Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Malkin gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead just 69 seconds into the game by backhanding a rebound between the legs of Canadiens goalie Carey Price for his 35th of the season. Sergei Gonchar and Ruslan Fedotenko received assists.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: «You always have teams that are in the same division as rivals —- like Rangers-Islanders, Rangers-Devils, Tampa-Florida —- because they're close in proximity and because you have more games against each other," said first-year Penguins winger Ruslan Fedotenko. «You always have hype about that.»
Fedotenko played for the Flyers early this decade. Having been on both sides of the rivalry, he believes it has the same heat as others.
«For the players, because you play each other so much, it might be something like you get bumped and you want to give it back," he said, adding that he sees all the elements of a good series between rivals in this first-round matchup.
«Pittsburgh beat them last year [in the Eastern Conference final], and now they want to get back at them. That fuels the fire more. It's good for fans, I'm sure. I think it's probably one of the most exciting matchups in the playoffs right now.»

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: There was much that Philadelphia didn't like about its performance in Game 1 of its opening-round playoff series against the Penguins.
And a lot that it hopes to change when the teams meet in Game 2 tonight at Mellon Arena.
The Penguins are expecting nothing less and seem certain that what they saw in a 4-1 victory in the opener Wednesday was not the best they can expect from Philadelphia in this best-of-seven.
«I'm sure they are going to come and play even better next game," defenseman Sergei Gonchar said yesterday. «That's why we have to make sure we're still focused and ready for it. That is a team that isn't going to give up.»
Left winger Ruslan Fedotenko, a Flyers alum, said he believes Philadelphia «will come out hard," but volunteered that he doesn't believe the Penguins will be fazed if the Flyers' game plan includes frequent and vigorous hitting.
«I don't know if they want to play more physical, but we have a good team," Fedotenko said. «We can match whatever they throw at us.»

CBC: Sergei Gonchar finished with two assists, while Malkin had a goal and an assist for the second straight game.
Just over two minutes into the game, Malkin burst down the left wing and fired a shot off the post.
Midway through the period, Ruslan Fedotenko tested Biron from nearly the same spot, but the Flyers goalie made a pad save.
Not long after, Pittsburgh put a lot of pressure on during a power play, the Flyers struck just seven seconds into their first power-play opportunity.
Matt Carle threw the puck at the net, and Hartnell deflected it past Fleury at the 13:26 mark.
The Penguins goalie made a pair of big saves with just over three minutes left in the period, stopping Jeff Carter on a rush and denying Mike Richards on a rebound on the next shift.
Pittsburgh came out with jump right after the opening faceoff in the second, with Matt Cooke and Fedotenko testing Biron.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The Flyers didn't get another shot for nearly nine more minutes, but the Penguins couldn't beat Flyers goalie Martin Biron until 11.7 seconds before the intermission.
That's when Ruslan Fedotenko pounced on a loose puck in the left corner —- the by-product of a Max Talbot hit on Flyers defenseman Braydon Coburn —- and threw it into the right circle to Evgeni Malkin, who buried it behind Biron.

Philadelphia Inquirer: Malkin's power-play goal, which caromed off the corner of the goalpost-crossbar joint, made it 5-3 with 16:18 left, but Biron made a clutch save on Fedotenko with 2:35 to go, and Gagne iced the win with his empty-net goal.

Philadelphia Inquirer: Pittsburgh, which held a 13-12 shots edge in the first 20 minutes, began taking the play away in the second half of the period, and Biron made one of his better saves on Ruslan Fedotenko from the high slot with 8:38 left in the opening period.

Шайбы забросили:
1:0 — 04:06 Каллен (Эванс, Уокер)
1:1 — 06:50 Малкин (Кросби, Гончар), больш.
1:2 — 19:17 Кросби (Герин, Куниц)
1:3 — 19:48 Малкин (Адамс, Гончар)
2:3 — 41:58 Самсонов (Коул, Питкянен)
2:4 — 51:29 Федотенко (Малкин)
2:5 — 58:12 Адамс, пустые ворота
2:6 — 58:52 Герин (Куниц, Федотенко), больш.

В Финляндию, к Богданову

В 17-летнем возрасте Руслан, поигравший к тому времени за киевские команды «Сокол» и ШВСМ, решил попытать счастья за границей.

По совету своего агента Марка Гандлера (он, кстати, представляет интересы в НХЛ таких игроков, как Сергей Федоров и Алексей Яшин), Федотенко перебрался в Финляндию, в юношескую команду клуба ТПС, где работал украинский тренер Анатолий Богданов.

«Он приехал в Финляндию, когда я уже там работал несколько лет, — вспоминает Богданов. — Было видно — парень хочет играть, я ему помогал как мог. С ним партнеры чувствовали себя увереннее. Жаль, конечно, что совместных матчей у нас с ним было не так много (я больше был занят работой с основным коллективом), но скажу, что с такими хоккеистами, как Руслан, работать очень приятно. Он полностью выполняет тренерские установки. К тому же делает это с большим желанием. Большое трудолюбие и сделало из него пусть не суперзвезду, но отличного хоккеиста. В общем, Руслан добился успеха, на мой взгляд, заслуженно».

Илья: Все голы Федота в сериях против Вашингтона и Каролины: