As the Pittsburgh Penguins get ready to continue their 6-game home stand tonight at Mellon Arena by hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning (7:30 PM EST) -- who lost last night to the Columbus Blue Jackets -- the buzz surrounding the team remains focused on the over-50 crowd.
That is, #55, #58 and #71.
With the signing of 22-year old defenseman Kris Letang to a 4-year, $14 million dollar contract extension yesterday, common wisdom suggests that teammate Sergei Gonchar is likely to be a salary cap casualty this summer when (or before) he becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
Don't tell that to Penguins' GM Ray Shero or Head Coach Dan Bylsma, however.
Yesterday, both spoke publicly -- and clearly -- that Letang's signing will not at all influence the Penguins in trying to get a deal done with Sarge.
Both may honesty believe that, but even if the Penguins pick up negotiations with Gonchar's camp after the season, reality dictates that with Letang's signing, it will now be meaningfully more difficult for Pittsburgh to ink Gonchar to a new deal at a price he's willing to accept.
The salary cap is unforgiving that way.
By all accounts, Gonchar wants to maintain his current salary -- $5 million per season -- and probably would take a 3-year deal. But that's no hometown discount, and the Penguins won't pay that much. They probably would have been willing to go around 4 million, but with Tanger's new contract, even that will be difficult now.
Shero and his cap wizard, Jason Botterill, have done great work with a roster up tight against the cap for the last 3 seasons, but I just can't see the two sides being able to work something out in this case.
Assuming Gonchar goes, Letang will have more pressure on him to step up into the 40-50 point range on a consistent basis. And either he or fellow blueliner Alex Goligoski and his $1.8 million dollar salary will have to take charge on the power play. Neither has shown the ability to do that this year, but if Sarge is no longer on the roster, they won't have a choice next season.
In truth, Goligoski may be in a bit of a better position to lead the man-advantage than Letang. GoGo is all offense, and he's 2 years older. Letang has the skill to produce at that level, but he's also a proficient two-way rearguard as well --- which is why he's getting paid at a level commensurate with the Brent Seabrook's of the league.
Sure, Letang's contract is probably a little high right now, but in the salary cap world, Shero has to make hard decisions and take some chances. If Letang ups his game -- and he clearly has the ability to do that -- the contract will be a good one for the Penguins in future seasons, even if the team is borrowing against that by overpaying Letang a bit in the short term.
Remember, Gonchar wasn't nearly the player he is now when he was 22. Letang has the capability of being a cornerstone on defense for Pittsburgh for years to come.
Meanwhile, back on the ice, both #55 and the other member of the over-50 crowd I'm talking about today -- Evgeni Malkin -- participated in practice yesterday.
Gonchar's health is improving and he is much more likely to go tonight than Malkin. While Geno made it through the entire practice, he's clearly not at 100% and with the Penguins not having another game until Saturday, it makes obvious sense not to rush him back into the lineup tonight. Pittsburgh would be better off giving him several additional days rest.
In fact, I wouldn't at all object if the Penguins held him out Saturday against Atlanta, too, and instead didn't play him until next Tuesday when the Washington Capitals come to town.
Again, with Malkin, it's all about getting him ready for the post-season.
I'll have a game recap tomorrow morning. With a win tonight, the Penguins can move three points ahead of New Jersey, since the Devils lost 1-0 in overtime to the Boston Bruins last night and only gained a point in the standings.
The Buffalo Sabres remain worth keeping an eye on, as well. They also are 1 point back and are playing some good hockey.
Let's Go Pens!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Penguins Re-Sign Kris Letang to 4-Year/$14 Million Dollar Contract Extension
In a move that was somewhat surprising in terms of timing, but not necessarily in terms of news, the Pittsburgh Penguins re-signed defenseman Kris Letang to a new 4-year/$14 million dollar contract extension today.
Letang's cap hit will be $3.5 million dollars per season, and the Penguins now have just under $45 million dollars committed to 14 players for next season.
#58 is, by most accounts, having somewhat of a subpar season for Pittsburgh this year and, because of that, this contract has to be considered a good deal for Letang's camp, but the fact of the matter is that Letang remains only 22 years old and still has the potential to be a two-way force on the Pens' blueline. While he has 3 goals and 24 assists this year -- average production, and production not unlike what the Pens' have surprisingly gotten from Letang's defense partner, Brooks Orpik -- everyone knows that Letang is capable of so much more.
The Penguins are clearly investing in the future in this deal.
The biggest and most interesting question that Letang's signing raises is whether his contract will pave the way for Sergei Gonchar to leave town at or before this coming July 1 when he becomes an unrestricted free agent.
Odds are that the answer to that question is yes.
Pittsburgh engaged in some detailed contract discussions with Gonchar before the Olympics but those discussions didn't get very far as Sarge was seeking a 3 year deal without any reduction in his current salary, which is $5 million per season.
Paying Gonchar that much going forward for 3 years, at his age, was probably going to be an issue for Pittsburgh, and signing Letang, while not completely dispositive of what the Penguins may do with Sarge, probably tips their hand.
Time will tell, and it will be interesting to see if the Penguins still try to keep him, let him walk or even deal his rights at the NHL entry draft in June.
More later.
Letang's cap hit will be $3.5 million dollars per season, and the Penguins now have just under $45 million dollars committed to 14 players for next season.
#58 is, by most accounts, having somewhat of a subpar season for Pittsburgh this year and, because of that, this contract has to be considered a good deal for Letang's camp, but the fact of the matter is that Letang remains only 22 years old and still has the potential to be a two-way force on the Pens' blueline. While he has 3 goals and 24 assists this year -- average production, and production not unlike what the Pens' have surprisingly gotten from Letang's defense partner, Brooks Orpik -- everyone knows that Letang is capable of so much more.
The Penguins are clearly investing in the future in this deal.
The biggest and most interesting question that Letang's signing raises is whether his contract will pave the way for Sergei Gonchar to leave town at or before this coming July 1 when he becomes an unrestricted free agent.
Odds are that the answer to that question is yes.
Pittsburgh engaged in some detailed contract discussions with Gonchar before the Olympics but those discussions didn't get very far as Sarge was seeking a 3 year deal without any reduction in his current salary, which is $5 million per season.
Paying Gonchar that much going forward for 3 years, at his age, was probably going to be an issue for Pittsburgh, and signing Letang, while not completely dispositive of what the Penguins may do with Sarge, probably tips their hand.
Time will tell, and it will be interesting to see if the Penguins still try to keep him, let him walk or even deal his rights at the NHL entry draft in June.
More later.
Update Day In Penguin Nation
With the Pittsburgh Penguins having an off-day before tomorrow night's tilt at Mellon Arena against the Tampa Bay Lightning, all eyes around the club are on the status of Russian teammates Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Gonchar, both of whom have missed several games recently with different ailments.
Sarge's absence has reportedly been due to illness, but the exact scope of what's ailing the Pens' power play quarterback hasn't been revealed. If indeed he's merely under the weather, it must be some flu to keep him out 3 games.
Anyway, Gonchar is said to be close to returning, perhaps even tomorrow night.
Malkin's return from a right foot injury is not likely to come quite as soon.
As most Penguin observers know, Malkin took a shot off the right foot from teammate Kris Letang a few weeks ago against the Tampa Bay Lightning and missed the next 2 contests before returning to play 6 days later against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Geno may have been the Pens' best player against Carolina, too --- until he slid awkwardly into the boards toward the end of the overtime period in that contest and tweaked the injury. Malkin has missed 4 games since and isn't likely to be ready until this coming weekend. At the earliest.
Head Coach Dan Bylsma said yesterday that they aren't going to rush Malkin back into the lineup, and rightly so. I mean, let's face it. The Penguins have 6 regular season games left. The most important thing at this stage is to get Geno healthy for the post-season. Pittsburgh doesn't want him dealing with a nagging problem at that stage if they can help it.
If Malkin can play one or two regular season games before the playoffs, that should be more than enough to get him in synch. Either way, it's critical that they let him get back as close to 100% as possible.
On a different note, rumors of the Pittsburgh Penguins hosting the 2011 Winter Classic gained additional steam on Sunday when further reports came out inicating that the Penguins were much closer -- and seemingly the accepted favorite -- to land the NHL's prime-time annual marketing display as a host to a contest against their arch rivals, the Washington Captials.
No surprise there, as talk has been ruminating for a few months about the likelihood of the Pens and Caps -- and their captains, Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin -- squaring off in the league's next showcase event.
However, the noteworthy thing about the story was that it looks as if the game would be held at Heinz Field, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and not PNC Park, where the Pittsburgh Pirates play.
As most people know, the Winter Classic the last few seasons has taken place in a few legendary baseball stadiums -- Wrigley Field in Chicago, and Fenway Park in Boston.
Initially, it was thought that any Winter Classic held in Pittsburgh would be at PNC, which is commonly known as one of the most beautiful parks in all of baseball (even if not befitting of the miserable team that typically plays there).
However, I, for one, am happy to hear that the game would likely be at Heinz instead. While I appreciate the nostalgia of stadiums like Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, those places aren't ideally suited to host a hockey game. There are so many seats that are just WAY, WAY, WAY too far from the rink.
I watched the last 2 Winter Classics and thought, "Wow -- great atmosphere -- but you can't see anything".
Now, that's part of the allure the NHL has created, and they deserve credit for that. They have people so excited about the event that they're just happy to be there regardless of where they sit. That's a good thing.
But with better sightlines -- and a much greater seating capacity in a football stadium, like when the Penguins played in the first Winter Classic at Ralph Wilson stadium in Buffalo in 2008 -- its makes complete and total sense to play the game at Heinz field instead.
That will be the right move by the NHL if that's the way they go.
And putting the Penguins in the Classic again -- especially against the Capitals -- so soon after they were last in it is also the right move for the league.
Pittsburgh and Washington have the greatest rivalry in the NHL right now. There hasn't been a rivarly on their level since the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche brewed some hatred together in the Western Conference starting in the mid 1990's. Every game -- every series -- between those two clubs was practically legendary.
The Pens' and Caps' are approaching that level and the league would be foolish not to take their single, signature game and put the cameras and publicity all over those clubs and their many superstars.
