Four road goals not enough

It’s all Leafs for the first couple minutes until Garon made his first save in a Penguins uniform. Lethargic back and forth hockey for awhile. Then Garon made a great save on a slapper. Maxie took a bone-crunching hit on Antropov and then TK and Satan go hard to the net. Satan had a great chance but he couldn’t connect. White with a goal on a backhand. Duper has not been so Super since he’s returned from injury. He and Geno keep making plays together but Duper just can’t seem to convert any of Geno’s awesome feed. TK tries to pass to himself around two defensemen but instead the Leafs got the puck. Garon makes a nice stick save. Satan takes the biscuit down the left side on a 2-on-1 with TK. He fired a slapper at the net. GOAL! The Penguins pick up the intensity on the momentum of that goal. Sid and Geno go toward the net; Geno takes a series of shots, but none connect. Billy Thomas is a face-off god. A great way to deal with Ziggy’s absence. Staalsy is called for tripping. It was sweet revenge for a hit White had given him a couple seconds before. It’s only sweet if the boys kill the penalty. Billy Thomas passes up the boards to Geno who goes deep into the Leafs’ zone. He holds the puck in the zone for a good 10 seconds. Penalty killed. TK makes a nice back hand shot but unfortunately, Toskala is in position and makes the save. Geno fakes a slapper and the puck ends up right on the tape of a Leaf. Jeff Finger is called for high-sticking. Pens do not capitalize on their advantage. Staal tries to set up TK, then Satan, but neither can connect. Billy Thomas centers one from behind the net on his knees. Incredible. Sid, Geno and Dups go 3-on- 1 and Duper slaps one toward the net but Toskala makes the save.

Nothing happens for the first 4 minutes or so. Finally there’s a shot from Blake and a save from Garon. Toronto is called for too many men on the ice. Lee Stempniak serves the penalty for the Leafs. Sykie gets a chance out front but can’t connect. Garon makes an incredible sprawling save on Stempniak as he sprints out of the box. Whitters is called for hooking. Garon makes a great save but allows a rebound and Nik Antropov snaps it in. Billy Thomas chipped it in for Cookie Monster. Geno was plastered by rookie defenseman Luke Schenn. Gods and Maxie dance with Schenn but it’s TK who drops the gloves with Schenn. TK and Schenn both get five for fighting. Props to TK for taking on Schenn, who is much larger than he is. Satan almost gets his second goal of the game. Just then Scudsie is called for interference with Moore. Leafs cycle the puck for what seems like forever before they take a shot and Garon makes the save. Staalsy goes shorthanded but loses the puck. Scuderi’s penalty is killed. Malkin absolutely flattens Stempniak in the neutral zone. The Pens Nation cheers, but then Toronto scores on a backhand from Ponikarovsky. Stajan and Sid exchange some words and a few blows. Not enough to call anything, though. Penguins are trying to play gritty now. Sid and Geno end up in the middle of a scrum on the boards. Brad May should have been called for a late hit, a cross check to the back of Geno’s head. No call. Puke. But then Antropov is called for slashing. Huge penalty for the Pens. Nice shot from Sid but Toskala saved it. The Pens can’t buy a goal in this game, especially a PPG.

According to Bob Errey, the Penguins need to find their “mojo” again. Agreed. Ten seconds left on that penalty to Antropov to start the period. Pens do not score a PPG. Matt Cooke grabs the puck in the high slot. Sid and Geno whack at it and finally Sid taps it in. Huge goal. Then the tool Schenn who plastered Geno earlier passes to Matt Stajan who taps it in. Cooke is called for tripping meanwhile, Geno is blatantly tripped by White but there is no call. Gods needs to fight or something. This is ridiculous. Penalty killed. Whitters slaps one from the point from a nice feed from Sid. Geno deflected it in. Money in the bank. Garon cannot allow another goal. Just then, TK grabs the puck and races down the right side. He scores with a hell of a slapper. Crazy bounces. Crazy game. Nice cycling and then Hal Gill takes a shot but it hits a leg and the Leafs take it. Blake gets a plinko goal. Now Garon really can’t allow another goal. Pens need to throw the puck at the net. Geno takes a shot but Toskala makes a save. Cookie and Ian White take penalties for roughing. 4-on-4 hockey. Play is intense and the penalties expire. Toskala is making save after save. This is a crazy period. Sid centers it for Geno but Geno pokes it just wide. Cookie , Gogo, and Sid all take crazy shots but Toskala is doing a great imitation of a brick wall. Garon makes a huge huge huge save on Jamal Mayers to keep the Penguins within one. Whitters’ shot is deflected right over the goal. Pens pull the lackluster Garon in favor of Sykie.
Game over.
Pens lose.
Oh God.
It’s December all over again.


THOUGHTS:
--this was a must-must-must WIN
--Good thing Florida lost, too.
--Garon was a disappointment tonight
--Red Wings coming up next weekend. Oh God.
--TK was awesome tonight.
--Billy Thomas was a bright light in the rough of this game. He is a freaking beast on the faceoff.

LET'S GO PENS!

Steelers in the Super Bowl tomorrow.
Here's one Pittsburgh team that can actually win.

Game 51- Penguins @ Toronto Maple Leafs

The Penguins are in Toronto tonight for a clash with the lowly, yet hardworking Maple Leafs. The Leafs are coming off of a 7-4 win over the Colorado Avalanche, while the Penguins twice blew two goal advantages last night in a loss to the New Jersey Devils in overtime.

The Leafs have some studs on their blueline, but there's not much after that. Tomas Kaberle is a phenomenal player at both ends of the ice, and Pavel Kubina is a bigger, slightly less skilled version of Kaberle. Rookie Luke Schenn is the first key piece to GM Brian Burke's rebuild, and he's been rock solid all season long, though he did miss a good chunk of time with an injury.

Kaberle, though, is expected to miss four weeks with a hand ailment.

Mathieu Garon will get the start in goal for the Penguins tonight, his first go of it for the Pens since being traded from Edmonton for Ryan Stone, Dany Sabourin, and a 4th round pick in 2011 just days before the All-Star break.

It looks to be Vesa Toskala in goal for the Leafs.

Pittsburgh will get forward Matt Cooke back tonight after a two game supension for a hit on Carolina Hurricanes forward Scott Walker in the last game before the break.

Alex Goligoski will play right wing on the fourth line tonight in place of Paul Bissonnette, and the Penguins will decide who their other forward healthy scratch is at game time. My gut feeling, right now, is that Miro Satan is it.

Phillipe Boucher has played poorly enough to finally earn his own benching, and he'll be replaced by Hal Gill.

The Leafs will honor Doug Gilmour in a pregame ceremony before the 7:00 game.

Penguins-

Cooke-Crosby-Malkin
Kennedy-Staal-Sykora
Minard-Talbot-Dupuis
Goligoski-Thomas-Godard

Whitney-Scuderi
Letang-Orpik
Eaton-Gill

Garon

Leafs-

Blake-Moore-Stempniak
Ponikarovsky-Stajan-Antropov
Hagman-Grabovski-Kulemin
Mayers-Mitchell-May

Schenn-Kubina
Van Ryn-Finger
Frogren-White

Toskala

GO PENS!

Malkin's 100th goal isn't enough to propel Penguins to win

Flower was money the first two periods.
At least the boys got a point.

Tanger gets called for hooking 18 seconds in. Joke. Fleury makes some good saves on the PK, but Billy Thomas kills this penalty almost singlehandedly. Fantastic. Flower blocks a shot toward a wide open net by stretching his leg impossibly far. Play is all Devils for the first five minutes. Devils have only lost 5 games when they score first. So the Penguins need to get that goal. Chris Minard is called for delay of game as his clearing attempt goes into the stands. Thomas-Staal PK pair is epic. Penalty killed. Maxie redirects one in from Whitters’ slapshot. The stuff of legend. Twenty seconds later, Sid roofs it. Great hustle. Devil’s goal from Holik. Whitters was highsticked in the face and couldn’t play the puck as it passed from Shanahan to Holik. No penalty called; joke goal. Minard thinks he buried it, but Madden made a stick save on the goal line. Poor Minard. Flower makes a beautiful save on a Parise wrap-around. Sid goes off with a seemingly hurt right wrist and talks to the trainers. Hmmm. Orpik is called for interference. Third penalty of the game. Dupuis is the only white jersey in a sea of red deep in the Devil’s zone. Incredible. Another penalty killed. Orpik jumps out of the box, right onto the puck and nearly makes a great goal, but he is hooked on the way there. Paul Martin is called for the penalty. Brendan Shanahan goes shorthanded but Flower denies him. The Pens PP is lackluster after the first 10 seconds of feverish play. Staalsy takes a nice shot, but Clemmensen makes a glove save. Penguins don’t capitalize on the advantage. Flower makes save after save. Maxie and Duper take it toward the net again but they cannot connect. The period ends with a sigh of relief.

