Beating back the Blue Jackets...Pens win

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Offensive eruption

Ohhh so THAT's what Ruslan Fedotenko looks like in a Pens jersey...

As we noted in the preview, Michael Leighton's been on his game as of late and it certainly showed for the

• Evgeni Malkin looked like a man against boys out there, circling the entire defense with the puck at points, firing five shots on goal. He was rewarded by the hockey gods at the end of the game to get his goal back to that was "stolen".
• Speaking of that, Sidney Crosby wasn't sure where his stick was in relation to the cross-bar, so he played it coy to the refs, not taking credit for the puck he clearly deflected. Savvy move there.
• Crosby is on a four game point streak in which he's scored 9 points...Not to be outdone, Malkin is also on a four game point streak which has seen him score 10 points...Anything you can do..
• Another typical Brooks Orpik statline: 22:40 icetime, +1, 5 hits, 5 blocked shots, 1 takeaway and 1 giveaway...Not too bad, eh?
• Too bad that lone innocent looking giveaway was a hideous misfire by Orpik on a pass that 18 year old Brandon Sutter took in for Carolina's lone goal.
• By the way, some intrepid person (won't be us) should compile a list of players who have scored their first career goal against the Pens over the past 2-3 years. It would be staggering. This sounds like something Seth would be good at..
• It was nice to see the much maligned second line of Ruslan Fedotenko-Jordan Staal-Petr Sykora all combine for some tic-tac-toe passing to slam the GWG home. Everytime you write Staal off as not a playmaker he'll pull a pass like that out of his hat.
• Michel Therrien better be careful....People could fall in love with the "3rd" line of Tyler Kennedy-Max Talbot-Miroslav Satan. They had a shift for the ages in the dying moments of the second, taking ownership of the puck down low. Could any 3rd line in the league boast the sheer speed, skill and determination of this trio? We doubt it.
• Marc-Andre Fleury was stellar again in net and was thisclose to scoring an empty net goal for himself. We have no problem with him shooting for the moon, so long as it's a 2 goal game.

So who thought the Pens would be 5-2-1 after eight games while missing Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney? Not many.

This neatly wraps up one segment of the season, the "Post-Stockholm Recovery" of having five of six at home...Now a new segment, a trip to New York to face the 6-2-1 Rangers and then three games out west. Tall challenges on the horizon for sure, but for now it's ok to sit back and enjoy the satisfaction of a two point night.

Game 6: Hockey Night in Crosby

Increased hugging, another direct side-effect from teaming Geno and Sid up.

Something about the "Hockey Night in Canada" spotlight always seems to make Sidney Crosby shine the brightest....Not such a bad idea to put him on a line with Evgeni Malkin, eh?

• 14 different Penguins (all but Crosby, Malkin, Tyler Kennedy and Miroslav Satan) blocked shots. A much better team effort tonight in that regards.
• 27 shots, 26 saves. Another routine night of excellence for Marc-Andre Fleury.
• As we mentioned, the newly formed top line with Crosby, Malkin and Pascal Dupuis worked. They generated 2 even strength goals, and one thing to keep an eye on is how well Dupuis is keeping up. He had 4 shots on a goal, one more than Malkin and Crosby had combined. A Crosby/Malkin combination is only as effective as the third piece of the puzzle and Dupper did well tonight.
• With the statistical outbreak, Malkin (4 assists) and Crosby (1 goal, 3 assists) outproduced, in one night, Alex Ovechkin's season so far (2 goals, 1 assist). Just sayin'....
• The night's games aren't over yet, but at this moment Malkin is your at-the-moment scoring leader in the league this season with 2 goals 8 assists in six games.
• Another league leader at-the-moment is Brooks Orpik and his 25 hits. It should be noted the Pens have had their team employed statisticians for every game of the season so far (they went to Sweden) but anyone who's watched the games could tell you that the most of Orpik has come by his accredited hits mostly honestly. And the Pittsburgh stats people are fairly reasonable, unlike some other cities that don't tend to give visitors hits.
• The Penguins again killed it in the face-off circle, winning 61%. Crosby was awesome, winning 73% of his draws (16 for 24).
• As you'd probably expect with a 4-1 final, the Pens won the special teams battle going 2 for 4 on the powerplay and 5 for 6 killing Toronto penalties.
• First too-many-men on the ice call of the year, wooo! We think the Pens should definitely have one of those counter things that you see at industrial worksites "XX days without a too many men call"..That sounds like a Dan Potash project to us.
• Toronto's 18 year old rookie, Luke Schenn, is a keeper. It's so hard to make the jump to the NHL as a defenseman at that age but he's done it and doesn't look out of place at all. The scary thing is he was the third defensemen taken in the draft too, looks like an excellent class.
• A couple of banner moments: Crosby's 100th career goal and 300th career point (but not on the same play) and Malkin's 200th career assist.
• Two of Crosby's assists (for the Satan's and Petr Sykora's goals) were similiar plays, firing sublime passes through the defense, right on the tape and easy slam dunks for the wingers. They were ones the hypothetical fire hydrant would have gotten too.

