Lines and Defense pairings

One of the things we wonder most about is the lines and defense pairings that Michel Therrien will employ.


For the forwards his top two lines are pretty set and don't require much tinkering:


Pascal Dupuis-Sidney Crosby-Marian Hossa

**Dupuis has had the speed and intelligence to keep up with Crosby and Hossa. It's not easy to play with two great players, but Dupper has done the little things (getting back on D, hustling into the corners, winning loose pucks, going to the net) to be very effective. Crosby and Hossa have come into their own, developing a great chemistry that is starting to be evident. These two need to feast on the powerplay but they also have to score at even-strength. Crosby and Hossa combined for 4 goals and 5 assists at ES during the Philadelphia series.



Ryan Malone-Evgeni Malkin-Petr Sykora

**The line that did the heavy lifting when Crosby went down...Recently Sykora's been on a down streak production wise (just 1 goal and 1 assist in the past seven games) but Malone has picked up his slack with 7 points (3g, 4a) in the past six games. The constant has been the brilliance of Evgeni Malkin. In every regard but the faceoff circle we think he's been the best, most consistent sensational player so far in the playoffs. Slapshots? Got 'em. Uncanny passing on the PP? Here. Hustling back to play D? No prob. Fighting through physical play? Yawn. Taking control of the puck and galloping all over the ice at will? Yep.



Maxime Talbot-Jordan Staal-Tyler Kennedy

**When we get to the 3rd line is where the questions begin. It's usually been Ruutu/Staal/Kennedy...But through a little experimentation, plugging Talbot up and dropping Ruutu down has seemed to ignite the offense and get a little more production out of Staal. By all means, we say roll with it. Talbot offers a little bit of a better skating and more energy than even Ruutu. It is worrisome to think of the age and experience of this line (especially since it often matches opponents top line) but if that's the way it has to be, we're comfortable with it. Jordan Staal may be 19 years old, but he doesn't play like a 19 year old.



Now we have four players (Ruutu, Hall, Roberts, Laraque) vying for three spots....If it were up to us (and it's not):

Gary Roberts-Adam Hall-Jarkko Ruutu
**It's hard to leave BGL off the roster. But it's just one game. Laraque can do good work on the forecheck and cycle the puck. But Ruutu and Hall can kill penalties in a pinch, Hall is decent at faceoffs. And Gary Roberts has 92 points in 125 career NHL playoff games, experience and results that can't be denied. BGL is the ultimate deterrant for all the funny business that might arise, and while Detroit boasts several gritty guys (think Draper, McCarty, Holmstrom, etc) that's nothing that the Pens can't answer with Orpik, Gill, Ruutu, Malone and Roberts.


DEFENSE

The defense is a little different. While most of the forward lines (aside from where to place Talbot and which of the 4th liners to sit) are pretty much set. Defensively you've got:

Brooks Orpik-Sergei Gonchar

Kuklaskorner thinks that Orpik and Gonchar will be "fetal" by the end of the second period of Game 1. We laugh. No denying the skill and talent that Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg have, but ask Daniel Briere (1 goal and 1 assist in five games against Pittsburgh after tallying 8 goals 14 points in 12 games in the first two rounds) or Dany Heatley (41 goals, 41 assists in the regular season, 0 goals 1 assist in the playoffs) how it was to meet Gonchar and Orpik. Kuklaskorner says with glee that Gonchar will be exposed? Unfortunately for them, they haven't been following the Pens close enough to know what that's going to mean.

But Therrien's ideas for the other two defense pairs have been Rob Scuderi/Hal Gill and Ryan Whitney/Kris Letang. Two primarly shot-blocking defensive guys that aren't really puck movers on one pairing and then two great skating, excellent passing (but not effectively physical) players on the other.

We would like to see a split. Towards the end of the regular season Gill/Letang and Scuderi/Whitney seemed to work well and be more balanced. But we're not coaches and no one asks our opinion. Therrien's pairings have flowed well and obviously been effective. But we think that Detroit's grit and puck possession could expose a flaw in the lack of speed in his Scuderi/Gill unit and at the same time open the door for the lack of physicality (or a rookie mistake) in the Whitney/Letang duo.

But what do we know. Too much time to think, if only it was time to drop the puck already!

Probably no Mule in Game 1

Despite "taking a little twirl" Detroit's "Mule" Johan Franzen is not expect in Game 1 Saturday night. Naturally, the Red Wings are hold their hand a little close to their chest as to whether he's still experiencing headaches or concussion like symptoms. However it's pretty clear that he's just skating on his own and not practicing with the team (which he'd need to do to get his legs back under him after his layoff), so it looks like Franzen is still injured.

This is really crucial for Pittsburgh, Franzen has 12 goals in 11 playoff games (and tallied 27 in 72 regular season games). Only the big guns of Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg lit the lamp more. Franzen gives Detroit two very dangerous scoring lines, so his continued absence is pretty important.

All that needs said...

We find ourselves wanting to write something, anything about this upcoming series....But just can't. You know the players, you know the storylines, you know the experience vs. youth debates. It's as if we're so worked up we don't know where to begin. That will probably all change at about 8:15 Saturday night.

So until then, we give you this most excellent NHL commerical (dug up by Wyshnyski!) that sums up pretty much everything that's running through our minds and yet holding the words back at the same time..

