Penguins' Jokinen gets hat trick against former team.

**the canes just can't catch a break , they draft lindholm instead of nichushkin , they lose pitkanen for the year , and on top of that they have to face the red wings blackhawks kings penguins twice and capitals early on . yup it's official folks , the hockey gods hate the canes .

**I was happy to see how the Pens were able to answer back after Carolina got those 2 goals. It's still a long season and the Pens are soon to face some tougher teams but hopefully they will carry these first few games with them and continue to build on it.

**Anton Khudobin will start against Washington, if he wins that game. IMHO he should get the starts from then on out. His job to lose. Ward is spectacular at times as he allways is, but at some point in the game (every game) he gives up a softy. Really cant blame the d anymore. I got a feeling it's gonna be a lonnnnnnnng season for us Canes fans. I know I'm not the only one who's not a big Cam Ward fan. Yea, it;s gonna be a long season.

**W a r d is a good goalie. To say he gives up a softy every game is probably an exaggeration. Also blamming a good goalie for a loss (not said but eluded to) is not right unless he was letting 2 or 3 softies in. I did not see ward let softy kind of goals in last night unless you want to count one of Jokinen's goals but an argument can be made that it was just an accurate shot. I saw Ward rob the penguins of a few goals that should've happened.

**I agree and not trying to take away from the win. Just a warning. Coming from a person who's team was in the SE division we fell into pit falls where we spanked 5 teams straight then faced a good team and wasn't fully prepared.

**sorry but there has been a large difference between the Capitals and Penguins the last few seasons. We are not worried about the regular season, we WILL make the playoffs, it's just uncertainty of Fleurys play in the postseason......but it is a new year and Fleury looks to have changed. The verdict is still out

**Also the Devils are not a bad team and haven't been in a while........we'll see what happens when Brodeur get's in there and if Jagr or someone can help fill in for Kovy a little bit. They made the SC final 2 years ago I'm pretty sure

**I think Ward was praying the God to give him a break in the middle of the 3d period. Because this minutes from 7th to 10th was a hell! We did such a big preassure!

**Got to give Ward some credit on that one drive the Pens had. He did a great job, but let up a goal the next play. But well done by Ward.

**After that flurry of saves when the Pens had them hemmed in, I was screaming for a time out. Didn't happen.Few seconds later, game over

**If I was the coach I would've called a time out, the lead was lost and the game was getting out of hand. Goalie stopped multiple shots/chances that could've easily have been goals. You could tell another goal was going to happen so I am unsure why he didn't.

**That first goal by Jokinen was an absolute beauty! And Maatta what a beast! really hope he can stay for the season. He has really impressed me.

**I am hoping as well. He has outplayed some of our veteran players, would like to see him on a rotation basis with at least Bortuzzo, I think Maata has earned a spot.

**rotation is impossible as Maatta can only be sent back to his Junior Team, not to the AHL. that makes it a salty decision for Bylsma.

**Ollie was a solid player in Junior but did not think eh was ready for the NHL quite yet,nice to see he made it. The star players on Pittsburgh are making Jokinen better than he really is.

**Not true. The star players are bringing the best out of him! Playing in 3rd or 4th doesn't make any player look good and he is a 1st or 2nd liner. You could say the same thing about Kunitz too but that wouldn't be fair either.