Penguins Call Players-Only Meeting After 5-2 Loss to Bruins

Welcome to unchartered territory for the Penguins.

And I say that not just because the Penguins broke their "win-one, lose-one" streak of the past 3 or so weeks, unfortunately by losing (not winning) 2 in a row after falling, 5-2, to the Boston Bruins at Mellon Arena last night.

I say it because of what happened after the game, when the Penguins called a "players-only" meeting for the first time I can remember in years. I'm told that Sidney Crosby, Matt Cooke, Jordan Staal, and Brooks Orpik spoke at the meeting, with Orpik being the most vocal.

When asked about the meeting, Penguins coach Michel Therrein said: "It's about time they called (it)".

There apparently continue to be concerns about the attitude of the players and the chemistry of the team, both on the ice and on the bench. Therein spoke last night of players' personal agendas being put before the team. I have a hard time seeing that out there. I don't see anyone making selfish plays, like carrying the puck too much or trying to do everything, but I am just an observer. Staal, for one, said that everyone was not supporting one another on the ice.

Of course, I don't have any problem with the players calling the meeting and airing things out. I'm behind anything they can do to get out of the funk that they're in. But even if the team is still struggling with togetherness, work-ethic, competitiveness, selfishness, attitude, etc., I don't think those factors played a big role in last night's loss.

In fact, I think the game played out last night true to what you might expect. The Penguins hung in there with the Bruins for 2/3 of the game, but the better team proved to be too much for them in the end. That can't be unexpected when you're playing a team 18 points better than you in the standings. The Bruins are on top of their game right now. They have won 9 in a row, 13 in a row at home, and 23 of their last 26. The Penguins are not. What result do you get? A 5-2 win by the better team. Nothing unusual about that.

The Penguins started off well-enough last night, taking a 1-0 lead on Petr Sykora's 13th goal in the first period -- a 2nd rebound after a bad angle shot by center Dustin Jeffrey and a rebound attempt by Ruslan Fedotenko.

The lead didn't last long, however, as Boston defenseman Zedno Chara snuck in the back door on a power play to score, and Bruins center Marc Savard buried one top shelf on Penguins' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury to give Boston a 2-1 lead before the first intermission.

Despite being down 2-1 at the end of one, the Penguins were in the game still. Boston had the better of the play, throwing 14 shots on goal in the first 20 minutes, but Fleury was fantastic. He made at least 4-5 real good saves in that period to keep the Penguins in the mix.

In the 2nd period, the Penguins managed to tie the game when Boston turned the puck over after failing to clear the puck out of their own zone. Penguins center Sidney Crosby backhanded the puck out of the air with his hand, put it down, passed it across the zone inside the blueline to a rushing Pascal Dupuis who unleashed his trademark slapper to the glove side, which beat Bruins' goalie Tim Thomas to tie the game at 2.

A little over a minute later, however, Penguins center Evgeni Malkin gave the puck away and the Bruins were able to capitalize when Savard fed winger Phil Kessel for his 23rd goal into what ended up being an open net on a quick passing play in front of Fleury, who had no chance. Savard's first attempt to get the puck to Kessel was even blocked by Penguins defenseman Ryan Whitney, but Savard did a good job staying with it.

That's the way the score stayed at the end of 2, and with the Bruins only up 1 goal at that point, the Penguins were still in things. In fact, I was hopeful they could turn it around. I felt Thomas was susceptible. He's an athletic guy with good anticipation, but isn't technically sound with rebound control. He will leave pucks out there, so if you can get a lot of rubber on him and crash the net, you can cause him problems.

Unfortunately, that was not the way the 3rd period played out. The real turning point of the game indeed came with the Penguins at the helm, when they went on the power play about 8 minutes into the period with a chance to tie the game. Instead of the Penguins capitalizing and beating Thomas, however, the Bruins were able to spring forward Martin St. Pierre on a breakaway, who beat Fleury low on the stick side to give Boston a 4-2 lead and really shift the momentum.

Bruins defenseman Dennis Wideman scored later in the period to make it 5-2.

Overall, the Penguins were outshot, 40-32.

Make no mistake. The Bruins are a good club, and they showed it last night. As I said in my series preview, they play a great system and they can score. Everything they left on the ice last evening justified their lofty perch atop the NHL standings.

All that said, the Penguins weren't blown out of the building. They made a few important mistakes, and that was easily the difference. I tend to think the "players-only" meeting that was called was more a result of the continuing way things have been going, rather than the result of the game last night specifically.

The Penguins need to get certain things going on offense. They were again 0-for on the power play last night, coming up empty in 3 chances. Crosby hasn't scored a power play goal in 29 games. That's right -- TWENTY NINE games. Malkin, one of the Penguins' real triggermen out there, hasn't gotten one in 20.

That can't happen if the Penguins are going to be competitive. Those guys have to find ways to score. To start with, they have to find more ways to draw penalties. They aren't working hard enough to do that.

Miroslav Satan also has only 4 goals in his last 24 games. A guy who's supposed to be your top winger has to be more consistent than that. His overall total of 12 is average -- and you can't say the Penguins have gotten nothing out of him -- but they need more.

The Penguins definitely are missing someone on the power play who can be physical in front of the net and on the wall. Staal has shown he isn't going to be that guy. They may be missing a little bit of that presence elsewhere, too. Somewhere, some things are missing.

If the Penguins don't find it soon, or start to get their game in synch, they will be chasing a playoff berth this year rather than trying to hold team off for one.

We'll see what impact the "players-only" meeting has on Thursday night. The Penguins know they'll have to bring their best game to win in Boston.

Even though Fleury didn't play poorly last night, I can't help but wonder if we might see Dany Sabourin in goal on Thursday --- just to change things up. He played well in a game in Boston earlier this year.

As Brooks Orpik said, it's times like this when your character is tested. We'll see whether the current composition of the Penguins roster has that proper mix ....

Penguins/Bruins Home-and-Home Preview

A lot of people expected the Boston Bruins to be competitive this season.

For a playoff berth and a likely elimination in the first round of the playoffs.

Contrary to that conventional wisdom, the Boston Bruins entered last night tied for the most points in the entire league with 58 (a distinction they lost when the San Jose Sharks knocked off the Dallas Stars, 3-1). Although they have a few shootout losses, including one to the Penguins back in October, they have only lost 5 games in regulation all season.

There are several reasons why the Bruins have won just about 75% of their contests this year, and why the next 2 games will be a good measuring stick for the Penguins.

The Bruins play well in just about every phase of the game. They can produce offensively, yet play a solid defensive system. Their special teams can keep them in games, if not win them. And they have been getting some of the best goaltending in the league.

Marc Savard leads the way for the Bruins up front. He remains one of the best passers in the game, and anchors Boston's #1 line. Zdeno Chara still anchors the Bruin blueline.

Where Boston has taken quantum steps this year, however, comes in the growth and depth of the other players on their roster.

The big key for them in my opinion this year hasn't been the development of Phil Kessel -- although he's been great. Kessel has 22 goals and 38 points in 36 games and has blossomed into the game breaker many thought he would be when taken 5th overall in the 2006 draft. In fact, if Bruins' coach Claude Julien hadn't benched Kessel for 3 games of their first round series against the Montreal Canadiens last year for poor defensive play, it's entirely possible the Bruins, and not the Canadiens, would have advanced in that seven game series because Kessel was fantastic when he was in the lineup.

In any case, I believe the Bruins have become a much tougher team to defend against because of the leap 2nd year center David Krejci has taken. Krejci, just 21, has 39 points in 36 games and is plus 22. He gives Boston a reliable second line with Michael Ryder and former Phoenix Coyote Blake Wheeler.

The other main reason why the Bruins have fared so well this season has been the all-star caliber play of their number 1 netminder, former Journeyman and 34 year old Tim Thomas.

Thomas didn't make it to the NHL on a regular basis until 2005/5006, but has really come on strong in the last 2 seasons. Last year, he showed he could make the Bruins competitive on most nights. This year, his technique has improved even more. He's at or near the top of many NHL goaltending statistical categories, including his .935 save percentage, and has earned those rankings honestly.

The Penguins will probably see him Thursday on the back end of the home-and-home, while Boston suits up Manny Fernandez tonight.

Of course, all of Boston's success has happened despite losing inspirational and reliable teammate Patrice Bergeron to another concussion recently after he missed most of last season with a similar ailment. Bergeron has always been a key player for the Bruins and even though it's fair to say his career may be in jeopardy even at this relatively early stage in his career, the Bruins have soldiered on.

There's no question that the Penguins will have to bring their best game to have a chance against Boston the next few nights. They won't be able to take shifts off or fail to compete on the ice consistently if they want to win.

The Penguins also need to get Miroslav Satan scoring again. He's in a fairly protracted slump and, although he's always been a streaky player, the Penguins could benefit from him being a little more consistent. Perhaps that's why I'm hearing talk heat up about the Penguins talking to the Minnesota Wild again about winger Marion Gaborik.

The good news for the Penguins is that defenseman Hal Gill is expected to return to the lineup tonight after missing 10 games due to a shoulder problem. I'll be anxious to see who Penguin coach Michel Therrein decides to sit. Just like when Ryan Whitney returned to the lineup last week, I still think Mark Eaton or Philipe Boucher are the most likely candidates (in that order).

On the other hand, it doesn't look like forward Mike Zigomanis or defenseman Kris Letang are any closer to returning to the lineup, and I suspect Eric Godard will be out again as well.

I'll recap tonight's first game of the back-to-back set between these two clubs in Pittsburgh tomorrow.

Canadiens Defeat Penguins, 3-2

Sorry for the delay with this post. Caught a 24-hour stomach bug that began violently at 4 AM Sunday. Now that I've gotten that ugliness out of my system ......

If I had told you before the Penguins game against Montreal on Saturday night that the Penguins have alternated wins and losses for pretty much the last 3 weeks -- and that the Penguins had won their last game -- you could pretty much forecast the result.

Continuing their inability to win even 2 games in a row lately, the Penguins stayed true to that form and fell at home to the Canadiens, 3-2.

