Pens 2, Flyers 3

Shitty way to open the new arena, but what can ya do? Let me start by saying that Consol is absolutely amazing! All I could say when I walked in was, "Wow". The first thing I noticed was how open and spacious the place was. The second thing I noticed was that it didn't smell like the Igloo. Not the the Igloo smelled bad, but it had a unique odor. The seats were incredible, and the crowd noise was unbelievable. Now for pics:



This sign will take some getting used to.




The old barn.




Love this window display!



Another pic of the Igloo.



The new guy on the block.




Pregame warm-up.



The banners.



R.I.P. Barbero. They had a really nice tribute video during one of the T.V. time-outs, followed by the biggest standing ovation I have ever seen.



Matt Cooke with some clean-up duty.



Ben Lovejoy...who I didn't get to see play. :-(




Tangradi is a beast.




This was a great idea. When they melted the ice at the Igloo for the last time, they saved a bottle of the water. Lemieux christened the new arena at center ice with it. Solid.



It's always a great day for hockey in Pittsburgh!



In case you didn't know what night it was.



Almost time for the inaugural faceoff.



Blurry faceoff.



Best license plate ever! I was actually wearing my Straka jersey, and I waited in the parking garage for this person, but they never showed up, and I was getting hungry.

Anyway, key points:

1. The Pens just seemed like they were lacking the chemistry that they had in the preseason. Hopefully they'll get back into the groove soon.

2. Everyone seemed like they were trying to get too fancy with the puck. Just put it on the net.

3. Lots of shots, but they didn't have much quality.

4. Philly's goaltending situation is just bad. Who the fuck is Bobrovsky anyway?

5. How big of a game did TK and Tangradi have? Nice to see TK back to normal. I hope he can keep it up.

6. I think Craig Adams saw more ice time in this game than he's ever seen in his life.

On a better note though:

Avs 4, Hawks 3

If you have never seen these two teams play against each other, you really should. Always fast-paced and exciting to watch. Avs win in OT. My man Galiardi was all over the place. This team is going places this year. They've matured a lot from last season, and I can't wait to see how well they do this year.

That's all for now. I'll have a recap of tonight's game against the Habs as soon as I watch it. TTFN! :-)