Penguins beaten by Bruins 5-2

Gill, who is just back from a shoulder injury, was on first defensive line. He played very well in his first shift back. Staalsy made a Bruin sorry he was born with a hard hit (I wasn’t able to catch the player’s name or number.) Mark Eaton is called for hooking; Pens play a great penalty kill and the Bruins do not capitalize on their advantage. Geno and Sykie took a shot each, but the Boston defense cleared it. Mad Max stole the puck right off of a Bruin’s stick and passed it to Cookie Monster, who took a shot. MAF made some great saves. Geno is tripped up in the neutral zone but no penalty is called. Sykie shoots one hard right to Thomas’ logo. MAF makes a beauty of a save on a rebound. Sykie is then called for delay of game after he put the puck over the glass. Pens killed the penalty. Sykie jumps out of the penalty box and shoots in a pass from Dustin Jeffery, who registered his first NHL point with this assist. Wheeler slashes Orpik in an attempt to get back at Brooksie for a hit earlier in his shift. Penguins on the power play. Geno made a beautiful steal off Kessel who toppled to the ice, passed to Sid, who passed to Gogo. Thomas made a save on Gogo…barely. Period ends. What a period!

Play starts out with some unimpressive skating from Boston, but then Kessel shoots a rocket right to Flower. Maxie, Cookie Monster and Staalsy played really well in the Bruins zone but no shots are taken. Satan and Dups make a great play but Super Duper’s backhand doesn’t connect. Wallace misses a rebound which came right out front of him. Orpik is called for hooking and Chara promptly scores his seventh of the season to tie up the contest. Jeffery (who is having the game of his life) shoots but Thomas made a save. Play is moving really fast and then MAF makes a great save. Staalsy goes on the breakaway and nearly scores but Thomas makes a pad save. Kessel goes after Maxie and hits him twice and Mad Max retaliates. Both get two for roughing. Savard had grabbed Maxie from behind, but he gets no penalty. 4-on-4 hockey. Geno passes to Sid but Thomas made an impossible save. Geno is called for hooking. Replay shoes that did not even touch the player; Therrien and the fans are fuming. 4-on-3 hockey: Pens play Staalsy, Dups and Scudsie. Savard wastes no time getting a goal over MAF’s shoulder. Maxie Talbot, who has been playing with much more confidence this game, centered one at a sharp angle but no one was there to connect into the net. Tenk, Geno and Sid make shots that are saved by Thomas. Then Thomas makes a fluke save on Dups. Staalsy made every Pens fan smile by absolutely plastering Ryder. Dups promptly slaps a hell of a shot towards the goal and it sizzles past Thomas’ left ear to tie it up at 2. Kessel answers Dups’ goal by putting one in on a pass from Savard. Flower robs both St. Pierre and Ryder. Then Geno is called for interference off the faceoff. The Pens, led by Maxie, who clears it twice, and Flower, who makes some incredible saves, kill the penalty. Time expires with the penalty. What a penalty kill!

This was one of those intermissions where you just hold your breath, or pace. Sid is hooked right off the bat but no penalty is called. Staalsy shoots it wide and then Cookie Monster is called for high-sticking. Gill and Jeffery clear it. Staalsy and Dups go shorthanded and Thomas makes another fluke save. Geno and Sid keep shooting, shooting, shooting, but no goals. Hnidy is called for interfering with Sid. This is the Penguins’ chance! But then St Pierre gets a shorthanded goal. This goal is the turning point. Jeffery tries to stuff it in, but Thomas flops down to save it. Gogo is called for hooking. Sixth power play for the Bruins. Dups cleared it and the penalty is killed. Wideman scores. This is the point where I’d enjoy a hat trick from, say, Maxie. Tim Wallace makes a great hustle on a break away, but he’s shut down by the defense. Sid made a sweet behind-the-back pass to Dups, but Duper is also shut down by the D. Tenk and Whitters shoot and Thomas makes glove saves on both. Sykie is called for something and the Bruins are on the power play again. Shorthanded with Staalsy and Dups but Thomas makes another save. Penalty killed. Wallace vs Lucic! First fight in the NHL…way to pick a huge man for your first. WOW!! Lucic ended up with a cut lip. Highlight of the game. Lucic gets the extra two minutes for roughing. The game ends with nothing else exciting happening.

This lose was not unexpected but it still hurts. The Pens need to win at Boston on Thursday. The Pens did play well tonight but they fell out of it in the third, with no momentum.

Thoughts:
--The WB/S boys played with a vengence tonight. Dustin Jeffery was a force to be reckoned with and Tim Wallace's name was heard more than once and his fight with the MUCH larger Lucic tonight was beyond epic.
--Max Talbot played with so much confidence tonight. If he continues like this, he will be unbeatable in the second half of the year
--Staalsy played fantastically tonight. He skated fast and made lots of things happen.
--Flower was pretty good tonight, but I'd like to see Dany Sabourin in net in Boston on Thursday.
--This game belonged to everyone but Sid and Geno. Good job, boys.

Happy New Years to all! (Here's to the Pens ruining the Bruins new year.)

Game 37- Boston Bruins @ Penguins

The Eastern Conference leading Boston Bruins will pay their first visit of the season to Mellon Arena for a 7:38 battle with the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight. The Bruins, amidst low expectations, have been an absolute force all season long, and they've asserted themselves as legitimate Cup contenders come April. The Pens, on the other hand, are 5-7-1 in December and sputtering a bit of late. A win at home against a quality opponent like this could be a big step in righting the ship.

Phil Kessel, Marc Savard, Milan Lucic, Dave Krejci, Mike Ryder, and Blake Wheeler make up the Boston top six, and that group has been, well, deadly, all year long. The emergence of Kessel as one of the NHL's premier goal scorers, and that of Wheeler as a fine top six left wing, have been big factors to this point. Phil Thomas has been a monster in goal, and he'll get the start tonight.

Head Coach Claude Julien is thought to be shaking up his lines tonight, though.

The Pens will be getting back Hal Gill from injury, and that's a huge relief, but there are other players who aren't quite ready to return. Sergei Gonchar, Tyler Kennedy, Mike Zigomanis, and Kris Letang are out, and enforcer Eric Godard is questionable.

For Boston, Patrice Bergeron, Petteri Nokelainen, Marco Sturm, and Andrew Ference are out.

With Gill's return, the Penguins have decided to dress seven defensemen tonight. Alex Goligoski will see time on the fourth line as well as on defense. This is really a shocking move. This move would indicate that Gogo's time with the big club is limited. Since he's on a two-way contract, Goligoski could be sent down at any time.

Penguins-

Dupuis-Crosby-Satan
Fedotenko-Malkin-Sykora
Cooke-Staal-Talbot
Wallace-Jeffrey-Goligoski

Orpik-Scuderi
Eaton-Whitney
Gill-Boucher
Goligoski

Fleury

Bruins-

Axelsson-Savard-Kessel
Wheeler-Krejci-Ryder
Lucic-Yelle-Kobasew
Sobotka-St. Pierre-Thornton

Wideman-Chara
Stuart-Lashoff
Hunwick-Ward

Thomas

GO PENS!

Missed opportunities, bad bounces frustrate Pens

The Penguins brought their game tonight. But Price took it...and stomped on it.

Pens won the faceoff, but off that, the Habs gain possession and Andre Kostitsyn gets a goal. Orpik and Scudsie just stare at the puck and Flower can’t grab it. Geno is called for holding the stick. On the power play, Dups goes with Staalsy shorthanded and shoots it hard right into Price’s logo. Penalty killed. Sid and Geno go back and forth, but the Habs’ defense clears it. They turn to bring it back in, but are called offsides when it was clearly on sides.

Josh Gorges is called for holding. Pens make a solid power play effort, but no score. Dups makes a nice pass to Sid but his shot is deflected off the post. Sykie lost a chance from Malkin. Matt D’Agostini loses the puck right in front of MAF, haha. Flower’s net dislodged and play is stopped. Commercial break. Whitters shoots a muffin. Pens apply pressure, Eaton between his legs to Dups who misses the shot. Malkin and Crosby playing on the same line now. Malkin goes for it, but he’s sandwiched by two Canadiens and loses the puck. Gogo plays the biscuit well in the Pens zone. Fast, solid skating. Dups shot twice and missed. Nice passing. Dups hits it off Price’s pad and it looks like Sid tapped it over the line to tie it up. Dups gets credit for the goal, however.

A penalty is called against the Habs and a scrum ensues at center ice as CBC breaks for commercial. (Tom Kostopoulos is called for trippimg Fedo.) The Pens hustle during power play. Malkin with a nice slapper from the top of the zone but missed. Sykie made a nice shot but it was high. Pens did not capitalize on the advantage. Tim Wallace passed it up to Maxie who waited for help. He ended up taking a shot that was blocked by Price. With one second to go, Andre Kostitsyn got another goal. Again, all five Penguins around the goal were watching as it went in. Hmm…next period, we’ll come back. Period over.

Dupuis is interviewed during intermission and he puts my thoughts into words: “We need to come out hard in the second,” he said.

Staalsy was held in the Habs zone but it wasn’t called. Dups shoots a muffin and then Sid missed a wide open net. The Penguins’ problem is missing opportunities. Price makes a great left-pad save. Playing against great goalies is frustrating. Fedo’s shot fired off the post. Staalsy makes a shot, blocked. Sid wrapped around the net and dumps it in. Sid is tied with Geno for the most goals on the team with 15. Sid’s tying goal seems to have lit a fire under the lethargic Penguins and they are full of energy.

Latendresse gets two shots but MAF shut him out. Sid is crosschecked across the back of the neck hard by Latendresse, but no penalty is called. He’s slow to get up, then hits Latendresse back in pursuit of the puck. Sid is shown on the bench talking to the medical staff. They are talking about his neck and checking his left wrist. We can only hope it’s not too serious.

Lucky for us, the Habs are missing opportunities too. Fleury makes a great glove save on Sergei Kostitsyn. Replay shows Sid getting hit right between the eyes by the puck: thank God for the shield. Maxie makes a great hit on Roman Hamrlik on the forecheck and then dumps it into the Habs’ zone as the Pens change. Geno goes for it again, but is triple teamed and loses the puck. Cookie Monster gets the puck in and protects it and sends in to Gronk who cannot keep it. The Habs take it down the pond. Fleury was behind the net when the puck came at the net; he dived to save but it sailed wide of the net anyway. Geno passes right to a Hab…stop with the turnovers, bud! Sid hit Mike Komisarek hard and he was slow getting up. The play has stopped being aggressive as the period winds down and ends.

