Pittsburgh Penguins

Guerin Pittsburgh Bound?

According to a plethora of sites tonight, New York Islanders captain Bill Guerin was pulled off the ice prior to their game against the Sabres.

This clearly tells me that a deal has been reached. The question now is where is Billy-G heading?

It was long believed that Boston and Montreal were the clear-cut leaders in this deal, but Spector believes otherwise.

According to Spector’s blog on FoxSports.com, he believes the Penguins, Panthers and Hurricanes are the current leaders.

Here is his explanation of how he came to that conclusion:

“Flyers? They’re very deep up front and appear to be seeking depth on the blueline. Montreal? Their need appears to be for a scoring center. Rangers? Would the Isles actually peddle Guerin to their rival despite being out of the playoff race? Sabres? They’re already deep at right wing.

Florida and Carolina could use more depth at right wing, while the Penguins - despite their recent acquisition of Chris Kunitz - might want a more seasoned right winger for Sidney Crosby’s line.”

Now as for my take on this potential trade, I’m not sure how I feel about it.

If we gave up a roster player for him and it’s not named Hal Gill, I don’t like the deal. Maybe Miroslav Satan or Ruslan Fedotenko, but outside of those three I won’t be a happy Pens fan.

Spector seems to think that the deal in place is Guerin for an early round pick. Perhaps a second rounder? If it’s a first rounder, that’s way to high of a price for a rental player the Pens most likely won’t be able to re-sign. Let’s also keep in mind this is assuming the Penguins make it into the playoffs.

If it’s for a third-rounder, I’d live with it.

I do think he Pens are missing some valuable veteran presence in the locker room. They also lack a grit and feisty attitude they had from guys like Jarkko Ruutu, Georges Laraque and Gary “Chuck Norris” Roberts last season.

From that perspective, Guerin is a guy I would most certainly want. Is he the goal scorer that should be on Sidney Crosby’s line? I don’t tend to think so.

I’m still holding out for a “Holy @#%!” moment from the trade deadline where we land someone like Milan Hejduk for a bag of pucks, but that’s probably not happening either. He is less money than Guerin and has clearly proven that he can put the puck in the net. Send the Avs a second-rounder for Hejduk, see if I care. I’ll be jumping for joy like the annoying kid you never liked when he gets a date with amazingly attractive woman. The rest of you understand why he’s jumping up and down and want to hurt him for it.

I was that guy last year when we got Judas.

Give me another moment like that this season Shero, just don’t clean house to pull it off.

I don’t know that a top line of Kunitz - Crosby - Guerrin is the answer to the Pens problems, though it is an improvement over what they have rotated around Sid all season. In that respect, it’s an upgrade.

From what I saw of last night’s game against Chicago, which will be broken down a little more in depth tomorrow along with the game against Dallas, Kunitz and Jordan Staal seemed to click pretty well right off the bat. So maybe Dan Bylsma will put a line of Kunitz - Crosby - Staal together? I say try it, doesn’t seem to me like it takes Sid long to figure out his winger’s tendencies and gel with them accordingly.

In any event, the world should know the fate of Guerin in the coming hours. Who knows, maybe Spector is wrong and the his hometown Bruins bring him in after all.

Stay tuned.

Pens Send Whitney To Anaheim For Kunitz

I just saw the news that the Penguins have traded Ryan Whitney to the Anaheim Ducks for Chris Kunitz and Eric Tangradi.

Part of me feels that this is a good trade because it clears some cap space, and by some I mean $250K. The good news is that Kunitz is signed through 2010-2011.

So far this season Kunitz has 16 goals and 19 assists, which makes me wonder why he’s being paid $3.75 million when his career high in points is only 60.

What Kunitz gives the Pens is a more reliable wing for Sidney Crosby. I still think the Pens could have gotten a better winger, but something tells me Ray Shero isn’t done and that something big is going to go down in the next week.

Perhaps Jordan Staal is heading out of town as has been discussed in a variety of places.

As for Tangradi at 6-4 221, this could be a stud in the making, He’s second in the OHL in scoring with 87 points in 52 games. Only highly touted John Tavares is ahead of him.

This kid has the makings of a true power forward and that excites me.

By getting rid of Whitney, the Penguins have eased the logjam on defense and it will allow Kris Letang to get back into the lineup. Letang is rounding into a very solid offensive defenseman, but still needs work in his own end.

The top 6 defensemen are:

Sergei Gonchar - Brooks Orpik
Rob Scuderi - Hal Gill
Kris Letang - Mark Eaton

The Penguins also have Alex Goligoski waiting in the wings, but there are some rumors out there that he could be dealt as well. If that’s the case, we better get a lot back.

Now as for new line combos up front let’s shake things up a bit. I’ve suggested before moving Staal to a wing to better utilize his scoring ability. With that said, here’s my suggested lines:

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

If the Penguins still want to keep Staal as a center, move him to the 2nd line center and move Evgeni Malkin out to a wing. It’s not like he hasn’t proven that he can play wing or anything.

Ideally, the Penguins can find a way to move Miroslav Satan to free up his $3.5 million contract heading into the offseason. Ruslan Fedotenko probably won’t be back either at $2.5 million, so that already would free up six million in cap space by either dealing those two or letting them walk.