In all fairness, it would be hard to accuse the Penguins of not coming to play in this one, which is something they've been too guilty of in the last 6 weeks. They outshot Montreal 34-19 and had every chance to win the game, but a soft goal by Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and poor awareness in the defensive zone on the other 2 Canadiens' goals did the Penguins in.

The goal Fleury allowed was a 50-foot slapshot that went between his legs. Although Defenseman Brooks Orpik was in the path of the shot and may have provided a little screen, he was out close to the shooter -- Montreal forward Andrei Kostitsyn, who tallied all 3 Canadien goals -- and that shouldn't have been enough to keep Fleury from stopping the shot.

One of Kostitsyn's other goals was the result of ALL FIVE Penguin players watching the puck-carrier behind the Penguins goal (including 4 on one side of the net) and leaving Kostitsyn wide open in the slot from 10 feet away to score.

Pascal Dupuis and Sidney Crosby scored for the Penguins. It was Crosby's 2nd goal of the week, after having gone without one in 12 games.

With the loss, the Penguins remain in 7th place in the East. The good news is that, despite how poorly the Penguins have played lately, they still are only 5 points back of the Rangers, who still lead a tight Atlantic Division.

The Penguins are off again until Tuesday when they begin a home-and-home series against the Eastern Conference leading Boston Bruins. The Penguins will be tested in those games and will need to bring there "A" effort to win.

I'll post a preview of the set tomorrow.

Penguins, Fleury Shut Out Devils, 1-0

Sometimes, when a team isn't playing well, it needs its goaltender to steal a game. To step up in a game where his team is significantly outshot and just slam the door on the opposition. To give his team a victory when they need one more than anything.

And so it was last night in New Jersey, as Penguin goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury shut out the Devils, stopping all 37 shots they threw at him, and helping the Penguins to a 1-0 victory that pushed them ahead of the Devils in the Eastern Conference and Atlantic Division standings.

Ruslan Fedotenko scored the only marker for the Penguins in the 2nd period, completing a nice give-and-go with Evgeni Malkin who was kind enough to draw 3 Devils to him once he got the puck and leave Mr. Potato Head wide open in the slot.

Although the Penguins went 0-for-5 on the power play and were outshot 37-18, they didn't play poorly. Their offense was a bit sluggish for the second game in a row, but with the goaltending that Fleury provided them, they didn't need to light up the scoreboard.

Fleury was particularly good in the 3rd period, tossing aside shot after shot and looking like the goaltender who was on top of his game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs last year.

His best save of the night came in the 2nd period when he dove across the crease and spectacularly got the bottom of his glove on a shot from Devils forward Jamie Langenbrunner -- who surely had nightmares of Fleury after being stoned by him all night long. That sequence ended only when the resulting scramble around the net found the puck squirt behind Fleury and partly over the goalline before Penguins defenseman Mark Eaton swung his leg across the line and kicked the puck out.

The close play had to be reviewed, but the "no-goal" call was upheld.

Penguins coach Michel Therrein was more pleased with his team's performance last night, and he should be. Pittsburgh worked hard and earned the 2 points. They'll have to do the same tonight, when they play the 2nd end of a back-to-back, at home against the rested and waiting Montreal Canadiens at (7 PM EST) in a Hockey Night in Canada broadcast.

Can the Penguins win 2 in a row and start a min-run? We'll see.

Recap tomorrow ....

NOTES:

The Penguins sent down forwards Tim Wallace, Ryan Stone and Jeff Taffe before the Christmas break, and recalled forwards Paul Bissonette and Dustin Jeffrey yesterday. Both Bissonette adn Jeffrey were in the lineup. For Jeffrey, it was his first cup of coffee in the league. Jeffrey has been a great face-off man and penalty killer in Wilkes Barre, and the Penguins may be looking to get a little something from him like they usually get from center Mike Zigomanis, who's still on the shelf with an undisclosed injury. He didn't see the ice a lot last night, but didn't look out of place either.

Last Place Lightning Blank Penguins, 2-0

The Penguins threw 15 shots at Tampa Bay Lightning netminder Mike Smith in losing to the last-place Bolts, 2-0, last night at Mellon Arena.

Which makes about 12 more than the number of guys in a Penguin uniform who actually showed up to play.

Continuing a miserable stretch of peformances, the Penguins again went down to a bottom-feeder team on their home ice by failing to win puck battles and not working hard enough to create scoring opportunities.

Concern?

You bet.

Pittsburgh's continuing poor play reduced Ryan Malone's first game back in town, and the return of Ryan Whitney to the Penguin lineup, to sideshows last night. Malone was mostly a non-factor, short of him trying to be physical with Evgeni Malkin. Whitney didn't look terribly rusty, but having him in the lineup obviously wasn't enough to pull the rest of the squad up by their bootstraps to victory.

Penguins coach Michel Therrein said after the game last night that the players don't have the right attitude, indicted them for "complaining about each other on the bench, on the ice", and said they better "wake up".

Complaining about each other?? That's not the Penguin team I know from the last 2 years.

I don't know what it is, but the squad is definitely in a funk, and once these things go on as long as they have, they aren't easy to get out of. It's bad enough the Penguins aren't working as hard as they need to on the ice, but if things have reached the level of some internal bickering among the players ..... not good.

This is new territory for Pittsburgh, for sure.

With the loss, they fell to 18-12-4 overall, and still sit marooned in 4th place in the Atlantic Division and 7th in the Eastern Conference. The fortunate part for them is that, for as bad as they've played, they still only sit 7 points behind the division leading (and 2nd in the conference) Rangers. They have time to get out of their slump and re-establish themselves, but they better start doing it soon.

It's hard to say what's going to get the squad going again. Hard work is usually what gets a team out of a slump. It wouldn't be any different for the Penguins, especially since their lack of hard work is their primarly problem right now. They have plenty of guys who know how to compete. They just need to get back to it. It won't be easy with back-t0-back games this weekend against New Jersey and Montreal, but the Penguins have no choice.

If they want to save their season, they can't continue to play like they have.

More over the weekend at some point.

Happy Holidays everyone.

Penguins/Sabres Recap: Penguins/Lightning Preview

Sidney Crosby hadn't scored a goal in a career-high 9 games going into last night's contest with the Buffalo Sabres at HBSC Arena.

After 60 minutes last night, it looked as if he'd stretch that record to 10 games.

Then, in the blink of an eye, he bunted a shot by Evgeni Malkin out of the air and past Sabres' goaltender Ryan Miller about 45 seconds into overtime to complete a Penguin comeback from a 3-2 deficit and give them their 2nd win in the last 3 games.

The play had to withstand a 2-minute video review -- and it was close -- but it held up, and the Penguins were able to leave the miserable weather in Buffalo feeling a little better about themselves than when they arrived.

In addition to his assist on Crosby's game winner, Malkin padded his NHL-leading point total with 2 other helpers. The Penguins' also received a strong offensive game from rookie defenseman Alex Goligoski, who scored twice and added an assist.

Pascal Dupuis scored the other goal for the Penguins, while Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 32 Sabre shots.

The Penguins have little time to enjoy the win, because they are back in action tonight at home against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Tonights' game will be interesting on several fronts.

First, it is the first game in Pittsburgh for Lightning players and former Penguins Ryan Malone, Gary Roberts, and Adam Hall. Of course, Mark Recchi will be returning to Pittsburgh again, but he's done that several times before. It should be a particularly emotional game for Malone.

Tonight's contest will also mark the return of Penguins defenseman Ryan Whitney, who hasn't seen game action since game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals last year. After off-season surgery to correct a foot deformity, Whitney has missed the first 33 games of the season. He played in one game conditioning assignment in the AHL with the Baby Penguins over the weekend -- scoring an assist on the power play -- and is expected to boost the Penguins' man advantage.

What will be interesting is to see which defenseman sits out so Whitney can play. I'm fairly sure Orpik, Letang and Scuderi won't be the guys taking a seat. I think Goligoski will probably stay in the lineup as well. That leaves Eaton or Boucher as the candidates for a scratch.

One other note that I neglected to mention last week during this hectic holiday season -- the Penguins traded former prospect Jonathan Filewich to the St. Louis Blues for a 6th round draft pick. Filewich was once thought to have a future with the Penguins as an up-and-down 3rd line banger along the wall, but he never demonstrated any kind of scoring touch in his 4 years in the AHL. The writing has been on the wall for him the last several years as many of his Baby Penguin teammates were called up to the big club before him. The Penguins won't miss him.

Recap tomorrow.

Penguins Embarassed by Maple Leafs

Last night, with the Penguins looking to get back on a winning run after spanking the Atlanta Thrashers on Thursday, they welcomed the below-average Toronto Maple Leafs into their own barn.

Unfortunately, it wouldn't have mattered if they hosted the Toronto Marlies of the AHL.

The Maple Leafs embarassed the Penguins on their home ice, 7-3 last night.

The Penguins were outshot, 40-23 and played one of their worst defensive games of the season.

Marc-Andre Fleury also crashed backwards last night, giving up 5 goals in the first 2 periods before being removed in favor of Dany Sabourin. And saying Fleury was bad is probably being charitable. He wasn't anywhere near the way he played on Thursday against the Thrashers.

The closest the Penguins ever got to Toronto was 3-1, and they probably didn't deserve to be that close. Toronto brought their lunch pails and both outworked and outskated the Penguins all night.

As an illustration of how bad things were for Pittsburgh, look no further than Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson, who characterized his team's play after the win as "easily, our best game of the season".

Sorry. That shouldn't happen against the Penguins.

For the record, Evgeni Malkin and Petr Sykora (2) scored for the flightless birds. I'm not surew here everyone else was.

Pittsburgh is definitely in a funk. Despite their 17-11-4 record, they sit precariously on the edge of playoff position in the Eastern Conference -- 7th, and have even sunk to 4th in their own division. They haven't won consecutive games in regualtion time in about 6 weeks, and haven't prevailed in 2 games in a row of any kind in about a month.

Most teams go through some stretch like this each year, although the Penguins have done a good job of avoiding these periods in each of the last 2 seasons. They have time to get back on track, but don't want to burn up the cushion they'd like to have down the stretch of the season. If they keep playing the way they are -- not working as hard as they can, and not being as sharp defensively as they need to -- they could very well require a good winning streak down the stretch of the season just to qualify for the playoffs. Let's hope things don't get to that point.