Staalsy missed a great opportunity right off the bat. Pens turn on the pressure. D’Agostini shoots wide and both teams change. Andre Kostitsyn gets his third goal of the night for his first career hat trick. MAF was way out of the net and the puck went right between Orpik, then Flower’s legs. MAF is visibly upset. Tomas Plenkanec is called for hooking Staalsy. Sid shot, then Sykie got a stick on the rebound but Price is there. Geno allows another turnover but MAF makes a huge sprawling save. Staalsy would have had a good opportunity if he would have seen the puck bouncing between his skates. Wallace, Bissonnette and Talbot make a great play but the shot is blocked. Jeffery tried to slap it in but Price blocked it…and another one from Dups. Whitters to Dups, blocked by Price.

Pens keep racking up the shots on Price, hoping to wear him down. Geno, Sid and Staalsy all out on the ice. Therrien is rotating lines like crazy. Gorges is called for tripping Sid, who would have had at least a good scoring chance if not tripped. Staal plays the puck beautifully. Sykie’s shot went off a leg and the puck is cleared by the Habs. Bad bounces are killing the Penguins. Sykie, Sid, Dups and Staalsy all make crazy shots but none of them connect. Penguins are sharp, but Price and bad bounces abound. Miro Satan makes a shot which ricochets over the glass.

During the commercial, Penguins fans can barely breathe. Staalsy sets up Satan but his shot cannot get through. It’s starting to get tense now, with about 5 minutes left and the Habs winning by one. We keep missing chances which is the most frustrating thing. Malkin cannot get a break; the Habs obviously got the message that Geno is dangerous. Tanguay high sticked Dups in the face and heads to the sin bin. The Pens need a PPG like never before. Sid to Geno and Price makes an incredible save. Geno shakes his head; he needed that goal. Cookie Monster hits some jerk hard. Geno makes another shot, rebound denied. Empty net for Pittsburgh. Price is way too on tonight. Wow. 34-19: we have outshot the Habs, but Price is in top form. Habs almost got an empty netter but Whitters gets the icing call. Sid won the faceoff to Sykie. Sykie shot and Price saved. 1.2 seconds left.

Penguins lose. That was just brutal. Playing against a goalie when he’s “on” is so frustrating. Whitters hit his stick off the glass as time expired…that just about sums up the game.

Game 36- Montreal Canadiens @ Penguins

Les Habitants de Montreal and their extraordinarily obnoxious fans will be in the Igloo tonight for a 7:00 tilt with the Penguins that will be televised by the CBC on Hockey Night In Canada. The Canadiens are a dangerous team when everyone is healthy, and even when not, they can do some damage against anybody. They are coming off of a 3-2 loss at home in overtime in which Eric Staal, Tuomo Ruutu, Sergei Samsonov, and the referees absolutely burned them. The Penguins, on the other hand, played last night in New Jersey and came away with a key 1-0 victory that saw their goalie, Marc-Andre Fleury, essentially steal the game.

The Habs have a flying offense that can never be slept on, and a defensive core that's focal point is defensive responsibility. Their powerplay has been lagging of late, but eventually, it would seem only right that they get that aspect of their game on track.

Sidney Crosby hasn't been playing well lately, and it's about time he busts out. As hockey fans everywhere know, he not only loves to play against Canadian teams, he also never stays sleeping for long. Expect him to have a big night tonight.

The Pens recalled Tim Wallace, once again, from Wilkes Barre and the AHL. That means that Eric Godard, who took a slapshot off his leg yesterday, is likely not playing in this game.

Former Penguins Georges Laraque was to make his first appearance at the Igloo since leaving for Montreal as a free agent this summer, but he's apparently out with an injury.

For the Penguins, Godard is probably out. Joining him in the press box for this one will be Sergei Gonchar, Tyler Kennedy, Kris Letang, and Mike Zigomanis. Save Gonchar, everybody on that list should be close to returning.

On Montreal's side of the coin, Laraque, Saku Koivu, Mathieu Dandenault, and Chris Higgins will all be out of the lineup. Andrei Kostitsyn was questionable but will play.

Penguins-

Dupuis-Crosby-Satan
Fedotenko-Malkin-Sykora
Cooke-Staal-Talbot
Bissonnette-Jeffrey-Godard

Orpik-Scuderi
Whitney-Eaton
Goligoski-Boucher

Fleury

Canadiens-

A. Kostitsyn-Plekanec-Kovalev
Tanguay-Lang-D'Agostini
Latendresse-Lapierre-S. Kostitsyn
Begin-Chipchura-Kostopolous

Markov-Komisarek
Hamrilik-Gorges
Brisebois-Boullion

Price

GO PENS!

Penguins pull out crucial win in New Jersey

The Pens got a big road win tonight when they needed it in the worst way. Big-time effort.

Fleury was tested just 90 seconds in when the Dainus Zubrus fired a shot on Fleury that was deflected on goal by Patrik Elias. MAF made the stop, and the puck was cleared.

Pascal Dupuis got a breakaway, but eventually, his incompetence overtook him, and Dupuis flubbed a pass to Miroslav Satan, who in turn fired over the net. Paul Martin had tripped and taken out his own goalie, Scott Clemmensen, in the process. A pretty awful sequence on the part of #9.

Dustin Jeffrey commited his first NHL turnover when he gave the puck away to a New Jersey defenseman and cost his team an odd-man rush. The Devils made nothing of it, though.

The Pens went on the powerplay when Zach Parise went to the box for goalie interference. The powerplay looked like, well, a Penguins road powerplay, as it was squandered without the Penguins even getting control of the puck.

Max Talbot was ridden into the boards with force by Mike Mottau with 9:48 on the clock in the opening frame, and the superstar was shaken up pretty badly. Interference was called on Mottau.

Matt Cooke got himself a ten minute misconduct penalty for retalliating on Mottau, but the Penguins went to the powerplay nonetheless.

On the powerplay, the Pens worked the puck down low, and Petr Sykora and Evgeni Malkin both took hacks at the puck, but neither could manage to put the puck past Clemmensen.

The Pens were moving the puck very quickly in efforts to beat the New Jersey trap, and they did. The swift passing got the Penguins some quality chances, but when the player with those chances is Dupuis, don't expect to get much good out of it.

The Devils almostscored with 15 seconds to go, and it looked at first glance like they did, but Jamie Langenbrunner's shot just missed the cage. Langenbrunner thought the puck was in, and he through his arms up into the air. While that was happening, Malkin and Sykora transitioned up the ice, and Malkin early scored to make it 1-0. He ultimately failed, banking the puck off the outside of the goal, and it was intermission.

The Devils came out with an edge in the second, and their speed caused Mark Eaton to take
a hooking penalty keeping Mike Rupp from getting to the net after Rupp fired one into Fleury's pads.

Eric Godard went down to block an Andy Greene bomb, and he was visibly shaken up after making the block. Props to Godard for taking one for the team. That's the kind of thing that will endear him to the coaching staff and get him more ice time.

The Penguins woke up and started shooting the puck. They got the bulk of the chances during the middle minutes of the second period.

Malkin and Ruslan Fedotenko made an absolutely unreal play with seven minutes left in the middle frame. Fedo broke into the zone and made a behind the back pass to Malkin. The Devils converged on Malkin, and Geno sent it back to Fedo in the high slot. Ruslan fired it, and it was too hard for Clemmensen to control, making it a 1-0 game at long last. 59 points for Malkin.

The Devils almost scored out of a netmouth scramble, but Fleury just managed to keep it out. Brian Gionta picked up a tripping minor out of the whole thing.

The puck was sliding along the goal line, and Mark Eaton made a kicksave. The puck was about 98 percent over the line, but it wasn't totally conclusive that it was entirely in. Big break for the Penguins, good call or not.

On the ensuing PP, Ryan Whitney took a slapshot that almost took off Fedotenko's head. Otherwise, there wasn't a whole lot to write home about.

Marc-Andre Fleury took a minor for taking out Langenbrunner. The Flower had to make that play, or Langenbrunner very conceivably could have cored.

The Pens were outshot 24-13 through two periods, but Fleury was on the ball, Eaton was doing work, and Malkin and Crosby had come to play.

Langenbrunner had another chance, this time from the hashes with no less than 4/5 of the net yawning right in front of him, and again, he found a way to screw it up, this time shooting way high.

Paul Bissonnette drew an interference call in his first game back in the lineup after his promotion from Wilkes Barre. Biz went behind the net with Paul Martin, and Martin impeded him with the stick. Easy call, and it could've been hooking, too.

As for the actual powerplay, you can probably guess how it went.

Langenbrunner, even once more, fanned on a one timer in the slot, and he accidentally whacked Fedotenko with his stick on the follow-through. Powerplay, Pittsburgh.

The Penguins didn't even come close to getting a shot off, and it took a stellar effort by Whitney to keep Jay Pandolfo from very possibly tying it at 1-1 shorthanded.

Sykora went off for putting his stick into some Devil's gut.

The Penguins PK went to work, and they successfully killed it off. Rob Scuderi discovered who he was during those two minutes. What a human being.

Langenbrunner had another chance, and he let loose a rocket slapper. Fleury said no; it was one of the best saves of MAF's life, even in the conversation with his save in Game 5 of the Finals last year.

With Clemmensen pulled, Whitney was called for playing the puck with a broken stick. He didn't even know it, but that's a penalty.

The Devils had a 6 on 4. Penguin Nation held its collective breath.

The hockey gods sent the Penguins a gift at that point. Brian Gionta knocked the stick out of Brooks Orpik's hands, and he was tagged with a slashing penalty, ending the 6 on 4.

The game was over in a flash.

The best game of Marc-Andre Fleury's career, hands down. Yes, better than Game 5.

That, my friends, is why Craig Patrick drafted him first overall in 2003.

Whew.

Let's all hope that this is a season changing "W".

-The team didn't play its best game tonight, but they showed heart, fire, and passion.
-They deserved to win.
-That's how you beat the Devils at their own game.
-Marc-Andre Fleury = winner
-Biz Nasty played a solid game, and so did Jeffrey and Godard on the fourth line
-Defense wins hockey games, and the Pens showed that tonight.
-Big one tomorrow against the Habs.

GO PENS!

Game 35- Penguins @ New Jersey Devils

The Penguins will look to rebound tonight from what was one of their worst performances of the season, a 2-0 loss at home to the cellar dwellers of the NHL, the Tampa Bay Lightning. If they're to do that, they'll have to beat the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center, a beautiful arena in the heart of Newark that will likely be about 45 percent full for this great divisional matchup. Hopefully, the Devils fans will come out for this one, but it would seem unlikely.

