TST

2009-05-30T01:25:00.001-04:00

Believe

2009-05-08T15:01:00.003-04:00

Everybody into the car, we're moving!

2009-02-09T09:41:00.002-05:00

Like most the rest of the hockey blogging world, I'm joining the fine folks at Sports Blog Nation....Pensburgh is a great place and I hope to add to it.

TST will always be around, but my new pieces will be on Pensburgh. Thanks to everyone who ever stopped by, commented and gave me fedback. I've enjoyed every moment of it.

The Penguins won't make the playoffs...

2009-02-07T02:09:00.006-05:00

We've always wanted to do something in the vein of the brilliant "Fire Joe Morgan" ilk but have never really found the right ammunition. But then our old friend the Peerless Prognosticator, looked into the crystal ball and saw the following when he asked himself 12 questions...So what are questions without answers, right?

11. Will the Caps meet the Penguins in the playoffs?

The short answer to this is…”no.”

The long answer: the Caps are 1-5 in the playoffs against the Penguins, so hopefully the team that hasn't won a playoff series in over a decade doesn't run up against their historical and more experienced nemesis.

Not in the first round, not in the second round, not ever this year. Why?

Because one team will lose early? Like the team that lost early last year? Tell us!

Because the Penguins are the kind of mess in the same way that a room of furniture bought from eight different stores is a mess.

Oh, I thought it was because the Penguins were currently out of the playoffs if they were to start today. Which they don't. And Pittsburgh is only a whole point out of 8th place.

Maybe it is because they are a mess of furniture though.

The pieces don’t seem to fit coherently to make for a long, successful run of wins.

The Penguins won six games in a row in November. And the core of the team (Sidney Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Brooks Orpik, Ryan Whitney, etc) was three goals from winning a Stanley Cup last June.

But, you know, other than that they can't really be expected to make any long, successful runs.

Do they match Crosby and Malkin on a line, or do they split them up?

Crosby and Malkin are 1 and 2 in the points race. Malkin, in particular, has shown that he can be effective as a winger on Crosby's line or centering a "second" line.

Together or apart, they make plays. Whether or not they are on the same line seems like a bigger concern for how the opposition sets their checking lines and defensive pairs.

When is Gonchar coming back?

About 2-3 weeks, which is a little ahead of the original prognosis.

What winger can they match with Crosby to get any production?

Evgeni Malkin, Tyler Kennedy, Petr Sykora or whoever they add at the trade deadline.

And who are they looking to add production to? Crosby has 45 even strength points this season--second in the league only to Malkin's 51. They've rotated no shortage of players with Sid (like Malkin, Kennedy, Max Talbot, Pascal Dupuis, Matt Cooke) and Crosby has put up numbers. Whoever is playing hot gets their shot on the top line, and Crosby usually comes through with them.

What happened to the power play (tied with Tampa for 23rd overall and dead last in the NHL on the road)?

The loss of Gonchar, who was #2 in the entire league with 46 power play points last season. The next highest defensemen (Nicklas Lidstrom and Mark Streit) had 34 PP points. Gonchar also led all players in the NHL with 38 power play assists.

Given that he's played a grand total of 0 games this season the lack of power play success comes a little bit more into focus.

What happened to Fleury (he’s saved fewer than 90 percent of the shots he’s faced in nine of the last 16 games he’s played)?

A lot of shots is what happened. Fleury's faced 1095 shots in 36 appearances (over 30 a game). Despite that he still has a save percentage of .911 and a record of 18-13-1. Jose Thedore's save percentage is currently .899, by the way.

Do Crosby and coach Michel Therrien not get along?

No.

Will – or when will – Therrien be fired?

Barring an extended, extended losing streak, no time this season.

The Penguins have, as they say, “issues” that go far beyond a Stanley Cup hangover.

Uhh, it's February. No one on the team is thinking about last season, they're focused on this year.

And as mentioned, of this writing one point of of 8th place (though other teams do have games in hand). One whole point, time to turn it in for the season! They're so hungover they're practically still drunk. Jordan Staal hasn't been this hungover since the day after his brother's bachelor party!

Even Barry Melrose, who would know the specie (having seen one up close coaching Tampa Bay this year), said that the Penguins aren’t a very good hockey team.

Even Barry Melrose! Well that solves it! No chance at all the Penguins could get to the playoffs now if the esteemed Barry Melrose thinks they aren't a very good hockey team. Because surely has he ever erred in his hockey judgement.

Beating back the Blue Jackets...Pens win

2009-02-07T01:47:00.003-05:00

For only the second time since November, the Penguins have won consecutive games. Going down the stretch this is going to have to change if they want to sniff the playoffs. But, as of now, the playoffs have really started...

Sidney Crosby, who still doesn't look like himself with the knee injury, got a goal and two assists. He made plays and still had enough burst to be a difference maker.
Marc-Andre Fleury--who had a 1.97 GAA in the playoffs--has reverted back to that form. Tonight he got 33 stops on 34 saves, including several acrobatic and impressive ones. In the playoffs you only go as far as your goalie takes you, and tonight Fleury paved the way.
Tonight was all about Kris Letang though...Pre-All Star break the young defenseman scored 1 goal in 43 games...Since the Youngstar game in his home province he's notched 4 goals in six games, and has gone to his wrist shot more to beat goalies. Letang contributing is a huge plus.
Brooks Orpik had 12 hits, the entire Columbus team registered 21. Yep.
Jordan Staal, as his usual since signing his extension, had a forceful game. 4 shots on net (with two more missing target), two takeaways, four hits and 9 of 13 in the faceoff circle.
Would you believe Michael Peca is only 34 years old? Not gonna say he's been around for a while, but Peca played his first NHL games when we were in the 4th grade.

Now that this stretch is over the Pens are rewarded with the top two teams in the Western Conference, the Red Wings and the San Jose Sharks--though both games at home. Let's see how they stack up against the best.

Malkin saves the season

2009-02-04T21:22:00.007-05:00

Not going to lie, we had a huge hate post written up basically writing off the rest of the season barring some sort of drastic action taken by Ray Shero. Down 3-0 against Tampa Bay at home, we almost turned the game off. But then Evgeni Malkin put the team on his back at stole the Pens a point.

Sidney Crosby's knee isn't right. Take that to the bank. He's pushing through, but one can tell he isn't himself. So someone had to step it up. Which leads us to the title of the post; did Malkin just save the season? Down 3-0 going in the third. Against a weaker team in the standings, at home. Facing a goalie in his opening NHL start that was in a groove. Down three points (at the time) to the playoff chase--with the rest of the teams in the chase having more games in hand. If the Penguins rolled over and died, better believe that's about the picture wrap on the season.

So how do you measure MVP? Caps fans are already forming their arguments--and with good reason--Alex Ovechkin has more goals than anyone in the league and is setting the tone for what will probably be record wise one of the best teams in the first 82.

But....

2 goals, 1 assist (all in the 3rd period), 7 shots on goal (with two more missing the net and two getting blocked), a takeaway, a blocked shot and 4 hits...One that knocked a key defenseman out of the game. That, folks, is an MVP performance. Sure the Penguins are still outside of the playoff bubble and it's hard to win the trophy if you don't lead your team to the second season that over half of the league makes, even if Malkin retains his 17.9% point advantage over AO.

But....

Remember this night. Remember this performance. If, as this editor thinks, it breaks the floodgates for the rest of the team and the Penguins rally from here, then you will know.

Other thoughts:

This was one of the most physical games of the season. Former Pens Ryan Malone and Gary Roberts each recorded seven hits a piece. Tampa had 42 total on the night. Even Steven Stamkos got into the act with a heavy hit.
And before you get too far down on Stamkos, allow us to present you with these two season statlines....55 games, 3 goals, 4 assists; 82 games, 13 goals 15 assists...Those are the 18 year old NHL seasons of Joe Thornton and Vincent Lecavalier respectively. Sure, they were both in the pre-lockout days where the game was a little tighter--but the point is just because phenoms like Crosby, Ovechkin and Malkin hit the ground running they're still very much the execptions, and not the rule.
Malone's goal in front of the net showed the grit and skill that Pittsburgh has frankly been missing without him. Can't fault a guy for getting paid, but boy if he were still in the black and gold it's hard to imagine the Penguins struggling as much as they have been. Apologies to Marian Hossa (who's not having a shabby season himself) but Malone's presence on and off the ice might be the biggest loss the Pens suffered from all the ballyhooed player movement.
0-6 to start the powerplay for the Penguins on the night, including a 5 on 3 for a full two minutes. Ryan Whitney isn't making solid decisions back there. It's not all on him of course, but Sergei Gonchar (46 PP points last season, only one off of Alex Kovalev's 47 for the entire league) will help so much.
After being outshot 14-5 in the first period, the Pens--outshot nightly seemingly every night--turned it around and won the last three frames a combined 27-10. The frantic comeback helped, the sense of urgency was finally there.

And take a deep breath, the Pens live to fight another day.

Mr. Kennedy to sit one out, Caputi called up

2009-02-02T19:34:00.004-05:00

Quick hits:

--For the second time in under a week, NHL disicplinarian Colin Campbell rung up a Penguin; this time it's Tyler Kennedy one game for leaving the bench to engage Toronto's Luke Schenn in a fight. It's unknown if Mr. Kennedy would have gotten a longer timeout if he hadn't gotten wiped on the ice by Scheen.

--In personnel moves, the Penguins have called up their brightest prospect from the minors; Luca Caputi. Paul Bissonnette has been re-assigned. Caputi has 13 goals (and 35 points) in 46 games down in the minors, not bad stats for a 20 year old. It will be interesting to see how he fares, here's to hoping that Michel Therrien doesn't give him the usual 6-7 minutes for most young callups.

--Two interesting tidbits from Pensburgh: Sergei Gonchar takes another step on the road to recovery by being cleared for contact in practice. And Ray Shero indicates the "expectation" management has for the players to "make a push". It sounds like a trade could be coming soon, possibly when Sarge can return. As we've mentioned before, signs are pointing that Alex Goligoski could be the bait.

--Sad story from Montreal, as former Penguin Robert Lang suffered a pretty gruesome career threatening achilles injury. The surgery was said to be successful, so that is a good thing. Here's hoping that Lang, an avid golfer, is back to the links at some point when the weather gets warm. And back to the NHL too.

--It would be a shame if Lang's career ended in this eye-popping jersey, eh?

--Congrats to Sidney Crosby, who was named the NHL's second star of the week...Penguin killer Jamie Langenbrunner was named the league's top star.

--A quick check of the standings don't show much progress, as a 1-1-1 record out of the break woud indicate. The Pens are in 10th in the conference; Florida is in 9th--one point up on the Pens (with two games in hand). Carolina is clinging to 8th place with two more points than Pittsburgh.

--James Mirtle's update shows the Penguins need to go 19-12-0 to ensure a playoff berth.

6 time champions

2009-02-01T23:54:00.003-05:00

Props to Santonio, but we all know who has the longest play in Super Bowl history...The man I called over a year ago (and bought his jersey 3 years ago).

The Penguins make the SC Finals and the Steelers win their sixth Super Bowl within seven months...What a great time to be alive.

Wooo!!!

Langenbrunner...Pens lose

2009-01-31T01:11:00.005-05:00

At this point in the season, scoring three goals against a tight defensive team like the New Jersey Devils should be enough. Having a 3-1 lead with 11 minutes left in the game should definitely be enough. Even being up 3-2 when the other team pulls their goalie in the dying seconds is usually a recipe for 2 points.

But not tonight, courtesy of Jamie Langenbrunner, who got a fortunate bounce of Ryan Whitney's skates with 31 seconds left in regulation to earn the Devils a point. Then collecting a fancy pass by Travis Zajac and depositing the one-timer by Marc-Andre Fleury to steal the second point. Winners of now eight straight, the Devils are hot. They worked for their bounces and got them.

Total shots on the game were 43-16 in favor of New Jersey. Even worse, if you count shots that missed the net plus shots that were blocked, the Devils outfired the Pens 65-22. Pretty indictive of the difference in puck possession and where the game was played for the most part. Marc-Andre Fleury was solid, but when the other team throws 65 shots at you, it's not unreasonable to think that at least four will end up in the net for some reason or another.
Further on that point: the Penguins dressed 18 skaters, the standard in the NHL. 14 of them registered either 0 or 1 shot on goal. The only exceptions were Pascal Dupuis (4 shots), Evgeni Malkin (4 shots, 1 goal), Max Talbot (2 shots, one which was a deflection goal) and Chris Minard (2 shots). That's just not going to cut it.
Malkin and Sidney Crosby each registered a goal and an assist and were dangerous with their scoring chances. But both suffered painful moments that could have been injuries--Crosby blocked a shot that appeared to hit his hand/arm and Geno impaled his torso with his own stick (which any hockey player will tell you how much that sucks). Both got over it, but still some scary moments.
Petr Sykora, rightly lauded as a leader and a rare forward not named Crosby or Malkin that will contribute on the score board really hurt his team tonight. He took a hooking call in the neutral zone with 8:05 left. Bad enough, but then Sykie--a veteran who should know better--mouthed off to the official who felt it was egregious enough to tack on 2 more minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct. Sure Brendan Shanahan scored four seconds after the penalties were called, but the Pens still had to kill two more minutes while the momentum had clearly shifted to the Devils. Not a good play by Sykora...Bite your tongue and skate to the box.
Almost all of the Penguins defensemen had a bad moment, none worse than usually reliable Rob Scuderi....When Bill Thomas won a huge faceoff cleanly in the defensive zone in the final minute; Scuds flubbed the puck, the Devils applied pressure and Whitney had to scramble to the front of the net. The puck bounces off of him and in for the tying goal.
The USS Hal Gill and rookie Alex Goligoski were healthy scratches but Mark Eaton and Phillipe Boucher played. Just pointing that out.
Overall just not enough puck possession. The Devils outworked the Penguins all night, and especially after Sid and Geno gave the Pens a two goal lead it looked like the boys just sat back on it too much and relied a little too much on their ability to block shots and Fleury's ability to bail them out.

And, well that's that. It's not a night to be proud of, but the Penguins did play the current #2 team in the conference (and a division opponent at that) on the road and took a point away from the game. Since the AS break they have 3 out of a possible 4 points and both games were against teams ahead of them in the standings. If you look at it that way, doesn't seem so bad, now does it?

But it sure would be a lot better if the boys can go to Toronto and make it 5 out of 6 points tomorrow. If they put this behind them and go at it, should be alright. It'll be a Hockey Night in Canada, Matt Cooke's suspension is over and Mathieu Garon (who won 24 games last year for a weak Edmonton team) ought to be in the net for the first time. There's a lot of angles for the Pens to have a shot in the arm. Let's see if they get it.

Pens interested in bringing Colby back?

2009-01-29T12:54:00.003-05:00

TSN's Darren Dreger speculates...

With a clear disclaimer there are no guarantees any of these men will get moved, we present ten prominent players believed by NHL sources to be in the mix.

Atlanta's Colby Armstrong has attracted interest this season, including from Pittsburgh who would like to see him reunited with Penguins captain Sidney Crosby.

Armstrong has been one of few bright spots in Atlanta, scoring 13 goals (and 21 points) in 49 games so far this season...Last year in his time in Pittsburgh Colby scored just 9 goals (but had 24 total points) in 54 games before the trade. Army is also in Atlanta's alternate captain rotation and has been highlighted as an important piece of the Thrashers puzzle. Army's set to be a restricted free agent at the end of the season.

It would be interesting to see what ATL would want in return. Could Ray Shero sell them Mark Eaton as a valuable defensemen (and have the T-bombs take Eaton's $2 million cap hit through next season)? That would be pretty big for the Penguins. Does Atlanta want a draft pick? Prospect(s)? That's the key, as well as any other contenders that might have more value for Atlanta.

It would be great to see Armstrong reunited; but then again he's been gone for 10 months and the world did not end. He's a popular teammate and among the fans but let's all remember he wasn't quite the answer as Sidney Crosby's winger last time, what would make this time any different?

Then Dreger noted:

Pittsburgh defenseman Ryan Whitney's name is making the rounds. Pens GM Ray Shero may use Whitney to lure a top line forward for a late-season charge.

Which wouldn't be surprising, either. Shero's got to make a move to snag a winger. With Whitney, Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski the Penguins have a glut of puck moving defensemen, even before the anticipated return of Sergei Gonchar. Obviously the writing is on the wall that one of the aforementioned three young defenders is going to be moved. We don't think it's Letang; he's the youngest of the bunch and is a prized right handed shot. Whitney has the most value, but would also be the best player for Pittsburgh to retain. Goose has been stuck in healthy scratch hell, largely through no fault of his own.

As always, stay tuned...

Little Tits unimpressed by Crosby too

2009-01-29T11:25:00.004-05:00

It's Puck Daddy's latest edition of "Russian player has disparaging marks for Sidney Crosby, while praising Patrick Kane and other Russians"....now starring Sergei "Little Tits" Kostitsyn!

Do you want me to name just one? Or a couple?
Whatever you want.
I think of the young players it is Patrick Kane [of the Chicago Blackhawks]. He was the first in fan voting for the All Star game in the Western Conference. I played with him in the past when we were in the juniors. And we're actually about to have dinner with him right now.

Sweet, young Patrick Kane is certainly a favorite of those Russian players, huh?

Also, shouldn't someone ask Little Tits just who led the Eastern Conference (and the NHL) in fan voting?

And who is the most overhyped player?
It is probably Crosby, just like everyone says, just like Semin said recently. It is true that [he gets] a lot of attention. If you ask me, I think Semin and Ovechkin play much better than Crosby.

We see how one could find Crosby over-hyped, he's basically the alpha and omega of the NHL's marketing plan (note: not by his own choosing). He's been called the next Gretzky before he played in Juniors. There's a lot of hype--again most of it not coming from the player itself--but hype none-the-less surrounding Crosby.

It doesn't bother us that non Penguin players or fans readily admit that or are annoyed by too much Crosby exposure. But that's the way of the world. It's more of the next comment that gets into more disrespectful territory.

But you have to agree that Sidney Crosby is a great player with great skill. It's not for nothing he is considered one of the best players.
Yes, he is very technically skilled. But Semin, Ovechkin, Kovalchuk, Malkin are more technically skilled. And it's not because they are Russian, it's just my opinion.

Well, glad it's not just because their Russian. Kostitsyn should have thrown honorary comrade Patty Kane-ikov in there to even it out a little, yes?

/checks current league leaders

(click to enlarge)

Everyone is entitled to their own preferences and opinions but this is getting a little out of hand. 'Crosby is over-rated, several Russians are more skilled, Patrick Kane is a fancy player blah blah blah'...Followed by a retraction and claims of being "misquoted". The routine is getting passe.

We can't wait to see the Olympics in 2010. Crosby may publically dismiss the brazen comments given, but don't think he's not taking a list for the future. Like a Derian Hatcher high-stick that resulted in broken teeth (and a game winning OT breakaway goal for 87) we think that El Sid is saving his wrath for the biggest stage of all. At least to those Europeans that pride themselves in international competition as much as winning a Cup.

Godard dropping Orr

2009-01-28T23:33:00.002-05:00

Silence from the MSG broadcast is always a good sign...

Kudos to Eric Godard for setting the tone literally right out of the gates....He's half the price of Georges Laraque, and actually drops the gloves*!

*14 times to BGL's 5, though Laraque has been sidelined with a nagging groin injury.

Back in the saddle

2009-01-28T08:24:00.003-05:00

Hello boys and girls, reports of our demise have been greatly exaggerated, we're back.

The Penguins unofficial "second half" of the season starts tonight. Really 58.5% of the games have been played, but even the team's email bulletin hails it as the beginning of the second half, so here we go..

The sked starts out pretty fast and furious; the boys start a set of three games in four nights (two of them on the road)...Then they get a two day break before three more games in four more days. Six games in ten days in four different cities.
Sidney Crosby is optimistic to play tonight. We think he will go, and will be OK. After all, he came back from the injury to play in the last two games before the break and while El Sid didn't look 100% it didn't appear he was too far off his game.
One guy who won't be going tonight is impromptu first line winger Matt Cooke. Colin Campbell has decided to suspend Cooke two games--not for missing the All-Star game (ha!) but for an elbow to the head of Carolina's Scott Walker.
Of this writing, the Penguins haven't decided who to call-up to replace Cooke. Our two cents would go for Chris Minard; who's started to get more shots on goal and did score against the very same Rangers that come to town again tonight
Old friends Pascal Dupuis (out the last seven games) and Max Talbot ought to be back in the lineup too. The news is not so good for Brooks Orpik, who despite having what the coach called a relatively minor injury, hasn't been skating.
The Rangers held off Carolina 3-2 last night. So their legs might be a little more under them at the beginning of the game. Interestingly Steve Valiquette got a rare start and made 33 saves on 35 shots, as Henrik Lundqvist did do a lot in the weekend's All-Star game and got a night off. The Pens probably won't luck out and not see King Henrik, huh?

Now bigger scheme thoughts to ponder..

The Penguins need to go at least 20-13-1 down the stretch to pretty much assure themselves post-season play. That's not impossible but still it does look daunting when one looks at the big number. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step and tonight is the chance.
It might also take some scoreboard watching. As we mentioned, Carolina lost in regulation last night (a good thing) but Florida took out Philly (bad for the Pens...kinda) and Buffalo slaughtered Edmonton 10-2 (bad). Those three teams are the closest for Pittsburgh to catch so if you're one to root against teams, those would be the ones, as of today at least.
Since the 6-3 loss to Washington, the Penguins have really tried to batten down the hatches defensively and it shows; they gave up just three goals in three games--including a shutout of the Rangers in the Igloo. Tonight's game is also at Mellon, hopefully the Rags can't get off the schneid.

Malkin and Ovechkin bury the hatchet?

2009-01-23T23:47:00.006-05:00

The very compelling blood rivalry between Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin may have reached an understanding with this weekend's all-star festivities in Montreal. After all, the two definitely have more in common than any friction that's cropped up in recent months.