We'll see how the Boys come out for their next game, against the Sabres on Monday in Buffalo.

Penguins Sign Talbot to 2-Year Contract

Max Talbot bleeds Penguin black and gold.

He is one of their heart-and-soul players ... a guy who can do a little bit of everything, from playing in an offensive role on the top line to playing in a defensive role killing a penalty in the last minute of the game.

Better still, Mad Max is the glue in the Penguin locker room ... the guy who keeps everyone loose, from goalie Marc-Andre Fleury all the way out to team ambassador Sidney Crosby.

Although Penguins' management has been unabashed about keeping their core together, there had been little talk about whether the Penguins might sign Talbot to a new contract after his current deal expired this year.

Obviously, they've been quietly working behind the scenes at it because on Friday, the Penguins announced that they signed Talbot to a 2-year extension that will pay him in excess of 1 million per year.

Undoubtedly, this is a great signing for the Penguins. Talbot's value exceeds his production on this ice by far, and that's not to diminish his ability to produce. Max has been a fairly clutch player in his career. 8 of his career 24 goals have been game-winners and none of the tallies he's potted since playing in the NHL top the game 5 tying goal against Detroit in the finals last year.

All teams need a multi-dimensional player or two like Talbot, and the Penguins are fortunate to have him.

Not bad for an 8th round draft pick. And not bad for the Penguins.

Penguins Thrash Atlanta, 6-3

After 5 days off and a series of uninspired performances lately, the Penguins had no reason not to come out hard and dominate a team 28th overall in the standings in thier own barn, especially with the return of their #1 goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury.

True to form, the Penguins rolled over the Thrashers, 6-3, last night at Phillips Arena behind Evgeni Malkin's 2 goals and 2 assists, and 28 saves from Fleury.

Although the Penguins weren't perfect in this game, their skill level was no match for Atlanta's awful defensive effort. The Penguins went 2 for 5 on the power play, scored on 6 of their only 20 total shots, and chased Thrasher starting goaltender Ondrej Pavelec in the 2nd period.

Aside from Malkin's 2 goals, Phillipe Boucher, Jordan Staal, Matt Cooke and Miroslav Satan scored for the Boys of Winter.

Cooke's goal in the first period got them off and running, culminating a score off the rush following an Atlanta turnover and a fast transition attack.

Satan's goal in the 2nd period also was a nice one, as he finished a tic-tac-toe passing play on the man advantage by taking a pass in the slot from Crosby and using Pavelec's momentum against him by deking to the backhand and depositing the puck into an empty cage.

How he was left alone in front like that -- on the penalty kill, no less -- I'll never figure out.

It's a good thing the Penguins were in command most of the game, because Satan made a ghastly giveaway in his own zone to former Penguin Colby Armstrong in the 3rd period, which Armstrong promptly blew by Fleury before he had time to recognize the turnover and fully come out to challenge Colby. That kind of turnover would normally be benching material.

The Penguins lost Pascal Dupuis to an unspecified lower body injury last night. He joins Hal Gill, Tyler Kennedy, Mike Zigomanis, Max Talbot, Ryan Whitney and Sergei Gonchar on an ever-growing Penguin injury list. Hopefully Zigomanis, Talbot and Whitney will get back in the lineup soon -- ideally in the next 3 games before Christmas.

The Penguins come home to play the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.

More over the weekend ...

Penguins Interested in Martin St. Louis?

I'm picking up on some chatter that the Penguins may be looking at trying to acquire Tampa Bay Lightning winger Martin St. Louis.

The Lightning are struggling this season, as just about everyone knows. It's apparent that the collection of players assembled by the new ownership and management group down there just isn't getting it done -- whether Barry Melrose or former Penguin Rick Tocchet is behind the bench. Rather than just try to tweak things, new Tampa Bay GM Brian Lawton may be looking to shake things up more meaningfully.

Word is that, if the Lightning are considering making a big move, St. Louis might have an interest in moving on.


St. Louis would be a decent fit for a Penguins team still in need of a scoring winger for #87. St. Louis certainly fits that bill, although he still is probably a bit more of a playmaker than goal scorer. However, he doesn't come with an overwhelming salary cap hit -- *just* 5.25 million for the next 2 and a half seasons.

The next 2 months and change leading up to the trade deadline on March 4 are going to be interesting for Penguin fans. There will always be the speculation that Penguins GM Ray Shero may move a defenseman by then. Janne Pesonen's name continues to go around the rumor mill too, with Edmonton and Toronto supposedly showing some interest. Meanwhile, chatter connecting the Penguins to Brendan Shanahan and Ilya Kovalchuk seems to have died down -- for now anyway.

As always, I'll post any talk of interest I hear going around.

Flyers Power Past Penguins, 6-3

Going into yesterday's key intra-division clash on the road with Philadelphia, the Penguins had killed off 23 of their last 25 man disadvantages, and were ranked 7th in the league on the PK.

Against the Flyers, the Penguins' penalty kill gave up more goals than penalties it killed.

Philadelphia scored 4 power play goals on 6 opportunities and buried the Penguins, 6-3 to move ahead of Pittsburgh into 2nd place in the Atlantic Division.

It's the first time the Penguins have been as low as 3rd in their Division all season.

The Flyers got contributions from up and down their lineup in beating on the Pens' yesterday afternoon. Jeff Carter, Mike Richards and Mike Knuble (2) were just among the many Philadelphia players who padded their offensive stat totals at the Penguins' expense. Kimmo Timonen had 4 assists -- not surprising since the Flyers got rich on the man-advantage.

The Penguins were never really in the game. The closest they were was 2-1 following a nice tic-tac-toe passing play which ended with Jordan Staal deflecting one past Flyers netminder Martin Biron. The Pens' other 2 goals were late in the 3rd when the game was already over, by Eric Godard -- his first as a Penguin -- and Ruslan Fedotenko.

Despite the Penguins' struggles on the power play, they had other issues yesterday. They didn't really play with intensity, for one thing. It showed all over the ice, and especially in front of the goal on the Flyers' man advantage. It even showed on the Penguins' power play, as the Flyers penalty kill typically outworked the 5 guys the Penguins' put out there.

Dany Sabourin also didn't have a good game. His penchant for being slow to react to pucks coming off the boards behind him and for leaving pucks around the net hurt again yesterday. The Penguins definitely need a healthy and well-performing Marc-Andre Fleury back in goal.

Yesterday was the Penguins' 7th game in 11 nights. They've lost 4 of their last 5 games and are on the negative side of .500 after going through a 7-0-1 stretch earlier in November. Perhaps their schedule has caught up to them a little.

The Penguins' next suit up after 5 days rest, on Thursday against Atlanta. It's likely Fleury will play in that one, since he dressed as Sabourin's back-up yesterday -- a decision I was a little surprised at. If Fleury was healthy enough to dress as Sabourin's back-up, he had to be considered healthy enough to play. And if he was healthy enough to play, I don't know why he didn't play. The reason shouldn't be because they wanted Curry to get back to meaningful minutes in the AHL. He played recently and if the Penguins wanted to keep him around since the last game, they would only have had to wait 2 more days before sending him down.

NOTES:

There's a good chance that both Max Talbot -- who missed the game yesterday with an undisclosed injury -- and Mike Zigomanis will play in Atlanta. Zigomanis has missed the last 6 games with what is believed to be an arm problem, and the Penguins' have suffered in the face-off circle somewhat without him.

Ryan Whitney doesn't appear to be quite ready to return yet.

The Penguins recalled Connor James from Wilkes Barre before yesterday's game because of Talbot's injury. He suited up against Philadelphia, but didn't have an impact and was returned to the AHL after the game along with Jeff Taffe. Interestingly, the Penguins continue to keep Tim Wallace on the roster. They must like what he's giving them.

Penguins End Slump In Style With 9-2 Woodshed Beating of Islanders

You know it's a good night when your home fans are chanting, "WE WANT 10!".

And so it goes for the Penguins, who abused the New York Islanders to the tune of 9-2 last night at Mellon Arena.

The Penguins were led by not one, but TWO hat tricks -- one by Pascal Dupuis, and the other by Petr Sykora.

Both were their first HT's in the National Hockey League. Sykora, as everyone around here seems to know, had 38 2-goal games to his credit in his career, but never a hat trick -- the most 2-goal games ever by an NHL player without posting a hat trick.

He couldn't have been happier on the ice when he scored his 3rd, and in the locker room after the game.

Dupuis's HT just piled on the misery for the New York Islanders, who probably thought they might go on the road against the Penguins and give them some trouble. After all, the Penguins had lost 3 straight, it was their 3rd game in 4 nights, they were starting their 3rd string goaltender in John Curry, and always have trouble with the Islanders at home.

So much for those theories.

The Penguins debunked them all on their way to a 4-1 first period lead. Dupuis opened the scoring by blazing a slapshot by Islanders starting goaltender Joey McDonald from the left wing circle. We've seen Dupuis rip it from there a few times and score. He has an underrated shot.

Miroslav Satan, who has been mostly miserable the last month with 2 goals in his last 14 games, got on the board next, taking a cross-crease pass on a 5-on-3 power play and tucking it in on the backhand. Satan added 2 assists in the onslaught that followed.

Sykora and Phillipe Boucher -- returning after missing 6 games with concussion symptoms -- also scored that period. It was Boucher's first goal as a Penguin.

The Boys of Winter were sitting pretty at that point, but instead of sitting back in the 2nd period, they poured it on.

Malkin made it 5-1, then Sykora scored the next 2 -- both power play goals -- for his hat trick. Dupuis added his second before the period was out, to make it 8-1 at the end of 2.

At this point, I couldn't help but wonder what the Penguins might do to blow this lead.

Not so. Dupuis closed out the scoring with about 5 minutes left for the Penguins first 9 goal game since 2001.

The Penguins had 38 shots and finished 3-for-11 on the power play. Malkin, Cooke, Staal, Goligoski and Scuderi all added 2 points to their totals, while Crosby had 3 helpers. Curry wasn't ever really tested.

I wondered if Penguins' coach Michel Therrein was going to keep sending #87 and #71 over the boards in the 3rd period. He did.

I wondered if Islanders coach Scott Gordon was going to get pissed about that. He didn't.