Flower makes a crazy save on Parise and Staal strips Gionta of that rebound. Zubrus takes a series of shots but Fleury flies out and pokes it away. Maxie nearly netted his second goal but Clemmensen robbed him. Back and forth for awhile. Flower is on fire tonight. Brooksie is cross-checked by Holik. Pens on the PP again. Power play played with energy, but Geno missed a good opportunity to pass to a wide-open Sykora. Penguins do not capitalize on their advantage. TK makes a nice blind pass to Maxie, but he was stripped of the puck. Maxie is playing so well tonight. Geno’s looking for his 100th goal tonight. He’s shooting a lot more than usual and he and Sid are on fire in the Devil’s zone. Staalsy and Minard take it deep into the Devil’s zone, but Colin White beats Minard out for the puck. I think this was already mentioned but Flower is just fantastic tonight. Holik is a tool. He had cross-checked Staalsy off the faceoff, Orpik on the boards and finally gets called as he cross-checked MAF. Pens on the PP again. Zajac goes shorthanded and fires one off the crossbar. The Devils do not look like they are a player down. Boucher and Orpik take slappers from the points. Sid is called for slashing. Joke call. Shanahan should have been called if anyone. Time expires. Whew.

The Pens start this period out with about 57 seconds left on the penalty to Sid. Billy Thomas is spectacular, clearing it like there’s no tomorrow. Eaton grabs the puck in front of the net and sends it along the board and out. Penalty killed. Geno is down behind the action. The back end of his stick went right into Geno’s ribs. He went straight down. Wow. Hopefully he’s okay and just got the wind knocked out of him. The Devils cycle the puck so cleanly, but as soon as there’s a shot, Flower knows it and makes the save. Staal goes one on one, but his wrist shot was just wide. Holik follows his shot up by running into Flower. The Pens Nation hates Bobby Holik. What a jerk. Shanahan tries a sneaky back-door goal, but Fleury says NO. Just when everyone thought the score was set for the rest of the game, Geno goes five-hole. 100th career goal. Epic. Pens play with intensity…then Petr Gunn is called for separate minor penalties for hooking and unsportsmanlike conduct. Brendan Shanahan buries one for New Jersey. Two minutes more penalty. Kill it this time. Billy Thomas chips the puck out. Penalty killed. Duper steals the puck and backhands it but he hasn’t been able to buy a goal for awhile. The Devils try to kill Flower with a shower of pucks but MAF weathers the storm. Flower makes a great left pad save on Parise. Maxie takes a wide shot. New Jersey pulls Clemmensen in favor of an extra attacker. Thomas wins the draw cleanly but Scudsie couldn’t get it out and Langenbrunner hits it in of Whitters skate. Oh man. Geno goes in with a last minute chance, passes to Dupuis who slaps one at Clemmensen who just catches it. AHHHHHH!!! Buzzer sounds.

Panic button time.

Flower makes a monster save on a Parise slapper. Staalsy lets it back for Whitters but a Devil grabs it. Way to go, Staalsy. This is the kind of overtime when you hold your breath. Sid takes off up the runway; no one knows why. Elias is crazy dangerous. Langenbrenner. Goal. That was ridiculous.

Garon in net for tomorrow in Toronto? Very possible.

Game 50- Penguins @ New Jersey Devils

50 games? That many?

So much has happened to this point in the season; the Penguins have begun with one of the best starts in franchise history, then endured a slide that lasted about 20 games, and now seen the light at the end of the tunnel with four wins in their last six games.

Still, the Penguins sit just out of a playoff spot, trailing the Florida Panthers by two points for the eight spot and the seventh seeded Buffalo Sabres by three points.

They are coming off a 6-2 win against the New York Rangers, and they'll look to kick off what hopes to be a dazzling weekend in Pittsburgh sports when they take on the New Jersey Devils at 7:00 Friday night at the Prudential Center in Newark.

The Devils are in first place in the Atlantic Division, and fresh off a win on Thursday night in Boston against the Eastern Conference leading Bruins in overtime.

Zach Parise is as good as they come, while Travis Zajac, Patrik Elias, and company provide enough offensive support that the Devils have managed to shed the label as one of the league's most boring teams of late.

Penguins-

Dupuis-Crosby-Cooke
Minard-Staal-Sykora
Kennedy-Talbot-Satan
Bissonnette-Thomas-Godard

Whitney-Scuderi
Eaton-Letang
Gill-Boucher

Fleury

Devils-

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

Oduya-Martin
White-Mottau
Salvador-Greene

Clemmensen

GO PENS!

Crosby responds to Kostitsyn's harsh words with big night as Pens roll 6-2

A solid effort on home ice tonight when the Pens really needed it. Now, they have to take the momentum from this into a crucial weekend set with games against New Jersey and Toronto.

Eric Godard took on Colten Orr in a bout of two heavyweights just three ticks into the game. After being beaten down twice this year already at the hands of Orr, Godard got his vengeance this time, dropping Orr with a heavy blow as the fight came to a close.

The Rangers had a decided advantage in the game's opening minutes, and they were rewarded for their dominance two minutes into the game.

Paul Bissonnette turned the puck over in his own zone, and Brandon Dubinsky, Aaron Voros, and Nikolai Zherdev broke into the Penguins' end, and defenseman Ryan Whitney of the Pens fell on his keister, making for a two on one-- Dubinsky and Zherdev against Rob Scuderi.

The Rangers forwards crossed paths, and Zherdev drilled it past Marc-Andre Fleury.

The Penguins soon after evened things up.

Chris Minard sent the puck along the ice toward Henrik Lundqvist, and the Rangers netminder allowed it to bounce high in the air before losing control of its bounce. Petr Sykora shot it, and Chris Drury and his seven million dollar cap hit whacked the puck past his own goalie and in.

Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin generated several golden chances throughout the period, but Lundqvist owned up to the task each time.

On a side note, earlier in the day, Puck Daddy released an interview with Montreal Canadiens forward Sergei Kostitsyn. In the interview, Kostitsyn calls Crosby the most "overhyped" player in the game of hockey. In the past, when Crosby has been called out by people like Alexander Semin and the Philadelphia Flyers fanbase, he has responded by going on scoring tears.

The second period brought no scoring, but the Penguins managed to carry the play and kill off two penalties. Max Talbot was called once for "charging" into Lundqvist, a horrific call, and then once for flipping the puck over the glass from his defensive zone.

Crosby had a nice rush where he laid out Voros behind Fleury, took a pass in stride in the neutral zone, and then undressed Wade Redden on his way to backhanding a puck high and wide.

The third period was ever so sweet.

The Penguins went up 2-0 when Jordan Staal flipped the puck in deep behind Michael Roszival, then retrieved the puck himself. Staal threw the puck at the net, and a Minard screen distracted Lundqvist, who let the puck ricochet off his left skate and into the net.

Then, Crosby found Kris Letang coming down the right slot, and Letang buried a wicked wrister for his second goal of the season. He could do that so much more often.

The Pens picked up a third goal of the period on a five on three powerplay.

Ryan Whitney worked the puck down low to Crosby, who hit Sykora right in front, and Petr Gunn hit a seeing-eye one-timer that Lundqvist let between the wickets.

Marc Staal did give the Rangers another goal, however, taking a pass from Scott Gomez just to the left of Fleury and rifling one into the top right corner of the net.

Letang would score the Pens' possible goal of the season on a Coffey-like rush just minutes after Staal trimmed the lead to two goals.

Tanger moved with speed near the length of the ice, and protected the puck from Paul Mara before sticking the puck between the legs of Lundqvist to build the lead back to 5-2.

Crosby then picked up the puck in the left circle and fired a turning backhander to the top right corner that Lundqvist couldn't handle. Malkin picked up an assist, along with Phillipe Boucher.

Notes-
-That was a nice way to come out after the break.
-Chris Minard should have a roster spot here full time.
-Sykora with another two goals. He is solid.
-Kris Letang showed why he has the potential to be an outsanding offensive defenseman.
-Fleury was excellent.
-No real negatives to report.
-Another big one on Friday in New Jersey.

GO PENS!

Game 49- New York Rangers @ Penguins

It's been a long time coming, but the Pittsburgh Penguins are finally back in action after an eight day layoff, and now, some key players will be returning from injury, as Pascal Dupuis and Maxime Talbot will be back in the lineup after missing seven and three games respectively.

Game time is 7:30 on Wednesday.

Brooks Orpik, Ruslan Fedotenko, Sergei Gonchar, and Mike Zigomanis will remain out of the lineup for the Pens.

As has been the case most of the season, the Rangers have no injuries to report. Unbelievable, but true. Figures that's what will happen when the team consists of a bunch of softies, and the only "tough" player on the team is Colten Orr. If you don't go to the dirty areas, you don't get hurt.

Marc-Andre Fleury will be in goal for Pittsburgh, and Henrik Lundqvist for the Rangers. Last time these two teams played two Sundays ago, Fleury posted a shutout in a 3-0 Pens' win.

The Pens will be without forward Matt Cooke, suspended two games by the NHL on Tuesday for, essentially, being Matt Cooke. Technically, Cooke made head contact with Carolina forward Scotty Walker, who has a history of head injuries.

Sidney Crosby will play after missing the ASG with a knee injury.