As was mentioned earlier, the Penguins are playing a pretty bad brand of hockey these days, and it's about time they stopped. To help the squad bust out, Tyler Kennedy and/or Mike Zigomanis will be returning from injuries that have kept them out for almost the entire month of December.

The Pens have been lagging in the faceoff circle and on the penalty kill, so if Zigomanis is to return for this game, it will be a huge relief. Popular speculation is that he will be playing, but some are less sure of Kennedy's status.

The Pens demoted forwards Jeff Taffe and Tim Wallace to Wilkes Barre yesterday, leaving two holes in their lineup. Someone is either getting called up again, a trade is being made, or Kennedy and Zigomanis are coming back. Presumably, the reality is the latter.

The Devils are still without future Hockey Hall of Fame goaltender Martin Brodeur, but backup Scott Clemmensen, who signed on with the Devils this summer expecting to spend his year with the AHL Lowell Devils. By some miracle, he has been just outstanding, showing flashes of brilliance he hasn't shown before in years of professional hockey. He's 11-4-1 with a 2.22 goals against average in 17 games played with one no-decision, numbers that are much better than what Brodeur put up in his 10 games before sucumbing to an elbow injury.

Hal Gill would seem to still be out for the Penguins, along with possibly Kennedy and/or Zigomanis. Sergei Gonchar, of course, is still on injured reserve.

The team has now announced that Paul Bissonnette and Dustin Jeffrey have been recalled from Wilkes Barre/ Scranton for the contest. They will join the team prior to puck drop at 7:08 PM.

Brodeur is out for the Devils, and defenseman Bryce Salvador's status is uncertain.

Penguins-

Dupuis-Crosby-Satan
Fedotenko-Malkin-Sykora
Cooke-Staal-Kennedy
Bissonnette-Jeffrey-Godard

Orpik Scuderi
Letang-Whitney
Boucher-Goligoski

Fleury

Devils-

Parise-Zajac-Langenbrunner
Elias-Zubrus-Gionta
Rolston-Holik-Clarkson
Pandolfo-Madden-Rupp

Oduya-Martin
White-Leach
Greene-Mottau

Clemmensen

GO PENS!

My Random Roster Thoughts

So, I was thinking. The Penguins reassigned both Jeff Taffe and Tim Wallace to the Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton Baby Penguins. This leaves the Pens with 2 empty forward places. So here’s what I’m thinking: I think Ziggy’s back, baby! I project that Mike Zigomanis, the faceoff diety, will be back on the ice for the Pens Friday! This, this is very exciting. I love Ziggy as an addition to our team this year. He’s been just great. He is something else to watch. Also, we need to win more draws. Anyways, with TK still on injury reserve, the Pens are still short one forward. Now, this is getting me really excited, because I’m trying to figure it out. If the Pens wanted to get me a Christmas present, they would let me pick who they recall from WB/S (since that is what they’ll have to do). To get more momentum on the team, we need a well-conditioned and skilled forward. This may be bold, but this is what I want (mark my words, Ray Shero).

I want Biznasty back! In case you’re not up to snuff, I’m talking about Paul Bissonnette, a rookie forward who started out the year in the Burgh and then was transferred back to WB/S. He and his roommate Godard made a great team…and I’d like to see someone else get some time in the sin bin besides Godard. Ha. But really, I think their line had promise. They were with Ziggy a lot, if I remember correctly. Biz only played 6 games and I’d love to see him back.

So, yeah, those are my random thoughts…I will laugh if all my predictions turn out to be completely wrong. :] Merry Christmas, all.

Penguins continue to dig themselves a hole in loss to abysmal Lighting

That was pretty putrid. The Penguins did nothing to deserve to win this game, and they didn't even match the intensity level of a last place club playing for draft positioning before the midway point of the season. They let a team of has-beens and never-will-bes come into their house and hand them an absolute beating.

The first period passed by with little action. There was the expected weirdness surrounding the return of Ryan Whitney from injury and the return to Pittsburgh of former Penguin power forward Ryan Malone, but on the ice, there was nothing too exciting going on.

In the second, Petr Sykora got behind the pathetic Tampa Bay defense and took a springing pass from Ruslan Fedotenko. Sykie broke in on Mike Smith, and had him cleanly beat with a forehand/backhand move. Unfortunately, Sykora's backhander at an empty cage went soaring wide left off the end boards.

The Lightning took that puck down the ice, and Paul Szczechura hit Matt Pettinger with a pass in front of the net. Pettinger nailed it past Marc-Andre Fleury to make it 1-0. The goal was mainly created by poor backchecking on Pittsburgh's part and the dead legs of Phillipe Boucher.

In other news, what kind of name is Szecechura?

Malone went off for holding the stick with 12:33 to go in the period. It took the Penguins a good long while to finally get control in Tampa's end, and they did nothing with it once they finally managed to sustain posession.

Evgeni Malkin had a breakaway on Smith, but he elected to give Sidney Crosby a drop pass. Crosby took the puck and fired it wide. Sid really doesn't look confident right now. Also, what was Geno doing passing that? Sid seemed shocked that he got the puck there.

Yawnnnnnnnnnn. Through 34 minutes, this game was exceptionally boring.

Another former Penguin, Mark Recchi went to the box with 4:33 to go in the same period for hooking, but Boucher accompanied him to the sin bin due for holding the stick. Rex hooked him, and Boucher sold it by holding the stick.

Malone almost scored a beautiful goal when he reached around Rob Scuderi and backhanded one along the ice that just eluded the twine as it skidded towards the corner.

Things went to intermission at 1-0 Lightning. We were all nervous; if you lose a game at home to the Tampa Bay Lightning, the biggest joke of a franchise in hockey not from Philadelphia or New York, you know you have some problems to work out.

The Malkin-Crosby-Sykora unit, which had been together for much of the game, was not together to start the third period. Crosby with Pascal Dupuis and Miro Satan, and Malkin with Sykora and Fedotenko.

The first few minutes of the period melted away with the Bolts getting most of the quality scoring chances. The Pens' best chance was a Sykora pass to Fedotenko coming down the left wing, but the puck bounced over Fedo's stick, and that was that.

Max Talbot went to the box for four minutes for a high stick that drew blood. Malone promptly drilled Scuderi with a blatant hit from behind, but that went uncalled. Mike Smith threw his stick into Malkin's gut while the ref was looking right at it, and it went uncalled.

Jordan Staal sprung Malkin on a breakaway, but Malkin blew it.

Again, the puck went the other way, and the Lightning got a goal. This time it was Jussi Jokinen redirecting in a cross-ice pass. It was 2-0. We thought the Leafs game was rock bottom, but no, this is as bad as it gets. Humiliating, really.

The officiating was simply brutal. But remember, Bettman loves the Pens...Pens get all the calls.

Petr Sykora went down behind the play off a faceoff with 5:15 left in the game. He got just laid out along the boards by Pettinger. Talk about adding insult to injury.

The Penguins were going quietly into the night.

The Lightning almost scored on the empty net, but they somehow couldn't beat Malkin and Co to actually hit the yawning goal.

Now, don't interpret this as sour grapes, but wow.

This team is so awful right now. Things have reached the point where we can't just say "Oh, it's still early; we'll get better". The Penguins are just plain bad right now.

Something needs to be changed. I don't know if it means firing our coaching staff, or trading assets for a prolific goal scoring winger, or even just shipping out some dead weight to send a silent message to the rest of the team.

Happy Holidays to all!

Let's bounce back on Friday at the empty Prudential Center, eh?

Game 34- Tampa Bay Lightning @ Penguins

The Penguins will be back home in the Igloo for tonight's 7:30 matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning. It's a family reunion as there are four former Pens now playing for the Bolts: Ryan Malone, Gary Roberts, Mark Recchi and Adam Hall. Roberts, however, is on injured reserve for a pulled groin muscle and will not play. This is the first meeting between these two teams this season. Coming off their win last night, the Pens need to be cautious of taking on any team too lightly, even a team with TB's awful record. It's going to be an interesting game.

Tampa Bay has not been playing well this season. At all. They have won 7 games all season and they have one win in December. As much as I hate to see a great player like Ryan Malone lose, there are no friends on the ice. The Bolts’ points leaders, Lecavalier and St. Louis, both have 27 points. Both have 12 goals. Sykie and Satan both have 12 goals also. And they are our third and fourth in scoring. Smith in goal has been winless in his last 11 starts. Barring any bad bounces, a copious amount of penalties, or an absence of our team (like in Saturday’s game), I don’t think we have anything to worry about.

Ryan Whitney is returning tonight! Hallelujah! Perhaps his return will give the Pens some much-needed momentum. Ryan Whitney has been out all season, recovering from surgery to correct a deformity in his left foot. Over three years with the Penguins, he has totaled 137 points. Because of his foot pain, his productivity dropped last season, his points total dropped by 19. He was instrumental in our success in the playoffs last season and Pens fans, myself especially, have been excitedly anticipating his return. Whitters hasn’t been told who he will play with tonight or if he’ll be playing on the top penalty kill line.

Tampa Bay has injuries to Gary Roberts and David Koci. The Pens still have injuries to Mike Zigomanis, the king of the faceoff, Tyler Kennedy, Hall Gill, Sergei Gonchar and presumably Kris Letang who did not return to last night's game after leaving late in the second.

There were a bunch of problems with the projected lines so I’ve taken the liberty of changing the lineup to fix the misprints.

Penguins-

Dupuis-Crosby-Satan

Fedotenko-Malkin-Sykora

Talbot-Staal-Cooke

Wallace-Taffe-Godard

Orpik-Eaton

Scuderi-Goligoski

Boucher-Whitney

Fleury

Lightning-

Prospal-Lecavalier-St. Louis
Malone-Halpern-Szczechura
Pettinger-Stamkos-Recchi
Jokinen-Craig-Hall

Ranger-Meszaros
Eminger-Krajicek
Malik-Heward

Smith

GO PENS!

The Pens are mighter than the Swords!!!

Hey, PTF readers. My name is Erika and I’m the new contributor to this awesome blog. I go to the University of Pittsburgh and I’m the resident hockey expert in my dorm. I’m from a small town called Lancaster, and since that’s closer to Philly (unfortunately), I have to put up with a whole family and group of friends who are Flyers fans. I just point out that their team is a joke (example: Scott Hartnell) and they back off. :]

Let’s get this show on the road.

As Sid said in his pre-game interview, this game was all about work ethic. In other words, you can’t win against Buffalo on fancy tricks and mediocre skating. And, boy, did they work!

