Season Opener - Game 1: Vancouver Canucks vs. Pittsburgh Penguins

The game started at 7 pm, the same time I was off work..so I rushed home to find a 2-0 lead for the Penguins. James Neal scored in the first 5 minutes, and our old Canuck Matt Cooke came right back with another for Pittsburgh. I was lucky enough to catch the Canucks first goal by Maxim Lapierre (I did the Lappy dance) to make the score 2-1 at the end of the 1st period.

2nd period: I felt more excitement in this period, maybe because I was able to watch from beginning to end. Matt Cooke sniped in a short-handed goal, and I silently cheered because I miss him as one of our own. Then came a couple of penalties, and finally a beauty goal by Keith Ballard! I actually jumped out of bed at this point. Anyone else? The period ended with a score of 3-2 for the Penguins.

3rd period: Daniel Sedin scores! He shot the puck into the short side of the net; hockey at it's finest, just dodging a Pittsburgh defenseman. The period ended with a tie of 3-3...sending us to 5 minutes of OT. Daniel had the best chance for a Canuck win, but the puck went wide of the net. This game was going into shootouts. Personally, not a fan of the shootouts.

Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin shot both pucks past Roberto Luongo (25 saves) to win the shootouts. Both Mikael Samuelsson and Alex Burrows missed for the Canucks. Marc-Andre Fleury had a great game with 33 saves for the night.

For the Canucks, this is only game 1. It would have been nice to win, especially since Penguins forward Sidney Crosby was not on the ice, I thought they would have had a better chance. Regardless, I'm happy hockey is back!

Canucks play the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thanksgiving Monday, October 10. I'd like my turkey dinner with a side of winning please?

Tomorrow I'm off to Rogers Arena to watch the Open Practice; fingers crossed for a meet and greet with Burrows!

Much love,
Cryssy Canuck