From Ovechkin's twitter*:

Doing all kinds of interviews. Had a chance to talk with Malkin too

Then about two hours later AO updates with..

Getting ready to have some sushi - interviews are all done for today. Check out pictures of me and Malkin online - we took a lot, I'm su

(It really does cut off there)

Still we can't help but wonder: if the two young guns were really were on friendly terms, wouldn't Ovechkin call him by his Russian nickname (Zhenia) or even his American nickname of Geno? He refers to him as "Malkin" twice, which still seems kind of distant.

Then again, maybe we're just reading too much into it.

Still, keep your eyes open for whatever interviews, quotes and pictures come out from Ovechkin and Malkin over this weekend...What's the Russian word for detente?

*confirmed as legit

Afternoon Delight

2009-01-18T09:23:00.002-05:00

We knew from watching that the Penguins haven't been faring well in daytime games, but the PG hit us with the stats and they are not pretty:

The Penguins are 0-5 in day games this season and have been outscored, 23-10, in those games

That is going to have to change for a team that will be featured several times in the coming weekends on NBC. Well at least there aren't any more bad omens, right? Back to the PG:

The team will wear its throwback blue third jerseys today

Other than that we know that Brooks Orpik (unspecified) is out for today's game. No call to the minors was needed as it appears that Rob Scuderi (sporting a wicked looking right eye after taking a shot to the face) will be back. It also seems like Kris Letang (leg) could be back, but since the Penguins played so well on Friday it may be better to let #58 get another game of rest.

Mathieu Garon will be in attendence for his first game as a Penguin, but Marc-Andre Fleury is tabbed to start. Hopefully Garon's presence will be the push Fleury needs to get his game in gear.

Sidney Crosby will take pre-game warmups--since there is no morning skate due to such an early start time. If he thinks he can go, he will. If not, he'll cede the ice. We think he should probably just sit it out, no sense in risking a longer layoff. But it wouldn't be surprising to see the uber-competitive Crosby try to play, especially with the game being on NBC. You know, face of the league business.

On a personal note, we've got a Penguins afternoon game, the Steelers in the AFC championship and then the Flight of the Conchords season premiere. What a day to be alive.

Biz Nasty gives McIver the business

2009-01-17T16:25:00.003-05:00

You know it's almost a shame that the Penguins have signed Eric Godard for three years, it seems that is making his case to be an NHL enforcer.

Biz Nasty now improves to 4-0 in his NHL fighting career according to the voters over at hockeyfights.com. And he's winning big percentage of the votes too: 97%, 85%, 65% and 88% of the votes.

Pens swap Sabs for Garon

2009-01-17T16:03:00.003-05:00

It's not unexpected that the Penguins would make a trade, given how things have been going lately. But the first move Ray Shero has made for a Penguinomic Stimulus package was not a scoring winger, it was a bailout. Well, a backup goalie, Mathieu Garon from Edmonton. See ya later Dany Sabs!

The Edmonton Oilers traded goaltender Mathieu Garon to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday for goaltender Dany Sabourin, centre Ryan Stone, and a fourth-round pick in 2011.

The next question: what kind of season is Garon having so far?

In 15 games this year, he went 6-8-0 with a 3.17 GAA and a save percentage of .895.

Oh Jesus.

Well, we'll see. Sabourin couldn't bail the Penguins this season when Marc-Andre Fleury went down, just like it was Sabourin who couldn't carry the mail last season, yielding to Ty Conklin. Hindsight is 20/20 but clearly the Penguins should have waived/traded Sabourin before the season started and offered Conklin a contract. Conks genuinely enjoyed his time in Pittsburgh and was happy they gave him the chance to breath live into his dead NHL career, he probably would have been receptive to stay. And his contract with Detroit was reasonable, one year at $750,000. Garon's cap hit is $1.1 million.

Excuse the tangent. Sabourin lost his last six starts and the Pens really did just need to move on. Garon obviously hasn't been Patrick Roy this season himself, but he's a new face and sometimes goalies can get on a hot steak in a new setting. Last season Garon did win 26 games and posted a save percentage of .913 on a fairly weak Oiler team, so he's got the potential.

Speaking of a new setting, Ryan Stone needed that. By going to Edmonton at least he is joining a team with a lot of familiar faces--as Edmonton and Pittsburgh stocked the Wilkes-Barre AHL team with both their prospects a couple seasons ago. Stone played with Kyle Brodziak, Marc-Antoine Pouliot, Tom Gilbert and Robert Nilsson.

Stone just never chipped his way into the Penguins lineup. While he had good playmaking abilities and could throw big hits, it never seemed decided if he would slot to be in a scoring role or a checking role in the NHL. Also his skating ability just seemed a notch below adequate and seemed to limit him too. Perhaps he'll be able to make it in a new organization. We certainly wish him well but feel that he is another victim of the Greg Malone curse.

Pens choke out the Ducks

2009-01-17T15:39:00.003-05:00

Last night was sort of a look if the Penguins hadn't had won the 2005 draft lottery...And while it wasn't pretty, they got just enough to win...And hey, they got through the game with only one player getting knocked out with injury, so that's a plus.

Obviously with Sidney Crosby's injury it all starts with Evgeni Malkin. Geno stepped it up, he did uncharacteristically well in the faceoff circle (8 of 14), was credited with the Pens only two takeaways, three shots on net and two assists. He also played 24:25 and only one other forward played more than 20 minutes.
Matt Cooke really ate his Wheaties. The Penguins were playing a gritty, nasty, "not pretty" type of game, fitting right into Cooke's philosphy as well. And his goals (whipping shots on net, spinning bodies around) were a good reflection of a job well done.
In our recap we predicted a lot of minutes for Ryan Whitney and Brooks Orpik. After Orpik left the game early with an injury, Whitney must have taken a deep breath and said "here we go". Whits got a game high 29:39 as he picked up most of the slack and did well.
From the things you don't see everyday file: Chris Pronger and Scott Niedermayer combined for a -4.
Chris Minard registered a team high five shots on goal and looked the most comfortable he ever has in the NHL. One gets the feeling if he keeps chipping at it he's going to breakthrough. The question is, can he make the most of the opportunity before forwards return from injury and time runs out.
And how about Hal Gill with his first goal since March 16, 2008? That's a 60 drought (including the playoff run). It was a perfect example of the Penguins mentality: just get the puck to the net whenever you can. Credit Jordan Staal for the faceoff win and Gill for unleashing the rocket.

So an important two points in the Penguins pocket but also the confidence to know that when they play well and buckle down defensively they are good enough to compete and beat any team in the league.

We noted that the five game stretch before the All-Star game could be pivotal in the season. The Penguins are now 2-1 in the highlighted segment. Now if they could just show up for an afternon game...

MAS*H Unit

2009-01-16T14:55:00.004-05:00

The PG reports the residual damage, and it's not pretty. 20% of players that pulled on a uniform last game aren't able to go due to injury (that's four players for you non math whizzes). Sidney Crosby, Kris Letang, Rob Scuderi and Maxime Talbot, all out with various non-disclosed upper (Scuderi, Talbot) or lower (Crosby, Letang) body injuries.

Add them to Pascal Dupuis (leg/groin injury), faceoff king Mike Zigomanis (shoulder?), Ruslan "Ivan Drago" Fedotenko (hand) and Sergei Gonchar (shoulder) and that's 8 players (or 44% of the non-goalie lineup) that would be out there, if healthy.

Earlier this week the Columbus newspaper blog Puck Rakers compiled a list of man-games lost to injury. Pittsburgh came in fifth on the list for quantity and would have to rank higher than that for quality of players missed. As an example, Philadelphia had 213 missed man games to injury but that includes the entire seasons for human pylons Mike Rathje and Derian Hatcher, two players stashed away on long-term injured reserve that the Flyers are not exactly missing.

Regardless, there's still a game to play with the players that are left. The seven minute man, Janne Pesonen, is back in town...Will Therrien be forced to give him a chance to sink or swim? At this point, why the hell not. It's not like any other winger is showing any offensive prowess (save Petr Sykora of course). Pittsburgh's Own Bill Thomas is back in the show as well. Thomas only has 14 points in 33 AHL games, unusual for a guy who scored 52 points in 75 AHL games last season. We think that they have been using him in more of a checking role and he probably is going to have to switch his game around in order to make it work at the highest level. It'll be interesting to see if he could have anything to offer.

Something we've been thinking about
--If you want to fire the coach, what are you going to do better? Here's how we'd line 'em up tonight:

Pesonen-Malkin-Sykora
Kennedy-Staal-Satan
Cooke-Jeffrey-Minard
Bissonnette-Thomas-Godard

Whitney-Orpik
Gill-Goligoski
Eaton-Boucher (shudder)

Yeah this is asking a lot of a guy like Pesonen to go from riding the buses in the minors to playing with the NHL’s point scoring leader, but Pesonen was a point scoring leader in his league last year, it’s not like he doesn’t have skill. Obviously if it’s clear Pesonen is out of place an adjustment to move someone else up (like Tyler Kennedy or Miroslav Satan) could be made.

For that very reason, it's time to end the Satan banishment to the lower lines. Sure he's been largely invisible in recent weeks and worthy of demotion. But on a night like tonight where so much firepower is out of the lineup, it's not a time for that. He's got to get more ice and he's got to make something happen with it.

And how much confidence do you have knowing that every member of the bottom four defensemen has been healthy scratches for multiple recent games. Hope the Whitney/Orpik combo is ready for big minutes, they’re surely going get them in all situations.

Pens lose to Caps

2009-01-15T14:20:00.005-05:00

At the end of the day the Penguins let too many early chances go…Sidney Crosby had a breakaway but couldn’t score. Jordan Staal came down on a 2 on 1 and was rebuffed. On and on, so it goes.

--Rob Scuderi caught a shot in the face and was obviously out for the game. Dropping to five defensemen for the rest of the night on back to back games may not be an excuse they’ll use, but it looked like it took it’s toll.

--Hold your breath on the Crosby injury front, looked like Sid was in a lot of pain. Hopefully we’ll hear something today and it will be good news…Remember with the All-Star break the Penguins only play three games in the next 13 days.

--For the chances the Penguins failed on, the Caps seemed to put them in. There were certainly no shortage of weak calls (for both teams) to give each other’s power-plays chances to separate. Credit the Caps on this night for doing that.

--The Malkin/Ovechkin angle is fascinating. We can’t remember two players so good just going after each other so personally. It elevates both of their games too, with three combined goals on 22 shots. This could be the angle of the Olympics, how the two countrymen interact and coexist.

--You still get the feeling this team is missing that certain something, but what is it? Sergei Gonchar can do a lot of things, but playing the wing is not one of them. Ray Shero’s inactivity is starting to hurt the team. No one wants him to make a move just to make a move, but at some point he’s gotta step up to the plate and make something happen. Is it fire the coach? Is it shaking the team up with a trade? Hey we don’t have the answers, but “do nothing” seems to be the wrong one. The season is slipping away.

--Finally, eye rolls on Ted Leonsis taking swipes at the Pensblog and then follow up by tooting his own team's blogosphere for being "sophisticated". (Side note: we still can't find the page in the sophistication manual where it says you can call someone a clown?) It's doubtful he'd be crowing like this if the Penguins had won yesterday. But the Caps carried the play so give the man his day.

Still, it's the Pensblog, what do you expect? They "job" everyone all the time, themselves included. The Pensblog is like a juvenile George Carlin--it's profane, it's shocking, it's loud. Japers Rink is like a hip network news show that's always a good read. Both are excellent in their own regards, but they have different ways and different methods. There's no shortage of analytical, even-handed Penguins blogs that offered accounts of the game that Ted would have found a little more mature, but it seemed like he wanted to target the Pensblog and get off a shot while he could at an entire fanbase while he was at it. Classy indeed.

Gameday: Caps at Pens

2009-01-14T11:04:00.004-05:00

One of the great things about hockey is the natural ebb and flow of the season…Just a few days ago the Caps were the golden boys of the NHL—winners of seven straight games after the Flyers had laid a 7-1 whooping on them. Just 24 hours ago the Penguins couldn’t catch a break, rumors of firing coaches abound. Now, all of a sudden, the Caps have dropped three straight games and Michel Therrien looks pretty smart for some of his coaching tactics. A lot can change even in the next 24 hours so let’s keep our heads on swivel.

TST comes to you from the shadow of Washington DC so let’s take a look at the opponent for our Penguin fan friends who don’t see the Caps as much as we do:

--John Erskine played last night for the first time in 23 games. Erskine is a physical defensemen, prone to making mistakes, but generally is a decent enough skater and nasty enough to get out of what mistakes he causes himself. Mr. Erskine missed those 22 games with a concussion. Last year Eric Godard (then of the Calgary Flames) gave Erskine a concussion in a fight.

--Brooks Laich is basically their Western Canadian version of Max Talbot; he’s a character player on the ice that is a character off of it. But Laich has gone cold recently, he’s pointless in six straight games and a -4 over that stretch.

--Many have been impressed by rookie defensemen Karl Alzner, who plays a very steady game. Alzner just took his first NHL penalty (for delay of game) in 23 games. But enjoy this look at him while you can, the Caps are in a crunch with the salary cap and expect Tom Poti and his $3.5 million salary back from long-term IR soon, which will probably banish Alzner back to the farm unless they pull some trades.

--In three games back from pneumonia Tomas Fleischmann has two goals. He’s up to 14 tallies on the season, but he’s also worst on his team in +/-, coming in at a -12. Watch when his line is out there if the Penguins can play puck control down in the Caps’ zone, it’ll be a very good sign.

--Nicklas Backstrom is off to a fine sophomore campaign, 45 points in 44 games. Centering that Ovechkin guy doesn’t hurt, but Backstrom’s added a new dimension to his game; last year he scored 14 goals (well, really 15) in 82 games and this year Backstrom’s already up to 12 goals in 44 games.

--8 of Backstrom’s goals have come on with the man advantage and defensemen Mike Green has 9 power-play goals. It’s not just Ovechkin one needs to mind, if teams focus on taking him away the Caps find an open man somewhere else. If teams aren’t vigilant on stopping AO then he finds open room and usually makes you pay with a shot. Sometimes he even puts the shot on goal.

--Ovechkin will shoot from anywhere at anytime. His 6.5 shots/game lead the league by far. We can’t find the totals for his shots blocked and missed the net but they are easily more than the ones he actually gets to the net. He’s a maniac that plays a manic brand of hockey. Hopefully, like the first meeting, he’ll be too occupied trying to run Evgeni Malkin and forget that he’s supposed to, you know, score goals.

Expectations for the game?

--Expect the Caps to out-shoot the Penguins. It seems like they usually do. This is not a bad thing, it certainly isn’t a good thing, it just is there. The Pens will give up shots but they will be manageable ones. It’s Marc-Andre Fleury’s job to manage them.

--Not much fireworks out of Crosby/Semin, at least between the two directly. The talk of the season has been the famous Alex “Deadwood” Semin interview with Puck Daddy where the Russian voiced an unimpressed opinion of Sidney Crosby. Crosby, ever the statesman off the ice, of course said the right and classy thing and let it blow over. It would be great to see Crosby ragdoll Semin like he did to Brett McLean, but that’s not in the works. Much like the Philly fans with their boos, Crosby will exact his revenge in a bigger way; on the scoreboard.

--At the end of the day, with so much talent on the ice it'll probably come down to who's players step up through the special teams and are able to convert or kill off more chances. Should be entertaining.

Big time win

2009-01-13T21:39:00.002-05:00

After being in such a rut and in a tough environment the Penguins dug deep and played well. Taking two points from a divisional opponent is huge. Especially Philly.

The Penguins played a perfect 1-2-2 system for the first half of the game. They were pretty patient, they laid back and didn't force the issue too much. In short, it looked like they were listening to the coach's adjustments to buckle down and play smart, not at all like a team that is out doing there own thing.
Was the crowd often chanting "Crosby sucks!" or "Cote sucks". Maybe it was just our Center Ice feed but what is the Philly organ guy doing playing that rhythm in the first place? The standard Flyers chant is the riff that the Rangers use, so shame on the Flyers people for drumming up vile directed towards one player.
Not that it bothered Crosby, with his two assists and several other great chances along the way.
Paul Bissonnette had a good night back in the show too, albeit in brief work. Biz Nasty worked over Aaron Asham in a fight and threw a puck to the net that Tyler Kennedy got into the net for a huge first goal for the Pens.
Matt Cooke stepped into a tough role as the other guy of the Crosby/Evgeni Malkin line and did very well. Sure the forechecking and physical prescence is a given but obviously the conversion for the go-ahead goal helps. And Cooke made a terrific play on a 2 on 1 with Crosby; after Sid fed him the puck Cookie passed it back right on the tape for a slam dunk. Apparantely 87 is too acquainted with the likes of the playmaking abilities of some of his previous linemates like Andy Hilbert, Ryan Malone, old ass Mark Recchi, Colby Armstrong and Pascal Dupuis because Sid didn't finish.
25:34; that's the time on ice that your third star of the night Kris Letang had. Of course he had 5 powerplay minutes but Letang is gobbling up minutes at even strength as well. The next step for the young defensemen? Getting those heavy shots that are going *just* high onto the net.
It looked like it could be another one of those nights for Marc-Andre Fleury after Simon Gagne's hard dump in jumped over his stick and right to Mike Knuble for the game's opening goal. But credit Fleury for settling down and the Pens defensive effort to help steady the ship for a 27 save on 29 shot performance.

Now back to home for a huge game against Alex "Dead wood" Semin and the suddenly slumping Capitals. Of course more on this tomorrow.

Will it be sunny in Philadelphia tonite for the Pens?

2009-01-13T13:37:00.001-05:00

The next five games, to be played starting tonight and finishing next Tuesday night before the Pens break for the All-Star festivities, could be crucial in shaping the season.

Of these five games:
--4 are at home
--4 are against Eastern conference opponents all currently in the Top 8

Tonight’s game against Philadelphia is the beginning of this uber-important stretch, and what a way to begin…The Flyers are on an eight game home winning streak and you know the fans are going to be ready to boo 87 (and now 71) every time they touch the puck.

Pascal Dupuis can’t go tonight, so Biz Nasty is back. Bissonnette AND Eric Godard in a lineup? Yeah, must be a game against the Flyers.

At least one team in the organization is winning..

2009-01-12T12:09:00.003-05:00

Wilkes-Barre downs Hershey 6-2 yesterday afternoon:

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton rallied for the final five goals of the game – including three on the power play – to take a 6-2 win over visiting Hershey on Sunday before 6,475 fans at the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza.

Rookie Nick Johnson tallied a pair of goals for the Penguins, and Janne Pesonen racked up a game-high four points (1-3-4) in the winning effort.

As Jonathan Bombulie points out, the Baby Pens (24-13-3) have defeated the mighty Bears (28-11-1) three times in a row following opening night's beat down. Also, anything that puts Mark Letustu and Mario Lemieux in the same sentence has got to be worth a read.

Pesonen was the #1 star of the game and rookie winger Luca Caputi notched three assists. It would be great if one of them could make an impact in the NHL this season, but don't hold your breath.

The Penguins are 7-2-1 in their last ten which is solid, but even more impressive considering that a number of their best players (Chris Minard, Tim Wallace, Dustin Jeffrey and Paul Bissonnette) have been in Pittsburgh for some or all of this stretch.

Best coach in town: Mike Tomlin

2009-01-11T02:27:00.003-05:00

As you may or may not know: we've been on the Defensive Player of the Year's bandwagon before the oxes got there.

As long as Ben stays out of the way (we still maintain that Homestead Charlie is our man)...The Steelers will win. And win big.

Who says you can't go home

2009-01-10T09:17:00.003-05:00

You know, if the price of oil keeps dropping the Russian Kontinental Hockey League is going to be in a world of hurt...

“I was thinking about it and if Mario would call me and say, ‘I’d like you to play for our team,’ I would think about it a lot,” Jagr said in a telephone interview from Moscow where the Kontinental League will hold its inaugural All-Star Game outdoors at Red Square Saturday. “I would play for the minimum salary. I would play for $350,000 just for him because I owe him my hockey life. I want to pay him back because he has made me what I am…besides my parents.”

Talk about bringing things full circle, eh? Of course, everything's conjecture until the rubber hits the road, but even if Jagr finishes another season and a half in Russia he would be 38 years old. That's so young Mark Recchi and Chris Chelios would be yelling at keeping him off their lawn.

Stay tuned, and as always never say never..

Huge hat-tip to Empty Netters

Slugger Ruslan Fedotenko out, Minard up

2009-01-09T16:18:00.004-05:00

(image from the Pensblog)

The look on the Penguins faces on the bench is priceless. Miroslav Satan doesn’t seem too impressed though. But then again Satan hasn’t really been that much of anything inside a rink in quite a while.

Ruslan Fedotenko out 4-6 weeks on a broken hand from Colby Armstrong’s beak? Ouch. Rusty should leave the fighting to the big dogs. The shame too is Fedotenko was playing good hockey on the “European line” with Evgeni Malkin and Petr Sykora.

To replace Fedotenko, Chris Minard has been re-called. Minard’s scoring at an Ovechkin-esque rate: 26 goals in 30 games. Unfortunately when he’s been in the bigs Head Coach Michel Therrien—in all his wisdom, has given Minard 8 minutes a night, primarily playing with guys like Eric Godard. This time it should be different, Minard has been a pure goal scorer at every level. During the NHL lockout he scored 49 goals (in 69 games) playing with a playmaking center in Scott Gomez. Sure it was the ECHL, but still, if you can play with talented players it shows, despite the level of competition. With such few Penguins winger actually acting like they know how to play hockey, why not give Minard (now seasoned with 22 career NHL games) a legit shot at a chance on a scoring line.

If Therrien is smart, he'll make it happen. If he's lucky, Minard will somehow pinball around and end up on a top line with all the combination of switches. It's bound to happen, right?

Letang a Young-star, Goose snubbed

2009-01-09T14:01:00.003-05:00

Kris Letang is going to the All-Star game. Well not quite, but he was voted back to the joke of the "Youngstars" game; an exhibition so lax it makes the actual All-Star game look as intense as a Game 7 playoff between two blood rivals.