The truth of the matter is that Therrein couldn't be faulted for piling it on anyway. The Penguins had lost 3 in a row. He's trying to jump-start his team offensively. If a 9-2 rout gives his players a chance to gain some confidence, he'd be foolish to try and suppress that. Sure, you have to watch out for shenanigans out there with a game out of hand, but to their credit, the Islanders didn't sink to that level. Good thing, too, since the Penguins scratched Eric Godard again.

The 2 HT's last night was the first game the Penguins had 2 players register a hat trick since Mario Lemieux and Joe Mullen did it in 1993 against the New York Rangers in the midst of the Pens' 17 game, league-record winning streak to close the season.

With the win, the Penguins raised their record to 16-9-4 for 36 points, and are now 4 behind the Division leading Rangers. Philadelphia -- who the Penguins play Saturday afternoon in the City of Brotherly Hate -- also won over Carolina, 6-5, in a shootout, after being down 5-1 going into the 3rd period. With that win, they matched the Penguins' 36 points. The Flyers should have a lot of confidence for their weekend showdown with our flightless birds.

More after that matchup.

Devil Does In The Penguins, 4-1

Last night's 4-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils at Continental Airlines Arena can be summed up easily for the Penguins.

They were cursed.

The Penguins hit 4 posts in the course of the game -- 3 of them relatively early on -- but couldn't get one into the 4 X 6. Eventually, the Devils found a way to do what the Penguins couldn't. They slowly built their lead to 3-0 -- even if the first Devils goal was the result of a clear offside play by New Jersey -- before Matt Cooke scored with approximately 4 minutes to go. The Penguins put on good pressure after that, but got no closer, and the Devils sealed things with an empty netter.

It's hard to complain too much about the Penguins' play last night. They played with more intensity, and their defensive zone coverage was better. Penguins goaltender Dany Sabourin struggled on a few of the Devils goals, however, and that didn't help.

On the first one, a shot from the left side wide of the net came off the back boards behind him and through the crease, and before he could get turned around, Devils forward Travis Zajac tapped it into an empty net.

On the third one, the puck came across to the right circle to New Jersey winger Danius Zubrus on a rush. I think Sabourin was screened on the play by defenseman Alex Goligoski but as Zubrus' shot went by Sabourin low on the stick side, it was apparent that he was significantly out of position. He just lost track of the net behind him as he moved across the crease.

Sabourin also left a few other pucks sitting around the crease which were just cleared by Penguin defenseman before the Devils could pounce.

He clearly needs to be better with his quickness and awareness around the net. These aren't new problems for him, but they are starting to hurt him and the team more.

Evgeni Malkin assisted on Cooke's goal to keep his scoring streak alive, but Sidney Crosby's 7-game streak was snapped.

The Penguins' also came up empty on the power play again.

Last night's loss was the Penguins 3rd straight defeat in regulation -- something that hasn't happened in about 1 year. It left the Penguins at 15-9-4, with 34 points, now 6 behind the New York Rangers, who won in overtime against the Atlanta Thrashers last night. More importantly, the Devils, who have won 8 of 10, I believe, are now tied with the Penguins with 34 points in the Atlantic Division. The Flyers also are right behind both the Devils and Penguins.

The good news (maybe?) for the Boys of Winter is that they get to try and erase some of the bad taste in their mouth quickly. They play again tonight at home against the division cellar-dwellars, the New York Islanders.

Expect John Curry to get the start in goal. During this back-to-back stretch, Sabourin needs a breather, and Curry played well against the Islanders when he replaced Sabourin about 2 and 1/2 weeks ago and the Penguins came back to win.

Recap tomorrow ...

Pens'/Devils Game Day News and Notes

Here's the latest and greatest on the Penguins roster and injuries:

After examining Hal Gill, the Penguins' team physicians have determined that his left shoulder injury will keep him out 2-4 weeks. Obviously, that is a little more serious than everyone first thought, and losing Gill is another blow to a Penguins' defense that was already missing several guys.

Meanwhile, fellow defenseman Phillipe Boucher returned to practice yesterday. It seems that Boucher sustained a minor concussion when he last played about 10 days ago. He could return this weekend or next week.

As I have indicated, Ryan Whitney and Marc-Andre Fleury are also back practicting with the team. Fleury was believed to have a groin problem. He and Whitney both probably won't return until next week, although there may be an oustide chance Fleury sees action Saturday against the Philadelphia Flyers. Whitney needs more time to get into game shape.

Mike Zigomanis is likely to return later this week from his undisclosed injury. He, too, is taking a little longer to get back in the lineup, but is expected back soon. The Penguins' miss him in the face-off circle, for sure.

The Penguins sent LW Janne Pesonen back down to Wilkes-Barre yesterday. He played only 4 minutes in the last game and does not appear to have the trust or confidence of Penguins' coach Michel Therrein. Perhaps for that reason, rumors are going around that the Penguins' are trying to move him. The Edmonton Oilers are thought to be a team with some interest.

The Boys also recalled Jeff Taffe and Tim Wallace from Wilkes-Barre. Taffe has arguably been the Baby Penguins' best forward this season, with 29 points in 24 games, including 14 goals. The Penguins' might reunite him with his RW for most of the season, Chris Minard, although it's hard for me not to think why the Penguins wouldn't try Minard on one of the top 2 lines just to see how he fits in there. He has a good shot and knows how to get into the scoring areas.

The Wallace recall is hard to make anything out of. Wallace has only 7 points in 21 games and is a minus 2. I'd like to tell you more about him, but I really can't, because he's so far off the Penguins' radar that I don't know anything about him. Maybe the Penguins need extra bodies for practice.

Recap of the Penguins/Devils game tomorrow.

Penguins Blow Lead And ... Stop Me If You've Heard This Before

"It was a horrible performance".

That's what Penguins coach Michel Therrein had to say after the latest Penguins' come-from-ahead loss to the Buffalo Sabres last night at Mellon Arena, 4-3.

Much like the last time the teams met in Buffalo on 11-28, the Penguins had a 3-2 lead and coudln't hold it. This time, the Penguins actually had a 3-1 lead, and they didn't wait until the 3rd period to blow it, allowing the Sabres to tie it before the 2nd intermission. But after the Sabres got the winner in the 3rd, the result was all the same.

Ruslan Fedotenko scored twice and Kris Letang also scored for the Penguins. Letang's goal was the only one the Penguins scored on a 5-on-3 last night (that's right ... I said only ... more on that in a minute), while Fedotenko's goals were each put on a silver platter by Evgeni Malkin, who made beautiful plays on both.

On the first, Malkin carried the puck across the Sabres blueline on the near boards, leading a 3-on-2 rush. He stickhandled between his legs to gain a step with the puck, then tossed a backhander past Petr Sykora (giving Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller a moment of pause) to Fedotenko who buried it for a 1-0 lead.

After Derek Roy of the Sabres tied the game after taking a Brooks Orpik giveaway, walking in on a 2-on-1 and beating Penguins goaltender Dany Sabourin low to the stick side, Malkin and Fedotenko struck again.

This time, Sykora passed a puck out from behind the net to Malkin in the far left circle. He one timed a pass to Fedotenko in the slot, who buried it again behind Miller to give the Penguins a 3-1 lead.

After Letang's goal put the Penguins up 3-1, the Sabres managed to get within 1 again, and that's when the game arguably turned.

Buffalo had been taking penalties all night and, although that shouldn't worry them greatly with the way the Penguins' power play has been performing lately, it apparently was a concern to Sabres' coach Lindy Ruff, who barked enough at the officials from the bench the next time the Sabres took a penalty to put his team down 2 men for a full 2 minutes.

Had the Penguins capitalized there, they could have put the game away. They had some chances, but were too busy looking for the pretty play and didn't finish. The Sabres' got some momentum from that, and went on to win.

As Therein said, "The Power play is not good. We've asked people to go in front of the net, but they won't go. So we need the perfect shot".

The Penguins had 3 separate 5-on-3 advantages -- each for extended periods -- but finished 1-for-8 with the extra man.

I think that qualifies as horrible. Miller played well for Buffalo, but you have to capitalize on those opportunities if you want to win in this league.

What also qualifies as horrible was the Penguins' defensive play last night. They gave the puck away too many times in their own zone and also got caught running around too much. I've already talked about the awful gaffe Orpik made in the first period. It's hard to be too critical of Orpik, since he doesn't do things like that very often, but you just can't make that mistake.

A lot of the other Buffalo goals were the result of the Penguins following the puck carrier or abandoning their coverage zones on the ice, or both, which is generally uncharacteristic of the Penguins.

Sabourin also left some pucks lying around the net last night.

I believe last night's game was the first time the Penguins have lost consecutive games in regulation in about 5 weeks or so. That's something they don't want to continue. Even though they remain only 4 points behind the New York Rangers, they have been inconsistent lately -- something I touched on here yesterday. They need to come out strong on the road in New Jersey on Wednesday, when they take the ice again.

It will help to get Marc-Andre Fleury and Ryan Whitney back soon, too. Injuries have been adding up for the Penguins lately. Fleury practiced yesterday with the team, although I still wouldn't expect to see him until later in the week. Same for Whitney, who should help stabilize the Penguins defense, which is now missing 4 regulars (Gonchar, Whitney, Boucher, and Gill).

Let's hope the Penguins can right the ship quickly. Sure -- they haven't lost 8 in a row or anything, but the standards around here are higher given the success the team has had the last few years. That includes the fans, but obviously includes the players and coaching staff. We'll see how the Penguins show up on the road tomorrow night.

Penguins Fall to Senators, 3-2

The Penguins' concluded their 3 game road trip with a 3-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Place on Saturday afternoon.

In a rather lackluster, 19-shot effort, the Penguins were done in by 3 goals by the Sens' premier assist man, Jason Spezza. Jordan Staal scored in the 2nd period for the Penguins and, after Spezza tallied his HT, Evgeni Malkin scored a shorthanded goal in the 3rd period to make it 3-2 and keep things interesting, but the Penguins got no closer.

That loss was the 2nd time the Penguins fell to Ottawa this season, and I have to say ... losing to a mediocre, one-line hockey club with an average defense -- at best -- like the Senators is getting old.

