Game 2 Redux...Frustrating loss, strange trip

Game two is done and the Swedish experience is over. The Pens struggle again on the power play, Dany Heatley beasts two goals in and that’s basically your game. Is it just us or were these games pretty surreal? 11 out of the 25 players from the Penguins playoff squad were gone due to injury/changing teams and this incarnation of the Penguins just hasn’t look comfortable yet. In a way it’s still weird to see no Sergei Gonchar out there, no Ryan Whitney, no Petr Sykora and, yes, no Ryan Malone…And what’s Jarkko Ruutu doing pinning Sidney Crosby down, isn’t that supposed to be him doing that to Daniel Alfredsson? Strange times.

The Penguins will come back with 2 out of a possible 4 points, but perhaps the journey here of traveling together and the forced team bonding will be more important in the long run than pure results of the trip. After all, most teams had maybe a routine couple of pre-season games this week, not too many have started the season. On top of that, no one’s had the injury laden roster turnover to deal with. The Pens can use their experiences and build off of that.

The season has started, it just might not feel that way.

The Morning After

(picture, espn.com)

But the Penguins never would have gotten there had it not been for Max Talbot, a player quickly achieving folk-hero status in Penguins circles.

Ok, so with Talbot now solidly in the ranks of Gary Roberts, Jarkko Ruuuuuutu and the USS Hal Gill is it possible the Penguins could have more folk-heroes than, you know, actual heroes? That's the mark of a solid team that's playing a lot of hockey.

And If Adam Hall keeps popping in goals he just might be next..

Don't call it a comeback!

....I've been here for years"

The Pens shook off the rust (not rest) and cameback for a thrilling 5-4 victory tonight.

• A couple of quick strikes (2 goals in :14 seconds and then 2 goals in :20 seconds) and the Pens were able to overcome the rust of being off for nine days.
• Clearly your statline of the game belonged to Jarkko Ruutu: 17:04 icetime (all at even strength), 1 goal, 10 hits....And one hilarious (if he's on your team) stick in the face before a faceoff. If Sean Avery thought he was the only one to bring creative ways of being a pest to the series he knows better now.
• Ryan Malone had 2 assists and 5 hits with over 20 minutes of icetime and you won't here his name in any recap. Classic power forward doing his job hitting people and opening up room for his teammates.
• One can't really blame Marc-Andre Fleury for any of the goals he surrendered (except for maybe the great wrister by Avery). MAF was solid and stopped all the pucks you could hope for. He stayed up and in position as much as possible. Even after giving up a few goals his confidence wasn't shaken, as he acted confident and made a few solid saves afterwards.
• As usual, the story is Sidney Crosby. He won 61% of his faceoffs, worked hard and drew penalties and ended up on the night with 2 assists. Which really would have been one goal and one assist if Evgeni Malkin's knee didn't get in the way for the game winner with under 2 minutes to go from the big slapper. Crosby, again, showed how he is the most explosive and most prolific offensive player in the game... He deserved the recognition he got for being the #1 star of the game.

Despite Ottawa once tying a game 3-3; the Penguins were never in real danger in the first round. Going down 3 goals to 0 halfway through the game against a solid defensive team like the Rangers is a different story. But just like they battled back through regular season injuries like losing a #1 goalie and then reigning Hart Trophy winner, the Pens found a way to scrape it out. Rather than go into a corner and die like a wounded animal they didn't give up and kept after it no matter what the score or situation. The Blueshirts thought they'd be the more physical and the more skilled team but that was proved wrong tonight (hits were 48-37 Pens and shots ended up 26-24.) Scoring chances and overall puck posession was clearly in favor of Pittsburgh, minus the little hiccup in the middle of the game.

So in the face of not only adversity but a seemingly insurmountable 3-0 playoff lead, Pittsburgh battled back, showed their skill, and did what it took to get the victory. That's a team with character. That's a team with heart. That's a team that's not only good but is working to get the win. Rarely does a the more skilled team win if they're not working hard; and pretty much everyone on the Pens bench not only "never said die" but put in an honest day's work....And got rewarded, thanks to their skill.

No one can doubt, they earned it tonight. See you Sunday on NBC (Nothing But Crosby).

5 wins down, 11 more to go....

