Langenbrunner...Pens lose

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.

Afternoon Delight

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.

Pens lose to Caps

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.

Where we welcome back Jordan Staal

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.

Defensemen Corsi Rating

Our boy JP loves him some Corsi Rating...What the heck is that?

It's a measure (here's last night's game) that explains, well, let's just rip off his explanation:

For example, if Player A skates a shift in which he takes a shot that misses the net, his teammate then puts one on goal and another teammate blocks a shot at the other end before the end of Player A's shift, Player A will have a +1 Corsi Rating for that shift. To put it in context, Henrik Zetterberg had the League's best Corsi Rating a season ago and a bunch of Thrashers were at the bottom. Basically it's another tool in the analytical arsenal to gauge a player's even strength effectiveness. Got it? Good

Now, as you've doubtlessly noticed, the Pens have allowed quite a bit of rubber at their goalies, which will lead to the several negative Corsi ratings you're about to see. Further a bunch of Penguins defensemen (Hal Gill, Rob Scuderi, Brooks Orpik, Mark Eaton) have the offensive instincts and put less shots on goal than the kids who play during intermission. To that point those four d-men have combined for 17 shots on goal in 31 man games....But hey, they've also as many goals (2) as Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin do, so you can't knock them too much, the point being if you're not shooting and your partner doesn't shoot much, you're probably looking at a bad Corsi.


But who would have thought rookie Alex Goligoski's at the head of the class? And remember, Corsi only measures of even strength instances (click to enlarge)

I'm just sayin' too...

Sometimes when it pays off, it pays off... (click on the image to see it better....considering how young we are it's probably criminal how little usage of technology we have)





Also if that Dany Heatley could play games 3-82 like he plays the first two he would re-write record books, eh? (If you click the link and the picture you'll get it)

Game 1 Redux...MISTER KENNEDY

As John Madden always says, "you can't win 'em all if you don't win the first one.", and while no one expects 82-0, well, it's nice to get started off on the right foot thanks to some quick shots by Tyler Kennedy.

• Kennedy got his shot on the second line with Jordan Staal and Evgeni Malkin thanks to the effects of an illness and groin injury knocking Petr Sykora out of action for today. TK made the most of his chance, obviously, scoring the two goals on quick surprising shots that Ottawa goalie Martin Gerber didn't seem ready for.
• Coming into the game Rob Scuderi scored 2 goals in 219 NHL regular season games. Guess he worked on that shot on the off-season. Yeah, probably not.
• Malkin was seemingly everywhere out there, flying around taking the puck away (credited with 4), blocking shots (2) and we actually thought, while watching the game that his faceoff percentage was a little better in the action than it looks on the scoresheet (4 for 11).
• The powerplay was 0 for 7 and seemed pretty frustrated, especially in the first period when they got five chances as Ottawa made a bunch of dumb decisions and then paraded to the box. Sidney Crosby showed flashes and Kris Letang didn't look out of place but Ottawa's aggressive PK had the answer today. One can't help but wonder that with a healthy Sergei Gonchar that things don't look a little better on that end. We realize the Sarge aint walkin' through that door anytime soon so you can't think that, but still...
• PK'ing was a big part of the night too, as the kill went 5 for 6 and Malkin (goal) and Crosby looked as dangerous as the opponent's powerplay. It appears they'll be playing more on the kill this season, which is never a bad idea to lean a little more on the best players.
• Marc-Andre Fleury and the defense didn't seem that bad but not that good either. Definitely an opening night, no doubt a little weird being six time zones and an ocean away from home.
• Interestingly enough, perhaps the biggest profile player ofthe evening was a -3 on the night, though Daniel Alfreddson did have 6 shots on goal and 4 takeaways the returning hero couldn't have had the night he was hoping for.

In conclusion, definitely a strange an unusual game in an unusual venue. It's bizarre to think this weekend's game mean just as much as a Wednesday night game in March, but that's the case. And though it wasn't necessarily pretty, the Penguins found a way to win. At the end of the day, that's all that matters.

Breaking Radio Silence

We're pretty sure this past six day break has been the longest we've taken from this blog in almost 11 months. Apologies for the slowness but that sort of comes with the territory of the off-season, especially when your author is without not only material but internet access too (though that is changing tomorrow).


Seth at Empty Netters took an idea we were going to do later this summer and show you the longest continuously tenured Penguin.



Here he is:



Brooks Orpik, NHL (and Penguin) debut on 12/10/2002. There are only two other current Penguins--well three if you really want to count Kris Beech--that laced 'em up for Pittsburgh pre-lockout days. One you should be able guess initially (Marc-Andre Fleury) but the other? Mr. Reliable, Rob Scuderi.

