Mr. Kennedy to sit one out, Caputi called up

Quick hits:

--For the second time in under a week, NHL disicplinarian Colin Campbell rung up a Penguin; this time it's Tyler Kennedy one game for leaving the bench to engage Toronto's Luke Schenn in a fight. It's unknown if Mr. Kennedy would have gotten a longer timeout if he hadn't gotten wiped on the ice by Scheen.

--In personnel moves, the Penguins have called up their brightest prospect from the minors; Luca Caputi. Paul Bissonnette has been re-assigned. Caputi has 13 goals (and 35 points) in 46 games down in the minors, not bad stats for a 20 year old. It will be interesting to see how he fares, here's to hoping that Michel Therrien doesn't give him the usual 6-7 minutes for most young callups.

--Two interesting tidbits from Pensburgh: Sergei Gonchar takes another step on the road to recovery by being cleared for contact in practice. And Ray Shero indicates the "expectation" management has for the players to "make a push". It sounds like a trade could be coming soon, possibly when Sarge can return. As we've mentioned before, signs are pointing that Alex Goligoski could be the bait.

--Sad story from Montreal, as former Penguin Robert Lang suffered a pretty gruesome career threatening achilles injury. The surgery was said to be successful, so that is a good thing. Here's hoping that Lang, an avid golfer, is back to the links at some point when the weather gets warm. And back to the NHL too.

--It would be a shame if Lang's career ended in this eye-popping jersey, eh?


--Congrats to Sidney Crosby, who was named the NHL's second star of the week...Penguin killer Jamie Langenbrunner was named the league's top star.

--A quick check of the standings don't show much progress, as a 1-1-1 record out of the break woud indicate. The Pens are in 10th in the conference; Florida is in 9th--one point up on the Pens (with two games in hand). Carolina is clinging to 8th place with two more points than Pittsburgh.

--James Mirtle's update shows the Penguins need to go 19-12-0 to ensure a playoff berth.

Therrien makes lineup changes

And we can't say we agree with them...

Winger Miroslav Satan, who does not have a goal in eight games, has been demoted to the fourth line, where he will work alongside Dustin Jeffrey and Eric Godard, and defensemen Alex Goligoski and Hal Gill apparently will be healthy scratches.

If you're going to send a message, why not scratch Satan for a game and use Tim Wallace (a hard working 4th line forward) on the 4th line, instead of sitting him?

Goligoski, while being a rookie, hasn't looked out of place, and while Gill has had a couple of shaky outings in his few games back from injury, Mark Eaton and Phillipe Boucher have been shakier this whole season.

Some of the moves Therrien made, like moving Tyler Kennedy to the top line with Sidney Crosby, we do like. Kennedy plays with energy, causes turnovers and actually isn't afraid to put the puck on the net. Keeping the 3rd line of Matt Cooke-Jordan Staal-Max Talbot together also makes sense.

Of course, the results will be known tonight. If the Penguins can finally shake that six game powerplay goal drought, especially early, the sigh of relief may be good enough to carry them to a win and start playing a little looser. But if Boucher and Eaton, two noticably bad players of late (3rd bullet) are out their for some PK goals against, the cries for Therrien's head are only going to get louder.

Banged up Brigade

After last night's 3-2 gimmick loss to the Rangers you can add Tyler Kennedy and Mike Zigomanis to the band of injured players quickly piling up on the Pens...And apparantely Phillipe Boucher is on the IR now as well. Add that to franchise goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and top defensemen Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney.

Both injuries are undisclosed, but rumor has it Mr. Kennedy has already flown back to Pittsburgh to have a leg examined and could miss several weeks. Zigomanis is listed as "probable" so perhaps he will be able to win faceoffs tonight.

There will certainly be no empathy coming from the Carolina Hurricanes and old/new head coach Paul Maurice tonight, but hey, it's worth pointing out. Janne Pesonen and Chris Minard have gotten the call.