We'll see when the announcement becomes official.
More later.
Sarge's absence has reportedly been due to illness, but the exact scope of what's ailing the Pens' power play quarterback hasn't been revealed. If indeed he's merely under the weather, it must be some flu to keep him out 3 games.
Anyway, Gonchar is said to be close to returning, perhaps even tomorrow night.
Malkin's return from a right foot injury is not likely to come quite as soon.
As most Penguin observers know, Malkin took a shot off the right foot from teammate Kris Letang a few weeks ago against the Tampa Bay Lightning and missed the next 2 contests before returning to play 6 days later against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Geno may have been the Pens' best player against Carolina, too --- until he slid awkwardly into the boards toward the end of the overtime period in that contest and tweaked the injury. Malkin has missed 4 games since and isn't likely to be ready until this coming weekend. At the earliest.
Head Coach Dan Bylsma said yesterday that they aren't going to rush Malkin back into the lineup, and rightly so. I mean, let's face it. The Penguins have 6 regular season games left. The most important thing at this stage is to get Geno healthy for the post-season. Pittsburgh doesn't want him dealing with a nagging problem at that stage if they can help it.
If Malkin can play one or two regular season games before the playoffs, that should be more than enough to get him in synch. Either way, it's critical that they let him get back as close to 100% as possible.
On a different note, rumors of the Pittsburgh Penguins hosting the 2011 Winter Classic gained additional steam on Sunday when further reports came out inicating that the Penguins were much closer -- and seemingly the accepted favorite -- to land the NHL's prime-time annual marketing display as a host to a contest against their arch rivals, the Washington Captials.
No surprise there, as talk has been ruminating for a few months about the likelihood of the Pens and Caps -- and their captains, Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin -- squaring off in the league's next showcase event.
However, the noteworthy thing about the story was that it looks as if the game would be held at Heinz Field, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and not PNC Park, where the Pittsburgh Pirates play.
As most people know, the Winter Classic the last few seasons has taken place in a few legendary baseball stadiums -- Wrigley Field in Chicago, and Fenway Park in Boston.
Initially, it was thought that any Winter Classic held in Pittsburgh would be at PNC, which is commonly known as one of the most beautiful parks in all of baseball (even if not befitting of the miserable team that typically plays there).
However, I, for one, am happy to hear that the game would likely be at Heinz instead. While I appreciate the nostalgia of stadiums like Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, those places aren't ideally suited to host a hockey game. There are so many seats that are just WAY, WAY, WAY too far from the rink.
I watched the last 2 Winter Classics and thought, "Wow -- great atmosphere -- but you can't see anything".
Now, that's part of the allure the NHL has created, and they deserve credit for that. They have people so excited about the event that they're just happy to be there regardless of where they sit. That's a good thing.
But with better sightlines -- and a much greater seating capacity in a football stadium, like when the Penguins played in the first Winter Classic at Ralph Wilson stadium in Buffalo in 2008 -- its makes complete and total sense to play the game at Heinz field instead.
That will be the right move by the NHL if that's the way they go.
And putting the Penguins in the Classic again -- especially against the Capitals -- so soon after they were last in it is also the right move for the league.
Pittsburgh and Washington have the greatest rivalry in the NHL right now. There hasn't been a rivarly on their level since the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche brewed some hatred together in the Western Conference starting in the mid 1990's. Every game -- every series -- between those two clubs was practically legendary.
The Pens' and Caps' are approaching that level and the league would be foolish not to take their single, signature game and put the cameras and publicity all over those clubs and their many superstars.
We'll see when the announcement becomes official.
More later.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Weekend Recap: Pens' Sweep Flyers and Maple Leafs To Reclaim Atlantic Lead
It's time for home cookin' baby.
After a stretch where the Pittsburgh Penguins lost 3 in a row and 6 of their last 8 -- 7 of which were on the road -- the Boys of Winter returned home this weekend to kick off a 6-game stretch at Mellon Arena in style, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-1 Saturday afternoon and capping off the weekend with a rousing come-from-behind 5-4 shootout victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
After the Devils only prevailed in 1 of their 2 weekend games, the Penguins now lead the Atlantic Division with 95 points, two ahead of New Jersey -- although the Devils have a game in hand.
While being back at The Igloo obviously provided the Penguins a boost, it helped that they got their offense going a little bit, too --- and did it without the services of defenseman Sergei Gonchar (illness) and Evgeni Malkin (foot), who missed both games.
After failing to score more than 3 goals in each of their last 8 contests, it was no wonder the Penguins hadn't fared well in the won/loss column recently. It's amazing what can happen when you plunk in just one more.
Interestingly enough, the Pens started off Saturday's game against the Flyers slowly, and were put behind the 8-ball early as a result when Philadelphia forward Aaron Asham got a gift goal by meekly tossing a puck to the net from the far boards on a 2-on-2 rush and somehow having it elude Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury on one bounce.
After that, though, it was all the home team.
Chris Kunitz tied the score later in the first period just as a power play expired by picking up a rebound from a Jordan Leopold shot and burying it before Flyers' rookie netminder Jonas Backlund -- making his first NHL start -- could get over to the far post.
After Pascal Dupuis got his 18th finishing off a Sidney Crosby pass to give Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead before the end of the second period, the Pens turned it on further in the 3rd against Brian Boucher, who came in to tend goal for Philadelphia after Backlund had to leave with a flare up of a recent groin problem he had been dealing with.
Matt Cooke snuck behind the far post and found himself open for a slick feed from Ruslan Fedotenko to make it 3-1 at the 7 minute mark, and Rusty scored himself about 7 minutes later to finish the scoring and give Pittsburgh a dominating victory in what could have been Philly's final appearance at Mellon, depending on whether the teams meet in the post-season.
Or whether the Flyers even MAKE the post-season. The Flyers have been struggling lately and putting on a mostly lame performance against Pittsburgh Saturday certainly won't help their playoff chances. I, for one, would be thrilled to see them miss the dance this year and I know I'm not alone in Penguin nation in feeling that way....
After getting back on the winning track by beating Philadelphia, the Penguins had another puzzling start in their game against the Leafs last night.
That is to say, they were back on their heels early again.
Toronto got a 1-0 lead on another gift goal, this time by Leafs' enforcer Colton Orr, when forward Rickard Wallin had a breakaway that Fleury -- starting again in the back-to-back situation -- stopped so beautifully it left him out of position and unable to make up for the fact that his teammates were beaten to the rebound by Orr, who easily deposited the puck into the vacated cage.
Fortunately, Tyler Kennedy tied the game for Pittsburgh later in the period when he slipped in front of the Leafs net and slid the biscuit behind Toronto netminder J.S. Giguere after some great work behind the net by his linemates, Mike Rupp and Craig Adams. Rupp, in particular, gave a great effort to use his hand to get the puck to himself while almost on his stomach to the right of the cage, before somehow shoveling it out in front to TK fo the goal.
In the second frame, Leaf's forward Phil Kessel popped his 30th of the year to give Toronto a 2-1 lead on a shot from about 35/40 feet that deflected off Pens' blueliner Brooks Orpik and dropped down past Fleury on the stick side.
Pens' Head Coach Dan Bylsma called a timeout at that point, and understandably so, since the scrappy Leafs were skating well and giving the Pens' all they could handle up to that point in the game.
Smart man that Bylsma. His timeout helped change the momentum when Crosby scored the next 2 goals -- his 46th and 47th, to again lead the league -- to give the Pens' the lead again, 3-2.
Crosby's first was a rebound of a Brooks' Orpik shot that Sid found near his feet in front of Giguere faster than the goaltender or the Leafs' defense did.
His second was a beautiful goal right off a face-off play that #87 won to the far wall. Orpik pinched in to take the puck from there, used a sublte pick by Fedotenko to get an extra second or two, then found Crosby who backed to the left edge of the right circle, took the puck and quickly wristed it far side, above Giguere's pad.
After the Leafs took the lead again on goals by Carl Gunnarsson later in the second and Tyler Bozak in the third, it wasn't looking good for the Penguins, but Matt Cooke saved his teammates' bacon by deflecting in under the crossbar a Leopold point shot with under 3 minutes to go to even things again.
The teams played a scoreless OT, and that set the stage for the Penguins to complete their comeback.
Crosby scored in round 2 of the shootout by beating Giguere top shelf, and Dupuis scored low stick side in round 3 on his first attempt of the year. Meanwhile, Fleury got some redemption from allowing 3 straight shootout goals to the Captials earlier in the week when he stopped both Kessel and Nikolai Kulemin easily to help give Pittsburgh the win.
While the scored was close and the Pens needed a late goal to just get to the shootout, they really turned around their play after Blysma's timeout. They outshot the Leafs 45-29 on the night and only some great stops by Giguere kept Toronto close.
Orpik had a career-high 3 helpers in the game, and was strong throughout. Leopold had a strong game, too, as did TK.
For as hairy as their results have been lately, there are a lot of elements in place for the Pens to get on a roll. They're getting good contributions from several support players, and just need to smooth out some details out there. If they can start playing more consistently in their own end the last 6 games, they should be in a good position going into the post-season.
Pittsburgh will look to continue their momentum in their next game on Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
More tomorrow on the status of Malkin and Sarge, and the recent updates that have been circulating about Pittsburgh being the likely candidate to host the next Winter Classic .......
After a stretch where the Pittsburgh Penguins lost 3 in a row and 6 of their last 8 -- 7 of which were on the road -- the Boys of Winter returned home this weekend to kick off a 6-game stretch at Mellon Arena in style, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-1 Saturday afternoon and capping off the weekend with a rousing come-from-behind 5-4 shootout victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.
After the Devils only prevailed in 1 of their 2 weekend games, the Penguins now lead the Atlantic Division with 95 points, two ahead of New Jersey -- although the Devils have a game in hand.
While being back at The Igloo obviously provided the Penguins a boost, it helped that they got their offense going a little bit, too --- and did it without the services of defenseman Sergei Gonchar (illness) and Evgeni Malkin (foot), who missed both games.
After failing to score more than 3 goals in each of their last 8 contests, it was no wonder the Penguins hadn't fared well in the won/loss column recently. It's amazing what can happen when you plunk in just one more.