Penguins-

Dupuis-Crosby-Malkin
Minard-Staal-Sykora
Kennedy-Talbot-Satan
Bissonnette-Thomas-Godard

Whitney-Scuderi
Letang-Eaton
Gill-Boucher

Fleury

Rangers-

Naslund-Gomez-Callahan
Dawes-Drury-Prucha
Korpikoski-Dubinsky-Zherdev
Sjostrom-Betts-Orr

Roszival-Staal
Redden-Girardi
Mara-Kalinin

Lundqvist

GO PENS!

Pens revert back to old ways in loss to Canes

I wasn't available to write a full recap for this one, nor was Erika, so just some thoughts.

-The powerplay sucked again, despite one goal.
-Miroslav Satan and waivers would be a nice match.
-We now have eight days to sit on this loss.
-This was an opponent that needed to be beaten.
-A four minute PP at the end of a game, and you can't score.
-Fire Mike Yeo.
-Could Steigy be any more of a homer, even if he tried? It's embarrassing that he represents us.
-We now go into the ASG break out of a playoff spot; who'd of thunk it?
-Don't miss opportunities like tonight, and you want lose.
-Boucher is brutal.
-MAF is back on track.

We finally have a new president, and that takes the sting out of this loss a little bit.

Go Pens and Steelers.

Game 48-Carolina Hurricanes @ Penguins

It’s another Staal Brothers match-up tonight as the Penguins host the Carolina Hurricanes in Mellon Arena tonight at 7:30. The Penguins are 2-0-0 against Carolina this season.

Eric Staal leads the Canes with 19 goals so his fire-power could spell trouble for the Penguins. Marc-Andre Fleury, however, has allowed only 1 goal in the past two games. He’s on a hot streak and hopefully will stay on it for awhile. It’s likely that Fleury felt pushed to prove himself as his back-up and roommate Dany Sabourin was traded to Edmonton this week. The Penguins will again be feeling the absence of face-off wizard Mike Zigomanis as Canes’ captain Rod Brind’Amour is one of the best in the league at face-offs. Brind’Amour, however, has a +/- rating of -29. Carolina’s defense is suffering as of late, allowing an average of 3 goals a game. It lost two great defensemen to retirement and free agency, but acquired the intimidating Joe Corvo during last season. Goaltending is alright in Carolina. Cam Ward, like Fleury, is coming in off a shutout.

The Hurricanes have no injuries coming into the Igloo, but defenseman Tim Gleason has a weak ankle that was aggravated again last week. He will be playing but the Canes are keeping a close eye on him.

The Penguins, however, have a veritable litany of injuries. Maxime Talbot is still on IR so he will not play tonight, though he is expected to return against New York after the All-Star break. Ruslan Fedotenko, Sergei Gonchar, Mike Zigomanis (who has surgery last Wednesday to repair the rotator cuff in his right shoulder), and Brooks Orpik are not playing. Forward Pascal Dupuis was taken off IR and may play tonight.

Penguins-

Cooke-Crosby-Malkin

Kennedy-Staal-Satan
Minard-Jeffrey-Sykora
Godard-Thomas-Bissonnette

Scuderi-Whitney
Boucher-Letang
Eaton-Gill

Fleury

Hurricanes-

Samsonov-Brind'Amour-Williams

Whitney-Staal-Ruutu
LaRose-Cullen-Walker
Bayda-Sutter-Eaves

Seidenberg-Gleason
Wallin-Corvo
Pitkanen-Babchuk

Ward

Do it.

LET'S GO PENS!

"It's Fleury's team"

The battle is on NBC. The Pens are wearing their blue third jerseys. Drury is called for hooking less than three minutes into play. Sykie missed a nice feed from Geno. A number of great scoring chances but Lundqvist denies them all. Just crazy. Tanger blocked a potentially bad scoring chance as Fleury was behind the net to play the puck and a Ranger grabbed it. A huge amount of shots on Fleury but he plays them well. BizNasty gets a great hard hit on Rozsival. Then Jordan Staal goes down the middle all on his own…almost looked like a SO…tried to go five-hole but Lundqvist stopped it. Just then, Chris MInard buries it. Second goal in the NHL. Can we get a woo? WOO! Crucial first goal. Fourth line=on the board. Geno fed one to Cookie but the Monster ended up in the net instead of the biscuit. Fleury made a great save on Naslund. Then Lundqvist answered with a great save on Sid. The Pens are creating a lot of chances and their puck movement is awesome. The defense is playing well, too. Sykie fires one from the top of the crease but Lundqvist denies him. Godard hits the ice to block a shot, and then Hal Gill is high-sticked in the face but no call is made. He skates to the bench to be looked over by the medical staff. Then Miro feeds one to Kennedy and he tickles the twine. Nice. Lundqvist takes a five-finger discount on a great shot by Geno. Flower makes the best save of his life on Naslund…okay, maybe not, but it was ridiculous. Gill keeps the puck behind the net until the buzzer sounds. Solid period.

The Penguins begin this period by drawing another penalty. Marc Staal gets call for high-sticking. Sid weaves his way through three Rangers and is tripped up, ending up in the net. He gets a penalty shot, but Lundqvist denies him. Geno goes hard to the net but Lundqvist again denies him. The Penguins do not score on their advantage. Tk takes a sweet shot that went off the post. The skating is solid, the defense is incredible, the Rangers are sloppy. MAF makes a series of fantastic saves on Dawes and Drury. Scott Gomez is called for hooking and the Pens go on the PP again. Ryan Whitney feeds one ahead to Sykie who blasts one past Lundqvist on the stick side. Play is stopped as Tanger high-sticks a high-puck deflection from Flower. The crowd chants “LET’S GO PENS!”. Godard and Colton Orr stop and exchange words. Orr looks like he’s ready to go, he even almost drops the gloves. But Godard makes the right choice as his team is up by three and he doesn’t want NY to gain any momentum. Boucher is called for interference and the Penguins give NY an advantage for the first time this game. The Pens clear the puck and Geno plasters Zherdev behind the Rangers net. Flower saved a one-timer with ease. Penalty killed. Geno hit another Ranger along the boards. He’s upped his physicality this game and the fans are loving it. Sid and Orr take some shots at each other. Sykie and Cookie get in on the action too. 4-on-4 hockey as Sid and Orr go to the box. A minute into the penalty, Zherdev gives Geno a weak hit. Geno returns that with a monster take down. Staalsy and Geno both go after Zherdev and need to be restrained by the refs. Geno is sent to the box for cross-checking. 4-on-3 now. This game is AWESOME. The Rangers thought they had one but Flower makes a fantastic save. Penalty killed. Godard and Gomez exchange words and BizNasty exchanges stick-hits with Rozival as the period ends. Both pairs must be kept apart by the refs.

The third period begins with the smell of victory in the air. Flower denies Marc Staal and Scott Gomez. DJ plays the puck well in the Rangers’ zone and then MAF makes a crazy save on Betts. Orr is chatting up BizNasty, trying to gain some energy again. Blair Betts is called for interfering with Thomas. Pens on the PP again. They are 1/3 on the PP so far this game. They don’t capitalize on their advantage. The Rangers tried for some pretty plays in the Pens zone but Flower is playing so well that he knocked all those away. The top line goes rushing into NY’s zone but the linesmen call it off sides…it definitely on sides. I don’t know what they were looking at. MAF is just amazing this game as he makes a save on Dawes…and then Girardi. Unfortunately, Lundqvist then denied TK and Staalsy. Lauri Korpikoski is called for hooking. In other news, what kind of name is Korpikoski?! NBC shows a replay of Dubinsky’s hit on Staalsy. He skated back over to the bench slowly and was talking to the medical staff. NOT ANOTHER INJURY! MAF makes some more saves. About 5 Penguins crowd around Lundqvist and try to pound it in but no dice from Lundqvist. Fleury goes behind the net to play the puck and checks Dubinsky. HAHAHAHA! This is awesome! At the announcement of one minute left, the fans in the Igloo stand up and swing around their Terrible Towels. This was the BEST GAME EVER! MAF’s second shutout this season. Wow. Wow. Wow. First star of the game, Marc-Andre Fleury, skates out on the ice with a Steeler’s helmet and waving a Terrible Towel which may have been the awesomest moment of the game.



Canes on Tuesday.

Do it.

LET'S GO PENS!

Game 47- New York Rangers @ Penguins

The game is in eight minutes.

Big day for Pittsburgh sports...just do it.

Penguins trade Sabourin for Mathieu Garon

The Penguins have upgraded their backup goaltending by trading Dany Sabourin, a fourth round pick in 2011, and Ryan Stone to the Edmonton Oilers for Mathieu Garon.

Garon has a 3.17 GAA on the year and a .895 save percentage. He has experience as a starter, and he can handle those duties much better than Sabourin if Fleury goes down again. He can also push MAF, since he has proven he can still be a starter.

Solid move.

Penguins put together solid effort in absence of regulars, handle Ducks

I was at the game, so the recap will be fairly brief, consisting of just some observations.

-Matt Cooke is a hockey player. He's not flashy or exciting, but he is a solid hockey player.
-Malkin quietly extends his lead in the scoring race with two assists.
-The boys from Wilkes Barre, Thomas, Minard, Pesonen, Jeffrey, Bissonnette, all played well.
-Great bounceback game for Marc-Andre Fleury.
-If Brooks Orpik's injury is serious, it's a really really bad thing.
-Maybe we can go on another run like we did last year when Sid went down.
-Maybe Sid won't be out that long, anyway.
-Very nice team effort with lots of unexpected guys stepping their games up.