Tonight's projected lines, from the main site are:

Talbot-Crosby-Satan
Fedotenko-Malkin-Sykora
Dupuis-Staal-Cooke
Pesonen-Minard-Godard

---
Minard and Pesonen have played and played well all season long (no one in the AHL has more goals than Minard so far). But why keep Pesonen on the 4th line? We can tell that Mike Therrien doesn't trust Pesonen, doesn't know him well enough to give him the added responsibility of playing much. It's something that pretty much all new players to Therrien have to do; prove themselves on the ice, especially defensively before more icetime is given.

Another wrinkle to watch: Kennedy was being used on the top power play. Who gets the call now to join Crosby, Malkin, Satan and Alex Goligoski? We'd bet Staal and Fedotenko are the likely choices.

Fedotenko's had a great game, a lot of effort out of him. The recent benchings and line-demotions seem to have upped his game in recent days, hopefully something he can continue.

Messin Around with TK

No one is immune..





But we definitely agree with The Pensblog, Potash had to be in on it.

"Nothing up my sleeve, no pucks", sure buddy, sure.

Ugly game, bizarre ending...At least Pens Win

Just remember, these two points will look the same in the standings as a 5-0 win in April. Surely by that time the details of this game will thankfully most likely be buried. And for good reason..

• Down 3-1 with about 25 minutes left the Penguins were able to pull a comeback that they've watched so many other teams try to do to them. Though Dany Sabourin wasn't really bad, he wasn't really stellar either in the game kicking out rebounds, pucks zooming by his glove (most just missing).
• Shots were 18-1 in the third period. It was almost if the Pens woke up with Jordan Staal's great effort to make the game 3-2 before heading to the lockeroom for intermission. Obviously you could see the Pens felt like they could control the play, work hard and eventually pop in a goal.
• How about that Matt Cooke/Mike Zigomanis/Tyler Kennedy line? Joey MacDonald might have had dreams last night of those three buzzing around, controlling the puck, cycling, cycling and then scoring.
• Kennedy imparticular had a solid night, 6 shots on net, 2 goals. He's a big time player.
• Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin each grimaced through 24:14 of play. Though the big boys seemed to be skating well, shooting well and passing the puck with some zip, it's clear that neither is 100% right now and something is just a little off. Despite saying that, each are still creating several scoring chances a game for themselves and their linemates but it is a little unsettling to see them out there and clearly not at full strength.
• Blocking shots was a huge storyline of the night too; Pittsburgh got 32 shots through but the Isles were able to block an astonishing 29 more. Pens defensemen combined to have 18 total shots blocked, compared to just 6 they got through to the goalie. Still, have to give NYI and specifically Andy Sutton (8) a lot of credit for being human shields out there. Sutton's a player we haven't always had the highest opinion on as a player, but he played big minutes and was as good as we've ever seen him last night.
• After being on the ice for the Isles 2nd and 3rd goals, Mark Eaton only got three more shifts in the last 2 minutes of regulation and none in OT. Rough night for the usually steady Eaton.



SHOOTOUT-GATE

The NHL's shootout is a gimmick and the bizarre ending of it de-credited any good will it may have built. For those that didn't see it, the Pens were winning 1-0 in the shootout, final round for NYI to score or go home. Trent Hunter comes in, shoots the puck and it disappears somewhere in the myriad of pads that goaltenders wear these days. Sabourin's momentum carries 95% of his body completely into the net, the refs close in to see where the puck got caught up.
It's somewhere in Sabs' leg pad. No one can be quite sure, but given that Sabourin's legs were at one point almost entirely in the net up to his skate, it's reasonable to say goal. Nothing can be said definitively or conclusively, of course, since the puck is not visible. But surely the rubber was behind the line for a second or too.
But since the initial call was "no goal", or perhaps more accurately "we have no idea if it was a goal" video review can't conclusively over-rule and award a goal so game is over. The shootout gimmick looked even more cheapened tonight.
Somehow it would have been more satisfying if they just credited that goal and then let the Pens use Crosby, Malkin or shootout whiz Kris Letang to score an undisputed game winner.

But what's done is done and the Pens will take these two points and move on to an away game in Michigan against some random Western Conference team. That game won't mean very much, will it?

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 1 Redux...MISTER KENNEDY

As John Madden always says, "you can't win 'em all if you don't win the first one.", and while no one expects 82-0, well, it's nice to get started off on the right foot thanks to some quick shots by Tyler Kennedy.