It’s also pretty safe to assume that Philippe Boucher won’t be back. Yes, he’s still on the roster and making $2.5 million. He had foot surgery in January is is out indefinitely. He’s also a UFA after the season, so he can walk too.

There’s $8.5 million you free up just from letting those three guys walk. That should be more than enough to go out and get a couple of solid wingers to help out the depth up front, but that’s also assuming Shero is fully happy with the now current roster.

Something tells me he’s not.

Eklund Owes Me New Pants

This will be short and sweet, but I felt compelled to comment on Eklund’s latest “trade rumor” about the Penguins.

We’ve already discussed how it would make no sense for the Pens to trade Jordan Staal and others to Atlanta for Ilya Kovalchuk from a financial standpoint. I think Eklund read that post and realized how utterly wrong that sounded and then decided to tweak it today.

According to his latest post, the Penguins are talking about trading Evgeni Malkin to the Thrashers for Kovalchuk and something else.

You read that correctly. Malkin for Kovalchuk and a doggy bag of players or picks.

Umm….

Do I really need to go into why this will not happen and why this would be the worst move the Penguins have made in recent history?

It’s pretty self -explanatory I would think. I literally laughed so hard when I saw this that tears were coming down my face.

The only logical big name players that could/will be moved at the deadline are Staal and Ryan Whitney. I’m not counting Miroslav Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko as big names, but they could also be on their way out.

If I’m Ray Shero, I blow up the roster and start over. Get rid of everyone except for Sidney Crosby, Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury, Brooks Orpik and Max Talbot.

Everyone else can go and I wouldn’t be upset over it for very long. I’ll pull together a wish list of players I’d like, but if you saw yesterday’s post, you’ll see that Milan Hejduk is at the top of the list.

Stay tuned for more.

Pens Continue To Lose To The NHL’s Worst

I was able to get the day off today to sit home and torture myself with some more Penguins hockey.

The Penguins fired Michel Therrien last night and new interim head coach Dan Bylsma will be behind the bench today. Bylsma gets the call up from Wilkes-Barre Scranton. If the Penguins don’t come out flying, I don’t know what will motivate them.

As for today’s opponent, we cannot lose this game. The Islanders are clearly the worst team in the league with a 16-36-6 record for 38 points and are currently on a five-game losing streak.

The Penguins (27-25-5) absolutely cannot lose this game today. I know the Islanders give us fits at times, but if we have any chance of making the playoffs, this is a must win.

1st Period

19:12 - Hal Gill is back in the lineup tonight. Wonder who the odd man out is.

18:59: The red light is on behind Marc-Andre Fleury for no reason. Bad wiring I guess, but still not a good sign.

18:14 - And we now have our first post hit on Fleury. Not a good start.

15:28 - Pens still look sluggish. Passes aren’t crisp, they’re trying to skate through all five Isles to get to the net instead of chipping it deep.

15:20 - Looks like Mark Eaton is the odd man out tonight on defense. Could it be because of his 1.33 accumulation in the Hal Gill Quotient on Saturday?

14:33 - Isles announcers just said “Gill was a healthy scratch in Toronto on Saturday night in a move that flummoxed a bunch of guys on the team.”

Could it be that he’s been one of the worst defensemen on the team this season? I say it’s about time he got benched. Might wake the sleeping giant for once.

12:41 - Pens get a couple shots on net from odd angles. Maybe Bylsma re-educated them about the old adage “When in doubt, throw it on net?”

10:58 - I’m a bit perplexed why Eric Godard and Miroslav Satan are playing on the top line with Sidney Crosby today so far. Can we please try Jordan Staal, Pascal Dupuis and Crosby at center? Please?

10:30 - Tyler Kennedy dances into the zone on a 2-on-1 with Staal. Staal has an open net and hits Radek Martinek in the skate in the crease and the puck goes over the net and wide. Sigh.

9:26 - 1-0 Islanders - Backdoor pass from Sean Bergenheim to Chris Campoli goes off his skate and in. Kris Letang has the puck go off his skate on a failed pass break-up attempt and the resulting carom hits Campoli and goes in. Goal is under review. After about 20 seconds of review, the goal counts.

7:30 - Announcers are finally noticing that the Pens still look flat. To me they’re just s flat as they were in Toronto, so this could be a long afternoon.

6:01 - Penalty call on Tim Jackman for holding. Let’s send out the newly revamped PP unit with Sergei Gonchar. Pens haven’t scored on nine straight PP chances.

1:54 - Evgeni Malkin blows one by Joey MacDonald on a great individual effort to get 1-on-1 with Jack Hillen. Malkin puts a little toe drag move on Hillen and rips in low short-side to record his 25th goal of the season. Malkin poked the puck free at the point in our own end and blazed into the neutral zone to pick up the puck and score. Good stuff.

End of period and the Isles announcers are talking about rumors they’re hearing about Ray Shero wanting to bring Colby Armstrong back to the Burgh. I’d gladly take him back as I was rather sad to see him go in the first place. He won’t be the guy to score a ton of goals, but his reckless abandon and will to win is sorely missed on this team right now.

Islanders lead in shots 12-10 and it looked like maybe the Malkin goal got the Pens legs moving a little bit more. Time will tell of course, but at least it’s tied after one.

Getting back to my proposed Staal-Sid-Dupuis line for a sec. Dupuis wins the puck in the corners at an alarming rate and finds Sid on the wall. Sid then passes to the other wing or to the point.

