Off-Day News And Notes; More On "The Rivalry"

As the region faces the prospect of another measurable snowstorm, just 3/4 days after the last one impaled this area, the Pittsburgh Penguins were given an off-day yesterday, but will return to the ice today to practice in anticipation of their home game against the New York Islanders tomorrow night.

Before the Isles walk into town as another in a long line of Penguins' opponents to match up against the flightless birds after playing the day before (they host the Nashville Predators at home tonight), there are a number of miscellaneous matters surrounding the team worth hitting on.

First, the Penguins have returned forward Mark Letetsu back to Wilkes-Barre Scranton of the American Hockey League. Letetsu was re-assigned after Sunday's loss to the Washington Capitals, joining Tim Wallace, who had been called up with Letetsu on Friday, but was sent down before the game Sunday when it was determined that LW Chris Kunitz would return to the lineup that day.

Speaking of Kunitz, I was generally pleased with his performance in his first game coming off abdominal surgery. He was a force in the first period, but tailed off and was less of a factor in periods 2 and 3. Really, though, that couldn't have been surprising under the circumstances. While he had been practicing most of the week and felt good at the start of his sessions back on the ice, Kunitz admitted that things got tougher for him as the week went on. He's still working out the recovery aches and pains, obviously, and it's going to take him some time to get back in the swing. Make no mistake, though -- the Penguins will need him to be an impact player down the stretch this season.

Meanwhile, there continues to be talk that the Penguins are actively trying to make a trade before this Friday's Olympic roster freeze sets in. Largely, Pens' GM Ray Shero is working to free up some cap space, perhaps by making a roster move with defenseman Martin Skoula, and perhaps by moving one or more players. He's probably examining doing both, with LW Ruslan Fedotenko perhaps the most likely guy to be moved in a trade.

Fedotenko has certainly struggled this season, but his history as a strong playoff performer has several teams interested in him -- including contenders like the Phoenix Coyotes, and non-contenders like Edmonton Oilers, among others.

Finally, people are still talking about Sunday's latest epic between the Caps and Penguins:

http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/31399-Campbells-Cuts-Can-Caps-offensive-style-win-the-Cup.html

This well-written piece by Ken Campbell raises an interesting question --- and one that is unlikely to be resolved until the post-season: Can the Capitals go the distance with their offense, or will their defense and goaltending trump that and fail them when needed the most?

I talked yesterday about how Washington has averaged nearly 5 goals per game during their absurd 14-game winning streak, but there's no question that those figures are a by-product of regular season play. Only time will tell if they can buckle down enough to overcome the much tighter checking in the post-season.

Regardless, the Capitals will be dangerous. But if Pittsburgh sees them in the playoffs again, I'll take my chances. As Washington's own coach, loudmouth Bruce Boudreau, admitted before the last time the clubs met several weeks ago, the Penguins have the best group of centers in the game and it's not even close. See this excellent piece for a discussion about that, and how both the Pens' and Caps' have built strongly through the draft the last 4 to 5 seasons:

http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/30969-THNcom-Blog-Pens-Caps-serve-as-lesson-for-draft-dodgers.html

It's interesting. Prior to the Sunday's game, I read an interesting piece that someone sent to me about how the matchups between these two clubs might not really come down to Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin, but instead may come down to Nicklas Backstrom and Jordan Staal.

Here's the piece:

http://today.sportingnews.com/sportingnewstoday/20100123/?pg=24&pm=1&u1=friend#pg24

I thought Craig Custenance offered some interesting perspective when I read that, but after Sunday's game, it's not unreasonable to think that every game, every matchup, every potential playoff series between these two teams will always come down to #87 and #8, no matter how good their respective supporting casts are.

Crosby and Ovechkin are the engines that drive their teams. If Backstrom or Staal, for example, aren't playing up to par, the Captains are still good enough to make the difference, and we all can look no further than Sunday's game for proof.

Crosby and Staal totaled 4 goals for Pittsburgh. Washington won the game because Ovechkin single-handedly topped them both.

No wonder why there's so much talk about the National Hockey League scheduling next year's Winter Classic between The Pens and Caps. That talk surfaced first a few months ago, and continues with each legendary game these two clubs play:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/31/AR2009123102716.html

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4894170&name=lebrun_pierre

Count me in.

That's all for now boys and girls.

More soon.