Lightning and Penguins at Mellon Arena

I began working for InsideHockey.com last fall while attending Bowling Green State University. I covered the Falcons with my former BG News hockey beat partner, Sean Shapiro, for this publication, filing deadline stories and photo galleries for the site’s national audience. It was a very enjoyable experience.

Imagine my excitement, then, when one of the site’s editor’s, Tim Rosenthal, contacted me this year asking if I would be interested in shooting a few Pittsburgh Penguins games this season, to go along with my continued coverage at the college hockey level at Mercyhurst. I’ve followed the Penguins all my life and have really enjoyed watching their popularity spike the past few seasons with the club’s returned success.

As mentioned in my last post, this Saturday I had my first opportunity to shoot a Penguins’ game, which unfortunately meant that I would not be able to do double duty and cover the Lakers’ football game at Clarion. For all the Mercyhurst fans reading, don’t worry–the photos and video will return this week for the big game against Edinboro.

Back to Mellon Arena.

I left Erie around 3 p.m. on Saturday afternoon and had an enjoyable trip down I-79, glancing at the fall foliage surrounding the highway. My early departure actually put me outside Gate 3, where I was to pick up my media credential at 5:30, just a bit too soon. I walked around the arena, currently in its last season of operation for the Penguins, and made a panoramic image of the new building’s construction.

Here’s a closer shot than the one above, which was taken above the players’ parking lot.

I entered the arena right at 5:30, picking up my credential and shooting location chart. This was the main unpleasant surprise about shooting pro sports. Photographers are relegated to certain spots for the entire game, and since I wasn’t with a wire service or one of Pittsburgh’s newspapers, this is what my shooting location looked like:

It wasn’t at ice level as I had hoped, but it could have been worse. Here’s the view from the press box.

While walking around before fans were let in, I shot a panorama of the arena. So much red.

Compare that to this, taken during the national anthem in front of yet another sellout crowd.

During warm-ups, I shot each of the Penguins’ three players who returned from the most recent road trip with black eyes. Craig Adams, Eric Godard and Michael Rupp each obtained a nice shiner in fights on the trip.

Next, I turned my camera to Tampa’s side, where captain Vincent Lecavalier was checking out the time left on the scoreboard.

Back to Pittsburgh’s side, where I captured recently injured Sergei Gonchar.

Fortunately for the Penguins, Marc-Andre Fleury stopped more pucks than this one once the game started.

The players returned to the locker room and came out a few minutes later with the lights dimmed. I managed a few nice shots of Penguin captain Sidney Crosby and then Evgeni Malkin, mixing in a few silhouette techniques.

I had forgotten about the size difference between highly-skilled Martin St. Louis and his teammates.

More from him further below.

The first period quickly brought a 2-0 Pittsburgh lead and plenty of fast action. Check out this sequence of Crosby balancing the puck on his stick, flipping it up and trying to knock it past Tampa goalie Antero Nittymaki. He was unsuccessful.

I had also forgotten that Ryan Malone, who played for the Penguins until last fall, was one of Tampa’s main wingers these days.

Though I wasn’t as close to the action as I had hoped, using my 70-200 and 300 lenses allowed me to bring the action in plenty close. It also allowed for some unique angle shots, such as this one of Tampa and Pittsburgh about to face off.

The Penguins are really rolling along right now. Here, Crosby joins the celebration after a goal by Gonchar in the first period.

It almost looked as if the Lightning were going to make it a game after young star Steven Stamkos scored to start the second period.

But Pascal Dupuis answered back for the Penguins a few minutes later. Martin St. Louis, right, skates off the ice in frustration.

By the time the Penguins made it 3-1 on the above goal, St. Louis’ face said it all.

Here are a few of my other favorite images from the second period.

Pittsburgh center Evgeni Malkin:

Tampa defenseman Matt Walker:

Tampa’s Ryan Malone (left), Penguins Marc-Andre Fleury and defenseman Jay McKee:

Tampa couldn’t manage to stay out of the box near the end of the second period. Though Pittsburgh didn’t score on either of its 5-on-3 advantages, the stretch effectively ended any chances to tie the game before the third period.

Zenon Konopka, Matt Walker and Paul Ranger:

Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang:

Potential portfolio shot here with Nittymaki’s save at the end of the second:

When the third period began, Pittsburgh’s defense clamped down to ensure the 4-1 victory.

Pittsburgh’s Brooks Oprik blocks a shot from Stamkos:

For some reason, Tampa was so desperate to get back in the game that it pulled Nittymaki with a few minutes left in the third and down 4-1. That gave me an opportunity to shoot Nittymaki’s helmet design on the bench.

I finished with two shots of the Penguins celebrating, one of which I dragged the shutter for:

As mentioned, I plan to return to covering Mercyhurst football this weekend at Tullio Field. I likely won’t have another chance to cover the Penguins until the local college football season ends.

For a full gallery from this game available for editorial licensing click here.