GAME ONE RECAP (Penguins3, Hurricanes 2)

(Note: Owing to my needing to cover a client's public meeting and my DVR being overstuffed with movies I've been unable to get to, I missed the first period and listened to the second on the radio during the drive home. This recap, thus, isn't much of a recap.) Miro Satan opened the scoring for the Penguins tonight by taking a lead pass after coming out of the penalty box. He broke in alone on Cam Ward, dipped his shoulder like he was going to shade left and take a forehand wrist shot, then cut right and crossed over to his backhand. He'd left Ward in the dust, and all he had to do was get his backhand on net. He did, and the Penguins took a lead they never relinquished.

It was Satan's first playoff goal, but his fifth playoff point. He was stuck back into the lineup after it was concluded, based on ample visual evidence, that Petr Sykora has hit a wall. I don't know whether Sykora would have overcome his scoreless run if he'd been left in the lineup, but the team couldn't afford to wait for him forever. Satan took his lineup spot, though not his spot on Evgeni Malkin's right wing, and contributed modestly at first. Though he didn't score in two playoff games against Philadelphia and one against Washington, he got some shots on net and even dirtied himself up a bit along the boards. Then things started to click with him offensively in Game Four against the Capitals. With the Penguins trying to restore a two-goal lead against the Capitals, Bill Guerin blocked a clearing attempt at the right point of the Capitals' zone and the puck was knocked onto Satan's stick with all of the Capitals' players breaking the wrong way out of the zone. Sid Crosby reversed direction and broke for the Capitals' net, and Satan threaded a pass through the lone defenseman's legs and onto Sid's stick for the easy tap-in. It was such a sweet assist that before conducting any serious goal celebration, Sid pointed directly at Satan to say, that's all you. Then, in the critical Game Five win on the road, Satan got a shift with Jordan Staal in a scoreless game and worked a nifty along-the-endboards give-and-go to set Staal up for the opening goal. He went scoreless in the Game Six loss, then assisted on two goals in the Game Seven extravaganza.

Maybe most impressively, Satan has managed to transform himself into a crunch-time contributor without bludgeoning any members of the local or national hockey media. Read any media report about the Penguins' playoff run that mentions Satan and you're sure to see a digression that recounts Satan's demotion to the Wilkes Barre/Scranton farm team at the trade deadline to clear cap space for Bill Guerin to come in and take his spot on the top line. And they keep mentioning it and mentioning it, to make sure that if there's one person out there that doesn't consider Satan's season to be a whisker away from futility, well maybe they will now. The local Fox Sports affiliate conducts player interviews between periods, and in the midst of the Game Seven festivities, with the Penguins up 2-0, Dan Potash holds the microphone in front of Miro and leads with-- you're not going to believe this-- the "Weeks ago you were demoted to the minors..." line. Satan wryly mumbled something about being glad Potash reminded him of that, since he'd nearly forgot about it. It was a nice moment. And if the Penguins end up achieving what they're aiming to achieve, Satan the cast-off will be a significant reason why.