Scoring six times is fun...Pens win

The Penguins should try it more often. 1-2-1 for a west coast swing, not great by any means, but for all intents and purposes it's nice to put that behind us and just move on.

• As you'd expect from six different players scoring goals, nearly everyone on the roster had at least a point. In fact it's easier to write who didn't have a point; Rob Scuderi, Mike Zigomanis, Chris Minard, Janne Pesonen and Eric Godard
• Pesonen's debut was relatively inconspicuous, though he got some looks on Evgeni Malkin's line, Pesonen only played 9:52 of ice-time and didn't really do anything notable. Clearly HCMT doesn't trust him to be out there too much in a close game, which is only natural. It did look weird seeing a #20 out there that wasn't Colby Armstrong.
• The Max Talbot/Sid Crosby/Miro Satan line combined for 2 goals, 4 assists and a +8 rating. They were great out there. We love the addition of Talbot as a spot winger for Crosby; Talbot hustles, he digs out pucks, he's fast and defensively responsible. Plus he can finish every once in a while.
• Also, hopefully the Therrien routine of "let's put new skill wingers on the 3rd line to teach them how to play my system" that he pulled with Petr Sykora last season until December and was well on his way to using on Satan too is finished. Satan has six goals, only seven other Pens have 2+ goals. Leave him with Crosby, we implore you!
• Malkin runs his scoring streak up to eight consecutive games with his smash power-play goal and an assist. In fact, perhaps more impressively the only game all season Malkin hasn't recorded a point was the Oct 14th win over Philly. Malkin also, at least temporarily, takes over the lead in the league's point scoring race.
• Hidden stat of the night: every Penguin that took at least four draws won over 50% of them, led again by Zigomanis' 73% (8 for 11) evening.
• Big game from Tyler Kennedy too, who ended up getting the eventual game winner, an apple and his usual energy to the team. Nice to see him break off the snide of a long goal-less streak and get his first goal of the season in North America.
• With all the injuries everyone expected big things from Kris Letang, who's definitely been over-shadowed by fellow young defenseman Alex Goligoski. Goose is getting most the PP icetime with the top unit, but Letang is emerging as a solid all around defenseman. Paired on the top unit with Brooks Orpik tonight, check out Letang's stat-line: 25:28 played, 1 assist, +3, 1 shot, 6 hits, 4 blocked shots and a giveaway. Not flashy, but solid nonetheless.

The Pens are rewarded by the NHL schedule with a five day break. There's still some things to work on and a nice time for guys like Crosby, Sykora and Hal Gill to rest some bumps, bruises and fix teeth hanging by a thread. Also, perhaps guys like Ruslan Fedotenko and Pascal Dupuis will be able to return from their undisclosed injuries.

Game 11: Howl like a Coyoooote

About the opponent: The Phoenix Coyoooootes
Record: 3-4-0
Notable wins: at Anaheim, Washington
Notable losses: at Montreal, at Ottawa
Last game: 4-1 loss at home to Calgary on Saturday...That's right, once game time comes around it'll be 5 full days since they've played
Statistical star: Olli Jokinen [1 goal and 6 assists in 7 games]
Disapointment so far: Ed Jovanovski [0 goals, 0 assists, team second worst -4]

Phoenix player to watch: We want to say Jokinen (who's scored 14 goals and 12 assists in his last 20 games versus the Penguins) but we have to go with Danny Carcillo. The former Penguins prospect gets his first crack at playing his former teammates at the NHL level. Of particular note is will he meet his old buddy Paul Bissonnette--the two were kindred spirits in Wheeling and Wilkes-Barre and surely were fimiliar with each other from playing in the OHL at the same time for a few years. Carcillo is a fun player to watch, he skates like a madman, will hit and fight at the drop of a hat. His antics are wild, but to reign him in would limit his effectiveness. When Carcillo's on the ice one can't be quite certain of what will happen, but it'll likely be action packed.

Penguins player to watch: Ruslan Fedotenko. He got bumped up to Crosby's line and played well with him in the dying moments of the San Jose game...Can Rusty keep it up? It appears he's been coming around lately and been playing at a higher level than he started the season, a continuation of that (and maybe some chemistry with Sid to boot) could be very beneficial for this game and the long run.

Will the desert air bring back some offense for the Penguins? While "that one" has a famous goal that happened in Phoenix, let's not forget another highlight goal that's been overshadowed...Something about playing in Phoenix lends itself to highlight reels, well at least it has for Crosby and Ovechkin...Let's see if their contemporary Evgeni Malkin can add to the magic.

Game 10: Pens get Sharked

There are no sure goals with Sabu

Sorry for the late recap, we've been battling illness. Anyways onto the thoughts...