Game 4 Redux...Super Dupper

Pascal sez..."I did WHAT!?"

• Another Brooks "sampled the score sheet buffet" as they say (eighth note down). Orpik had 1 goal, 1 assist, a team high 25:07 icetime, 2 Penalty Minutes, 4 hits and 1 takeaway
• If you thought this was Free Candy's first career multi-point NHL game, you'd be wrong. He actually had two previous games, both 2 assist nights, and both coincidentally came against the New Jersey Devils.
• One last Orpik note (we promise) last night marked the first time the Pens have won a game when he has scored a goal. The record in such occurrences is now 1-3-1.
• We're starting to see why they brought Mike Zigomanis in...Not only did he score a big goal, but he went 11 for 13 in the faceoff circle. You can basically make your fourth line players niche guys; Eric Godard is the enforcer, Ziggy is the faceoff specialist, Matt Cooke is a solid heart and soul guy capable of firing out passes like the assist. Impressively, Zigomanis went a combined 5 for 5 against Mike Richards and Daniel Briere-- two players that have historically had a lot of success in draws against the Pens.
• Sidney Crosby had a good game doing the little things as well, he won 71% of his draws, was credited with 1 takeaway (w/ 0 giveaways), threw 2 hits and fired four shots on net (though only one was on target). One gets the sense Mr. Crosby is about to break through sooner or later on the score sheet in a big fashion.
• The night's over-time hero, Pascal Dupuis, put 5 shots on net and generally looked comfortable back on the top line with Crosby and Miroslav Satan. All of those shots were slapshots, we wonder if the Pens were intentionally firing slappers to overwhelm the Flyers goalie as it appeared that a high number of slapshots were taken by the whole team.
• Rob Scuderi really must have been a goalie in a past life. Jeez, he literally stood in the crease during a scramble and made two saves. The NHL should credit him for that or something.
• Alex Goligoski got a staggering 8:03 in power-play ice-time (the Pens were on the power-play for a combined 10:54) and as we mentioned in the liveblog continues to make small plays and look comfortable. Goose was also on the ice for three of the four goals scored in regulation (2 by the Penguins).
• Marc-Andre Fleury was solid again. He's picked up with excellent play right where he's left off ever since returning from injury in March. We really can't remember him having had a bad game since that point. The franchise goalie has definitely bloomed.
• Also if you've seen a Ukrainian man who answers to the name of Ruslan, please direct him to the Penguins locker room. Thanks.

So that's a wrap on Game 4, with the Pens now with 5 out of a possible 8 points. For younger fans--and perhaps myself included-- it's difficult to savor a win over the Flyers as much as "more experienced" (err, older) fans who can still remember all the beatings Philadelphia would give Pittsburgh in the '70s and '80s. We enjoy it nonetheless, still it can't be the same satisfaction.

Game 3: Nothin's over til we say it is...Pens win

Sidney strikes again

Now that's more like it. The Penguins show a lot more heart, desire, effort, devotion and find some open ice to make it all work. Some thoughts:

• We still can't get over kuklakorner author IwoCPO's thoughts on Sergei Gonchar..."Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Homer will have them fetal by period 2, Game 1. Gonchar: exposed." The only thing exposed is that guy to a class defenseman.
• So, how about that Sidney Crosby. Two huge goals and a cross-bar that was that close to making it three. El Sid found more room to work and Detroit's not doubting who the best player in this series is anymore.
• For long stretches, whether it was the atmosphere of being at home, the favorable matchups or what but the Pens flat out dominated the play. From about five minutes left in the first through the first half of the 2nd period a new observer would have sworn the Penguins were the team up in the series and on the verge of a sweep. Only some poorly timed penalties de-railed the train to a sure huge victory.
• Speaking of those penalties, Hal Gill got rang up for two. And we can't disagree, if the refs are going to be strict on Tomas Holmstrom for interfering on the crease like he does, they ought to be just as stern about the cross-checks and jostling that guys like Gill and Brooks Orpik do to impede Holmstrom.
• Rob Scuderi, quickly become a TST whipping boy, got walked right around by Johan Franzen for the first Detroit goal. A nice goal by Franzen, we would have liked to see Scuds be a little more authoritative in his play.
• Veteran Darryl Sydor showed a little rust, but that was only natural for a 36 year old player who hasn't played in a game situation since March 31st. We thought he acquited himself as well as could be expected given his skillset and role in the 13:31 he played. And kudos to the coaches for shielding and limiting him to that amount.
• At least every defenseman had two blocked shots (Ryan Whitney abnormally led the way with 5). Orpik led the hit parade with 7. And as you'd know from reading this blog, a Brooks Orpik hit means more than any old regular hit. Orpik played wonderful.
• As the intrepid reader might notice, we've highlighted every defenseman on the squad. That's because it's a team game and to beat a team as solid as the Red Wings it's going to have to be a toatl effort with contributions from all.
  

At the end of the day the Pens win. And they're right back in this series. Losing 2 games to 1, but they've broken through the invincibility shields of the Red Wings and now everybody knows it. But the same effort has to be there Saturday night. Tonight's a great win, but Detroit still holds the advantage. If they take Game 4, they get the desired split and go home needing just one win of three games to get the Holy Grail.

There will be plenty of time for the MSM to tell you that but for now let's just relish in the joy of a Stanley Cup Finals win....

13 down, just 3 more to go until Lord Stanley....

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 goal....No Problem

Best playoff beard in the world > Broken foot

Pens win and mostly control the puck in Game 2. Our thoughts:

• The Flyers are going to have to win four out of the next five games to win this series....Do you think that's possible?
• Keeping up with our theme of guys who played well but don't get recognized, how about Sergei Gonchar tonight? A team leading 27:11 in ice time, 3 assists, 3 shots on goal (with 5 more either blocked or off target) and 2 hits. The Sarge had his impact all over this game.
• Our boy Tyler Kennedy had quite a night. In 9:15 of icetime he got 4 shots on goal, 2 hits and a takeaway. Not to mention a great showing in a rare playoff fight sticking up for a teammate against Scottie Upshall.
• Sidney Crosby scored the first goal in the game short-side when Martin "French Toast" Biron over-played what could have been a pass attempt. Just another example how Sid's playmaking abilities open up so much room for others (and himself).
• Crosby apparently had a second goal when he whacked in a puck, but it wasn't as obvious to the officials after taking an extra long look. We don't pretend to be unbiased here, but we know when the whole puck crosses the line and clearly our HD view left no doubt that should have been a goal. The officials needed irrefutable evidence to call it a goal (as no signal was called on the ice) but, to us, upon replay it looked like a pretty conclusive goal.
• Marian Hossa keeps chugging along, 1 goal to go along with 3 shots on net (and 4 more either blocked or missed) as well as some great backchecking efforts. The chatter about Hossa not being a prime-time playoff player is done. He's sensational and whatever team pays him $7-8 million a year this summer will get the great player they're looking for.
• To make matters even worse, the Flyers bad injury luck continued as Braydon Coburn caught a deflected puck straight to the face early in the first period. As a former collegiate hockey player we can tell you, for the most part, that a puck to the face (as long as it doesn't hit the eyeball) isn't that bad. Sure it stings and tends to bleed a lot, but the trainers can stitch you up and you're not much worse for wear. But that Coburn--in the Stanley Cup playoffs no less, couldn't come back is a testament to how badly that hurt him....Hopefully he'll be okay, that's a scary part of the game.
• In the end though, it's fitting that the Pens 4th line scores the game-winner. Georges Laraque and Gary Roberts muck around...Eventually Roberts gets the puck behind the net and he instantly throws a terrific pass out front for Maxime Talbot. Credit Roberts on that pass but just as much for Mad Max charging to the net. We like Adam Hall, but he probably doesn't make that play. Talbot chips it in and you've got your leading picture for this blog.
• Finally no one will make much about Marc-Andre Fleury's effort, but he was still very solid in stopping 30 of 32 shots and managing his rebounds pretty well. Fleury's been awesome since returning from his high ankle sprain in early March and it's showed. A team doesn't go 10-1 in the playoffs without a netminder stopping most everything he should. So far, so good for MAF. The fact that he's playing well and the story isn't about him just goes to show how the team is firing on all cylinders right now. Sure they need their goalie to be big (any playoff team does) but they haven't really had to have him stand on his head for 60 minutes.

