Pens beat Senators 6-3

The Penguins beat the Senators tonight 6-3 to remain atop the Eastern Conference with 30 points.  It sure did not start well, with Ottawa scoring at just 18:41 to take a 1-0 lead.  The Penguins have been falling behind early of late and playing catch up, but this time they answer just 27 seconds later when Engelland leads a rush out of the Penguins zone, finds Crosby who fakes a shot, then finds Kunitz who buries it to tie the game at 1-1.  It was Kunitz' 8th goal of the season, with assists by Engelland and Crosby.  Two seconds later Asham and Konopka square off in a spirited fight, I am sure as part of the carry over from the Islanders mess of last year.  Shortly thereafter, at the 16:35 mark, Tyler Kennedy got his third goal of the season, putting his own rebound off of Anderson from behind the net to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead.  He was assisted by Paul Martin(5), and Fleury(1).  The Penguins continued their assault on the power play when Sullivan got his fourth goal of the season, and third in his past three games, assisted by Malkin (13) and Crosby (4).  The power play was unique in that it featured 5 forwards (Sullivan, Malkin, Crosby, Neal, and Kunitz).  Evgeni Malkin then gave the Penguins a 4-1 lead as he scored his seventh goal of the season right after another power play expired as he picked up a loose puck on his backhand, turned to the forehand and chased goaltender Craig Anderson to an early shower.  He was assisted on the goal by Letang (16) and Crosby (5).  The period ended with the Pens up 4-1.  In the second period at the 16:15 mark, red hot Pascal Dupuis scored his fifth goal of the season, assisted by Asham (5) and Kennedy (5).  The Pens were now up 5-1.  Jared Cowen cut the lead to 5-2 on a delayed penalty call, and the period ended 5-2.  At 8:52 of the third period Jordan Staal scored his 11th goal of the season, assisted by Tyler Kennedy (6), and Paul Martin (6).  The goal was significant as it got Staal back on the board, it marked Kennedy's third point of the night, and gave Martin 2 assists and a +2 for the evening.  Hopefully this will mark the beginning of a marked turnaround in the play of Martin!  At 3:31 of the third Ottawa scored again to make the game 6-3, which was the final.  The Penguins have 30 points, putting them atop the Eastern Conference, and they are now 7-0-1 in their past 8 home games.  The Penguins embark on a four game road trip that will seem them play Montreal, New York Rangers, Carolina and Washington, before coming home to play the Stanley Cup Champion Boston Bruins on December 5th.  This looks like a key 5 game stretch for the Penguins against stiff eastern conference competition.  LETS GO PENS!

http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?hlg=20112012,2,319