• Kennedy got his shot on the second line with Jordan Staal and Evgeni Malkin thanks to the effects of an illness and groin injury knocking Petr Sykora out of action for today. TK made the most of his chance, obviously, scoring the two goals on quick surprising shots that Ottawa goalie Martin Gerber didn't seem ready for.
• Coming into the game Rob Scuderi scored 2 goals in 219 NHL regular season games. Guess he worked on that shot on the off-season. Yeah, probably not.
• Malkin was seemingly everywhere out there, flying around taking the puck away (credited with 4), blocking shots (2) and we actually thought, while watching the game that his faceoff percentage was a little better in the action than it looks on the scoresheet (4 for 11).
• The powerplay was 0 for 7 and seemed pretty frustrated, especially in the first period when they got five chances as Ottawa made a bunch of dumb decisions and then paraded to the box. Sidney Crosby showed flashes and Kris Letang didn't look out of place but Ottawa's aggressive PK had the answer today. One can't help but wonder that with a healthy Sergei Gonchar that things don't look a little better on that end. We realize the Sarge aint walkin' through that door anytime soon so you can't think that, but still...
• PK'ing was a big part of the night too, as the kill went 5 for 6 and Malkin (goal) and Crosby looked as dangerous as the opponent's powerplay. It appears they'll be playing more on the kill this season, which is never a bad idea to lean a little more on the best players.
• Marc-Andre Fleury and the defense didn't seem that bad but not that good either. Definitely an opening night, no doubt a little weird being six time zones and an ocean away from home.
• Interestingly enough, perhaps the biggest profile player ofthe evening was a -3 on the night, though Daniel Alfreddson did have 6 shots on goal and 4 takeaways the returning hero couldn't have had the night he was hoping for.

In conclusion, definitely a strange an unusual game in an unusual venue. It's bizarre to think this weekend's game mean just as much as a Wednesday night game in March, but that's the case. And though it wasn't necessarily pretty, the Penguins found a way to win. At the end of the day, that's all that matters.

Impressions on the Toronto Preseason game

Well until our video-stream slowed down and died somewhere in the second period.

• Toronto didn't ice that competitive of a team, and even if they did it's still the Maple Leafs. The Jordan Staal / Evgeni Malkin / Petr Sykora line looked as good as you'd expect them to considering Toronto' fielded an exhibition lineup for an exhibition game.
• That said, the work Staal and mainly Malkin did short-handed in the early 2nd period was a thing of beauty. Malkin beared in on the forecheck and caused a Toronto defenseman (that we couldn't identify, no announcers were on our feed) to spin and wipe out. A little hustle went a long way, Malkin feeds Staal who's all alone in front of the net, Staal in turn dishes back to Malkin who slams the puck in from point blank. Tic-tac-toe. The Penguins have shown a willingness to let Malkin and Sidney Crosby play shorthanded and this could payoff.
• Tyler Kennedy does look notably faster. Perhaps his first NHL season wore on him, especially the mononucleosus from Jan/Feb. Tonight he looked great, flying around out there.
• Kris Letang also looked like he knew what he was doing, his pairing with Brooks Orpik was equal parts strength and skill, the perfect mix of size, speed, positioning and stick-handling. On the Penguins 2nd goal (a powerplay goal credited to Rusty Fedotenko) Letang shot in to the play and on first glance appear to score. The goal was unassisted, and with no announcers (and the view of a laptop hooked up to a television) we couldn't make out if a Maple Leaf was last to touch it or what. Either way, if Letang got there, he would have finished.
• To the point we saw Dany Sabourin looked good in limited work. He never made any huge saves or anything spectacular but he never had to.
• Darryl Sydor actually looked good to. Sure he played within himself, but he did what he had to. His partner, Hal Gill, on the other hand looked a little more slowed footed than we remembered. Maybe he's a slow starter or maybe our memory is off. We'll see.

That's about it. If a player wasn't mentioned, he didn't catch our eye. But we only saw about the first half of the game so there's always that. Regardless the Pens were up 3-0, a good place to stop.