See you in Philly on Tuesday for Game 3. As we mentioned, the Flyers are going to have to take four out of five from the Penguins to win this series. And, well, we just can't see that happening. Too much skill, too much speed and too much determination on the part of Pittsburgh. Not only guys like Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are playing hard but also the Talbot's and Pascal Dupuis' of the team are laying it all out there. Philly can't answer, because frankly, they have no answer to this display of speed and talent.

10 wins down, six more to go.....

It's a Geno world...Pens win

Rock and roll game 1 that saw the Pens come out on a 4-2 win...Our thoughts:

• Who takes a slap-shot from 15 feet on a clean breakaway while shorthanded? Someone that knows they are going to bury it. Very few players in the world could do what Evgeni Malkin did right there, especially after getting slammed into the boards by Mike Richards.
• Sidney Crosby did his part to keep the Pens in it, after two Richards goals, by deflecting a shot/pass in to make it 2-2 in a wild first period....Not to be outdone, Malkin scored on a twisted wrister with 6 seconds to go with a shot that made us say, "yep that Marty Biron isn't that good".
• The Pens first goal was the result of an absolutely sick dangle by Petr Sykora....Boy are we glad he called Ray Shero at 12:01 AM 1 July and asked to join the Pens.
• Brooks Orpik was credited with 6 hits. Impressive but unless you watched the impact of each and every shot you can't appreciate it.
• Tyler Kennedy had 9:08 in ice-time but hustled around the ice and played well, making it seem like he was out there for more than just 9 minutes...Mark our words, sooner or later this playoff season this kid is going to score a huge goal.
• We don't question Michel Therrien much, but we don't see the point in having a Hal Gill-Rob Scuderi pairing and a Ryan Whitney-Kris Letang unit. Just seems like too much of the same thing....To that point the Scuderi/Gill pairing were out there (and both in front of the net) for both of the Flyers goals.
• Marc-Andre Fleury couldn't really be faulted for the goals, and more importantly he played awesome helping the Pens killing 3 penalties and making a beauty of a glove save on Jeff Carter. Nothing to worry about here, the Flower is still rolling on.
• Also not to be noticed or praised, but a great stat line for Ryan Malone: only 15:24 icetime, 3 shots on goal, 1 assist, 5 hits and a +2. Not to mention all the ice he opened up for Sykora and Malkin.
• Speaking of guys you won't talk about, Marian Hossa had a wonderful game, mostly away from the puck backchecking and taking the body. Even though he didn't make an offensive impact (just 2 shots on goal and 1 assist) he still was force.

All in all, the story was too much Malkin for the Flyers to handle. This was a game at home for the Pens and one they really had to have to get things off on the right foot; but the point is they did it and were pretty impressive in doing so.

As we predicted, the Flyers just don't have the defense (especially with Kimmo Timonen out) to hang with the Pens skill or the goaltender to keep the puck out of the net. Tonight Evgeni Malkin absolutely had his way with Philadelphia every time he touched the ice. And the Flyers didn't give much reason to think they can do anything to stop him. Let alone if Crosby and Hossa start converting more of their chances....Plus the Flyers played a displinced brand of hockey (taking only 1 penalty while the game was still in question), should they do any different they ought to know they're in a world of hurt.

9 wins down, just 7 more to go....