Alex Goligoski [6 goals, 13 assists, +6] got left off the rookie team in favor of Toronto's Luke Schenn [29 games, 0 goals, 3 assists, -6] and LA's Drew Doughty [3g, 9a, -4]. Meh, the game is basically a commerical and having two young 18/19 year old defensemen is more of a "story".

Stuck in a rut

2009-01-09T13:08:00.001-05:00

The Penguins finally got some puck luck involved in a couple goals in order to jump up to a 3-0 lead, but it wasn’t to be as Nashville battled back.

Could a coaching change be on the horizon? For whatever reason the Pens are stuck in a rut. No matter who Michel Therrien plays (or sits), no matter what combination he uses (and he’s about tried them all) nothing is clicking, nothing is working. Among the worst of his ideas:

--Sitting Hal Gill out again and playing Alex Goligoski as a 3rd line forward. The now official whipping boy of TST, Phillipe Boucher, is playing terrible. When Ryan Whitney coughed up the puck to give up a 2 on 1 (gah) Boucher fell back. As a defensemen there is one important thing to accomplish on a 2 on 1, and even the most basic players know it. DO NOT ALLOW THE PASS, let the goalie play the guy with the puck, you take out the other player. So what does Boucher do? He lets a pass go through. Sure, it was a nice saucer pass by Martin Erat and David Legwand made a great hustle just to get in the play, but that’s what happens at the NHL level when you don’t do your job.

--Alex Goligoski is not a forward. He’s never played forward. He’s not going to look good jumping straight into NHL action as a forward. The third and tying Nashville goal was a real back-breaker, with :55 seconds left in the period. Mark Eaton and who else, Boucher, couldn’t get the puck out and Goligoski—not a forward, didn’t play his new position well either. Shocker.

--Constant line switching. We don’t mind a change now and then, but seemingly every period all the combinations were switched. Jordan Staal played with Sidney Crosby and Tyler Kennedy. Then he’s playing with Matt Cooke and Max Talbot; Miroslav Satan is with Evgeni Malkin and Petr Sykora, then he’s down with Dustin Jeffrey and Tim Wallace. Malkin is bouncing around from center to wing. With all this changing, it’s no wonder the Penguins effort and results are mixed and uneven. There’s no chance to settle in with chemistry—or for those moving from wing to center or defense to wing back to defense when the team needs a goal, even to get comfortable in a position.

Nashville had some interesting ideas too, they pulled goalie Dan Ellis after the second goal (a fluky bad clearing attempt that ended up in the net). Both coaches and Nashville broadcasters said it wasn’t Ellis’ fault, but to kick start the team. Well the team was already outshooting and outhustling the Penguins—not that that says too much these days—and new goalie Pekka Rinne saw a pinball Matt Cooke pass end up on Max Talbot’s stick and in the back of the net. From their on though Rinne was solid, especially during the Penguins last flurry.

In that last, desperate exchange; new contract boy Jordan Staal got the puck on his stick with an empty net but Radek Bonk made a fabulous defensive play to poke it away. If Staal can put that in we go to OT at 4-4 and anything could happen. But, these days, that’s just not how things are going for the Penguins. The only question is how big of a whole is Ray Shero going to let the team dig themselves before he takes action. Whether that is relieving Therrien, making a trade, signing Brendan Shanahan, any number of possibilities could be the answer. The option of sitting back and letting the boys get over this themselves just doesn’t look realistic now.

Staal signs extension

2009-01-08T13:42:00.002-05:00

The Penguins re-signed Jordan Staal today, four years and $16 million. On the surface it seems like a shock, a $4 million a year cap hit for a 3rd line center seems like a novelty.

But when you talk Jordan Staal, you must always remember he's 20 years old. In fact he recently broke Patrick Marleau's record of being the youngest player to play 200 NHL games. The sky is the limit, the potential is there. This year Staal's been going through an up and down season, but we've noticed he's been more physical in throwing checks than past seasons. His game is progressing and he is getting better, even if it doesn't always jump out at you. Take even strength faceoffs as one indicator; Staal's first season he won just 38%, last season it was up to 44% and this year it's up to exactly 50% so far. Even if the statistictial metrics don't always jump off the page, 6'4 220 pound defensively responsible centers do not grow on trees.

A second reaction might be; $4 million, that's a big increase. But it really isn't, Staal's on his entry level contract and his cap hit is $2.2 million. Cap hits for rookies includes the maximum bonuses, though it's pretty likely that Staal achieves most these bonuses (usual marks include appearing in 40, 50, 60 games, score 10, 15, 20 goals, etc). Considering that Evgeni Malkin could have been a $10 or almost $11 million man next season, what he left on the table covers a lot of Staal's salary bump.

So much for those budding Staal for Martin St. Louis trade rumors, huh? We never thought Staal would be traded this season, it always seemed like Ray Shero was very connected and comfortable with his first ever draft pick as a general manager.

20 years old and all that money though. When we were 20 the things on our minds were finishing papers, chasing girls and wondering where the next party would be. It's almost unimaginable to ponder four years and $16 million dollars.

Interesting stats at the half-way mark

2009-01-07T14:38:00.002-05:00

--Evgeni Malkin is on pace for 126 points. Last year Alex Ovechkin netted 112 and in Sidney Crosby's year he got 120. Malkin's on pace for 96 assists which would be the most since Wayne Gretzky cracked a hundy in 1991.

--Malkin is ten points up on Ovechkin in the scoring race. Since the lockout the margain of victory by the Art Ross winner over the second closest scorer has been 6, 6 and 2.

--And just think what happens when Malkin (goal-less in nine games, without a PP goal since November 15th) gets heats up in that category.

--To what should be the surpise of no one, Eric Godard is #1 on the team in penalty minutes...But #2 (Crosby) and #4 (Malkin) on that list is strange.

--Brooks Orpik has 151 hits, good for second in the league to Boston's Milan Lucic (154). Thanks to an injury to Anton Volchenkov, Orpik is also in 1st place for the unofficial "black and blue" trophy with 234 combined hits and blocked shots. Columbus' Mike "Make it Rain" Commodore is second in that category with 200.

--Reliable Rob Scuderi is 5th in the league with 102 blocked shots.

--Not surprisingly with the long-term injuries to Ryan Whitney (22:26 TOI last season) and Sergei Gonchar (25:54) have seen some defensemen pick up some serious minutes. Kris Letang jumped from 18:09 of ice-time last season to 21:32 over the first half of this season. Brooks Orpik went from 16:57 last season to 20:40 this year. Rob Scuderi has seen an extra 1:22 per game this season and Alex Goligoski has been playing 18:41 (he played 13:56 per game in three games last season).

--Marc-Andre Fleury is one of the players looking forward to turning the page on the first half of the season; he's given up 68 goals in 24 games so far this season, while the entire last season he only surrendered 72 goals in 35 games. Hopefully for the Penguins though, Fleury will play well more than 11 games the second half of this season.

--In a moment to take a look on the bright side; Jordan Staal hits the midpoint with 21 points, whereas he only had 28 the entire sophomore slump last season.

--Pascal Dupuis and his rocket-laser slapshot have nine goals, but if he only doubles it 18 still won't be a career high; as Dupuis somehow hit 20 in 2002-03, the height of the trap happy Minnesota Wild.

--No idea if this is a a record or what, but Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have combined for 114 points (in 82 combined man-games played). Every other skater to wear a Penguins sweater this season has 167 points (in 656 combined man-games played). The difference in points per game ratio is 1.39 points/game for the Big Guns to .25 points/game for everyone else.

--Malkin and Crosby scoring 41% of all points scored by Penguins is a little skewered, of course, since they receive all the power-play time they can handle and often times assist on each other's goals or assists.

Put the Pens in the Southeast..

2009-01-07T12:31:00.003-05:00

Is it too late to petition realignment to the Southeastern Division? Pittsburgh, geographically, is more "eastern" than Atlanta and Tampa is, and techincally is closer to the Mason-Dixon line then it is to the Atlantic Ocean. You think Bettman would buy it? Yeah probably not, but the Pens feasted on Atlanta anyways (they're 3-0 against the T-bombs this year) to snap out of so many nasty streaks. Ok, that aside

--One of the more interesting developments is how short the Penguins fuses have become. Sidney Crosby famously jumped a guy over the weekend, but Colby Armstrong takes down Ruslan Fedotenko on a relatively normal play and Rusty challenges him to fisticuffs? Fedotenko's had three fights in his career with two of them coming in the past three weeks....And maybe he should think of not fighting again, as he appeared to hurt his hand after one-punching the prominent proboscis on Army's face.

--When you're in a slump (to say nothing of a slump of epic proportions), everyone preaches just getting the puck to the net to score an ugly one. And while the Penguins did look to get traffic to the net and get some point shots through, it's still amusing that the slump buster—a hard cross-ice pass in the zone from Ryan Whitney to Petr Sykora who redirected it-- was about the furthest thing from being ugly goal as you could get.

--A lot of people wondered if Sidney Crosby fired up his teammates, we’ll leave it to you to answer that, but we think he’s certainly gotten himself fired up. El Sid averaged 3.08 shots on goal over the first 39 games of the season. In the two games following Fight-Night 2009 he’s got 6.50 shots a night. It’s admittedly a small sample size but it is reflective of how he has cranked his intensity up a notch. And the work he’s doing in his own zone (winning faceoffs, taking pucks away, intercepting passes, starting breakouts) is just as good as the crisp passes and shots he’s getting at the offensive end.

--It obviously helps to play with guys like Crosby, Whitney and Evgeni Malkin, but where would the Penguins be without Sykora? Not just tonight but generally he’s been a monster, leading the team with 10 powerplay goals and 6 game winners on top of that.

--Marc-Andre Fleury deserves a lot of credit too. We've all been a little frustrated with him when he's been giving up early goals or somewhat weak goals, but he closed the door 27 out of 28 times, especially in the 3rd period when the Penguins were sitting on the lead and allowed too many good chances, as the 14-7 shot advantage for the T-bombs would suggest.

--We bet the only person who looks forward to playing against the Penguins more than Ilya Kovalchuk is Dany Heatley. The other "Kovy" has 18 goals and 15 assists in 26 career games against the Pens...Also at age 24 (25 in a couple months), doesn't it seem like Kovalchuk is already old? He's been in the NHL since our senior year of high school. And with young Russians like Malkin, Alex Ovechkin, Alex Semin in the league, as hard as it is to imagine but Kovalchuk is fading off of conciousness, it seems. Of course, if he played somewhere like Montreal or Detroit this probably wouldn't be the case.

--As nice as it was to get the win, the second game scratch in a row of Hal Gill and Alex Goligoski didn't make our house happy. However perhaps it should be noted one of the TST whipping boys, Phillipe Boucher, was on the ice for both power play goals. Then again, you could probably put Paris Hilton on skates and tell her not to hump anyone and the likes of Crosby, Malkin, Whitney and Sykora could work the puck around and score a goal or two.

--Hit machine Brooks Orpik was credited with 10 more deserving crunches last night. And the stick he caught in the face Monday night makes his face look even more creepy/intense.

--From the "Everything Can't Go Right Department" two "top-six" wingers didn't finish the game due to injury as Pascal Dupuis joined Fedotenko in the sick bay. Could this be a chance for the Penguins to give Chris Minard (26 goals in 30 AHL games) a chance to play on a top line in the NHL? True Minard only has 1 goal in 22 career NHL games, but when you're playing 7-8 minutes a night with the likes of Eric Godard, well that's what you get.

Now is as good a time as any to hit the road on what will be (according to the mileage) the second most taxing roadie left on the schedule this year. Nashville on Thursday, a matinee with Colorado Saturday and then back east to take on those dastardly Flyers on Tuesday.

Removing Monkeys from backs

2009-01-06T15:01:00.000-05:00

The slump has become a deep hole that the Penguins are mired in. 5 game losing streak, a seven game streak of no powerplay goals, a microscopic goals for figure in general, some shaky goaltending and defensive play.

But could this be as much mired in confidence and perception as it are in reality? We think so. Take a look at the overall record, 19-17-4. Nothing to brag on for sure, but still, a decent records. The Pens have taken their lumps to injuries, plugging in more faces than they'd care to do and arguably the worst stretch of games since the season we all try to forget, 2003-04. We think this could be snapped out of relatively quickly, but something is going to have to change.

Is it the coach? A personnel move? A certain free agent signing (paging Brendan Shanahan)? Could be any of those things for the long-term, but for tonight's game against Atlanta (a poor team that the Pens are 2-0 versus this season), how about thinking short term; let's get the first goal, or--dare we ask--a goal when the Thrashers are penalized. That would be, we think, a huge relief and burden off the shoulders of not only who scores it, but the whole team.

All the boys just need to loosen the grip on the sticks, keep pressing and it will come. It has to come. There's simply too much talent in the lineup for it not to.

Therrien makes lineup changes

2009-01-05T12:54:00.002-05:00

And we can't say we agree with them...

Winger Miroslav Satan, who does not have a goal in eight games, has been demoted to the fourth line, where he will work alongside Dustin Jeffrey and Eric Godard, and defensemen Alex Goligoski and Hal Gill apparently will be healthy scratches.

If you're going to send a message, why not scratch Satan for a game and use Tim Wallace (a hard working 4th line forward) on the 4th line, instead of sitting him?

Goligoski, while being a rookie, hasn't looked out of place, and while Gill has had a couple of shaky outings in his few games back from injury, Mark Eaton and Phillipe Boucher have been shakier this whole season.

Some of the moves Therrien made, like moving Tyler Kennedy to the top line with Sidney Crosby, we do like. Kennedy plays with energy, causes turnovers and actually isn't afraid to put the puck on the net. Keeping the 3rd line of Matt Cooke-Jordan Staal-Max Talbot together also makes sense.

Of course, the results will be known tonight. If the Penguins can finally shake that six game powerplay goal drought, especially early, the sigh of relief may be good enough to carry them to a win and start playing a little looser. But if Boucher and Eaton, two noticably bad players of late (3rd bullet) are out their for some PK goals against, the cries for Therrien's head are only going to get louder.

Players that received less All-Star Votes than Max Talbot

2009-01-04T10:29:00.003-05:00

Yeah, yeah, the All-Star game is basically a sham of which fan bases can stuff the ballot boxes (usually through cheating). And obviously Chicago, Anaheim, Montreal and Pittsburgh fans were the best (worst?) at this. Dr. Mirtle has a cool look at unusual candidates.

Maxime Talbot * Pittsburgh 21,848
Phil Kessel * Boston 19,821
Ray Whitney Carolina 19,457
Brian Rolston New Jersey 19,140
Milan Lucic * Boston 15,134
David Krejci * Boston 10,255
Trent Hunter NY Islanders 9,841

Superstar treatment again!

--And before any questions come in, this blog's editor has been to busy to write Talbot in 20,000 times. So we can only take credit for about 1,848 of those votes.

The latest Crosby-gate

2009-01-04T01:06:00.002-05:00

Surely by now you've seen what we're referring to. Mirtle agrees with Nick Boynton (who's no saint himself) by saying it's embarassing. Puck Daddy thinks Sidney Crosby earned it and throws in a few jabs like only he can about the merits of jumping a man ala Jerry Springer. Some clown at AOL acts like Crosby's the first guy to ever fight while wearing a visor.

As usual, the truth is somewhere in the middle and there's a lot of reactions from people that probably didn't watch the game in it's entirity (as we had the unforunate pleasure of doing). Most probably undetrstad the context of the season right now, the Penguins have put up several clunkers at home and can't seem to catch a break right now. Everyone is frustrated and pissed off, no one moreso than the leader of the team.

What most probably don't get if they didn't see the game was how this specific game unfolded; it' not like the lowly Panthers were all the utmost of gentlemen and were innocent bystanders. Gregory Campbell was chirping all game long, getting in Crosby's face and the two exchanged pushes, cross-checks and punches behind the play earlier.

Max Talbot decided he had enough and challenged Campbell to fight. The two fought a lengthy and honorable bout within the contexts of hockey's rules (both written and unwritten). Talbot clearly had no reason to fight Campbell other than for how the Panther was treating his captain.

On the next faceoff the infamous Crosby/Brett McLean fight went down. For those that didn't watch the game, and didn't realize that McLean apparantely agreed to a fight with El Sid, it does look a little raw to see a guy get pummeled.

But if you didn't think that maybe McLean threw in a little comment about Talbot doing Crosby's dirty work by fighting Campbell, you haven't played too much hockey. McLean wasn't a bystander who just got jumped, he surely had a handle in it. It's not like Crosby beat the hell out of someone like Michael Frolik or Richard Zednik or anything. The antigonist was, well, antagonizing him at one point and the frustration boiled over.

So if you hate Crosby this is a perfect excuse to let it out with some keyboard courage. Go right ahead, it makes no difference. It's a game of hockey. Tempers get out of control when you care about the outcome. If you don't get mad, you'll never get back in it.

Mark words, in the long-run this might be the turning point of the season. Sure, Crosby took himself out of the game with 19 minutes worth of penalties, but if you watched the game you would know that even though the score was 4-1, it might as well have been over. The Pens, as usual these past couple weeks, weren't doing anything with the puck, and their goalies were offering only shaky attempts to keep pucks out of their own net. If Crosby was in the game, maybe it's a 5-2 or 6-3 loss at best. Sometimes standing up for yourself and making a point is a little more important than the result of the game. We think on this day it was.

Hitting Rock Bottom

2009-01-03T16:02:00.005-05:00

Terrible loss today. Terrible. Nothing is going right for the Pens, no matter what lines or goalies they use, it's just not the right answer, pucks are ending up in the wrong net.

So what's it going to be? We're not advocates of calling for a coach's job, but it seems now that Michel Therrien is at the end of the line. His moves, which in the past have been right on the money, have now fallen flat. Guys are trying, but the shake up of a new voice, new energy behind the bench might be what the doctor ordered.

Like we said, the effort is there. Gregory Campbell was chirping at Sidney Crosby and battling him very chippy. Max Talbot made Campbell answer for the talk with a lengthy and good fight. After seeing that the very frustrated Crosby decided he had enough and jumped Brett McLean.

It's frustrating for them, it's frustrating for everyone right now. The next game is in Madison Square Garden, maybe a road matchup against a division opponent (and good team) is what it takes to get out of this rut.

But at this point maybe there needs to be something more drastic than that.

Trudging through December

2008-12-28T12:25:00.002-05:00

Since we left, it's been one up, one down...In fact over the past eight games the Penguins have alternated wins and losses (the good news being that next game ought to be a win!)

Last night's star of the game was clearly Andrei "Big Tits" Kostitsyn, who scored all three goals for the Habs.
The game before-- and the night before, Marc-Andre Fleury was similiarly big, making 37 saves to shutout the New Jersey Devils and on a 1-0 snoozer of a game.

Next up is a home and home in three days with Boston, the suprise front-runners of the East. It should have a playoff atmosphere. The Bruins have lost three games by a total of four goals since November 1st, they have been rolling at home and away. The Bruins play 10 of their 13 January games at home, so it would figure they should be able to keep rolling.

For the Pens there were some positives to take out of last night's 3-2 regulation loss. For a team missing important energy and role players like Tyler Kennedy, Pascal Dupuis, Max Talbot and Mike Zigomanis for stretches of December, they showed a good effort last night. Two important defensemen in Hal Gill and Kris Letang should be back from injury soon. If they keep battling, things will turn around.

Whitney to take injured Letang's place

2008-12-23T16:02:00.003-05:00

Think Ryan Whitney's return from injury tonight would mean less injured defensemen? Not yet:

The decision on which defenseman to sit to make room for Whitney in the lineup was taken out of Therrien's hands. Kris Letang will not play after leaving last night's win at Buffalo with an unspecified injury, apparently the result of being hit by a shot. Therrien described's Letang's status as day to day.

It's seemed like Letang has taken a lot of little bumps and bruises lately, from watching games he's been hobbled or have to double over on the bench quite a few times lately. Hopefully he'll be feeling better after the two day Christmas holiday to come back soon.

Top 10 Penguins moments of 2008

2008-12-23T14:11:00.007-05:00

Before some enterprising blog gets on it, we better run down a list of the top 10 Penguins moments of the calendar year 2008, like Peerless is doing for the Caps. The top moments of 2007 can be found here. You know, on the 2007 recap we said it would be hard to top that year, but a magical playoff run sure did the trick. If 2009 can one-up 2008 we’re in for some fun for sure.

#10 Sidney Crosby creates memories at the Winter Classic

The game itself was not too good: the idea of a Winter Classic is a made for TV gimmick, and under heavy snow and in bone trembling cold is not really the best way to showcase the skill and speed of hockey to a nation of casual New Years Day watching folks. But when you talk of gimmicks, you talk about the shootout, so what better way for the NHL than to have their poster boy with “the game on his stick”. And of course he buries it.

Also what may be the longest lasting aspect of this game: it really cemented the fact the Pens would bring back their retro blue jerseys in the years to come. And the blue jerseys have done well, in pretty much every ranking you see they take the prize for being the best alternate jersey in the league.

#9 Penguins win first Atlantic Division title in 10 years

The old marketing slogan “Experience the Evolution” could at this point be retired, because the Pens had figuratively crawled out of the slime of a 23 win season just two seasons before this point and now were the champs of arguably the most balanced and competitive division year in and year out in hockey. To win the division with all the injuries and adversity battled through was the mark of a team coming full circle, knowing their destiny and going out to grab it. Of course no one sets out only to win a division championship; it’s a nice banner but not the only one a team strives for.

#8 Ground broken on new arena

Getting the funding secured was the #1 story of 2007, but a couple guys with shovels makes #8 this season. With the economy in such turmoil as it is right now the Penguins timing was perfect in getting locked into their new home when they did. It’s hard to imagine things playing out the same way if they deferred another year.