PERIOD 1:
MAF opens with a nice save, but literally 5 seconds later, lets a shot in. It was a bad bounce off Boucher’s skate. In the first minute. This is not the start we hoped for. Toni Lydman upends Gogo with a hard hit in the Buffalo zone. Nothing but solid skating for awhile until Cookie Monster’s slapshot bounced around for what seemed like an hour before Miller caught it. Satan took a shot too and Miller blocked it. Miller was really on tonight, as he made a save on Eaton who redirected a fantastic pass from Sid and another shot from Sykie. The boys are definitely working hard this game. Satan makes a smooth pass to Sid but it is again blocked by Miller. Maxim Afinogenov breaks down the middle, trying to squeeze between Tanger and Eaton. Eaton clears it and then blocks a shot from Derek Roy with his chest. Then play picks up. A lot. MAF makes some great saves and then Derek Roy gets some Free Candy: Orpik attack! Soon after this beautiful hit, Orpik is called for interference for taking a Sabre down behind the net. MAF and the defense were in good form and Eaton cleared it to Staalsy who advanced to make a great pass to himself between the defenseman’s legs, but Miller got it once again. The penalty is soundly killed. Sykie shoots again, but is denied. More solid skating, Staalsy makes a nice pass to the front of the net, but no one is there to complete the play. Flower makes some more saves. So does Miller. And the period is over.

Hot this period: Eaton and Sykora, with an honorable mention to Staalsy
Malkin seems to have dropped off the face of the earth (????)

PERIOD 2:
A couple seconds in, Satan is called for tripping. I can’t help but think how ticked Therrien will be for giving Buffalo an unnecessary advantage so early in the second. MAF makes a fantastic reflexive save. Also blocks shots from Roy and Vanek. The puck is cleared and the penalty killed. Boucher shoots one wide. Buffalo takes it again. Then Wallace and Godard make a good hustle toward the net, but it’s blocked by Miller then cleared. Geno made a nice pass to Sykie in the neutral zone but nothing becomes of that. Staalsy and his line try to get the puck into Buffalo’s zone. It’s turned over to Kotalik and he scores 6 minutes in. One question: where was the defense?! Soon after, Satan feeds one to Dups who send the puck to the back of the net. Malkin gets called for tripping. During the ensuing power play, MAF denies Vanek twice and Eaton blocks Roy’s shot. Penalty killed AGAIN! :] Miller makes a fluke save on a nice shot from Tanger as he loses his balance and falls over. Sykie and Geno take shots, both are wide. Gogo takes a sweet slapshot. It shoots beneath Miller’s left pad and the game is TIED. MAF makes a stick save on MacArthur. Tanger’s slapper is blocked by traffic. Godard and Peters drop the gloves. Peters takes Godard down; Godard gets an extra 2 minute minor. MacArthur scores on the PP. After a collision at the goaline, Tanger seems to be limping. He is shown on the bench speaking with the medical staff and making gestures to his right leg. MAF makes a sweet glove save to end the period.

Hot this period: Dups and Gogo
Now, Sid seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth (????)

PERIOD 3:
The beginning was all about the hustle. The boys were skating hard and fast. Boucher was sent to the sin bin on a trumped-up hooking call. MAF played an extraordinary power play giving proof to the old adage that patience is a virtue…and creating a new adage: that persistence is also a virtue. The penalty is killed once again. I cannot help but notice that the European line is way out of synch tonight as Malkin misses a nice pass from Sykie. Geno recovers the puck but Miller makes the save. Paille is called for roughing Gogo and the Pens get their first power play of the night. Sid makes a nice pass to Staalsy, whose shot is blocked by the defense. Then, Gogo lets loose a hell of a slapper down the middle and ties it up at 3. Lots of play in the Pens zone. MAF is playing really well. Pens take it down to the other end of the pond and Boucher is called for high-sticking. MAF stops a wicked wrister by Pominville and a blind backhand from Vanek and Stafford. Go, Flower, go! A hand pass halts play and Versus plays a replay of MAF’s sick skills. Malkin tries for a shorthanded backhand but it’s blocked by Miller. Penalty killed. Lydman robs Sid of the puck. Gogo makes a great defensive play on Vanek. Hustle from both teams doesn’t result in any goals. Time expires and we go to overtime.

Hot this period: Gogo and Flower
Letang really has dropped off the face of the earth: he hasn’t returned this period.

OVERTIME:
Sid misses a great chance, but then Geno puts it in! But wait, it’s under review! The ref thinks Sid tapped it in on the arc. The call on the ice stands, Sid’s stick wasn’t above the crossbar. Sid’s first goal in a LONG time.

Hot in overtime: Sid and Geno, what else did you expect?
An exciting game. Great job, boys.

Game 33- Penguins @ Buffalo Sabres

The Penguins will visit a surely frigid Buffalo on Monday night for a clash with the Sabres. This game will be the first since the Penguins' turned in what was easily their worst performance of the season at home on Saturday, a blowout at the hands of the lowly Toronto Maple Leafs. The Sabres are coming off of an overtime loss that saw the previously slumping Alex Kovalev of Montreal beat them in overtime with a snipe past backup goalie Patrick Lalime.

These are two teams that looked great early in the season, but have tailed off of late thanks to injuries, bounces, and just some plain bad luck.

Presumably, it will be Marc-Andre Fleury in goal for the Penguins. Ryan Miller is the confirmed starter for the Sabres, though.

In the Penguins' last visit to HSBC Arena, they lost 4-3 to Buffalo. After taking a 1-0 lead on the now-injured Tyler Kennedy, the Penguins gave up goals to Drew Stafford and Paul Gaustad to go down 2-1. Two beautiful goals from Sidney Crosby put the Pens up 3-2 after two periods, but goals by Gaustad and stud winger Thomas Vanek past former backup goalie John Curry led the Sabres to a 4-3 win.

In two other meetings this year, both at the Igloo, the Penguins smoked Buffalo 5-2 behind Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal, and the Sabres came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Penguins 4-3 again in what was truly a collapse of epic proportions by the Pens and Dany Sabourin.

The Penguins are dealing with injuries to Hal Gill, Mike Zigomanis, Tyler Kennedy, Ryan Whitney, and Sergei Gonchar. While Whitney will play his first game of the season against Tampa Bay on Tuesday, and Zigomanis is questionable for some of this week's games, there has been no absolute timetable set for the return of any of the other injured players.

Gill is in the Penguins' website's projected lines, but he's on injured reserve at that writer has gotten more than his/her's share of thngs wrong in the past, so we'll assume he's not playing.

Injured Sabres include Timmy Connolly, Gaustad, Nathan Gerbe, Patrick Kaleta, and their captain, Craig Rivet. The two grinders, Kaleta and Gaustad, are questionable for this one. Neither of them played in Montreal on Saturday.

These are two teams that desperately need to turn it around, so look for them to come out hard.

Penguins-

Dupuis-Crosby-Satan
Fedotenko-Malkin-Sykora
Cooke-Staal-Talbot
Wallace-Taffe-Godard

Orpik-Letang
Scuderi-Goligoski
Boucher-Eaton

Fleury

Sabres-

Vanek-Hecht-Pominville
Kaleta-Roy-Stafford
MacArthur-Mair-Kotalik
Paille-Gaustad-Peters

Tallinder-Lydman
Spacek-Sekera
Butler-Numminen

Miller

GO PENS!

Leafs deal Penguins a devastating blow

This was an absolute pukefest. An embarassment. A joke. The Pens have a lot of guys out with injuries, and they need them back soon, because this is rock bottom. Tough game on Monday and Buffalo and the Pens will need

We see that the Penguins and Leafs are both wearing their third/throwback jerseys, the Pens' baby blues and the Leafs' whites. Marc-Andre Fleury is not wearing his throwback pads.

Brooks Orpik absolutely destroyed Niklas Hagman a minute and a half in. Hagman, who has been out with injury, was entering the Pens' end, and he got some Free Candy in a big way. It was a truly devastating blow from #44.

Lee Stempniak almost put in one on his own rebound off the end board, but Fleury was alert and made the stop. Something happened to Evgeni Malkin, and he skated gingerly to the bench.

Jason Blake, the same little puke who speared Sidney Crosby in the gut a few years ago, was shoved by Rob Scuderi over top of Fleury. The Leafs had a 6-1 lead in shots six minutes into the game.

The Leafs were taking it to the Pens when FSN took its first commercial break.

Ryan Stone went to the box for roughing. It's not apparent what he was called for doing.

Dominic Moore cashed in a rebound to make it 1-0, and the Pens looked just horrific. Pavel Kubina shot it, and Moore had "easy pickings," according to Bob Errey.

The Pens went on the powerplay just seconds later when Alexei Ponikarovski took a two minute minor for high sticking Evgeni Malkin. The Pens gave the powerplay away 28 seconds into it when Jordan Staal went off for cross-checking. The game had the feeling of another very annoying special teams battle.

Malkin tied it 1-1 during the 4 on 4. He jumped off the bench for Crosby, took a 40 foot pass from Mark Eaton, and sped past the defense. When it got down to Malkin vs. Vesa Toskala, there wasn't much question who was going to get the better of the situation.

The Leafs pulled back in front with 8:57 remaining. Rookie Jeremy Williams took a long distance slapper that inexplicably beat Fleury glove side. Simpy horrific goal to give up by MAF, and he knew it. Flower was very mad at himself.

Jonas Frogren put the Leafs up 3-1 beating Fleury with a long wrister. It's his first goal. MAF was screened, but he looks like horse crap right now. The Pens needed to pull it together.

Jordan Staal had a nice shift with some big hits on Stempniak and Mikhail Grabovksi.

Gronk was all over the place on that shift. His line with Matt Cooke and temporarily Jeff Taffe kept the puck in the Toronto end for longer than the Pens had kept any offensive pressure to that juncture. Very nice breakdown of it all by Bob Errey.

This was the kind of intermission that you want to spend walking between your bathroom and your family room, pacing, and having the occasional sip of orange juice in between expulsion of various wastes. It was that tense. The Pens were playing a humiliating brand of hockey.

Orpik and Cooke continued to throw their body around, and at one point, Scuds appeared to get away with a slew-foot on Lee Stempniak. He got away with it, but it's too bad and very uncharacteristic of Rob to do something like that.

Malkin had his sticked grabbed by a Leafs' defenseman, and he was called for a hook. The Leafs almost scored on the delayed penalty. That call was garbage.

Crosby got a pass from Max Talbot late in the PK, but Kubina stamped out the scoring chance when the puck caromed off his skate and into open ice. It was a good penalty kill.