That was the formula last season when Judas was the other wing and it worked quite well. That’s the scheme when Malkin gets bumped to the top line. We know Staal can score, so why not try it?

Second Period

Somehow I missed that Tom Fitzgerald is now an assistant coach for the Pens. I like this move very much because he was a penalty killing machine during his NHL days and maybe he’ll get our PK unit to become respectable again.

16:40 - New line for Crosby. Ruslan Fedotenko - Sid - Dupuis. Come on Bylsma you’re two-thirds of the way to the magic combo.

11:59 - Pace to the period has picked up considerably from what it was in the first. Crosby attempts a wraparound on MacDonald, but he’s up to the task.

11:40 - Pens trail shots 14-12 for the game. Both teams with two shots in the period, but it feels like there’s been more chances for the Penguins to this point.

9:16 - Bill Thomas just misses Kennedy on a backdoor pass for an easy goal, Gonchar steps up to hold the puck in the zone and misses leading to a 3-on-1 the other way. Somehow Brooks Orpik breaks it up on a nice defensive effort.

8:19 - Orpik was just out with Ryan Whitney. Not sure if this is going to be a permanent thing or not, but the combo of Whitney/Letang has been awful for the last two games so if it is, hats off to Bylsma. The Pens could also be going with five defensemen and just leaving Gill on the bench. Either way, good call.

7:40 - Scratch the whole Whitney not playing with Letang. First shift after the tv timeout, those two are back together.

6:44 - 2-1 Islanders - Frans Nielsen slams home a rebound on a shot from Andy Hilbert. Looks like Letang is the man to blame for not clearing his man out. Whitney was nowhere to be found either so this will need further review by me to see what exactly went wrong. Either way, this soft defense in front of the net must stop ASAP.

After review, Whitney was also to blame for being a little out of position down low. Both get half of a point’s blame.

4:01 - Pens going on the PP after Petr Sykora got mauled by Mark Streit while trying to get to a fat rebound by MacDonald.

2:53 - 2-2 Tie - Wow, what a pass by Crosby who finds Whitney creeping into the slot on the weak-side who rips it to the shelf over MacDonald, who had zero chance to stop it. Looks like he’s trying to make up for the awful defense he’s played of late.

Side note, Gonchar gets his first point on the season on the powerplay goal.

1:42 - Pens going back on the powerplay again after Kyle Okposo tugs on Letang’s jersey in the offensive end. I’ll take it. Another late goal for us would be huge.

:09 - Major scrum in front of the net leads to some pushing and shoving and punches thrown. MacDonald is being restrained by Gonchar and Fleury is standing inches from the blueline in anticipation of heading down to the other end to even things up. The refs get control of the situation and Malkin gets a roughing penalty as a result.

We end the second period tied at 2. The Islanders will have a shortened powerplay early in the third due to Malkin’s minor penalty. Penguins lead shots 20-19, not a bad turnaround from the first. Let’s hope they come out and continue to put the puck on net.

I think the scrum is what this team needed. All five guys on the ice were in there standing up for one another with Fleury set to make a break for it as well. That’s the type of team-first mentality that has been missing of late.

Just had this exchange with Gopher:

“You realize you have to beat the isles to move up in the standings right?”

“Yes, but it’s more than that. We have to beat them to keep any shred of self respect we have left.”

Third Period

18:20 - Pens get a couple decent chances while shorthanded to basically kill of the penalty to Malkin.

16:16 - Gonchar loses his stick and Fleury makes a solid pad save. John Sim crashes right through him and knocks the net off. Another scrum ensues. Things are starting to get very heated on the ice.

14:10 - The Pens forecheck looks 100x better than it has all game long. There’s two guys on the puck at all times and as a result, they’re creating scoring chances. This is just one of those little things they haven’t been doing.

11:34 - Staal just singlehandedly broke up three huge chances for the Isles down low with some stellar backchecking and effort. Take notes boys, that’s how it’s supposed to be done.

BREAKING NEWS: MATHIEU SCHNEIDER TRADED TO MONTREAL FOR 2ND AND 3RD ROUND DRAFT PICKS This means Eklund got one right for once! Check out hockeybuzzhogwash.com for more.

8:46 - Nielsen blows on Gill in the corner and sends the big man down. Nothing happens as a result, but it’s worth noting.

3:50 - Pens are getting a ton of chances down low followed by one stellar chance by Hilbert that just misses. These teams don’t appear to be playing for overtime at all.

1:33 - The line of Kennedy - Staal - Matt Cooke has been dominating the Islanders in the third. Getting chances left and right and Staal has played a fantastic game today. He’s probably the best player on the ice in this game.

End Of The Third Period

We are heading to overtime with the worst team in the league. On the positive side, we get a much needed point in the standings, but that crucial second point is what we really need.

4:14 - Whitney stoned on a 2-on-1 with Fedotenko. we play on.

:48 - What a pace to this overtime! End to end action, but the Pens have had the best chances so far. Dupuis was inches from ending this on a feed from Crosby. Later, Crosby gets 1-on-1 and rifles one off MacDonald’s shoulder.

We are heading to a shootout and I need to catch my breath.

Islanders will shoot first.

Nielsen makes a very nice move and flips it over Fleury. 1-0 Islanders

Sykora goes wide at a very slow pace and uncorks a slapper from the hashmarks and buries it, 1-1.