Go Pens. Go Steelers.

Game 46- Anaheim Ducks @ Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins are wallowing in the depths of Hell right now, and in order to get out, they'll have to start winning, and fast. The (Mighty) Ducks of Anaheim will be in town at 7:38 for a tilt with the Pens. I will be at the game, and Erika has obligations, so the recap will come late, perhaps even on Saturday.

The Ducks have rebounded from a fairly sluggish start and bolted into contention in the Western Conference. Rookie power forward Bobby Ryan has emerged, while Ryan Getzlaf leads the conference in scoring. Corry Perry, Chris Kunitz, and the great Teemu Selanne provide firepower form the wings. Selanne, however, is injured and won't suit up.

Chris Pronger and Rob Niedermayer as good a 1-2 punch on defense as you could find.

Sidney Crosby is questionable for this game after sustaining a "lower body injury" against the Capitals during a collision along the boards. Max Talbot, Kris Letang, and Rob Scuderi's statuses are also unknown.

The Penguins haven't been getting good goaltending lately, and Marc-Andre Fleury, Dany Sabourin, or whoever will be in net needs to raise his game and pick up the guys in front of him.

Janne Pesonen has been recalled from Wilkes Barre/Scranton.

Lines are subject to change.

Penguins-

Cooke-Crosby-Malkin
Minard-Staal-Sykora
Kennedy-Talbot-Satan
Bissonnette-Jeffrey-Godard

Orpik-Whitney
Letang-Eaton
Goligoski-Gill

Fleury

Ducks-

Ryan-Getzlaf-Perry
Kunitz-Morrison-Ebbett
Moen-Pahlsson-R. Niedermayer
Miller-Carter-Parros

Pronger-Mikelsson
Niedermayer-Montador
McIver-Beauchemin

Giguere

GO PENS!

Pens fall to Caps on home ice, perhaps finally hitting rock bottom

If you don't puke all over your computer, keep reading.

The first period started interestingly to say the least. The Caps were getting chances, and they were utilizing the center drive to near perfection, but Marc-Andre Fleury was keeping them in check.

Jordan Staal, Chris Minard, and Sidney Crosby had golden chances all alone, but not one of them could bury the biscuit.

Donald Brashear took a high sticking penalty for getting Kris Letang, but it's questionable whether or not he deserved it. Eric Godard and Dave Steckel were also in the vicinity, and their sticks were flying. No matter, the Pens went to the powerplay.

Just seconds into the man advantage, Jeff Schultz crosschecked Sidney Crosby while Crosby was standing in the low slot. That's two minutes, and the Penguins had a full 2:00 of 5 on 3.

Evgeni Malkin turned it over to Matt Bradley while manning center point, and Bradley had a relative breakaway. Fleury came way out of his net, and the puck bounced from Fleury, off Bradley's shin guards, and just wide of the net.

After the Pens had blown the five on three, Malkin redeemed himself. Miro Satan passed to Crosby in the left circle, who worked it back to Malkin up high. Geno's slapper caught Jose Theodore out of position, and it was 1-0 Pens.

Rob Scuderi slid to block a Mike Green blast, and the puck hithim in the face.

Scuds down.
A minute and seconds into the middle frame, Nicklas Backstrom broke into the Pens' end and went down the right side. He slid it back to Viktor Kozlov, who hit a knucklepuck off Fleury's pads and in.

Satan scored for Pittsburgh on an empty net a few minutes following that. Tyler Kennedy and Max Talbot did the dirty work, and Satan did not miss.

Alexander Semen scored to even it up yet again at 12:40 off a beautiful feed from the legendary Russian, Sergei Fedorov. This was a see-saw battle.

The ensuing third period was one of the most interesting in recent memory.

Prior to the start of the period, Crosby, Ovechkin, and others were involved in a brief verbal skurmish between the benches, right in front of Bob Errey.

Max Talbot and Kris Letang both went off with injuries.

As the Penguins were killing a 5 on 4, Brooks Orpik went to the box for tripping, setting up a Caps 5 on 3. While the Penguins killed the first penalty in its entirety, the Caps would not be denied in the 5 on 4. Ovechkin stood on the left post, picked up his own rebound, and he roofed it to give Washington its first lead. Man, that guy has a nose for the net; the fear-factor when he has it on his stick is just tremendous.

Ryan Whitney answered that on a delayed penalty, firing a wicked slapper over the glove of Theodore, top-right corner. It came on a delayed penalty.

Unfortunately, the Caps pulled back ahead on another powerplay goal. As Petr Sykora served a minor for high-sticking, Tomas Fleischman poked a rebound past Fleury to set the score at 4-3.

When you play shorthanded for eight minutes out of fourteen, you are going to get burned.

Ovechkin threw a puck to the net that hit Whitney's skate and caromed past Fleury. Ovechkin celebrated, again, like the arrogant prick that he is. The class he exudes, or lack thereof, is disgusting. How many other players taunt the opposing bench after scoring a goal in January?

What a joke. It's a shame talent has to be wasted on guys like this.

It was 5-3 Caps at that point.

As Nicklas Backstrom sat in the sin bin, Crosby made brilliant setups to both Malkin and Sykora, especially Sykora, who had an empty net in front of him before shooting six feet high and wide right. What Sykora was trying to there, I don't know.

Crosby then got hurt, and it looked bad. He "dragged himself" back to the bench with an apparent left foot injury. The Caps knocked out about six Pens in this game.

For the second time in the game, he went down the runway, this time with some sort of ailment.

As Crosby went off the ice, Ovechkin banged his stick on the boards. It may have been an act of sportsmanship, but given Alex's history, I'm not so sure. Maybe AO will provide an explanation.

While the Pens were on a powerplay, Schultz cleared the puck, and it spun into the net.

6-3.

Time and time again, we think the Pens have reached rock bottom, but I think it may have finally happened. They just keep sinking lower, lower, and lower.

Notes-
-I really really really really hate Alexander Ovechkin.
-Has there ever been a more arrogant piece of garbage?
-This team has no depth whatsoever.
-About the whole team got hurt tonight.
-If Sid's really hurt, the season is over right now.
-Damnit.
-Rock bottom.
-Why does Ray Shero still have a job? He's constructed such an imbalanced team
-Where did the trap go that worked so well vs . Philly?
-So much for the turnaround.

Highlight the text below if you want to see what we're all thinking right now.
FVCK THIS. THIS TEAM IS A FVKING JOKE.
At least two teams are playing well in this city.

Game 45- Washington Capitals @ Penguins

Alex Ovechkin and his Caps will be in town tonight.

The Caps have been playing great all season, and the Pens are looking to build off a strong performance in a win over Philadelphia last night.

Do it.

Penguins-

Cooke-Crosby-Malkin
Minard-Staal-Sykora
Kennedy-Talbot-Satan
Bissonnette-Jeffrey-Godard

Orpik-Whitney
Letang-Scuderi
Goligoski-Gill

Fleury

Capitals-

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Semin
Laich-Fedorov-Kozlov
Fleischmann-Nylander-Clark
Brashear-Steckel-Bradley

Erskine-Green
Schultz-Morrisonn
Alzner-Juricna

Theodore

GO PENS.

Penguins soar past Flyers

Tonight, MAF plays his 200th game. Right away, before the face off, Cookie is shown talking to Richards and TK is shown talking to Lupul. This is going to be a long night… The puck goes under Biron’s pads but didn’t cross the goal line. Sid almost gets a goal off the face-off. Then the Flyers go on a 2-on-1. Richards pushes the puck right across the crease, but Carle couldn’t connect and no goal. That was awesome. It’s an intense, physical game already. The Penguins are clogging the neutral zone and so far it’s working; they are forcing a crazy amount of dump-ins. Geno grabs a puck at the blue line and slaps one toward the net, but it’s just saved by Biron. Minard takes a crazy shot but Biron grabbed it just above his left shoulder. MAF robs Upsall. The entirety of the Pens Nation cheers. Flower went behind the net to play the puck and it hit his stick, deflecting to right inside the crease and Knuble taps it in. Puke goal. If the Penguins lose by one, there will be some heads rolling…Here we go again: Godard vs. Cote. Winner: Godard takes Cote down in a downpour of rights.



4-on-4 hockey. Sid and Geno wait patiently in the neutral zone and Sid grabs a turnover. Wow. But the Flyers grab it back. Flower makes a great save on Knuble. Satan does something good for once and centers one for TK…but then he’s called for hooking. Ew. Second-ranked power play in the league against the Pens right now. Shudder. Shorthanded chance for Cookie Monster but he couldn’t get it in. Penalty killed. Penguins are handling the puck like pros for the first time in a long time. Sykie, TK and Sykie again take shots. The Pens just can’t get past Biron. This period has been just crazy. 3-on-2 for the Pens, Sykie just couldn’t get it in. Maxie tries to push past the defense but gets pushed over by Alberts. BizNasty recovers it and hits it back to TK who tickles the twine. First NHL assist for Biz. Then BizNasty and Aaron Asham drop the gloves. Heaven. BizNasty wins. Period over.