Malkin made a horrible turnover that seemed to pretty much end the game. Geno skated the puck through his own goalmouth, had it stolen, and Hagman scored. Malkin may well deserved to be benched for that selfish display. It was 4-1. Life sucked.

The Pens allowed the Leafs' fourth line to control the puck for about 25 minutes. That was pretty much rock bottom. Malkin gave Fedotenko a nice pass in the slot but it slid past Fedo's stick. ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh.

Miro Satan had a beautiful chance on Toskala, but Satan took his sweet old time and fired right into Toskala's stacked pads. He looks like a pretty worthless player right now.

Ponikarovsky slew-footed Talbot. Too bad Poni's parents don't love him.

Eric Godard went to the box for instigating on Andre Deveaux. The Pens were being outshot 19-11, and things were not improving. It's almost on cue--the Pens get it going, and then someone takes a penalty.

That was still cowardly by Deveaux, even if it was smart.

Kubina drilled one past Fleury on that powerplay to make it 5-1. The sum all fears was realized. The Penguins just getting routed...at home...by a team stocked full of AHLers and Beer Leaguers.

Matt Cooke stirred things up with some Leafs scrub rookie. Good on him to try to change this dreadful game's momentum.

The second intermission was worse than the first. You sat on your couch twiddling your thumbs. You weren't really thinking, but rather just sat stunned as you gazed at your TV. You watched Baierl Toyota/Chevy/Kia commercials, but you didn't care about 20% financing deals and things like that. If you own a firearm, you probably locked it up in a safe and hid the safe deep in a basement storage area. Thoughts of suicide may have filled your head. Perhaps, you turned to NFL Network to catch some of the final game at Texas Stadium. The Cowboys were beating the Ravens 7-3 in the second quarter. Meh.

Petr Sykora preserved our sanity on the powerplay at the beginning of the final frame. He got a loose puck in front and put it over Toskala's shoulder. Oh, two points for Malkin. Yeaaaaa.

Another slew-foot ensued when Frogren took out Fedotenko and put the Penguins once again on the powerplay. The floodgates had opened up, or so we thought. The chance was there to make this a brand new game.

Jason Blake took a huge dive that got Sykora sent to the box for tripping. Very uncool. Alex Goligoski skated the puck up the ice, and he was blatantly upended but there was no call.

Ponikarovksy ended the game for all intensive purposes just after the Leafs' PP ended.

Godard almost scored, but a quick whistle negated that venture.

Nik Antropov scored after Crosby took a stupid penalty. This was the worst game of 87's life.

Eric Godard was thrown out of the game for talking to the cowardly Blake. He has the class of a diseased rat, that Blake. He's no better than when he speared Crosby two years ago.

Sykora got a goal in garbage time. It was a nice tip-in off a Goligoski slapper.

Deveaux, who backed down from Godard, seeked out Fedotenko and fought him. That's grit for you--I hope Brian Burke is impressed with this clown.

Orpik took a stick to the face from Antropov. Shucks. Fortunately he got up, albeit bloody.

The officials were atrocious, but they werent' the reason the Pens lost this game. The Pens had it taken to them tonight, and they deserved to lose the game. They need to change something, or this will get bad.

Be optimistic.

Pens v. Sabres, Monday night.

Forget this one, and fast.

Game 32- Toronto Maple Leafs @ Penguins

First, sorry for the lack of recapness on Thursday.

Also, help wanted at PTF! Scroll down.

The Maple Leafs will be in Pittsburgh tonight for a Hockey Night In Canada showdown with the Penguins. The Penguins have won two of their last three, and they just got back goalie Marc-Andre Fleury after the Flower was absent for over a month. The Leafs were lit up for eight goals Thursday night in Boston behind a putrid performance by netminders Vesa Toskala and Curtis Joseph. That's the Leafs' biggest weakness--goaltending.

If the Penguins come out fast and play Pens hockey in this one, they should score six goals minimally. But hey, they play the games for a reason, and the Pens better be ready to play.

Fleury vs. Toskala in goal, presumably.

It's Crosby and Malkin against Grabovski and Stajan...can anybody say "blockbuster"? This is a very close call--Which center tandem would you choose?

Pascal Dupuis has an injury and will not play, but Maxime Talbot is ready to return to the lineup one day after signing a contract extension that will keep him in the black and gold through the Consol Energy Center's inagural campaign.

Faceoff wizard Mike Zigomanis is still out.

Ryan Whitney was sent to Wilkes Barre on a conditioning assignment, and he'll be back against Tampa Bay/Pittsburgh South on the eve of Christmas Eve.

Niklas Hagman will possibly return from injury for Toronto, but that's not a certainty.

Penguins-

Taffe-Crosby-Satan
Fedoetenko-Malkin-Sykora
Cooke-Staal-Wallace
Stone-Talbot-Godard

Letang-Eaton
Orpik-Scuderi
Goligoski-Boucher

Fleury

Leafs-

Kulemin-Stajan-Antropov
Ponikarovksky-Grabovski-Stempniak
Blake-Moore-Williams
Hollweg-Mitchell-Deveaux

Kaberle-Kubina
Sifers-Finger
White-Van Ryn

Toskala

GO PENS!

HELP WANTED @ PENGUINS THAT FLY

I am looking for another writer who has the time to write recaps and game previews when I am not available either because I am too busy or had to miss a game due to one of my own hockey games.

If anyone is interested, please send an email to:

pensthatfly@gmail.com

Or leave a comment on this post.

Please note that this is not a paying position, as this blog is for the fans by the fans written for the love of writing and the love of hockey.

Thanks,
AK.

Game 31- Penguins @ Atlanta Thrashers

The Penguins will play for the first time in five days Thursday night when they take on the Atlanta Thrashers at Phillips Arena in Georgia. This is the second game of the year between the two teams; the Pens won 3-2 in the first meeting.

The biggest storyline of this game is the return of netminder Marc-Andre Fleury after over a month on the shelf with a suspected groin injury. This will need to give the boys a boost, as they've been lacking energy the last few games.

Jeff Taffe was again promoted to the Pens, this time along with Ryan Stone today. This means that Mike Zigomanis and Max Talbot will not be playing.

Penguins-

Dupuis-Crosby-Satan
Fedotenko-Malkin-Sykora
Wallace-Staal-Cooke
Stone-Taffe-Godard

Scuderi-Orpik
Letang-Scuderi
Goligoski-Boucher

Fleury

Thrashers-

Kovalchuk-Williams-Thorburn
Kozlov-White-Little
Stuart-Reasoner-Armstrong
Boulton-Slater-Crabb

Hainsey-Exelby
Valabik-Havelid
Enstrom-Oystrick

Lehtonen

Go Pens.

Pens self destruct, lose to Flyers

That was a horrible, no good, bad day.

Evgeni Malkin was set up in the slot by Ruslan Fedotenko just 3o seconds after the game began with a false draw. After Geno was stopped by Marty Biron, Scott Hartnell, Braydon Coburn, and Matt Carle tripled up on him to try and fight him. Somehow, the Pens wound up shorthanded out of the whole ordeal. But hey, Bettman loves the Pens and hates the Flyers, so how could this be?

Dany Sabourin was tested by the oaf Hartnell near the end of the powerplay, but Sabu was up to the task and made the stop. Jeff Carter found himself with a half empty net, but Pascal Dupuis got a stick on it and deflected it into the netting.

Joffrey Lupul ended the powerplay with a penalty to make it 4 on 4, but the Pens did nothing with their slightly shortened powerplay.

The Pens were back in the box less than a minute later when Matt Cooke took a holding penalty for grabbing Jeff Carter's stick. Lupul capitalized on this one beating Sabourin on a wraparound. Hartnell was in the crease, but Sabu was way out of position anyway. It must be nice to have a competent powerplay.

The penalty parade continued at 12:17 when Hartnell took a slashing penalty. I don't know if I could hate this dirty piece of toilet paper any more than I presently do. Of course, the powerplay did nothing. Fire Yeo. He puts out Jeff Taffe on the second unit, and Taffe blows a golden chance in front of the net.

Another Penguin penalty ensued, this time featuring Phillipe Boucher. The Flyers PP got some chances early, but they couldn't bury it. Then, they did. Richards to Knuble. This is no fun.

Please, pull Sabourin. He is simply brutal to watch.

The Pens got a powerplay, and Crosby and Malkin both were tripped as the Pens tried to score, but nothing was called. Then, Ruslan Fedotenko knocks some jobber's stick out of his hands, and that's interference. A little consistency would be nice.

Malkin hit Fedotenko on a breakway, but offsides was called. What's funny about this is that Fedotenko wans't even remotely close to being offsides. But hey, Bettman loves the Pens, right?

The below screenshot is Fedotenko. He was called offsides.


Not a fun intermission. If we could just stop the Flyers' special teams, we'd be fine. Unfortunately, our power play can't do anything against their PK at the moment.

The Penguins settled down a bit in the second. They controlled the puck in the Flyers' end, and they almost got a goal after a minute of sustained puck possesion in Philly's end.

Tim Wallace made a big hit at the blueline, and he moved the puck ahead to Fedotenko. Fedo then went to Alex Goligoski, who sent a cross-ice pass to Jordan Staal. The Gronk redirected it past Biron to make it 2-1. Great play by Wallace on the boards.

Then Richards scored, and Hartnell, and Knuble again.

The rest was just not the kind of thing you want to read about.

But hey, God finally did get a goal, and Fedotenko potted another.

Philly is still a shithole, and their fans still have to live there.

This division will be hotly contested all year.

Notes-
Fedo is really playing well.
Tim Wallace = Ryan Malone 2.0?
Not much else to say that was positive.

Go Pens.

Game 30- Penguins @ Philadelphia Flyers

I said I would stop half assing this blog due to my own other commitments, so here goes.

The Pens will evade the armpit of America at 1:00 on Saturday for a tilt with their inferior cross-state rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers. In two games between the teams this year, the Pens, not shockingly, have won both. The Flyers have been without mediocre defensemen Randy Jones and Ryan Parent all year, while the Pens have dealt with injuries to a star in Sergei Gonchar and a # 2 in Ryan Whitney.

Due to a list of injuries that includes faceoff artist Mike Zigomanis, Tyler Kennedy, Hal Gill, and now Maxime Talbot, the Penguins will be dressing a few minor leaguers for this one in Jeff Taffe, Tim Wallace, and possibly the newly recalled Connor James. One of James and Wallace is likely to sit this one out.

Since this came could be physically brutal, we will probably see the return of Eric Godard from the press box in this game.