Interestingly enough, the Pens started off Saturday's game against the Flyers slowly, and were put behind the 8-ball early as a result when Philadelphia forward Aaron Asham got a gift goal by meekly tossing a puck to the net from the far boards on a 2-on-2 rush and somehow having it elude Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury on one bounce.
After that, though, it was all the home team.
Chris Kunitz tied the score later in the first period just as a power play expired by picking up a rebound from a Jordan Leopold shot and burying it before Flyers' rookie netminder Jonas Backlund -- making his first NHL start -- could get over to the far post.
After Pascal Dupuis got his 18th finishing off a Sidney Crosby pass to give Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead before the end of the second period, the Pens turned it on further in the 3rd against Brian Boucher, who came in to tend goal for Philadelphia after Backlund had to leave with a flare up of a recent groin problem he had been dealing with.
Matt Cooke snuck behind the far post and found himself open for a slick feed from Ruslan Fedotenko to make it 3-1 at the 7 minute mark, and Rusty scored himself about 7 minutes later to finish the scoring and give Pittsburgh a dominating victory in what could have been Philly's final appearance at Mellon, depending on whether the teams meet in the post-season.
Or whether the Flyers even MAKE the post-season. The Flyers have been struggling lately and putting on a mostly lame performance against Pittsburgh Saturday certainly won't help their playoff chances. I, for one, would be thrilled to see them miss the dance this year and I know I'm not alone in Penguin nation in feeling that way....
After getting back on the winning track by beating Philadelphia, the Penguins had another puzzling start in their game against the Leafs last night.
That is to say, they were back on their heels early again.
Toronto got a 1-0 lead on another gift goal, this time by Leafs' enforcer Colton Orr, when forward Rickard Wallin had a breakaway that Fleury -- starting again in the back-to-back situation -- stopped so beautifully it left him out of position and unable to make up for the fact that his teammates were beaten to the rebound by Orr, who easily deposited the puck into the vacated cage.
Fortunately, Tyler Kennedy tied the game for Pittsburgh later in the period when he slipped in front of the Leafs net and slid the biscuit behind Toronto netminder J.S. Giguere after some great work behind the net by his linemates, Mike Rupp and Craig Adams. Rupp, in particular, gave a great effort to use his hand to get the puck to himself while almost on his stomach to the right of the cage, before somehow shoveling it out in front to TK fo the goal.
In the second frame, Leaf's forward Phil Kessel popped his 30th of the year to give Toronto a 2-1 lead on a shot from about 35/40 feet that deflected off Pens' blueliner Brooks Orpik and dropped down past Fleury on the stick side.
Pens' Head Coach Dan Bylsma called a timeout at that point, and understandably so, since the scrappy Leafs were skating well and giving the Pens' all they could handle up to that point in the game.
Smart man that Bylsma. His timeout helped change the momentum when Crosby scored the next 2 goals -- his 46th and 47th, to again lead the league -- to give the Pens' the lead again, 3-2.
Crosby's first was a rebound of a Brooks' Orpik shot that Sid found near his feet in front of Giguere faster than the goaltender or the Leafs' defense did.
His second was a beautiful goal right off a face-off play that #87 won to the far wall. Orpik pinched in to take the puck from there, used a sublte pick by Fedotenko to get an extra second or two, then found Crosby who backed to the left edge of the right circle, took the puck and quickly wristed it far side, above Giguere's pad.
After the Leafs took the lead again on goals by Carl Gunnarsson later in the second and Tyler Bozak in the third, it wasn't looking good for the Penguins, but Matt Cooke saved his teammates' bacon by deflecting in under the crossbar a Leopold point shot with under 3 minutes to go to even things again.
The teams played a scoreless OT, and that set the stage for the Penguins to complete their comeback.
Crosby scored in round 2 of the shootout by beating Giguere top shelf, and Dupuis scored low stick side in round 3 on his first attempt of the year. Meanwhile, Fleury got some redemption from allowing 3 straight shootout goals to the Captials earlier in the week when he stopped both Kessel and Nikolai Kulemin easily to help give Pittsburgh the win.
While the scored was close and the Pens needed a late goal to just get to the shootout, they really turned around their play after Blysma's timeout. They outshot the Leafs 45-29 on the night and only some great stops by Giguere kept Toronto close.
Orpik had a career-high 3 helpers in the game, and was strong throughout. Leopold had a strong game, too, as did TK.
For as hairy as their results have been lately, there are a lot of elements in place for the Pens to get on a roll. They're getting good contributions from several support players, and just need to smooth out some details out there. If they can start playing more consistently in their own end the last 6 games, they should be in a good position going into the post-season.
Pittsburgh will look to continue their momentum in their next game on Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
More tomorrow on the status of Malkin and Sarge, and the recent updates that have been circulating about Pittsburgh being the likely candidate to host the next Winter Classic .......
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Capitals Deal Penguins Another Regular Season Heartbreak
Last year, the Pittsburgh Penguins squared off against the Washington Capitals in 4 regular season contests.
And lost every single one of them.
Sometimes looking bad doing it, too.
In the playoffs, after beating the Capitals like a drum in game 7 in their own building to finish them off in the 2nd round of the post-season and give their rivals an early date on the golf course, the Penguins proved that those regular season defeats earlier in the year weren't quite a predictor of playoff success.
Pittsburgh can only hope the same story bears out this year because Washington again proved last night that they must be a bunch of astrology experts, having all the stars line up for them in a 4-3 shootout victory over the Pens at The Verizon Center -- which I happened to take in personally -- and which lifted their record to 3-0 against Pittsburgh this year.
That constellation began to form for Washington even before the game when they learned that not only would they not have to contend with Pens' center Evgeni Malkin -- who it was revealed, not only wouldn't play, but wasn't even with the team, having flown back to Pittsburgh after the Pens' loss Monday night in Detroit due to continuing symptoms from that brused foot -- but also would not surprisingly have to deal with the Pens' best backliner and power play quarterback, Sergei Gonchar.
Gonchar was an unexpected scratch due to illness.
Despite those absences, the Penguins came out with guns blazing against the Caps', taking it to them in a first period that ended up scoreless, but with Pittsburgh having a significant 17-9 shot advantage.
Early in the second period, Washington squashed that when they got a strange goal that occured with Caps' forward Mike Knuble basically tumbling right over Penguins' goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury in the crease and somehow knocking the puck in behind him with no penalty.
Fortunately for the Penguins, though, the invisible man -- Max Talbot -- showed up about a minute later and deflected a Brooks Oprik shot past Caps' netminder Jose Theodore.
Then, Bill Guerin padded Pittsburgh's advantage on a power play with about 5 minutes left in the second frame when he took a pass from Sidney Crosby and deposited the biscuit into a virtual empty net to Theodore's right, thanks to Crosby's stickhandling wizardry heading into the zone on the rush.
By the way, that power play opportunity was one of 5 the Pens had on the night, compared to only 1 for Washington, and that pretty much was a fair representation of how the play overall was carried.
Except -- speaking of those power plays -- for the shorthanded goal Washington got on one of them from Alexander Semin 5 minutes into the third when the game began to turn into an up-and-down affair not unlike a Six Flags visit.
The Pens' "D" backed up too easily on Semin's goal, because hecarried the puck from his own end across the Penguins blue line before cutting across the slot without being contested -- something I thought was particularly inexcuseable since Semin didn't have anyone to pass the puck to.
While Semin managed to wire that one into the top corner over Fleury's glove hand, he'll miss the net on the next 20 of those he takes.
Anyway, capitalizing on that momentum, Washington forward Eric Fehr scored on a deflection 2 minutes or so later to put the Penguins back in the hole.
That 3-2 advantage held until Jordan Staal -- who the Pens' needed a big game from with Malkin out -- tied it with about 3 minutes to go in regulation by picking up a loose puck in the right circle and wristing it high to the far side past Theodore.
After a scoreless overtime, Washington chose to defer the first attempt in the shootout, and maybe regretted that when Pittsburgh blueliner Kris Letang beat Theodore to open up the scoring, Fleury stopped Caps' forward Nicklas Backstrom, and then Crosby abused Theodore badly on the next shot to give the Pens' a nearly insurmountable 2-0 shootout advantage half way through.
Notice I said "nearly" insurmountable.
The Penguins had 3 chances to prevail in the shootout at that point and get a much welcomed additional point, but Alexander Ovechkin kept the Caps in it by beating Fleury on the next attempt, then Pens' RW Bill Guerin layed out a meek attempt that Theodore stopped before Semin evened things up by beating Fleury easily on the 3rd attempt.
After Blysma sent out Chris Kunitz to also meekly put a shot on Theodore -- that he stopped --Caps' bouncy ball bench boss Bruce Boudreau sent out Mike Knuble for the Caps' 4th shot.
Knuble had never scored a shootout goal in his career prior to that point but his star shone the brightest in that constellation I was talking about, because he changed that by beating Fleury relatively easily to give Washington a thrilling victory and the Penguins an agonizing defeat, despite the extra point they earned from going to OT.
There was some consolation in the Penguins' locker room after the game on the part of Crosby, Head Coach Dan Bylsma and others about how well the Penguins played for 60 minutes (especially without Malkin and Gonchar), about how they outshot Washington 42-32, and about how they can build on that game down the remaining stretch of their season.
I see that.
Of course, it's only as good as the Penguins' next performance, so time will tell, but I see it.
However, I also see the viewpoint felt by Orpik, who voiced frustration after the game about the team making the same mistakes over and over, not learning from them, and not being focused enough.
The Penguins would be eliminated in the first round if they play in the postseason they way they are now, according to Orpik.
It's hard to disagree with him. Let's face it, we're about past the stage where style points are important. The post-season starts in 3 weeks. Sure, it's important that Penguins get to their game and get on a little bit of a roll for the post-season, but consolation prizes are like being the second tallest midget in the room.
It's all about the "W".
With the Devils losing in a shootout tonight to the New York Rangers, they moved into a tie with the Penguins for 2nd in the Atlantic Division with 91 points, but technically have the #2 seed, since they have one more win (let alone one game in hand, still).