Game 2: Beating them at their own game

Apologies for no updates this weekend (it was our birthday) but anyways you know the result of Game 2, 2-0 win for the good guys. Some thoughts:

• A lot has been made, rightfully so, about the Penguins winning such a close, low scoring game. Pittsburgh played pretty well in the defensive zone down the stretch of the regular season, yielding three or more goals only once the the final 13 games. But those following hockey are now starting to see that same effort applied every night in the playoffs and are now becoming impressed.
• Obviously that all ends with Marc-Andre Fleury, but it begins with the defense. The Penguins were credited with 22 blocked shots (and 13 of 18 skaters blocked at least one, lead by Sergei Gonchar's 5). The team tried to keep the Rangers to outside and worse scoring angles and then clogged the lanes. That's a recipe for success.
• Jordan Staal scored the game's only goal of consequence and played a pretty complete game; even if he was only 27% in the faceoff circles. Staal's effort with and without the puck was quite solid. Staal is also quite adept and comfortable killing penalties, as he played a forward-high 5:48 shorthanded.
• The Rangers got a bad break when the referee whistled the puck dead when it was covered (but not completely possessed) by Fleury. But, as the Rangers even admitted after the game, that's just the way it goes sometimes.
• Marian Hossa's firing gallery continued; 7 shots on goal including a breakaway chance when sprung from a sublime feed by Gonchar. Hossa didn't score, of course, but it wasn't for a lack of effort or chances. Again. Hossa leads the league in playoff shots on goal per game (5.8 a night). Unfortunately though he's 122nd (out of 133 playoff scorers) in shooting percentage.
• Also, we're not sure what Fleury's thinking giving the biggest asshole in the NHL Sean Avery a cup check as time was expiring. Sure it's got to be refreshing to take a stick and hit such a jerk below the belt, but MAF's in a place with nothing to gain and everything to do by taking such action.
• Now comes two games at MSG, a venue that hasn't been too kind this season to the Pens. But the team will have to be flying high after their recent performances, so we wouldn't put too much stock in past results with a team motoring full speed ahead right now.

6 down, 10 to go....

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....

Breaking backs; game notes

The following notes were compiled as we watched the game tonight:

• We're starting to see about Marian Hossa in the playoffs, as he rings one off the post early on the first powerplay. It's not like he's disappeared or anything (same can't be said for Dany Heatley this year), but his luck seems to be very snake bitten. But with such a skilled player generating so many chances one has to go in soon, right?
• No problem here with the penalty on Maxime Talbot for goaltender interference (even if Martin Gerber flew back like he was totally run over). Gotta protect the goalies, especially this year when it seems like goalies are getting run or contacted a lot more than years past.
• By the time the first commerical break has hit, Ottawa has certainly shown their opening "pop"...They're out-shooting the Pens 5-3 (and have 4 more blocked or missed the net) and have generally dominated physical play and puck possession. If you didn't know which team of this series had the 2 games to 0 advantage, 7 minutes into the game you probably wouldn't guess it was Pittsburgh.
• Marc-Andre Fleury makes a 10 bell save on a sequence which showed Nick Foligno (who's skating like his hair is on fire) split the d and then a snap shot from Daniel Alfredsson, who looks nothing like a guy just coming back from injury.
• We wanted to see if the Ottawa fans would once again courtesy boo Sidney Crosby, but really it took 10 minutes into the game for him to bring the puch up the ice to find out. That is not a good sign. This game has been so far about how fast the Sens have been and how up to the task Fleury's been.
• And they're kinda lazily booing him too, doesn't have as much vile as it did last playoffs. For a change the fans seem more enthused about rooting their own team than booing the Cros. That's cool with us.
• Sure sign that it's playoff hockey: players like Rob Scuderi, Jordan Staal and Sergei Gonchar are throwing honest checks.
• Gerber is matching Fleury, making beautiful saves on Ryan Malone and Hossa. Gerber's tracking the puck so well right now.
• Evgeni Malkin appeared to be shaken up a little when Dean McAmmond stood him up at the blueline and looked like he elbowed him in the face. You'd think McAmmond, who got knocked out by Chris Pronger's elbow last year, should be a little better with his body control...
• Folino opens the scoring when he jukes by Ryan Whitney and beats Fleury with a great wrist-shot. This gives the Senators and their crowd a life, and more importantly we'll get a chance to see how the Penguins respond with losing for the first time this post-season.
• Maxime Talbot ties it up! Impressively Whitney started the rush behind his own net and every Penguin touches the puck. Excellent puck movement. Talbot (who extended his shift) had enough to slip behind Andrej Meszaros and backhand one past Gerber. What a beautiful feed he got too from Marian Hossa.
• Halfway through the period, Adam Hall-Talbot-Georges Laraque have a great shift and cycle the puck in Ottawa's end for 20-30 seconds continuously. Noteworthy because it keeps Heatley's line in his own end more than they want to be....This happens just after the Jarkko Ruutu-Jordan Staal-Tyler Kennedy 3rd line kept Alfredsson and co. on their heels for the majority of a shift....The initial burst of energy from playing at home looks like it's worn out.
• Good old fashioned scrum with 6 minutes left in the 2nd on the powerplay...Petr Sykora launches a slapper and then all the boys collapse on the goal, whacking away. Finally the Sens smuggle the puck up but as things tend to do in the playoffs, mayhem ensues.
• Crosby strikes :12 seconds in! Chip it in, fish 'er out and knock it home. At this point it's 2-1 Pens and just one minute into the 3rd. The next goal is going to be--
• JORDAN STAAL FINALLY DOES SOMETHING WITH HIS LIFE! Before we can finish about the Crosby goal, Kennedy fires a cross-ice pass to Staal who bats it home.
• Only a bonehead takes a penalty Chris Neil does, punching a player in the face when your team is clinging to it's playoff life. His team just gave up two goals in less than 2 minutes and he pulls that? Not smart, guy.
• Powerplay city and Hossa shovels a puck in the net. Credit coach Michel Therrien for taking a timely penalty to rest Malone, Malkin, Crosby and Gonchar who had just played an extended powerplay shift. Small move but it paid off.
• Pens sit on the clock and take the air out of the puck for the last 5 minutes and that's your game.