Don't Hassle the Hoss....Pens win

• The last team to win 11 of their first 12 playoff games was the 1983 Edmonton Oilers. That team had a couple of names you might have heard of...Gretzky, Messier, Anderson, Kurri, Coffey, Fuhr. Those guys went on to form the nucleus of something of a dynasty, yes?
• Back to this years Pens, it's hard not to be proud of them. Tonight's game wasn't an aesthetically pleasing one, but by design. Pittsburgh scored two goals in the first 7:41 of the game and then limited the Flyers to 8 shots after two periods of play.
• One thing we didn't like was Steve Downie charging Petr Sykora....Downie made an ill-advised play in his own zone in the 3rd period, throwing a cross-ice pass that was intercepted and quickly turned into a Penguin odd man rush. Sykora eventually got the puck and threw a great pass to Ryan Malone who back-handed a goal past Martin "French Toast" Biron. Downie, no doubt irritated at himself for the turnover, charged in with a full head of steam and plastered Sykora well after he had dished the puck and it left Sykora down. Even though Sykora did return to the game, a hit like that isn't cool. In Game 2 Tyler Kennedy didn't forget Scottie Upshall needlessly cross-checking Kris Letang in the back in the dying moments of Game 1. Surely the Pens won't forget about Downie.
• But then again, this is the second game in a row a misplay by Downie ended up in the back of his net. We wouldn't be surprised if he's a scratch for Game 4.
• Like we mentioned earlier: ironically the Penguins are proving Washington Capitals fan JP right: Marty Biron isn't that good. Sure Marian Hossa has a great wrist shot and there was traffic in the form of a Philly defenseman....But a shot from 15 or so feet is one a goalie can't be letting by this time of year.
• The beginning of the game saw a bunch of relatively ticky-tack hooking penalties, as if the referees were trying to show they were in control of the game. But when Jordan Staal made a great effort while short-handed and a defenseman was draped all over him preventing a shot, no call was to be found. Even Flyer RJ Umberger commented between periods that it was not a very consistently officiated game.
• Total shots for Daniel Briere and Vaclav Prospal combined: the big goose egg. Another testament to how well the Penguins defensive unit has played, notably Sergei Gonchar and Brooks Orpik who the Pens have been trying to match up with them as much as possible.
• Speaking of the Penguins defensemen, every one of them had at least one blocked shot and they combined for 12 as a unit, almost matching the 18 shots that Philly got on Marc-Andre Fleury. That's how you play a road playoff game right there.
• We loved the shots of the fans after every Pens goal. Total dejection. They know what we all know: the Flyers are totally outclassed in this game, and well, in the series too.

All in all, a workman like effort that got the job done. It wasn't pretty, but it was effective. If Malone or Evgeni Malkin could have tied up Umberger's stick as a Flyers' powerplay ended, it would have been a shutout. As it was, a fairly convincing performance.

And look at that, a whole recap without talking about the #1 star of the game (for the second game in a row) Sidney Crosby. He made some relatively quiet plays but when you look back at the game, still ended up with two important assist....Piling up the points almost quietly like that Gretzky guy used to do.

11 wins down, 5 more for Lord Stanley....

No jump, Pens lose

Disappointing loss tonight. Sure it was a division rival and a road game, but looking at the schedule, you'd have to think the Penguins would have to take two points like these to be in the hunt for the Atlantic division crown and possibly first place in the East. Especially on a night when the top rival Montreal held on for a 7-5 win.

Inital game notes:

• Noted Pens killer Richard Park scored the game's first goal early and short-handed. That's pretty much all one needed to know.
• Can't get over just how strong Marian Hossa is. On one occasion Hossa was stationary in the offensive zone, corralling the puck. An Islander took two or three strides and put a pretty good hit on him. Hossa remained standing without even bracing himself and the opponent basically bounced off of him.
• Petr Sykora is a force. We all know his shot is out of this world but he's not afraid to go into the corners and throw a shoulder to dislodge a puck. The Pensblog had a great feature the other day about how Sykora's out-performing many of the top free agent forwards from this summer. And while a lot of credit has to go to linemates, power-play time and opportunities, Sykora's pretty consistent offense has gone a little under the radar around the league this season. He's been a great addition.
• It seemed like the Penguins defense (Sergei Gonchar and Kris Letang particularly) were activating and shooting into the offensive zone. Several times this resulted in sloppy 3-on-1s or even one 4-on-1. It's on the coaching staff to put an end to the careless play.
• Speaking of the coaching, Michel Therrien was just stewing on the bench in the 3rd period. It would have been great to be a fly in the wall in the locker-room after the game. NHL seasons are treated with a pretty balanced equilibrium, after all this is just 1 out of 82. But Therrien's never shy to let a team know what he thinks, especially when the effort isn't there...It didn't seem like it was there.
• Evgeni Malkin played pretty well (despite being a -3) but just seemed out of sync. Therrien made what we thought was a nice adjustment, trying to put Hossa with Malkin and Ryan Malone to see if anything would spark. But on this night, nothing really did.
• Also out of sync seemed to be the 11 forward/7 defensemen lineup; which was necessitated since Pascal Dupuis went to be with his wife (who's in labor with their child). Regardless, Therrien seems to be a fan of playing seven defensemen but tonight was a good reason why not to utilize this.
• So which defenseman should get the scratch now that 'Steady' Rob Scuderi is back? Going strictly on performance over the past 10 games we would say either Ryan Whitney or Darryl Sydor. But both of those two are guys you'd generally think should be in the lineup on a nightly basis. It will be very interesting to see how the coaching staff handles and juggles the lineup; both to field the best possible lineup and not to cast aside a player who could play a big role in the post-season.
• Ty Conklin wasn't that bad and can't really be blamed for any one of the Isles goals. But his aura of the 'Conkblock' magic seems to be gone. There should be no doubt now that the Penguins will go as far as Marc-Andre Fleury will carry them.
• Sidney Crosby ruled himself out for tomorrow night's uber-important Devils game in an interview during this game. Jockeying for playoff positioning is important, but having a 100% healthy and conditioned Crosby for those playoffs is much more important. It's somewhat disappointing, but it's clear that no one is more frustrated to take the prudent route than Crosby. He'll be back (and soon) and the team will be better for it.
• Trival note, but shame on the offical scorers who credited NYI left winger Steve Regier with 3 hits (in an un-noticable 8:33 of icetime) and also said Brooks Orpik only had 1 hit with 19:23 time on the ice....Where they watching the same game?

For a team that's dealt with more than it's share of adversity this season (mainly in the form of injuries) it will be interesting to see how they respond. This last head-to-head game against Jersey is going to be very crucial, if the Pens don't come out with more energy and purpose it could well tip the balance of the playoff seeding.

March Madness

Craig MacDonald....Really?

Excuse the short post tonight, but hey, it's a non-divisional game at least.

The Pens win 4-2, at home, against a basement team. One could say at least both goals against were not at even-strength, but one could also point to the penalty kill. But Bobby Scuds, an important PK defenseman is coming back soon so perhaps it's easy to over-look.

The bottom line is a win for Pittsburgh and two more points in the standings. Evgeni Malkin closes the gap on the Art Ross trophy race with two points of his own (both at even-strength, for what it's worth) and Jordan Staal got the game's #1 star for nabbing the game winner.

On a night where two teams the Pens are jockeying for playoff positioning with (Montreal and Ottawa) both one, perhaps this will just end up being an easy game to hold serve with. Regardless, we're one game closer to the playoffs and one game closer to seeing the return of Scuderi, Sidney Crosby and the badass that you humans call Gary Roberts.

Finally, we leave you with an awesome stat-line of the night:

• Brooks Orpik: 24:08 icetime, 1 assist, +2, 9 hits, 2 blocked shots and 2 shots on goal.....Go ahead!

Onto the divisional sprint.

Todays lines and a new injury

Rob Scuderi apparantely broke a finger last night and is expected to be out 3-4 weeks. Scuderi has been playing on the top even strength unit and killing a lot of penaties so his loss is unfortunate. He's not the ideal top unit guy, but he's played very admirably covering for the Sarge ever since Mark Eaton's injury.

We guess that settles who will sit to make room for Hal Gill's spot in the lineup. It's also lucky that Gill's best traits are the ones mentioned that Scuderi's void will need replaced. A lucky coincidence.

Also, here were the lines used today in practice, expect to see them tomorrow night's game in Boston. Your starting netminder for the first time since December 6th will be old white pads Marc-Andre Fleury.

Dupuis-Malkin-Sykora
Malone-Staal-Hossa
Taffe-Talbot-Kennedy
Ruutu-Minard-Laraque

``The biggest change is obviously Staal will be Hossa's center and Malone is bumped off the top line to join them. We like this. Dupuis is a responsible player away from the puck and his style would seem to support the sleekness of the Malkin-Syko combo.
``Staal has been used as a center all year, it looks pretty obvious that even though coaches/management could put him back on the wing, they don't want to. One has to wonder if Staal is ideal for Hossa's wing though. Eric's little bro has just 26 assists in 145 career games.
``Love the 3rd line though. Taffe has been a pretty reliable lower-line player and hasn't looked out of place in the NHL. We think he might even deserve a spot in the lineup when the injured players come back.
``Speaking of injured players, could you imagine a Robers-Talbot-Kennedy 3rd line come playoff time? What a blend of speed, grit and determination.

Frustration blog

Brooks Orpik was a healthy scratch last night in a 4-2 loss to the Isles that saw the powerplay go a measley 1 for 6 and Dany Sabourin look like a back up goalie.