Worse, the Buffalo Sabres now have 90 points, and if they keep playing well, the race for the Atlantic Title could result in the division winner getting the #3 -- not the #2 -- seed.
Pittsburgh next begins a 5 game home stand by welcoming another rival, the struggling Philadelphia Flyers, on Saturday afternoon at Mellon Arena (1:00 PM).
So, while the Penguins can rely on the karma of having beat Washington and winning the Stanley Cup in last year's post-season even though they lost every regular season game to the Capitals, what they can't liken to their act from last year is the way they were playing down the stretch.
Last year -- almost unstoppable.
(Same with the 2 years prior to that, actually).
This year, not so much.
That's what going 2-5 in your last seven games provides.
A lot to think about.
Not worry necessarily.
(Not yet, anyway).
Just to think about.
But if you look up into the sky, you might see that worrysome contellation coming together very quickly.
And lost every single one of them.
Sometimes looking bad doing it, too.
In the playoffs, after beating the Capitals like a drum in game 7 in their own building to finish them off in the 2nd round of the post-season and give their rivals an early date on the golf course, the Penguins proved that those regular season defeats earlier in the year weren't quite a predictor of playoff success.
Pittsburgh can only hope the same story bears out this year because Washington again proved last night that they must be a bunch of astrology experts, having all the stars line up for them in a 4-3 shootout victory over the Pens at The Verizon Center -- which I happened to take in personally -- and which lifted their record to 3-0 against Pittsburgh this year.
That constellation began to form for Washington even before the game when they learned that not only would they not have to contend with Pens' center Evgeni Malkin -- who it was revealed, not only wouldn't play, but wasn't even with the team, having flown back to Pittsburgh after the Pens' loss Monday night in Detroit due to continuing symptoms from that brused foot -- but also would not surprisingly have to deal with the Pens' best backliner and power play quarterback, Sergei Gonchar.
Gonchar was an unexpected scratch due to illness.
Despite those absences, the Penguins came out with guns blazing against the Caps', taking it to them in a first period that ended up scoreless, but with Pittsburgh having a significant 17-9 shot advantage.
Early in the second period, Washington squashed that when they got a strange goal that occured with Caps' forward Mike Knuble basically tumbling right over Penguins' goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury in the crease and somehow knocking the puck in behind him with no penalty.
Fortunately for the Penguins, though, the invisible man -- Max Talbot -- showed up about a minute later and deflected a Brooks Oprik shot past Caps' netminder Jose Theodore.
Then, Bill Guerin padded Pittsburgh's advantage on a power play with about 5 minutes left in the second frame when he took a pass from Sidney Crosby and deposited the biscuit into a virtual empty net to Theodore's right, thanks to Crosby's stickhandling wizardry heading into the zone on the rush.
By the way, that power play opportunity was one of 5 the Pens had on the night, compared to only 1 for Washington, and that pretty much was a fair representation of how the play overall was carried.
Except -- speaking of those power plays -- for the shorthanded goal Washington got on one of them from Alexander Semin 5 minutes into the third when the game began to turn into an up-and-down affair not unlike a Six Flags visit.
The Pens' "D" backed up too easily on Semin's goal, because hecarried the puck from his own end across the Penguins blue line before cutting across the slot without being contested -- something I thought was particularly inexcuseable since Semin didn't have anyone to pass the puck to.
While Semin managed to wire that one into the top corner over Fleury's glove hand, he'll miss the net on the next 20 of those he takes.
Anyway, capitalizing on that momentum, Washington forward Eric Fehr scored on a deflection 2 minutes or so later to put the Penguins back in the hole.
That 3-2 advantage held until Jordan Staal -- who the Pens' needed a big game from with Malkin out -- tied it with about 3 minutes to go in regulation by picking up a loose puck in the right circle and wristing it high to the far side past Theodore.
After a scoreless overtime, Washington chose to defer the first attempt in the shootout, and maybe regretted that when Pittsburgh blueliner Kris Letang beat Theodore to open up the scoring, Fleury stopped Caps' forward Nicklas Backstrom, and then Crosby abused Theodore badly on the next shot to give the Pens' a nearly insurmountable 2-0 shootout advantage half way through.
Notice I said "nearly" insurmountable.
The Penguins had 3 chances to prevail in the shootout at that point and get a much welcomed additional point, but Alexander Ovechkin kept the Caps in it by beating Fleury on the next attempt, then Pens' RW Bill Guerin layed out a meek attempt that Theodore stopped before Semin evened things up by beating Fleury easily on the 3rd attempt.
After Blysma sent out Chris Kunitz to also meekly put a shot on Theodore -- that he stopped --Caps' bouncy ball bench boss Bruce Boudreau sent out Mike Knuble for the Caps' 4th shot.
Knuble had never scored a shootout goal in his career prior to that point but his star shone the brightest in that constellation I was talking about, because he changed that by beating Fleury relatively easily to give Washington a thrilling victory and the Penguins an agonizing defeat, despite the extra point they earned from going to OT.
There was some consolation in the Penguins' locker room after the game on the part of Crosby, Head Coach Dan Bylsma and others about how well the Penguins played for 60 minutes (especially without Malkin and Gonchar), about how they outshot Washington 42-32, and about how they can build on that game down the remaining stretch of their season.
I see that.
Of course, it's only as good as the Penguins' next performance, so time will tell, but I see it.
However, I also see the viewpoint felt by Orpik, who voiced frustration after the game about the team making the same mistakes over and over, not learning from them, and not being focused enough.
The Penguins would be eliminated in the first round if they play in the postseason they way they are now, according to Orpik.
It's hard to disagree with him. Let's face it, we're about past the stage where style points are important. The post-season starts in 3 weeks. Sure, it's important that Penguins get to their game and get on a little bit of a roll for the post-season, but consolation prizes are like being the second tallest midget in the room.
It's all about the "W".
With the Devils losing in a shootout tonight to the New York Rangers, they moved into a tie with the Penguins for 2nd in the Atlantic Division with 91 points, but technically have the #2 seed, since they have one more win (let alone one game in hand, still).
Worse, the Buffalo Sabres now have 90 points, and if they keep playing well, the race for the Atlantic Title could result in the division winner getting the #3 -- not the #2 -- seed.
Pittsburgh next begins a 5 game home stand by welcoming another rival, the struggling Philadelphia Flyers, on Saturday afternoon at Mellon Arena (1:00 PM).
So, while the Penguins can rely on the karma of having beat Washington and winning the Stanley Cup in last year's post-season even though they lost every regular season game to the Capitals, what they can't liken to their act from last year is the way they were playing down the stretch.
Last year -- almost unstoppable.
(Same with the 2 years prior to that, actually).
This year, not so much.
That's what going 2-5 in your last seven games provides.
A lot to think about.
Not worry necessarily.
(Not yet, anyway).
Just to think about.
But if you look up into the sky, you might see that worrysome contellation coming together very quickly.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Crosby. Ovechkin. Penguins. Capitals. Enough Said
It's not hard to understand why the NHL is buzzing today, what with the league's marquee matchup between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals -- and Sidney Crosby v. Alexander Ovechkin -- again taking stage tonight at the Verizon Center (7:00 PM EST, NHL NETWORK).
It's always a treat to watch these matchups and I'll once more have the distinct pleasure of taking in the latest game between these two rivals in person tonight.
Here's a nice piece from ESPN dating back to last month, recapping the history between Sid and AO during their matchups since both came into the league in 2005:
http://sports.espn.go.com/olympics/winter/2010/icehockey/columns/story?columnist=burnside_scott&id=4940569
And that, perhaps, is the constant allure which follows these teams whenever they meet.
What will go on that list next?
There's no denying the league has a real treat on it's hands with these two clubs and these two superstars squaring off on a regular basis. It's not like Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, who played each other so infrequently in the 1980's and 1990's while in opposite conferences.
So, while fans and people everywhere will have their eyes glued to the action tonight, hoping for something magical, and while I'm certainly in that group, there's something I'm looking for even more this evening.
I'm looking for the Penguins to step up and defeat one of the league's other teams.
I'm looking for the Penguins to get on a roll down the stretch of the season.
I'm looking for the Penguins to play a complete, 60-minute game, getting contributions from everyone up front, strong defense from their top-6 blueliners, and solid goaltending from #29.
In short, the Penguins need to play well and get a big win tonight against a team in a group of the league's best that Pittsburgh has struggled mightily with all year long.
Game recap at some point tomorrow, although it may be later than usual.
Let's Go Pens!
NOTES:
The status of Center Evgeni Malkin, still suffering from a re-injured foot after banging it into the boards late in the Penguins' game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday afternoon, is unclear for tonight. Pittsburgh was given the day off yesterday, so they didn't practice. Malkin is expected to test his foot in the morning skate today and see how he feels, before deciding whether to go tonight. Let's hope he's in the lineup. The Pens' will need all guns blazing tonight to keep up with the league's best offensive unit.
It's always a treat to watch these matchups and I'll once more have the distinct pleasure of taking in the latest game between these two rivals in person tonight.
Here's a nice piece from ESPN dating back to last month, recapping the history between Sid and AO during their matchups since both came into the league in 2005:
http://sports.espn.go.com/olympics/winter/2010/icehockey/columns/story?columnist=burnside_scott&id=4940569
And that, perhaps, is the constant allure which follows these teams whenever they meet.
What will go on that list next?
There's no denying the league has a real treat on it's hands with these two clubs and these two superstars squaring off on a regular basis. It's not like Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, who played each other so infrequently in the 1980's and 1990's while in opposite conferences.
So, while fans and people everywhere will have their eyes glued to the action tonight, hoping for something magical, and while I'm certainly in that group, there's something I'm looking for even more this evening.
I'm looking for the Penguins to step up and defeat one of the league's other teams.
I'm looking for the Penguins to get on a roll down the stretch of the season.
I'm looking for the Penguins to play a complete, 60-minute game, getting contributions from everyone up front, strong defense from their top-6 blueliners, and solid goaltending from #29.
In short, the Penguins need to play well and get a big win tonight against a team in a group of the league's best that Pittsburgh has struggled mightily with all year long.
Game recap at some point tomorrow, although it may be later than usual.
Let's Go Pens!
