Florida Panthers @ Pittsburgh Penguins 1-3 - 12/20

Sidney Crosby scored his first goal since missing three games with the mumps, and the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Florida Panthers 3-1 at Consol Energy Center on Saturday. Crosby, standing to the left of the Florida net, tipped a pass from Kris Letang past goalie Roberto Luongo to give the Penguins a 3-1 lead 7:01 into the third period. Marc-Andre Fleury won his 19th game of the season, two behind Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne for the NHL lead, by making 45 saves, 12 in the third period. With Pittsburgh leading 2-1, Fleury stopped Florida's best chance at tying the game 2:05 into the third. Panthers forward Dave Bolland fanned on a shot in front of the Penguins crease, which caused Fleury to slide out of position to the right. Bolland collected the puck and backhanded it on net, but Fleury made a right-pad save to preserve a one-goal lead. Fleury made another set of impressive saves 2:58 later when he stopped a wrist shot from Tomas Fleischmann, then bit on a rebound attempt from Bolland and sprawled to make a save on Jussi Jokinen before the puck was cleared from the crease. The Panthers outshot the Penguins 46-34. Florida and Pittsburgh meet again Monday at BB&T Center. Pittsburgh (22-6-4) held a 2-1 lead after a contentious first period that was highlighted by defenseman Derrick Pouliot's goal in his NHL debut. Steve Downie sent a cross-ice pass to Pouliot waiting alone in the right faceoff circle. Pouliot placed a wrist shot over Luongo's glove and into the upper-right corner of the net to give Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead 6:56 into the period. Pouliot, who was recalled from the American Hockey League on Saturday because defensemen Christian Ehrhoff and Paul Martin are out with undisclosed injuries, leads Wilkes-Barre/Scranton with 20 points in 23 games. Pouliot scored five goals in his past seven AHL games. The Panthers responded with a goal from Pittsburgh native Vincent Trocheck 25 seconds later. Trocheck tipped a wrist shot from Jonathan Huberdeau for a power-play goal that cut Pittsburgh's lead to 2-1, 7:31 into the first. Trocheck was a healthy scratch in Florida's past two games. Chris Kunitz and Evgeni Malkin each had an opportunity to score the third Penguins goal with about 7:09 remaining in the period, but after Kunitz backhanded a shot off of the left post, Malkin hit a rebound off the same post. Nick Spaling started the scoring when he fluttered a wrist shot over Luongo's blocker 1:48 into the game. Luongo attempted to reach across his body, but the puck glided past the tip of his glove and into the back of the net. Crosby temporarily left the game after being slashed by Bolland behind the Penguins net about 14:00 into the first period. Crosby immediately removed his left glove and skated toward the bench. He returned a few minutes later and drove in on Luongo for a backhand attempt in his first shift back. The teams combined for 15 penalties and 38 penalty minutes during the period. The tension didn't die at the start of the second, with an additional 32 penalty minutes, but Florida was the only team to score a power-play goal. The Penguins, who once led the NHL on the man-advantage while converting at a rate above 40 percent, failed to score on five chances through the first two periods, six in all. Pittsburgh's power play is ranked third in the League at 24.3 percent. The Penguins played four defensemen who are 23 years old or younger, and Pittsburgh coach Mike Johnston complimented their effort given the added emphasis on special teams.

Pens Quotes

Sidney Crosby: "It's nice to finally put one in. It was a nice play by [Letang] and he made that whole play happen. Bringing guys to him and then a great pass. So, it's nice to see one go in."
Marc-Andre Fleury: "I think there were a few chances [for the Panthers to score]. Especially in the third, I think they came close a few times, but other than that, I thought it was just throwing pucks in and having people in front. I think that's what makes it tough, when you have to find the pucks through people."
Derrick Pouliot: "It's incredible. You dream about that moment happening. So it was very exciting. Good to get the win and to get the first goal too."
Mike Johnston: "I thought Florida pushed us really hard and I thought those guys responded well. Pouliot was in that group, but you look at [Scott] Harrington's job defensively and [Brian] Dumoulin's job, it was a hard game to play for them, because there was a lot of special-teams work."
Penalties

1st Period
07:15 PIT	Scott Harrington  Hi-sticking against  Aleksander Barkov
08:24 FLA	Scottie Upshall  Tripping against  Evgeni Malkin
08:24 PIT	Evgeni Malkin  Embellishment against  Scottie Upshall
12:15 FLA	Brian Campbell  Interference against  Bobby Farnham
16:09 PIT	Blake Comeau  Holding against  Willie Mitchell
18:42 PIT	Patric Hornqvist  Interference against  Roberto Luongo
18:42 FLA	Dylan Olsen  Roughing against  Chris Kunitz
18:42 PIT	Chris Kunitz  Roughing against  Dylan Olsen
18:42 FLA	Dave Bolland  Roughing against  Sidney Crosby
18:42 FLA	Willie Mitchell  Fighting (maj) against  Kris Letang
18:42 PIT	Kris Letang  Fighting (maj) against  Willie Mitchell
19:22 FLA	Erik Gudbranson  Hi stick - double minor against  Sidney Crosby
19:33 PIT	Steve Downie  Roughing against  Jussi Jokinen
19:33 FLA	Jussi Jokinen  Roughing against  Steve Downie
19:33 PIT	Evgeni Malkin  Roughing against  Aaron Ekblad
2nd Period
03:15 PIT	Patric Hornqvist  Interference on goalkeeper against  Roberto Luongo
06:21 FLA	Erik Gudbranson  Fighting (maj) against  Steve Downie
06:21 PIT	Steve Downie  Fighting (maj) against  Erik Gudbranson
06:21 PIT	Steve Downie  Misconduct (10 min)
09:16 FLA	Vincent Trocheck  Kneeing against  Evgeni Malkin
10:05 PIT	Evgeni Malkin  Embellishment
10:05 FLA	Dave Bolland  Tripping against  Evgeni Malkin
13:43 FLA	Dave Bolland  Cross checking against  Bobby Farnham
19:10 PIT	Simon Despres  Interference against  Aleksander Barkov
3rd Period
14:37 PIT	Rob Scuderi  Delaying Game-Puck over glass
16:52 PIT	Marcel Goc  Slashing against  Dave Bolland
18:09 FLA	Tomas Fleischmann  Slashing against  Rob Scuderi