It's a Live-blog!

Hey, how about a live-blog!


7:40- Some douche is wearing a Big Ben jersey and siting behind John Stevens...We hate that. Anger and the game hasn't even started.

7:41- Long first shift for the Crosby line and the Flyers keep it in the Pens zone almost the entire time and had a couple shots on Fleury. Ominous start.

7:44- Pascal Dupuis sends a pass from behind the net and Miro Satan almost bats it out of mid air for a goal. Dupper back on the top line has been good, and Fedotenko had a good shift earlier with the 3rd line (Max Talbot and Tyler F Kennedy)

7:46- Scottie Upshall rings one off the crossbar. Yikes.

7:49- Excellent fight Eric Godard vs. Riley Cote. Both were swinging and swinging violently in a long fight. You'l definitely want to check this one on youtube. We give the edge to Godard who connected with a flurry of lefts and rights.

7:50- Crosby is interfered with and the call is made...Pens to the powerplay after the commercial break.

7:52- Crosby goes down and slashes Andrew Alberts, negating what had been an unimpressive powerplay.

7:57- Max Talbot springs himself on a shorthanded breakaway and tries to go five hole (looked like he had too much speed to make a move.

7:58- A good shift for the Staal/Malkin/Sykora line, a lot of cycling down low. Malkin looks more authoritative out there.

8:04- Scrum time in front of the Flyers net that's almost a line brawl. We notice TFK and Albert going at it. Scumbag Mike Richards gives an otherwise occupied Penguin a face-wash and is sent to the box.

8:06- The powerplay without an identity continues, the crowd's getting restless now. They circled in their own zone for a little waiting to breakout and then subsequently iced the puck. This defense needs a puck-moving defenseman.

8:13- Long cycling shift for the Talbot line but no payoff. Gotta like the chances and energy that TFK is bringing to the table.

8:15- Rusty Fedotenko takes a holding penalty about 170 feet from his net with about 80 seconds left in the period. Foolish.

8:18- At the end of the first it's 0-0

8:24- Christine Simpson is interviewing Mike Richards....Is it just us or did she pickup a more noticeable Canadian accent over the summer? Granted, she is from Ontario but it seems a lot more prevalent now. Not that

8:36- Game's back on and the penalty's killed but not before Marc-Andre Fleury kicks a rebound out past everyone.

8:39- They're buzzing now. Crosby has the puck and motors around, set Dupuis up for four big shots, including one from point blank that would have been a goal had his stick not failed him.

8:42- Things are definitely looking up for the boys. The Crosby line was down low doing work and drew an Andrew Alberts hooking call. The last two 5 on 5 shifts for this line has, without exaggaration, looked stronger than the powerplay. Cue the tired hack joke about being able to decline penalties. 2nd period shots are 6-2 Pens.

8:45- The powerplay features a lot of great puck movement and control but no dice. One gets the feeling it might take an ugly goal to trigger a huge breakout.

8:48- Matt Cooke to the box for a cross-check, taking away all the momentum and confidence that's been building.

8:50- 5 on 3 time for the Flyers, as Brooks Orpik slashes a rushing Flyer.

8:51- Therrien used to use two forwards and one defensemen for these situations but went with the long stick of Staal, and human shields Mark Eaton and Rob Scuderi

8:52- Holy shit moment, Scuderi literally makes two saves. Gotta appreciate the scramble and sacrifice. 5 on 3 killed, powerplay killed.

8:55- Due to the powerplay, Malkin plays a shift with Satan and Sykora. They apply much pressure, including Malkin's impression of his Crosby-drop-to-a-knee one timer but hits the far post.

8:57- Glen Metropolit attempts a lobotomy on Jordan Staal, ready or not here comes the powerplay but (thankfully?) it's only for 2 minutes.

9:00- A fluttering Evgeni Malkin wrister pops off the post. Thisclose once again...