#7 Evgeni Malkin signs identical contract to Sidney Crosby

One of the biggest questions going into the off-season was how Evgeni Malkin’s contract situation would play out. Sure, Geno would still be under contract for 2008-09, but summer 2008 was the first time the Penguins could talk extension with him. Many people wondered if Malkin would accept less money than Crosby and if the Penguins would be willing to offer Malkin more money than their captain, if the Russian so demanded. Some even dreamt up ridiculous trade rumors that had a few Pens fans nervous (not us though).

At the end of the day, Malkin decided that he would sign the exact same deal Sidney Crosby got, five years at $8.7 million a season ($43.5 million total). This was huge, it showed Malkin obviously liked Pittsburgh and wanted to be here and prevented any media fed rumors about Crosby or Malkin being unhappy/jealous with the paychecks of one another. By taking a fifth year Malkin also forfeited one year of his unrestricted free agency, and by accepting a yearly salary at a rate moderately under what he could have gotten as a RFA it allows the Penguins to spend a little more to round out the roster.

#6 Crosby gets injured, Malkin picks up banner, doesn’t look back

January 18th, 2008 could have signaled the death knell of the Penguins season when Sidney Crosby slid into the end boards and suffering a high ankle sprain that would hamper him really right until the end of the year. Crosby was the defending Art Ross, Hart and Pearson trophy winner and was leading the scoring race at the time of injury. For most teams it might have been an excuse to slump down the standings. For the Penguins and Evgeni Malkin it was just a challenge.

Malkin put up 54 points (24 goals, 30 assists) in the last 36 games after the Crosby injury, rocketing the Penguins up the charts and into the Stanley Cup playoffs with a dangerous mix of momentum and confidence.

#5 Redemption: Pens sweep Sens

Spring 2007 saw the Senators as a dangerous team and the Penguins as the new kid’s just cutting their teeth on playoff experience. Ottawa dished out a lesson to Pittsburgh that year, quickly disposing the Penguins in five games. Fast forward a year to April 2008 and the situations couldn’t have been more reversed. Even though Ottawa won the Eastern Conference in 2007 and started out the 07-08 season with a blistering 25-8-4 record, they were in full on collapse mode by the time the playoffs started, sliding in as the #7 seed.

The Penguins easily won Game 1 4-0 on the strength of Senator killer Gary Roberts’ two goals (the last goals he’d score as a Penguin, by the way). The Pens rallied back 5-3 to win Game 2 with two goals from Petr Sykora and Ryan Malone. The Sens did show some life in this game and took a lead, giving their fan base hope of being competitive when the series shifted to Ottawa for the next two games.

Going into the 3rd period of game three, the score was 1-0 Penguins. Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal scored goals in the opening 1:30 of the period and it deflated the Sens and their crowd.

With the chance for a sweep the Penguins didn’t let their foot off the Senators’ necks, winning 3-1 on an effort capped off by a Crosby empty net goal.

#4 Pens defeat Rangers, end Jagr’s NHL career

The Penguins had an eight day layoff between the first and second round and it showed. The Rangers jumped out to a 3-0 lead just three minutes into the second period of Game 1 Mellon Arena and the fans were stunned. But the Penguins rallied back with quick strikes: Jarkko Ruutu and Pascal Dupuis scored goals :14 seconds apart to cut the score to 3-2. Then in the third period Petr Sykora and Marian Hossa scored goals :20 seconds apart to give the Pens a 4-3 lead. Scott Gomez knotted the game at 4, but an Evgeni Malkin powerplay goal with under two minutes in regulation gave the Pens the win.

In Game 2 the Rangers, not wanting to get in shootouts with the high powered Pens, tried to play a lot more conservatively. But the Penguins proved they could buckle down defensively as well as anyone in the league, winning a 2-0 game (last goal an empty net). Marc-Andre Fleury stopped all 26 shots thrown his way, while Henrik Lundqvist got 30 of 31.

Going to New York, the Penguins quickly jumped up 3-1 in the first period of Game 3 and then literally hung on for a 5-3 win. Fleury was sensational again, making 36 saves, while the Pens only had a total of 17 shots of their own. The Rangers though fought through when their backs were against the wall winning 3-0 in Game 4 on the strength of two goals by Jaromir Jagr (the second an empty netter) and 20 saves by Lundqvist.

In Game 5 the Penguins returned home and carried the play, badly outshooting the Rangers and had a 2-0 lead in the 3rd. NY would strike twice though and kick the game to over-time, as a last bit of life. 7 minutes into the overtime Marian Hossa scored the series clincher off a Crosby assists.

#3 Marian Hossa arrives, raises hell, leaves

Breaking this string of playoff recaps was a very important player for the Pens that stretch: Marian Hossa. In 2008 Hossa got a perfect situation coming to play with Sidney Crosby and scored 12 goals and 14 assists in 20 playoff games to forever banish his reputation of not being a playoff performer. Hossa’s superb skill made him a great winger and combination with Crosby, one that could have continued for many more years if the Slovak had accepted the Penguins long-term contract offer.

As you may have heard, however, it wasn’t to be. Hossa, who’s suffered through playing in Atlanta, was an unrestricted free agent and earned the right to go where he wanted to how long he wanted. He turned down the big bucks from Edmonton for a one-year deal from, of all places, Detroit. Saying he thought it gave him the best chance to win a Stanley Cup, Hossa turned his back on his new peers. It’s hard to argue his point as Detroit did just defeat Pittsburgh and wasn’t set to lose any key pieces for the 2008-09 season, but that didn’t make the wound hurt any less at the time.

The jury’s still out on if Hossa made the right decision and if his health will be in tact to still receive a long-term contract after this season, but we think as time progresses Pens fans will be able to remember and appreciate the run Hossa had in Pittsburgh. It may have lasted a total of 32 games and cost Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen and two prospects, but the trade was worth it. It gave the Penguins a shot and a mandate from management: just taking “the next step” is not enough, you guys are young but you need to believe you can go all the way any and every year.

#2 Orange Crushed: Pens destroy Philly, win Eastern Conference

As underdogs, the sixth seeded Flyers had gotten to the Eastern Conference finals by playing the Southeast Division champion Washington Capitals (beat them in 7 games) and the #1 seeded Montreal Canadiens (beat them in 5 games). Taking that road, especially a series win through a place like Montreal, really proves a battle tested team. The Pittsburgh/Philadelphia intense rivalry was on, a trip to the Stanley Cup finals loomed.

Game 1 was decided by Evgeni Malkin’s second goal of the night, a short-handed tally. The Penguins won game two by the same mark, 4-2, when Max Talbot scored the GWG in the 3rd. The series shifted to Philly but it was the Penguins who came out the gates strong, jumping up 2-0 in the opening frame and holding on to win the game 4-1.

For the third time in a row Pittsburgh was winning the series 3 games to 0, but the state sweep wasn’t to be, as the Flyers scored 3 goals in the first period of Game 4 and held off a two goal effort by Jordan Staal to win 4-2 after an empty netter. If Flyers fans thought their team making a massive comeback, they were sorely mistaken, as the Penguins completely dismantled the Flyers 6-0 in Game 5 back in Pittsburgh to win the Prince of Wales Trophy.

#1 Pens can’t equal Wings experience, lose in Cup finals

Not every story has a happy ending and this one didn’t for the Penguins. After getting through a conference about as easily as one can, they faced the very formidable and experienced Detroit Red Wings in the finals. Game 1 and 2 were a nightmare, Detroit won by a combined score of 7-0 and just sucked the life right out of a Penguins team with impressive puck control, Chris Osgood only had to make 41 saves in the first two games combined for his shutouts. At that point it seemed all but certain to be a short series, this time in the favor of the opposition.

But the Pens would battle back, Sidney Crosby was the first to puncture Osgood’s defenses, he did it twice in Game 3. Adam Hall added a third goal and then the Pens held off a furious Detroit rally to win Game 3 by the score of 3-2. In Game 4 Marian Hossa scored a goal 2:51 into the game, but Detroit’s captain Nicklas Lidstrom would answer a few minutes later. The score remained 1-1 until Jiri Hudler capped the scoring with a goal 2 minutes into the third period. Detroit now had a 3-1 series advantage and heading home they were determined to win the Cup.

The Penguins had other ideas, Hossa and Hall scored early goals, the first Pittsburgh had scored in the series on Detroit ice. Then the Red Wings roared back, scoring two goals in the second period and when Brian Rafalski scored a goal with about 10 minutes to go, catcalls for the Cup were in full volume. The clock kept ticking and it seemed the Penguins were going out with a whimper.

The Penguins pull their goalie for a final desperate push and then it happens. Boom—Maxime Talbot with 34 seconds left ties the game. The deflation of the crowd is tangible. The elation of the Pittsburgh players is off the charts. We’re headed to overtime. If the Red Wings were discouraged by Talbot’s goal, it didn’t last long; Detroit outshot the Pens 13-2 in the first over-time. Each time Marc-Andre Fleury had an answer. Shots in the 2nd OT were more even (8-7 for the Pens) but #1 defensemen Sergei Gonchar was injured and Ryan Whitney was playing about every other shift, and playing incredible. Then nine minutes into the 3rd overtime period Hudler takes a penalty. Gonchar does his Willis Reed impression and does more than just get back out there, he finds Evgeni Malkin. Malkin to Petr Sykora to the back of the net, the Penguins have just won the most thrilling and taxing game of the season.

Game 6 was back in Pittsburgh, but more of the same: Detroit outshooting the Pens and getting up to an early 2-0 lead. Malkin scored on a powerplay before the end of the second period to give the Pens hope that their hole was only one goal. The Red Wings clamped down again and eventual Conn Smythe winner Henrik Zetterberg scored to make it 3-1 with 13 minutes left in regulation. Again it went to full on desperation mode as the Pens hurled everything they had at Detroit. Gonchar scored a powerplay goal with just 1:30 left to make it 3-2. As the last seconds ticked off the Pens made what would be one final, final furious rush of trying to will a goal in but Crosby and Hossa’s last ditch effort trickled *just* wide as the horn blew.

That’s your series and the Red Wings skate the Cup on Mellon Arena ice. A tough scene to watch, to be sure, but even though the Penguins didn’t make it to the destination; the journey to get there was incredible. 2008 will be remembered for the incredible journey, the gaining momentum and the invaluable experience gained by the core of the team.

GOOSE, Pens Win

2008-12-22T22:00:00.006-05:00

The Penguins still seemed to be stuck in a rut, they were badly outshot and didn't control a lot of the puck possession game. But, a win is a win and you take the two points any way you can get them, especially on the road against a good team.

Something we forgot to mention in the Mellon Arena recap: Jordan Staal seemed to be really throwing some checks. Maybe it's just contract year encouragement, or maybe that the 20 year old is feeling more comfortable at the NHL level, but he's becoming a physical force in the corners and behind the net.
Marc-Andre Fleury rebounded well from last game; the first goal took a bounce off Phillipe Boucher from point blank, the second goal Mark Eaton got caught flat footed at the blueline for an Ales Kotalik mini breakaway, and the third goal was a powerplay marker saw Boucher and Eaton soft in front of the net.
See a trend there? Boucher, Eaton, Boucher and Eaton largely responsible for the goals against. When Ryan Whitney returns tomorrow we all should know the candidates to watch from the press box.
Nice to see Pascal Dupuis back in the lineup, and he had good jump in his step, it appears the dreaded "lower body injury" isn't hindering him. And what a great breakout pass from Brooks Orpik to advance the puck up to Miroslav Satan for the Dupuis goal to catch the Sabres in a sloppy change.
Evgeni Malkin's trek towards a 100 assist season is alive and well with three apples tonight. Geno is about 2.6 assists ahead of the pace....And just like that he's up to 58 points, 11 up on Sidney Crosby and 15 over Alex Ovechkin, his closest chasers in the scoring race.
Crosby didn't particularly have a forceful game, it's seemed his been off his mark lately. The Trib noted he might have the cold or flu with a scratchy voice, and that would make sense, since his game just hasn't added up.
Crosby was great in the faceoff circle, winning 70% of his 23 draws, it's a high standard he's held to, so maybe we all just need to take a step back.
Was the goal over the cross-bar or not? Hard to tell, looked very close to being a non-goal, but at the same time the angles we saw would make it almost impossible to indisputably overturn the initial call on the ice (no matter what it was).
Something that has been filtering through our head: tonight's GWG was Crosby's first of the season, and Malkin only has 1 GWG as well. Crosby does have some balance though, with 7 goals at home, 7 on the road, 7 against divisional foes and 7 against non-Atlantic teams.
Last but not least of the bullets, Alex Goligoski, two goals and an assist tonight for a guy who's quickly got to be moving up the Calder Trophy list--especially when other leading contenders are eliminating themselves. You know if Goligoski was about half a foot taller and wearing a different jersey number one wouldn't be out of line to think Whitney had returned in midseason form a night early.

So that is that, an old fashioned bus ride down, two points in the ledger and now a quick turnaround to a home game against Pittsburgh South (aka Tampa) tomorrow night.

The end of the world as we know it?

2008-12-22T10:29:00.003-05:00

Don Cherry agreed with us about Saturday night's fights (hat-tip to Empty Netters)

Ukranian, Russian, ahh what's the difference. Could you imagine the orgasm Cherry would have had if it was his boy Jordan Staal fighting instead of the Russian?

Personal homecoming ends disappointingly

2008-12-21T22:34:00.002-05:00

Our first game back at the Grand Old Lady didn't go so well, one of the Penguins worst games of the year...Some thoughts:

--We've been at probably 30 games at Verizon Center since back in Pittsburgh...Mellon seemed much brighter for some reason, but one thing we've been spoiled on was the HD jumbotron. Surely the CTC (the under construction Consol Energy Center) must have one...It's hard to go back.

--Speaking of, a big hole in the ground has never looked more promising.

--The Pens, as everyone knows, stunk it up. For some reason or another they didn't show up. One thing we found interesting on the drive home listening to post-game radio were the callers in; one in particular cited Evgeni Malkin for showing up and said something along the lines of "where was Sidney Crosby". Crosby, to be sure, didn't have an impact, but despite getting a goal and an assist, Malkin coughed up two bad giveaways that ended up in the net. So really his contributions just broke even as well.

--Marc-Andre Fleury didn't stop some pucks, but to be fair the guys in front of him allowed the Leafs way too much puck possession in the Pens zone. It wouldn't have made much a difference if the Pens had Ken Dryden and Martin Brodeur in the net at the same time, they weren't going to win on that night with that effort.

--We noticed when things seemed over the Pens lined up Kris Letang as a winger for Crosby...Makes enough sense to see if it would work; Letang certainly can skate as well as anyone in the league and has good offensive instincts. But he's been a defensemen his whole life, and there's a reason for that. In short, don't expect that to be a long-term option. Still, we didn't see any harm to roll him out there while the game was out of reach to at least see if it could spark something.

--A side note: 3/4 of the stands we were near didn't take credit cards. That seemed weird considering it is the year 2008. Sure the facility was built in 1961 but they can't upgrade with some credit machines? It cost the Pens some revenue at least from this fan, a 24 year old that basically lives with a plastic bank card and doesn't carry more than $20 cash at any given time.

--If we were giving out Schrutebucks, -50 for Andre Deveaux. He didn't want to fight when Eric Godard asked him (though Godard really didn't give him much an option) but Deveaux was willing to drop the gloves with a guy in Ruslan Fedotenko, who hasn't fought since 2001 according to hockeyfights. Of course, tempers were flaring when he and Rusty got in each other's faces but still.

--A lot is now being made about Michel Therrien's "it's Crosby's team" comment, taken in the context that HCMT is resigned to that he doesn't have the power anymore and Crosby is the boss. We don't see it quite that way, Therrien is a master of motivating through the media and no doubt was frustrated like everyone else after the game. But this is a superstar driven league; no less than Scotty Bowman used to have his practice drills modified or totally ignored by Mario Lemieux who had other designs. In many regards, this IS Crosby's team. He's the #1 guy.

--OK, techinically it's probably Ron Burkle's team more than anyone else, but save Burkle, Lemieux and maybe general manager Ray Shero no one has more power and pull than Crosby. But that's how it goes when you have a generational talent.

--We thought Therrien proved his point though when the Pens got a powerplay in the dying moments and Petr Sykora was the only regular forward out there. If you're not going to work or show up, you're not gonna get the chance. We were fine with that.

All in all, let's see how they respond. A loss is a loss, but this isn't the game to determine the season. A new day is a new chance to make the difference. Pascal Dupuis might be back and Ryan Whitney is on the horizon. But those are just two guys and two guys can't win a hockey game if the other 16 aren't skating. Hopefully that's the lesson this team will learn for the last time tonight.

A Superstar signs a deal

2008-12-19T13:30:00.003-05:00

Mats Sundin? Never heard of him. We're talking about a superstar here!

"Max has developed into one of the key players in our organization," Shero said. "He has shown his versatility and plays in all situations for our hockey club. He played an integral role in helping our team reach the finals last season and we look forward to having him for the coming years."

Here's to at least two more years of commercials, clutch goals, fu manchus, hustle and laughs....And at just over $1 million a season, it's a great deal for the club.

This and that

2008-12-17T15:33:00.002-05:00

Random thoughts from here and there...

--Jeff Taffe and Ryan Stone got the call from Pittsburgh. Taffe is not surprising, he’s shown he can be a decent and serviceable player in a NHL capacity, but Stone is. He’s a prospect that’s never panned out and has seemed to spin his wheels. He’s not the best skater but has decent all-around skill and the willingness to throw his body around. It’ll be interesting to see if he’s given the opportunity to catch on. A couple years ago though, hell maybe even before this year, it would be hard to imagine that Stone would be the sixth AHL level forward to get the call to the NHL (or to have stuck originally like Bill Thomas and Paul Bissonnette did).

--Dany Sabourin has almost the same number of minutes played as Marc-Andre Fleury this season…Sabourin’s GAA is notably better (2.47 to 2.86) and his save percentage is slightly higher than the Flower (.911 to .907). Will there be controversy? No, of course not, but the interesting thing is to watch if Fleury can come back and play as lights out as he did last season under a similarly long layoff.

--Speaking of injuries and layoffs, it’s been 196 days since June 4th; the day the Penguins watched the Red Wings skate the Cup and the last time Ryan Whitney and Sergei Gonchar played meaningful games. Isn’t it weird how such an occasion can seem so distant yet so near at the exact same time? Whitney ought to be back in a week’s time, which will be interesting to see how quickly he gets up to speed himself. And what does it mean for the Penguins blueline? Mark Eaton figures to sit 8th on the depth chart at that point, and what of Phillipe Boucher and Hal Gill, are they still in the lineup every night? Whitney’s return, though a blessing, also brings with it several tough questions.

--Don’t pay too much mind of Alex Kovalev’s 20+ game goal-less streak. What we can’t get over is how good he and old pal Robert Lang look out there. As 2/3 (with Martin Straka) of what the best 2nd line of this decade, Kovy and Bobby Lang have gotten the band back together and are playing some nice music. Lang, has 22 points in 30 games, not bad for a guy who’s gonna turn 38 years old in two days.

--In fact, if you think about it, few players who seem so inconsistent have actually been quietly steadier than Lang over the past decade. Since he established himself in Pittsburgh in 1998-99 with a 21 goal 44 point season, Lang has hit averaged 68.88 points a season, hitting the 50+ mark every time. Sure he’s bounced around to five teams and owes a lot of his stats to playing with supremely skilled wingers like Kovalev and Jaromir Jagr, but Lang’s staying power has been impressive.

--Something interesting caught our eye from the Post-Gazette yesterday and has stuck with us, so we’ll share…What names stick out to you (hint: the first two)

Still, 10 players -- forwards Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Pascal Dupuis, Eric Godard and Tim Wallace, defensemen Ryan Whitney, Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski and goalies Marc-Andre Fleury and Dany Sabourin -- went on the ice with assistant coaches Andre Savard and Mike Yeo and goalie coach Gilles Meloche for the better part of an hour [on Monday].

When the two leading scorers in the league are showing up for an optional practice that a lot of the team didn’t strap ‘em up for, that says something. The team understandably needed and deserved a maintenance day after a grueling schedule. But when the best players are out there constantly working, constantly showing up, that’s leadership and that’s a good sign.

Well the four day break is over tomorrow and the Pens are back in Atlanta for the second time in a month. In a bit of a programming note, it’s going to be a little slow over here during the weekend, we’re making a pilgrimage back to Pittsburgh to visit family and watch the Penguins break out the third jerseys in person against the Make Beliefs.

Roundtable Talk Part 2

2008-12-16T08:43:00.002-05:00

Tony over at The Confluence was nice enough to invite us to participate in another one of his roundtable talks.

So, for a state of Penguins nation, here you go. Our answers are preceeded by (HO), how charming, eh?

Bozo hanging up the floppy shoes

2008-12-15T09:51:00.002-05:00

Another pre-internet dinosaur bites the dust:

I began at the Press on June 30, 1969 covering high school sports.

It basically ends today with this column.

I had been considering retirement and when the Post-Gazette offered a generous buyout, my mind, after some debate, was made up.

What a wonderful career it has been. I've been on the front line of sports history, Pittsburgh and otherwise.

In a way it almost feels sad to see Smizik fading away, he's certainly been no friend to the blogger, and personally we haven't agreed with many of his stances, but his voice has been out there and it's been relevant for a long time.

What a fine time to be on the Pittsburgh sports scene from 1969 to the present, one couldn't ask for a better time to be covering a city, we think. Clemente, Stargell, all the Steelers of the 1970s, Cowher, Bettis, Bonds, Leyland, Lemieux, Jagr, Crosby, Malkin and so many more. What a ride indeed.

But if this opens up more opportunities for people at the PG like Seth Rorabaugh, then, at the end of the day, maybe this is a good thing.

(hat-tip to the Pensblog)

Out of Gas...Pens lose

2008-12-13T15:30:00.002-05:00

Usually out-shooting a team 12-6 in the second period would be a good thing. Usually.