Sid grabs the puck off a Flyer, feeds it to Geno who puts it in. Cookie did a great job blocking Biron’s view of the puck. Andrew Alberts is called for holding. Pens on PP. No dice. Then Geno is called for hooking Hartnell. Then Hartnell is called for diving. Moron. Stats flash on the screen: Pens have outshot Philadelphia 15-9. Pens shoot a shower of shots on Biron but there was no goal. Then Staalsy gets a fantastic goal. Go, Jordan, go! Lupul interferes with Tanger, taking him down when he hadn’t even touched the puck. No penalty called. MAF is owning this period. Cookie kicks one home. WIN.

MAF makes a fantastic save on Richards. Then on Hartnell. Somehow a shot from Tanger doesn’t go in. Then Staalsy gets one…wait, it was off the crossbar. Just a lot of solid skating. I’m too excited to write every single thing. Geno steals the puck in the neutral zone, drops it off for Sid and crashes the defense. Sid shoots it but misses. Then Tanger shoots but misses. Lupul hits one in. It’s okay. Just keep playing defensively. Sid made a nice pass to Cookie but he couldn’t get it in. Penguins are playing a good defensive game. The Flyers have too many men on the ice. Scottie Upshall serves the penalty. Pens on the PP. Power play expires, but then Ossi Vaananen is called for cross-checking Cookie Monster. Cater try for a shorthanded goal but Flower saved it. Then with 12 second left in that penalty, Hartnell is called for slashing. 5-on-3 for 12 seconds. Flyers pull their goalie. Staalsy shoots for the empty net and misses. No matter. End game.

Penguins win.

Capitals tomorrow.

Do it.

Game 44- Penguins @ Philadelphia Flyers

Things have not been going well for the Pens of late, but nobody is quitting, and the squad is primed to bust out of its slump sometime soon, one would think. Tuesday evening, the Penguins will be in the armpit of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, for a tilt with the hated Flyers.

As much as I hate to say it, the Flyers have a hell of a team right now.

Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, while not as good as some center tandems, are a top three duo in the league that gets the job done at both ends of the ice. Simon Gagne, Joffrey Lupul, Scott Hartnell, and Mike Knuble round out a top six that has no real weakness.

The Flyers are somewhat thin on defense, but they haven't had any tremendous issues recently on the back end. Braydon Coburn and Kimmo Timonen are a nice top two, and youngsters Luca Sbisa and Matt Carle bring youth, energy, and a bit of flair to an otherwise big and slow blueline.

Marty Biron is a very below average netminder, but with the team he has in front of him, it doesn't seem to matter much at this stage.

The Penguins have been getting contributions from a few players during their prolonged slump.

Petr Sykora, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and to an extent, Jordan Staal have managed to put the puck in the net and execute passes to allow their teammates to do just that.

Alex Goligoski will be back in the lineup.

The goaltending has been putrid, and it must be figured out.

Marc-Andre Fleury will try to right that ship against Biron.

Penguins-

Cooke-Crosby-Malkin
Minard-Staal-Sykora
Satan-Talbot-Kennedy
Bissonnette-Jeffrey-Godard

Orpik-Whitney
Scuderi-Letang
Gill-Goligoski

Fleury

Flyers-

Gagne-Richards-Knuble
Lupul-Carter-Hartnell
Upshall-Metropolit-Asham
Cote-Powe-Nodl

Timonen-Sbisa
Coburn-Carle
Alberts-Jones

Biron

GO PENS!

Pens continue to plummet with loss in Colorado

The horrible play continues, but are we really surprised anymore?

The Penguins carried the play for the first ten minutes or so, but the Avs were the first team on the board. Ryan Smyth redirected a blazing shot from Wojtek Wolski that handcuffed Dany Sabourin, making it 1-0 Avs. The prevailing thought among Penguins Nation: here we go again.

The Penguins horrific powerplay seemed to be on its way to another failure with four minutes and change left in the first period, as Darcy Tucker served a too many men on the ice minor for Colorado.

Suddenly, things changed.

Crosby had the puck on the left side, and sent it through the Avs' PK unit over to Malkin, who one-timed it past Andrew Raycroft with a perfectly placed snipe. What a gift it was by the Avs to give the Pens a powerplay for a pointless too many men infraction.

The Avs created a bit of traffic in front as time was running out in the first, but they couldn't get a good shot on Sabourin, and Petr Sykora.

Colorado owned a 15-8 edge in shots after one.

Sabourin tried to clear the puck out of his own end from behind his net, but his clearing attempt was cut off at the hashmarks. After a few shots, the puck bounced to Davy Jones, who beat Sabourin easily while the netminder was out of position.

Crosby evened it up a few minutes later. Max Talbot drove to the net, and pushed back the Colorado defenseman, giving Crosby time and space to solve Raycroft short side.

The Avs then made it 3-2 on a Wolski tally. The skilled forward went through the Pens defense, and Sabourin was completely out of position again, allowing Wolski to roof it.

Then, it was 4-2, as Cody McLeod tipped in a Jordan Leopold slapper.

Was this rock bottom? Every time we think it is, things get worse.

Mike Yeo was interviewed between periods by Dan Potash. Yeo had tears in his eyes, practically, maybe a sign that his firing is imminent.

Marc-Andre Fleury was brought in for the final frame.

The Pens seemed to be getting some things going, but Matt Cooke took his obligatory stupid penalty to kill the rally. Cooke saw an Avs defenseman without the puck and his back turned at the Pens' bench, so he took the chance to cross-check him in the back.

The penalty on Cooke may have been a blessing in disguise, however.

Jordan Staal scored his first shorthanded goal since his rookie season, taking the puck end to end and beating Raycroft high glove with a wicked wrister. It was a game again, but not for long.

The Pens let Davy Jones walk right through the crease, and he scored his second of the game...on the same powerplay that Staal scored on.

What a brutal team. Really, this isn't a slump. The Pens just blow. Hard.

Fleury was taken off for the extra attacker, but nothing came of it.

It's just another loss.

This is the worst Penguins team since before Crosby has been here. At least the team in Sid's rookie campaign played with some heart, unlike this sorry bunch of lazy dogs.

Crosby
Malkin
Staal
Sykora

And the rest of the team just does nothing.

This is a team full of passengers, and there is no way it goes anywhere.

Up next, we'll be getting slaughtered in Philly on Tuesday.

I'm almost ready to quit, but I just don't think I can.

Go Steelers.

Game 43- Penguins @ Colorado Avalanche

The Pens will try and start a brand new winning streak Saturday against the Colorado Avalanche at 3:00 local time. The Avs have been getting great goaltending from their Budaj-Raycroft tandem, and Wojtek Wolski, Ryan Smyth, and Milan Hejduk have carried the load offensively, as Joey Sakic and Paul Stastny have been on the shelf for much of the campaign.

The Penguins' offense has come from...well...nobody. The powerplay is doing nothing, and they aren't getting any goaltending. The Pens will have to come out and find a way to win even while sucking, because right now, it seems likely that's what they'll do. They'll suck.

Dany Sabourin is in goal for Pittsburgh, against Raycroft for the Avs.

Penguins-

Dupuis-Crosby-Staal
Kennedy-Malkin-Sykora
Wallace-Talbot-Cooke
Satan-Jeffrey-Godard

Orpik-Whitney
Letang-Scuderi
Gill-Boucher

Sabourin

Avalanche-

Wolski-Jones-Hejduk
Smyth-Hensick-Stewart
Tucker-Arnason-Svatos
McLeod-Laperriere-Willsie

Clark-Liles
Leopold-Salei
Hannan-Tjarnqvist

Raycroft

GO PENS!

Predators prey on Penguins...Loss

The photo is misleading. The game fell apart.

I missed the first half hour. I checked out the NHL boxscore and I didn’t miss any goals or penalties. Boxscore did tell me, however, that the Preds have 5 shots on goal whereas the Pens have ZERO. With about 13 minutes left in the first, MAF makes a great save. Satan gets called for tripping. Predators are on the PP. Flower, Staalsy and Jeffery play a great penalty kill shift. Penalty killed. Finally, the Pens first shot…by Boucher…Eaton is playing well. Staalsy made a great shot and then Sykie shot a one-timer off a great pass from Sid …GOAL! Orpik takes down Santorelli. Flower makes a sweet save on Tootoo. I was having some cable issues but as far as I could tell, nothing exciting happened. Flower made some good saves and everyone played well in general. At least we got the crucial first goal.