The Penguins didn't come out with their best effort, perhaps because it was their 3rd game in less than 72 hours. Either way, they were sluggish most of the afternoon, and Ottawa took advantage.

The Penguins are struggling with consistency right now. They've gone 9 games without winning or losing two straight in regulation. With OT wins and losses scattered in there, they are treading water, but it would be nice for them to put a 3-4 game winning streak together and establish some momentum.

The Rangers were shut out by Calgary last night, leaving the Penguins still 4 points back, with 4 games in hand. Our flightless birds will look to close that gap tonight on home ice against the Buffalo Sabres (7:30 PM EST).

NOTES:

It is expected that both Ryan Whitney and Marc-Andre Fleury will return to full practice with the team sometime this week. Still, don't expect either to return to game action until the end of the week -- perhaps Saturday afternoon against the Flyers -- at the earliest.

The Penguins recalled defenseman Ben Jovejoy from Wilkes-Barre Scranton of the AHL, after Hal Gill suffered a shoulder injury in the Senators game. Gill's injury is not known to be serious, so it's unclear whether Lovejoy was recalled to take his spot in the lineup tonight or simply be around "in case". Lovejoy has been the baby Penguins' best defenseman this year, ringing up a +14 rating. He impressed the Penguins with his consistency in camp and has obviously carried that through to his play in the American Hockey League this season.

Penguins Storm Carolina, Win 5-2

So much for the theory that it's harder to play against a team in their first game with a new coach ....

On the 2nd half of back-to-back games ...

In a town where you historically haven't played all that well ....

The Penguins debunked all of those theories and more last night, storming past the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-2.

The Boys of Winter jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead and stretched their advantage to 3-0 in the second period. Carolina was finally able to get a few pucks by Penguins netminder Dany Sabourin after that, but never got closer than 2 goals and were matched by the Penguins adding 2 more on the scoreboard the rest of the way.

Petr Sykora scored twice for Pittsburgh -- both power play goals. The Pens' went 2 for 3 on the power play, which is an excellent showing for a team surprisingly near the bottom of the league barrel with the man advantage on the road.

Wingers chipped in the Penguins' other 3 goals too, with Pascal Dupuis, Miroslav Satan, and Ruslan Fedotenko adding the other tallies.

Dany Sabourin, getting the start for the 2nd straight night, was strong in stopping 34 of 36 shots.

The other Penguins' lynchpin performer last night was #87. He assisted on 4 of the Penguins 5 goals to raise his point total this year to 39, 2 behind NHL leader and teammate Evgeni Malkin, who had 2 assists of his own to raise his league leading tally to 41.

Crosby has been unstoppable lately. He now has 14 points in his last 5 games.

The Penguins raised their record to 15-6-4, good for 34 points. They also gained ground on the Rangers who, after barely coming back to beat the flightless birds on Wednesday night, promptly went up to Montreal and got spanked, 6-2, by the Canadiens. Pittsburgh now sits 4 points back of New York.

I can't get over how well the Penguins have played overall on the road. They are 8-3-2 away from home, just a hair better than their 7-3-2 home record thanks to last night's win. If they keep playing like that away from Mellon Arena, they're going to rack up a lot of points. Great road play is a hallmark of a great hockey club.

While I'm talking about the hallmarks of a good hockey team, another key to the Penguins success this season has been their ability to avoid going on losing streaks -- or even losing 2 games in a row. Aside from their long road trip earlier this season where they went 1-2-1 (with the win coming at the end of the trip against St. Louis), the Penguins have done well to avoid getting in a losing rut. They've done an excellent job of this the last 2 seasons as well. I think coach Michel Therrein deserves some credit in this area. They are usually ready to bounce back strong after a loss.

NOTES:

Mike Zigmoanis and Tyler Kennedy, both injured in Wednesday night's game against the Rangers, returned to Pittsburgh and did not travel with the team to Carolina. Zigomanis was able to do some on-ice work, and is listed as day-to-day. Kennedy's injury -- whatever it is -- appears a bit more serious. Don't expect to see him back in action for a few weeks or more.

Have I mentioned I hate the NHL's new injury disclosure policy?

Marc-Andre Fleury continues to work in drills before and after practice, but hasn't yet returned to full practice with the team. He's still at least a week away.

I would say that Ryan Whitney also remains at least a week away. He, too, hasn't participated in a full contact practice yet and given the amount of time he's been out of action, I would expect Therrein to want him to be involved in those for a week or so before trying to insert him back into a game.

The Penguins are back on the ice Saturday afternoon in Ottawa against the Senators.

Look for a weekend recap.

Penguins Blow Lead and Fall to Dejavu and Rangers, 3-2 (SO)

This post will be short.

After all, I could just dig out my post from earlier in the season when the Penguins rolled into Madison Square Garden for a game on the road against the Rangers and built a 2-0 lead but couldn't hold it thanks to a late tying goal and a subsequent shootout loss clinched by New York forward Frederick Sjodstrom.

That's exactly the way things played out last night. Mark Eaton (yes ... Eaton) scored to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead in the first period, and Jordan Staal added one in the second to up the lead to 2-0 in the second period.

Nikolai Zherdev finally got the Rangers on the board later in the second period, but the score stood that way until about 4 minutes left when a guy who the Rangers had scratched in 10 straight games for ineffetive play -- Petr Prucha -- scored the tying goal after taking a hard rebound off the back boards and depositing it behind a slow-reacting Dany Sabourin to to tie the game.

After a scoreless overtime, Sabourin was still in slow-reacting mode, allowing all 3 Ranger shooters to beat him. Naslund beat him to the backhand, while Zherdev and Sjodstrom made him look like a plyon by scoring on the opposite side with ease.

Miroslav Satan -- fairly good in his career in shootouts -- had his attempt completely swallowed up by Rangers all-star goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. He's now 0-for-4 with the Penguins on such attempts. Kris Letang did beat Lundqvist with a top corner laser shot, but once Sjodstrom scored, Crosby didn't even get the chance to shoot.

When is someone going to go five hole on Lundqvist in these things? Even though he's extremely good along the ice, you have to make a wide deke to get him to open up a little but change up and just redirect the puck through his legs in the middle of the deke. Basic backhand or forehand moves won't fool him. He stays with the puck too well.

The Penguins played a relatively solid game last night against the Rangers (again), but couldn't finish the job (again). They had chances in the 3rd period to go up by 2 goals (especially around the net); they just didn't finish and it came back to haunt them.

With the frustrating shootout loss, the Penguins slipped to 6 points behind the Rangers. They still have 4 games in hand.

The Penguins also lost a couple players to injury last night -- Mike Zigomanis and Tyler Kennedy. I didn't see what happened to either, but it seems like Zigomanis hurt his shoulder or arm. On the bright side, he said that he would "probably" play tonight when the Penguins are back in action against Carolina. Kennedy has been described as "day-to-day". If the Penguins make a recall today, that's how we'll know he's out for the game against the Hurricanes. Hopefully either aren't gone for an extended period because both have been decent contributors for the flightless birds this season so far.

Penguins/Canes recap tomorrow.

Atlantic Division Showdown: Penguins/Rangers Preview

The Penguins match up against the Atlantic Division-leading New York Rangers tonight at 7:00 PM EST at Madison Square Garden.

Although the Penguins still have 4 games in hand on the Rangers, it would be nice to close the gap on them just a little. With essentially 4 points on the line tonight, the Penguins can close to within 3 points of the Blueshirts, rather than go 7 back.

Although Pittsburgh will have to contend tonight with the usual Rangers suspects --- Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, Henrik Lundqvist --- the guy they really need to look out for is Nikolai Zherdev, the Rangers' top off-season acquisition from Columbus. He has started out well this year and not looked back. He leads the Rangers in scoring with 8 goals and 15 assists for 23 points in 27 games. He's also one of the few Rangers plus players at +8.

For the Penguins, they'll be missing Phillipe Boucher with an undisclosed injury. He'll probably be out a few weeks. Dany Sabourin will start in goal while Marc-Andre Fleury remains on the mend.

The key for the Boys of Winter tonight will be to try and get their power play going. It still sits last in the NHL away from home. Getting pucks behind Lundqvist is never easy; the Penguins will need their man-advantage tonight.

NOTE: For the month of December, Jordan Staal and Matt Cooke will fill the Alternate Captain roles, replacing Hal Gill and Rob Scuderi, who wore the "A" during the month of November. Brooks Orpik and Evgeni Malkin were the alternaties in October.

Recap tomorrow ....

Crosby Rings Up The HT: Pens' Bedevil New Jersey, 4-1

Sorry for the delayed post. Work beckoned yesterday, unfortunately.

On the bright side, summing up Saturday's dominating 4-1 win at home against the New Jersey Devils can be done pretty easily. In two words, in fact.

Sidney Crosby.

#87 went for the hat trick against the Devils, and added a helper to close within 4 points of teammate Evgeni Malkin in the scoring race, as the Penguins rolled back on the winning track with a convincing performance.

Crosby was at his virtuoso best Saturday night, using his speed all over the ice to pressure defenders and create scoring chances. He's looked increasingly good of late and Saturday may have been his best game of the season.

His first goal, in particular, was vintage Crosby -- racing behind the Devils defense with the puck, only to have it poke checked by Devils' netminder Scott Clemensen. Undettered, Crosby quickly retrieved the puck and spun a strong backhander toward the goal as he was skating away. Clemensen was surprised by the shot, which eluded him to put the Penguins up 1-0 early in the first period.

Dives were involved in Crosby's other two goals -- but the good kind: One my Malkin to get a shot on goal, which went right to Sid on the rebound for an open net, and another by Crosby himself, diving to whack a puck in the empty net to seal the outcome.

In between, Crosby made a perfect dish pass across the crease to set up Petr Sykora for a power play goal.

Crosby now has 9 points in his last 3 games. For that effort, he was the NHL's #1 star of the week.

Looking back further, Crosby has scored 7 times in his last 5 games. He's really ramping it up and is now on a 46-goal pace for the season.

If he was suffering from a lingering hip injury in late October and early November, you're not seeing him so limited now.

The Penguins closed out November with a 9-2-1 record and still sit 5 points back of the division leading New York Rangers. The Penguins, however, continue to have 4 games in hand, and they draw the Rangers next Wednesday on the road in New York.