Frustrating game, the Penguins really looked like they've played three games in about three and a half days. They looked like they were skating in oatmeal.
Nice to see Yukon Cornelius (aka Scott Hartnell) show his face around the holiday season. It was especially nice to see him try to fight Eric Godard behind a visor. Really tough guy, good luck finding that gold.
Sometimes when the Penguins get one goal, they usually can turn things around. But when Jordan Staal tipped in a goal, to make it 2-1 it seemed to awaken the Flyers more than the Pens.
Godard scored an almost identical goal to Staal, taking advantage of a shift with Evgeni Malkin and Petr Sykora while Ruslan Fedotenko was smarting.
Mike Richards acted especially like a douchebag in taking exception to Matt Cooke finishing a check on Kimmo Timonen. Nice to see the scrum ensue and then see Sidney Crosby tackle Timonen. When Richards and Cooke went to the box the astute lip reader could see Cooke say "I'll fight you when we get out" while pointing outside the penalty box...Guess Kramer didn't want to take him up on the offer.
Another rough night for Brooks Orpik, a -2 effort. He did have four hits and two blocked shots, but Orpik doesn't look that effective with Rob Scuderi.
One team goes 4-6 on the powerplay, another goes 1-4. The difference is your ballgame, among other things.

That's about it, a tough pill to swallow but at the end of the day there is a light at the end of the tunnel--and he was sitting at the end of the bench wearing #29. Next comes a needed four day break before a sprint of 18 games in the 34 days before the all-star break.

Malkin's push for 100 apples

2008-12-12T16:33:00.007-05:00

Speaking of charts and paces, let's see how Evgeni Malkin is doing with assists. A while back we noticed how he was on pace to become the first player since 1990-91 when some schmuck named Wayne Gretzky to record 100 helpers in a season. Gretz got 122 that season...(In all fairness, it should probably be pointed out Joe Thornton notched 96 assists the year following the lockout).

(click on chart to enlarge)

We're not quite sure how user-friendly this turns out or whether it will make sense to everyone else, but we can tell you Malkin is on pace, he's largely been on pace ever since Game 6. Which is pretty remarkable considering the graph is rising at a constant rate of 1.21 assists every single game. It'll be interesting to see how long Malkin can answer the bell.

(Currently: Malkin 36 assists, Pace is 35.37 assists)

The Great Race...Malkin v. Crosby v. Ovechkin

2008-12-12T15:57:00.004-05:00

Through 29 games a pop, here's early chart of game by game points for the the three amigos: Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. This goes off of a team's game, so if a player misses a game (like Ovechkin did to visit his grandfather) than obviously his amount of points remains stagnant for that game.

Out of curiosity, here's the same chart if you include Alex "Dead Wood" Semin. As Crosby can tell you, an longterm injury really derails your chances. All of Crosby, Malkin and Ovechkin have seemed to have nagging injuries early in the season, but all have been able to trudge onward. Hopefully for the league's sake, they can keep it up.

Click on images to make them bigger. As you can tell, the lines have only advanced about 1/3 along the right axis, plenty of time left.

We'll update this again probably around the all-star break to see how things are going.

E. Staal: Malkin is the best

2008-12-12T11:50:00.001-05:00

Nice to see a little respect thrown Malkin's way. Via ESPN:

Q: Who is the best player in the game today?

A: Right now I would say [Evgeni] Malkin. I think he's playing the game with so much confidence. He's making plays that not a lot of guys can make. They have a great 1-2 combo with [Sidney] Crosby and Malkin. On the power play they're lethal, and I think overall Malkin is playing the best in the league right now.

Feeling down on your luck? Play the Isles

2008-12-11T20:44:00.004-05:00

Losing streak, what losing streak...Playing the Islanders was exactly what the doctor ordered.

Credit Petr Sykora--or perhaps blame Joey MacDonald--for letting this one get out of hand. After Mark Streit ripped a rocket to pull it to a 2-1 Penguins, Sykora scored just 11 seconds later...Not to be outdone, Sidney Crosby found Phillipe Boucher thirty seconds later. Yep, from making it 2-1 to being down 4-1 in less than a minute.
It was nice to see Sykora get his first NHL hat-trick. Crazy to think a sniping winger with 282 career NHL goals has never gotten one. Safe to say you'll probably never see a guy so happy to make a game 7-1.
From the Department of Redundancy Department the Islanders could really use a goaltender. As bad of a night as MacDonald had, Yan Danis (or whoever the hell that was) looked like he had never played the position before.
Call Mike Sillinger wins the "Tiger Woods Award" tonight...In his first 4:09 played, old ass Sillinger got to -3.
A look at who got the lionshare of the Pens' shots during the first half of the game shows a lot of powerplay domination: Kris Letang (5), Crosby (4), Sykora (4), Miroslav Satan (4), Evgeni Malkin (3).
Up 7-1 did you agree with HCMT trotting out the regular top powerplay unit? On one hand, they're all professionals out there and this aint T-Ball--but on the other hand it seemed a little unsportsmanlike. But hey, the coaches preach things like "never take your foot off the gas" and "play a full 60" so what message does it send if the coach pulls back the reigns?
The Penguins played last night, they played tonight and they play again Saturday afternoon--thanks schedule makers. At least by putting the Isles to bed early tonight they could roll lines and ease back on the horses. Even though the boys will have no trouble getting up early to play their blood rivals, but still a little nicer to coast in and conserve some energy.
After 2 periods it's 8-1 and we're pulling a mercy rule (sometimes like a beat writer we start writing before the game's over)...No more recap. Crosby hit a post and missed a wide open net; Sykora hit a post had a clear goal blown off because the ref was out of position...It's scary to think what the score of this game could easily be.
To this point, 16 Pens have a +, 12 have points, 8 have multiple point nights...They might not be calling off the dogs, but we are.

Consol Energy buys rights to new arena

2008-12-10T19:35:00.003-05:00

It'll be new to call it the "Consol Energy Arena" or "Consol Energy Center", but then again it sure sounds like a better name for the Pens than the Sprint Center...

Per KDKA

When the Penguins' new arena opens, it will have a new name. KDKA Investigator Andy Sheehan has learned that Consol Energy has won the naming rights.

The local coal and energy company is claiming more and more of a national and international spotlight.

Next week, the Penguins will announce the sale of the arena naming rights to Consol on a long term basis for at least several million dollars a year.

The Penguins aren't commenting, but in a similar deal, the New Jersey Devils sold naming rights to their arena to Prudential Insurance for $5 million a year.

Business is business, gotta do what you got to do. At least Consol Energy is a local company to Pittsburgh.

The numbers racket

2008-12-10T19:22:00.003-05:00

Tim Wallace got called up today in place of the newly demoted Janne Pesonen. We like the idea, better to have a worker if you're going to play him 5-6 minutes a night and let Pesonen go back to the AHL and get some top minutes.

Wallace is wearing #63, so along with his roommate Ben Lovejoy (#65) the Penguins have to players to have a number on their back in the 60's in a non-preseason game since May 21, 2001....Perhaps you've heard of those two.

1 for 9 doesn't spell success

2008-12-08T20:55:00.005-05:00

Tough loss tonight, playing without four of the top six defensemen on the team is tough, but not converting on the powerplay (1 for 9) was too much to overcome. Penguins fans love to try and call for Mike Yeo's head, but it's hard to argue the chances the Pens got. 12 shots on the powerplay, several of them great chances. Many more went just wide or were blocked. Tonight, Ryan Miller was awesome and he was the difference.

It looked like "trick night" at the rink for Evgeni Malkin. A lot of crazy dekes and moves all around the ice, perhaps the best being pulling the puck between his legs, leaving a defenseman in the dust and throwing a perfect cross-ice pass to Ruslan Fedotenko for the game's first goal.
Speaking of Rusty, the guy is nothing if not a very streaky goal scorer. When he's hot he's hot (remember the 12 goals he scored in 22 games to lead the Lightning to a Cup?)
Janne Pesonen has his share of apologists...Err, supporters. But he's not an impact player at this level. Is he getting a ton of minutes or opportunities? No, he's not. However, what has he done? Absolutely nothing. He's generated nothing and looked lost. The cream rises to the top, even at getting 6-7 minutes a night if he was the real deal he'd be showing flashes of brilliance. He's shown nothing. He got six shifts and 2:55 tonight. But give Malkin 2:55 of time and he'll show something. Give Sidney Crosby 2:55 and he'll show something. That's tough competition to measure yourself against, but the bottom line is you have to show something. Pesonen, right now, has nothing to offer, whether he got 2:55, 12:55 or 22:55 it'd be hard to argue for him.
Thought: if you didn't know this was Ben Lovejoy's first NHL game, could you have guessed it? Probably not, but you'd still think he was a rookie though. A couple times we noticed Jordan Staal making a conciseness effort to get back and help out. Lovejoy did get a "welcome to the NHL" moment when Paul Gaustad lined him up around the endboards with a thunderous (but clean) hit. Malkin, stepping up, checked Gaustad and then cross-checked another player.
Nice to see the Penguins help Kris Letang get the monkey off his back by giving him a lot of powerplay goal....Still not a good night for the improvised Letang/Brooks Orpik top pair, as they were on the ice for four Buffalo goals, two off of Orpik turnovers, the other off a careless Miroslav Satan entry to the zone.
When Max Talbot looks like a giant in a post whistle scrum, you know the opponent is tiny. Nathan Gerbe, listed at 5'6" (possibly with skates on) might be even smaller than Martin St. Louis. He's still a good player though.
After going 1 for 7 on the powerplay through two periods you just couldn't feel good about the Pens chances, huh?
As we alluded to at the top, Pittsburgh threw a lot at the net..The Pens got 54 shots on net, 32 on the target. Miller was huge in keep out what he could and it was enough.

The Pens looked a little sluggish last game, but that could be reasonably excused by playing three games in four nights in three different cities. But tonight began another stretch of four games in six nights (in three different barns). The road is going to be tougher before it becomes easier.

At the end of the day the finger pointing can go around. The Pens were sunk tonight not just by the inability to convert powerplay chances, but by sloppy turnovers. Orpik, Orpik and Satan made three plays that resulted in the puck being in the net. Letang and Dany Sabourin had chances to make great plays to cover the mistake but couldn't. At the end of the day the Pens just need to buckle down, make smarter decisions and better plays and execute. They didn't do it tonight, and the power-play couldn't cover that up this time.

The Walking Wounded

2008-12-08T12:12:00.001-05:00

Blog buddy Ben Lovejoy has been recalled (maybe the Pens saw our prospect update)....Which means that maybe Hal Gill can't go tonight.

Got us to thinking, the injury bug hasn't been kind to the team closest to us and our favorite team. So, in a pickup game (at 100%), who ya got if these two lineups met each other? It's sad that you can almost make lineups...

Washington Capitals *
Poti-Green
Erskine-Schultz
Sloan

Pittsburgh Penguins
Gonchar-Gill
Whitney-Boucher
*Pseudo-retired Brian Pothier not included because face it, he's finished.

Talking contract with Staal

2008-12-08T10:47:00.002-05:00

Pierre LeBrun at tWWL says that the Pens and Jordan Staal are talking contract.

We find it interesting that preliminary talks for a new contract have begun between Jordan Staal's people and the Pittsburgh Penguins. That's not to say a deal will get done, but at least there's contact. Staal is a restricted free agent July 1.

It had been speculated by many over the past year this might be his last season in Pittsburgh given the amount of money the Penguins already have locked up in their other two star centers, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. But word is both sides are kicking around the idea of a short-term deal that could fit under the cap. Talks should pick up again in the New Year.

Well, talk is a good thing. And a short term contract seems likely for Staal. Look around at the climate of the league where teams are locking their young players up for big money when they haven’t produced. The poster boy for this is probably Rostislav Olesz, who despite scoring 31 goals in his first 190 games was given a five year $17.05 million dollar contract ($3.41 per season), based largely on future contributions.

With the Penguins having five players (Crosby, Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury, Brooks Orpik and Ryan Whitney) locked up for at least the next five seasons, it seems obvious that a guy like Staal could get squeezed out, especially with the salary cap not expected to rise next season, due this rough economy. But a short-term deal would make things work, for both sides. For the Penguins they’d get Staal at a better price then he would command for a 4-6+ year deal. For Staal, who is still establishing his scoring touch, it gives him a chance to improve his stats while remaining on arguably the most skilled and offensive minded team in the league.

The Penguins, by our estimation, have $13 million coming off the books this season with expiring contracts. Obviously some of these guys (to name a few: Petr Sykora, Miroslav Satan, Hal Gill, Rob Scuderi) will leave pretty important holes in the depth chart and will need to be re-signed or replaced through other means. Also, keep in mind that Staal’s cap hit (and likely his final salary) is $2.2 million with bonuses factored in, so even if he signs for $3.5- $4 million a season, it won’t be as if he’s eating up *that* much more of the cap then he already has been for the past three seasons.

Don’t expect a press conference tomorrow announcing a deal, it’s likely these talks will continue as the months progress. In this case, dialogue is a good thing and one we’re happy to see happening.

Czeching up on the kiddos

2008-12-07T14:05:00.002-05:00

Our first look at how Penguin prospects are faring this season:

Professional level (age in parenthesis):

Wilkes-Bare Scranton Penguins
Luca Caputi (20): 23 games played, 6 goals, 6 assists, +5
--Caputi's the 8th leading scorer as a rookie on a very competitive AHL team. He's been lauded for his offensive game and also has seemed impressive away from the puck according to reports. Caputi's probably the Penguins best prospect at this point.

Dustin Jeffrey (20): 24 gp, 3g, 11a, 6+
--Jeffrey's fourth on the team in assists and now that Janne Pesonen and Chris Minard are in Pittsburgh he's starting to get more icetime and opportunities.

Ben Lovejoy (24): 24 gp, 4g, 10a, +14
--Cited as a possible replacement for a Rob Scuderi-type defensive defensemen, Lovejoy has had a great season so far...His +/- is tops on the team..Last year(his first in the pros) he only scored 2 goals and 18 assists, so he's well on pace to up his production.

Janne Pesonen (26): 20gp, 5g, 16a, +4
--Pesonen's been among the best players at the AHL level, but it remains to be seen if he will be a player at the NHL level.

Wheeling Nailers

Nick Johnson (22): 18gp, 14g, 10a, +6
--Johnson, a former 3rd round pick, scored a goal in his first game for WB/S...Johnson at 6'2, 200 has the size to make a difference, it'll be interesting to see how he develops. The injury situation in Pittsburgh is a chance for him to be more involved.

CHL

Rimouski Oceanic (QMJHL)
Keven Veilleux (19) 17 games played, 8 goals, 12 assists, 20 points, +3
--Veilleux missed some games earlier in the season with injury, but has been having a very fine season for when he has be on the ice. Sometimes the knack on big players like Veilleux (6'5, 215) is they don't produce very early in their careers. By establishing himself as a PPG+ player in the "Q, KV's having no such issues.

Vancouver Giants (WHL)
Casey Pierro-Zabotel (20) 28 gp, 10g, 34a, +26
--CPZ has had a nomadic career so far, after he couldn't make eligibility for the NCAA, he decided to go to the WHL and he's been able to settle in and fufill his promise. The Giants are the #1 team in the league so far and CPZ is the leading scorer on the team, and 3rd in the league.

St. Johns Sea Dogs (QMJHL)
Alex Grant (19) 27gp, 6g, 19a, 25p, -3
--Grant, a defensemen lauded for physical play, is the leading defensive scorer on his team and 2nd in penalty minutes.

Kingston Frontenacs (OHL)
Nathan Moon (18) 27gp, 11g, 17a, 28p, -13
--Moon, the Penguins highest draft pick from 2008 (4th round), is leading his team in scoring. But, as one might hazard to guess from looking at his plus/minus, Moon's team is not that great; sporting a 6-19-6 record.

US College

Boston College
Carl Sneep (21) 15 games played, 1 goal, 7 assists, 8 points
--Sneep, now a Junior, is the highest scoring defenseman on the Eagles. Interesting note: Brooks Orpik's little brother Andrew is a 4th line forward on this team.

Boston University
Brian Strait (20) 15gp, 1g, 1a, 2p, 26 PIMs
--Strait, a Jr., leads his team in penalty minutes...Last season he had 10 assists in 37 games.

Recap: Spezza 3 Penguins 2

2008-12-07T13:59:00.002-05:00

Not to much to make of yesterday's matinee loss to the Sens, they made more plays than the Pens and get the win. That's how it goes sometimes. Jason Spezza had a great game, and it was more than the Penguins could match....Dany Sabs has been good but now going on Week 4 without Marc-Andre Fleury it looks like it's starting to wear on the Penguins.

Gameday 26: Senators

2008-12-06T10:50:00.002-05:00

Better know an opponent: The Ottawa Senators
Record: 9-10-4 (22 points, last in the Northeast Division, 12th (tied) in the Eastern Conference)
Season series: 1-1 (remember those games in Sweden?)

Notable wins: Pittsburgh, New York Rangers
Notable losses: New York Islanders (three times!)
Key injuries:
Last game: 5-1 victory over Atlanta Wednesday night
Statistical star: Dany Heatley [13 goals, 12 assists in 23 games]
Disappointment so far: Antoine Vermette [2 goals, 3 assists, -8 in 23 games]

Notable Notes:
---Who would have thought the formerly high octane Senators would be tied for last (with Tampa Bay) in goals for? But they're also second in the conference in goals against....Ottawa's actually won three of their last four games....

TST Opposing Players to Watch: The Pizza Line
--Dany Heatley, Jason Spezza and captain Daniel Alfredsson have combined for 49% of the total goals scored on the team. They're the straw that stirs the drink. Heatley himself has 19 goals in 23 career games against the Penguins and something like 8 straight games.

TST Homeboy of the Game: Sidney Crosby
--Interesting split stat of the day...We suppose it's pretty important to get El Sid going:
In wins: 15 games: 10 goals, 21 assists = 31 points, +18
In losses: 10 games: 3 goals, 5 assists = 8 points, -5

The Sweater Ted Meets the Owner Ted

2008-12-05T14:45:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I got the pleasure of getting to sit down and talk with an NHL owner, a first. Ted Leonsis invited me to Capitals headquarters and I was glad to take him up on the offer. We sat and talked for probably about 20 minutes. The first thing you will notice about Mr. Leonsis is how engaging he is; he gave all his attention to me and was genuinely focused and interested in our meeting. It was something special. The next thing you can’t help but see is the man’s passion for the team and sport of hockey; he’s an owner that wants to have a class organization and wants to provide a winner. In that regard they are rounding into form.

We talked about a lot of things: hockey, blogs, fan-ship, following teams, he told me about his youth and how he came to love the game. We talked broadly about arenas and revenue, the economy…Of injuries and coaching changes, on fans who don’t get it and ones who do. It was a whirlwind and an exciting one.

I've come to the conclusion that in this day and age with the limitless resources of the internet and cable/satellite television, it is so much more easier to stay connected to a sports team if you wish. It's no stretch to say though, I'm probably at one extreme in terms of rooting interest. Had I been, not less "dedicated" to the Penguins but maybe less attached is the proper word, it would be easy to see me phasing out of them and towards a team who's city I live in. If it was 30-40 years ago, I would not have much of a choice.

Therefore, I don't think it's uncommon or really inherently a sin for a transplant to adopt their local team. I also still believe though there are plenty of folks like me in this area, who's bond with their team/city has been solidified. I think this is reinforced when Buffalo, Detroit and Pittsburgh (three cities that have lost a lot of people) come to play in a city like Washington where due to the government, there's a lot of transplants in the area to begin with.

More to the point I would say, if you ever get the chance to meet Mr. Leonsis, be it at a game or around a practice, I would definitely suggest doing it. He is accessible and as you would imagine a very interesting conversationalist. I had a very nice time at Caps HQ and thank him for his time and parting gift; tickets for me and my friends to sit in some of his seats. We all had a wonderful time.

Banged up Brigade

2008-12-04T12:12:00.002-05:00

After last night's 3-2 gimmick loss to the Rangers you can add Tyler Kennedy and Mike Zigomanis to the band of injured players quickly piling up on the Pens...And apparantely Phillipe Boucher is on the IR now as well. Add that to franchise goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and top defensemen Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney.

Both injuries are undisclosed, but rumor has it Mr. Kennedy has already flown back to Pittsburgh to have a leg examined and could miss several weeks. Zigomanis is listed as "probable" so perhaps he will be able to win faceoffs tonight.

There will certainly be no empathy coming from the Carolina Hurricanes and old/new head coach Paul Maurice tonight, but hey, it's worth pointing out. Janne Pesonen and Chris Minard have gotten the call.

Tonight's projected lines, from the main site are:

Talbot-Crosby-Satan
Fedotenko-Malkin-Sykora
Dupuis-Staal-Cooke
Pesonen-Minard-Godard

---
Minard and Pesonen have played and played well all season long (no one in the AHL has more goals than Minard so far). But why keep Pesonen on the 4th line? We can tell that Mike Therrien doesn't trust Pesonen, doesn't know him well enough to give him the added responsibility of playing much. It's something that pretty much all new players to Therrien have to do; prove themselves on the ice, especially defensively before more icetime is given.

Another wrinkle to watch: Kennedy was being used on the top power play. Who gets the call now to join Crosby, Malkin, Satan and Alex Goligoski? We'd bet Staal and Fedotenko are the likely choices.

Fedotenko's had a great game, a lot of effort out of him. The recent benchings and line-demotions seem to have upped his game in recent days, hopefully something he can continue.

Haha sloppy seconds

2008-12-03T00:49:00.005-05:00

This is probably why we have the tag "Sean Avery is the biggest asshole in the NHL"...

Dallas Stars forward Sean Avery was suspended indefinitely by the NHL on Tuesday, pending a hearing with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. The League said the suspension was issued in accordance with the provisions of By-Law 17 and Article 6 of the NHL Constitution for conduct "detrimental to the League or game of hockey." The suspension was imposed following inappropriate public comments about the personal lives of opposing players, and not pertaining to the game, made by Avery earlier in the day.

Boy, what could Avery have ever said this morning, on camera...

"I am really happy to be back in Calgary, I love Canada. I just want to comment on how it's become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds. I don't know what that's about. Enjoy the game tonight."

