Rookie Goaltender Picks Up Win In First NHL Game Johan Hedberg's NHL debut wasn't an easy one, but it was successful. The recently acquired goaltender turned away 41 shots to pick up a win in his first game, 6-3, over the Florida Panthers. Mario Lemieux gave the 27-year-old rookie a 1-0 lead with a power play goal at 8:17 of the first period, but all-star Pavel Bure gave Hedberg the first blemish on his NHL scoresheet less than two minutes later. That tally was Bure's league-leading 50th. Darius Kasparaitis, who doesn't have 50 goals in his career, put the Pens back in front with his third of the season to finish off the first period scoring. Bure equalled the score at 2-2 just 44 seconds into the second period, and Dan Boyle gave the Panthers their only lead of the evening eight minutes later. Pittsburgh took command from there. Lemieux hit the 30 goal mark in his 34th game to even things going into the third period, and Josef Beranek recorded his ninth of the year at 2:59 of the third to give Pittsburgh the lead for good. Alexei Kovalev quickly stretched the lead with his 41st of the campaign only 30 seconds later, and Jaromir Jagr ended the onslaught at 15:10 Things got rough from that point out, with 54 minutes of combined penalties being racked up starting just two seconds after the Penguins' sixth goal.