28 profiles in 28 days....The Sparkplug

Welcome back to TST's 28 profiles in 28 days. Here's the backstories of players previously profiled:
Kris Beech....The Unwanted One
Matt Cooke...The New Ruu
Sidney Crosby....The Chosen One
Pascal Dupuis….The Iceman
Ruslan Fedotenko….The Battletank
Eric Godard....The Goon


Basics
Player Name: Tyler Kennedy
How Acquired: Drafted in 99th overall (4th round) in 2004
Position: Any forward position (natural center but expected to play mostly wing)
Age: 22
Contact Situation: Signed thru 2008-09 season, $542,000 cap hit (RFA after this season)

History
Last Season Stats: (Pittsburgh) 55 games played, 10 goals, 9 assists =19 points...(With Wilkes-Barre) 10 gp, 5g, 4a, 9p....Playoffs: 20 gp, 0g, 4a, 4 p
Last Season Write-up: Kennedy didn't make the the Pittsburgh roster out of camp last season but he quickly proved to management that he was performing at a level above the AHL level. Kennedy then put up 6 goals and 4 assists in his first 17 NHL games....TK got diagnosed with mononucleosis in mid January and missed a month and after that point his production really diminished as he tallied only 2 goals and 9 assists in the last 44 post-injury games....Numbers only tell half the story though, as TK does things like hustle, play defense and stand up for teammates (as seen by kicking Scottie Upshall's ass)
Career Year Stats: Would have to be last season, since he was a rookie

Outlook
Player progressing, in prime or regressing: Kennedy is progressing. He's the youngest forward on the team not named Staal, Malkin or Crosby.
Potential line-mates: Maxime Talbot, Pascal Dupuis, Matt Cooke, Staal
"Best case scenario" stats: 82 games played 20 goals, 20 assists, 40 points...Kennedy could be a 20/20 guy one day soon. If he gets some minutes that day may come sooner than later
Notes: The Penguins will look to Kennedy to again provide the energy and uptempo play on whatever line he ends up with. Keep in mind that unlike every other forward on the roster (except enforcer Eric Godard), Kennedy is the only right handed shot on the unit...Could that be an advantage if Crosby needs a linemate?
Interesting fact: Has a hit that can break glass. Somewhat resembles Paperboy.

Playoff Lineup coming into focus

Here were the forward combinations from Friday's practice:

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Not news: Penguins have best young players/prospects

Ok, so it's kinda hardly a surprise given the team gets three consecutive top 2 picks and through the fate, or blind luck, ends up with Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal.

If the Pens had their high picks in a different era* they could have ended up David Legwand [draft 2nd overall in 1998 entry draft], Patrik Stefan [1st overall in 1999] and Dany Heatley in 2000 [2nd overall in 2000]. So certainly timing, as usual, is everything.

*in terms of hockey prospects

But don't discount the other players under about the age of 21 that the Penguins have already developed into NHL players without the high picks.

• Tyler Kennedy [99th overall in the 4th round of 2004]
• Kris Letang [62nd overall in the 3rd round of 2005]

A lot of teams don't even have A player in their NHL lineup under the age of 22. We spot-checked three teams at random on hockeydb.com and it seems Carolina and Detroit (shocker!) didn't have any, while Vancouver has two (defensemen Alex Edler and Luc Bourdon). So that the Pens have more than just the obvious young players has to be a testament to their scouting and development right off the bat.

And with Alex Goligoski [61st overall in the 2nd round of 2004] seeming very close to being a fixture in the NHL and prospects ripping up the juniors like Luca Caputi [111st overall in the 4th round 2007] and Dustin Jeffrey [172nd in the 6th round] it's easy to see something we've been saying here for a while at TST....The young talent pool for the Penguins is significantly deeper than the casual observer might be lead to believe by just seeing the Staal's and Malkin's of the organ-eye-zation.

Something to get the spirits up

A spirited loss yesterday in Ottawa. Back and forth, lots of action (and penalties) as well as emotion out the wazoo. Despite Evgeni Malkin's three point night, the Pens didn't have enough to win; hey it'd be hard to picture Ottawa winning if they didn't have, say Daniel Alfredsson, Dany Heatley, Anton Volchenkov and Andrej Mezawhatever in the lineup.