Crosby wasn't the only Penguin who played well Saturday. The entire team looked solid for 60 minutes. Dany Sabourin, in particular, looked quite strong. And especially encouraging was the fact that, when the Devils scored to make it 3-1 relatively early in the third period, the Penguins dialed up their intensity and made sure there would be no Devil comeback.

Notes:

Ryan Whitney continues to practice with the team, although he's not paricipating in contact drills yet. Those may start in a little under a week. He's still targeting a return approximately 10-14 days from now.

Marc-Andre Fleury is working on drills as well, although he's probably still a little more than a week away, too. Clearly, his injury -- believed to be a groin problem -- wasn't "day-to-day", but was more like "week-to-week".

Janne Pesonen was sent back down to Wilkes-Barre after a decidedly uninspiring 2 games. He didn't get much ice time, but didn't do a whole lot to merit being out there more either. He did spend a lot of time on Malkin's line when he did go over the boards, but really had nothing to show for it. I continue to believe that the Penguins may have been showcasing him in a trade. There's some talk going around that the Penguins are talking with Colorado about acquiring RW Milan Hedjuk.

More later this week ...

Turning the Tables: Sabres Come Back to Defeat Penguins, 4-3

The comebacks continued last night at HSBC Arena in Buffalo.

Unfortunately, the Penguins were on the wrong side of this one, blowing a 3-2 lead they held entering the final frame and losing to the Sabres, 4-3.

Drew Stafford scored twice for Buffalo, as did bunyan Paul Gaustad, who scored his first two goals of the entire season for the Sabres.

Sidney Crosby tallied twice for the Penguins. Tyler Kennedy also scored. John Curry had a fairly solid debut, stopping 28 of 32 shots -- several of which were outstanding with the game on the line in the 3rd period.

Make no mistake -- last night's contest was an excellent hockey game. Both squads were physical and played with emotion. The fact that neither team had more than a one-goal lead and countered each other on the scoreboard all night added to the intensity.

The difference in the game, however, was the Penguins play around their net. Both of Gaustad's goals, in particular, were the result of him being left alone in front of the cage. Of course, he may require that in order to score, but the Penguins were way too accomodating in that regard.

I haven't seen the Penguins lose track of people in front of their own goal with that much regularity in a long time. That type of defensive play used to be a staple around these parts, but not so the last 3 years with Michel Therrein in charge.

I hate to say it, but I even noticed Sidney Crosby ease up on the backcheck during a Sabres' 3-on-2. The guy he eased up on, Stafford, ended up completing a nice play for a goal.

Another culprit for the loss is probably obvious -- the power play. Continuing a trend of being among the league bottom feeders with the man advantage on the road, the Penguins got a goose egg for their 7 chances last night. In a close game, special teams can make the difference.

Last night was no exception.

The Penguins loss put them at 8-2-1 for the month of November. They'll have a chance to get the sour taste out of their mouth quickly, as they face-off against the New Jersey Devils at home tonight (7:30 PM EST).

It will be interesting to see if the Penguins play Janne Pesonen again or whether Ruslan Fedotenko, who was a healthy scratch so Pesonen could play, ends up back in the lineup. I have reason to believe Pesonen was in the lineup to showcase him to potential trade partners.

One guy who probably won't suit up this evening is defenseman Phillipe Boucher, who left the game 5 minutes in after suffering a .... yes, you guessed it .... undisclosed injury.

Expect Mark Eaton to take his spot in the lineup tonight.

Sabourin will start in goal.

Recap tomorrow ....

Lineup Changes for Penguins/Sabres

Just a quick post before tonight's game on the road against the Sabres (7:30 PM EST).

John Curry will make his first NHL start in goal tonight, after replacing Dany Sabourin halfway through Wednesday night's come-from-behind win against the Islanders.

I said earlier that I felt Therrein should come right back with Sabourin, but perhaps Therrein was planning on splitting the starts in the back-to-back games tonight against Buffalo and tomorrow at home against New Jersey anyway.

The Penguins also recalled Janne Pesonen from Wilkes-Barre yesterday after center Max Talbot took a puck off the leg against the Islanders and didn't return.

Pesonen will be in the lineup tonight even though Talbot took the morning skate today and also will be in the lineup.

Someone among the forwards will be scratched to make room for Pesonen. I'm not sure who that will be at this point. Dupuis? Fedotenko? We'll see.

Recap tomorrow.

The Comeback Kids Do It Again: Penguins Beat Islanders, 5-3

Maybe I'm getting old.

When I looked at the NHL schedule last night, I saw that the Penguins were scheduled to play one game against the New York Islanders.

I didn't see that they were due to skate in a doubleheader.

Well, my inability to read the schedule notwithstanding, the Penguins took the ice last night and essentially played 2 games.

Their first game -- during the initial 30 minutes against New York -- was a miserable effort. Actually, effort is too kind a word.

The Penguins were disinterested, caught by the trapping and counterattacking Islanders, and left to deal with a 3-0 hole. And they earned their deficit honestly. Penguins goaltender Dany Sabourin played as poorly as the rest of the team. The 3rd goal he let up was a point shot that he just waved at. Penguins coach Michel Therein described the goal later as "soft" and said that Sabourin has given up too many of those lately.

He's right. In 3 of his last 4 outings -- 2 of which were wins, I believe -- Sabourin has let a few by he has to stop.

Anyway, Sabourin's effort put him on the bench. John Curry came in to see his first NHL action.

Sometime right after New York got its third tally, the Penguins woke up. They got three great scoring chances while killing a penalty, including a breakaway by Jordan Staal and a near breakaway by Malkin where he hit the post. The Penguins got some momentum from that kill, even though they didn't get a goal, and carried that momentum through the end of the frame when they were rewarded on a point shot by defenseman Brooks Orpik that ping-ponged in off Islanders center Doug Weight and past goaltender Joey MacDonald to make it 3-1.

That goal gave the Penguins something to take into the intermission and build on in the third period. And in that frame, the Penguins dominated.

Therrein put Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby together and they just took over. Crosby got the Penguins next goal after dropping a pass to Malkin in the offensive zone along the far boards. Malkin skated by Weight and Bill Guerin and found a waiting Crosby open on the opposite side of the net, where he circled after giving the puck to Malkin. That made it 3-2.

Then, in the next 14 or so minutes, Malkin showed why he leads the league in scoring, tallying the natural hat trick. He took passes from Crosby on 2 occassions in a span of about 2 minutes and buried them behind MacDonald to give the Penguins the lead. Both plays were similar and the 2nd one was the result of a forechecking Crosby forcing a bad turnover.

Malkin finished his HT with an empty netter.

It was the 7th time this year the Penguins came back to win a game after losing going into the 3rd period -- an incredible number and 5 off the league record with 61 games to play.

With the win, the Penguins moved to 8-1-1 in November. John Curry also got his first NHL win thanks to the Penguins comeback. He also got a shaving cream pie from Eric Godard in his post-game interview, which was the only shot he couldn't stop.

Crosby and Malkin simply took over this game. The Islanders had no chance. That said, the Penguins continue to live dangerously. Later in the season and in the post-season, they won't be able to do that.

The Penguins play again at Buffalo tomorrow night. It will be interesting to see if Therrein goes back to Sabourin or rewards Curry. I'd play Sabourin again and show confidence in him, even if he has let up some bad goals lately. It doesn't look like Fleury is going to be back anytime soon and I'm not sure Curry is ready to carry the load. He wasn't really tested by New York after coming into the game.

More over the weekend.

ANALYSIS: Penguins at the Quarter Pole

As the Penguins get back in action tonight on the road against the New York Islanders (7 PM EST), they have completed about 1/4 of their sechedule. There's no better time to examine their body of work this year so far.

The Penguins sit at 12-5-3, good for 27 points and second place in the Atlantic Division. They are 5 points behind the Division-leading New York Rangers (although they have 4 games in hand). The Philadelphia Flyers, having won 5 in a row, and the New Jersey Devils, trying to tread water without star goalie Martin Brodeur, have been creeping up of late, and are both 3 points behind the birds.

The Penguins are 9th in the league in goals scored and are 8th in the league in goals against.

Center Evegni Malkinl eads the league in scoring with 31 points in 20 games. Sidney Crosby sits 10th with 25 points.

Overall, it's hard to be unhappy with the Penguins' start to this season. They suffered meaningful roster turnover in the offseason, and started the year without their two best defensemen, Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney, who are still missing time due to long-term injuries. The good news is that Whitney should be back next month, even if Gonchar won't be seen until March sometime.

Without them, however, the Penguins have gotten off to their 2nd best start in franchise history, and have positioned themselves (so far) as meaningful playoff and Stanley Cup contenders.

Here are the 5 biggest reasons for the Penguins success so far this season, together with 5 things they'll need to do better in the 2nd quarter if they want to remain one of the better teams in the league:

REASONS FOR SUCCESS:

1) GOALTENDING

The Penguins' goaltending has been pretty good this year so far. Marc-Andre Fleury, current suffering from an undisclosed, "day-to-day" lower body injury, has 12 wins, a 2.86 goals against average and a .907 save percentage. He was especially good at the beginning of the season, flashing the form that helped lead the Penguins to the Cup Final last year, even if he cooled off a bit before he got hurt. His understudy, Dany Sabourin, has played really well also. He leads the league in GAA at 1.66 and can add a .935 save percentage to his 4-2-1 record. He has taken advantage of his chance and will probably get most of the starts this week while Fleury continues to recover.

2) RECORD IN ONE-GOAL GAMES

The hallmark of any good team is the ability to win close games. The Penguins are 8-3-2 in those contests this year. In a league where any team can win on any given night and many of the games are close, pulling out the tight ones is what distinguishes a team. With their ability to score, and how generally well the Penguins have played defensively, they are well-positioned to win these games. And their always growing body of experience in playing them will only continue to help them in the clutch down the line.

