empty-net goal a short time later put the game out of
reach.
The Wild had more shots in the first period, but Pittsburgh had the
only shot that mattered. In the final minute of the period, the
Penguins took advantage of a Wild turnover, with right winger Steve
Downie feeding a pass to Spaling, who flipped a shot past Kuemper
for a 1-0 lead.
"I don't know that we were completely ready to execute at the speed
we needed to execute at," said Wild coach Mike Yeo. "I don't think
we were ready to battle at the level we needed to battle at. But
like I said, you've got to find it. You can weather a first couple
minutes. We went through most of the first period and it was still
0-0 and most of the first period they only had four shots on goal
too. But they were able to find their game better than we were."
[to top of second column] |
It took the Penguins three more minutes to get their next shot on
goal, and that one also ended up behind Kuemper. Sutter, streaking
down the right side on a 2-on-1 break, snapped off a shot from the
top of the circle, beating the goalie on the stick side.
Pittsburgh's NHL-leading power play made quick work of the Wild to
take a 3-0 lead in the second. Kunitz re-directed a shot by center
Evgeni Malkin past Kuemper just 11 seconds into their first power
play of the game. It was the team-leading eighth goal of the season
for Kunitz.
"Certainly teams are intimidated to take penalties now," Penguins
coach Mike Johnston said. "As a result of teams trying to be careful
taking penalties, you get a little bit more space, you get a little
bit more opportunities to take pucks to the net, those types of
things, so our power play has been dangerous. It's going to go
through its ups and downs throughout the year but it's certainly
well-coordinated right now."
NOTES: The Penguins recalled D Scott Harrington from their AHL
affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Tuesday. He has been called up
three times this season without playing in a game for the NHL club.
... Politicians were ubiquitous at Xcel Energy Center on Election
Night, although most of them were from another country. With four
players from Finland (G Niklas Backstrom, C Mikko Koivu, C Mikael
Granlund and LW Erik Haula) in their lineup, the Wild hosted 14
members of the Finnish Parliament on Tuesday night. ... Pittsburgh,
in the midst of its longest road trip of the season, will visit the
Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night. For the Penguins, Tuesday night's
matchup marked the first in a challenging stretch where they will
play eight of 10 away from home. On Thursday, the Wild head to
Canada for the first time this season to start a three-game road
trip when they visit the Ottawa Senators.
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
