Pittsburgh Penguins Shut Out Detroit Red Wings In Preseason Action
By Larry Snyder
The Pittsburgh Penguins concluded the NHL preseason with a 3-3 record as they shut out the Detroit Red Wings 2-0 on Wednesday night at Joe Louis Arena.
Marc-Andre Fleury turned away all 25 shots he faced as he played all three periods for Pittsburgh. It was Thomas Greiss who was in reserve on the bench as Jeff Zatkoff was a healthy scratch. At the other end of the ice, Jimmy Howard stopped 31 of 33 shots for Detroit.
Blake Comeau got the Black and Gold on the scoreboard at 7:04 of the first period when his wrist shot from the left side of the crease made it past Howard for his first goal of the preseason.
The 6-foot-1, 202-pound left wing wrapped up the preseason as the Pens’ leading scorer with one goal and three assists for four points in five games.
Oskar Sundqvist added an insurance goal at 5:53 of the third when he beat Howard with a slapshot from the left hash mark for his second goal in exhibition action. Also, it was a busy night for center Nick Spaling as he had an assist on both goals for Pittsburgh.
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Sidney Crosby, in his preseason debut, finished the contest with seven shots in 18 minutes, 47 seconds. He also won 5 of 14 faceoffs on the evening.
Pittsburgh out shot Detroit 33-25 and blocked more shots 13-9, while the Red Wings won the face off battle 30-23 and led in takeaways 5-2 on the score sheet. Neither team scored on the powerplay.
Head coach Mike Johnston and his staff will be making some interesting decisions over the next few day as the roster must be at 23 before the season opens on Thursday, Oct 9.
The Black and Gold opens the regular season next week on Thursday, Oct 9 at Consol Energy Center as they host the Anaheim Ducks at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ROOT Sports Pittsburgh.