The big news coming into this one is obvious---Marc-Andre Fleury is coming back. After a speculated groin injury has kept him out for about a month, the Flower is in full bloom and ready to wreak Hell on Jeff Carter and the Flyers' snipers.

No one knows if MAF is starting or not, but he'll be active at the least.

I'll put the over/under at 6:00 for Scott Hartnell's PIM in this game.

Penguins-

Dupuis-Crosby-Satan
Fedotenko-Malkin-Sykora
Talbot-Staal-Cooke
Taffe-Wallace-Godard

Orpik-Scuderi
Letang-Eaton
Boucher-Goligoski

Sabourin

Flyers-

Gagne-Richards-Knuble
Hartnell-Carter-Lupul
Upshall (Diving Bitch)-Metropolit-Lupul
Cote-Powe-Asham

Timonen-Vaananen
Coburn-Kukkonen
Sbisa-Alberts

Biron

GO PENS!

Tough game to miss

The Pens obviously beat the snot out of the Isles tonight.

Sadly, I had two hockey games and was forced to miss it.

I'll stop half assing this for Saturday's game in Philly.

Go Pens.

Game 29- New York Islanders @ Penguins

The Isles will make the first visit to the Igloo tomorrow night as they try to bounce back from a disappointing 4-3 loss in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. The Pens, too, will be looking to bounce back from tonight's humiliating loss in Newark against the Devils. This is a home game, and obviously one the Pens need in order to get back on track.

Lines to come.

Pens can't solve Clemmensen, lose 4-1 to Devils

The Pens really didn't show up for this one at all.

The league's "Crosby loving refs" allowed the Devils one goal on a blatant offsides, and another after a missed tripping call. NHL refs are generally good, but they were horrid tonight. Crosby and Malkin were all over the place, but the finish just wasn't there in this one. Too bad not to get a win, but the silver lining is that we have another one in less than 24 hours. Tomorrow night is an absolute must-win, and they should. It's a home game against a weak Isles team. Just get it done. Kris Letang was everywhere tonight.

It sucks, but we'll bounce back.

Game 28- Penguins @ New Jersey Devils

The Pens will invade the half-full Prudential Center Wednesday evening for a tilt with the Devils. Marty Brodeur is a great goalie.......and not playing in this game.

Go Pens.

B.U.F.F.A.L.O. S.U.C.K.S.

I didn't get home until the second period, but Ruslan Fedotenko played the period of his life and Derek Roy had a goal off a Pens' turnover. It was 2-1 Pens at the break after one.

On a 5 on 3 shortly after the start of the second, Sidney Crosby deked and dived before making a beautiful pass to Kris Letang. Tanger buried it for his first of the season with a beautiful finish.

The Sabres made it 3-2 not long after when another Pens turnover and the weak Dany Sabourin combined to get the puck into the back of the net. It was just an all around unfortunate play.

Buffalo gave us another 5 on 3 soon after, and the Pens controlled it for the whole two minutes, but they could not solve Ryan Miller. Satan had chances, and like he always does, he blew 'em.

The Sabres tied it up when Sabu's incompetence showed once again. They threw it at the net, and Sabourin was out of position for Dan Paille to tie it.

And the Sabres took the lead a few minutes into the third when Brooks Orpik broke down and left Letang to cover a 2 on 1. He failed, and Thomas Vanek scored to make it 4-3 Buffalo.

It was not the best of times.

The Pens got a powerplay. Again they faltered. I think we all wanted to kill ourselves.

They made it close at the end, and they blew it.

This team is a joke. Satan is beyond awful. His lack of drive and finishing ability makes me puke.

Awful awful awful.

Vomit.

Game 27- Buffalo Sabres @ Penguins

The Buffalo Sabres, having lost seven of their last ten games, will visit the Igloo for a 7:08 tilt on Versus Monday night. The Pens are coming off a decent road trip that saw them earn six of a possible eight points. To this point in the season, the Pens are 1-1-0 against the Sabres.

Pittsburgh beat Buffalo 5-2 on November 15th, but the Sabres got redemption at home the night after Thanksgiving with a 3-2 win at home.

You know all about their weapons on offense---Vanek, Pominville, and Roy, who's had a rough start to this year. But last time these teams met, it was pluggers like Paul Gaustad and Drew Stafford who did work to earn the "W" for the Sabres.

The Pens recalled defenseman Ben Lovejoy from Wilkes Barre on Sunday. Hal Gill is a bit shaken up from Saturday's loss in Ottawa, so maybe Lovejoy will crack the lineup.

Mike Zigomanis' status for the game, as of now, is not certain.

It will be Miller v. Sabourin between the pipes, most likely. Nothing is set in stone at this point.

Penguins-

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

Orpik-Letang
Goligoski-Scuderi
Eaton-Lovejoy

Sabourin

Sabres-

Vanek-Hecht-Pominville
Gerbe-Roy-Stafford
Afinogenov-Mair-Kotalik
Paille-Gaustad-MacArthur

Lydman-Rivet
Spacek-Sekera
Tallinder-Numminen

GO PENS!

Pens push hard, but can't beat Senators

So frustrating. I hate my life...

The first period was one of the most exciting periods in recent memory for Penguins hockey. Both teams were hitting, both goalies were stopping pucks, and the defense was good. Both teams were running and gunning, but Kris Letang and Brooks Orpik of the Pens and Anton Volchenkov of Ottawa were throwing their weight around to minimize the chances. Ottawa outshot the Pens 12-6, but the play was largely equal. The Crosby-Malkin tandem looked good, as did the Heatley-Spezza-Alfreddson line.

Kris Letang exerted more confidence and energy in that period than he has ever before. He skated beautfully, didn't rush things, didn't panic, and generated some quality scoring chances.

During a twenty second span with only ticks left on the clock in the period, each team laid several crushing body checks. Jarkko Ruutu, Alex Picard and Mike Fisher for Ottawa, and Jordan Staal, Letang, and Orpik for Pittsburgh. The very classy Ruutu gave it his best shot to elbow Staal in the face, but fortunately he didn't connect.

It was a very entertaining period, but no goals were scored.

The second was not nearly as kind.

Jason Spezza put the Senators up 1-0 when Sabourin came out to challenge him on a breakaway. After Sabourin stopped him to force Spezza behind the net, Spezza wrapped around the net to beat a badly out of position Sabourin.

Spezza got another shortly thereafter when the Pens' defense couldnt' handle the puck, even while it was right on their sticks, and Spezza got a golden bounce in the slot. He made not mistake, and the Sens led 2-0.

Eric Godard dropped the gloves with Chris Neil and God absolutely hammered him. Neil fought back though, and the bout went a long time. Smart decisioning by Godard to try and change the momentum of the game, vastly in Ottawa's favor at the time. Dumb play by Neil. In any event, it was a good fight.

Crosby got a great chance from Malkin, but he missed the net. Ruutu did what we've come to expect from him, flipping the puck over the glass to give the Pens a powerplay. Of course, the Pens road powerplay sucks, so nothing much came of it.

Malkin put the Pens back on the powerplay when he was hauled down going to the net, and this time, the Penguins didn't miss. After having his shot blocked by Antoine Vermette, Crosby fired cross ice to Alex Goligoski before getting the puck back a bit later. Jordan Staal sat his stick on the ice, and Crosby shot it for the blade. Staal got the goal, his 50th of his career. Crosby and Malkin distanced themselves from the rest of the NHL, both getting assists.

Softie Spezza got the hat trick when he banked when in from behind the net off Letang's skate. Sabourin looked incredibly incompetent on the goal. So deflating....with 38 god damned seconds left in the period. SHIT.

But hey, with this team, wouldn't you rather be down 3-1 than up 3-1 at this juncture?

Malkin got the Pens to 3-2 shorthanded when Staal stole the puck and moved it ahead to him. Malkin had no trouble beating Auld on a breakaway.

Letang almost tied it up on a Malkin set up late, but he missed the net. He played an awesome game, Letang, but he cannot buy a goal for his life. Something is wrong with him offensively, and it's definitely not skill or confidence.

The Pens pulled Sabourin. They didn't score. They need Zigomanis for faceoffs.

Game over.

Damnit damnit damnit damnit damnit. There goes my fvcking Saturday.

**** my life.

Game 26- Penguins @ Ottawa Senators

The Pens will visit Scotiabank Place in Kanata, Ontario on Saturday afternoon at 2:00 for a tilt with the Senators in an attempt to finish off strong what has been a solid road trip so far. Ottawa is the same one line team they've always been--Alfreddson, Heatley, and Spezza are elite players, but after that, there is nothing there.

Alex Auld has played well of late, but he is still no more than a career backup. Antoine Vermette is a good penalty killer, and Mike Fisher is a joke. Jesse Winchester is a winger with lots of skill, but like many Senators, he just hasn't been able to put it all together.

The Ottawa defense is horrid. Chris Phillips and Jason Smith are pylons, Alex Picard is atrocious in his own end, and the only legit guys they have back there are Fillip Kuba and Anton Volchenkov. Kuba has been a nice surprise, putting up solid offensive numbers...a lot of assists. Volchenkov is a rock and tough as nails.

Like I said, the back end is week for Ottawa, and Crosby and Malkin should be able to feast on them. The real key here is to contain the top line of Heatley-Spezza-Alfreddson.

The Pens will be without Tyler Kennedy for the next 4-6 weeks after Kennedy suffered a sprained knee in New York on Wednesday. This is a tough loss, but the Pens have dealt with much worse in recent years.

While Kennedy is out, it is likely that Chris Minard will stick with the team for a few weeks and take TK's spot on the third line with Matt Cooke and Jordan Staal. He's been a beast in the AHL, and he should be able to handle his new role. It will be a great test for him.

Mike Zigomanis' status is unknown, but more likely than not he will be out as well for this one. Ziggy looks to be back much sooner than Kennedy though, and that's a major positive.

Phillipe Boucher is still hurt.

If Ziggy does miss this game, Janne Pesonen will stay in the lineup.

Dany Sabourin will be in goal for Pittsburgh against Auld for Ottawa.

Penguins-

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

Orpik-Letang
Scuderi-Gill
Goligoski-Eaton

Sabourin

Senators-

Heatley - Spezza - Alfredsson
Vermette - Fisher - Donovan
Foligno - Kelly - Winchester
Ruutu - Bass - Neil

Phillips - Kuba
Schubert - Volchenkov
Smith - Picard

Auld

GO PENS!

Pens rebound with 5-2 win in Raleigh

The Pens had a few letdowns, but they turned in a solid performance tonight to get a big win against the Carolina Hurricanes. Crosby and Malkin continued to be a huge deal, and Miro Satan and Rusty Fedotenko looked a bit better. Pascal Dupuis and Petr Sykora joined the act as well. Right when we start bitching about the incompetence of these guys as top six wingers, they come up big.