A win is a win is a win

Barry Melrose likes to say a series doesn't really begin until the home team loses a game....But what happens if the home team holds serve 6 times and it goes to a game 7, the series hasn't begun?

Regardless the Pens did what it took to hold their home ice and skate away with a 2 games to none advantage.

• The Penguins picked Ottawa apart early, but give those bastards credit; they kept fighting back and tied the score at 3-3.
• 54 shots on goal is a new playoff record for the Penguins.
• Sidney Crosby had 4 assists and didn't even make one of the 3 stars of the game....That speaks to how awesome other players played. Like Petr Sykora and Ryan Malone.
• This is the first time in months that Marc-Andre Fleury allowed multiple even strength goals.
• Last spring Evgeni Malkin had 0 goals and 4 assists in the 5 game series against Ottawa. This year he has a lot more in the tank; as not only his 1 goal and 5 assists (in 2 games) would indicate but the way he's galloping around the ice and making opponents look silly. Who's the best Russian player in the NHL? Ask again in a few weeks and you might have a different answer than the obvious regular season MVP choice....

Our favorite moment though, had to be Bryan Murray's notable post-game quote. After the first game he made a comment to the tune of it didn't feel like a 4-0 game and he liked the intensity and energy his team brought to the table. Tonight he said: "I think our guys had a lot of character, played hard and battled from a 3-0 deficit. I have to believe they will play well at home."

We think you would have to believe this if, you know, you fired the head coach and took all the responsibility on yourself. At this point Murray knows the Pens are going to wipe the floor with his team, no matter how much "character" they have or how hard they play. It's all about saving face for this point for Cryin Bryan. Of course he has to believe, else he's likely out of a job....And it couldn't happen to a nicer guy ;)

2 down, 14 to go.......

Game 1: Penguins thump Ottawa

Martin Gerber = Stunned

In a perfect world a Penguins fan would draw up a game where not only the good guys resoundingly thump the opponents, but also out-shoot them (35 to 26), out-hit them (35 to 29) and have more take-aways (8 to 2). Ottawa won the face-off battle, but that's probably the only small victory they could find.

