MAF and Penalty Killers Come up Huge, Shut Out Philly

What a difference a year makes.

In a night that saw the #66 risen to the rafters once again, the new breed Penguin showed up at Mellon Arena to meet their new boss and show off some grit and toughness on their way to an opening night shut out of the dreaded Flyers.

With organization on special teams and a total team effort on defense, they blocked 20 shots, the Pens looked like a completely different team from last years heartless and confused mess.

MAF was superb looking much more confident and less floppy in net thanks, in part, to his new goaltender coach. He stopped all 40 shots that reached his net.

The bad news is the Pens took way too many penalties, giving the Flyers 10 powerplays including two 5 on 3s. But role players like Jarrko Rutuu and rookie Jordan Staal proved themselves up to the task killing all of them.

The Pens got off to an early lead with 3rd liners Michelle Ouellet and the aforementioned Rutuu contributing first period goals. Later Sid the Kid and Joe Melinchar added two goals to take the advantage to 4-0.

While it is only the first game, I'm encouraged by what I saw tonight.