Just a few thoughts tonight. Sorry for mailing this in to an extent and the preview, but my schedule these last couple days has been beyond nightmarish for me.

-Malkin is sick. Crosby is sick.
-Sykora has a cannon. How has he never had a hat trick?
-Good job doing it without some key depth guys like TFK and Ziggy.
-Powerplay maybe back on track?
-Satan's goal was the kind of play we're used to seeing from him in past years.
-Get the Sens on Saturday.

GO PENS!

Game 25- Penguins @ Carolina Hurricanes

Crosby passes Tanguay in the ASG voting.

Woooooo.

Go Pens.

Ugh

Pens lose. They blow another lead in the Garden.

wah wah wah.

Redemption tomorrrow.

damnit.

Game 24- Penguins @ New York Rangers

The Penguins will look to redeem themselves from a devastating come from ahead loss at the hands of the New York Rangers that happened on October 25th at Madison Square Garden. The Pens were up 2-0 through two periods on goals from old friend Darryl Sydor and Sidney Crosby, but a late goal from Nikolai Zherdev evened things up with seconds to go, and Fredrik Sjostrom won it for the Rangers in a shootout.

Since then, the Pens seem to have gotten a little bit better at holding leads, but there are still some issues in that department. The dynamic duo of Crosby and Malkin has been doing work, and the secondary scoring has been present as well. Dany Sabourin has filled in well for the injured Marc-Andre Fleury, and Flower should be back soon from a torn groin muscle.

Phillipe Boucher is ailing with an undisclosed ailment. His status is unknown, but we'll say out.

For the Rags, you know the story---Henrik Lundqvist is a great netminder. Zherdev provides a huge offensive spark, Redden sucks, blah blah blah.

Penguins-

Talbot-Crosby-Satan
Fedotenko-Malkin-Sykora
Cooke-Staal-Kennedy
Dupuis-Zigomanis-Godard

Orpik-Letang
Scuderi-Gill
Goligoski-Eaton

Sabourin

Rangers-

Drury-Gomez-Callahan
Naslund-Dubinsky-Zherdev
Voros-Korpikoski-Fritsche
Sjostrom-Betts-Orr

Redden-Girardi
Staal-Roszival
Kalinin-Mara

Lundqvist

GO PENS!

Crosby's second career hat trick fuels 4-1 romp over Devils

Video Highlights-


Well, that was fun. A solid team win over a solid team...

Sidney Crosby got things started with a beautiful goal on Scott Clemmensen. 87 took the puck in the neutral zone, walked around Bryce Salvador, and after losing the puck after Clemmensen failed on a poke check attempt, he swept it under the Devils' netminder on his backhand to make it 1-0, remaining red hot.

Miroslav Satan almost put home a powerplay goal when an Evgeni Malkin slapper clanked off the crossbar then off Satan's chest. The puck eluded 81's stick, however, and the Pens powerplay drought continued.

Crosby set up Petr Sykora for his fifth of the year on a powerplay a few minutes into the second while Zach Parise was serving an interference minor. After a great keep in by Malkin, Tyler Kennedy ran after the puck to swipe it from the grasp of a New Jersey defenseman and gave a between the legs pass to Crosby who broke in on Clemmensen and hit Sykora with a saucer pass for the tap in.

Matt Cooke laid a crushing check on Parise that sent Parise into his bench. While the door was open into the bench, Cooke made Parise pay for dumping in the puck. It was a doozy of a hit.

Sid struck again in a 4 on 4 midway through the period. Malkin skated after a loose puck to beat a lunging Clemmensen to it. He slid it to Crosby for a gimme and Sid's second goal of the game. Thos two are kind of a big deal.

Kennedy almost made it 4-0 when he missed an easy opportunity after a nice pass from Staal during a 2 on 1. That line played well as usual.

Mike Rupp got New Jersey on the board two minutes into the third with a snipe past the glove of Dany Sabourin to the top right hand corner of the cage. The goal was the result of some sloppiness by the Pens in an a failed attempt to get the puck out of the defensive zone.

The Devils had some golden opportunities to cut the lead in half during the bulk of the final frame, but some sketchy decision making cost them those chances.

Crosby capped off his night with a beautiful empty netter for the hat trick. He laid out on the ice and one handed it into the net. Malkin got an assist. Those two together....it's just not fair.

Notes-
-Crosby and Malkin.....they give you a tingly feeling.
-Fedotenko played well.
-Nice job by Sabu tonight.
-Gotta love Matt Cooke

Game 23- New Jersey Devils @ Penguins

This needs to be a nice bounce back game for the Pens. They were bad last night, so this is important to get two points out of even more so than normal. It's also a divisional game.

It'll be Dany Sabourin against Scott Clemmensen in goal. Sabourin was putrid in his last start against the New York Islanders, and he'll have to play better if the Pens are to get a win.

Clemmensen is an ECHLer. There's no reason the Pens shouldn't score 10 on him.

The Pens powerplay was garbage last night, and they'll need to do better. Fire Mike Yeo, please.

Janne Pesonen barely got into the game yesterday, so he might be scratched and Ruslan Fedotenko back in. Nobody really knows. If the Pens need goals at any time, expect the line of Malkin-Crosby-Sykora to be reunited. Hopefully Dupuis won't be on the first line tonight.

Phillipe Boucher suffered an undisclosed injury last night. We'll assume he's out, and Eaton's in.

Penguins-

Talbot-Crosby-Satan
Fedotenko-Malkin-Sykora
Cooke-Staal-Kennedy
Dupuis-Zigomanis-Godard

Orpik-Letang
Goligoski-Gill
Boucher-Scuderi

Sabourin

Devils-

Parise-Zajac-Langenbrunner
Elias-Zubrus-Gionta
Pandolfo-Madden-Clarkson
Vrana-Rupp-Brookbank

Salvador-Martin
White-Oduya
Salmela-Leach

Clemmensen

GO PENS!

Pens turn in uninspiring third period to lose to Sabres

That was hardly enjoyable.

The game started with a rather slow pace. The teams looked like they were trying to figure each other out, which was odd because they met just two weeks before in Pittsburgh. Play picked up in time though, and the Penguins wreaked the benefits in the early going.

Tyler Kennedy and Matt Cooke cycled the puck beautifully in the left corner behind Ryan Miller, and Cooke took the puck and hit an opened up Kennedy with a pass on the left post. Kennedy buried it easily.

The Sabres answered shortly after. Max Afinogenov went around the whole Pens defense, wrapped around Curry, and gave Drew Stafford a chance to stuff home a rebound, which he did. It was the first goal against of John Curry's career.

Things went to intermission all even.

Brooks Orpik took an interference minor midway through the second. The Penguins looked to have it killed off until Paul Gaustad potted his first of the season for Buffalo on a freak play. Stafford centered the puck, and Gaustad stopped it with his foot after Curry had slid too far to get back in the play. Gaustad had a gimme to make it 2-1.

Sidney Crosby tied it minutes later when Evgeni Malkin took a wicked slapper that ricocheted off the end boards to the front of the net. Crosby, using inept hand-eye coordination, batted the puck out of the air past Miller to tie it 2-2.

Crosby got another one on a 4 on 4, again from Malkin with 56 seconds left in the period. Malkin moved it ahead to 87 after making a nice steal. Sid puck supported and took the puck in on Miller. He pump faked a slapper before beating Miller five hole, a la the Winter Classic.

A Thomas Vanek tripping minor gave the Pens an extended 5 on 3 that would carry over into the third period.

The Malkin-Crosby-Sykora line is the best in hockey, bar none. Hell, you could put me with those two, and we'd still be the best line in hockey. Wow, just wow. Malkin to Sid and vice versa....it's just magical to watch.

The Pens took a 3-2 edge into the third, and they were flying.

Of course, the 5 on 3 went to waste. No surprise there.

Stafford evened it again for the Sabres shortly after in a 3 on 2. The Pens turned it over in the neutral zone, and that was it. Thomas Vanek made a nice pass to Stafford right in the slot, and Curry never even went down.

After Curry made some sick saves, Gaustad stuffed in a cheapy between Curry's legs. Leave it to this team to give up the first two goals of the season to some shit fourth liner.

The Pens had one final hurrah with Curry pulled late, but an early whistle averted a great chance on a rebound for Max Talbot, who very concievably would have buried the puck.

Bounce back tomorrow, damnit.

Go Pens.

The All-Star Game and why to boycott it

As you probably know by now, the Eastern Conference's starting lineup for February's All-Star Game at the Bell Centre in Montreal is currently set to be made up of six Montreal Canadiens players, and nobody else. Forwards Saku Koivu, Alex Tanguay, Alexei Kovalev, defensemen Andrei Markov and Mike Komisarek, and netminder Carey Price are each leading in their respective positional categories, some by insurmountable margins.

It would be almost impossible for Markov, Komisarek, and Price to miss out on the game, as they are all up on their challengers by about 200,000 votes. Koivu, Kovalev, and Tanguay, are being somewhat threatened by Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but the odds of any of them being caught up to are not good.

What is so sad about this situation is that the Habs did not come by these votes properly--Some Montreal fanboy, probably living in his mother's basement, constructed a javascript that allowed for Habs fans to vote once, and have dozens more votes cast automatically.

Also upsetting is that the only Canadien even remotely close to being worthy of this honor is Markov, who is still only third among Eastern defensemen in scoring behind Mike Green of Washington and Mark Streit of the New York Islanders.

Kovalev, Tanguay, and Koivu are 22nd, 27th, and 36th among Eastern forwards in scoring, yet they are the top three forwards in all-star voting. Meanwhile, Malkin, Crosby, Alex Semin, Alex Ovechkin, Zach Parise, Marc Savard, and Simon Gagne, all guys who have torn up the league this year, are likely to miss out on the starting lineup. Gagne and Parise aren't even sniffing the top 10.

Price, 8th in the East in goals against average and 7th in save percentage, is annihilating his competition in voting, way up on second place Marc-Andre Fleury. Goalies like Henrik Lundqvist, Tim Thomas, and Mike Smith have tremendously outperformed Price this year, but they won't be recognized for it.

So my call to arms to you is simple--

DO NOT WATCH THE ALL-STAR GAME OR BUY ANY MERCHANDISE THAT MIGHT SUPPORT IT! A BOYCOTT IS THE ONLY WAY THE TRUE VOICE OF THE FAN CAN BE HEARD!