How Sweep it is

(Image from the Pensblog)

Now the Senators can shake the Pens hands...

But who would have thought that goaltending--arguably the most volatile link all season for the Senators--would have been their strongest link in the playoffs. Take nothing away from Martin Gerber; he played a whale of a series. But there is only so much a goaltender can do. Take a powerplay for the Penguins. And Sidney Crosby with open ice. And a perfect cross-ice pass to a streaking, uncovered Evgeni Malkin in a perfect scoring position. No one can expected to stop that. Gerber did. But the rebound popped back out to Malkin who swatted it in.

Gerber made 7 saves on Marian Hossa. In the first period.

The second goal, on a strange Jarkko Ruutu semi-breakaway saw him somehow sneak it 5-hole. It looked like Gerber just lifted his stick slightly and that was a mistake but a small one magnified. Ruutu was sprung on a terrific pass by Tyler "Mr" Kennedy, which goes to show it's not just the Crosby's and Malkin's and Hossa's that are getting it done for Pittsburgh right now, it's any forward on any shift.

The Antoine Vermette 'no-goal' seems to be without controversy for us. That obviously was a distinct kicking motion towards the net. Our only question was whether the puck may have deflected off of one of the defending Kris Letang's or Marc-Andre Fleury's stick.

Shots, at the end were 30-13 Penguins. They've just over-matched and outclassed Ottawa at every turn.

Sens fans may argue that the Pens got too many powerplays this series, but you look at the penalties (like Dany Heatley or Christoph Schubert's slashes or Nick Foligno's boarding) and they're no brainers. The team that works harder will generally draw more penalties and an undisciplined team will force the referee's hands.

Couple of interesting notes to leave you with:

• 5 goals surrendered in a series is a new record for the Penguins. Credit not only Marc-Andre Fleury (who won't have to answer to anyone on his post-season performance anytime soon) but also the entire defense and even backchecking forwards for clamping down and limiting opportunities.
• Jarkko Ruutu, who's been lamented here for taking too many penalties, didn't take a single one all series.
• The Pens scored 16 goals in 4 games, and even more impressively they came from the sticks of 10 different players. You talk about depth and everyone stepping up, you talk about Pittsburgh right now.
• The last time Pittsburgh swept a series, they defeated a young Jeremy Roenick and Dominik Hasek and a 30 year old Chris Chelios to win the Stanley Cup in 1992.

And, best of all, we'll never again have to live with seeing this picture and feeling bad...

4 down, 12 to go!!!!!

Playoff Lineup coming into focus

Here were the forward combinations from Friday's practice:

Talbot-Crosby-Hossa
Malone-Malkin-Sykora
Ruutu-Staal-Dupuis
Roberts-Hall-Laraque


Is Max Talbot skilled enough to convert on all the chances Crosby and Hossa will generate? Maybe, maybe not. But Talbot is a balls-to-the-wall, high energy player that will drive to the net and tends to make good things happen when he gets the puck on his stick.

The second line is perfect. Those three have a great chemistry, and one has to believe the opponents will be forced to match their best checking line and defensive unit against Crosby+Hossa; opening up all the more ice for Geno, Bugsy and Sykora to take advantage of....But if a team does try to pick their poison of shutting down this line, they're going to leave the league's reigning MVP with a 100 point scorer blasting up the ice together.

Jarkko Ruutu is playing some good hockey, Pascal Dupuis has been a dependable all-around forward and Jordan Staal still has his immense potential to live up to. Still, you have to think that once THE Gary Roberts gets in game shape he will be up on this line with Staal and either Ruutu or Dupuis (depending on who's making things happen).

The 4th line is what it's all about. Adam Hall will quietly be a very important player; winning the majority of his faceoffs, killing penalties and playing non-descript "nothing against" hockey. He can cycle, which is one thing Georges Laraque can do too. If the opening series is against a chippy team like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh will require the presence ultimate deterrent in BGL to keep the opposition honest.

Like we mentioned, Gary Roberts is here to wreak havoc and work himself back into game shape. It wouldn't shock us; if and when Roberts proves his is ankle good to go for him to be taking shifts with Crosby and Hossa and terrorizing the opposition. Future aside, this could very well be Gary Roberts' last hurrah....No one who's passionate enough about hockey to read this blog wouldn't believe that he's going to leave every ounce of effort, desire and tenacity in his soul to make the difference in a series.