NOTES:
The status of Center Evgeni Malkin, still suffering from a re-injured foot after banging it into the boards late in the Penguins' game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday afternoon, is unclear for tonight. Pittsburgh was given the day off yesterday, so they didn't practice. Malkin is expected to test his foot in the morning skate today and see how he feels, before deciding whether to go tonight. Let's hope he's in the lineup. The Pens' will need all guns blazing tonight to keep up with the league's best offensive unit.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Capitals Using HGH????
So that's how they're doing it this year.
HGH.
(Also known as Human Growth Hormone)
In the lead up to the Pittsburgh Penguins' big clash tomorrow night in Washington against the Capitals, news broke today that federal investigators, including local and state officials, as well as those from the U.S. Marshall's office, decended on the Capitals' practice facility today to question certain Washington Capitals players about an investigation into a Chiropractor in Florida who has claimed to have provided HGH to several athletes in the DC area, including Caps' players.
Here's the breaking story from the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/23/AR2010032302421.html
Okay. There's no evidence of conclusive use or supply at this point.
But it still will be great fodder for me to personally give to Caps' fans in and outside the Verizon Center tomorrow night.
More tomorrow.
Red Wings Win The Race Over Penguins, 3-1
Going into last night's game against the Detroit Red Wings in the building where the Pittsburgh Penguins lifted the Stanley Cup the last time they visited, everyone knew that the team most likely to win was the one that played "their" puck possession, attacking game the most.
After Pittsburgh's 3-1 defeat last night, it was clear to me that, while both teams got to their game in a highly energetic and contested first period, the Red Wings stayed with it and the Penguins did not.
And the scoreboard told the tale last night, for sure.
I was looking forward to seeing the Penguins matched up against a team that plays like them and would force them to be at their best, but if last night was any indication, it merely reinforced that, despite their 2nd place seed in the Eastern Conference, they have a lot of work to do before they are postseason-ready.
I understand the Penguins were without Evgeni Malkin again last night, but Pittsburgh has to do better regardless. The Boys of Winter were outshot last night, 33-27, and have now lost 5 of their last 7 games.
Certainly not the type of roll they want to get on going into the post-season.
The defense pair of Mark Eaton and Sergei Gonchar particularly struggled last night. They were on the ice for all 3 Detroit goals against, including two by Henrik Zetterberg and one by Valterri Filppula.
Zetterberg's 2nd tally, a wrister from 45 feet inside the blueline in between the top of the circles, came on an even-up rush. It may have been slightly deflected, but that's a shot which Pens' goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury has to have.
Pascal Dupis got the Pens' only goal in the 2nd period after whacking a puck by Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard in a scrum around the goal.
It was Dupuis' 18th goal of the season.
With the loss, what do the Penguins have to look forward to now? A date with the team that has more points in the league than any other outfit -- the arch-rival Washington Capitals -- on Wednesday night.
Pittsburgh has yet to beat the Caps' this year in 2 tries, and hasn't fared well against the teams at or near the top of the league standings all season long. They're going to have their hands full against the Caps again for sure in a game that I'll be watching live, in person.
It would help if Sidney Crosby pitched in on the scoresheet more, too. Without being critical of the Penguins' Captain, he's scored only 3 goals in the last dozen or so games, and it's no coincidence that the Pens' record is what it is during that stretch. I hope he's not suffering from post-Olympic fatigue, because it certainly isn't going to get any easier.
Another guy who's been too much of a non-factor lately is Max Talbot. He got back in the lineup last night and centered the Penguins' second line in Malkin's absence, but I'm lucky if I remember his name being called more than twice last night, and that's a shame, beacuse he had a good opportunity to make an impact in a game the Penguins needed him to show up in. Unforunately, and for whatever reason, he wasn't able to feed off the energy he should have gotten from being back in the lineup -- let alone at the same place where he cemented his place as one of the biggest heros in Stanley Cup history last season.
It just boils down to consistency for the Penguins. I hope they don't think they'll just be able to turn it on when the playoffs roll around. They need to be playing at their best if they want to make a good Cup run again.
More tomorrow on the latest showdown between the Pens' and Caps'
After Pittsburgh's 3-1 defeat last night, it was clear to me that, while both teams got to their game in a highly energetic and contested first period, the Red Wings stayed with it and the Penguins did not.
And the scoreboard told the tale last night, for sure.
I was looking forward to seeing the Penguins matched up against a team that plays like them and would force them to be at their best, but if last night was any indication, it merely reinforced that, despite their 2nd place seed in the Eastern Conference, they have a lot of work to do before they are postseason-ready.
I understand the Penguins were without Evgeni Malkin again last night, but Pittsburgh has to do better regardless. The Boys of Winter were outshot last night, 33-27, and have now lost 5 of their last 7 games.
Certainly not the type of roll they want to get on going into the post-season.
The defense pair of Mark Eaton and Sergei Gonchar particularly struggled last night. They were on the ice for all 3 Detroit goals against, including two by Henrik Zetterberg and one by Valterri Filppula.
Zetterberg's 2nd tally, a wrister from 45 feet inside the blueline in between the top of the circles, came on an even-up rush. It may have been slightly deflected, but that's a shot which Pens' goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury has to have.
Pascal Dupis got the Pens' only goal in the 2nd period after whacking a puck by Detroit goaltender Jimmy Howard in a scrum around the goal.
It was Dupuis' 18th goal of the season.
With the loss, what do the Penguins have to look forward to now? A date with the team that has more points in the league than any other outfit -- the arch-rival Washington Capitals -- on Wednesday night.
Pittsburgh has yet to beat the Caps' this year in 2 tries, and hasn't fared well against the teams at or near the top of the league standings all season long. They're going to have their hands full against the Caps again for sure in a game that I'll be watching live, in person.
It would help if Sidney Crosby pitched in on the scoresheet more, too. Without being critical of the Penguins' Captain, he's scored only 3 goals in the last dozen or so games, and it's no coincidence that the Pens' record is what it is during that stretch. I hope he's not suffering from post-Olympic fatigue, because it certainly isn't going to get any easier.
Another guy who's been too much of a non-factor lately is Max Talbot. He got back in the lineup last night and centered the Penguins' second line in Malkin's absence, but I'm lucky if I remember his name being called more than twice last night, and that's a shame, beacuse he had a good opportunity to make an impact in a game the Penguins needed him to show up in. Unforunately, and for whatever reason, he wasn't able to feed off the energy he should have gotten from being back in the lineup -- let alone at the same place where he cemented his place as one of the biggest heros in Stanley Cup history last season.
It just boils down to consistency for the Penguins. I hope they don't think they'll just be able to turn it on when the playoffs roll around. They need to be playing at their best if they want to make a good Cup run again.
More tomorrow on the latest showdown between the Pens' and Caps'
Monday, March 22, 2010
Pens Lose To Carolina; Ready For Red Wings
As the Pittsburgh Penguins get ready to revist the site where they were awarded the 2009 Stanley Cup last June -- Joe Louis Arena in Detroit -- when they play the Red Wings in a nationally televised matchup tonight (7:00 PM EST, Versus), they are still stinging a bit from their overtime defeat to the pesky Carolina Hurricanes at Mellon Arena on Saturday afternoon.
The Penguins were sluggish all game, continuing their recent trend of what must be a disconcerting theme for coach Dan Bylsma with 10 regular season games remaining:
Inconsistency.
Coming off a 3-0 shutout victory over the Boston Bruins on Thursday night in Beantown, Pittsburgh was hoping to get a little streak going by beating the Hurricanes, but they sure didn't show it on the ice.
They were outshot 29-25 and, frankly, were fortunate to be in the position they were in, leading 2-1 with a few minutes left in regulation.
After Carolina forward Zach Boychuk scored just his 3rd goal of the season in the first period -- and second in two games against the Penguins -- the Pens' waited until the very end of the second frame before getting the tying tally on a power play by Jordan Staal, his 20th of the season.
Then, with less than 7 minutes to go in the 3rd period, they took the lead on a goal by Evgeni Malkin, who returned after missing 2 games with a foot injury and probably was the most dangerous Penguin on the ice.
Unfortunately, they couldn't hold that lead, as Hurricanes' defenseman Joni Pitkanen tied it up with 4 minutes left, beating Pens' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury and sending the third game of the 4 between these clubs this season into overtime.
The Penguins probably had the better of chances in the extra frame, but that changed in the last 20 seconds.
Forward Chad Larose of Carolina broke into the Pittsburgh zone 2-on-1, took a shot from the far circle and rang it off the post behind Fleury. Rather than just coast to the shootout, though, Larose hustled for the puck, won it along the boards, and tossesd it back to the point to rookie defenseman Jamie McBean for one last shot before time ran out.
Sure enough, McBean's shot glanced off the hand of Pens' center and Captain Sidney Crosby before deflecting by Fleury with 9/10ths of a second remaining in the overtime for a Carolina victory.
So, while Pittsburgh raised their lead on the New Jersey Devils in the Atlantic Division to 2 points -- a lead which held up when former teammate and current goaltender of the St. Louis Blues, Ty Conklin, shut out the Devils 1-0 later that night -- the Penguins were once again left with that distinctly unsavory feeling in their mouths after not being able to beat a team that is clinging to its playoff chances and has given them trouble all season.
Going into tonight's game against Detroit -- who the Penguins beat in a shootout at home earlier this year on January 31 -- Bylsma let it be known to his team that he isn't happy with their work of late, and that they need to be much more consistent down the stretch of the season if they are going to be in the best position to make a run at another Stanley Cup.
With the contest tonight against another team fighting for their playoff lives -- and the big one which follows it on the road on Wednesday in Washington -- the Penguins should have no shortage of motivation.
We'll see whether they can raise their game enough to start the ball rolling in the right direction.
Recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
NOTES:
Malkin tweaked his injured foot in overtime on Saturday afternoon when he awkwardly slid into the boards behind the net. He said the blow made it sore again, and took yesterday's short practice off, but is optimistic he'll be able to go tonight.
LW Matt Cooke was also given practice off yesterday.
The Penguins were sluggish all game, continuing their recent trend of what must be a disconcerting theme for coach Dan Bylsma with 10 regular season games remaining:
Inconsistency.