9:01- GOAL! Orpik shoots, Kennedy's in front. The ugly one we mentioned. Looks like an Orpik seeing-eye puck. 1-0 Penguins

9:04- GOAL! Nice keep in at the blueline by Goligoski to keep it in and then a quick pass out by Cooke to Mike Zigomanis. Eric Godard touched it to and will get an assist, so unfortunately the play by Goose won't be recognized. 2-0 Penguins

9:07- Welcome to the season boys.

9:08- Eric Godard is a goal away from the Gordie Howe hat trick. Not bad for a guy who's gotten just 2:00 of icetime so far.

9:10- Jeff Carter pinballs one in. The Penguins couldn't clear the puck and the Flyers had a down-low two on one and the puck bounces off of the USS Hal Gill. Yuck. 2-1 Penguins still lead.

9:12- Another one. Faceoff win by Briere over Crosby, Timonen snaps it on the net and Gagne gets a nice deflection goal. This game is 2-2 but it feels like the Penguins should be winning. If you want to get chewed out by a hockey coach, give up a goal in the last minute of a period. The Pens just gave up two of them. Mercifully, it's intermission.

9:33- Game is back and Bobby Orr takes a penalty. Don't disrespect Kimmo Timonen in the eyes of Flyers fans eyes.

9:34- Malkin breaks a stick. A lot of broken twigs tonight, and as usual it's at the most inopportune time.

9:37- Goligoski is doing a lot of the little things right, including now when he lugged the puck through the zone and fired a nice shot that just was deflected at the last second. He's learning his way in the NHL and seeming to look a little better every period.

9:38- A Sykora rebound bumps out to Jordan Staal. It hits his skate and he kicks it to his skate but his hurried shot goes just wide.

9:44- The Talbot line works the puck low and then Max gets a high stick from Scott Hartnell. Fortunately for the Flyers their only punishment is facing the Penguins top powerplay unit.

9:47- Powerplay killed pretty effortlessly. Ossi Vaananen slew footed Crosby pretty viciously but he appears to be OK.

9:52- Pascal Dupuis' doing some solid work on the PK (Ziggy went to the box). Whatever the Pens PP has must be contagious, now Philly's looks sick.

9:58- Jeff Carter takes it to the net and gets taken down...Penalty coming up. 4 minutes left in the game, huge kill coming up, if the Flyers score a goal here that's practically your ballgame.

10:02- Beautiful pinball flipper save by Fleury when a puck comes unexpectedly bouncing in on him. The Pens are doing well to clear the puck often and not let them set it up.

10:06- Last ditch effort by Malkin and Kennedy fall short, we're going to over-time.

10:11- 18 year old rookie Luca Sbisa just flipped the puck in and nailed Mark Eaton with a huge check. That's the first time we really noticed him. And he's out there the last minute of OT, shows you how much they trust him.

10:14- Pascal Dupuis!!!!!!!!!! Big shot down the wing after a terrific breakout pass from Brooks Orpik.

So that's that.

It's a LIVEBLOG night at TST

(Credit image to an old one The Peerless used)

Join us, won't you, for what will be our last chance to live-blog a regular season game. And since playoff games are usually too intense with too much barley & hops flowing to keep up with, probably the last liveblog in a while. Those dastardly Flyers are in town and clawing for their pathetic playoff lives.

7:34: Scoreboard watching; New Jersey is up 1-0 on Boston with a minute remaining in the 1st. If the Devils don't win, the Penguins clinch the Atlantic Division by default. Boston has a lot to play for, as they're trying to hold off the hard-charging Caps to stay in the playoff picture themselves.

7:38: Darryl Sydor is scratched tonight and rookie Kris Letang is back in the lineup. We like this decision, but weren't sure Coach Therrien wouldn't want to scratch a vet like Sydor.

TST favorite Adam Hall is also back in the lineup, replacing (as we predicted) Jeff Taffe in the lineup. Hall yielded his #18 to that Marian Hossa guy, so he is now wearing #28.