So what does the practice mean for Tyler "Mr." Kennedy? Probably that he will be assigned to Wilkes-Barre for the AHL playoffs (where they are in desperate need of scoring forwards). Hopefully TK doesn't take this as a slight, but rather an opportunity to make a difference at a level where he'd be a first liner. Kennedy is still in Pittsburgh's long-term future, but with guys like Hall and Roberts returning from injury, his niche is better filled by more experienced players.

The Penguins also have Jeff "Laffy" Taffe and, ugh, Kris Beech as forward depth in case of injury of performance. Taffe has proven to be a legit NHL player, one that can be counted on to play any position in a lower level role. And Beech, well we think it's safe to say we all know what he brings to the table....Or doesn't.

Either way, the playoff lineup is starting to come into focus....We can see what opportunities are on the table (specifically for Talbot and Ruutu); soon we'll see if they make the most of it.

The Magic Number: 3

This game recap, brought to you by the number 3:

• The number of points (a career high) that Jarkko Ruutu scored
• The "magic number" to clinch the Atlantic Division for the Penguins, since they won and New Jersey lost in regulation...So any combination of three points earned by the Pens or three points lost by the Devils means the Pens lock down, at worst, the #2 seed in the East. (Ed. revision: It seems the correct magic number is really 5. We're bad at math, we apologize)

Ruutu now has six point (4 goals, 2 assists) in his last six games, if you're keeping track. Ruutu is just playing awesome right now, he's the player the opponents love to hate but he's also doing more than just chipping, he's killing penalties, bringng energy, forechecking and, yes, producing points.

After Georges Laraque scored his goal the big guy did an Alex Ovechkin-esque jump into the boards/glass. We know we're not the only ones worried that the facility wouldn't be able to keep his 260 pounds in the rink, but somehow it did.

It remains to be seen how hurt Marian Hossa may be after what at first appeared to be pretty vicious on the part of Sean Bergenheim (though replays showed it looked like he kind of "tried" to get out of the way). Now that Sidney Crosby is back, is it fitting that Hossa should go back on the shelf? No, no it shouldn't be.

Crosby had several great chances but they all went wide. One gets the feeling that once he gets back up to speed by getting back in "game rhythm" he'll be turning those chances into points.

Ryan Whitney actually didn't look half bad as a winger, but this experiment shouldn't go on for long. Should it?

If we would have offered you $100 bucks to choose a fight, who would have picked up on the Petr Sykora/Miroslav Satan matchup? Didn't think so either.

A sign of how much Marc-Andre Fleury is coming along; he makes saves on 28 of 29 shots and the one that gets by him he's visably upset. Good sign, Fleury's so in the zone that he doesn't want to give up anything. And after that somewhat weak/fluky play ended up in the net he buckled down, played the angles right, looked confident and did what it took....But Fleury still went out in the 3rd period and played a puck that would have been icing and it almost ended up in the net. As far as he's come, there's still room to grow. Which there's nothing wrong for a 23 year old goaltender.

Here's a sight that Islanders saw a lot:
Brooks Orpik had a game high seven hits (plus 2 blocked shots, and a +2 in 19:23 of work). Not to mention chasing around Islanders in an effort to stand up for his teammate when Hossa was injured. We probably highlight Orpik so much because there won't be a chance to for too much longer.

All in all, this was a game that a team aspiring to be a division (and conference) champion has to win; playing a non-playoff team that's banged up at home and with a much more talented team. The Penguins did what they had to do. Now we move on to a matinee NBC (Nothing But Crosby) matchup against those pesky New York Rangers on Sunday.

Ruuuuuuutu

Usually around here when we mention Jarkko Ruutu it's in disgust for all the penalties he takes. Well, time to give the devil his due, Ruutu played his best game as a Penguin last night.

Ruutu's goal last night (off a Brooks Orpik (!!!) rebound) was his 4th of the year. Modest, to be sure, but Ruut's scored 4 goals in the past 16 games. While certainly not a world-beating accomplishment, production like that will go a long ways towards helping in the playoffs.

Five fighting majors too. Before he came to Pittsburgh I thought Ruutu was some kind of punk that would run around and hit people but then turtle and refuse to drop the gloves coughbrendanwittcough. Hasn't been the case at all.