Coming off a 3-0 shutout victory over the Boston Bruins on Thursday night in Beantown, Pittsburgh was hoping to get a little streak going by beating the Hurricanes, but they sure didn't show it on the ice.
They were outshot 29-25 and, frankly, were fortunate to be in the position they were in, leading 2-1 with a few minutes left in regulation.
After Carolina forward Zach Boychuk scored just his 3rd goal of the season in the first period -- and second in two games against the Penguins -- the Pens' waited until the very end of the second frame before getting the tying tally on a power play by Jordan Staal, his 20th of the season.
Then, with less than 7 minutes to go in the 3rd period, they took the lead on a goal by Evgeni Malkin, who returned after missing 2 games with a foot injury and probably was the most dangerous Penguin on the ice.
Unfortunately, they couldn't hold that lead, as Hurricanes' defenseman Joni Pitkanen tied it up with 4 minutes left, beating Pens' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury and sending the third game of the 4 between these clubs this season into overtime.
The Penguins probably had the better of chances in the extra frame, but that changed in the last 20 seconds.
Forward Chad Larose of Carolina broke into the Pittsburgh zone 2-on-1, took a shot from the far circle and rang it off the post behind Fleury. Rather than just coast to the shootout, though, Larose hustled for the puck, won it along the boards, and tossesd it back to the point to rookie defenseman Jamie McBean for one last shot before time ran out.
Sure enough, McBean's shot glanced off the hand of Pens' center and Captain Sidney Crosby before deflecting by Fleury with 9/10ths of a second remaining in the overtime for a Carolina victory.
So, while Pittsburgh raised their lead on the New Jersey Devils in the Atlantic Division to 2 points -- a lead which held up when former teammate and current goaltender of the St. Louis Blues, Ty Conklin, shut out the Devils 1-0 later that night -- the Penguins were once again left with that distinctly unsavory feeling in their mouths after not being able to beat a team that is clinging to its playoff chances and has given them trouble all season.
Going into tonight's game against Detroit -- who the Penguins beat in a shootout at home earlier this year on January 31 -- Bylsma let it be known to his team that he isn't happy with their work of late, and that they need to be much more consistent down the stretch of the season if they are going to be in the best position to make a run at another Stanley Cup.
With the contest tonight against another team fighting for their playoff lives -- and the big one which follows it on the road on Wednesday in Washington -- the Penguins should have no shortage of motivation.
We'll see whether they can raise their game enough to start the ball rolling in the right direction.
Recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
NOTES:
Malkin tweaked his injured foot in overtime on Saturday afternoon when he awkwardly slid into the boards behind the net. He said the blow made it sore again, and took yesterday's short practice off, but is optimistic he'll be able to go tonight.
LW Matt Cooke was also given practice off yesterday.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Penguins Silence Bruins And Their Fans With Fleury's First Shutout Of The Season, 3-0
Who's the beeeatch now?
With hatred and revenge in the air before what everybody in Boston felt was the most anticipated and most important game of their Bruins' season last night against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Penguins dominated the lifeless B's all over the ice and notched a 3-0 victory behind Marc-Andre Fleury's 17 saves.
Hosting NHL Vice-President Colin Campbell and Director of Officiating Terry Gregson in the stands to closely observe the proceedings -- and in the presence of 4 of the league's most veteran on-ice officials -- the Bruins got at least some measure of revenge against wanted man Matt Cooke last night, but quickly showed that all the talk from the players and coach Claude Julien leading up to the game to how important it was to get the two points was nothing more than lip service.
After Boston enforcer Shawn Thornton challenged a more-than-willing Cooke to a bout 5 seconds after #24 first took the ice 2+ minutes into the opening period -- and then scored a victory by taking Cooke down with 2 right hands -- the Bruins forgot to play the rest of the game and the Penguins took advantage.
Coming off a miserable game the night before against the New Jersey Devils when he was a -3, Tyler Kennedy scored the Penguins' first goal about 7 minutes in by carrying the puck into the Boston zone on a 2-on-1 before beating Bruins' netminder Tuuka Rask high, top-corner glove side.
It was TK's first goal in 19 games.
Pittsburgh carried that 1-0 lead into the first intermission, then came out of the gate in the second period and dominated, ringing up the first 12 shots and causing the Bruins' faithful to boo their club mercilessly.
Boston Captain Zdeno Chara tried to get his team going later that period by engaging Pens' winger Mike Rupp in a fight at center ice, but that, too, failed to give his club any energy, and Pittsburgh responded by upping their lead to 2-0 about 15 seconds before the period ended when Alexei Ponikarovsky tipped a point shot from Kris Letang past Rask just seconds after a power play expired.
That marker was Ponikarovsky's first goal in 7 contests, and his second as a Penguin.
In the third period, the Bruins failed to get a shot for the first half of the frame and then Rupp finished them off by beating Rask to the far side after taking the puck down the wall into Boston's zone on a semi-breakaway.
At the other end, Fleury was hardly challenged in registering his first shutout of the season.
With the win, and a shootout loss by the Devils to the Toronto Maple Leafs last night, the Penguins were able to move back into first place in the Atlantic Division -- and the 2nd seed in the Eastern Conference that goes with it.
Their lead over the Devils is at one point, and New Jersey does still have a game in hand.
Meanwhile, with their loss, all the Bruins' bloodthirsty fans got was a dose of disappointment, as these pieces make glaringly plain:
http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/hockey/bruins/view/20100318bruins_retaliate_against_matt_cooke_lose_to_penguins/srvc=home&position=2
http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/hockey/bruins/view/20100319revenge_but_no_victory_shawn_thornton_pounds_matt_cooke_as_bs_fall/
http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/hockey/bruins/view/20100319matt_cooke_penguins_laugh_it_off/
The Pens' next game is tomorrow afternoon back at home against the Carolina Hurricanes (1:00 PM EST) -- a team they have yet to beat this season in three tries.
It's important the Penguins get on a little bit of a roll again, especially with games coming up next week at Detroit and at Washington.
More over the weekend.
NOTES:
Penguins' center Evgeni Malkin missed his second straight game last night with a bruised foot sustained on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Like he did the day before, Malkin went out on the ice early in the day, but stayed only briefly before adjorning back to the locker room. I think he's going to be out until next week, at least.
Enforcer Eric Godard returned to the lineup against the Bruins last night -- and not a game too soon, at least as a deterrent factor. While he didn't have to drop the gloves, it was still good to have him in the lineup in case. Godard took the lineup spot of Max Talbot, who was a healthy scratch.
Pittsburgh announced yesterday that CEO Ken Sawyer will retire effective August 31. Sawyer, who first joined the team as an Executive Vice President and COO in 1999, and who became President in 2003 before becoming CEO in 2006, will be replaced as CEO by current team President David Moorehouse.
With hatred and revenge in the air before what everybody in Boston felt was the most anticipated and most important game of their Bruins' season last night against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Penguins dominated the lifeless B's all over the ice and notched a 3-0 victory behind Marc-Andre Fleury's 17 saves.
Hosting NHL Vice-President Colin Campbell and Director of Officiating Terry Gregson in the stands to closely observe the proceedings -- and in the presence of 4 of the league's most veteran on-ice officials -- the Bruins got at least some measure of revenge against wanted man Matt Cooke last night, but quickly showed that all the talk from the players and coach Claude Julien leading up to the game to how important it was to get the two points was nothing more than lip service.
After Boston enforcer Shawn Thornton challenged a more-than-willing Cooke to a bout 5 seconds after #24 first took the ice 2+ minutes into the opening period -- and then scored a victory by taking Cooke down with 2 right hands -- the Bruins forgot to play the rest of the game and the Penguins took advantage.
Coming off a miserable game the night before against the New Jersey Devils when he was a -3, Tyler Kennedy scored the Penguins' first goal about 7 minutes in by carrying the puck into the Boston zone on a 2-on-1 before beating Bruins' netminder Tuuka Rask high, top-corner glove side.
It was TK's first goal in 19 games.
Pittsburgh carried that 1-0 lead into the first intermission, then came out of the gate in the second period and dominated, ringing up the first 12 shots and causing the Bruins' faithful to boo their club mercilessly.
Boston Captain Zdeno Chara tried to get his team going later that period by engaging Pens' winger Mike Rupp in a fight at center ice, but that, too, failed to give his club any energy, and Pittsburgh responded by upping their lead to 2-0 about 15 seconds before the period ended when Alexei Ponikarovsky tipped a point shot from Kris Letang past Rask just seconds after a power play expired.
That marker was Ponikarovsky's first goal in 7 contests, and his second as a Penguin.
In the third period, the Bruins failed to get a shot for the first half of the frame and then Rupp finished them off by beating Rask to the far side after taking the puck down the wall into Boston's zone on a semi-breakaway.
At the other end, Fleury was hardly challenged in registering his first shutout of the season.
With the win, and a shootout loss by the Devils to the Toronto Maple Leafs last night, the Penguins were able to move back into first place in the Atlantic Division -- and the 2nd seed in the Eastern Conference that goes with it.
Their lead over the Devils is at one point, and New Jersey does still have a game in hand.
Meanwhile, with their loss, all the Bruins' bloodthirsty fans got was a dose of disappointment, as these pieces make glaringly plain:
http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/hockey/bruins/view/20100318bruins_retaliate_against_matt_cooke_lose_to_penguins/srvc=home&position=2
http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/hockey/bruins/view/20100319revenge_but_no_victory_shawn_thornton_pounds_matt_cooke_as_bs_fall/
http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/hockey/bruins/view/20100319matt_cooke_penguins_laugh_it_off/
The Pens' next game is tomorrow afternoon back at home against the Carolina Hurricanes (1:00 PM EST) -- a team they have yet to beat this season in three tries.
It's important the Penguins get on a little bit of a roll again, especially with games coming up next week at Detroit and at Washington.
More over the weekend.
NOTES:
Penguins' center Evgeni Malkin missed his second straight game last night with a bruised foot sustained on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Like he did the day before, Malkin went out on the ice early in the day, but stayed only briefly before adjorning back to the locker room. I think he's going to be out until next week, at least.