Jeff Tambellini rips one from beyond the hashmarks over the glove. The shot seemed to catch Fleury off-guard. 2-1 Islanders.

Malkin loses control of the puck and doesn’t get a shot off. Still 2-1.

Okposo loses the handle as well meaning it’s all on Crosby to keep us alive.

Crosby dekes MacDonald into the ice, but can’t get the puck up over the outstretched pad. Pens lose to the worst team in the league and I need a drink.

Up next are the Montreal Canadiens where we put our two-game losing streak against some of the worst teams in the league on the line. Maybe we can get Blysma his first win against a playoff team.

Here’s the latest standings in the Hall Gill Quotient:

Kris Letang - 2.84
Ryan Whitney - 2.5
Hal Gill - 1.34
Mark Eaton - 1.33
Sergei Gonchar - 1.0
Marc-Andre Fleury - .83
Jordan Staal - .5
Bill Thomas - .33
Pascal Dupuis - .33

Inexcusable Performance In Toronto

I’m going to preface this by saying, this post will not be pretty. The gloves are coming off and I won’t regret one single thing I post here tonight.

I just got back from my trip to Toronto to see the Pens take on the Leafs in what should have been a very win-able game. The Leafs are behind us in the standings and haven’t looked good of late, whereas we had won three out of four.

This was absolutely pathetic to watch. The lack of effort and heart is sickening and disgusting. If you don’t want to be on the ice and give everything you have for every second you’re on that ice, get off. There’s 100 other guys out there who would give anything to be where you are. Stop being selfish and play the game. What went on in Toronto last night was nothing short of disgraceful.

Here’s how it went down:

Pens came out absolutely flying to start the game. Matt Cooke scored from his knees right off the bat to put the Pens up 1-0. Minutes later Bill Thomas streaks down the nearside boards and rips one short-side on Vesa Toskala to give the Pens a 2-0 lead. The goal was shorthanded and the ACC was none too impressed with Toskala, to say the least.

Pens lead 2-0 after 1, but things seemed very different in both attitude and play style after Thomas’ goal. It was almost as if a certain cockiness took over where they thought this was going to be a blowout win and they stopped caring.

The Leafs came out buzzing in the second period and Marc-Andre Fleury was up to the task for the first half of the frame. Finally the Leafs get a fortunate bounce off Nik Antropov in front and the score is now 2-1.

Here’s what I saw from my seats just off to the side of the Pens bench after the goal. Depression. It was like someone told them that their mothers all died and their wives were all leaving them at the same time. It was absolutely incredible. Pens hold on to the one-goal lead after two periods.

Before the third my buddy Cheech says, “These are the types of games we lose. Watch, we’ll come out flat in the 3rd.” I should mention he’s a Leafs fan.

I respond, “Trust me, we’re losing this game. This team lacks the killer instinct. We had the chance to put this game away in the first period and they let you up off the floor. You’ll outshoot us by double digits in the third and win 4-2. I have no doubts in my mind.”

The sad part in all this is that I was just about dead on. The Pens came out and gave up the equalizer 55 seconds into the period. I’d give the breakdowns of each goal, but at this point I’m too livid to fully explain each goal so I’ll keep it short. I kept track of whose fault everything was and have updated the standings as you’ll see at the bottom of this post. SPOLIER ALERT: There’s a new leader!

Jason Blake beat Mark Eaton to the net off the draw to the right of Fleury and slams home a rebound is what happens. Enough said.

Then, just 19 seconds later Blake strikes again. Kris Letang sent a weak pass around the back of the net that barely reached Pascal Dupuis who failed to handle it cleanly. Eaton whiffs on Blake again and he buries it behind Fleury to put the Leafs up 3-2.

That’s when I lost all respect for Michel Therrien. Thanks for getting us to the Cup Finals last season, but may you never have anything to do with this team ever again. Why was there no timeout called? Why were you not red in the face from screaming at your players to get them to wake up and start caring about what was going on? Why have you not gotten anything out of your players since November?

I want answers and at least he was finally fired today. Yes, finally.

Anyway back to the game.

Six minutes after Blake’s go-ahead goal, the Leafs dump it into the corner to the right of Fleury. Letang and Fleury have a communication problem, Letang whiffs on the puck forcing Fleury to come out and attempt to play it. Two Leafs converge on him and steal it leaving John Mitchell wide open for a tap in goal. 4-2 at this point and I’m looking like a genius, but hating every second of it.

Now with 13 minutes to go in the game, we’re only down 2. The Pens have utterly given up. Everyone except for Fleury who made quite possibly the save of the season on Blake going for the hat trick. Yet again, the Pens are all standing around watching the play and they allow a backdoor pass to Blake, who fires a one-timer right into the outstretched glove of Fleury. The spotlight came on, 90% of the ACC rose and started cheering only to see the ref vehemently waving it off.

I was stunned and got the feeling that this might be the spark the team needed to wake up and get going. Your goalie just made a save he wasn’t supposed to. He’s still trying and giving it everything he’s possibly got. Draw on that, feed off that and go get those poor coverage goals back. There’s still plenty of time left to do this. Again, I was horribly mistaken.