Ruutu's effort has been awesome. If he can keep it up that would be just great. With the energy he brings and the physicality it's definitely fun as a fan whenever he's on the ice.

Please Malkin Don't Hurt 'em

In a raucous Montreal environment a team could be excused for pulling the Islanders method: just trying to play simple, road team hockey, muck and grind your way to a 2-1 win or maybe a 2-1 loss if the bounces don't go your way. Well the Penguins aint your grandma's Islanders. And now for your "All Malkin All the Time" gamenotes:

• Chalk Alexei Kovalev up as the latest player to visibly try to ratchet his game up to the level of Evgeni Malkin. The competitive countrymen were all over the place tonight, both were the best player on their respective teams.
• In perhaps the peak of the game, with the Habs up 4-3, Malkin high-sticked Kovalev and went to the box. The vaunted Montreal powerplay failed to score for the first time tonight (they were 2-2 before) and Ryan Malone sprung Malkin on a breakaway shortly after he got out of the box. Goal.
• Speaking of Malone, he had a wonderful game. He's extraordinarily good at tossing out those 2 line passes to trigger breakaways and he also added his 20th goal of the season. The big guy was amazing and is definitely playing the best hockey of his professional career in the past 4 or 5 weeks.
• Congrats to Sergei Gonchar on his 600th career NHL point. It was fitting for him that it came on a goal, and on the powerplay.
• Ryan Whitney had another up and down game. In perhaps the micro-cosm of his career, he scored his 12th goal of the season (ties him for 4th in the NHL among defensemen) and dished out 2 primary powerplay assists. But he was weak in his own end and was on the ice for three of the goals Montreal scored.
• Just as Malkin took that high-sticking penalty the Montreal crowd took to sing-songing his name in a fimiliar chant. After he delievered the dagger, they had nothing to say. Perhaps the lesson was learned: taunt Zhenya at your own risk.
• Malkin was flying all over the place, credited officially with a game high 3 takeaways. He was literally backchecking like a man possessed and just effortlessly stealing pucks away from sticks. Not only has he been the best offensive player in the league since Christmas, he's been one of the most well-rounded forwards out there as well.
• Dany Sabourin had an up and down night too. He wasn't particularly sharp and was caught cheating a little too far by Montreal's sharp-shooting powerplay. But he did his part to hold the team in the game when he had to; no spectacular or inspiring saves but a nice performance.
• It seemed like a pretty quiet performance for Petr Sykora, but it's anything but a quiet stat-line at the end of the night: 2 assists and a +2
• Jordan Staal fired 6 shots on net and Colby Armstrong had a game high 5 hits. Keep it up boys, the work will eventually pay off. Just ask Jarkko "Maurice Richard" Ruutu..

One gets the feeling that the atmosphere in both barns, should it happen, for a Canadiens/Penguins playoff series would be absolutely electric. Both teams don't just play aggressive, they play to win. They have deadly powerplays and don't know how to take the foot off the gas.

Pens win, Pens win

In what's been a common occurrence...

• The Penguins win
• The Penguins get heavily outshot
• The Penguins lose more faceoffs than they win
• Sergei Gonchar gets a powerplay point
• Evgeni Malkin has a multipoint game
• Jarkko Ruutu scores a goal

Ok, so only the last bullet point hasn't been that common of a happening, but it was important for Pittsburgh to win tonight, lest this become their third loss in a row in what starts a 7 game stretch in 12 games.

Also some notes:

