Pittsburgh Penguins Game Review: Home Opener vs. St. Louis

CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, PA - SEPTEMBER 24: Nate Prosser
CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, PA - SEPTEMBER 24: Nate Prosser

It’s finally here! Hockey season is back for the Pittsburgh Penguins and we got to face off against the St. Louis Blues at home!

It’s been a long, long offseason for the Pittsburgh Penguins. We’ve waited all summer and now, hockey is finally back.

Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Penguins /

Pittsburgh Penguins

We kicked off the season against a strong St. Louis Blues team. It was an eventful night with many highlights. Let’s take a look at a few of them.

Raising the Banner

We got to start the season off with a nice treat. Since we’re back to back Stanley Cup champions after all, we got to raise our championship banner to the rafters. This event created a wonderful memory for Penguins fans alike. It’s simply beautiful to watch our fifth championship banner get raised up.

Ryan Reaves’ Old Team

A big narrative surrounding this game was the fact that we faced Ryan Reaves’ old team. Since we acquired Reaves in a draft day trade with the Blues, there has been a lot of debate over whether or not GM Jim Rutherford made a good move.

Well We got our first glimpse at him last night, as he played 6:21 of the game last night. He looked steady out there, but we need to see a lot more to judge him rather than just from this sample size.

Overtime Loss

Unfortunately, the Penguins were unable to defeat a determined St. Louis Blues team. Being down 4-2 in the third, our guys did a fantastic job to tie the game and send it to overtime. However, we couldn’t stop the Blues as Alex Pietrangelo scored an OT winner to steal the win from right under us.

We play the Chicago Blackhawks Thursday night. Let’s get em this time!