3) FACEOFFS

Probably the biggest turnaround from last year has been the Penguins' ability to win faceoffs this season. The Penguins, who have regularly been near the bottom of the league in this category the last several years, are 6th in the league this season in winning faceoffs. Every Penguin has improved in this area, and several -- Max Talbot, Crosby and Jordan Staal are over 50%. Only Evgeni Malkin sits below that at 44%, and even that is a large improvement for him. Of course, the biggest reason why the Penguins have improved their stature in this area has been the acquisition of Mike Zigomanis. Zigomanis is winning near 2/3 of his faceoffs, and leads the entire NHL in this category. He's been a great find for the Penguins and coach Michel Therrein has wasted no time using Zigomanis late in games and even on the power play to obtain possession of the puck on key draws.

4) SCORING DEPTH

Everyone knows what the Penguins are going to get from Crosby and Malkin. What everyone didn't know is how they would make up the offense that walked out the door this off-season in Marion Hossa and Ryan Malone, among others. Miroslav Satan has done what's expected of him to make up for some of that loss. He leads the team with 9 goals. But he's not the only one who has contributed so far. Jordan Staal went on a recent tear and has now chipped in 7 goals. The Penguins have also got timely scoring from Tyler Kennedy (13 points in 20 games) and even Ruslan Fedotenko, who has 4 goals and 8 points, including some timely game winners (Detroit anyone?). The Penguins' have fared pretty well in an area that most thought they'd be weaker in this season.

5) DEFENSE

Without Gonchar and Whitney, the Penguins remaining defenseman have done a commendable job of helping keep the Penguins in games. Of course, the Penguins aren't getting quite the same production out of the back end, but Alex Goligoski has 10 points in 19 games and leads the league in scoring among rookie backliners. Kris Letang has also chipped in 9 points. Overall, though, it's the ability of the group to keep pucks out of their net which has done more to help the Penguins be where they are this season so far. Among their regular defenseman, only Hal Gill is a minus player, and he's minus 1. New acquisition Phillipe Boucher is minus 2, but that comes from playing on a Dallas team that was miserable defensively most of this season. Letang and Brooks Orpik are often matched against the other teams' top lines and have done a great job, and they get good support from Rob Scuderi, Gill and the others.


5 THINGS THE PENGUINS WILL NEED TO DO IN THE 2ND QUARTER:

1) GET PETR SYKORA GOING

Petr Sykora missed several games to start the season due to injury and in many ways, is still trying to get in the flow. He does have 12 points in 17 games, but with only 4 goals, the Penguins need him to score more.

2) SUCCEED ON THE POWER PLAY

It's no secret the Penguins have struggled a little bit with the man-advantage this year. This is where not having Gonchar and Whitney probably hurts the most. Still, the Penguins sit 15th and have the personnel to improve in this area. They need to be a little more simple on the man-advantage and look to score more goals from around the net, rather than on the perimeter. And, as Therrein has recently pointed out, they need to work harder along the wall and behind the net to maintain possession when they have it.

3) KEEP MARC-ANDRE FLEURY HEALTHY

Nobody knows exactly what type of injury Fleury is dealing with right now, but he hasn't practiced yet, so it probably will be until next week, at least, before he returns. Sabourin has definitely done a good job in his absence, but with apologies to him, the Penguins need Fleury to be back at full strength if they want to make anything out of this season. This is the 2nd year Fleury has had an injury that will keep him out at least a few weeks and that's not a good trend.

4) FIND SOME MORE GRIT

The Penguins have gotten good contributions from people like Matt Cooke, Eric Godard and, when he was here, Paul Bissonette, in this area, but there's no disputing that they still are missing some degree of abrasiveness when compared to last season. Only time will tell if the Penguins acquire someone to help them fill this need. It's an element I believe they'll need more of, especially come playoff time.

5) STAY INJURY FREE

Although the losses of Gonchar and Whitney have hurt, it's important that the Penguins don't suffer any other meaningful injuries this year -- especially to Crosby or Malkin. Malkin did a commendable job last year when Crosby went down but it would be hard for the Penguins to duplicate that success again this year without Malone and Hossa to help out.


Hopefully the Penguins begin a strong 2nd quarter tonight on Long Island. They'll have to contend with an Islanders team that has been playing very well of late. They've strung 5 wins in a row together and are getting good play from backup goaltender Joey McDonald in starter Rick Dipietro's absence.

It will be interesting to see whether the changes Therrein has implemented on the power play in practice the last few days (adding Kennedy to the mix and putting Malkin back on the point) will bring results.

Happy Thanksgiving ...

Sluggish Penguins Fall to Canucks, 3-1

Perhaps they weren't ready for an early season matinee.

Usually, afternoon games aren't seen on the NHL slate until after the All-Star break. The Penguins had an early one this season, though, and were sluggish and lethargic in losing to the Vancouver Canucks, 3-1, yesterday afternoon at Mellon Arena.

The loss was the Penguins' 2nd in the last 3 games, and left them at 12-5-3.

Pavol Demitra scored twice for Vancouver (one of which was an empty netter to seal the game), and Daniel Sedin added the other goal for the Canucks, who had taken a 2-0 lead into the 3rd period only to see center Mike Zigomanis score his first goal in a Penguin uniform 22 seconds into the final frame to make things interesting.

The Penguins could get no closer, however.

Perhaps the most disturbing part of the loss was that Vancouver had to do without it's all-world goaltender and captain, Roberto Luongo, who suffered an injury in the first period and had to leave the game. Canucks' backup Curtis Sanford took over and wasn't really tested at all. The Penguins had about 20 shots in the game and only 3 in the entire second period.

The Penguins' performance definitely left something to be desired. With Luongo out, the door was open for the flightless birds. They failed to take advantage of it, however, both at even strength and on the power play -- where they were scoreless (again) in 4 opportunities.

It looked like the game was going to have a lot more energy than it did, too. About 30 seconds into the contest, there was a multi-player scrum on the ice -- the result of a Matt Cooke hipcheck that Vancouver didn't take kindly to. After Brooks Orpik intervened and squared off with Jannik Hansen, Matt Cooke and Alexander Burrows got into it. Both were given game misconducts pursuant to an NHL rule that requires ejection for players who start a fight after another fight is already going on.

Being tossed out of a game against his former club 30 seconds into things made Cooke one unhappy camper. He smashed his stick against the wall in the runway to the Penguins' dressing room.

Losing Cooke did affect the Penguins, as they were forced to mix and match their lines for most of the night. Crosby and Malkin ended up both scoreless on the afternoon.

And for some reason, even though Cooke was ejected from the game for fighting after another bout had started, the same rule must not have applied to Tyler Kennedy and Ryan Kessler. Even though they also paired off and Kennedy threw several punches with his gloves off, they both only received roughing minors.

All in all, just a bad outing from the home club.

The Penguins are off until Wednesday when they go on the road to play the Islanders on Thanksgiving eve.

Time will tell if goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury is ready to go for that one. My hunch is he won't be.

More this week ...

Back on the Winning Track: Penguins beat Thrashers, 3-2

The Penguins got back to their winning ways last night, beating the Atlanta Thrashers, 3-2, thanks to a late power play goal with about 2 and a half minutes to go by RW Petr Sykora.

Miroslav Satan also scored, as did Sidney Crosby, who added helpers on Satan's goal and Sykora's goal for a 3 point night.

Dany Sabourin only had to face 23 shots, but did reject some good scoring opportunities, including a shorthanded breakaway in the second period. Sykora's goal saved him a bit in my estimation since the 2nd and final goal he allowed in the second period, was a questionable wide wraparound by Atlanta 4th liner Jim Slater.

It's the second straight game Sabourin has allowed one that he certainly should have stopped. He's played pretty well otherwise, so if he can cut down on those types of goals, the Penguins will be in great shape. I'm not sure that I'd say they have the best two goaltenders in the league (i.e., the best "tandem"), as Penguins play-by-play man Paul Steigerwald said last night, but they certainly have gotten good goaltending to start this year.

With the win, the Penguins raised their record to 12-4-3, which is their best start since the 116-point team in 1992-1993. They also moved 3 points behind the Rangers. Their next game is Saturday afternoon at 2 PM at home against a hot Vancouver team led by star goaltender Roberto Luongo. The Canucks and Luongo will be a good test for the Penguins.

Fleury is not expected back for that one, so Sabourin will get the call again.

A few other things ....

Ryan Whitney is about to start practicing with the team. Now, this doesn't mean Whitney is close to returning to the lineup. It's likely to be 3 weeks or so before he sees game action, but it will be good to have him back on the ice with the group.

I also haven't heard anything recently regarding the Penguins and Brendan Shanahan. Things seem to be quiet with Shanahan again -- and that's true with regard to his discussions with teams other than the Penguins. I'll post updates as soon as I hear anything in this respect.

Penguins/Thrashers Preview

The Penguins will look to get back on the winning track tonight on the road in Atlanta against the Thrashers (7 PM EST).

Atlanta has been playing reasonably well of late. They had been winners of 5 in a row until recently falling to the Flyers earlier this week, and a big reason why has been the play of their centers. And I'm not talking about Erik Christensen, the former Penguin who the Thrashers tried to start the season in that position centering star LW Ilya Kovalchuk.

The centers that have actually done the job for Atlanta this year are David Little and Todd White.

Who?

Little has been a prospect in the Thrashers system for a few years. He's finally validating their patience this year. He's done a great job on the #1 line.

White is a veteran who knows his way around the league, but I think it's fair to say he, too, has overachieved a bit this year.

Besides those two and Kovalchuk, Atlanta is getting typically solid play from a guy who I think is one of the more underappreciated players in the league -- Vyacheslav Kozlov. He, not Kovalchuk, leads the team in goal scoring with 10.

Ron Hainsey, a free agent signee from Columbus, also has done a good job for them on the blueline. He's got 12 points in 17 games. He's helped offset the poor play of veteran Mathieu Schneider, who was traded from Anaheim earlier this year. Schneider is minus 11 in 12 games with Atlanta.

All of these guys have done a good job keeping the Thrashers competitive, especially more recently.

For the Penguins, Dany Sabourin is going to get the call in the net again tonight. Fleury isn't ready to practice, let alone play, making it even more likely we won't see him until next week, at the earliest.

The Penguins are going to look to dial up the offense after being on lockdown against the Minnesota Wild Tuesday night. Hopefully they can get their struggling power play going. Atlanta is next to last in the league on the PK, so going on the man advantage tonight will be like night and day when compared to what the Penguins saw on Tuesday.

