Feeling down on your luck? Play the Isles

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

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

What the Penguins really lost....And gained

The Penguins, despite losing two of the biggest prize forwards of the free agency season in Marian Hossa and Ryan Malone, are still a better team on paper right now than they were 12 months ago at this time. It's hard to believe, but think about it, it's true.

Think in terms of personnel and regular season standings...What was last year's 2nd place Eastern Conference team ended up scoring 240 goals and yielded a total of 212.

That team had some incredible contributions-- like Evgeni Malkin's 47 goal, 56 assist (106 point) season and remarkable work by Ty Conklin (18-8-5, 2.51 GAA, .923 save %)-- but both those players were thrust into bigger roles by injuries to Sidney Crosby (who missed 29 games) and Marc-Andre Fleury (who only appeared in 35 contests).

--Just from taking a look at the regular season contributions from all the player the Pens lost and it amounts to 70 goals (lead by Malone's 27 and 9 a piece from Colby Armstrong and Erik Christensen).
--They've replaced that with a combined 42 goals scored last season from their three biggest free agent signings (Miroslav Satan and Rusty Fedotenko with 16 a piece and Matt Cooke with 10). We'll say right here that this blog shuts down if Satan plays a mostly full season and can't improve on 16 goals.

So where will the rest come from? Jordan Staal only scored 12 in the regular season (but got 6 in 20 post-season games), Crosby could create more offense in up to 29 more games than last season. Other young players like Tyler Kennedy (10 goals in 55 games in his rookie campaign) and Kris Letang (6 goals in 63 games) figure to naturally progress and continue to increase their production. Throw in a potential sleeper in the mix like newcomer Janne Pesonen or Pascal Dupuis (who contributed 2 goals in 16 reg. season games with the Pens) and the 240 goals scored number could easily be matched, if not exceeded.

Of course the natural disclaimer is that this is all on paper and it is July 9th, not January or even October. Plans change and the game of hockey is too fluid to write anything in ink at this point.

The popular vibe right now is the Penguins took a big hit in early July, and to be fair losing the likes of Hossa, Malone, Conklin and the other does hurt. But it doesn't necessarily lessen a team that returns 7 of its 8 top regular season scorers from last season.

And, how's this for perspective.....Of those seven players, five of them--Malkin, Crosby, Ryan Whitney, Staal and Max Talbot-- will be 24 years old or younger when the puck drops on opening night.

Rest, not rust

Welcome to day 2 of the layoff as the Pens rest and wait to see who the next opponent will be.

Right now we are moderately cheering for longer series. The longer the series, the less in tact and energy whoever emerges should have. #8 seed Boston didn’t say die last night when they could have, but Washington was dealt a double-OT heartbreaker that might have emptied their tank completely.

For the Pens, this rest will be a good one. The obvious beneficiary of this has to be Gary Roberts, who injured his groin during his comeback from a broken leg and high-ankle sprain. A groin injury is pretty common in that situation, since the player over-uses that muscle to compensate for the leg not being in full shape. Getting what could be about 2 more weeks of rest could have Roberts at pain-free capacity for the second round.

Then you’ve got a guy like Ryan Malone who plays a physical style and didn’t practice much during the Ottawa series. About a week off for him ought to do the trick perfectly to get the aches and pains out, a luxury not to many teams have at this time of the year. Sidney Crosby, who’s ankle does seem to be allowing him to reach full speed, gets even more time to rest up.

Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal were the only Pens to play all 82 games, but seven players played at least 77 regular season games. Some, like Sergei Gonchar, chew up a ton of minutes. Others, like Brooks Orpik and Hal Gill play the body and put themselves in front of a lot of rubber. A break would do well for them.

There’s always the worry about rust, but I don’t think that will be too much of a factor. The latest the 2nd round could begin is, what the 24th? That would be an eight day layoff but the players are professional and will be practicing in the interim. Obviously nothing compares to the intensity of NHL playoff games but the benefit of rest should far outweigh any edge the team might lose.

Reports of Gary Roberts Demise Greatly Exaggerated?

A simple, almost throwaway line in the PG today, but then you read it and it floors you..

[Sidney]Crosby and left winger Gary Roberts (broken leg, high ankle sprain) skatedyesterday for about a half-hour with no apparent problem, team officials said

Uhhh, what was that again? Slightly different then the bombshell PG Columnist Ron Cook laid out in his column entitled: "Latest setback threatens Roberts' career"

Make no mistake here.

This really is crunch time for Roberts.

Like never before in his career.

Off topic a bit, but a personal beef.

What's the deal with almost every newspaper writer in America going overboard on these one sentence paragraphs?

It's like, come on let's develop these things a little more.

The PG's Shelly Anderson is the worst at this.

It's very annoying.

And doesn't seem like the mark of an effective or good writer.

But that's just one man's opinion.

Anyways, as you can see Cook basically spelled out that Roberts career is in jeopardy and after reading it, you thought he was Barbaro or something and the docs were about to put him down. Cook also wrote (emphasis added):

He said he won't try to skate for two more weeks. His new target date to play again is March 27, a home game against the New York Islanders. "At least that would give me five games before the playoffs."

So much for that big push for the team down the stretch.

In conclusion, the day this hit news-stands (yesterday) Gary Roberts skated for 30 minutes with Crosby. The legend continues to grow.

Crosby is back on the ice (No, really!)

As reports the Post-Gazette in a quick little blurb:

Penguins center Sidney Crosby began skating this week while the team was on the road and did so again today before the team's practice at Mellon Arena.
There is no indication that the timetable for his return has changed. Crosby, out with a high ankle sprain, is expected back in March.

This is good news. Don't expect him back this weekend or anything, but we're most encouraged because that article indicates he's skated more than once. Which would say that he tested it oneday and the pain was obviously not a factor that he could go back out and do it again.

Then a natural second thought: holy crap this is happening too quickly, it hasn't even been 3 weeks since he got hurt.

The Penguins training staff has dealt with high ankle sprains twice this season. They may have even let Maxime Talbot come back to quickly and it cost him almost a month. They've been much more catious in treating Marc-Andre Fleury, though it is vital for him to push off his ankle to play the butterfly style of goal.

Given the stakes, there's no reason to push Crosby or try to get him back in the lineup too soon. Because everyone knows, in that case it will get re-aggravated and that might be too much for the team's morale to bear. But, seven Crosby-less games have shown guys like Ryan Malone, Petr Sykora and Jordan Staal have noticeably stepped up their play and helped Evgeni Malkin to carry the banner. The ship is not sinking without Crosby.

But the point is, it can really get kicked into high gear when he gets back.

Also on the injury front it seems like Tyler Kennedy and Gary Roberts are making slow but steady steps back to recovery too. Hopefully the Pens have weathered the worst of this storm and the troops will be back in time to push for the playoffs.

Young Stars Shine Bright

Congrats to Kris Letang and Tyler Kennedy for being named to the Eastern Conference Young stars team.

The Penguins have a ridiculously young core--there are 5 established NHL'ers 21 years old or younger (the above mentioned joining some nameless guys like Crosby, Malkin and Staal.)

It's going to be a fantastic future.