• We'll give Coach Therrien credit for shuffling lines a little. The unit of Malone-Malkin-Sykora hadn't generated an even strength goal in 2 games and the whole team struggled. Therrien was smart enough to keep his two most skilled guys together and add Maxime Talbot to the mix. Talbot brought his usual energy and determination and I thought he did well to generate chances (including Malkin's back-breaker of a goal).
• Speaking of Geno, he's now just one point behind Alex Ovechkin, with a game in hand. Perhaps the trophy engravers should wait a minute or two; a lot of the awards that most conceded to Ovechkin a couple weeks ago are very much up for grabs.....Just imagine what Malkin's going to do on the powerplay in a couple of weeks when Sidney Crosby does get back.
• Due to EC and Kris Beech's injuries some new faces got in the lineup and particularly Connor James made a better impression than his last stint.
• What a tribute to the Pens organizational depth to be missing so many regulars for so long and have players young and old to step up from the AHL and contribute. This year's regular season success is starting to match last season's remarkable turnaround but there's no doubt that this has to be more satisying; there's been tons more adversity to deal with and the core has kept getting favorable results despite the key injuries.
• Ty Conklin is now 15-4-3. 15-4-3. Sorry, just had to type that again.
• Ryan Malone handled his demotion well, generating two assists, the first one a perfect two-line breakout pass to Ruutu who had just exited the penalty box.
• Nice to see Ruutu and Colby Armstrong get goals. Obviously these guys aren't going to--or are supposed to--contribute at top tier rates, but as we know depth and secondary supporting is necessary and has to come from somewhere. Can't be Malkin and Sykora shouldering all the burden every single night.

Run Steve Downie, Run

I too find just walking away from strenuous activities after about a minute is the best course of action. Here's the Jarkko Ruutu vs. Steve Downie fight from last night....


Also, Riley Cote must have decided not to take his usual beating from BGL...Which means Colton Orr wasn't the only punching bag to escape unscathed yesterday.

Pain in the (Gl)ass

Another cool TSN feature: who's the #1 pest in the league?

All are on there for good reason, but surprisingly Jarkko Ruutu didn't make the list. Wow.

Sweater Ted Top 3:

3. Steve Downie (Young but given time I'm sure he'll be moving up in these rankings, not down)

2. Daniel Carcillo (Hey, he missed 15 games and is still #1 in the league in PIMs. No one racks up misconducts like the former Penguin prospect)

1. Sean Avery (He's pretty hateable.)

(thanks to kuklaskorner for the image)

A look at the facts before Ruutu is suspended

Surely by now you've seen this, but take another look to keep it fresh in your head as we lay out the case for and against Jarrko Ruutu.

The case for Ruutu:

• He went in to finish a check against a player. Normal hockey play, happens tons of times. On this occasion, however, the opponent saw him coming and tried to lean out of the way. Well, he got his upperbody away from Ruutu, but his lowerbody was still in the crosshairs and he took the brunt of the impact in the knees.
• Ruutu did not lead with his legs, did not seek the legs. The opponent tried to evade at the last second and boom, what was done was done.
• Ruutu was given 20 minutes worth of penalties (kneeing, game misconduct and a fighting major). Aside from leaving his team with 10 regular forwards, it granted the opposition a 5 minute powerplay.
• As we mentioned last post, why the fighting major? Ruutu did not drop his gloves, did not throw a punch. Basically he was mugged by a teammate standing up for his guy. Not that there is anything wrong with what Steve McCarthy did, but he deserved his 5 for fighting and an instigator. Ruutu, a non-participant, shouldn’t have been slapped with an additional major for fighting.
• To our knowledge, despite Ruutu’s reputation, he’s never been suspended by the NHL. Much of Ruutu’s image comes from when he took a run and put a nasty (and dirty) elbow to Jaromir Jagr’s head at the 2006 Olympics. Ruutu does lead the leagues with 3 diving penalties, and had to have a mandatory phone call with the league but even they admitted that some of those calls where a bit excessive, that Ruutu’s reputation probably lead to them and he did not deserve to be suspended a game (as is the league’s right).

To be fair, the case against Ruutu:

• His reputation proceeds him. He may not have been suspended (yet) but he has a history of, at the very least “questionable” hits. Also trouble seems to follow him around. He is cast as a pest and an agiator and he plays that role very well. But it’s a thin line to cross before taking penalties, etc.
• It’s a league of stars and he just took out a guy who is 2nd in the league in goals. On purpose or not, he injured a star’s knee (severity unknown) no less, which other than a headshot is probably the most reprehensible thing a player could do..

The Ilya Kovalchuk factor
**Disclaimer: No one deserves to get hurt and we’re not suggesting Kovalchuk “had it coming”, but there is a factor here, so do consider it.**

• The victim is no angel himself; having just coming off suspension that could have been longer for running a defenseless player into the boards.
• Kovalchuk probably set himself up for at least getting checked every available chance by showing up the Penguins bench after he scored a first period goal. He also has a history of pointing at/provoking Penguins, notably Sidney Crosby. For better or worse Kovalchuk put a target on himself by acting unprofessional and directly taunting his opponents.