Shortly after the save, the Pens go on the powerplay. They get a couple decent chances, but fail to turn on the red light. Might as well have called the game right then and there. Not one skater on the team showed any life after this. Fleury looked as if he’d been exiled to the land of misfit goaltenders like Partick Roy in Montreal before demanding a trade.

Soon after the powerplay ends, Sergei Gonchar tries to create something. Did I mention this was his first game back after missing the entire season? No? Well it was and he looked pretty good.

Gonchar slides into the slot looking for a pass from the corner from Sidney Crosby. Sid attempts the pass, but it gets picked off and the Leafs come down on Fleury on a 3-on-2 with Gonchar trapped deep. After some tic tac toe passing, Alexei Ponikarovsky ends up with the puck on the backdoor (Yes, again on the backdoor. Noticing a theme here?) and jams home his own rebound on a pretty nice initial save by Fleury. 5-2 Leafs.

Just over two minutes later, the Leafs come back into the zone. Matt Stajan winds up from the top of the circles and uncorks a laser off Fleury, off the pipe and in. Fleury had no chance on this at all. Why? Ryan Whitney moved over to try and block the shot and set up a screen that Hal Gill would be envious of. Not taking anything away from Stajan as the shot was an absolute missile, but come on Whitney. Give your goalie a chance to make a save for crying out loud.

After the goal, I saw Fleury do something I’ve never seen him do before. Normally whenever he gives up a goal he just skates to the corner cursing under his breath. This time, he was legitimately pissed off. He hammered the goal post and skated off to the corner. I would be willing to bet he spoke up in the locker-room after the game and if he did, good for him. Someone has to.

I’m actually hoarse today from yelling at the team to skate. There was one point during a television timeout that Whitney skated right in front of us. I unloaded on him from 16 rows up. Half of the section I was in turned around looking at my and my tomato red face hammering away on him. One Pens fan in the next section over looked over at me and gave me an approving head nod after my tirade.

All five goals in the third had no business being in the net. The Leafs didn’t win this game. The Pens stopped playing and essentially let the Leafs win.

The performance was nothing shy of garbage with the exception of Fleury. It was probably the best performance I’ve seen out of a goalie who gave up six goals. He was locked in from the opening draw and his team failed him in every aspect of the game.

The forwards collapsed down low after seeing the defense give up backdoor passes with a consistency only seen in video games. As a result, the point-men were wide open to shoot at will. All five Pens stood around and watched the Leafs move the puck without a care in the world.

Even on the lone powerplay in the third period, the Pens moved the puck well, but their feet were firmly planted making it an easy kill for the Leafs.

The Pens showed up for 15 minutes last night and looked great in those 15 minutes. Then they just sat back and let the Leafs catch them and hand them their lunch.

Back in the hotel room we watched the replay of the game just so I could take better notes and have a better perspective to write this.

Here’s two quotes from Jim Hughson during the broadcast in the third period.

“The Penguins have stopped moving.”

“An awful loss for Pittsburgh.”

I was saying these things during the game and then to hear the announcers saying it was vindication, only not in a good way.

The highlight of the evening was when a Leafs fan stood up in our section to yell at a young kid who kept screaming “Leafs suck” incessantly, even when clearly the Pens were the team hogging all the suck.

It was either that or when my soon-to-be Missus received a rose from the Leafs mascot Carlton. Fun times.

Thank God the city of Toronto is beautiful and a wonderful place to visit, so the trip wasn’t a total loss. All in all it was a good trip, but as far as the Penguins go, they cannot be losing to teams like this in this fashion. If you show up and try and still lose, that I can live with. It’s still frustrating, but at least the effort was there and effort gets rewarded in the end.

This was absolutely garbage and Therrien got what was coming to him. Goodbye and good riddance.

Updated Hal Gill Quotient

Ryan Whitney - 2.0
Hal Gill - 1.34
Kris Letang - 1.34
Mark Eaton - 1.33
Sergei Gonchar - 1.0
Marc-Andre Fleury - .83
Jordan Staal - .5
Bill Thomas - .33
Pascal Dupuis - .33

Penguins Stun Sharks, Me 2-1 In Shootout

All I can say is, wow. I’m speechless. If you were not a hockey fan before the Penguins/Sharks game, you should be one now.

The Sharks outshot the Penguins (shocker) 37-36 for the game, but both goaltenders were stellar between the pipes.

Personally, I’m shocked at two things about this game.

First, we put up 36 shots against arguably the best team in the league. Why? The Pens rank dead last in the league in shots on goal per game at 27.3. By comparison, the Sharks are 2nd with 34.5.

I’m not surprised we gave up 37 shots one bit, that’s old news. The Pens rank 23rd in the league in shots allowed per game with 30.8.

Here’s the shocking part about the Pens getting 36 shots tonight. The Sharks are tops in the league in shots allowed with 27.1 per game.

Now for how stagnant the Penguins offense has been, this was a major improvement and accomplishment.

Secondly…..WE WON!

I can’t emphasize enough how ecstatic I am about knocking off the Sharks. Yes it was only a 2-1 victory in a shootout, but the Pens did the little things tonight and were rewarded in the end.

Bill Thomas was flying around the ice and got his first goal as a Penguin in the second period on a weird bounce.

Miroslav Satan chipped the puck up the far-side boards where Thomas picked it up in full stride. Thomas skated down below the right faceoff circle and appeared to attempt a pass to Jordan Staal on the back-post, but the puck deflected off Rob Blake and behind Brian Boucher much to the delight of the fans at the Igloo.