I'm hopeful that Miroslav Satan can get going again tonight. He's been quiet for about 5 games now and it would be nice for him to get on the board again. He's always been a streaky scorer, but the Penguins don't need him to go into a long goal scoring slump. If Sidney Crosby can create a little more offense tonight -- it looks as if he's continuing to labor a little bit out there due to whatever ongoing injury he's dealing with -- it will help.

Recap tomorrow. Go Pens.

Penguins Winning Streak Stopped; Lose to Wild, 2-1 (SO)

I guess the Penguins can't win them all.

The offensive freight train that had been the Penguins ran headstrong into the brick wall that was Nicklas Backstrom and the Minnesota Wild last night, losing 2-1 in a shootout.

All of the regulation scoring took place in a 10 second span in the first period, and Minnesota's goal to kick things off was one Penguins goaltender Dany Sabourin -- starting for the injured Marc-Andre Fleury -- would surely love to have back.

Penguins center Mike Zigomanis won a faceoff to Sabourin's right, beating Wild center Mikko Koivu and backhanding the puck towards Sabu. The puck popped up in the air about 2 feet from the faceoff win, so it went right past defenseman Hal Gill and bounced in front of Sabourin. Unfortunately, the puck found the smallest of openings between his legs and trickled behind him just over the goal line without being touched for a 1-0 Wild lead.

I'd like to call it a bad bounce, but that puck has to be stopped.

10 seconds later, off the faceoff following Minnesota's goal, the Penguins broke into the Minnesota zone. Jordan Staal threw a puck to the net, and it hit his net-crashing LW, Matt Cooke, who promptly spun around and threw the puck past Backstrom, who was still a bit out of position expecting Staal's shot to go through.

The goal marked a point for Cooke in 5 straight games. His line with Staal and Kennedy looked good again last night.

Neither team scored again until the shootout. You had to feel good about the Penguins' chances. They have done well in such situations this year, and Sabourin had stopped 13 of the 14 career shootout attempts he had faced. Still, Marek Zidlicky scored for Minnesota on their first chance with a nice move on Sabourin, while Backstrom made it look easy against Petr Sykora, Alex Goligoski and Sidney Crosby.

I was hoping someone might go 5-hole on Backstrom because he's so good down low and side to side, like the Rangers' fellow swedish netminder, Henrik Lundqvist. The trick is to get him moving a bit and then try to tuck the puck quickly in between his legs on a deke.

It looked like Crosby may have tried to surprise Backstrom with a shot and go 5-hole, but he was off the mark and hit Backstrom's pad. He had the right spot, but should have made a move instead.

The Wild were good defensively in this one, picking off a lot of passes in the neutral zone, and Backstrom was good too, but the Penguins can't say they had their chances. The Penguins' power play -- struggling a bit of late -- had 4 opportunities, including a 4-3 for the last 90 seconds of overtime. That's a man-advantage they have to score on.

With the loss, the Penguins fell to 11-4-3 for 25 points. It was their first loss in their 3rd jerseys, which they were wearing for the 2nd consecutive home game this year. The Penguins' 6-game winning streak also ended, as I mentioned. Center Evgeni Malkin's 13 game point streak ended as well.

Newcomer Phillipe Boucher played in favor of Mark Eaton, who was a healthy scratch. Boucher got some action on the power play, but it's hard to say that his work was distinguishable either way -- good or bad. The same can be said of most of the other Penguins in this defensive struggle.

I'm sure Boucher will look more comfortable after he gets used to the Penguins' system.

The Penguins look to get back on the winning track tomorrow night on the road against Ilya Kovalchuk, former Penguins Colby Armstrong and Erik Christensen, and the Atlanta Thrashers.

Penguins v. Wild Preview

The Penguins look to extend their season high winning streak to 7 games at home tonight against the Minnesota Wild (7:00 EST).

Marc-Andre Fleury will miss the game with an undisclosed injury. Backup Dany Sabourin will get the call in the net for the Penguins in his place.

Fleury's injury does not appear to be major, but he may not be ready to return for the Penguins next game on Thursday in Atlanta, either. Sabourin has been playing well, so we'll see if he's able to continue giving the Penguins strong goaltending.

The guy to watch for Minnesota tonight is their #1 Center, and Captain, Mikko Koivu. He leads the team with 15 points and has had an excellent start to the season. Antti Miettinen and Andrew Brunette -- both of whom the Wild brought in during free agency last summer -- also are playing well for them.

Minnesota also is getting great goaltending from Nicklas Backstrom. He's 10-3 with a 2.00 goals against average and a sparkling .934 save percentage. The Penguins will have to work hard to get pucks by him tonight. Their offense has been rolling and Backstrom will provide a good test for them.

Another reason for the strong start that the Wild have had to start the year is their special teams. They are the top penalty killing team in the league, and also rank 3rd with the man advantage. If the Penguins can at least draw even with Minnesota in the special teams battle tonight, they should have a chance.

One last note I've been meaning to mention: The Penguins returned LW Paul Bissonette to Wilkes Barre late last week. Bissonette, who surprisingly made the team out of camp, had been scratched in 6 straight games. The team wasn't unsatisfied with him, however; they simply wanted to get him some playing time. Sending him to the baby Penguins was the right move, although it will be interesting to see who gets the next call up when necessary. I'm not convinced Bissonette will be that guy.

I'll try to post a game recap tomorrow ....

ANALYSIS: Penguins Trade Sydor to Dallas for Defenseman Phillipe Boucher

In somewhat of a surprising move announced this morning, the Penguins have traded depth defenseman Darryl Sydor to the Dallas Stars for defenseman Phillipe Boucher.

The fact that Sydor has moved on isn't surprising.

The return Penguins GM Ray Shero received for him, however, has to rate at least somewhat of a surprise.

Boucher, 35, is a 6'3" and 215 pound right-handed shot who had only 3 assists in 16 games this year for a Stars team that has struggled mightily in its own zone this season. However, Boucher is hardly far removed from being a key contributor to many successful Dallas squads from the time he joined the Stars in the 2002/2003 season. Until last year when he only played in 38 games due to injury, Boucher was a 35 to 40-point per year defenseman on average. In fact, in his last full season, 2006-2007, he scored 19 goals, had 51 points and was an NHL all-star.

All of that makes this deal curious because the Penguins have good depth on the blueline, especially offensively. And even though Boucher is a decent two-way player thanks to all his years in the Stars' system, you'd have to say that he's more capable offensively than he is defensively.

One would think that if Shero was going to obtain a player for Sydor rather than a draft pick, it would have been a forward and not another defenseman. That's not to be critical because, all things considered, Sydor was nothing more than a depth player for the Penguins. Getting a player of Boucher's caliber in return has to be considered something of a coup.

As I mentioned above, the Stars have struggled defensively this year. They also have some young guys they are continuing to try and work into their defensive rotation. In that sense, Shero may have been able to take advantage of the situation there. Sydor will certainly be a stabilizing presence for them, and he has familiarity with Dallas. Why Boucher could not have filled the same role for the Stars is unclear, however.

What else is unclear to me is how Boucher will fit in with the Penguins current crop of defenseman. He's certainly a top 6 guy and, arguably, a top 4 guy when at the top of his game. With all the healthy bodies the Penguins have on the blueline, however, I can't help but wonder if another deal involving a defenseman is in the works. If it doesn't involve one of the Penguins two young offensive guns there -- Letang or Goligoski, who would bring the most return -- it may involve Mark Eaton, who hasn't played terribly well this season so far, has been a healthy scratch at times, was directly responsible for one of the goals against last night, and has a 2 million cap hit this season.

For what it's worth, Boucher is in the last year of his contract, and pulls down the same salary as Sydor was getting -- 2.5 million.

Time will tell where this goes but for now, this can't be considered anything but a good deal for the Penguins. At the very least, they turned a spare part into an asset. I'm anxious to see how Boucher fits in and how he does in Pittsburgh ...

Penguins Buffalo the Sabres, 5-2, After Another Third Period Comeback

Last year, in 82 games, the Penguins came back to win a game after being down going into the third period 6 times in 26 tries -- a pretty good percentage under the circumstances.

This year, they have already won 6 games after trailing going into the 3rd period. 6 out of 9 to be precise. That's a better percentage than most teams win in regulation time.

Last night's 5-2 win over the Sabres was the latest entry on that list.

The Penguins trailed 2-1 going into the 3rd, having only a power play goal by center Evgeni Malkin to show for their work.

With approximately 8 minutes to go in regulation, the Penguins broke through.

They tied the game on another power play goal, this time by Alex Goligoski who broke in from the back-door point and took a cross-ice pass from Sidney Crosby a-la Ryan Whitney and buried it behind Sabres' goaltender Ryan Miller to tie the game.

The Penguins third line allowed them to take their first lead of the game a few minutes later when Matt Cooke made a beautiful centering pass from behind the net right onto the tape of center Jordan Staal. Staal buried it from the slot low on the far side past Miller.

With a little over two minutes to go, the Penguins iced the game when they broke in on a 3-on-2, and Malkin found the trailer, Ruslan Fedotenko, who buried it by Miller.

Staal added an empty netter -- his 7th goal in the last 7 games -- to end the game 5-2.

With the win, the Penguins raised their record to 11-4-2, good for 24 points. They've won 6 games in a row. They also now have scored more goals than any other team in the Eastern Conference, and only 2 other teams in the league -- Detroit and San Jose.

So much for them losing firepower in the offseason.

F-Hossa.

The Penguins are getting contributions from up and down their lineup now. Staal and Kennedy both have 7 goals. Cooke is starting to contribute more offensively. Even Letang and Goligoski are showing their stuff more.

Malkin figured in on 4 of the 5 Penguin tallies (1 G, 3 A) to take over the NHL scoring lead with 30 points and extend his scoring streak to 13 games. He's had at least 1 assist in each of those contests and, with one more game, will tie Mario Lemieux's club record for consecutive games with an assist.

The Penguins are off again until Tuesday when they'll look to make it 7 in a row against the Minnesota Wild. Minnesota is a good club, and will test the Penguins. It will be a challenge to put up as many goals against them as they have been scoring recently.

Go Pens ....