Weekend Recap; Penguins/Canadiens Preview

Although I'm still in the middle of a Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl hangover, at least the Steeler game Sunday night turned out a lot better than the performance the Penguins gave on Saturday night against Toronto.

Penguins' goaltender Mathieu Garon, making his first start for the team, gave up 5 goals to a Toronto team that has no business scoring half that many. He was weak on a few of the goals, and left out to dry by a Penguin defense that continues to struggle with defensive consistency.

Pittsburgh was especially bad defending in front of their own cage.

The Penguins had every chance to win the game, but could do no better than tie 4-4 after being down 4-2. Miroslav Satan, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Tyler Kennedy got the Penguins' goals, and as coach Michel Therrein said after the game, if you score 4 on the road, you should win.

Kennedy had a particularly interesting evening, as he squared off with Maple Leafs' rookie defenseman Luke Shenn after Shenn rode Malkin into the boards in front of the benches with a hard, but clean, hit. Kennedy mixed it up with Shenn as soon as he came off the bench on a line change, and held his own against the big rookie from Canada.

As a result of the timing of the fight, Kennedy has been suspended one game by the league pursuant to a rule that allows the NHL to potentially discipline a player by coming on the ice on a legal line change and then immediately getting into an altercation.

Kennedy will miss tonight's game against Montreal, and the Penguins have recalled their top offensive prospect to replace him.

LW Luca Caputi will join the team and play his first game in the National Hockey League in one of its most storied venues. Caputi has 13 goals, 22 assists and 35 points in 46 games for the Baby Penguins. He's 4th on the team in scoring there.

I'm sure everyone, this writer included, is interested in seeing what Caputi is capable of. I think expectations should be tempered somewhat, but it will be good to see him in game action. The Penguins could use a boost. Maybe he will provide it.

The Penguins need all the help they can get. They sit at 24-22-5, and are ninth and currently out of the playoff field in the Eastern Conference, 2 points back of 8th.

Recap tomorrow.