Again, we repeat, no one deserves to be injured and we’re not happy or satisfied to see a skill player suffer a knee injury. Just sayin’ the public outcry of "suspend, suspend, suspend!" isn't always just. So put down the pitchforks and extingush the torches and look at the facts again.

We came up with more of a case for him then against him, because that's how we see it. Is it biased? Perhaps. But the cons may outweigh the pros, especially since it's in Colin Campbell's hands now.

A No Point Night

Well, that sucked. On to the game comments:

--Watching the TSN feed, they point out Evgeni Malkin has 16 goals in the past 17 games. Quality stat from a quality channel.
--The sure to be Jarrko Ruutu fiasco....If you look closely, Ruutu comes into finish his check with his shoulder. Ilya Kovalchuk pulls away with his upper body and the only thing Ruutu connects with is Kovalchuk's legs, in an awkward position. 5 minutes for kneeing? More like 5 minutes for a bad reputation. Also, how did they tack on a fighting major? ATL's Steve McCarthy stood up for his teammates and immediately dropped the gloves and tried punching Ruutu, but Ruutu turned and was pinned against the bench and McCArthy only connected with the back of his helmet. Ruutu never threw a punch, never dropped the gloves, never made any action remotely resembling a fight but is still handed out a fighting major which ended up giving the Tbombs a PP. Ridiculous!
--We'd have to agree with what TST favorite Matthew Barnaby said during the intermission on TSN (paraphrased): Yeah they shouldn't have counted the apparant Nathan Smith goal since it was technically a kicking motion, but since he didn't even lift his skate to re-direct it perhaps it shouldn't have mattered since he demonstrated that much skill in deflecting the puck while seemingly stopping without really kicking it home.
--Right off the bat in the 3rd period Erik Christensen goes real hard to the net but can't pull th move he loves on shootouts but does pull the penalty. But on that PP;
--Sergei Gonchar misplays the puck, makes a diving effort in vein; Eric Perrin uses his speed to catch up with it and snaps a good shot and that's basically the game.
--It was nice to see the Pens avoid the shutout with a goal by Ryan Whitney after a terrific shift of cycling and puck domination by Christensen, Jordan Staal and especially Maxime Talbot did their thing.
--Georges Laraque was a -2 in 6:02 TOI. He did have a golden chance but failed to convert. Not a very good game for BGL. As a veteran and experienced player you'd expect/hope him to have a bigger impact.

--How many times did Malkin fall tonight for no reason? Too many for no reason at all. Credit the coaching staff for a cool new breakout though: Malkin carries the mail through the neutral zone like he loves to do, then when the opponents swarm on him, he drops the puck to Gonchar who's two steps behind and Gonchar quickly rifles a pass to a winger who gains entry to the zone and Malkin or the other winger isn't offsides, even at full stride. A nice adjustment from the coaches, keying in to the other team swarming on Malkin.
--As great and confident as Kris Letang played last night....Well he just didn't show any of it tonight.

Still a night that very much looked like a tired team. We predicted here that perhaps ATL would be a little slow in the start but that didn't come true. From open to start and top to bottom they were the better team and carried the play.

The Pens have about 72 hours off now; you'd imagine that they'll get at least 1 NHL caliber player back (Colby Armstrong) and maybe a fringe skill player in Kris Beech. Jeff Taffe (who took a double minor high stick and hardly played afterwards) and Alain Nasreddine should sit. Shift Brooks Orpik back to the blueline, for the love of all that's good and holy.

A missed opportunity to be sure, but it's hard to be that upset considering the team just won a highly contested and emotional battle AT a divisional rival less than 24 hours earlier.....All the Pens can do is try to regroup and come out strong for Carolina on Saturday night.

Orpik wants to stay....But why?

Gary Roberts, Georges Laraque, Mark Eaton, Jarrko Ruutu, Adam Hall, Ryan Malone and Brooks Orpik

What do those seven Penguins skaters have in common? As of July 1 they are free to find another place to play.

Ray Shero, smartly, has only signed veterans for a term of one or two years, preferring to spend the lion-share of the team’s cap room on the nucleus of the franchise’s core. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to identify the core: it’s Crosby, Malkin, Fleury, Staal and Whitney. And it shouldn’t be a surprise.