• First of all, gotta give props to Dany Sabourin who again played excellently and held the Penguins in the game for much longer than they deserved to be in it.
• The Sharks are now coached by Todd McLellan, who was a Detroit assistant. And it showed because the Sharks sure did show some shades of Red tonight, controlling the puck for most of the night, limiting the opponents shots to a measely figure (and the shots allowed mostly came from outside non-prime scoring areas). The Sharks are an elite regular season team, especially at home and it was on display tonight.
• Describe Sidney Crosby's night in a word? Frustrating. Mr. Sid went 4-20 in the faceoff circle as "Jumbo" Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau pretty much had their way winning clean draw after clean draw all night long. Crosby, like so many of his teammates, also failed to get a shot on goal (though he did ring one off iron) and slammed the puck into the boards showing his frustration after a borderline penalty.
• From the "how the heck does this happen department", the official scorer credited the Penguins with 10 giveaways but then awarded Shark players 13 takeaways. Does that make sense to anyone?
• Further, the Sharks were hit for 21 giveaways but Penguin players were only credited 7 takeaways. Were San Jose players going Ilya Kovalchuk and stealing pucks from their own teammates?
• When the number of minor penalties taken (6) is approaching the number of shots you get on goal (11) you just know it wasn't a fun night....But at least the penalty kill went 6 for 6, right?
• The last five minutes of the game the Penguins showed some real effort, got some good cycling shifts and Ruslan Fedotenko took advantage of playing with Crosby and Evgeni Malkin by popping Crosby's rebound in. So also at least Crosby and Malkin could push their duel scoring streaks to now six games and counting.
• This team needs a skilled winger. Janne Pesonen has points in every AHL game he's played so far. Of course they're probably not going to fly him out for the West Coast trip, but just sayin'...
• In the end, definitely a game the Penguins didn't deserve to win and now go to 0-1-1 on this road trip. But the toughest two games of the trip (at NYR, at SJ) are in the rear view mirror with two relatively easy opponents the Coyotes (3-4-0) and then St. Louis (a surprising start of 5-3-0).
  

Finally, thank you to the Arlington County street construction guys out there for starting jackhammer and other heavy machinery work at 6 AM sharp this morning on the street in our neighborhood directly behind our house. That is really lovely after a West Coast game that keeps us up until 1 AM.

Mr. Gretzky Goes To Pittsburgh

The Mark Recchi bobblehead giveaway tonight?

Tonight the Coyotes are in town, carrying a 11-13 record and the Penguins have a great chance to pick up 2 points in the standings.

Maxime Talbot will not be wearing a Sidney Crosby jersey tonight, he'll be in his #25 and is expected to be back in the lineup. It's not known which Penguin will be scratched; supposedly Georges Laraque has had a cranky back but all other forwards are healthy. My guess would be Jarrko Ruutu or Adam Hall; neither has played poorly, but with a hectic schedule coming up, the Penguins need to get Talbot in the lineup and back on track.

The news isn't so good for #1 defenseman Sergei Gonchar. His groin will, in all likelihood, hold him out for another game. His abscene was starting to be noticable to the blueline, hopefully the likes of Ryan Whitney and Kris Letang can pickup the slack on the powerplay and try to make something happen.

As usual, Old Man Recchi is not expected to be in the lineup tonight; another healthy scratch, despite the fact that it's his bobblehead night to commemorate his 500th goal from last season.

My prediction: A Pens win if they score first or early. If they fall in an early hole, a win is not guaranteed, even if Phoenix is considered one of the weakest and least skilled teams in the NHL.

Time to get back on the horse

After what feels like another off-season has taken place since the last game, the Penguins are back in action tonight. Since Saturday night, a lot has changed. Only 1 team in the conference (Washington) has less points than the Penguins, though the good guys are tied for the lowest number of games players (23).

Funny with all the talk of scheduling (see below), tonight's opponent is the Western Conference Dallas Stars, lead by the resurgent and record setting Mike Modano.

The long break came at a good time for the Penguins to get a little health. Important checker Max Talbot got to rest his ankle which would have kept him out any games this week. Very important defenseman Sergei Gonchar's groin seems to be on the mend as he practiced a little yesterday. It remains to be seen if either will be in the lineup tonight. I suspect Gonchar will, as a veteran who eats up 26+ minutes a game he usually doesn't practice between games anyways. I think Therrien might like the current lineups and combos enough not to bump a guy like Tyler Kennedy out of the lineup to make room for Talbot....The team is on a 2 game winning streak, if you can remember that far!

But now, as they say business is about to pick up. After only playing 4 games in the past 12 nights (and none in the past 5); the Penguins are about to embark on 13 games in the next 24 nights leading up to the short Christmas break. This chunk of games will include 8 total road games (including a rare cross-country road trip for all 3 Western Canadian teams) and 4 divisional matchups (3 of those in unfriendly confines).

To look far ahead, the stretch after this (Dec 23rd to Feb 1) is much less taxing, just 15 games in 40 nights and only has one extended road trip (a 3 game stretch for both Florida teams who seem to haunt the Pens plus Atlanta). After THAT lull in the schedule things get hectic again with 14 games in 26 nights from Feb 2nd to Feb 26th.

Ok, I think that's all the schedule analysis you or I could handle for now.

So let's just settle on that this little mini-marathon is another chance for the Pens to make up ground in the chase for a playoff spot. I highlighted the 9 game streak of divisional opponents and the Penguins responded by going 2-6-1 and are in jeopardy now of losing the pack of teams in the middle of the conference. Hopefully at the Christmas break we can look back on this stretch of games and see better results.

