It didn't take long for the Pittsburgh Penguins high powered offense to send Ottawa Senators' goalie Craig Anderson to the showers. After a four goal first period, Anderson was yanked and replaced by Alex Auld in the second period. In just his third game back, Sidney Crosby had two secondary assists in an explosive first period.
Ottawa opened the scoring just over a minute into the game, when Kaspars Daugavin would beat Marc-Andre Fleury for the one goal lead. The Pens would respond quickly to tie it just 35 seconds later, and then simply overwhelm the Senators with five unanswered goals. Chris Kunitz, Tyler Kennedy, Steve Sullivan, and Evgeni Malkin would all find the back of the net in a dazzling offensive display. Pascal Dupuis added the Penguins 5th goal just four minutes into the second period - this one off of Auld. Jared Cowen cut the Pens lead to three, with a shot from deep in the center of the zone on a delayed penalty six on five scenario.
Arron Asham dropped the gloves with Zenon Konopka in the second and was not on the bench for a significant duration after serving the penalty time. Asham, apparently not seriously injured, did return but Crosby slid into his forward position on the fourth line while he was gone. Crosby also played with Jordan Staal and Evgeni Malkin in the second, creating what has to be the most high-powered line in the league.
The Pens start the third looking for more goals to entertain what was announced as the largest crowd in Consol Energy Center history at 18,610.
We'll be following this game tonight on SB Nation Pittsburgh in this StoryStream, but for more on the Penguins, head over to our Pittsburgh blog PensBurgh.