But c'mon, it's not like Sean Avery pulled a Plaxico "Cheddar Bob" Burress or anything...Sure it's not professional conduct, but what did he do? Speak his mind? In America we call that 1st amendment rights. Dion Phaneuf is a big boy and arguably the NHL's best checking defensemen, and especially when pissed off you would think he could take care of this himself. Of course that could have gotten out of control, but hey, that's the element of excitement.

Also, we may not be following our Elisha Cuthbert hockey player timeline close enough, but wasn't Avery technically picking Mike Komisarek's sloppy seconds?

Pesonen sent back to the farm

2008-11-30T01:01:00.003-05:00

After tonight's game, the Penguins decided to assign Janne Pesonen back to the AHL. Not terribly surpising, as Na-na-na played just 6 and 7 minutes in Pittsburgh the past two nights.

Detractors will say that Pesonen didn't get the chance in this latest stint to establish himself, playing so few. And that's a good point. But you have to look at what Pesonen did with the minutes he got. 0 shots on goal, and though he did draw a penalty in both games, he did little to show that he might have produced much even if he got 15-17 minutes a night.

Now we're not going to say the guy is Vladimir Vujtek or Lasse Pirjeta just quite yet, but it's clear that Pesonen has nothing to offer for this version of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Look at the guys the Penguins are using as top line wingers on even strength or on the powerplay. You got Miroslav Satan and Petr Sykora, clearly more skilled and established players that are simply better options than Pesonen at this point. Then there's gritty hustle players like Max Talbot and Tyler Kennedy that can bring more to the table than Pesonen in the realm of digging up pucks, killing penalties, taking faceoffs, etc.

Pesonen's getting top line minutes in the AHL where he's an impact player. He's just there yet for a high quality team such as the Penguins. Hopefully Pesonen goes back down, keeps his attitude up and works at getting better.

A pure character..

2008-11-30T00:43:00.002-05:00

We're convinced Zenon Konopka is a minor-league version of a non-fashionista Sean Avery..

Also, during a goalmouth scrum, Zenon Konopka took a drink out of Adam Berkhoel's water bottle. I don't think I've ever seen that before. What do you do if you're a Penguins defenseman in that situation? Do you take great offense? I mean, it's not, on its face, a terribly offensive act. The guy just took a drink of water. It's not like he put his lips on the bottle or spat it at someone. I think you just call him a name and move on to the faceoff. What would you do?

Haha.

...Then Again Maybe it's a Sidney Crosby world..

2008-11-30T00:09:00.002-05:00

So we may have jumped the gun...

--Sidney Crosby was awesome. He had a jump in his step all night long. When he got the puck, he was deking and juking around any defenseman in the way. 3 goals, 1 magnificent assist, +4 and six shots on net. One of Crosby's best games so far. In late October he had that unusual rib/torso injury that seemed to limit him. Clearly that is gone now.

--Mike Zigomanis 11 for 14 in the faceoff circle. Best pickup for future considerations ever? The case could be made. And we get the feeling it will be continued to be made in the games to come.

--Total team effort continued with 22 blocked shots for the Pens, including at least one for every defenseman, and fourteen of the eighteen skaters were credited with at least one hit. As Borat would say, very nice!

--The scoresheet only says two assists for Evgeni Malkin, but that hardly captures how Geno was galloping around, doing basically whatever he pleased making things happen. Malkin's now on pace for 139 points this season.

--Only two players (Thomas Vanek, Jeff Carter) have scored more goals this season than El Sid...Any comments Darren Dreger?....No? Didn't think so.

--Dany Sabs is 4th in the NHL in save percentage and the league leader in goals against average....File that under "things you wouldn't have thought at the end of two months of play"

--Still not a goal scored (yet) for Kris Letang this season, but he played more minutes than any Penguin not named "Malkin" and has blossomed into an established top unit defenseman in the NHL....Which is probably more than you've done at the age of 21.

--1 : the number of teams in the Eastern Conference with a better Goals For minus Goals Against differential than the Penguins (Boston)

--The Penguins are now 7-3-2 at home and 7-3-1 on the road. That's what we call balance.

We're back...

2008-11-29T01:12:00.004-05:00

Sorry for the long delay, with 1200 miles to ATL and back plus the Holiday in there the blog fell by the wayside...Things we think we think--

1) It's good to use Mike Zigomanis in situations to win faceoffs....But should he be sometimes taking full shifts on the top powerplay over guys like Petr Sykora? Even when the puck goes out of the zone and they have chances to change they don't pull Zigomanis. He's a NHL worthy player, but he's got 21 goals in 187 NHL games. Not bustin on the guy, just sayin..

2) Ever since Darren Dreger suggested Sidney Crosby should use a curve on his stick blade in order to help his shot (which would hinder his backhand passes not to mention his shot) El Sid has 7 goals in 8 games....Keep makin' noise up there, Canada.

3) Through now more than a quarter of the season, Evgeni Malkin is on pace for 138 points, which would be the most in a season by any player since Mario Lemieux rang up 161 back in 1995-96....Most would say the best player in the NHL now is Alex Ovechkin or Crosby, but we think that Geno is making his case pretty clearly every single night.

4) It seems a bit odd to say Alex Goligoski reminds us of a "young" Mike Green since Goose is only a couple months younger than the Washingtonian blueliner, but the similarities are there...Other than being left handed and not being as able to rush the puck up ice as a current day Green, Goligoski has become a sensational player that isn't bad in his own end of the ice either.

5) Despite the loss tonight, John Curry is definitely making his case to be the future backup goalie to Marc-Andre Fleury next season. Dany Sabourin is an unrestricted free agent after this season, for the record..Also, listed generously at 5 feet 11 inches, how much smaller does Curry look in the net than MAF (6'2) and Dany Sabs (6'4)?

6) Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, Matt Cooke has recorded 20+ assists three times in his NHL career. Any doubt that he'll get there this season with 8 assists already and doing a lot of dirty work digging pucks up and throwing them to the front of the net?

7) It's not often you see a guy score more goals in the NHL than he did in juniors, but Tyler "Mister" Kennedy might just do it. Kennedy's top mark in the Ontario Hockey League was 22. He's got 6 this season and has a penchant for putting the puck past the goalie at the NHL level. We're betting he'll beat his junior mark, probably sooner than later.

8) Ruslan Fedotenko was a healthy scratch tonight against Buffalo, and rumor has it he's asked for a trade, as he doesn't agree with the opportunities the coaching staff has given him...But it's hard to blame HCMT when Feds hasn't really been effective with the Pens....Still we get the feeling Fedotenko will get the chance to redeem himself and he will score a huge goal sometime in the season.

9) Sorry if that last bullet sounded a little Stan Fischler-esque. Hell, Rusty already scored a huge goal-- remember the OT game winner in Detroit? If Fedotenko's production (or lack thereof) is the Pens' biggest problem for the rest of the season, odds are things are going to be alright for the boys.

10) Therrien's finger on the button to slide Malkin and Crosby together in the middle of games for a jump has been excellent. It's reminiscent of Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg in the late '90s...They can play apart and make things happen, but when you need to get a boost put them together and watch the magic happen, like it did for the five goal explosion that 87 and 71 had a part in four of them in Long Island a couple nights ago.

11) By the way in case you didn't know, Sakic and Forsberg raised the Cup two times and probably would have done it a time or two more without a bum foot getting in Floppa's way.."Salvation lies within" and in hockey, strength lies within the middle. Believe that.

12) Finally, just remember: everyday that goes by is a day closer that Fleury, Ryan Whitney and Sergei Gonchar get to re-joining the boys. Heaven help you Eastern Conference when that happens.

It's a Malkin World...You're just living in it

2008-11-29T01:00:00.001-05:00

Later Gators

2008-11-19T17:10:00.002-05:00

Apologies for slacking off around here lately, we've been prepping for a road trip and are about to embark now. If we're not back on Monday to dicuss, someone call the President.

Fleury injured

2008-11-17T15:51:00.002-05:00

Uh oh, MAF-3000 is injured:

"[Marc-Andre Fleury]'s not going to play (Tuesday)," head coach Michel Therrien said. "It's not a major injury but we don't want to take any risks. That's why we want to be really cautious with his injury."

Therrien confirmed that Fleury suffered the injury late in Saturday's game against the Buffalo Sabres. Fleury still played the entire game. If he isn't healthy enough to backup Dany Sabourin on Tuesday night then the Penguins will re-call a goalie from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Dispite the assurances of Therrien, we wonder if this is something that Fleury has been fighting through for a while; although he played well in the Buffalo game Saturday night, his GAA was over 3.00 the previous five starts, whereas he only had one 3.00+ night in his first 8 outings of the season. Yes, crazy to believe that a coach with absolutely no reason to tell the truth might be bending the situation for his own good, but hey.

Regardless, it’s nice to have a backup who is really clicking right now. Dany Sabs personal stats are 3-1, 1.68 GAA and a .942 save % and even more importantly he has to have confidence and the trust of his teammates for his incredible mop-up duty in the Philadelphia game, topped off of course by the five shootout saves in a row.

But despite how well Sabourin has been, it wouldn't serve the Penguins well if their #1 franchise goalie was out another 6-8 weeks like last season....Hopefully Therrien was telling the truth when he said that this injury doesn't look too serious.

Sydor for Boucher and the implications that follow...

2008-11-17T11:16:00.002-05:00

Sooner or later you had to figure Darryl Sydor would be waived or traded. Sydor wants to play, and unfortunately for him with the emergence of young defensemen Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski over the past two seasons the reality was clear: Sydor just isn’t among the top 6 defensemen the Penguins have anymore. To his credit Sydor was the ultimate professional while going through this frustrating time. While others in his shoes coughMark Recchicough often loudly voiced displeasure and anger at having a diminished role; Sydor kept quiet and continued to be a positive example to the boys in the room. The leadership he brought off the ice, especially lately, was very commendable and he deserves much respect for that and we wish him well in Dallas.

On the other hand, we welcome Phillipe Boucher. This is an interesting acquisition; right handed defensemen are in short supply and Boucher did score 19 goals two season ago before battling all sorts of injuries. If nothing else, Boucher should provide a little more “oomph” on the power-play than say, Brooks Orpik, and hopefully steady what’s been, at times a shaky unit on the man advantage. If Boucher can remain healthy (and obviously that’s a big if) he could be a key player down the stretch.

Our forward thinking mind though can’t help but wonder what will happen when Ryan Whitney and Sergei Gonchar return. Whitney is already practicing and should be back sometime in December—though it is too early to say if that will be in the earlier or later part of the month. Gonchar is still in a sling and no where close to coming back, but he should be around come March. It’s a great thing to have a surplus of defensemen at the NHL, especially given the injuries that can happen at any given moment. But having too many NHL caliber players could poison the drinking water—like it may have if Sydor wasn’t such a good sport—and that would be a terrible thing. Boucher, for instance, has said that he is playing for a contract next year and we can’t imagine him being happy or quiet if he’s the odd man out. A lot of the logjam has been created by Goligoski establishing himself as a full-time NHL defenseman right off the bat. If his play wasn’t at such a high level it would be easy to demote him to the minors for further work. But that probably isn’t an option at this point.

So which two of the eight defensemen (this includes Whitney) are the odd men out? Surely not a healthy Whitney or Orpik. Letang’s played well in an expanded role, and as mentioned, Goligoski has been awesome. The team has been very high on Gill (remember Therrien called him a top 4 guy a couple weeks ago) so seemingly he’s in too. This would leave one playing spot for three veteran defensemen: Boucher, Rob Scuderi and Mark Eaton. Eaton’s had a rough season so far and Scuderi, though a solid shot-blocker and reliable guy, is a 5/6 guy that could be replaceable.

If all are healthy, would another trade be coming? In that case it would seem that Eaton or Scuderi would be the most likely candidates.

Whitney-Orpik
Gill-Letang
Goligoski-Boucher

That’s probably how we would line them up, provided Boucher plays well. We realize the risks in looking even that far down the line, but what do you think? Sooner or later when reinforcements trickle back in the Penguins are going to have some decisions to make.

Malkin bends in ways you're not supposed to bend

2008-11-15T11:37:00.005-05:00

It was a heart stopping moment when Evgeni Malkin went down like he did in the picture above last game. He actually torqued back on that leg a little further before getting it out of that predicament. Add the fact that Malkin went into the boards too at that awkward fashion and it had flashes of Sidney Crosby's ankle injury all over it.

But somehow--maybe by being young, maybe by being a professional athlete and maybe with a little luck--Malkin would get up after a second and then instantly put the whole incident behind him. What looked like something that could have put his season in jeopardy just became another play.

Whew, and then sitting at home on the couch, you remember to breath again.

Gamenight 17: Blue jersey night

2008-11-15T10:37:00.005-05:00

Anyone remember the last time the Penguins used blue jerseys against Buffalo?

Better know an opponent: The Buffalo Sabress
Record: 9-4-3 (21 points, second in the Northeast Division, 5th in the Eastern Conference)
Season series: first meeting

Notable wins: Washington, at NY Rangers
Notable losses: at Boston, Ottawa
Key injuries: Tim Connolly (regret over braking Gary Roberts leg)
Last game: 6-1 loss home to Columbus last night (yikes!!)
Statistical star: Thomas Vanek [12 goals and 3 assists in 15 games]
Disappointment so far: Drew Stafford [2 goals, 1 assist, -2 in 13 games]

Notable Notes: So far this season four Sabres players (Vanek, Clarke MacArthur, Jason Pominville and Ales Kotalik) have combined for 29 goals, everyone else on the team only has contributed 17...The Sabres have given up 16 goals in their last four games (1-2-1 record)...Have only one regular center (Adam Mair-- 54.4%) with above 50% in road face-off wins...Have only two defensemen (Henrik Tallinder, Toni Lydman) that have a positive +/- rating.
---

Hockey night in Pittsburgh as the Sabres are in town from the uber-tough Northeast Division. For the Penguins to continue rolling on their current five game winning streak, it's time to buckle down on defense and have a solid night back there for expected starter Marc-Andre Fleury. As we pointed out the Sabres are going to give up space and a lot of chances for the offense, but how the Pens an get back on D and settle the counter-attacks will go a long way to determining the outcome.

Otherwise, pretty much business as usual. Time for the big guns to get out there and gun, the lower lines to forecheck and cycle like demons and the defense to keep holding both bluelines solidly.

---

TST Opposing Player to Watch: Maxim Afinogenov

--"Hey Jaws, did you know Maxim Afinogenov has been with the Buffalo Sabres since the 1999-2000 season? If you're a Buffalo fan are you not THRILLED with the way this Russian kid has turned out? I mean, so quiet off the ice but such a fancy dangler on it, Jaws could you have imagined IN A MILLION YEARS that he would still be with this team eight seasons later?

For a guy as talented as him though, he only has 11 goals in the last 72 games can you NOT believe it Jaws? But if he can score a goal or two here tonight and the Sabres go on to win the Stanley Cup, how could that not be the moment Buffalo looks back to and says 'THIS is where we turned things around'? Wow, how could the Buffalo fans not be THRILLED if Afinogenov rallies and wins them a Stanley Cup? Garble garble Brett Farve, Larry Brown, garble. "

/Kornheiser'd

TST Homeboy of the Game: Petr Sykora

--We got a good feeling about Sykora tonight...He's been fairly quiet this season (3 goals in 13 games) but is always lingering, always about to break through with a sweet goal or two. Plus seven of his nine points this season have come on home ice. Playing against a team like Buffalo could be what the doctor ordered for Sykora.
--

Add some Nasty

2008-11-15T00:58:00.002-05:00

LIMITED TIME OFFER!

For just the pro-rated cost of $550,000 salary (and a waiver claim) your team can add the nasty edge of Paul Bissonnette.

-Need a scrap or two? He's got ya covered!

-Want to make 'em bleed? Bingo!

-Need a guy willing to "know his role"? You've come to the right place!!

-Like a light-hearted voice for the locker-room? Oh yeah, Tupac AND Biggie.

Hurry, offer expires at 12 noon Saturday, if leftover this menance might just turn against your prospects down on the farm.

TST Field Trip Update

2008-11-13T13:47:00.002-05:00

A week from this time we'll be taking a mini-vacation and going to Atlanta. And if we knew what Puck Daddy taught us yesterday, maybe we wouldn't miss any Pens games there..

Atlanta Thrashers/Hawks: Fans attending Atlanta Thrashers/Hawks games at
Phillips Arena can purchase 64 oz. adult beverages for approximately $8 in the food court area of the adjoining CNN Center.

Yesss. We can only hope this isn't like the mythical $4.50 beer in our usual neck of the woods.

Also, in time for the field trip, we wanted to get one of those purdy new, blue jerseys....NHL.com delievered, but they made a serious error, putting a Captains "C" on an Orpik 44 jersey where the alternate's A was requested. Someone else's order slip (for two t-shirts) also ended up in the box. Is it even worth calling in? We'll probably just perform some surgery and try to remove it.

Game 16: Flyers come back to town

2008-11-13T13:09:00.003-05:00

Better know a division rival: The Philadelphia Flyers
Record: 5-6-3 (13 points, fourth in the Atlantic Division, 13th in the Eastern Conference)
Season series: 1-0 Pens --3-2 over-time win in Pittsburgh on 14/14 by the Pens [Orpik, Zigomanis and Dupuis your unusual goal-scorers]

Notable wins: New Jersey (twice), NY Islanders (twice)
Notable losses: San Jose, Tampa Bay, NY Rangers
Key injuries: Danny Briere (sand in vagina)
Last game: 3-1 win Tuesday night at the Islanders

Statistical star: Mike Richards [5 goals, 12 assists for 17 points, +2 in 14 games]
Disappointment so far: Tyler Kennedy's punching bag Scottie Upshall [1 g, 3a for 4 points, -3 in 14 games]

Notable Notes: Don’t let the 13th place fool you, a win tonight and the Flyers could jump as high as 8th place, they’re right in the thick of things….18 year old rookie Luca Sbisa has been impressive earning a regular spot on an NHL blue-line…Come to think of it, only three defensemen from last season’s playoff series (Kimmo Timonen, Lasse Kukkonen and Braydon Coburn) will be in the lineup tonight for Philly….The Penguins are out-shooting opponents 36-8 in the 3rd period of their last two games…Mike Richards has just 2 goals in 23 regular season games against the Pens….Marty “French Toast” Biron is sporting some Osgood-esque numbers; a 89.0% save percentage and a GAA well north of 3 (3.29).

---
It’s been a rollercoaster this season for the Flyers: they lost their first six games (three of them in OT/shootout) but then won the next four…Then they dropped three games but they just won on Tuesday, is this their turn upwards or can the Pens kick a hated division rival while they’re under .500? You try to figure this team out, it been tough to so far.

For the Penguins, after what’s been the biggest win of their young season, it’ll be interesting to see if the emotion fuels them to a good effort or if some players will be drained and not moving so well. Defensemen Rob Scuderi is looking like a no-go, so Mark Eaton will get a chance to not suck it up out there tonight. How the defensive holds will be critical, Philly is a good transition team that picks and chooses their spots and can jump out to opportunistic goals as well as any team in the East.

---

TST Opposing Player to Watch: Simon Gagne
--Gagne isn’t hurt (yet) and he’s had a great year, second on his team with 8 goals and 8 assists. Gagne also has been a thorn in the Pens side, scoring 35 points [16g, 19a] in 42 career games against. With Briere nursing his vagina, Gagne can’t fall apart just yet on the Flyers.

TST Homeboy of the Game: Evgeni Malkin
--Malkin and countrymen Alex “Deadwood” Semin are playing quite the game of one-upping each other this season. It seems they’re swapping the NHL points lead almost every single night, and last night’s 5 point Semin explosion (heh) puts him three up on Geno. Malkin is riding the league’s longest point streak of the year (11) and has registered a point in every game but one….The contest against the Flyers.

Rare game prediction!
Pens 5
Flys 2
[Goals by Malkin (2), Sykora, Satan and Letang]

Where we welcome back Jordan Staal

2008-11-11T22:57:00.008-05:00

If you're down 5-2 to the defending Stanley Cup champions in their barn with 15 minutes in the game you're probably not going to win. When the hole is 6-4 with less than 10 minutes to go, you might as well warm up the bus.

Except when the youngest player on the ice decides to play like the biggest. Jordan Staal's long shown flashes of brilliance and dominance but nothing like a performance tonight. The puck kept finding his stick and he kept burying it. Big time performance from a big time player.

As we mentioned in the post below, Marian Hossa earned his choice of team's to play for and still didn't pick a bad gamble in Detroit, the league's closest team to a sure thing. However, consider for a second that he turned down a multi-year offer to play on a team where the age of the regulation goal scorers were: 21 (Sidney Crosby), 24 (Max Talbot), 22 (Evgeni Malkin), 20 (Staal), 20 (Staal), 20 (Staal). We're sure Mr. Hossa sleeps just fine through the night these days, but who could blame him if it might take a second to fall asleep thinking "what could have been", not only for this season's run for a Cup but for the years to come.

Pens fans love to think of ex-players possibly returning, but don't count on it. This team has moved on, signing Brooks Orpik long-term and will have to keep using the other money on a rotating cast of supporting characters like Miroslav Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko to fill the gaps around the core. By rejecting the long-term offer from Pittsburgh--in effect what was the invitation to join the core-- Hossa cast his lot in a different direction. We won't know how it will work out in November, if Detroit is dancing with Lord Stanley in seven months time he'll obviously be a smart man (and have earned it). At this moment though, it certainly is satisfying to see such a marvelous comeback from this side. The grass isn't always greener, you know.

The Pens were aided by two penalties the Red Wings took within seconds of each other. This time posed with a crucial 5-on-3, Malkin buried the puck emphatically. It was like a demon was exorcised from the playoffs and the legendary kill Hank Zetterberg and the Wings pulled. At that moment, even though the score was cut to 5-3, one got the sense these Penguins finally were breathing easily, like when Rocky drew blood on Ivan Drago. These guys aren't a machine, they're just hockey players like any other collection on a roster. They can be beaten if you keep chopping.

Speaking of Malkin: if you're keeping track at home that's now an 11 game point streak for the big guy, who's jumped back into the top spot for the league's lead if only for another night.