Orpik won't help any of that really, but he's been a healthy scratch 3 of the past 7 games. Over the past 7 games Michel Therrien favorite Rob Scuderi has a +/- of -6, and he's averaging under 17 minutes of ice time a night.

Orpik blocks more shots per game than Scuderi and has almost more hits (93) than the rest of the defense (104)....Combined.

Frustration is building and many are asking if Therrien's the right man for the team. I've never been a big "mob-menalty-fire-the-coach" type guy, but I'm starting to sway. Therrien's decisions seem arbitary.

It's easy to second guess and be a monday morning powerplay quarterback on anything that doesn't work out, but the results are what they are, and how the team has played versus the talent and expectations is black and white. All these flat performances lately have me worried. I realize the goalie is out, but if anything that should be a motivating factor to these highly skilled athletes to play even harder.

I'm not sure what it is, but something has to change and fast. This team needs a spark in some form. In the past it's been Crosby, Malkin or an unexpected one like Tyler Kennedy or Max Talbot. Someone needs to make something happen tonight against Boston.

Maybe it's just me, but it feels like Malkin always has great games against Boston. Hopefully he can step it up and make some good things happen.

Dressing 7 defensemen

With the return of Sergei Gonchar from his groin injury, Michel Therrien's employing an altered lineup. Instead playing the regular 12 forwards/6 defenseman, he's going with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen.

I can understand not scratching Darryl Sydor; a veteran who hasn't been bad, but not that great of late either. And of course you cannot scratch a player like Kris Letang, he's obviously proving himself as a guy you have to play.

The result though, is players get less icetime. Sydor has about 25 minutes of icetime....For both games combined. Brooks Orpik has been getting about 12 minutes a night too.

I don't run the show, but I would rotate scratching Sydor and Rob Scuderi until injury/performance dictated otherwise. Sure, Scuderi's been great in his role and a terrific surprise, but he's a bland 5/6 defenseman that isn't going to create much one way or another.

Another result of this strategy is that Erik Christensen and Jarrko Ruutu have been scratches.

Night off for the boys tonight before a final game in Western Canada with arguably the toughest opponent of the trip: Roberto Luongo and the Canucks....Haven't heard anything about the severity about Marc-Andre Fleury's ankle, but hopefully it's not a long-term injury. Seemed kind of minor.

One Point from Montreal....

Given that the Pens fell down 3-0, even getting a point from the end result would be pretty cool.....That Sabourin could come in, in a relief effort and yield just one goal (in a shootout, after rejecting 7 straight) could be considered even more of a victory.

So the Pens will have to take the one point, getting just 3 points this past week in three home games against the Rags (win), Toronto (embarrassing collapse) and Montreal (shootout loss).

Some final game notes before the Pens head west to play some mighty strong looking teams (Minnesota and Colorado):

• Old Man Recchi was finally demoted, all the way to the 4th line....Still he actually played well with a kid in his first NHL game, Tyler Kennedy.
• It's hard to state how awesome Evgeni Malkin has been...Both in Saturday night's game (3 assists) and really all year. Malkin played very well in his rookie year in 06-07, but has looked on a different plane this season. If he continues to get settled to the NHL version of the game---which he will, given his age (21), his size (6'3) and his amazing skillset, things will be scary in the years to come.
• Sidney Crosby's goal extended his point scoring streak to 9 games now.....
• A tough night for Marc-Andre Fleury, he gave up 3 goals early and got the hook....But it definitely fired up the team, and as mentioned, Sabs came in and did a stellar job in relief.
• Bobby Scuds (officially nickname for Robert Scuderi) played 22+ minutes and nobody noticed. He's easily the most improved player on the team, if not the entire league. He's been very steady as a defensive defenseman, and even though he was a target of Pens fans critcism last year (along with discarded native son Josef Melichar), Bobby Scuds has been awesome. Good for him.
• Old friend Alexei Kovalev's scrum with Crosby turned the tide of the game. Anyone who still holds the ignorant belief that Crosby is a soft or non-physical player needs only to check the way he stood up for Malkin, and in return see how his team responded. That is solid leadership from a 20 year old captain that's already the most skilled player in the game. Wow.

So that's it of the home-streak, and the first 10 games are done. There have been some bright spots (Malkin, Crosby, Scuds, Max Talbot), some inconsistent play (Fleury) and some guys you know will contribute more some point (Jordan Staal, Ryan Malone, etc).

The Pens have 11 points in the standings (5-4-1)....That translates to roughly 88 points for the season, which won't be enough. But they haven't played the way they're capable to at all, wining a couple games despite getting heavily outshot and outchanced, but also letting games slip away that the carried the play in.....If they can right the ship and play a little more consistently, things should turn around even further.

It's not good enough to be barely above .500; but it's not like the team is happy with just what the record says. There's still room for improvement and that improvement will carry them to a playoff spot. So let's get it together and head west, young men.