Not much tonight

Sorry boys and girls, not much here tonight. We would advise you to check out kuklaskorner a few times a day, their updates give a lot of different perspectives on previews and predictions by experts near and far. But like a smart guy often says "nobody knows nothing". At this point, the written word is not worth too much. As much as many Detroit locals and supporters would like, the games won't be played on paper.

So we'll have a preview up in the coming days of things to look for; the real details that will set the tone for the series.

Talking about what we don't want to talk about

We've been very immersed in the Penguins playoff run, it's been thrilling and historic. But this little break in the action means not much news which means our attention turned to what's been for a years a great site to round-up the pulse of newspaper writings in every NHL city: Spector's Hockey.

We have purposely been avoiding this site for rumors for the oncoming reality of not keeping this team 100% intact (Hossa, Malone, Dupuis, Orpik, Ruutu, Hall, Roberts and Laraque are all unrestricted while young guys like Malkin, Staal and Fleury are all in line to get extensions this summer). Some of those names will be back, but all won't.

Our quick scan to find any news and notes about these players, we figured to see Hossa and Orpik and boy did we. Writers aren't GMs but do carry the buzz of their corner of the hockey word. And, after all what team wouldn't be in the market for a forceful young defenseman like Orpik or a sensational scoring winger like Hossa?

The current buzz seems to place some interest for Orpik in Minnesota or Manhattan while Toronto is dreaming outloud about buying out Darcy Tucker and trying to squeezing in Hossa.

This is not earth-shattering revelations, but a sad look of things to come once the Stanley Cup finals end. But, you know what, we'll take the sinking feeling of losing an important or player or two in the summer for the trade off of dancing with Lord Stanley.

Funny thing happening in Dallas

For one of our features this summer we were planning on doing a little "where are they now" type five year roundup with the group of Wilkes-Barre Scranton Baby Pens that were followed around and had their season made into a documentary by NHL Productions.

Well unlikely happenings have forced an early first entry to that feature.

Kuklaskorner pointed out an interesting article from Dallas about former WB/S alternate captain that year, Toby Petersen, and the lift that he's provided to the Dallas Stars in neutralizing the uber-dangerous Detroit duo of Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg.

How Petersen (generously listed officially at 5'10 and 197 pounds) has been able to foil legitimate stars has been something of a surprise. He left the Pens organization as a free agent after the 2003-04 season and caught on with Edmonton, spending two more seasons in their farmclub. "Petey" has great speed, good offensive instincts and is a real "heady" player but lacks the pure skill and an opportunity to be a regular NHL Top 6 forward. With the landscape of the bottom two lines being mainly filled out with grinders, checkers, PK specialists and young players, Petersen doesn't fill that niche either. He's been over-looked from the very beginning, when he was a 9th round draft pick of the Penguins in 1999. This is a player with 133 goals and 203 assists (336 points) in 506 career AHL regular season games, he has had success and admirable staying power in the professional level.

Then in the spring of 2006 he got called up for the taxi squad for the Oilers Stanley Cup final run and got two play two games in a 4th line capacity when the flu bug bit the Oilers lockeroom. Petersen made something of this opportunity, scoring the first goal in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals to help the Oilers win against the Anaheim Ducks 5-4.

Petersen hasn't been able to catch on in the NHL, going back to the minors for the past two years before he got the chance to play most of the season on a weak Edmonton team in 2006-07 [scoring 6 goals, 9 assists in 64 games]. Still he could not crack the youth movement of the Oilers and they let him slide where he signed on with Dallas' organ-eye-zation, where he was back to the familiarity of minor league life.

Until this spring, when (thanks to injuries) he's been in Dallas' lineup for 15 of their 17 playoff games, back to his role as a spare part 4th liner playing anywhere from 2-9 minutes on any given night. Until he got matched up against Datsyuk and Zetterberg when Dallas was down 3 games to 0 and seemingly had no hope. While, against all likelihood and reason, Petersen has stuck around and is now doing enough to get noticed again (if you're noticing this is something of a trend, you're catching on).

The NHL playoffs often produce unlikely heroes; guys who step out of nowhere and have a magical stretch of games (like John Druce in 1990 or maybe even Johan Franzen this spring) and then hang around but eventually fade away just as fast as they've come. Now it's looking like a center too small and not valuable enough to stick anywhere for too long (one with zero goals and zero assists this playoff at that!) is making a huge difference. Another reason why hockey, beneath the surface, is the most captivating sport.

It's good to see good people do well. We're pulling for you Petey, if only for tonight and Wednesday.

The Prince of Wales

Like we said, it hasn't dawned on us yet that the Penguins are the 2008 Eastern Conference Champions. They're just winning big games, doing what they're supposed to do and getting the job done.

But it's not over yet. One more round to go.

Sidney Crosby didn't touch the trophy, ever since the tradition seemed to start with the mid-90s Devils not wanting to touch it with the idea being that the Stanley Cup is more important.

But, as it goes, Mario Lemieux picked up that trophy twice and it didn't stop him. We would have loved if the Pens clinched in Philadelphia and let Georges Laraque and Jarkko Ruutu skate the trophy all the way around the ice, just to taunt those fans even more.

But we guess we can settle for 6-0.