Something else struck me as different after the goal too. The reaction on the Penguins’ bench was not the typical “everyone stands and high-fives in a business only fashion.” This was like they each found out they were dating Giselle Bundchen. Everyone up and hoping around pounding the boards and such. Perhaps the boys are having fun again?

The Pens took the 1-0 lead to the 3rd period only to see it erased about halfway through the frame.

Let’s break it down shall we?

Dan Boyle skates around the back of the net to the near side with Hal “Pylon” Gill in lukewarm pursuit. Boyle throws it out in front to the crowd of five players (three Sharks, two Pens.) The two Pens? Rob Scuderi and Evgeni Malkin.

After a couple whacks the puck squirts loose to Joe Pavelski who slammed the puck into the empty cage behind Marc-Andre Fleury to tie it up at 1-1.

Now, the question you should be asking is where was Gill? To answer that you need to watch the video to actually believe it.

Gill follows Boyle (a defenseman) out to the blue-line and seems shocked that Boyle got rid of the puck.

Petr Sykora is caught in a tough spot and slides down to mark Pavelski, who Gill should have had, but by the time Sykora processes Gill’s gaffe, the red light is on.

Now what should have happened in this situation is this:

Gill is correct in forcing his man behind the net and wide, but he should have broken pursuit at the faceoff dot and let Sykora come down for support since it would be his man anyway to cover. Gill goes to the net and evens up the battle in front and maybe the puck doesn’t find it’s way in, but this is how goals are scored and hindsight is 20/20.

I will be keeping a running total of how many goals are caused by each player starting with the last game against Detroit. Half points will be assigned in the case of multiple player’s breakdowns leading to a goal. More on the full rules to come tomorrow as I tweak the system.

Anyway, Fleury (8-5-1 with a .916 save percentage since Jan. 6.) saved the game, and potentially the season, when he stoned Mike Grier on a shorthanded breakaway with just under three minutes to play. Grier tried to put the puck through Fleury’s pads, but the attempt was no match for the agile Fleury. As a result, Pens fans got treated to some free bonus hockey.

Sidney Crosby had a couple of glorious chances for legendary announcer Mike Lange to scream “Ladies and gentlemen, Elvis…has…just…left…the building,” but Boucher was up to the task and sent the game to a shootout where it came down to the final round.

Sid the Kid moved in and snapped off a wrister to the 5-hole of Boucher giving the Pens a 1-0 lead in the shootout. The game then rested on the broad shoulders of Fleury who needed to stop Boyle to secure the victory.

Boyle started out near the nearside boards, dangled his way to the slot, went to the backhand on a pretty nice move. He had Fleury beat, but out of nowhere Fleury throws out the right pad and just gets a toe on the shot sending the Igloo into a frenzied state.

The Penguins bench erupts like they just won the Stanley Cup and Fleury pops up pumping his glove in victory. The reaction of the team is nothing I have seen since last season’s playoff run. Everyone is up and jumping and hugging. This can only be a good sign.

Up next for the Pens are the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday at the ACC. I’ll be in attendance and am hoping that Sergei Gonchar suits up for the first time this season. The sooner he comes back the better and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if that gives GM Ray Shero the greenlight to start pulling the trigger on trades.

All in all today was a good day to be a Penguins fan.

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Penguins Notes 2/11

According to a report in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, defenseman Sergei Gonchar has been cleared to play by team doctors.

Gonchar will not be in the lineup tonight against the San Jose Sharks, but this is very good news.

With Gonchar back in the lineup, the Penguins’ powerplay will get back its quarterback and not a moment too soon. Currently the Pens are 15th in the league with the man advantage, clicking at 19.3%.

Now, anyone who’s seen Gonchar tee it up knows he can bring it. However, endboards around the league should be shuddering as his attempt to pick corners with that howitzer tend to go wide.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the fact that he just lets it fly from the point. I’m just hoping this surgery might have straightened out his mechanics a little.

As for tonight’s game against the Sharks, I’m not expecting much. Maybe the news of Gonchar being cleared to play will spark the team. Maybe it won’t. Time will tell, but I would not be surprised to see the Sharks grab an early lead and hold onto it.

Last night’s comeback win in Boston should have the Sharks buzzing, so be ready Marc-Andre Fleury.

Pens Fall To Wings 3-0

When I went to bed Saturday night, I had a good solid debate with myself about getting up early to watch the Penguins host the Red Wings Sunday afternoon.

The pros and cons were something like this:

PRO:

-I get to see the Penguins play.

-The Penguins appear to be playing better hockey and should be fired up to play the team that beat them in the Stanley Cup Finals.

-Should the Penguins win, having to post stories about the Grammy Awards wouldn’t be as painstaking.

CON:

-I get to see the Penguins play the Red Wings.

-I work a night-shift so waking up early would be rough on my body.

-Should the Penguins lose, having to post stories about the Grammy Awards would be torturous.

Anyway, I decided to get up early to watch the game. Turns out I made the wrong decision.

Onto the game:

The Pens looked flat the entire game. There were very few legit scoring chances for them and for the most part it looked like boys playing against men.

For the most part, the Pens played solid defense. Much more solid than I am accustomed to seeing lately. Hal Gill was not even his normal pylon self for once.

