{"id":3825,"date":"2011-04-13T23:52:37","date_gmt":"2011-04-14T03:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ovathletics.com\/home\/?p=3825"},"modified":"2011-04-13T23:52:37","modified_gmt":"2011-04-14T03:52:37","slug":"neil-leads-penguins-to-crowd-record-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ovathletics.com\/home\/neil-leads-penguins-to-crowd-record-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Neil Leads Penguins to Crowd Record WIN"},"content":{"rendered":"

Article by Michelle Crechiolo<\/em><\/p>\n

James Neal waited 246 regular-season games and spent countless hours training, practicing and preparing for this night \u2013 his NHL playoff debut.<\/p>\n

And on Wednesday night in front of CONSOL Energy Center\u2019s largest-ever crowd (18,390 strong), he certainly made the most of it.<\/p>\n

Neal had a fantastic outing that was capped by the beautiful play he made to set up linemate Alex Kovalev for the game\u2019s winning goal, which broke a 0-0 tie that extended throughout the first 46:05 of play.<\/p>\n

It cemented the momentum in Pittsburgh\u2019s favor and opened the door for Arron Asham to find the back of the net just 18 seconds later to put the Penguins up 2-0, a lead they would not relinquish.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst playoff game and first start, it was exciting,\u201d Neal said. \u201cI didn’t know what to expect. I knew it would be loud and fun and the crowd would be jacked up, but it was way more than I expected and what a fun building to play in.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the goal, Neal took the point to become an outlet for defenseman Paul Martin, who was being pressured on the boards. Martin fed a pass to Neal, who made a perfect shot-pass to Kovalev on the back-door for him to tap in.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a great play by Paulie Martin there on the wall,\u201d Neal said. \u201cHe stuck the guy to him and a little dink there back between his legs, and I got it and (Kovalev) was open.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kovalev had been taken down earlier on the play by a Lightning forward, and was slow getting up. Luckily, the play stayed hemmed in Tampa Bay\u2019s zone thanks to Martin and Neal, which allowed Kovalev to get set up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to get up and proceed with the play,\u201d Kovalev said. \u201cThe puck was still in the zone, so I just tried to stay in front of the net and be patient to see if we could keep the puck in the zone. We did, and I got it wide open right in front of the door.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neal truly was a force all over the ice. Not only did he set up the Penguins\u2019 first goal, but he used his size and strength to pressure Tampa Bay\u2019s forwards on the backcheck, beginning the game with a couple of big hits.<\/p>\n

He also drew a pair of penalties with his hustle and work ethic, helping the Penguins grab some much-needed momentum on the man-advantage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt good,\u201d Neal said. \u201cJust tried to keep it simple, to do the right things and shoot the puck as much as possible. I thought we did just that.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was fitting that Neal\u2019s assist came on Kovalev\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n

Both players were acquired around the trade deadline to add some scoring punch to a Pittsburgh forward corps depleted by injuries, namely to superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.<\/p>\n

But while the two players had playing well since coming to Pittsburgh \u2013 skating on a line together and throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the net \u2013 they hadn\u2019t had much luck sending pucks past the goal line during regulation, combining for three goals in the 20 games they’ve each played as Penguins.<\/p>\n

But that all changed on Wednesday, as the two were quite a factor in Pittsburgh\u2019s win.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s obviously a new season when it comes to the playoffs, so we wanted to get off to a good start,\u201d Neal said.<\/p>\n

And get off to a good start they did.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Article by Michelle Crechiolo James Neal waited 246 regular-season games and spent countless hours training, practicing and preparing for this night \u2013 his NHL playoff debut. And on Wednesday night in front of CONSOL Energy Center\u2019s largest-ever crowd (18,390 strong), he certainly made the most of it. Neal had a fantastic outing that was capped […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-professional"],"yoast_head":"\nNeil Leads Penguins to Crowd Record WIN - Ohio Valley Athletics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ovathletics.com\/home\/neil-leads-penguins-to-crowd-record-win\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Neil Leads Penguins to Crowd Record WIN - Ohio Valley Athletics\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Article by Michelle Crechiolo James Neal waited 246 regular-season games and spent countless hours training, practicing and preparing for this night \u2013 his NHL playoff debut. 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