Not So Fast(h) - Pens Win 3rd Straight

Another night where the Penguins where they faced an unknown goaltender making his AHL debut. Tonight is was Viktor Fasth, who came over from the Swedish Elite League for his first game in North America.  Just some background so you can understand my overly witty headline.

Trevor Smith returned to Norfolk for the first time since leaving the Admirals after last season and tips an Alex Grant shot from the point for the game winning goal tonight. Penguins win 4-2, their third straight win.

The building said Grant got credit for the goal but after talking to Grant and Smith after the game, they both confirmed Smith got a piece of it. The goal will need to be changed to Smith from Grant and Brian Dumoulin.

"I was trying to get a screen and then it was coming right at me so I tried to move at the last second and it hit my stick," Smith said. "A nice home bounce."

The Penguins never trailed tonight, despite a slow start. The Admirals had the better chances in the first period and had the Penguins on their heels at times. Nick Schaus brought a puck down the wing on an odd man chance and fired a shot past Thiessen. It looked like the shot caught Thiessen off guard. Troy Bodie and John Mitchell got the assists 6:56 into the contest.

A Gabe Guentzel highsticking double minor at the tail end of the first period gave the Penguins 3:57 to work with in the second period, and they cashed in after Troy Bodie gave the Pens a 5-on-3 power play.

Brian Dumoulin fed a pass across the point to Alex Grant and Grant's shot was tipped past Fasth by Riley Holzapfel. The power play tally was the third in as many games for the Penguins, who appear to have their power play back on track. 

Paul Thompson scored his team leading 12th goal of the season on a weird play 4:49 into the third period, slamming home a puck after it was batted down in front of the net by an Admirals defender. Holzapfel and Grant got the assists.

The Admirals tied the game at 2 with 5:14 left to play while on a power play. Josh Brittian flung a shot from the near wing boards and beat Thiessen to the blocker side.

The Penguins power play came to the rescue tonight with 2:10 to play. Their second power play goal of the game. They've now scored at least one power play goal in each of their last three games. Are we seeing a trend here? 

The Penguins ended the game on the penalty kill, and Brian Gibbons blocked a point shot and walked the puck into the empty Admirals net with 27.7 to go to give the Penguins the 4-2 win.

ROSTER NOTES

Probably what you scrolled down to read. I spoke with John Hynes after the game, who had this to say regarding players from the AHL Penguins heading to Pittsburgh tomorrow: all guys on NHL deals will be heading out to join the rest of the guys in Pittsburgh for tomorrow's scrimmage. He said it was good to give all those guys a taste of NHL training camp.

So here's the list of guys heading to Pittsburgh tomorrow below. I kept Benn Ferriero and Phil Dupuis off the list due their minor injuries and "day-to-day" statuses. Also not sure if Steve MacIntyre will be needed in the scrimmage.

Goalies: Brad Thiessen and Jeff Zatkoff

Defensemen: Dylan Reese, Philip Samuelsson, Joe Morrow, Brian Dumoulin and Alex Grant.

Forwards: Brian Gibbons, Zach Sill, Paul Thompson, Dominik Uher, Trevor Smith, Riley Holzapfel, Adam Payerl and Warren Peters.