7:42: Georges Laraque and Riley Cote are going to fight....I'll give Cote this, he's at least got the brass to take it from Laraque. Not many so called "tough guys" in the NHL want to do that. "Riley Cote, God bless ya son" says Penguins radio announcer Phil Bourque.

7:46: Six minutes into the game shots have been few and far between. It's 2-1 Penguins in that column and neither team has had that great of scoring chances...Very conservative, playoff style hockey; almost like the two teams are feeling each other out, which you'd think they wouldn't have to do since this is the seventh meeting of the season.

7:51: Sheeeeit. Scott Hartnell snaps a quick shot (on a nice pass from Danny Briere) and beats Marc-Andre Fleury high. The Penguins looked a little slow their in their coverage. Fleury was down and Hartnell did the rest. This is only the third even-strength goal MAF's given up in the past nine games. 1-0 Flyers

7:55: Jeff Carter makes a somewhat dirty play, knocking the USS Hal Gill into Fleury. Blatant disregard for another team's goalie? Not cool.

7:56: Well, that didn't take long. Sergei Gonchar sends a wrist shot on the net and it goes in. Nice screen by Ryan Malone, who indicated that the goal is Gonchar's. Philly goalie Martin Biron thought that Sarge was going to pass it down to Sidney Crosby. Even when Crosby doesn't get the puck he can create offense. 1-1 tie!

7:57: Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are given credit for the assists.

8:01: Gill gets a penalty, he went for a poke check but ended up tripping a Flyer.

8:03: Carter puts a PP goal in after Fleury directs a rebound right to him...Joffrey Lupul and Brooks Orpik start scrapping. They get mainly tied up, Orpik puts Lupul in the glass and then gets him down. This game has picked up in a hurry, it's now 2-1 Flyers.

8:05: Scoreboard watching update: Boston puts in a PP goal to make it 1-1 in New Jersey.

8:07: Crosby and Lasse Kuokkenen (or whatever the hell it is) get in a little scrap. Crosby was pissed that Pooponen cross-checked him in the back of the neck so he got in his face...Both get matching minors for roughing.

8:11: Jordan Staal is playing a shift with Laraque and Jarkko Ruutu. Why not? Those two are producing more of late than Staal anyways.

8:15: Mike Lange and the old Two-Niner are right, the Penguins are giving too much time and space to Hartnell and Briere, letting them operate too freely in the zone. Hopefully the coaches will point this out and have the players make some adjustments in the coming intermission.

8:17: That's the end of the first period, it's 2-1 Flyers. Shots are 9-8 for the bad guys.

8:36: And we're back...Scoreboard update, New Jersey appeared to take a 2-1 lead but video review couldn't confirm it. Boston's Milan Lucic does score to make it 2-1 Bruins. That game (plus Philly winning plus Carolina clobbering Tampa 4-1) makes it a terrible night so far for scoreboard watching Capitals' fans.

8:39: Bourque calls out Hossa for having a too quiet a night so far. To be honest it doesn't seem like many Penguins have played that well so far. Crosby's been using speed to generate chances but guys like Petr Sykora and Malone have also been almost invisible too.

8:44: Malkin and Braydon Coburn tangle up near the net, Crosby and Geno almost combined for a goal. Penalties are coming, two of them on the Pens..This game has been very chippy and incredibly hotly contested for just about every inch of space up there. It seems like we're one second away from a crazy brawl.

8:47: Two man advantage time...CROSBY!!!! It's 2-2 Penguins.

8:48: Gonchar is a powerplay wizard. Nicklas Lidstrom will deservedly run away with the Norris Trophy, but the Sarge deserves some consideration in the form of a few 2nd or 3rd place votes.