Enforcer Eric Godard returned to the lineup against the Bruins last night -- and not a game too soon, at least as a deterrent factor. While he didn't have to drop the gloves, it was still good to have him in the lineup in case. Godard took the lineup spot of Max Talbot, who was a healthy scratch.
Pittsburgh announced yesterday that CEO Ken Sawyer will retire effective August 31. Sawyer, who first joined the team as an Executive Vice President and COO in 1999, and who became President in 2003 before becoming CEO in 2006, will be replaced as CEO by current team President David Moorehouse.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
The View From Boston
In case anyone was wondering how those in Boston Bruin nation feel about the Penguins and Matt Cooke leading into tonight's widely anticipated game between the two clubs, here's a survey of links to pieces from today's Boston media ..... starting with the 'WANTED' poster on the front page of the Boston Herald:
http://www.bostonherald.com/galleries/index.php?gallery_id=9
http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/bruins/articles/2010/03/18/bruins_may_stir_something_up_for_cooke/
http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1240586
http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/hockey/bruins/view/20100318all_eyes_on_matt_cooke_tonight_will_there_be_revenge/srvc=home&position=1
http://www.boston.com/sports/columnists/gasper/2010/03/paybackits_call.html
http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/hockey/bruins/view/20100318the_main_event_matt_cooke_vs_the_bruins_tale_of_the_tape/
http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/bruins/extras/03_18_10_penguins_retaliation_survey/
Undoubtedly, the eyes of the hockey world will be on the Penguins and Bruins tonight.
Again, I'll recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
http://www.bostonherald.com/galleries/index.php?gallery_id=9
http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/bruins/articles/2010/03/18/bruins_may_stir_something_up_for_cooke/
http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1240586
http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/hockey/bruins/view/20100318all_eyes_on_matt_cooke_tonight_will_there_be_revenge/srvc=home&position=1
http://www.boston.com/sports/columnists/gasper/2010/03/paybackits_call.html
http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/hockey/bruins/view/20100318the_main_event_matt_cooke_vs_the_bruins_tale_of_the_tape/
http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/bruins/extras/03_18_10_penguins_retaliation_survey/
Undoubtedly, the eyes of the hockey world will be on the Penguins and Bruins tonight.
Again, I'll recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
Swampland Smackdown: Devils Beat Penguins (Again), Sweep Season Series
With due respect to any of my readers from The Garden State, I hate New Jersey.
Have always hated it.
I don't like the way it looks.
I don't like the way it smells.
And I certainly don't like the hockey team there.
(And coincidentally or not, I have to travel there next week for work. Ugh).
New Jersey hasn't been called 'The Swamp' for nothing, and the Pittsburgh Penguins know that all too well, as they basically drowned in it last night, losing to the Devils, 5-2, and coughing up a 0-6 sweep of the season series to New Jersey in the process.
There's no denying it ... the Devils have the Penguins number this year. Pittsburgh should be very concerned if they have to match up against New Jersey in the post-season, although frankly, if they display the kind of decision-making they did last night, it won't matter who the Penguins match up against in the playoffs.
I'll make no bones about it. Pittsburgh basically handed the game to the Devils last night. They made stupid mistake after stupid mistake and then watched helplessly as New Jersey capitalized on just about every one of them.
The bigger shame of it all is that they wasted an excellent start to the game, when they jumped on the Devils early, controlled the play deep in New Jersey's zone, and got a 1-0 lead on a goal by LW Chris Kunitz to show for it.
After that, it was all downhill from there.
It started halfway through the first period when defenseman Brooks Orpik broke his stick while in the Penguins' zone. Once his defense partner, Kris Letang, corralled the puck and the Devils pulled back for a line change, things seemed disarmed enough.
That is, until Letang failed to get the puck around the sole remaining Devils' forechecker at the Penguins blueline. As Orpik was going to the bench for a change, Letang lost the puck and Danius Zubrus -- screaming through the neutral zone from the New Jersey bench -- took it in full stride and blew into the Pens' zone on a breakaway before Mark Eaton was able to get to him from the Pittsburgh bench.
Zubrus made a nice move to beat Pens' goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. And I wanted to drive a nail in Letang's head.
I remember watching Letang with the puck on that play, thinking "okay Tanger ... your partner lost his stick ... you SHOULD know that ... just be sure you at least get the puck out".
And that even assumes Orpik WASN'T going to go off for a line change, which of course, he did.
Unfortunately, that brain fart was only the beginning for the Penguins last night.
RW Bill Guerin tried a cross-ice pass to Tyler Kennedy near the center red line during another line change about 8 minutes later, only to have that picked off by New Jersey defenseman Paul Martin. Martin, despite playing for the first time in 59 games after absorbing a shot -- and a broken forearm -- from Guerin a game against the Pens' in October, walked in alone down the near boards and beat Fleury just above the pad to the far side for a 2-1 Devils' lead before the first period ended.
One might think the intermission would have allowed Pittsburgh to settle down.
Instead, someone must have snuck in the locker room, stole their hockey sense, and ran it outside and dumped it in the swamp somewhere, because they made two even more costly gaffes in the second period. On the same power play. In the exact same way.
The first time it happened, the Penguins attempted a cross-ice pass at the point that was stolen by Devils' winger Travis Zajac. Zajac walked in on Fleury all alone and #29 robbed him with a spectacular glove save.
If the Penguins didn't know before last night -- the 6th game of the year between the clubs -- that the Devils press the point on the power play, they certainly should have understood that after Fleury bailed them out on that one, right?
Wrong.
30 seconds later, they attempted another cross-ice pass at the point and this one was picked off by Patrick Elias. Elias walked in on his breakway and beat Fleury with a shot to the blocker side for a 3-1 lead.
Zach Parise piled onto the Penguins' misery halfway through the second period when another Pittsburgh turnover led to a 4-on-2 rush that he finished for a 4-1 lead, chasing Fleury to the bench in favor of backup Brent Johnson in the process.
Ruslan Fedotenko scored at the 5 minute mark of the 3rd period to make things appear that they might get interesting, and a 5-minute major penalty to Devils' winger Rod Pelly for boarding Pens' blueliner Alex Goligoski with 6 and 1/2 minutes to go (offset by a 2-minute minor to Letang for retaliating) gave the Pens a chance to press, but they finished off the season series against New Jersey with an 0-fer (0-for-21) on the man-advantage after they failed to score on that chance, and Rob Niedermayer made the score a 5-2 final with an empty-net goal before the game ended.
And so, with that, the Penguins left New Jersey empty handed against the Devils this whole year and headed to a world of hate in Boston for their matchup against Boston tonight with nothing but a disgusted taste in their mouths.
I don't think the Penguins played poorly overall last night (they outshot New Jersey 26-19, for instance) but clearly, the system the Devils play poses big problems for the Boys of Winter. If Head Coach Dan Bylsma and his players can't figure out a way to adjust their way past what the Devils can bring, they better hope they don't see New Jersey in the post-season.
I do believe that the playoffs are a different animal, but no matter what any Penguin player in the locker room says, after 6 convincing losses by a total score of 22-5 this year, their confidence would be fragile in any post-season matchup against the Devils.
On the other side of the fence, Devils' head coach Jacques Lemaire had this to say after the game last night about potentially meeting the Pens in the playoffs:
"Our confidence will still dominate at that point".
Let's hope the Penguins forget about the Devils quickly because they have a rather important game to play tonight against the Bruins that everyone will be watching.
While all eyes will be on Matt Cooke and whether there's any carnage to befall him or other Penguin players in retaliation by the Bruins for Cooke's legal, but grade-2-concussion-inducing-blind-side-to-the-head hit on Boston star Marc Savard last week, I found this quote from Boston tough guy Shawn Thornton 2 days ago interesting:
"I don't want to sound soft, but listen, we all want to take care of things. But at this point in the season, we're trying to make the playoffs, we're one point up, and it's probably not going to happen the way everyone in Boston wants it to. Unfortunately."
Time will tell whether that proves to be the case, but NHL head disciplinarian Colin Campbell will be at the game personally, and the league has assigned its two most veteran officials -- Bill McCreary and Stephen Walkom -- to handle the game in an effort to make cooler heads prevail.
I said the other day I don't believe anything meaningful is going to happen other than one fight involving Cooke, but I guess time will tell.
Cooke aside, the rest of the Penguins need to get it together on the ice, or they face dropping 4 out of 5 on their road trip.
Several Penguin players -- including guys like Tyler Kennedy, Max Talbot and Bill Guerin -- need to step up their games right now.
After being scratched for 2 contests and looking good returning to the lineup Saturday against Tampa Bay, Kennedy looked bad last night and earned the -3 rating he got for the game honestly.
Bill Guerin doesn't have the extra step I thought he would have coming off the Olympic break, and Max Talbot just isn't showing any energy out there on the ice. He actually looked lackadaisical on several occasions last night.
The Penguins have been traditionally good in March and, while they started that way again this year, they've hit a few big roadblocks the last week or so. It's really important they get things on track if they want to have a shot at the Atlantic Division title -- even if they have to do it without Evgeni Malkin, who missed last night's game with a foot injury, is unlikely to go tonight, and may not be back until next week.
Recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
Have always hated it.
I don't like the way it looks.
I don't like the way it smells.
And I certainly don't like the hockey team there.
(And coincidentally or not, I have to travel there next week for work. Ugh).
New Jersey hasn't been called 'The Swamp' for nothing, and the Pittsburgh Penguins know that all too well, as they basically drowned in it last night, losing to the Devils, 5-2, and coughing up a 0-6 sweep of the season series to New Jersey in the process.
There's no denying it ... the Devils have the Penguins number this year. Pittsburgh should be very concerned if they have to match up against New Jersey in the post-season, although frankly, if they display the kind of decision-making they did last night, it won't matter who the Penguins match up against in the playoffs.
I'll make no bones about it. Pittsburgh basically handed the game to the Devils last night. They made stupid mistake after stupid mistake and then watched helplessly as New Jersey capitalized on just about every one of them.
The bigger shame of it all is that they wasted an excellent start to the game, when they jumped on the Devils early, controlled the play deep in New Jersey's zone, and got a 1-0 lead on a goal by LW Chris Kunitz to show for it.
After that, it was all downhill from there.