When Rob Scuderi went down from blocking a shot, it's interesting that it was youngsters Alex Goligoski (team high 28:12 ice-time) and Kris Letang (second highest among Pens' defensemen with 23:19) that the team primarily turned too. And it wasn't all power-play team either, no one on the ice played more team at even strength than Goligoski (23:57)--and yes that includes Nicklas Lidstrom.

...And just imagine the next time these teams meet the Penguins might be able to lean on Ryan Whitney and maybe even Sergei Gonchar instead of two inexperienced players like Goose and 'Tang...But don't get too ahead of yourself, remember these teams meet again in Pittsburgh in February before any chance of another finals.

Mike Zigomanis just wins big face-offs when they count, doesn't he? It's surprising that he never fit in on an NHL team because he's working on carving a solid niche on this team that has no shortage of quality forwards.

Matt Cooke (2 assists, 6 hits) and Tyler Kennedy (no points or credited hits) deserve a nod for their relentless effort keeping the puck down low and those three did a lot to fuel the fire of the comeback. The boys down in the trenches have to do the dirty work and the Pens team just had more desire and effort over the last half of the game.

Michel Therrien doesn't usually receive much credit from the outside but the decisions he made , from personnel (like having Zigomanis out there late) to usage of timeouts were right on the button. Even if you're a fan with gripes about his style it's hard to argue that this man doesn't have the exact right feel for this team when it counts. It has shown time and time again.

We thought even before Staal's game-tying goal with :23 that the Penguins may be able to take some sort of minor emotional or psychological victory out of there, if only to show battling back out of those huge goal deficits. Sure, it would have been hollow, but the sense of dominating the Red Wings a little was there. Now with such a huge win the confidence is going to be sky high.

Pavel Datsyuk is the reigning Frank Selke trophy winner for the league's best defensive forward....Think he saw it coming when Staal--at the end of his shift mind you--stick checked him, put him on his seat, wheeled around and set up the winner? Bee-you-tee-ful. Can't wait to see the tears at kuklaskorner tomorrow.

In the end, as you can tell from this recap, some games on the schedule do mean more than 1 in 82. The Penguins will only take two points into the standings column, the same as any other game they win. But the mood coming out of this one has to be a lot higher than your average win. This a nice one to enjoy, if only for a night.

Stanley Cup Rematch or Preview?

2008-11-11T08:55:00.003-05:00

Oh we know this Opponent: The Detroit Red Wings
Record: 9-2-2 (20 points, first in the Central Division, 2nd in the Western Conference)

Notable wins: New Jersey, at Carolina, at Ottawa
Notable losses: at Toronto, at San Jose
Last game: 3-1 win Saturday night home versus the Devils

Statistical star: Marian Hossa [8 goals, 9 assists for 17 points, +9 in 13 games]
Disappointment so far: OK, so maybe to call them disappointments is a stretch, but the play of both goalies has seemed shaky. Chris Osgood has a 89.2% save percentange and a goals against average of 2.97, and our old buddy Ty Conklin is 89.7% and 3.20 and those respective categories. But those goalies are 6-1-2 (Osgood) and 3-1 (Conkblock) so their unimpressive individual starts hasn't hampered the team.

Notable Notes: The five other defensemen that the Red Wings have used not named Lidstrom or Rafalski have combined for 1 goal, 8 assists and a -6 +/- rating in 52 man-games...Detroit is 2nd in the league for team face-off percentage, winning draws at a 54.2% rate so far this season...

---
When the NHL schedule first comes out there are always a couple dates to circle and clearly tonight's SC Final rematch is one of those. Both teams have been winning again so far this year, both have battled through some tough injuries--Johan Franzen is expected to return tonight-- and both teams are looking to get back to where they got last season. Detroit is averaging more than 36 shots on net a night and their powerplay is clicking at a ridiculous 30.9%. This does not seem to bode to well for the Penguins who are allowing 31 shots a night and have shown lapses in discipline that have led to several minor penalties.

However there are cracks in Detroit's armor: the Wings are giving up 28.9 shots on their own goal so far this season--still good enough for 10th in the league--but well over the 23.5 shots they gave up last season (which was #1 for the NHL). As we mentioned, other than Lidstrom and Rafalski the rest of their defense has not been good and the goaltending play hasn't been impressive either. This incarnation of the Red Wings has been a little more wide-open, covering for these defensive deficiencies by scoring more at the other end, not the same old method of "out skate 'em, out shoot 'em, out control 'em" hockey they've played in years past.

Throw in the "you know who" factor of Detroit's #1 player so far and this game has everything. Don't expect the Penguins to take Hossa's decision too personally, we can guarantee you that you won't see Brooks Orpik go head hunting on Hoss. In fact remember it was Orpik who said booing Hossa would be dumb. These players know how hard a guy like Hossa has worked and toiled in a hockey hell like Atlanta for so long and he earned the right to choose where he wanted to play, for the first time in his career. We still believe the fans have every right to be pissed he chose Detroit over Pittsburgh, but that was the man's choice.

---

TST Opposing Player to Watch: Marian Hossa
--Still, wouldn't it be nice if Hossa got his head down and see Orpik floor him?

TST Homeboy of the Game: Sidney Crosby
--Crosby has the spotlight on him too, coming back to the city he got so close to the holy grail at, plus the whole attention from the Hossa fallout. The thing we've learned about Sid is he comes through and produces in the highest pressure games when the whole hockey world is looking at him. Let's see what happens tonight.

And, oh yeah, because we'll use any excuse to show this, here's what happened the last time the Penguins played in Detroit...

And don't forget about this either..

Enjoy the game everyone.

Messin Around with TK

2008-11-10T00:35:00.003-05:00

No one is immune..

But we definitely agree with The Pensblog, Potash had to be in on it.

"Nothing up my sleeve, no pucks", sure buddy, sure.

Ugly game, bizarre ending...At least Pens Win

2008-11-09T09:31:00.004-05:00

Just remember, these two points will look the same in the standings as a 5-0 win in April. Surely by that time the details of this game will thankfully most likely be buried. And for good reason..

Down 3-1 with about 25 minutes left the Penguins were able to pull a comeback that they've watched so many other teams try to do to them. Though Dany Sabourin wasn't really bad, he wasn't really stellar either in the game kicking out rebounds, pucks zooming by his glove (most just missing).
Shots were 18-1 in the third period. It was almost if the Pens woke up with Jordan Staal's great effort to make the game 3-2 before heading to the lockeroom for intermission. Obviously you could see the Pens felt like they could control the play, work hard and eventually pop in a goal.
How about that Matt Cooke/Mike Zigomanis/Tyler Kennedy line? Joey MacDonald might have had dreams last night of those three buzzing around, controlling the puck, cycling, cycling and then scoring.
Kennedy imparticular had a solid night, 6 shots on net, 2 goals. He's a big time player.
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin each grimaced through 24:14 of play. Though the big boys seemed to be skating well, shooting well and passing the puck with some zip, it's clear that neither is 100% right now and something is just a little off. Despite saying that, each are still creating several scoring chances a game for themselves and their linemates but it is a little unsettling to see them out there and clearly not at full strength.
Blocking shots was a huge storyline of the night too; Pittsburgh got 32 shots through but the Isles were able to block an astonishing 29 more. Pens defensemen combined to have 18 total shots blocked, compared to just 6 they got through to the goalie. Still, have to give NYI and specifically Andy Sutton (8) a lot of credit for being human shields out there. Sutton's a player we haven't always had the highest opinion on as a player, but he played big minutes and was as good as we've ever seen him last night.
After being on the ice for the Isles 2nd and 3rd goals, Mark Eaton only got three more shifts in the last 2 minutes of regulation and none in OT. Rough night for the usually steady Eaton.

SHOOTOUT-GATE

The NHL's shootout is a gimmick and the bizarre ending of it de-credited any good will it may have built. For those that didn't see it, the Pens were winning 1-0 in the shootout, final round for NYI to score or go home. Trent Hunter comes in, shoots the puck and it disappears somewhere in the myriad of pads that goaltenders wear these days. Sabourin's momentum carries 95% of his body completely into the net, the refs close in to see where the puck got caught up.

It's somewhere in Sabs' leg pad. No one can be quite sure, but given that Sabourin's legs were at one point almost entirely in the net up to his skate, it's reasonable to say goal. Nothing can be said definitively or conclusively, of course, since the puck is not visible. But surely the rubber was behind the line for a second or too.

But since the initial call was "no goal", or perhaps more accurately "we have no idea if it was a goal" video review can't conclusively over-rule and award a goal so game is over. The shootout gimmick looked even more cheapened tonight.

Somehow it would have been more satisfying if they just credited that goal and then let the Pens use Crosby, Malkin or shootout whiz Kris Letang to score an undisputed game winner.

But what's done is done and the Pens will take these two points and move on to an away game in Michigan against some random Western Conference team. That game won't mean very much, will it?

The Rangers put a price on class...

2008-11-08T16:39:00.003-05:00

As you may have seen, less than a month since the tragic passing of 19 year old Alexei Cherepanov, the New York Rangers are already angling for compensation...

Glen Sather raised the issue at the general managers' meeting in Chicago two weeks ago, citing CBA Article 8.3 (b) that stipulates that compensatory picks be awarded to teams unable to sign first-round draft picks.

Sather is submitting that the Rangers should receive the 17th selection in the second round of June's draft as compensation for losing Cherepanov, the 17th overall selection in the 2006 Draft who died in Russia on Oct. 13 while playing for Omsk.

"The question is with the one parenthetical phrase in Article 8.3 (b) that refers compensation for an unsigned first-round draft pick who is '… again eligible for the Entry Draft or becomes an Unrestricted Free Agent …'," Rangers assistant GM Cam Hope told The Post. "That language was inserted to clarify that a team would be owed a compensatory pick even if they were to re-draft that player or sign him as a free agent.

"It seems now as if that phrase is unintentionally precluding the deceased from being included as eligible for compensation. We understand that this is a sensitive issue, but with all due respect to Alexei's family and his memory, he is technically eligible to be drafted again next year.

"We are not attempting to capitalize on a tragedy, but there would be no question regarding the Rangers' right to a compensatory pick if Cherepanov had been revived and survived the incident and were on life support"

First of all, beyond the telltale "with all due respect" and hypothetical "if they revived him" scenarios let's take a look at who is eligible to be drafted, per the collective bargaining agreement, Section 8.4:

8.4 Eligibility for Claim. (a) All Players age 18 or older are eligible for claim in the Entry Draft

Ok fair enough, but they also define a "player"

“Player(s)” means a hockey player who is party to an SPC, a Rookie, Unsigned Draft Choices, and Free Agents.

While Cherepanov remains an unsigned draft choice, it's hard to define him as a "hockey player" at the time of the draft next June when he has, you know, died.

So even ignoring human decency it seems unlikely the Rangers legal request would be approved the way the CBA is written. But even if the obvious is brushed off and the Rags are awarded the 17th overall pick in the 2nd round of the draft, let's take a look back over the past dozen years to see who the Rangers might be in line to select along with their NHL stats, when applicable...

1995: Dwayne Hay (WAS)--LW, Guelph Storm [OHL]....79 games, 2g, 4a, 6p
1996: Jan Bulis (WAS)--C, Barrie Colts [OHL]...552 games, 96g, 149a, 245p
1997: Juha Gustafsson (PHO)--D, Kiekko-Espoo [FNL]
1998: Mike Fisher (OTT)--C, Sudbury Wolves [OHL]...475 games, 117g, 127a, 244p
1999: Martin Gernier (COL)--D, Quebec Remparts [QMJHL]....18 games, 1g, 0a, 1p
2000: Jared Aulin (COL)--C, Kamlops Blazers [WHL].....17 games, 2g, 2a, 4p
2001: Alexander Polushin (TB)--RW, Tver THC [Rus-1]
2002: Alexei Kaigorodov (Ott)--C, Magnitogorsk Metallurg [Russia]...6 games, 0g, 1a, 1p
2003: Matt Carle, (SJ--now PHI)--D, River City Lancers [USHL]...163 games, 17g, 48a, 65p
2004: Blake Comeau (NYI) Ohio State University....54 games, 8g, 7a, 15p
2005: Tom Fritsche (COL)--LW, Ohio State University
2006: Shawn Matthias (DET--now FLA)--C, Belleville Bulls [OHL]....5 games, 2g, 0a, 2p
2007: Dana Tyrell (TB)--C, Prince George Cougars [WHL]
2008: Maxime Suave (BOS)-- C, Val d'Or Foreurs [QMJHL]

Yep, those are the average selection of guys the Rangers set their price for class on....Disgusting. But then we say that "with all due respect" to their organization.

Gameday: Trust the Gordon's fisherman

2008-11-08T13:56:00.003-05:00

Better know an Opponent: The New York Islanders
Record: 4-8-1 (9 points, last in the Atlantic Division)

Notable wins: at NY Rangers
Notable losses: Montreal, at Philadelphia, Carolina
Last game: 4-3 loss Thursday night at Atlanta

Statistical star: Three players tied at 11 points (Mark Streit [4g, 7a], Trent Hunter [5g, 6a], Doug Weight [2g, 9a]
Disappointment so far: Jeff Tabellini [0 goals, 1 assist, -5 in 11 games]

Notable Notes: The Isles only have five players with an even or better plus/minus rating and other than our old friend Richard "The Penguin killer" Park, none have played more than six games...And, interstingly enough as the PG pointed out, the Isles are just 1-6-1 when defensemen Mark Streit registers a point

---
Well the news is in and it is good, via NHL.com Sidney Crosby will play tonight. He's believed to still be a little salty in the hip area from some sort of weird, undisclosed injury that happened during the Phoenix game when it appeared he took an unintentional stick into said hip region.

For the Penguins though tonight will be an interesting game. While they are on the road against a divisional opponent, this ought to be a win. The Islanders and tied with Florida for the lowest number of points in the standings so far this season (and the Panthers have a game in hand). No one is expecting much out of the Fishsticks this year and they are not disappointing. With franchise goalie Rick DiPietro still on the shelf, the Isles are giving up 3.46 goals per game this year and have only been scoring 2.46.

But as we saw on Thursday night, if you take a period off in this league any team can make up a lot of ground in a hurry. If the Penguins don't show up, they won't win. Simple as that. They've been taught this lesson a number of times this season, like when Washington got back from a 3-0 deficit, or when the Rangers climbed out of a 2-0 whole in the 3rd period and obviously just last game when Edmonton scored 4 straight goals late in the game.

Getting an early lead is good and exactly what the Pens should do, but generating that killer instinct and giving a 60 minute effort is even more critical to winning the game. Hopefully by now they realize it. Tonight could be the perfect way to show it, against what is on paper as an inferior opponent.
---

TST Opposing Player to Watch: Richard Park
--When you play the Isles guys like Bill Guerin, Mike Comrie and Trent Hunter need to be minded. But Richard Park has feasted on his former team the Penguins, scoring 4 goals and 5 assists in 20 career games. That seems modest but consider Park has a career point/game figure of .31 (172 points in 545 games). Also Park has six points in seven contests at home this season and as we mentioned is the Islander to play in all games and have an even +/- rating.

TST Homeboy of the Game: Miroslav Satan
--Gotta go with Satan against his former teammates here...Satan, with 8 goals in 13 games, is now on pace for a 50 goal season. While he's not Marian Hossa, he's a lot better of a winger than the other guys Sidney Crosby has ever had--Colby Armstrong, old ass Mark Recchi, Ryan Malone, etc. Satan has been feeling it lately

Atlantic Shanny?

2008-11-07T14:29:00.002-05:00

The Philly Inquirer gave a Brendan Shanahan update, in the next 7-10 days they say he'll make his decision on where to go. You don't have to be a geographer to see where he's rumored to end up..

Shanahan and his family live in New York City, fueling speculation that the free agent might sign with the New Jersey Devils to be close to home. In addition to the Devils and Flyers, Pittsburgh and St. Louis are among the teams that have inquired about Shanahan.

We hinted recently that the Penguins could use another skill winger and it still holds true. While Petr Sykora and Miroslav Satan should both be 30-40 goal threats this season, they're the beginning and end of the skill wingers on the roster and something Ray Shero will surely sooner or later address before the March trading deadline.

But is Shanahan the right man for the Pens? While he still does have a great shot and terrific goal scoring instincts, Shanahan's been a shell of his former power forward self for years. Plus he's almost 40 years old and over the past couple years the Penguins have seen up close and personal some of those old boys (John LeClair, Mark Recchi, and to an extent Gary Roberts) lose their effectiveness and production. So Shanahan would definitely could not be a 18-20 minutes a night pure top six winger for the Penguins scheme. He's not an "every-down back" as they say in the NFL.

Still it is intriguing, not many teams boast 600+ goal scorers on their rosters and adding a guy who netted 23 goals is never a bad idea, especially when your chief division rivals are looking to snag the same guy. It will bear a half-eye's interest in seeing where Shanahan lands. Here's to hoping it's not Philly or New Jersey (unless he's got nothing in the tank).

Crosby out of practice, questionable Saturday

2008-11-07T14:17:00.002-05:00

From the PG:

Sidney Crosby sat out the Penguins' practice today and is questionable for their game on Long Island tomorrow night because of an undisclosed injury.

A decision on whether Crosby will play against the New York Islanders likely will be made after the game-day skate.

Although he did not participate in the regular workout at the Mellon Arena today, Crosby was on the ice for a power play session beforehand.

Sid did look like he was skating very well last night (like when he sprung himself and Max Talbot on the short-handed 2 on 1) and he felt well enough to take a slapshot towards the end of the game on a powerplay. But for some reason it did sort of look like he wasn't his usual self, despite the fact he seemed to be moving freely and generally doing the things he does...

It's probably clear whatever he tweaked last week in Phoenix isn't 100%, and if there's a game to miss over it, surely it's against the lowly Isles before the war of the worlds that will be Tuesday night in Detroit.

Still the last thing the Penguins need are more injuries and they're lucky that Kris Letang was able to pick himself off the ice and carry on after being flattened by, to Letang's point of view, surely must have been a large truck of some sort.

Hopefully Crosby will shake this quickly, but even he must miss a game Evgeni Malkin--21 points in 13 games this season, in fact atleast point in 12 of 13 games (and nine straight)-- is easily the best "2nd" center in the league.

A win is a win, right?

2008-11-07T09:00:00.001-05:00

In Casa De Hooks there is a new problem: the DVR is currently not recording shows...But up 5-0 with about five minutes left in the second, surely we could pull away from the hockey game to watch "The Office" and "30 Rock", right? We think the Penguins wanted to be somewhere else too that last frame as well.

--For the first 35 minutes the Pens played one of their best games; they were getting a lot of Edmonton's turnovers, cycling the puck well and putting a lot of shots on the goal. The skill wingers showed skill; Miroslav Satan scored the first goal between his legs and deflected another, Petr Sykora was quick enough to one-time a sudden puck won by Evgeni Malkin, then he deflected a Malkin shot (which was saved) and put the rebound by the battered goalie Mathieu Garon.
--The second 25 minutes the Pens showed they could just about give away everything they'd established. As mentioned, we were off in comedy-land for a while and thankfully were spared the high blood pressure of witnessing the meltdown. But a lot of the breakdowns (deflections here, giving up a shorthanded breakaway to a defensemen there) didn't look like too much fault could be placed on Marc-Andre Fleury. Maybe the 18 guys in front of him wanted to watch NBC comedies as well.
--Rough night for the 4th line (Matt Cooke-Mike Zigomanis-Eric Godard), they were each on the ice for two of the goals. 4th lines have to play "nothing against" because they're not generating much in the way of offense anyways. Being on the ice for two goals against, no matter the circumstances, is inexcusable for this trio.
--But we will give Godard his due, he rocked a young buck named Joey MacIntyre in a fight. Then when MacIntyre (who plays at 250+) totally flattened Kris Letang with a huge open ice hit--which looked clean except for the fact Letang passed the puck a full 2-3 seconds before getting trucked--Godard was there to remind Mac you can't do that. Thankfully Letang appears to be OK, but he was bleeding a little from the nose either from his visor or a stick.
--What a complete effort from Max Talbot; his first game of the year playing 20+ minutes, a short-handed goal to go along with 5 shots on net and a lot of hustle plays that the stat sheet can't record. With Talbot playing up there we think this is the best the first line has looked at even strength all season...And yes that includes the stint where Malkin played with Sidney Crosby.
--Malkin was a tour de force tonight, 3 assists, two of them were Ovechkin-esque (as in they were initially shots) but the play he made stepping around an Edmonton center immediately after the draw and firing a quick pass over to Sykora was a thing of beauty.

In the end winning 5-4 has just as much significance in the standings as winning 5-0. Hopefully the Penguins learn the bigger lesson on display for the night; that if you don't put in a 60 minute effort and try to coast in down the home stretch, you will pay. They've lost a couple games already when they were winning late into the game (Washington, at the Rangers) so you think that lesson would be learned. Whatever the case, a win is a win, now off to the Long Island for a matchup with the unimposing Islanders (4-8-1) in what could be a "trap game" before going to see our old friends in Detroit.

Game 12: Drilling for Oil

2008-11-06T11:33:00.006-05:00

Better know an Opponent: The Edmonton Oilers
Record: 6-5-1
Notable wins: at Anaheim, at Philadelphia, Calgary
Notable losses: at Nashville, Boston

Last game: 5-4 loss last night in Columbus...We watched a little of this back and forth battle; Rick Nash is a monster but Edmonton played a very free skating and lax defensive game

Statistical star: Ales Hemsky [3 goals and 9 assists in 12 games]
Disappointment so far: It’s tempting to go with 19 year old sophomore sensation Sam Gagner here [0 g, 2 a, -2 in 11 games] but we’ll give the honor to Brooks Orpik’s old buddy Erik Cole [2g, 1a, -4, 23 PIMs]

Notable Notes: The Oilers given up 36 goals (3.00 a game) and only have scored 30 goals (2.50/game)….They’ve also only played 3 home games compared to tonight’s 10th road game and after tonight they still have two more games on the East coast…Finally, since starting the season 4-0, Edmonton’s only won two games since Oct 18th.
---

Whew, what's seemed like forever but we finally have a Penguins game to discuss. The Pens layoff after a 1-2-1 west coast swing came at a good time, as dinged up players got a chance to rest. Pascal Dupuis is slotted to get on the 2nd line with Evgeni Malkin and Petr Sykora, while if Ruslan Fedotenko can go it’ll appear he’ll be on the 3rd line with Jordan Staal and Tyler F. Kennedy.