8:50: Orpik and Hartnell get in an altercation...Hartnell was using his stick as a damn pitchfork when Orpik was down on the ice. Orpik got up and knocked him silly. The Flyers keep trying to goon it up but these Penguins are not going to back down. One gets the feeling that Jarkko Ruutu is going to do something interesting before this is over.

8:51: Hartnell goes for roughing and Orpik gets 2 for delay of game? Stupid. Hartnell's been really reckless all game long. One gets the feeling he's going to cost his team in the long-run if he keeps this up.

8:53: The USS Hal Gill is going back to the box. Ahh, not a good sign. Important kill for the Pens, this game is getting a little wild and the last three goals of the game have come on the powerplay.

8:57: Penalty killed. LET'S GO PENS! chant breaks out. Crosby is flying around and drawing a hooking penalty by Jim Dowd. Another example of Sid using speed on an inferior player that gets beat and has to take a penalty.

8:59: GENO!!!!!! It's 3-2 Penguins ...Unbelievable goal, Malkin's on the ice for 1:35 and blows by two players and snakes one in the 5 hole. The Pens PP is 3 for 4 on the night.

9:08: Crosby explodes and puts the puck at the net, Hossa tries to jam one in there but Biron is up for the challenge.

9:09: BGL takes a penalty that he can't and shouldn't take at this last moment of the second period against a good PP.

9:10: Well that's the end of two...The Pens had a 2-0 period and had a 14-7 shot advantage that stanza. Good period. Now they'll have to kill 1:24 more but this game has been wild, no chance they can sit on this lead. Must stay aggressive on a team that is desperately clawing for the playoffs.

9:20: Crap real life getting in the way sucks, sorry folks we can only do two periods of this liveblog....Recap of what we miss tomorrow.

Givng the old Live-blog a try

(Image by way of Peerless)

6:18... Hello and welcome! We've never done a live blog before, but since this game is on Versus and sometimes not many people get that channel we figure we'd give it a shot. Football season, after all, is finally over and there's not much to do on this Monday night. A quick look at our matchup tonight. Puck drops a little after 7, so stick around!

Pittsburgh Penguins

Record: 29-19-4 (52 games, 62 points)

Leading (active) scorer: Evgeni Malkin [52 gp, 28 goals, 33a, 61 points]

New Jersey Devils

Record: 29-20-3 (52 games, 61 points)

Leading scorer: Zach Parise [52 gp, 19 goals, 26a, 45 points]

6:20...As you'd expect, it's going to be Ty Conklin v. Martin Brodeur in the nets again.

7:04...Maybe they taped Mike Emrick and Edzo's pre-game speech early, but the upper-deck looked half full and the lower bowl looked about 20% full. Last week not even 14,000 people showed up to see the Penguins, the league's top drawing away opponent. And in a brand new building that is supposedly a wonderful venue. What's the deal with hockey in Jersey?

7:09...The second line (Max Talbot-Jordan Staal-Erik Christensen) starts the game and skates a strong shift end-to-end.

7:12...The third line (Jarkko Ruutu-Jeff Taffe-Colby Armstrong) gets a good cycle going for about :20 seconds of straight gameplay....Not to be outdone the 4th line (Ryan Stone-Nathan Smith-Georges Laraque) follows them up and BGL draws a high-stick penalty.

7:15...No dice on the powerplay though. EC and Staal had a good chance but it seemed Crusher's pass wasn't crisp enough and Brodeur made a save you'd expect him to make.

7:17...In case you couldn't figure it out, Kris Beech is a scratch tonight so we'll mercifully be spared him for at least one more game.

7:21....Evgeni Malkin left what looked like a drop pass to no one imparticular as soon as he entered the zone which was quickly scooped up by the Devils. Geno atoned for himself by getting back on D and stealing the puck back as they entered the zone....Another PP for the Pens!

7:23....Big Ben strikes one...Crusher rips his heavy wrist shot and it hits the post so hard it's a wonder the net didn't come off the posts.