When there were defensive breakdowns, the Red Wings scored. Plain and simple. Let’s go through the goals shall we?

Goal #1: Pavel Datsyuk Power Play Goal - Henrik Zetterberg gains the blue line and fires a seemingly innocent shot on net. Marc-Andre Fleury make the pad save, but the rebound goes right to Datsyuk who buries it in the empty net.

Who’s fault is this goal? Gill. Why? Gill had the opportunity to block the pass/shot and whiffed. Had he stepped up to even force Zetterberg to re-think his thought process, the puck wouldn’t be in the net.

As for the rebound, Bill Thomas let his man get to the net unchecked for the easy tap-in. Could Fleury have done a little better with the rebound control? Maybe, but he got no help from his teammates on the play.

Goal #2 - Judas Backhander From The Slot - Judas wheels and deals at the blue line to shake Jordan Staal, works his way to the high slot and uncorks a wicked backhander off the post and in.

Who’s fault is this goal? Staal and Ryan Whitney. Why? Staal had the chance to run Judas through the board into the fifth row and went for the poke check instead.

It’s Whitney’s fault because he got caught in the Red Wings’ end forcing a wing to cover his spot. Whitney comes back into the play and heads for the slot, but the wing who should be coming over from the weakside is down in the corner marking Whitney’s man.

Whitney is caught in no man’s land and Judas fires it right past his perfect screen and beats Fleury.

Goal #3 - Datsyuk Scores On His Own Rebound - Datsyuk comes down the near side and fires a low shot on Fleury who makes the save, the rebound comes to the same side and Datsyuk beats his man to the puck and despite Fleury’s attempt, the puck barely crosses the line.

Who’s fault is this goal? Kris Letang and Whitney. Why? Letang was in Datsyuk’s face as he entered the zone and took the initial shot. He then lets Datsyuk beat him to the puck to beat Fleury. It’s Whitney’s fault because he had no one to cover and didn’t notice his man in trouble until it was too late. He does come over for support, but the puck is already behind Fleury.

What annoyed me during the game wasn’t so much the loss, but the awful commentating by Pierre McGuire and Mike Milbury.

During the second period intermission report, NBC did a spot on Sidney Crosby and why he may be struggling this season. Pierre suggests that it’s because he’s a young captain with no one above him to offer guidance.

You read that correctly.

Crosby, who lives with Mario Lemieux who last I checked owned the team, has no one above him to offer guidance.

Are you kidding me?

The endorsement obligations? Fine. The commercial spots the NHL is having him do? Fine. Don’t tell me it’s that he’s lost on how to lead.

Milbury then proceeds to answer Pierre’s question of “If the Penguins don’t make the playoffs is this season a failure?” with this gem.

“Umm. Yes. The Penguins have two of the top three goal scorers in the league so yes it would be a failure for them to not make the playoffs.”

Wrong Mikey. We have the top two point scorers in the league, not goal scorers.

Then after the third goal is scored, the crew starts blaming Fleury for the goal due to poor rebound control. Granted there was a rebound, but his defense let him down again and for the third time in this game the red light is spinning as a result.

I wouldn’t necessarily classify this as a bad loss due to the quality team they played. Would it have been a huge win to get? Absolutely, but now they get a couple days before getting a shot at another Western Conference titan in San Jose. Let’s hope for a better end result this time around.

Pens Get Outshot Again, But Win 2nd Straight!

Despite being outshot once again, the Penguins were able to knock off the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-1 last night at the Igloo.

I was unable to watch the game as I was continuing down the long road of earning my PBA card. Look out Pete Weber, I’m coming for you.

Anyway, from what I have seen of the game I’ve noticed a couple things that look different.

First off, what has gotten into Kris Letang? Kid must be eating his Wheaties because his shot looks harder and harder with every game. Not to mention the sniper-like accuracy he’s showing of late. His first goal last night was kind of flukey, but the second one was a thing of beauty.

Sidney Crosby enters the zone and lays a nice little drop pass to Letang who uncorks a wrister from the left faceoff dot to the shelf over Wade Dubielewicz’s shoulder.

Incredible shot.

The other thing I noticed was the Marc-Andre Fleury appears to be returning to form. Of course now that I’ve said this, he’s screwed. I can tell the hockey gods aren’t looking down on me in an approving manner right now, but it’s true.

Fleury looks much more confident and controlled in the paint of late. He’s making the saves he should be making and is making the big saves when the team needs him to.

The Penguins feed off Fleury when he gets in a groove. He’ll make a big save he probably shouldn’t have made and the Pens go back the other way and get a scoring chance of their own.

For a team who has appeared to lack heart and drive of late, maybe the confidence of winning two in a row at home will mean good things for tomorrow’s match-up with Judas and Detroit. (Yeah, I’m still bitter about Hossa rejecting a multi-year deal to go try and get a charity ring with the Wings so he will forever be referred to as Judas.)

The Pens were able to get a wild 7-6 win over the Wings earlier this season when Jordan Staal took control and scored a hat trick to get them back into it. If they are able to come out tomorrow and get a huge win over the Wings you can bet the rest of the league will groan in unison about the Pens being out of the funk.

Apparently The Pens Are Going After Every Player On The Market

I’ve been saying for weeks that the Pens need to make some moves to spruce up the roster. According to our good friend Eklund and his hockeybuzz.com site, I just may get my wish and get an entire new roster!