Avalanched, Pens fall in Game 12

Apologies for no gameday post for the 12th game, the Penguins up in Colorado for a 3-2 regulation loss. Some thoughts:

• Sidney Crosby is all of a sudden 3rd place in the NHL scoring race. He's now on a career high 11 game point streak after scoring both the goals for the Penguins in the first period. Crosby is also currently rocking a 4 game goal streak.
• Ryan Whitney left the game with a groin injury, no timetable on his return.
• Obviously the Pens collapsed in the 2nd period, giving up all three goals and not being able to recover. Disappointing, but things like that happen in a long season.
• Sergei Gonchar, in large part due to Whitney's injury had to log 28:19 of ice-time. I continue to be amazed at the time he puts in, night in and night out. All the other healthy Pens defensemen played between 18:02 (Eaton) and 18:52 (Scuderi), so that's very even. Except for Lord Gonch who had a +1 rating while playing almost half the game.
• Crosby's biggest improvement this year is probably in the faceoff circle and it is going largely un-noticed. Last night he was 13-9 in faceoffs for a solid 58%. For the year he's at 55.6%, good for 25th in the league right now. Last season Crosby was under the 50% mark, so it just goes to show how Sidney continues to round out and improve his game even further.

Not much else to say about this one. The Pens bring back 2 out of a possible 4 points from a quick trip west, which is about the same .500 hockey they've played all year. As I'm about to point out, the next stretch of games will be crucial in shaping the season.

Aces Wild: Pens Win

Big 4-2 win on the road tonight against a Minnesota team that's been one of the NHL's strongest over the first month of the season (7-3-2 record good for 2nd in the West). Even better though, this was the first time of the season that the Penguins really put in a solid 60 minutes of effort and played well at both ends of the ice. Game notes

• Obviously this game was all about Sidney Crosby (1g, 3a, +3, 4 SOG, 3 hits, 68% faceoffs (15-7), 21:30 TOI) and Evgeni Malkin (2g, 1a, +3, 3 SOG, 4 PIM, 19:40 TOI). I was against using them on the same line long-term, but on a night like this why not? They were dominant and it showed.


• Ryan Malone deserves a lot of credit too. He's played really well this year and opened up room on the top line. If he gives this type of effort every night this team is going places...Malone's knock has always been consistency and periods of no production over long stretches but he's answered the bell so far this year...It's almost like he's a UFA at the end of the year or something...


• The defense played very solid as well. As usual, Sergei Gonchar led all skaters on the Penguins with 24:38 in icetime. But the defensemen with the least amount of icetime was Darryl Sydor and he had 16:25. Most fell into the 19-20 minute range. Good balance. And, if I'm going to go on forever with Sid and Geno's statline it's worth mentioning these unsung heroes: Mark Eaton (20:28 TOI, 8 blocked shots), Brooks Orpik (3 hits, 4 blocked shots). That's not a typo, Eaton really did block 8 shots.


• Petr Sykora showed why he's a slick goal scorer with his powerplay goal. Dude has a heck of a release on that shot. Hopefully he keeps getting a lot of PP time, he's notorious for scoring slumps so it's good to see him producing.


• Michel Therrien must have gotten the message loud and clear: Old Man Recchi had but 13:30 icetime. He's good in that role. His line with Adam Hall and rook Tyler Kennedy play well as a lower line unit. And that's basically the same role Recchi played for Carolina when they won the cup.


• Is there a goalie controversy? Sabourin was great. He made the saves he need to make, the Wild were frantic but Sabs was strong. Really, if you took the numbers off both goalies backs (and, I suppose the identifying yellow pads away), you'd probably have to say Sabourin deserves the next start. But this team is not going to go places with Sabs, it's going to have to be Marc-Andre Fleury taking them places....Stay tuned.

Now it's off to Colorado for a game against a team with a pretty fair home record so far (5-0-0).

Oh yeah, don't forget Sidney Crosby is now up to 5th place in the NHL in scoring with 17 points. He is on a 10 game point scoring streak. Malkin is tied for 7th in the league, right behind him with 16 points.

Gameday 11: The Call of the Wild

A rare game outside of the eastern time zone tonight, as the Penguins are up in Minnesota to take on a team with a terrible nickname ('The Wild', really?) with terrible colors (even Santa Claus thinks there's a little much on the red and green).


And to make matters even worse for the last team in the NHL to lose a game in regulation this season, their starting goalie is out tonight---and this Nicklas Backstrom doesn't have a goal yet either, Caps fans. Also, Slovak pals and the two best offensive players for the Wild (Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra) are not expected to be in the lineup either.


So it's going to be pretty anonymous for the boys from Minnesota, let's just hope they hold up better than old Jon Casey...

Do it.

Dany Sabourin is getting the nod in net for Pittsburgh, after he turned away all 13 shots he faced in a relief effort.....We'll see.

Pens 5 (winner by Gonchar)
Wild 3
(my record: 2-2)