Anyways, a quick turnaround for a home game today against Atlanta Thrashers and some old friend....Recchi, Hedberg, Thorburn, Christensen, Armstrong, heck they've even got themselves a Kwiatkowski.


Here's something we found that brought a chuckle...And in case Tyler Kennedy needs to get a part-time job in the offseason, there might be a natural position for him..

Goin to Carolina

It's a hockey night in Raleigh!

• Season series: 2-1 Penguins (including the last two). This is the last match up of the regular season between Pittsburgh and Carolina.
• The Hurricanes, uh, made waves (sorry) with their big trade of sending two impending vets that were UFAs (Cory Stillman and Mike Commodore) for two younger players not as established (the injured Patrick Eaves and Joe Corvo). Consider though, the four games before that trade the ‘Canes only scored a total of 4 goals. In their only contest since they scored 3 goals and won. Sometimes a GM needs to shake things up to get the message through.
• Dany Sabs is expected to be in net. We have no idea what that means. At times Sabourin has showed he can be an effective NHL backup and give a good performance. But at other times he shown quite clearly that he can give the goal judge's red-light finger a workout. With Fleury's return coming very soon this might be one of the last times this year Sabourin gets the chance to start an NHL game. Surely he must know this. Hopefully that pressure brings the best, and not the worst, out of him.
• The tightness of the Southleastern Division--Carolina is tied with Washington and Atlanta with 60 points at the top, Florida has 58 points and don’t sleep on Tampa who’s only 6 points out of 1st with at least a game in hand on everyone else. Point being, all of these teams are going to be fighting and clawing in what’s best described as the measured and nothing against mentality of “playoff hockey”. Which is ironic since no team in the Southleast is in the top 8 in the conference right now on their own merit.
• Ray Whitney has a +/- rating of -11 in the past month. We know this because he was on our fantasy team. As in the past tense.
• Coach Michel Therrien called out the secondary scoring and it’s easy to see why. Since Crosby’s injury the top line has been ridiculous and the 2nd line of Christensen-Staal-Talbot has created too. Look at these droughts:

--The last time Colby Armstrong scored a goal; there wasn’t a roof over his head. Since the Winter Classic he’s played 16 games and only has 2 assists in that timeframe.
--Max Talbot only has 1 goal in his last 17 games (though he is piling up assists at a decent rate)
--BGL isn’t here to score, but he’s had 0g, 1a in the past 15 games.
--Jarkko Ruutu is 0 for the season (46 games for him).
--Kris Beech, naturally, is scoreless in 3 games too
--Jeff Taffe is on a 10 game goal-less streak.
--Young players Ryan Stone, Jonathan Filewich and Nathan Smith, in limited minutes, also produced nothing offensively in 18 combined games.

On the heels of all this, the Pens are happy to welcome back a guy in Tyler Kennedy who was on pace to be a 20 goal scorer in his rookie year (8 goals in 31 NHL games this season) and plays with a lot of energy and determination. You can count on Geno and the powerplay, but expecting them to produce 3-4 goals a night is not going to cut it; it caught up with the Penguins last night.

If the Penguins want to win this game, someone else is going to have to step up and somehow get one by an opponent that's sure to be clinging for dear life. That could be the spark the Pens need to carry them to victory.

Injury Update

These have been compiled from all over the internet/TV about the Pens injured players and the strides they are individually making on the road to recovery. We don’t have the time or gumption to list all the sources, so either take our word for this, or start searching yourself. And to our extra deep readers, the type of injury and the date suffered are in parenthesis

Marc-Andre Fleury (sprained ankle, 12/6) – Has been practicing all week. Coach Therrien said “we’ll see where he is” after the weekend, seeming to indicate Fleury could be ready for action very soon….In the light of Ty Conklin’s performance, how the team decides to use Fleury upon return seems to be the bigger question right now.

Sweater Ted Early Outlook on a return to the lineup: less than a week

Gary Roberts (broke leg on 12/29) – Skated before practice today, but said his leg still was sore and that it’ll probably be 7-10 days before he rejoins practice.

