Penguins/NHL
The Penguins hopes of getting home-ice in the first round of the playoffs remain somewhat alive as the Penguins thumbed the NHL worst New York Islanders 6-1 Thursday night at Mellon Arena and got some help from the Carolina Hurricanes and Philadelphia Flyers who both lost this evening.
After a slow the start, the Penguins proved to be too much for the lowly Islanders as 13 players registered a point.
Evgeni Malkin had two assists to lead the Penguins offensive attack. Malkin increased his scoring lead to four points over Alexander Ovechkin. Ovechkin was held scoreless against Tampa Bay. Both players have one game remaining.
Philippe Boucher appearing in his first game since January 30th, scored in his third goal of the season at 14:15 of the first period and added an assist on Tyler Kennedy’s third period goal. Boucher saw 18:16 of ice time and had three shots on goal.
Pascal Dupuis (12), Matt Cooke (13), Bill Guerin (21), Sidney Crosby (33), and Tyler Kennedy (15) also scored for the Penguins.
Mathieu Garon making his third start in a Penguins uniform, made 28 saves to record the win.
Race for Home-Ice
The Hurricanes, Penguins and Flyers are each tied with 97 points in the race to finish fourth in the Eastern Conference and gain home-ice for the first round.
Philadelphia has two games remaining (NYI, NYR) while Carolina and Pittsburgh each have one game remaining. Carolina finishes the season against New Jersey and Pittsburgh travels to Montreal.
Pittsburgh Penguins fans helped raise more than $100,000 for the Pittsburgh Fallen Heroes Fund at Thursday night’s game against the New York Islanders at Mellon Arena.
The fund was established by the Fraternal Order of Police to assist the families of the three Pittsburgh Police officers who were slain in the line of duty last Saturday – Eric Kelly, Stephen Mayhle and Paul Sciullo.
Penguins fans contributed more than $67,000 as they entered the arena in an amazing show of support. Contributions by Penguins players and staff, and an $8,400 check from corporate partner 84 Lumber/Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, raised the total to more than $100,000.