According to his latest trade rumor list the Penguins are interested in every old veteran on the market.

Here’s the list:

Erik Cole - please for the love of God no.
Mark Recchi - Aside from the leadership quality he brings, he’s not going to help the offense.
Christian Backman - Eh, physical guy. Not going to help out on offense at all.
Denis Gauthier - Solid physical gritty guy. Would welcome him in.
Keith Tkachuk - Another veteran presence guy. Could work, but I dunno.
Bill Guerin - Would prefer him out of the other vets on this list. Gritty guy who can still be effective in the late stages of his career.
Dan Hinote - Meh
Ville Koistinen - Solid puck moving defenseman, but we already have Sergei Gonchar, Ryan Whitney, Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski. We don’t really need a 5th offense d-man.
Marian Gaborik - If he wasn’t so injury prone, I would be excited about this “rumor”
Steve Eminger - umm…why?

Here’s the list of players he has listed as guys potentially leaving town:

Petr Sykora - makes no sense to me other than him being in a contract year.
Jordan Staal - I came to terms with him being the first of the young guns to go.
Miroslav Satan - Take him…please
Ruslan Fedotenko - Just didn’t pan out. Solid effort every shift, but the experiment is over.
Hal Gill - I’ve lost my voice countless times yelling at him in both person and in my living room. He never knows where he is on the ice. He refuses to hit people despite his size. He can’t handle the puck to save his life. Need I go on?

So let’s do the math. We’re apparently interested in getting 10 guys, and only entertaining giving up 5 off the current roster. That means if these deals are to happen, that more picks and prospects are going to leave town. Essentially, Eklund is saying the Pens are going to nuke the farm and the parent club to make something happen this year.

I really don’t know where he gets these rumors from. I mean, I know he has some connections to guys around the league, but I think they just screw with him so that people like me and the fine people at hockeybuzzhogwash.com have something to write about every day.

Up next for the Pens are the Columbus Blue Jackets. Steve Mason has been incredible so far this season, but has been feeling the effects of mono and has had a rough go of it in his last couple starts. Here’s to hoping that trend continues and the Pens putting a big two points in the standings.

I Don’t Get It

I have been meaning to update this blog for some time now, but have been utterly disgusted by what I have seen from the Pens this season.

Everything seemed to be going well until Marc-Andre Fleury missed a few games with a groin injury. Then Danny Sabourin comes in and sucks up the joint and we haven’t recovered since.

Now granted injuries have played a major part of why this ever deepening suckfest has continued.

Why Michael Therrien hasn’t been fired yet is beyond me. There hasn’t been any consistency in the roster for most of the season. We’re rotating 7 defensemen through the lineup.

Again, injuries play into this, but it’s no wonder the team looks out of sync. How can you possibly build chemistry when you don’t know who you’ll be playing with on a given night?

Now we’re on a 4-game losing streak after losing to Tampa Bay tonight.

Wait….we won?

Really?……Wow.

Anyway, I could go on and on, but tonight’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning was an eye-opener.

Down 3-0 after 2, Evgeni Malkin spoke up in the locker room and essentially called everyone out. Now his lack of English speaking skills might have made this speech an instant YouTube classic, but it apparently worked.

The Pens stormed back to tie it and then Malkin fittingly gets the game winner in overtime with 16 seconds left after Max Talbot got robbed by the refs just seconds earlier.

Everyone reporting on the Pens has given a few examples of supposed “turning points” to get out of this funk. There’s the two solid wins against the New York Rangers in the last couple weeks, a big win over the Flyers blah blah blah.

Already I’m seeing people calling this another “turning point.” I really want to believe it this time, but this team has not responded well to any of the aforementioned big wins. They come out almost expecting to win and you can’t just win games because you want to win. You need to put in the effort for 60 minutes, grind it out and do whatever it takes.

This game was very different from the other big wins. Granted it was against the hapless Bolts, but maybe just maybe they’ll wake up this time.

There’s also a ridiculous rumor on hockeybuzz.com from Mr. Hardly Ever Right Eklund saying that the Pens might bring Mark Recchi back to town.

Really? Are you kidding me?

Don’t get me wrong, Recchi is a legend in Pittsburgh and I’d welcome him back, but we need scorers. Not guys on the verge of retirement. We could use some veterans on the roster sure, but come on.

The only upside to this deal is that I would be able to take the tags off the Recchi jersey I got as a gift 2 days before we cut him two years ago. Yeah, I’m one of those people that doesn’t wear jerseys of people not on the team. It’s a pet peeve of mine showing up to games and seeing wrong jerseys.

What would we give Tampa for Recchi anyway? One of the draft picks we got from them this past offseason as compensation for them speaking to Gary Roberts and Ryan Malone?

Get off your high horse Eklund for the love of God. I could sit around all day and post “rumors” that could go down from “sources.” I don’t doubt you know some people, but I’m fairly certain half the rumors you post are trades you concocted in NHL 09.

Not to mention his other rumor right now about the Stars thinking about bringing Sean Avery back.

Excuse me for a second.

(Excessive laughter….wiping tears away.)

You have got to be absolutely kidding me. Why would they bring him back now when the team is just starting to turn things around and play better? Makes no sense. Not to mention not even the Rangers would want him at this point.

Get a clue man.