It’ll be interesting to see how this relatively long regular season layoff effects the Penguins; a team that really has only put in one sixty minute effort all season. Will they be rusty or will the couple extra days of practice have helped breed a little more familiarity, especially between sniper Miroslav Satan and Mr. Deadwood himself, Sidney Crosby.

TST Opposing Player to Watch: Sheldon Souray
--The Oilers have a great “kid line” including Gagner and Andrew Cogliano; two very shifty, fast offensive players. Hemsky is always a guy who can burn a defense too with speed or precision passing. But the guy who always catches our eye is Souray. It’s hard to differentiate the speed of most NHL players slapshots, since they’re all big boys wielding cutting-edge sticks that can whip pucks at the net at very high velocities. But Souray’s shot, even to the naked eye, just appears to be a notch or two harder than everyone else’s in game situations. Souray already has 30 shots for the season on goal. Last night in the game we watched he was unleashing shots left and right, 11 in total. But of those eleven 3 missed the net and 4 were blocked. Souray will shoot when he doesn’t have lanes to do so for those unfortunate defensive players out there. You have to get the feeling a guy like Rob Scuderi is going to earn his paycheck tonight in a painful way.

TST Homeboy of the Game: Maxime Talbot
--It’s kind of a cop-out just to go with Crosby or Malkin every game, so tonight we’ll shine the spotlight on another superstar, your friend and ours Max Talbot. Max is set to join Sid and Satan on the 1st line, a position he looked comfortable in when he got bumped up last game and scored a goal. Pair Talbot’s speed and determination with Crosby’s passing abilities and the potential for Satan leaving a rebound and it seems certain that Talbot (or any other winger on this line) ought to get one or two dynamite scoring chances a game…Then comes the execution, so we’ll see if Talbot has it in him tonight to hold up his end of the deal.

Layoff links

2008-11-05T14:39:00.004-05:00

Doesn't it feel like forever since the Penguins have played? There's not much going on, so here's a link-dump for you guys, in case you haven't already seen it be sure to check this stuff out.

--If you're not reading Wilkes-Barre/Scranton defenseman Ben Lovejoy's blog, you're missing out. He usually updates it about once a week or so, and it's a riot. His latest entry about all the birds in Texas and a farting stranger on an airplane is solid stuff. It's interesting to see a candid first person look at a professional athlete away from the ice and Lovejoy's humorous musings are refreshing.

--We also can't imagine how Puck Daddy isn't must read for any hockey fan either about 5-10 times a day. Don't miss the comments on bargain enforcers list where--brace yourself--we actually have something complimentary to say not only about a Flyer, but a dimwitted, numb skull Flyer. (YIKES!)

--Crosby vs. Semin update: no update, at least nothing from Sid. What you expected him to respond? Crosby (already with 21 points in 12 games vs. Washington) will do his talking on the ice, of course.

--Going Five Hole has a good debate laid out for the values of Marian Gaborik versus Jordan Staal...Our thoughts? It'd be pretty tough for Gaborik to reproduce the performance that the "other" Marian did last spring, and Staal is still only 20, we'd pass for now but the Pens will need to add a skill winger at some point, just having Petr Sykora and Miroslav Satan isn't going to cut it.....

--Sticking with the player versus player angle, Bombulie makes a case on Chris Minard vs. Janne Pesonen and shows that while Pesonen is probably the better player, Minard's been playing well against better competition for longer.

--When we were younger, Steelers scat back Amos Zereoue used to be among our favorite players...Probably in large part because it's fun to say "Zereoue". PSaMP has a report about catching up with Famous Amos.

--The Surburban Rob Rossis have a cool comparison of new Penguins and how their old counter-parts are fairing in new cities, so far the new guys are 5 for 7 and even though Marian Hossa is clearly outperforming Satan, Miro's half the price and carrying his end of the deal so far.

--This is yesterday's news, but over at James Mirtle's new digs he had a nice feature on unrestricted free agents that haven't found teams yet. Somewhat sadly, you'd have to think it's curtains for most of those old boys at this point.

--Finally, over in Capital land, Japers Rink couldn't help themselves and would probably take any excuse to have a Sidney Crosby shirtless picture up. Crosby's probably the page-views equivalent of a male Erin Andrews. We enjoy it a lot more when JP does put up Andrews, or better yet Carrie Milbank.

Say what?

2008-11-04T15:15:00.004-05:00

Ted Leonsis is at it again too..

Pittsburgh has a great fan base. Fans will travel from the city to DC-based games or they actually live here and break out the terrible towels and go to games here. They are Skins fans except when the Skins play the Steelers. We experienced that phenomenon with the Capitals too and same with the Orioles when they play the Yankees or Red Sox or the Nationals when they play the Mets.

As we've explained to Mr. Leonsis before, being a fan of a particular team is not a fluid decision for a lot of fans. We'd invite Ted to go to the Pour House or to our usual haunt; the Bailey's in Ballston right below his practice arena on a Sunday afternoon and see all that the only accompanying color to the gold in the crows is black, not burgundy. No self respecting Steelers fan we know would ever cheer for the Redskins, barring some sort of playoff implication that would benefit the Steelers.

If anything, hearing the annoying commentators and fans talk of an impending Super Bowl after every win, and then the “sky is falling” rants after losses give non-Redskin DC area fans nothing but malice to the local team…In fairness, this loathe of homer-ism undoubtedly applies to fans in Pittsburgh that don’t like the Steelers, Philly area non-Eagle fans, etc, etc.

He is right that Pittsburgh fans travel well, though. A lot (like our family and our friends' family) will come from Virginia Beach or Richmond to watch a rare Steelers game in DC. I suspect that is the case for a bunch of other Virginia/Maryland area ex-Pittsburghers. And because the team has been so successful and popular over the past 30 years factored into the large number of scattered ex-Burghers, you see why the Steelers "travel well" to basically any opposing city.

The enthusiasm of the black-n-gold clad fans also goes to disprove Mr. Leonsis' idea that these are Skins fans 364 days of the year and Steelers fans just when they play....The willingness to folks to drive from Richmond, or Maryland, or PA for a Monday game shows just how rabid and loyal they are. These people (blog's editor included) will not go to another Skins game this year, and certainly will not be cheering for the Redskins. Except for Clinton Portis and anyone else who might be on a fantasy team.

2008-11-04T14:07:00.002-05:00

And as long as I'm asking questions, why does this happen? Why does it happen with Penguins games? Do Pittsburgh fans have more money? More passion? Fewer outside interests? Fewer job responsibilities? If a Redskins fan isn't going to hold on to his tickets when his team is 6-2 and playing a home Monday Night Football game for the first time in six or seven years, exactly when is he going to hold onto his tickets? Or is this just an inevitable part of playing Pittsburgh?

Haha, a silent count in their "home" stadium. Yikes.

No sulking here

2008-11-03T11:40:00.002-05:00

Good to see that Chris Minard didn't seem to miss a beat when he was returned back to Wilkes-Barre....

The Pens were outshot 37-20 but still managed to hold on to the game by the score of 4-3....Guess it runs in the organization.

Gameday: Steelers at Washington

2008-11-02T23:41:00.003-05:00

Image taken from Ape's DC Steeler Nation blog

It's not all about hockey here...OK so it is, but today is a special day; for the Steelers are coming to Landover and we'll be there. Should be a fun day and a good game featuring two solid should-be playoff teams.

Oh, and Jason you better get rid of that ball quickly....Deebo's comin for your ass.

Scoring six times is fun...Pens win

2008-11-02T10:19:00.004-05:00

The Penguins should try it more often. 1-2-1 for a west coast swing, not great by any means, but for all intents and purposes it's nice to put that behind us and just move on.

As you'd expect from six different players scoring goals, nearly everyone on the roster had at least a point. In fact it's easier to write who didn't have a point; Rob Scuderi, Mike Zigomanis, Chris Minard, Janne Pesonen and Eric Godard
Pesonen's debut was relatively inconspicuous, though he got some looks on Evgeni Malkin's line, Pesonen only played 9:52 of ice-time and didn't really do anything notable. Clearly HCMT doesn't trust him to be out there too much in a close game, which is only natural. It did look weird seeing a #20 out there that wasn't Colby Armstrong.
The Max Talbot/Sid Crosby/Miro Satan line combined for 2 goals, 4 assists and a +8 rating. They were great out there. We love the addition of Talbot as a spot winger for Crosby; Talbot hustles, he digs out pucks, he's fast and defensively responsible. Plus he can finish every once in a while.
Also, hopefully the Therrien routine of "let's put new skill wingers on the 3rd line to teach them how to play my system" that he pulled with Petr Sykora last season until December and was well on his way to using on Satan too is finished. Satan has six goals, only seven other Pens have 2+ goals. Leave him with Crosby, we implore you!
Malkin runs his scoring streak up to eight consecutive games with his smash power-play goal and an assist. In fact, perhaps more impressively the only game all season Malkin hasn't recorded a point was the Oct 14th win over Philly. Malkin also, at least temporarily, takes over the lead in the league's point scoring race.
Hidden stat of the night: every Penguin that took at least four draws won over 50% of them, led again by Zigomanis' 73% (8 for 11) evening.
Big game from Tyler Kennedy too, who ended up getting the eventual game winner, an apple and his usual energy to the team. Nice to see him break off the snide of a long goal-less streak and get his first goal of the season in North America.
With all the injuries everyone expected big things from Kris Letang, who's definitely been over-shadowed by fellow young defenseman Alex Goligoski. Goose is getting most the PP icetime with the top unit, but Letang is emerging as a solid all around defenseman. Paired on the top unit with Brooks Orpik tonight, check out Letang's stat-line: 25:28 played, 1 assist, +3, 1 shot, 6 hits, 4 blocked shots and a giveaway. Not flashy, but solid nonetheless.

The Pens are rewarded by the NHL schedule with a five day break. There's still some things to work on and a nice time for guys like Crosby, Sykora and Hal Gill to rest some bumps, bruises and fix teeth hanging by a thread. Also, perhaps guys like Ruslan Fedotenko and Pascal Dupuis will be able to return from their undisclosed injuries.

A reminder of how good Mario was...

2008-10-31T16:48:00.003-04:00

Big hat tip to Steel City for this eye opener....

October 31, 1989
Mario Lemieux begins a 46-game scoring streak (39 goals, 64 assist; 103 points). This is the second longest in NHL history lasting until February 14, 1990.

Fitting that we leave you on Halloween with something scary, eh?

Anything but piping...

2008-10-31T12:05:00.005-04:00

The Penguins will unveil their new 3rd jersey on Wednesday. It'll look a lot like the winter classic sweater, but hold the phone there's gonna be PIPING?! Gross, but we'll wait and see for final judgement.

If we were running the ship the 3rd jersey would kind of be like Notre Dame's green jersey: the blue only comes out for special occasions (like a weekend afternoon game against the Flyers) and it's done so rarely and in an unannounced fashion. Since away teams wear their white jerseys on the road anyways this won't be any confliction.

In our time the Penguins have always worn the black-and-gold so it is exciting to see them make this partial change, even if it is just largely a money grab....We'll probably order one up for sure, provided the piping doesn't ruin the classic look.

Kane > Crosby? Uhh, no

2008-10-31T10:52:00.003-04:00

Semin exploded on Puck Daddy:

What's so special about [Crosby]? I don't see anything special there. Yes, he does skate well, has a good head, good pass. But there's nothing else. Even if you compare him to Patrick Kane from Chicago ... [Kane] is a much more interesting player. The way he moves, his deking abilities, his thinking on the ice and his anticipation of the play is so superb.

I think that if you take any player, even if he is "dead wood," and start promoting him, you'll get a star. Especially if he scores 100 points. No one is going to care about anyone else. No one is going to care whether he possesses great skill. Let's say you put someone in front of the net and let him deflect pucks in, and he scored 50 goals; everyone will say "Wow!" and then hand him a $10 million per year contract. That's what they like here.

And as if he couldn't endear himself more to us...

Have you forgiven the United States for stealing Russia's gold medal in the 1980 Olympics?
[Loud laughter] Why would I still be mad at them? Their team is weak now. The Canadians are our main rivals.

I wonder if Semin knows that his wonderboy Pat Kane (who he's seen a grand total of two times in live action) is in fact, American.

As far as the first quote goes, despite playing about the same number of games (224 for Crosby, 201 for Semin) Sid has more than double the points of the Russian player. (307 to 153). We'll leave the impressions to you.

The Change We Need...

2008-10-31T09:36:00.002-04:00

Like a machine not firing on all cylinders, things just aren’t adding up for the Penguins. It’s frustrating to watch and it’s frustrating for them to go through right now. There’s a variety of problems: not enough puck possession, not enough shots, too many shots against, bad penalties, not converting rare scoring chances, losing 50/50 pucks, losing key faceoffs that lead to goals, apparent lack of effort for most periods, and the list could go on and on and on. In fact, if it weren’t for the sterling work of Marc-Andre Fleury and Dany Sabourin this 5-4-2 team probably would be about a 2-9-0 team.

But before we all jump into the deep end of despair check that calendar…That’s right it still says October and no team ever won—or loss, a Stanley Cup eight months before they give it out.

It’s obvious though something isn’t clicking, in two sentences Sidney Crosby gave to the newspapers he used the word “urgency” four times, as in what the Penguins aren’t showing out there but need to be. As if things couldn’t be worse, Crosby didn’t play much of the 3rd period after appearing to have some sort of rib/torso injury that he would only specify as a little “discomfort”. It appears it should be a day-to-day thing, which is a good thing.

So what’s missing this year, why the lack of urgency? Is it simply all the new faces adapting to the system the Pens play? Undoubtedly the injuries to the top two defensemen on the team is a part of it, but the season would be lost if the Penguins hang on the crutch and wait for them to return.

Here’s three options the Pens have…It’s clear something is needed to kick-start them, but any of the proposed solutions could spell doom.

1—Fire the coach
Michel Therrien has always had his detractors and perhaps this time they’re right. He doesn’t look like he has control of the team, surely they’re not operating the way he wants them to. The coach’s job is to keep a team in game shape and prepared for the opponent. The Penguins don’t look motivated, they don’t really look prepared. In hockey coach’s come and go with the seasons, and when a team is struggling it sure is easier to replace the coach than the 12-15 disappointing players. But dismissing Therrien would be a huge push on the panic button, something that might not fly with a relatively young team that’s really only had one head coach at the NHL level.

2—Pull a trade
Jay Feaster, a knowledgable and respected hockey man, is saying the Penguins are having discussions with the Thrashers and he used the word “blockbuster”. At this point that could only mean one name: Ilya Kovalchuk. Jordan Staal+Kris Letang+a pick (and maybe Darryl Sydor to even out the salaries) could get it done. Is it worth it? Evgeni Malkin’s contract kicks in next year and that would mean the Pens are paying three forwards $24.9 million, add in other salaries of Fleury, Whitney and Brooks Orpik and that’s $37.65 million for just six players, with no guarantee the salary cap will rise in this rough economic time. Then after next year Kovalchuk would be a free agent and probably walk to the highest bidder, which surely the Penguins won’t be. Plus just nine months after the Marian Hossa deal are we ready to trade with Atlanta again? And would they part with their lone star a year and a half before they really have to?

3—Ride it out
The most likely option is the simplest, every team is forced to face adversity and this frustrating stretch isn’t the worst thing that could happen to a club. The players need to band together, hold themselves accountable and start chipping in. Down 2-1 last night, for instance, the Penguins had a 5 on 3 powerplay. They score and suddenly the momentum and energy is reclaimed by the Penguins. But guys like Malkin and Alex Goligoski couldn’t orchestrate it, they couldn’t finish it. Execution is the difference between winning and losing and, other than the goalies, no player can really claim to be happy with their season to this point.

Dupuis out, the next Robbie Brown up?

2008-10-30T14:19:00.003-04:00

JB brings it, as usual...Pascal Dupuis is out tonight and Chris Minard (7 goals in 7 AHL games) is up with the big Penguins...

If Minard does get the spot on Crosby's line, people will scoff. They'll say Pittsburgh must be desperate if they're putting a career minor leaguer in that role. They'll note that Minard is 26 and was never drafted and played in places like Pensacola, San Angelo and Anchorage on his way to the AHL. That, to me, is snobbery at best and bigotry at worst. What difference does it make where he came from? If he can play, he can play.

People will say Minard is too slow to keep up with Crosby, but that's not true. When WBS did its skills competition last year, Minard was second in the fastest skater contest, by one-thousandth of a second, to Jonathan Filewich. He can skate.

I'm not saying Minard is going to become an NHL all-star. In fact, I wonder if he can get his shot off against stronger, quicker NHL defensemen. But he's done everything he's been asked to do the last year-plus. At a time when the parent club's offense is struggling, it's worth giving him a chance in a scoring role. Who knows? He could become Crosby's Robbie Brown.

We would advocate giving Minard a shot with Crosby. In the lockout year, Minard played with Scotty Gomez in Alaska of the "East" Coast Hockey league and scored 49 goals in 69 games. Granted, the level of talent was no where near NHL caliber, but the stats are what they are; no one else on that team had more than 28 goals. Gomez incidentially went an Adam Oates-esque 13g, 73a in 61 games if you were wondering.

Dupuis was practicing with Crosby before leaving practice after being hit with a puck, so it would reduce the line juggling at least to slide him into the vacated slot. HCMT, of all people, of course is not afraid to switch everything up though, so who the hell knows what the lines may look like come 10 PM eastern tonight. Minard can shoot and he’s proven can play with a premier playmaking center in Gomez, why not give him a crack, if only for a night, to see if he can do it at the NHL level.

"We have no shots on the power play, this is awful!"

2008-10-30T12:28:00.003-04:00

Kuklaskorner has a new voice that will supply Penguins information (direct link here), which really is way over-due considering they have focuses on teams like the Blue Jackets and Predators. It's Tony formely of MVN, so good luck to him, we're sure he'll be bringing it all year.

This post about Evgeni Malkin's frustration (via EMac) caught are eye. It’s always interesting to see people like Malkin, Jaromir Jagr and Alex Ovechkin give interviews in their native languages even though a little might be lost in the translation it shows their natural personalities better in a more comfortable situation.

Malkin will have his work cut out for him, he's been shuffled back to the 2nd line center position and will have his buddy Petr Sykora as well as one of the NHL's leading hitters per game, Matt Cooke, as linemates tonight.

Game 11: Howl like a Coyoooote

2008-10-30T10:05:00.002-04:00

About the opponent: The Phoenix Coyoooootes
Record: 3-4-0
Notable wins: at Anaheim, Washington
Notable losses: at Montreal, at Ottawa
Last game: 4-1 loss at home to Calgary on Saturday...That's right, once game time comes around it'll be 5 full days since they've played
Statistical star: Olli Jokinen [1 goal and 6 assists in 7 games]
Disapointment so far: Ed Jovanovski [0 goals, 0 assists, team second worst -4]

Phoenix player to watch: We want to say Jokinen (who's scored 14 goals and 12 assists in his last 20 games versus the Penguins) but we have to go with Danny Carcillo. The former Penguins prospect gets his first crack at playing his former teammates at the NHL level. Of particular note is will he meet his old buddy Paul Bissonnette--the two were kindred spirits in Wheeling and Wilkes-Barre and surely were fimiliar with each other from playing in the OHL at the same time for a few years. Carcillo is a fun player to watch, he skates like a madman, will hit and fight at the drop of a hat. His antics are wild, but to reign him in would limit his effectiveness. When Carcillo's on the ice one can't be quite certain of what will happen, but it'll likely be action packed.

Penguins player to watch: Ruslan Fedotenko. He got bumped up to Crosby's line and played well with him in the dying moments of the San Jose game...Can Rusty keep it up? It appears he's been coming around lately and been playing at a higher level than he started the season, a continuation of that (and maybe some chemistry with Sid to boot) could be very beneficial for this game and the long run.

Will the desert air bring back some offense for the Penguins? While "that one" has a famous goal that happened in Phoenix, let's not forget another highlight goal that's been overshadowed...Something about playing in Phoenix lends itself to highlight reels, well at least it has for Crosby and Ovechkin...Let's see if their contemporary Evgeni Malkin can add to the magic.

Say, the Penguins could sure use a skill winger...

2008-10-29T17:10:00.003-04:00

From the NY Post:

The 39-year-old unsigned right wing who'd been advised for months by GM Glen Sather to "sit tight" in anticipation of both a roster spot and salary-cap space opening up to create an avenue for his return to Broadway, Shanahan is no longer doing so.

Nearly four months after becoming a free agent, Shanahan is putting himself
onto the open market.

"I've told Rick [Curran] that I can no longer wait and that it's time to move
on," Shanahan, referring to his agent, told The Post this afternoon. "Until now,
Rick has been under instructions to tell inquiring teams that my focus was on
re-signing with the New York Rangers, and that I was not accepting any other
offers.

"That has changed."

Sure, you can point to the fact that Shanahan is turning 40 years old in January and that's valid. You can also mention how Shanahan's point totals have steadily fallen in the three seasons following the lockout [81 to 62 to 42] and that's another point taken.

But dude's still scored 92 goals in the past three seasons. He's still got the shot and he did score 11 PPG last year. At this point of his career he is a shell of his former power forward self, but he's got 650 goals and 690 assists for a reason. Could he play a full season on the first or second line? No.

But would he be a better option for situational use on a top line (and some rest) while taking a regular power play shift.

Giving a call to inquire about Brendan Shanahan is a no-brainer. He got a first hand look in the playoffs last spring about how great the Pens can be. Join us, Brendan, join us.

TST