Sweater Ted Early Outlook on a return to the lineup: 2-3 weeks

Tyler Kennedy (diagnosed with mono, 1/19) – Kennedy has been assigned to the AHL today, after practicing for a week with Pittsburgh. While not officially designated as a rehab assignment (perhaps because the Pens a few extra forwards), a few games in the A should get TK back into game shape where he should be quickly promoted back to Pittsburgh, hopefully banishing Kris Beech once and for all.

Sweater Ted Early Outlook on a return to the (NHL) lineup: less than a week

Sidney Crosby (sprained ankle, 1/18) – Participated in a full practice today, wearing a non-contact jersey, but the team still insists this is normal rehab and he’s on pace still for 6-8 weeks on the shelf.

Sweater Ted Early Outlook on a return to the lineup: 2-3 weeks (which is a little before their window, call us optimistic)

Adam Hall (groin, 1/19) – Came back to practice but wasn’t 100% and is back to “give it time mode” which is really the only thing you can do for this type of injury

Sweater Ted Early Outlook on a return to the lineup: Who knows, hard to diagnose groins. (Hopefully for the Pens penalty-kill sooner than later)

Tyler Kennedy: Not Gay

Oh but someone wishes he was

Today we crown perhaps the seminal “Google Search of the Week* Award”. As in what someone typed into the search engine and ended up, somehow finding this site.

*(Not given out every week)

Remember folks, I can’t make this stuff up..........

“is tyler kennedy gay”

The tone of this post (and inevitable Flyer joke) was the culprit, which sprung TST to the #1 spot for this google search.


So, uh, wishful thinking on someone’s part.

Tyler Kennedy hops on the Indefinite Injury Train

News today about what's kept Tyler Kennedy out of the lineup, it's mono!

TK will be out of the YoungStars game this weekend and beyond. Jeff Taffe has played pretty well in the NHL and Erik Christensen is healthy again so the Pens should be able to hold the fort down without him for a while.

They'll still miss the energy he can bring to a game (which neither Taffe nor EC provide) so perhaps this will mean an extended chance to stay in the NHL for a guy like Ryan Stone or Jonathan Filewich that could bring a little uptempo forechecking to the table.

Mono, isn't that the kissing disease? It's a good thing Kennedy doesn't play for the Flyers, their whole team might catch it...

(Photo courtesy of the Pensblog and the genius/sicko that submitted it)

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.

The Flu Claims Two

He's baaaack! (Note: Not Gary, the mustachioed gentleman)

According to PSI, Tyler Kennedy and Erik Christensen are out of the lineup tonight (even though Crusher told the PG he expected to be ready to roll). That means Ryan Stone will be making his NHL debut and also the return from injury by Max Talbot.

I’m not too excited by this turn of events: TK and EC have been two of the Penguins better forwards during this 7 game winning streak and have been playing arguably the best hockey of their short NHL careers in the past 20 games or so.

Stone will be on the 4th line and plays a pretty well-rounded game, he’s physical and energetic and on paper a nice replacement for Kennedy, even if TK had a bigger role than Stone will initially get.

Talbot, on the other hand, has me concerned. He returned in early December after missing 4 or 5 games from a high ankle sprain and ended up re-aggravating it that knocked him out a month. We here at the Sweater Ted don’t have to look far to see how the exact same injury has hobbled Caps sniper Alex Semin and greatly decreased his game by trying to play through (and then coming back to quickly) an ankle sprain.

But Talbot has been eased back into practice over the past 2 weeks or so and must be in good shape if the Pens didn’t want to bring up another well performing farmhand like Tim Brent or Jonathan Filewich.
We’ll see how things click in the Pens quest to beat Tampa Bay for the first time since 2003 and, more importantly, go for their 8th win in a row.

Pens young players coming up big

Sorry for the infrequent posts of late....Things have picked up considerably for me (new job) and my time has been stretched. For game recaps and more regular updates to my dozen readers, you know to check out the Pensblog. Heck, you come from there anyways.