7:27....Although the ice has been tilted in the Penguins favor the first 12 minutes of play, they have nothing to show for it. With a makeup penalty call looming large at this point, we have a bad feeling about this.

7:31...Ruutu and Brooks Orpik lead the Penguins defensively with a series of excellent hits and bumping Devils off the puck. And, miraculously, no penalty was taken!

7:33...It may not be April, but playoff hockey is here. Both teams are playing conservatively, trying for nothing against and a lot of dump and chase and trying to make something happen down low. Considering how close so many teams are in the division and conference this shouldn't be a surprise. The rest of this season is going to be very, very tightly contested game in and game out.

7:35...Ryan Malone and David Clarkson drop the gloves, these two have a history. A good scrap, both got a few good ones in but they mostly tired each other out. But if you're Malone, you're on the top line and on a team that needs it's skill wingers on the ice, not in the box. We don't like to see him let a lower line guy take him out for a selfish reason. It's not as if Malone was sticking up for a teammate or anything.

7:37...New Jersey looks like an adjustment they've made since last week's game is to get more shots from the point and try to deflect them or try to take advantage of Conklin's rebounds.

7:38...Travis Zajac strips the puck from Christensen and then EC decides to go waterskiing up the neutral zone. That's definitely a penalty and not a good one to take if you're Crusher.

7:40...Paul Martin cut in the net and Gionta was open in front with the puck. For some reason Gionta tried to stuff the puck to the net instead of a pass. Martin skated too fast and went past the net and wasn't in position for a rebound chance. If that's a guy like Sergei Gonchar or Ryan Whitney cutting in like that, they score right there. Just an example of the different personnel both team's have.

End of the first...

7:50...Shots were 10-6, advantage Penguins who carried the play for the most part but could not get a goal. The top line was quiet but we liked what we saw out of Staal and EC. Very solid period for those two.

8:02....Second shift of the period the Pens second line comes out and gets right back to the cycling and deep possession and Staal draws a penalty. It's good to see the hard work is being rewarded by scoring chances and getting powerplay chances, even if it hasn't scored just yet.

8:04....Two shots on the powerplay by Gonchar, it's great to see him step it up with the man advantage and make the conscious effort to throw pucks on net.

8:05....Speaking of, Malkin throws a puck on net, Malone absorbs a cross-check but still gets a quick stick on it to sneak a goal by Brodeur. 1-0 Pens!

8:06....The top line gets right back out there and goes to work on the cycle after a brutal turnover by Devils dman Paul Martin. Malkin keeps working and Oduya takes him down, drawing yet another deserved penalty. The Pens look like they want this one a lot more.
8:07....The Pens score! But referee Don Koharski immediately waves it off as Jeff Taffe definitely kicked that one in, good call by Koharski who saw that one all the way.

8:10...Oduya gets out of the box and has a 1 on 1 which is defused but John Madden gets the puck and BOOM throws out a pass to a wide open Jamie Langenbrunner in the slot. Conklin with a beautiful save.

8:15....Martin's been victimized so we'll give him his due, he played Malkin 1 on 1 almost flawlessly.

8:18...David Pelley gives the Devils and their crowd some energy, one of the best shifts of the game for them.

8:19...As soon as that's said, Malkin gallops up the ice, drops a beautiful pass and Petr Sykora hammers a wrist shot that takes a fortunate bounce off of Vitaly Vishnevski's legs pads and riccochets by Brodeur. No chance for him on that. It's Sykora's 600th career point and he celebrates it like it's his first. 2-0 Pens!

8:27....Clarkson is acting a little feisty, getting in Ruutu's face after a whistle and then pinning Laraque to the ice after BGL hit him. Laraque and Ruutu need to show restraint, no need to give the Devils a burst of energy or a powerplay by doing something stupid when the Pens have been easily carrying the play so far.

8:29....Dainus Zubrus fans on a shot...It took 36 minutes of game time for him to do something noteworthy and even then it wasn't impressive.