All of the impending unrestricted free agents are pretty good at what role they’re cast to. They’re veterans and most, as you’d expect, are predictably reliable. None, however, are cornerstones to the team and it’s not a stretch to imagine the majority of this list could be plying their craft somewhere else starting next fall.

There are two players of this bunch that intrigue us here at TST the most. They probably intrigue most Pens fans and observers because they have the complete package: size, skill, reasonable speed, physicality and most hauntingly “the potential of youth”. Ryan Malone and Brooks Orpik, though almost UFA ready still seem like they have the potential to have a bigger impact than they’ve since shown. Both lack consistency. Both have shown flashes of brilliance.

Thanks to the new Collective Bargaining Agreement Malone (28) and Orpik (27) are years younger than the tradition unrestricted free agent. Malone’s NHL career is just 266 games so far and Orpik has only 264, which is just over 3 seasons worth for both. It’s strange to think both are hitting the open market when it seems like they’re just getting started.

We bring this up over something Orpik said in today’s Post-Gazette.

Even though there have been times this season when Orpik has fallen out of favor with the coaching staff, he said he'd be "very receptive" to negotiating a deal to remain with the Penguins.
"I've loved all the time I've had here," he said. "I love the guys here, love the direction Ray [Shero, the general manager] has put the organization in. Everything here is done first-class, very professionally."
While there clearly would be a market for a defenseman with Orpik's willingness -- and ability -- to play the body, he expressed no great desire to test the open market.
"Some guys get really upset with where they're at," Orpik said. "They can't wait to get to July 1 to get out of a situation. ... I've talked with a lot of guys I've played with here who have gone other places, and they kind of wish they could come back."

While we don’t doubt Orpik must enjoy his teammates and the only organ-eye-zation he’s ever known, doesn’t he have an agent? One that could tell him that if a 32 year old Andy Sutton can fetch $9 million over three years then dangit Brooks, you can too.

Also a new opportunity might do Orpik well. As the article alludes to, he’s been benched, gone through a long streak of sitting in the press box (including once in his hometown of Bahhston) and even when he’s in the lineup he’s averaged 16:46.

Orpik’s done his part to make his minutes count, with a team high 129 hits. He is the only physical defenseman on the roster, given the next blueliner is Kris Letang (39 hits in 31 games) and, brace yourself, the Sarge (34 hits in 45 games).

But physical play doesn’t always translate into smart play or indicate the coaches are happy with your performance. Orpik is on the ice for penalty kills a mere :42 a game. He mans a point on the powerplay (if you can call it that) for an average of :50 a game.

So you’re a physical defenseman but the coaches don’t trust you on the PK. You’re getting less icetime than a 20 year old rookie. You have the chance for a big payday with a team that will fall for your big hits and “potential” for more consistency. But you want to stay?

We’ll see how this pans out, we’d love to see Orpik stay and love even more for his performance (and minutes) to pick up but we just can’t see it happening.

By the way, UFA predictions:

• Ruutu: Didn’t get a bigger role, 80% chance of leaving
• Laraque: Still is happy here, team still needs that presence, 75% staying
• Eaton: Great when not injured, problem is injured too much, 50% staying (we think the Pens might not want him for durability fear, not Eaton wanting to leave)
• Hall: Great roleplayer and PK’er but his type is a dime-a-dozen 40% of staying just since Shero knows him so well
• Roberts: whatever he wants to do, stay, go to a Canadian team, retire…As usual Gary’s calling the shots, 100% awesome
• Malone: Pittsburgh boy, hard to see him leaving when he’s so comfortable with team/city but it is UFA; 50% chance of staying
• Orpik: Saying all the right things but all signs are pointing to a departure, 25% chance of staying (due to above comments)
  
  

Jokes and jokes and jokes

This article on Jarrko Ruutu yesterday got me thinking about all the pranks the Penguins have pulled in the past 12 months….Many have made it to the media so we can only wonder what hasn’t been reported and isn’t common knowledge. My guess: a lot of good stuff.