Maxie took a great hit on a Predator (Legwand?) and looked pretty proud of himself on the bench. Preds make a nice rush but Flower makes a better save. Some solid chances for both teams and then the new top line strikes. TK passes to Staalsy who slaps a great goal off the Nashville defense. As a result, the Predators change their goalie. Rinne is in net now for Nashville. Cookie leads it in and takes a shot/passes to Mad Max Talbot and Maxie stuffs it in! Maxie’s first goal in 25 games. Fleury loses sight of the puck and Martin Erat is able to get it past him. Jordin Tootoo is called for goalie interference; Pens do not capitalize on their advantage. Shea Weber’s hell of a slapper is blocked by Flower. Satan frustrates every Pens fan as he walks right around an empty net without taking any shots. “C’mon, Miroslav, shoot the puck!”, says Steigy. The Pens Nation wholeheartedly agrees. Off the faceoff, Antti Pihlstrom is called for hooking Satan. Shorthanded effort for the Preds; Legwand puts it in. Preds have gained confidence from the shorthanded goal and begin pounding away at Flower. Pens are still up by one but the momentum needs to go back in their favor. Mark Eaton is called for hooking. Preds on the PP. Preds got another goal via Smithson. Soon after that, Flower made a fantastic save by sticking out his left pad just enough to knock the puck away. Um…what happened to the three goal lead? Blown.

Geno takes a great slapper which hits Rinne in the face as he blocks it. He checks his mask before play resumes. Rinne makes a sweet glove save. Predators make a hand pass and the faceoff moves to their zone. Gogo hits one square at the net but Rinne makes another glove save. Flower makes another nice save. Rinne robs Boucher of a great goal. This period so far has been just sad. Scuderi gets called for interference. PPG for Nashville by Ryan Suter. The Predators have come from behind by 3 to ahead by one. This cannot be happening. Staalsy sends a nice one to TK who was taken down. Jason Arnott is called for slashing TK. Pens on the PP. Tanger takes a shot but it’s blocked. No PPG. This is brutal. Therrien does NOT look happy. Satan fumbles the puck on a nice pass from Cookie Monster. That guy has been wasting money on our salary cap since mid-November. Two minutes left to play. Tanger takes a shot, Sykie and Geno whack at it. Pile up in front of the net. The defense blocks the Penguins chance for a goal on a wide-open net. Fleury out. Empty netter. 24 seconds to go. Vomit.

Game 42- Penguins @ Nashville Predators

The Penguins will begin a crucial three game road trip Thursday night when they visit the Nashville Predators in the hockey hotbed of Tennessee. The Pens are coming off a 3-1 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers in which they snapped a five game skid, and the Preds are coming off a 2-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche.

The Predators don't have many big names on their team, but they play a system under head coach Barry Trotz that has allowed them to get by with minimal talent the last few years. Shea Weber is a mega-stud on the blueline, and Jason Arnott and Martin Erat have top-flight offensive ability. Rookie Joel Ward has blossomed into a solid power forward this season.

Pekka Rinne and Dan Ellis have formed a fine one-two punch in the nets, and it's likely that the Penguins will see Ellis in this one, though nothing has been finalized.

Mike Zigomanis, Pascal Dupuis, Ruslan Fedotenko, and Sergei Gonchar are out for Pittsburgh.

For Nashville, Scott Nichol and Steve Sullivan will not play. Sullivan has been out all season with a back ailment, but he is targeting the 10th against Chicago as a potential return date. Nichol has a concussion.

The game starts at 8:00 here, as Nashville is one time-zone over.

Penguins-

Staal-Crosby-Kennedy
Satan-Malkin-Sykora
Cooke-Talbot-Goligoski
Wallace-Jeffrey-Godard

Orpik-Whitney
Scuderi-Letang
Eaton-Boucher

Fleury

Predators-

Fidler-Arnott-Erat
Dumont-Legwand-Ward
Pihlstrom-Peverley-Tootoo
Santorelli-Bonk-Jones

Weber-Suter
Hamuis-Zanon
de Vries-Koistenen

Ellis

GO PENS!

Finally! Pens take out the "trash"

MAF freezes the puck right off the bat and then Geno misses a nice opportunity in the middle. Lehtonen makes a save on TK. Then Colby Armstrong and Ruslan Fedotenko drop the gloves. Army has no chance to get any hits in before Fedo lands two right in his face and he goes down. Total domination.
Fedo is shown stretching his right hand and he goes off down the runway. I speculate about a broken hand. We learn later that he will not return to the game. Max Talbot makes a nice pass to Eric Godard who goes hard to the net. Eaton takes his third shot on net right now. Wow. Sid unintentionally high-sticks Valabik in the face and he hits the ice with his hand to his face. Sid gets a double high-sticking minor. Whitters takes it up the middle on a shorthanded 2-on-1 with Geno, but he was unable to pass and the opportunity was missed. MAF denies Kovalchuk then Armstrong. Penguins kill the four-minute penalty. Army takes Sid down in a tussle that results in Sid with no helmet and Army with 2 minutes for holding. Penguins are now on the PP. No PPG. Maxie slaps at the puck near the goal, but misses it and it went back to the Pens zone. FSN shows their quote of the game, a humorous one from healthy scratch defenseman, Hal Gill. He says, “If we score more goals than Atlanta then I’m pretty sure we’ll win.” Gotta love him. Penguins go on another 2-on-1, but Sykie and Geno cannot connect. Dustin Jeffery goes for his second NHL goal but is denied by Lehtonen. TK fires a nice pass from Duper at the net but it hits the post. Havelid is called for tripping. Pens on the PP: here we go again. Wait: Sykie gets a PPG with a great pass from Whitter. Staalsy had another good opportunity on a wrister but just missed it. After a flurry of activity in front of the Penguins’ net, Fleury making some great saves, the defense clears it. Fleury’s stick somehow ends up behind the net. Geno runs over Army. Welcome back to the Burgh, Colby. :]

Nice puck movement, but nothing too exciting to start the second period. The Penguins are running on great momentum until Geno knocks the net off its supports. MAF makes a save on Valabik. An incredible amount of back and forth but after last period, this one is much less exciting. Staalsy, Cookie and Jeffery along with the defense on the points are cycling the puck really well. Satan, as usual is underwhelming the whole game so far. Geno wastes a pass on Satan…he should have passed to Sykie. Fleury makes a sweet glove save. Geno gave Sykie a nice feed and Sykie shoots in a backhander. We find out now that Duper is out and will not return. Havelid in the sin bin for hooking. Geno and Sid are both upended but no calls. Lehtonen robs Sid but then Geno gets a PPG. Wait, Sid tipped it in. Sid’s 16th goal. Geno’s third assist of the night. MAF blocks a doozy by Kovalchuk. Orpik takes Boulton down in the middle of the Pens zone. Then, Maxie goes by himself but he’s taken down. So exciting. MAF made his best save on Havelid. With seconds left, Jeffery, Maxie and Godard go on a 3-on-1 but time expires just before they take a shot.

The first couple minutes aren’t very interesting, yet again, except that Flower makes some stupendous saves. Godard tries to instigate a fight with Valabik, but the 6’7” baby, retreats to the Thrashers bench. Slater whips the puck at the net but Flower makes a nice pad save. MAF robs White on a centering pass from Armstrong. Sid grabs the puck off the stick of a Thrasher in the Pens zone, goes up the middle, passes to Staal then stands in front of the net. Staalsy feeds it back to him but Lehtonen makes a lucky save. Enstrom ends up in the net and stops play. Sid had the puck and could have made a nice shot but tried to pass to Staal who wasn’t there in time. A bench minor is called on Atlanta. Valabik sits out on the unsportsmanlike conduct on Atlanta’s coach. Pens on the PP. They are 2/3 on the PP tonight. Satan draws a penalty as he goes down behind the net. Todd White goes to the penalty box for holding. 5-on-3 for 23 seconds. Geno lets loose a hell of a slapper from the top of the zone, but Lehtonen just saves it. Whitters goes to the sin bin for slashing. Thrashers kill the 5-on-3 and get an abbreviated PP. Cookie sets Maxie up but he just misses it. Kovalchuk wrists one in from the blue line. Flower just made the biggest save of the night as he deflects a shot from Jason Williams. Letang is called for hooking. Pens kill this penalty and they’re as good as gold. Maxie dives to get it out and kills the remainder of Tanger’s penalty. Jeffery speeds down the ice with Kennedy and Staal. Kennedy tries to get it in the five-hole but Lehtonen makes the save. TK gets into a scrum behind the net but nothing comes of that. Maxie and Army exchange some words but the refs step in and nothing happens between them. Empty net for the Thrashers. Kozlov cross-checked Geno and the Pens are on the PP with 47 seconds to go. Pens win! It’s about time!

Thoughts:
--Sykie with two goals. Oh yeah. Kaitlyn said the H-word...she jinxed it.
--Geno with 3 assists. HECK YES!
--Fedo vs. Army...out of this world.
--Maxie: no goal tonight but a crazy amount of opportunities.
--Confidence. It's the key that unlocked this game.

Game 41- Atlanta Thrashers @ Penguins

Army and the boys from Atlanta visit the Penguins tonight at the Igloo at 7:30 on FSN. The lowly Thrashers are becoming known as the “Trashers” by the hockey world with their record of 13-22-5. This the third meeting between these two clubs this season: the Penguins are 2-0-0 against Atlanta this season. This is the first meeting at the Igloo…and considering the Penguins’ recent record on home ice, that fact makes me nervous.