Regardless, good win tonight for the Marc-Andre Fleury-less Penguins in Long Island. Some of my thoughts:
``Kris Letang led all Penguins with 25:50 ice time. It's hard to develop as a young defenseman in the NHL. Letang, relatively unhearlded as a 3rd round draft pick, is doing it in front of our eyes. Surprisingly for someone so adept at moving the puck, tonight's assist was just his 2nd of the season. Best stat for this offensive minded dman? 4 hits and 1 blocked shot. If Letang can be competant in his own end against NHL caliber players, I really think he could develop into a Dan Boyle-esque player. Which would be a very good thing.
``Enough of Letang, how about Tyler Kennedy? Mr. Kennedy is rocking faces the NHL and his speed, hustle and energy is making differences. Coming into this year, personally I was more sold on Ryan Stone or Jonathan Filewich. I overlooked the new TK's overall skill that goes along with his effort. And with 6 goals and 4 assists in 19 games (while playing just over 11 minutes a night) Kennedy is making a HUGE difference. Kennedy's goal and 2 assists tonight meant he had a hand in every score. Tremendous.
``The Islanders have been on a streak of something like 20 games not scoring more than 3 goals in a game, so jumping out to an early 2-0 lead (even though it was neutralized) was huge for not only the Penguins but to damage the pysche of the Isles.
``Seriously, is every goal Richard Park scores against the Penguins? I'll try to look it up when I have the time, but it really seems like Park scores almost every time he plays his old team. Yet he only has 5 on the year.
``Sidney Crosby had his 15th goal of the season, but he and Evgeni Malkin had a hideous go at it in the faceoff circle (thanks mostly to faceoff wizard Mike Sillinger). The two Big Boys went a combined 11 for 36 (30.5%) on faceoffs.
``One area the Penguins did not have problems was the shot department. 40 shots on net tonight (led by Petr Sykora's 6) and missed the net 11 more times. Tell me this going into a game and I like their chances....Also Crosby had 5 shots on goal, I believe he's had about 13 shots in the past two games; it seems like he's making a conscious effort to shoot more. That is a very bad thing to hear for the opposition.
``Are people going to start hitting Georges Laraque so they don't have to feel Gary Roberts' wrath? Roberts took exception to Andy Sutton's treatment of Jordan Staal and had no qualms in dropping the gloves with a significantly younger (and bigger) kid. Arguably no one in the NHL is as tough, strong or forceful as Gary Roberts is at 41 years old....And if you don't believe it, he'll probably kick your ass too for good measure.
``Crosby is #1 in the league at drawing penalties: 37 so far this year. The outside observers will wrongly decry that they are mostly sympathetic or trumped up calls by biased referees "Michael Jordan calls" if you will. Watch 5 consecutive Pens games as just a neutral observer and you'd have a different perspective. I belive right now Alex Ovechkin is #2 in this category, also for a reason. The opposition knows the elite players that they must hook, hold, slash, grab, trip, interfere, etc.
``Dany Sabourin was good. But can he be good for the next 6-8 weeks? Tough question. But considering Sabs was the goalie of the year in the ECHL once, and he was the goalie of the year in the AHL once, he has the skill and knows it. Surely his confidence could all fall apart and we could see repeats of the 8-2 debacle in Philly.....But I honestly believe Sabourin could be the stopgap for the next month and a half and do his part to keep the Penguins in playoff contention. IF he can (and I realize that's a hefty if) that's all you can ask for.....For tonight at least, he did his part.
``One of the unsung trio, Rob Scuderi, left early with what appeared to be an ankle injury. That's 3 current ankle injuries (Fleury, Maxime Talbot), if you're keeping track at home. Maybe we should try wrapping these things or something??
``Connor James made his NHL debut. The Pens chose him over a more flashy guy like Stone, Filewich or Jeff Taffe because he fills the Talbot role of speed, energy and PK ability better. James looked decent in his limited action. He definitely is a very fast and quick skater. The Penguins sure do have a great crop of all-around skaters in their organization, it's something that's been emphasized by at first Craig Patrick and now Mr. Shero. I can't believe I paid a compliment to post 2000 Craig Patrick, but apparantely I just did.
``Sports Illustrated did a huge article on Chris Simon a couple of weeks ago where they basically tried to state that he really is a good person that just does bad things. I bought this, after all hockey is a rough and tumble sport and it's emotions run high so it's easy to cross the line occasionally....But Simon's latest line crossing; where he attempted to stomp Jarrko Ruutu's ankle off was inexcusable. Too much adds to his shoddy reputation. There's no place in the NHL for that kind of recklessness. I'm sure Colin Campbell will be giving the Isles a call soon to let him know how long he's suspended. It should be a lengthy one, no one deserves to be stomped on with an ice skate. Total classless and bush-league by Simon.