Until Gary Bettman and the bufoons in the NHL offices in New York realize how dumb it is to allow homer fans to cheat their players way into the All-Star Game, don't watch this ridiculous spectacle. I don't care if it's their 100th season or if they are hosting the game. It doesn't mean they can butcher this event.

Montreal Sucks, and Gary Bettman sucks.

Game 22- Penguins @ Buffalo Sabres

The Penguins will make their first trip of the year to HSBC Arena in Buffalo on Friday night for a 7:38 tilt with the Sabres. The Pens, who have beaten Buffalo five times in a row, are coming off a thrilling 5-3 victory over the New York Islanders in which Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin worked magic to carry the Pens to victory on Wednesday. The Sabres won for the first time in six games of their own on Wednesday when they downed the upstart Boston Bruins 3-2 in western New York.

Rookie John Curry will make his first NHL start in the game. He replaced Dany Sabourin midway through on Wednesday, and he was a bit shaky at first, but didn't give up any goals. It will be interesting to see how he responds.

Ryan Miller will get the start for the Sabres, most likely.

Max Talbot will play despite a minor injury suffered on Wednesday when Radek Martinek clanked a slapper off the inside of Talbot's foot. Janne Pesonen, who was recalled from Wilkes Barre, presumably to replace Max, will be in the lineup anyway. Odds are Eric Godard will be scratched for the first time.

Hal Gill pretty much sucked on Wednesday, so it's not an unreasonable expectation that he'll be in the press box for this one with Mark Eaton taking his spot. The only thing that may keep this from happening is that Gill is serving as an assistant captain for the month of November.

For Buffalo, their primary offensive threat is the skilled dangler, Thomas Vanek. Center Derek Roy has been coming alive a bit lately, and winger Jason Pominville is always a threat.

Playmaker Tim Connolly is on injured reserve for the Sabres along with winger Ales Kotalik.

Penguins-

Talbot-Crosby-Satan
Pesonen-Malkin-Sykora
Cooke-Staal-Kennedy
Fedotenko-Zigomanis-Dupuis

Orpik-Letang
Goligoski-Boucher
Scuderi-Eaton

Curry

Sabres-

Vanek-Roy-Stafford
Gaustad-Hecht-Pominville
Afinogenov-MacArthur-Mancari
Peters-Mair-Kaleta

Tallinder-Rivet
Spacek-Sekera
Lydman-Numminen

Miller

GO PENS!

Na Na Na Na Na Na: Penguins recall Pesonen

Finnish sensation Janne Pesonen has been called up from Wilkes Barre in the wake of Max Talbot's apparent foot injury suffered Wednesday night on Long Island.

Pesonen has 21 points in 19 games with the Baby Pens this year, and he pretty much is a big deal.

It seems more than likely at this juncture that Pesonen will be flanking Sidney Crosby tomorrow night in Buffalo for a clash with the Sabres.

Dave Molinari of the PG broke the news 15 minutes ago.

http://postgazette.com/pg/08332/931280-100.stm

Happy Thanksgiving.

The Crosby-Malkin combo takes center stage as Pens win

Wow, what a game. The Penguins looked about as bad as they have all season through the first little bit of this season for the first 35 minutes or so of this one. Then, while on a penalty kill, the Pens got some quality chances that seemed to get them going. Brooks Orpik got the Pens back in it late in the second, and then the superstars went to work. Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby are the best two players in the world, and they showed why tonight.

As was eluded to, the Isles jumped out to an early lead.

Doug Weight got on the board, and then Trent Hunter followed soon after. Billy Guerin made it a bit worse in the second on one of many New York powerplays.

It was hardly the best of times. 3-0 Islanders.

Dany Sabourin was pulled at this point for the young John Curry, who was making his National Hockey League debut. Curry, no doubt quaking in his skates, was excellent all the way through.

Brooks Orpik finally got the Pens on the board with seconds to go in the second period to break Joey MacDonald's bid for his first career shutout. Free Candy wound up a big slapper that appeared to hit a skate before going in. The assist went to Pascal Dupuis.

Crosby appeared to pull the Penguins within one on a breakaway very early in the final frame after railroading MacDonald and forcing the puck into the net, but for some reason, it was washed out. The referee gave a sketchy explanation, so I'm not sure, but it wasn't totally conclusive in any case

The Pens took the momentum from that goal and washout goal into the rest of the game, as Malkin waltzed around two Isles before making a perfect cross-crease pass to Crosby, who in turn blasted the puck past MacDonald to make it 3-2 officially.

The two young studs evened it at 3 moments later when Crosby carried the puck in to the New York zone, slowed the play down at the blueline, and then hit Malkin with a snap pass on to the tape. Malkin had no problem burying it.

50 seconds later, while Crosby was on his can, he passed the puck to Malkin from along the goal line, and Malkin, while falling down himself, smoked MacDonald like a cheap cigar to put the Pens ahead for good.

Fittingly, Malkin added empty netter in the final minute.

Notes-
-We have the two best players in the world on our team.
-NYI=stunned.
-Malkin and Crosby on the same line forever.
-Malkin.
-Crosby.
-Malkin.
-Crosby.

wooooo.

GO PENS!

Game 21- Penguins @ New York Islanders

The Pens will make their second visit to Long Island in a little over two weeks on Wednesday night at 7:00 when they will take on the Islanders at Nassau Coliseum. Since the Penguins, last trip to the Coliseum, both teams have gone nowhere but up.

Following their shootout to the Penguins, the Isles have five of seven games, the most exciting of which came Monday night in Montreal. New York trailed 3-2 with four minutes and change left in regulation when Habs blueliner Ryan O'Byrne put the puck in his own net during a delayed penalty to tie it at 3. Then, the Isles won it in the shootout.

The Penguins have lost just one regulation game since the Isles game on November 8th. That loss came on Saturday at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks, and the Pens will look to bounce back from that in this one.

It'll be Dany Sabourin against Joey MacDonald in goal. Marc-Andre Fleury is still hurt.

Penguins-

Talbot-Crosby-Satan
Fedotenko-Malkin-Sykora
Cooke-Staal-Kennedy
Dupuis-Zigomanis-Godard

Orpik-Letang
Scuderi-Gill
Goligoski-Boucher

Sabourin

Isles-

Bergenheim-Weight-Guerin
Tambellini-Bailey-Hunter
Hilbert-Park-Sim
Fritz-Colliton-Jackman

Campoli-Gervais
Sutton-Streit
Witt-Martinek

MacDonald

GO PENS!

Penguins fall at hands of Canucks

The Penguins had every chance to win this one in the third period, but they just could not get it done today. Too bad, but we need to stick it to the Isles on Wednesday. I'll get my thoughts across later...

The game started about as bizarrely as any I've ever seen.

Matt Cooke flipped Alex Edler with a devastating hip check that served as a response to Matthias Ohlund's attempt to crush Tyler Kennedy right off the opening faceoff. Soon after, Jannik Hansen had jumped Cooke and goaded him into a fight, while Tyler Kennedy and Ryan Kesler went down by the other end of the ice, and Brooks Orpik took on Alex Burrows.

Cooke and Hansen were ejected. What was crazy was the Cooke tossing-- Cooke made a totally legal play and then had to defend himself when he was jumped for no good reason. In turn, Don van Massenhoven throws him out of the game, but whatever.

The Penguins got a powerplay out of it all, and they got some good chances beofre failing to beat Roberto Luongo as the penalty expired.

Luongo left the game minutes later after twisting awkwardly in the crease, and he did not return. Backup Curtis Sanford came in.

The Nucks went up 1-0 when Pavol Demitra put in his own rebound on an ugly goal in front, beating Sabourin by an inch. It was a tough bounce over Sabourin's shoulder that led Demitra to pick up his own trash and slip it under Sabourin. Henrik and Daniel Sedin did some strong work down low to lead to the goal.

The second period was the worst of the season. The Penguins gave up an early goal, another garbage marker at the hands of the Sedin-Sedin-Demitra line, and then the Pens just crumbled.

What was great about this goal was the way that Brooks Orpik had his stick stolen from him by Daniel Sedin right as he was going to make a play. Not surprsingly, nothing was called.

They might have put three shots on Sanford in that period, and did nothing with them.

On the powerplay, the boys couldn't even manage possession for more than a few seconds before the Canucks got the puck and dumped it back toward Sabourin. As a whole, this was the kind of period that just makes you want to cut yourself.

The Great Mike Zigomanis got the Penguins back within one a few minutes into the final frame. Ziggy got the puck somehow out of a scrum just to the left of Sanford, and he slid the puck down low through the smallest of corridors into the goal.

The Pens fed off the adrenaline from that goal and continued to fly for the next few minutes. After a commercial break with 13 minutes or so left, that energy seemed to die off.

Ohlund cross-checked Maxime Talbot across the face, but nothing was called. Striped shitface Don van Massenhoven allowed the Canucks to clutch, grab, and cheap shot the Penguins for most of this period.

He called over 60 minutes worth of penalties in the first two periods, and then a mere four minutes in the third period. He put away his whistle, and it had a huge impact on the game.

After Sabourin was pulled with a minute remaining for an extra attacker, Maxime Talbot went into the corner to retrieve a puck. In the corner, he was met by Ohlund, who cross-checked him across the small of his back, sending him to the ice. With Talbot out of the picture, the Canucks cleared the puck out, and Demitra put home an empty netter to close the game out.

Nothing was called, and the game ended.

Now, I am a referee myself-- I worked two games just last evening. I know the rules of hockey inside and out, and I know that what the Canucks were doing for the last little while of that game was, by enlarge, illegal.

If a player uses his free hand to haul down an attacking player, as Canucks defenseman Shane O'Brien did to Sidney Crosby midway through the third, a holding penalty should be called.

If a player pins an opponent to the boards who does not have the puck, interference should be called. Both teams got away with this multiple times during this game.

If a player strips another player of his stick in the midst of play, interference is to be called.

Not being a homer here, just stating the rules, so I apologize for my Flyers/Caps/Wings fan impersonation. I just hate to see the impact of a game impacted so much by the guys with the whistles, not with the sticks. The Canucks still might have won, but there was just something wrong with the way this was called.

Notes-
-The Sedin Bros. are solid hockey players. They are like average third liners only with skill.
-Pavol Demitra still sucks, even though he scored today.
-I hate Matthias Ohlund. He makes up for lack of defensive skill by playing pre-lockout hockey.
-Crosby and Malkin were not themselves tonight.
-Cooke would have had an impact on this game.
-Pascal Dupuis is a fourth liner. Why is he on the first line?
-Kennedy was the Penguins' best player tonight. He would work well with Crosby.

GO PENS!