Atlanta has lost 5 of its last 6 games (sound familiar?) and their head coach, John Anderson was recorded as saying that “our give-a-shit level was, like, at zero”. Look for the Thrashers to come out hard tonight. No one in the NHL likes to hear that said about them. Though Atlanta has not been playing well, their goalie, Kari Lehtonen is 6-1-2 in his career versus the Cardiac Kids (he was out with a stiff back during the first two contests with the Penguins this season). The goalie, however, is only as good as the defense in front of him, and the Thrashers have the worst-ranked defense in the league. Maybe Mad Max will get his first goal in 23 games? Hope so. Ilya Kovalchuk is pretty much the only scorer the Penguins really need to keep an eye on. He leads his team in points (39) with 13 goals and 26 assists.
The Penguins need to come out hard tonight. They need to play like this is life and death (because it is) and they cannot allow the first goal because then they will start thinking too much and playing slower hockey. The Penguins, however, have proven that they can win with either Fleury or Sabourin in net and our defense, though not shining, has had some bright points lately (Eaton, anyone?). Usually, here’s where I’d write something like “if the Penguins get the opportunities, they’ll score”, but, right now, it looks like they can’t even do that. We’ll see.

Zigomanis and Gonchar are both still out for the Penguins. Eight healthy defensemen means two healthy scratches. Alex Goligoski and Hal Gill will be sitting in the press box for the second straight game along with forward Eric Godard. Meanwhile, the Thrashers lost one of their star scorers, Bryan Little, to a rib contusion in their last game. Exelby is still out with a fracture in his right leg.

Penguins-

Kennedy-Crosby-Dupuis
Fedotenko-Malkin-Sykora
Talbot-Staal-Cooke
Wallace-Jeffery-Satan

Orpik-Whitney
Eaton-Boucher
Scuderi-Letang

Fleury

Thrashers-

Kozlov-White-Armstrong
Perrin-Reasoner-Crabb
Kovalchuk-Williams-Christensen
Boulton-Slater-Thorburn

Hainsey-Schneider
Valabik-Havelid
Enstrom-Orpik

Lehtonen

LET'S GO PENS!

King Henrik Deals Pens Their Second Shut-Out in 5 Games

About a minute in, Maxie goes after Callahan and gets 2 minutes for roughing. Rangers’ Dawes wastes no time scoring a PPG off of Scudsie’s skate. Yet, as the Pens get a full 2 minute 5-on-3 after Orpik gets slashed in the face (4 minute penalty to the moron who did that) and Sid draws another, the boys cannot capitalize. Malkin’s one timer careens off the inside of the post. Staalsy gets called for interference on his brother Marc in front of the net on that play. Mara and Godard exchange words at the Pens bench—Godard looks ready to go to it on his next shift. Cookie soon gets into a shoving match with Dubinsky, both 2 minutes for roughing. Geno failed to connect with a nice setup in front of the net. The penalties to Cookie Monster and Dubinsky expire and Duper shoots one wide of the net. Betts is called for hooking; Pens on the power(less) play. Whitters’ slapshot goes high, Rangers clear it again and again before anything interesting is able to develop. Tanger passes to Sid who hits it to TK, but Lundqvist makes the save. Lundqvist is a fantastic goalie. The Pens cannot win against him with text-book plays...they need speed and surprise. Maxie gets the puck and protects it well back to the point where he gives it to Eaton. The Rangers force a turnover. Sid had a nice 2-on-1 but the defense upended him and he ended up in the net. MAF takes a risk and absolutely robs a Ranger. Voros is called for roughing. NY gets the puck on a breakaway and MAF decides to make it interesting as he rushes almost to the top of the zone and knocks the puck off the opponent’s stick just as time runs out.

There’s a minute and a half left on the PP for the Pens. No surprise that they don’t score on it, though. NY dominates play for awhile. Jordan misses a golden opportunity and, as he heads back to the bench, smacks his stick so hard on the ice that it snaps in two. Sid called for hooking. On the ensuing PP, MAF makes a sick glove save on Dawes and then Sid foils a Ranger’s slapper. Eaton clears the puck 4 or 5 times in a row! Great shift for him! Geno fails on a breakaway…more like Lundqvist saved it with his shoulder. Now Pens dominate play, but no goals. Geno draws a penalty on Rozsival for hooking, but then Sid gets called for interference. 4-on-4 for 1:45ish but neither team capitalizes. Lundqvist robs Duper of a highlight reel goal. Kalinin shoots one off the crossbar and then gets flattened by Cookie Monster. Just then Cookie gets called for interference on Dubinsky in front of the net. Except he didn’t interfere. Bad, bad, BAD call. Mara fires off the draw and buries it. Sid goes in with a backhander but Lundqvist kills it. Drury gets 2 minutes for delay of game and then MAF made a sweet save on Sjostrom.

Thirty seconds left in the Pens PP. Lundqvist denies Whitters and the PP is over. TK is called for tripping Naslund. MAF stops a wrister and freezes the puck. Maxie keeps the puck away from the Rangers by keeping it against the wall by the Pens. TK comes back on the ice and MAF makes a fantastic save, his best of the night. A few minutes of solid play and then the Rangers go on a 2-on-2 but Whitters ends up right in front of MAF and the shot doesn’t get through. Cookie went for a backhand but Lundqvist gloved it. Orpik gives Orr some Free Candy in a big way. Chris Drury scores a crazy goal. Just over 7 minutes to go. Game over. I just might cry. Penguins draw a penalty to Orr for roughing, eighth of the night. Pens pull Flower in favor of an extra attacker with a bit over 3 minutes to go. Worst decision ever? Gomez gets an empty netter. Comfirmed: worst decision ever. Godard and Orr drop the gloves. The Pens can’t even win that fight and Godard goes down. What a joke. Miro gets called for some too-late in the play action (what else is new?)

Gogo was a healthy scratch tonight. Fail? I think so.

HAHAHA! Great joke! Where are you, Ashton Kutcher? Because this had better be an episode of PUNK’D.

Game 40- Penguins @ New York Rangers

The game will be on Versus.

The Pens are playing their worst hockey since 2005. They need to start winning, or they're going to drop out of contention very soon. We know. This is as close to a must-win as you can find.

It's almost panic button time, and the Penguins know it.

Michel Therrien has shaken up his lines for the game, and they'll be posted below. Also, the number one powerplay unit will be Malkin-Crosby-Kennedy-Letang-Whitney.

Time to turn around the season. Nothing else needs to be said.

Penguins-

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

Orpik-Whitney
Eaton-Letang
Scuderi-Boucher

Fleury

Rangers-

Naslund-Gomez-Korpikoski
Prucha-Dubinsky-Zherdev
Dawes-Drury-Callahan
Sjostrom-Betts-Orr

Redden-Girardi
Roszival-Staal
Mara-Kalinin

Lundqvist

GO PENS!

Crosby's reputation takes another big hit

Yesterday, with his team down 4-1 in the midst of a brutal stretch of losing, Sidney Crosby lost it. After watching teammate Max Talbot tango with Panthers forward Gregory Campbell, Crosby decided that he wanted to take a try.

While Brett McLean was bent over ready to take a faceoff, Crosby grabbed him by the scruff of his sweater, pulled him up, and began to roughhouse him. Crosby dragged McLean around like a rag doll as the two combatants traded punches, and eventually, the "fight" stagnated in along the side boards.

Crosby did his time (19 minutes), and skated back to his bench following the conclusion of his ten minute misconduct. That could have been the end of it, but if it's Crosby, you know something more is going to follow.

Posters on multiple internet hockey forums, writers for various media outlets, and fans of both the Penguins and Panthers have had more than a mouthful to say about the incident.

Most people seem to think that Crosby's actions were disgusting. Some have called for him to be suspended, and other inbreds have demanded he be killed or dismissed from the NHL.

Crosby's intentions by taking on McLean are fairly clear; he wanted to fire up his team, and show that at least somebody still cared about sticking up for himself and exhibiting emotion. Crosby made no attempt to injure McLean, and he didn't even throw a punch until McLean had time to react and get himself into a less vulnerable position.

All that 87 was trying to do was fire up his team.

This comes two weeks after an ugly sequence of events in Atlanta where Crosby threw a few punches into the rear end of Thrashers' defenseman Boris Valabik. While some have speculated that Crosby was actually punching the "fruit basket" of the towering blueliner, he was clearly not. Valabik stated that he didn't even feel Crosby's jabs, and if he had been punched in that area, he certainly would have felt it. It doesn't justify what Sidney did, but it does lead to the point that he is held to a double-standard.

Since this is Crosby we're talking about, all logic is swept under the rug, and he is the anti-Christ. He can do absolutely no right, and he is a "p-s-y".

He plays the game with fire, and sometimes, he has trouble controlling himself, as do most 21 year old kids. The idea that Crosby is a dirty player, or that he doesn't handle himself with class, is ridiculous.

Sid will be Sid, whether fans of opposing teams like it or not.

It's just ironic that Crosby can garner such a negative reputation for a few isolated instances of less than mature behavior, while players across the league do so much worse on a weekly basis, but never have anything done to their reputation and the way they are seen.

Last night, Jason Spezza threw a vicious spear into the gut of a Toronto Maple Leaf, but there were no 30 page message board threads about that, nor was there a reaction when Alex Ovechkin drilled Dustin Brown from behind in Los Angeles earlier in the season.

It's Crosby, and there will be a double-standard.

We'll just have to accept that, for now.