It's a great thing to get 2 points from a division rival on the road....Even moreso when your #1 goalie and #1 defenseman (Sergei Gonchar) are out of the lineup, and when the two big guns combine for just 1 assist.

Around here, we'll take it....These two points are worth just as much at the end of the season as the Flyers earned for winning 8-2 the other night. It all counts the same.

Crosby should be on Dallas....He's a Star

The Penguins make it 3 wins in a row with a solid 4-1 showing at home over the Dallas Stars. Sidney Crosby, as usual, set the tone for the Pens. This time is was a goal on the opening shift, just :24 into the game. When Jordan Staal forced a turnover and got the puck to Tyler Kennedy (who in turn absolutely wired it over Mike Smith's shoulder) just 3:38 into the game, the rout was on. Dallas, not Pittsburgh looked like the team that hadn't played a game in almost a week. Nope, no signs of rust here. So here's my game observations before a trip tomorrow to another struggling opponent, the Make Beliefs.

• The Penguins are .500 for the first time since November 7th. Time to keep climbing. All four lines played well. The lower lines grided, the skill guys made skill plays.
• Early in the game, someone named Krys Barch decided he wanted to fight Georges Laraque. Barch decided to use the back of his head to smash BGL's fist about 5 times, then get tired and fall. Laraque easily retains his crown as the NHL's Heavyweight Champion.
• No Sergei Gonchar, no problem. For tonight at least. Ryan Whitney played the most minutes for defenseman (26:15) but that was inflated for all the PP time at the end of the game. Pretty much all the defensemen picked up the slack and did what they do best. Brooks Orpik hit (a game high 9 hits), Mark Eaton blocked 5 shots (and was named the 3rd star of the game), Robert Scuderi chewed up minutes, Darryl Sydor jumped right back in the lineup (more later) and Kris Letang didn't make any rookie mistakes.
• 5 points (1g, 4a) in the past 3 games for Colby Armstrong (the 2nd star of the night). He's responded well from his frequent healthy scratches.
• Crosby shot the puck 11 times. 2 scored, 6 were saved by Smith, 2 got blocked and 1 missed the net. Any time Sid is shooting that much, I like how it's looking.
• Sydor easily transitioned back into the lineup, and even though he screened Marc-Andre Fleury on the only goal against, he made the play perfectly on Crosby's 2nd goal. Sydor belongs with the Pens, not on Old Man Recchi's train out of town.
• Speaking of the netminder, Fleury was near perfect. The only goal he gave up was the result of a bad Ryan Malone turnover that developed into a 2 on 2 that Mike Ribeiro took a great shot on. Fleury didn't make any 5 star saves, but he didn't have to. Still, he stopped 22 of 23, something the Pens will take every time.
• Jordan Staal had a really authoritative night, as mentioned he made Kennedy's gamewinner happen, but he was just 20% (2 for 10) in the faceoff circle.
• Speaking of Mr. Kennedy, he had his best night in a Penguin sweater so far, being an absolute buzzsaw hustling around the ice, winning battles and of course, scoring the game winning goal.
• Saving the best individual play for last: Petr Sykora did his thing and threw a puck for the easiest goal Malkin could hope for. Erik Christensen's role of driving to the net won't make the headlines, but you can bet he had the Dallas goalie's attention.

As you can see, I pretty much mentioned every member of the Pens team (except for maybe Adam Hall and Dany Sabs), something I don't normally do... It was a great team effort tonight. The skill players showcased their skill, the fighter fought, the grinders grinded, the defenseman defensed and the netminder minded his net. A tremendous effort that was near perfect.

Hopefully the team doesn't read blogs like this and start thinking how good they are. They're only at .500 and far from a playoff spot. Still, the last 3 games have been very, very encouraging.