• If you ever wondered why this blog talks about Gary Roberts so much, now you know. Just a minute in, G-Rob knocked Ottawa defenseman Wade Redden down, went to the front of the net and was fed a puck from all people but Georges Laraque.....And if you know NHL playoff hockey, perhaps no player has personally tormented a team in recent history as much as Roberts has the Senators. A goal 68 seconds in the for the veteran leader set the tone for the game....And perhaps the series.
• The next score came almost 11 minutes later, but still was as big. Evgeni Malkin proved he has a lot more in the tank than he did at this time last year; chipping the puck by a defenseman and leading a 2 on 1 rush with Petr Sykora. Malkin was looking pass all the way but Martin Gerber had to respect the shot and got burned on the one-timer (see picture above).
• Gerber did settle down and stopped 15 shots in the 2nd period, including a couple of glorious chances by Marian Hossa and Sidney Crosby.
• The Penguins pressed on in the third, highlighted by a beauty of a goal that Malkin kicked from his skate to his stick before depositing behind a helpess Gerber. One more Mr. Gary goal later and that's it.
• Marc-Andre Fleury didn't have to be amazing but he was very solid in his positioning and rebound control. While the Sens didn't create any dynamite or sustained chances Fleury did have to make a few key stops and obviously he was up for the task every time. Quietly MAF has been probably the best goalie in the NHL since the beginning of March, and the Pens probably like that. Talk about the offense and guys like Crosby, Malkin and Hossa all you want; the defense and netminder are just plugging along, doing what they have to do.
• At the end of the game the Sens showed a little moxy, no doubt sending a message for games to come. They tried getting in Crosby's face and surpisingly Ryan Whitney of all people got in a fight and absolutely abused Redden. Ouch. If you said one Penguin would win a fight Ryan Whitney's name would have come up just before backup goalie Ty Conklin..But only by a little. When players like Whitney are showing passion and leaving a physical imprint not only do the observers know the team is focused and in the game but the opponents do as well.
• Roberts also had a little extra for Ottawa when a guy punched him in the head when G-Rob was tied up with another Sen. The message Ottawa was trying to send was backfired, these Pens aren't backing down (see Maxime Talbot taking down Martin Lapointe Fleury or Rob Scuderi getting scrappy). We'd imagine that even though they won't admit it right now, to a man the Senators know there's no chance of bullying this team down. They're not green and they're not in awe of the post-season. And the Sens know they are in BIG trouble.
• It's good to see Ottawa's best defenseman (and the NHL's best shot blocker) Anton Volchenkov will apparantely be ok after he dropped to the ice from getting hit with a Malkin slapper to the head. Volchenkov was cut but somehow didn't appear to have suffered major injury when he went down trying to block the shot. He was cut pretty good and did not return to the game. Early indication is that he will be available for Game 2. We're just happy that the guy is OK.

"Game 1 last year," Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said. "We're different, much more improved, and I think we proved that tonight."

Yes you did, Sid....Now go and avoid a letdown in Game 2.


1 down, 15 more to go.....

Call Jim Mora, the Pens are officially in the PLAYOFFS

Damn it feels good to be a gansta

We had a long post about the game but upon publishing it, it seems blogger messed it up. Very strange.

Anyways, the only thing that matters--no, not the formality of clinching a playoff berth--Marc Andre Fleury's statline in his starts since returning from injury:

• 7-1-0, 1.47 GAA, .951 save %, 2 shutouts

Franchise goalie caliber indeed.

Now is not even the time to mention this, but somewhere, deep in the pit of your stomach, don't you feel like the Penguins are going to count on Ty Conklin to step up somewhere along the way and bail them out? We can't shake that feeling.

But for now, it's all about some MAF.

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.

14 goals in the past two games

When things are right, they are right.

The Penguins are clicking on all cylinders right now. Evgeni Malkin and Petr Sykora both had 2 goals and 2 assists, Ryan Malone was his usual physical force and the Pens easily bowled over a playoff team 7-1. Marc-Andre Fleury was good when he had to be, but he didn't really have to be good that often.

Production came from more than just the top line; from Tyler Kennedy (1oth goal of the season) to Pascal Dupuis (3 assists) to the U.S.S Hal Gill (1 goal 1 assist). Marian Hossa had a goal and an assist and looked very comfortable in his first complete game as a Penguin.

To think that this team still stands to gain the league's reigning MVP and leading scorer, as well as a noted playoff warrior plus two important role players (Adam Hall and Rob Scuderi) before the playoffs is indeed a scary thought for the rest of the NHL.

What team in the East could take Pittsburgh in a 7 game series? With the way they're playing now it's not so bold to say: no one.

Any day where every Flyer ends up a negative in the plus/minus is a good day indeed. Onward, boys, onward.