This Is Rock Bottom

The Pens go all out. To start, Sykie makes a great shot, but Anderson ate his Wheaties this morning. Sykie gets his own rebound, passes to Dups but D blocked Duper and he cannot connect. Bouwmeester called for hooking. On the first power play unit, Malkin is playing up front, not on the point as he has been for awhile. TK got in there a great forecheck. The Pens came out with lots of energy early but are unable to get a PPG. Jeffery nearly got his second NHL goal but Anderson stopped it. The fourth line of Wally, Maxie, Jeffery (Godard is the healthy scratch) move the puck up the middle. Maxie moved the puck beautifully, but instead of taking a shot, passed to Wally, but the D intercepted. Dups, Skie both have great chances, both just miss. Sid is tripped, no call. Scudsie foils the Panthers offensive play, and sends it right to Satan but no goal. TK goes on the breakaway. Save made by Anderson; as Steigy said, “good goal tending can make up for a lot of mistakes”. Whatever, the Panthers are a joke. They registered just 5 shots in the period. They are smart, though. They make the defense and goalie choose between them. Hal Gill flops down on the ice to block a shot. Awesome. But shortly thereafter is called for interfering with Stewart. Staalsy went shorthanded but Anderson blocked it. Just then, Cookie Monster absolutely obliterated Bouwmeester. Flower plays well on the penalty kill, but just as the penalty expires, Peltonen puts one past MAF. Anderson should have been called for delay of game but he played it just in time. Maxie had a great opportunity but he was upended. Horton shoots one right through MAF’s five-hole. Two goals on four shots…um, not acceptable. Flower’s game has suffered thanks to those two goals; he seems less sure of where to go and therefore is slower. Sabu in net next period? Dups is called for hooking. Period expires.

Sabu in net to start this period. Dups’ penalty expires and Orpik gives Peltonen some Free Candy. Out of nowhere, Tenk gets a quick, unassisted goal, shooting before Anderson could get in position. Maxie to Jeffery, Anderson knocks puck out of the air for the penalty. Stewart serves the penalty. Pens on the PP. Malkin’s shot is blocked and Sid tries to stuff it in but no dice. Staalsy slapper goes just wide and there is no goal on the PP…again. Nothing exciting happens until Satan called for roughing as he punches someone in the face. McCabe went in the back door to make it 3-1. Ugh. Anderson is run over by McCabe who was run over by Geno…all this while still moving the puck. Geno called for interference…horrible call. Zednik scores on the PP. This is just embarrassing. Sid and Campbell exchange some blows but they don’t drop the gloves. 4-on-4 hockey. Orpik gives Peltonen some Free Candy once again. Painful to watch. The Pens who dominated the first couple minutes of the game have disappeared. Pens force passes where they don’t need to be. Sykie, then Geno give the puck away. Satan is playing on the third line, TK on the first line. Cookie gets plastered by Horton, no call...the refs are blowing this game. Right off the faceoff, Campbell and Maxie drop the gloves. Mad Max obliterates Campbell.



Then, right off the next faceoff Sid and McLean drop the gloves. Sid wails on him for a good 30 seconds before McLean skates to his bench bleeding. Sid gets penalized heavily, but it was a great effort to change the momentum.



Geno goes on the breakaway but it’s blocked by Anderson. Weiss is called for hooking Geno. 4-on-4 again. Bouwmeester takes out TK in front of the net, no call. Again, no penalty called as Fedo is hooked. Horton scores. Flower back in for third period? Time expires.

Flower is back in the cage this period. A couple seconds left on Maxie’s penalty and A LOT (2 for unsportsmanlike conduct+2 for instigating (served by Satan at the end of the second)+5 for fighting+10 for misconduct) remains on Sid’s penalty. There’s nowhere to go from here but up. Fluery makes a great save. That must feel good. Cookie had a nice chance, Anderson saved it. Flower made a fantastic save on Dvorak. Cookie hits Frolik hard. Then Frolik turns around and gets a goal. As Bob Errey put my thoughts into words: “And yes, this is rock bottom. No doubt about it.” Booth called for hooking; Pens on the PP. No goal on the PP. Gill is called for slashing. Jeffery goes shorthanded, Anderson saves again. Penalty killed. Geno gets another good chance but Anderson and Ballard make an impossible save. Jeffery’s hell of a shot poked just wide by Cookie Monster. Sid’s penalty is finally up. Panthers dominate play. Yada yada yada. This game was ridiculous.

Thoughts
-- Pens will drop to 10th in the standings…Buffalo will take their spot with a win over the Bruins and Florida will surpass them with this win.
--The excuse for this slump used to be injuries. But now that they’ve gotten most of those guys back, that can’t be an excuse. The boys are also playing hard. It’s all about confidence…and they have none.
--Ruslan Fedotenko seems to be the only one home for the Pens, scoring goals in the Pens last 3 losses. Go, Ruslan, go.
--The only high points were the two fights in the second period. And it almost wasn’t worth it because Sid was out for almost the entire third period…not that he’s been doing anything lately.
--Refs suck!
--Streak: 4 Losses. Vomit.

Game 39- Florida Panthers @ Penguins

The Penguins will try to break out of their recent funk Saturday when the dismal Florida Panthers come to town. The Panthers, like the Pens, have been playing pretty poorly of late. It's a home game against a week opponent, so this is a great chance to finally stop losing.

Tyler Kennedy will finally return after missing a month with a knee injury, and Eric Godard will be back after missing three games with a lower body injury suffered when he blocked a slapshot in New Jersey last week. Sergei Gonchar, Mike Zigomanis, and Phillipe Boucher are still out.

For Florida, Bryan Allen, Kamil Kreps, and Rostislav Olesz will not play.

Marc-Andre Fleury will be in goal for the Penguins, likely against Craig Anderson for the Cats.

David Booth, Nathan Horton, Mike Frolik, and Steve Weiss lead Florida offensively, and Jay Bouwmeester is a world-class blueliner.

The game's lines are subject to change.

Penguins-

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

Orpik-Scuderi
Letang-Whitney
Goligoski-Gill

Fleury

Panthers-

Booth-Weiss-Horton
Stillman-Frolik-Zednik
Peltonen-Campbell-Dvorak
Stewart-McLean-Tarnasky

Bouwmeester-Skrastins
Ballard-Boynton
McCabe-Cullimore

Anderson

GO PENS!

Pens lose back end of home and home with B's.

If you want to harm yourself right now, you are not alone.

The Penguins came out of the gate strong against a very tough opponent in the first period. Three minutes in, Tim Wallace worked the puck over to Alex Goligoski, who slid the puck to Dustin Jeffrey. DJ made sure not to squander his opportunity, rifling a wrister over the left shoulder of Manny Fernandez and into the net. It was Jeffrey's first NHL tally.

Boston was not fazed, however, and the B's tied things up a bit more than one minute later. On a powerplay, Blake Wheeler through the puck in front, and David Krejci got a stick on it and deflected it past Dany Sabourin to knot it at 1-1.

The Bruins took a 2-1 lead at 9:24 when Dennis Wideman fired a puck along the ice that was redirected up by the stick of Hal Gill. P.J. Axelsson batted the puck out of the air, off the crossbar, and into the net. The incompetence of Sabourin and Gill was as evident as ever on that play.

The Pens went to intermission down 2-1, but they could take refuge in their outshooting of Boston by a 13-6 margin.

The second period was one from Hell. The Penguins looked like every bit the awful team they seem to have become in recent weeks. Even while they forchecked hard and generated chances, they could not finish.

Milan Lucic scored on a wrist shot from the slot after Stephan Yelle bowled over Mark Eaton and took the Pens' defenseman out of the play. Horrible non-call on Yelle, and it was 3-1.

Lucic went to the box for slashing, and Ryan Whitney attempted to get involved in a fight with Lucic, but the linesmen broke that up before cooler heads prevailed.

Ruslan Fedotenko scored to make it 3-2 off a nice area pass from Miroslav Satan. That was about all Miro did tonight. What a waste of a roster spot.

The Pens pulled Sabourin and got their chances, but they couldn't finish.

Marc Savard hit the empty net with two seconds left from distance.

Notes-
-Jordan Staal had another awful game.
-Matt Cooke took two dumb penalties for good measure.
-Satan is such a piece of trash.
-This team isn't just going through a phase. I'm starting to think they're just a bad team.
-The powerplay tonight had Mike Yeo's fingerprints on it. Another 0-fer.
-2005 all over again?

Go Pens, I guess.

Game 38- Penguins @ Boston Bruins

The Penguins will visit TD Banknorth Gardens in Boston tonight for the back end of a home and home with the Bruins. The B's spanked the Pens in the first meeting, but the Penguins are hungry to break out of a recent slump.

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.

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, and Mike Zigomanis are out.

Dany Sabourin gets the start in goal against Thomas.

Kris Letang is finally ready to return from an ankle injury.

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

The game's lines are subject to change.

So, who sees what I just did there?

Penguins-

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

Orpik-Scuderi
Letang-Whitney
Gill-Boucher
Goligoski

Sabourin

Bruins-

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

Wideman-Chara
Stuart-Lashoff
Hunwick-Ward

Thomas

GO PENS!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!