8:32...Parise and Patrik Elias make some nice passes and get a good shot but it's Conkblock city. Another penalty taken by Christensen though.

8:35...The old coach's mantra goes: nothing against in the first or last minute of the period. Parise makes a great play and takes the puck to the net, the puck pops to an unguarded Jamie Langenbrunner who slips one in behind Conklin. 2-1 Pens.

8:36...The second period is over, and despite badly outchancing, outshooting and outworking the Devils, the Pens only find themselves with a one goal advantage. Could be a whole new game in the 3rd.

8:55...Penalty to start the period for the Pens. Not a good sign.

8:56...Rob Scuderi takes a hard slapper to the foot/leg and is hobbled..Hopefully it's just painful and nothing is broken, the Pens can't afford another injury, especially to a guy who's stepped up to the #1 pairing following the Mark Eaton injury and played so well..

8:58...Scuds is back out there so he must be fine, thankfully....Sykora draws a penalty on the ensuing play in the offensive zone.

9:00....Whitney to Malkin to Sykora, a lot of quick touches there and a great chance but Brodeur stacks the pad and makes an excellent save.

9:01...Pens score, it's now 3-1! As the powerplay expired, beauty of a play by Kris Letang to hold the puck, he finds Talbot who throws a perfect pass out to Staal who rifles in the one-timer. 3-1 Pens! Since Crosby's been injured Staal has really come out of his shell and looked like the 18 year old rookie who scored 29 goals last season. Staal now has 5 points [2g, 3a] and is a +4 in the 6 games since Bing went down.

9:12...Coach Therrien wisely takes a timeout with 10:38 left in the game...A good idea, as the 4th line (with the 3rd d pairing of Orpik/Letang) had a long shift, mostly in their own end and iced the puck and would have had to go out against the Devs' top line with not much gas in the tank.

9:14...Well, the timeout didn't pay off. Elias danced around in the zone and slid a nice little shot by Conklin thanks to some traffic in front, courtesy of Letang. It's 3-2, Pens.

9:16..Tie game, 3-3. The Devils have come to life, got a good shift of cycling in and the Pens were unable to score. A hard point shot by Johnny Oduya finds Clarkson who scores.

9:22...Momentum NJ. They look like they thought the game started at about 9:00 instead of 7. The Penguins look like they're in hang on mode, they've hardly looked as settled in the 3rd period as they did in the first two.

9:25...Great save by Conklin. He's leaving a lot of rebounds now and the Devils are doing a good job trying to swarm to the net.

9:31...Zubrus outworks Gonchar for a puck and gets it to the point, a hard shot but there is no rebound. Only 1:20 left in the game.

9:33...Darryl Sydor, who's been solid all game, is the latest defenseman who gets the puck but doesn't make a decision, gets swarmed by a forechecker and turns the puck over.

WE'RE GOING TO OVERTIME!

9:34...It shouldn't have come to this, but it is. The Penguins carried the play for the first 40 minutes but the Devils came on like gangbangers in the 3rd and twice erased a two goal lead. A tribute to the Devils for hanging in there and work hard. And, to the dismay of the other teams in the division and top half of the league, these teams will have be playing a 3 point game in the standings.

9:36...It's over, Parise and the Devils have completed the comeback. 4-3 Devils win.

Got to be a very disappointing night for Pittsburgh to have played so well for most of the game, only to give it all up. But there is a lesson to be learned here; in the NHL you have to play a complete game, 2 excellent periods are not enough to guarantee the win, especially when going up against a strong opponent.

Thanks for hanging in there all game with us. It might not have ended the way we all wanted it to, but as always there were some bright spots (Staal, Sykora, Malone, Malkin) and some definite lessons to take forward for the next game.

Still, you can't help but think there's going to be a bad feeling in the Pens mouth on the trip home and probably a long practice or two ahead of them since the next game isn't until Thursday.