But here’s what we know:

--Someone (believed to be Ruutu) put baby powder all over Sidney Crosby’s towel so when he used it he was covered in it.
--Someone (again thought to be Ruutu) sewed the pants legs of rookie Kris Letang’s suit together.
--Max Talbot wore Crosby’s jersey and helmet out to a game-day skate duping thousands in Toronto.
--Marc-Andre Fleury stuffed himself inside of Colby Armstrong’s hockey bag while the team was in practice, waited patiently and then jumped out of it when Army was about to put his gear in.
--Armstrong and Georges Laraque staged a locker room confrontation last season just weeks after Laraque was acquired. The rouse was that Laraque found a racist drawing in/near his locker and accused Armstrong of it. Army denied but then admitted to it at which point he was “attacked” by BGL, much to the horror of the team.

As mentioned, we’re sure guys like Armstrong and Talbot have pulled a lot more pranks that have never (and probably never will) reach the light of day.

Why so much goofing around and light-hearted fun? Well, for one it's very a young team, the average age in the lineup last night was 26.15. When Talbot and Fleury return, that age will be lower still. And if you take into account some of the more veteran players (namely Laraque and Ruutu) that do not act their age; well that ought to bring the average down further. Sure there are some pretty vanilla guys like Rob Scuderi and Adam Hall that come to the rink every day to do their job and not much else, but the out-going nature of a whole host of individuals on the team keeps everyone on their toes, on the lookout for no shortage of mischievous activity.
Plus, when you have a winning atmosphere, things are naturally a little looser and a little more jovial than if you're not.

We also like that whether you're the face of the NHL's marketing push or a fresh-faced rookie, you have the same chance of getting a prank pulled on you. It's hard to imagine someone pulling this even on Mario Lemieux back in the mid-80s. Just goes to show, when it comes to the locker room Sid really is "just another one of the boys".

Jarrko Ruutu vs. Darcy Tucker

Complete with a punch counter!

Hat Tricks, Hockey goalies, Beatings and Winning: Penguins Hockey

I openly wondered/question if the Penguins would be good enough to go on a serious winning streak that could catapult them into the playoffs. Perhaps it should be no surprise, after a 5th win in a row; that a team featuring the talents like Crosby and Malkin could fire off a bunch of wins in a row. But taking into account the injury bug that has put several key players on the bench long-term, well that’s an accomplishment.

Enter perhaps the most unassuming and unlikely stars in a while, Ty Conklin. The Conk is now a blemish less 6-0-0 with a 2.30 GAA and a 92.8% save percentage. On top of those numbers, he’s surrendered just 8 goals in the past 5 games. Pretty much every game in the last five he’s been the guy holding the often out-shot Penguins in the game and last night was no different when he stopped 33 of 35 shots his was.

The tide of the game was turned by Jarrko Ruutu’s pounding of pesty Darcy Tucker (more later). As predicted here, between the unusual circumstances physically and emotionally of the Winter Classic game two days earlier, the Penguins were a in a little bit of a rut last night. The score was tied 1-1 at the time but they were being badly outshot and in danger of letting a winnable game slip away. Enter Ruutu to provide a spark.

3 goals in the span of :48 seconds is unbelievable. That absolutely buried the Make Beliefs and ended any doubt of which team would get the win that night.

Brooks Orpik, we feel, is sliding back into favor with the coaching staff. He played over 20 minutes (first time in a while) and was a +3 on the night.

How about Evgeni Malkin’s first career hat-trick? Even more impressive, it only took 4 shots on goal to make it happen. That’s the kind of efficiency the Penguins demonstrated all night, scoring 6 goals on but 24 shots on target.

Rough night for Nik Antropov in the faceoff circle, he went 4 out of 16 draws. Very nice!

Looking Ahead:
``The Penguins have but 3 divisional games in the month of January, a good thing considering they have the worst divisional record in hockey.

``By contrast they have still 7 more games with SouthLeastern division opponents, who have combined for 197 points in 206 games (under 50% of possible points) and only have 1 team with more points in the standings than games played (which is Carolina, who’s not on the Pens schedule this month)

``For comparison the Atlantic Division has a combined 222 points in just 196 games and every team has more points than games played.

In conclusion, there are a lot of winnable games ahead, but let’s remember the trouble Pittsburgh has had winning against the Florida teams, particularly Tampa Bay, who’s always, in recent memory, seemed to have the Pens number.