It started halfway through the first period when defenseman Brooks Orpik broke his stick while in the Penguins' zone. Once his defense partner, Kris Letang, corralled the puck and the Devils pulled back for a line change, things seemed disarmed enough.
That is, until Letang failed to get the puck around the sole remaining Devils' forechecker at the Penguins blueline. As Orpik was going to the bench for a change, Letang lost the puck and Danius Zubrus -- screaming through the neutral zone from the New Jersey bench -- took it in full stride and blew into the Pens' zone on a breakaway before Mark Eaton was able to get to him from the Pittsburgh bench.
Zubrus made a nice move to beat Pens' goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. And I wanted to drive a nail in Letang's head.
I remember watching Letang with the puck on that play, thinking "okay Tanger ... your partner lost his stick ... you SHOULD know that ... just be sure you at least get the puck out".
And that even assumes Orpik WASN'T going to go off for a line change, which of course, he did.
Unfortunately, that brain fart was only the beginning for the Penguins last night.
RW Bill Guerin tried a cross-ice pass to Tyler Kennedy near the center red line during another line change about 8 minutes later, only to have that picked off by New Jersey defenseman Paul Martin. Martin, despite playing for the first time in 59 games after absorbing a shot -- and a broken forearm -- from Guerin a game against the Pens' in October, walked in alone down the near boards and beat Fleury just above the pad to the far side for a 2-1 Devils' lead before the first period ended.
One might think the intermission would have allowed Pittsburgh to settle down.
Instead, someone must have snuck in the locker room, stole their hockey sense, and ran it outside and dumped it in the swamp somewhere, because they made two even more costly gaffes in the second period. On the same power play. In the exact same way.
The first time it happened, the Penguins attempted a cross-ice pass at the point that was stolen by Devils' winger Travis Zajac. Zajac walked in on Fleury all alone and #29 robbed him with a spectacular glove save.
If the Penguins didn't know before last night -- the 6th game of the year between the clubs -- that the Devils press the point on the power play, they certainly should have understood that after Fleury bailed them out on that one, right?
Wrong.
30 seconds later, they attempted another cross-ice pass at the point and this one was picked off by Patrick Elias. Elias walked in on his breakway and beat Fleury with a shot to the blocker side for a 3-1 lead.
Zach Parise piled onto the Penguins' misery halfway through the second period when another Pittsburgh turnover led to a 4-on-2 rush that he finished for a 4-1 lead, chasing Fleury to the bench in favor of backup Brent Johnson in the process.
Ruslan Fedotenko scored at the 5 minute mark of the 3rd period to make things appear that they might get interesting, and a 5-minute major penalty to Devils' winger Rod Pelly for boarding Pens' blueliner Alex Goligoski with 6 and 1/2 minutes to go (offset by a 2-minute minor to Letang for retaliating) gave the Pens a chance to press, but they finished off the season series against New Jersey with an 0-fer (0-for-21) on the man-advantage after they failed to score on that chance, and Rob Niedermayer made the score a 5-2 final with an empty-net goal before the game ended.
And so, with that, the Penguins left New Jersey empty handed against the Devils this whole year and headed to a world of hate in Boston for their matchup against Boston tonight with nothing but a disgusted taste in their mouths.
I don't think the Penguins played poorly overall last night (they outshot New Jersey 26-19, for instance) but clearly, the system the Devils play poses big problems for the Boys of Winter. If Head Coach Dan Bylsma and his players can't figure out a way to adjust their way past what the Devils can bring, they better hope they don't see New Jersey in the post-season.
I do believe that the playoffs are a different animal, but no matter what any Penguin player in the locker room says, after 6 convincing losses by a total score of 22-5 this year, their confidence would be fragile in any post-season matchup against the Devils.
On the other side of the fence, Devils' head coach Jacques Lemaire had this to say after the game last night about potentially meeting the Pens in the playoffs:
"Our confidence will still dominate at that point".
Let's hope the Penguins forget about the Devils quickly because they have a rather important game to play tonight against the Bruins that everyone will be watching.
While all eyes will be on Matt Cooke and whether there's any carnage to befall him or other Penguin players in retaliation by the Bruins for Cooke's legal, but grade-2-concussion-inducing-blind-side-to-the-head hit on Boston star Marc Savard last week, I found this quote from Boston tough guy Shawn Thornton 2 days ago interesting:
"I don't want to sound soft, but listen, we all want to take care of things. But at this point in the season, we're trying to make the playoffs, we're one point up, and it's probably not going to happen the way everyone in Boston wants it to. Unfortunately."
Time will tell whether that proves to be the case, but NHL head disciplinarian Colin Campbell will be at the game personally, and the league has assigned its two most veteran officials -- Bill McCreary and Stephen Walkom -- to handle the game in an effort to make cooler heads prevail.
I said the other day I don't believe anything meaningful is going to happen other than one fight involving Cooke, but I guess time will tell.
Cooke aside, the rest of the Penguins need to get it together on the ice, or they face dropping 4 out of 5 on their road trip.
Several Penguin players -- including guys like Tyler Kennedy, Max Talbot and Bill Guerin -- need to step up their games right now.
After being scratched for 2 contests and looking good returning to the lineup Saturday against Tampa Bay, Kennedy looked bad last night and earned the -3 rating he got for the game honestly.
Bill Guerin doesn't have the extra step I thought he would have coming off the Olympic break, and Max Talbot just isn't showing any energy out there on the ice. He actually looked lackadaisical on several occasions last night.
The Penguins have been traditionally good in March and, while they started that way again this year, they've hit a few big roadblocks the last week or so. It's really important they get things on track if they want to have a shot at the Atlantic Division title -- even if they have to do it without Evgeni Malkin, who missed last night's game with a foot injury, is unlikely to go tonight, and may not be back until next week.
Recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
The Devils, The Bruins, The Capitals ... Oh My
It's good that the Boys Of Winter have a few days off right now, because there's much to talk about surrounding the team between games.
First, as the Penguins get ready for their final crack at beating the New Jersey Devils for the first time this season tomorrow night in New Jersey, they know first place in the Atlantic Division will be at stake again, thanks to the Devils' 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins last night.
The Devils are now 2 points back of Pittsburgh.
I still can't stop ruminating about how the standings would look right now if the Pens' had beaten the Devils just twice this year. Pittsburgh would be up 6 points in the division, if that were the case.
As it is, the Penguins have to worry about being swept by New Jersey. The Penguins don't want to have lost every game to the Devils this year and then have that mental albatross to deal with if they happen to meet their rivals in the post-season.
Speaking of Wednesday's matchup, there's no word yet whether Pens' center Evgeni Malkin will be in the lineup for the game, but there is at least good word that Geno didn't break a bone in his foot after being hit by a shot from teammate Kris Letang late in the second period of Pittsburgh's 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday. His x-ray yesterday was negative, and he's currently day-to-day with what's being described as a bone bruise.
For as big as the Penguins' game against New Jersey tomorrow night is, I actually think that their game the next night -- on the road in Boston against the Bruins -- is getting more press.
Of course, everyone in Bruin nation is looking to that game for revenge against Pens' LW Matt Cooke, who by now everyone knows knocked Bruins' star center Marc Savard probably out for the season with a grade 2 concussion on a shoulder-to-head -- but legal -- hit in their game last week in Pittsburgh.
Everyone will be watching that game to see what happens, and that includes League Vice-President and head disciplinarian Colin Campbell, who will be there in person after deciding not to suspend Cooke for his hit on Savard because it was currently legal under the rules.
I wouldn't be shocked to see Gary Bettman in the stands as well. If his presence and Campbell's presence might help keep another incident like the one that happened involving Todd Bertuzzi earlier this decade from happening, it will be worth it.
But the question remains -- will something like that happen anyway?
Former ESPN NHL announcer and current Bruins' TV play-by-play man Jack Edwards embarrased himself and his team when he came out publicly after Campbell's decision to not suspend Cooke and said that the Bruins should extract revenge by retaliating against the face of the NHL, Sidney Crosby, and "take out 9 of his teeth".
While I don't think that will happen, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see the Bruins go after Cooke in the game right away. After all, the Bruins have long planned to recongize several of their 'Big, Bad Bruin' legends before that very game. That should have their team and fans going.
On top of that, their General Manager, Peter Chiarelli, publicly questioned after the game last week why his team failed to respond to the hit. He said he intended to discuss it with his players, and when a GM essentially questions the togetherness of his team -- publicly or in private -- you can pretty much be sure that something is going to be done about it.
So, with that, and with common public sentiment being that Campbell missed the boat in suspending Cooke -- see, for example: http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/32127-The-Straight-Edge-Campbell-needed-to-step-up-and-punish-Cooke.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=thn_daily_20100313 -- I think it's pretty logical to believe that the Bruins will take matters into their own hands at some point on Thursday night.
Assuming they do, I expect Cooke to answer the bell and drop the gloves, if necessary. Cooke has been around long enough and he knows the code in the league. He's aware that he'll have to back up his actions in this circumstance -- whether the hit was legal or not, right or wrong. And I think he will.
And, he'll probably hope it happens early, just to settle the matter and reduce the chance of one of the Bruin players taking a run at one of his star teammates.
After the Pens' finish with the Devils and Bruins, they'll return home to play the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday afternoon, then head back to the road for two marquee matchups next week -- first on Monday in Detroit for the 2nd Stanley Cup Final rematch this year against the Red Wings, then on Wednesday in Washington against their arch-rivals, the Capitals.
One thing was settled about that game yesterday -- Alexander Ovehckin will be available to play in it.
Ovechkin was suspended yesterday for 2 games as a result of his boarding major and game misconduct incurred on Sunday afternoon against the Chicago Blackhawks when he again showed questionable judgment in shoving Hawks' defenseman Brian Campbell from behind into the boards at high speed, resulting in a broken clavicle, ribs and a concussion for the D-man.
Not surprisingly, Ovechkin and the Capitals organization spoke out publicly against the suspension, saying they felt the hit was legal and just like a lot of contact that occurs out there every game.
AO clearly either hasn't learned that sometimes he needs to peel back, or he simply doesn't want to.
While I'm talking about the Capitals, I'll end with this. Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported on Sunday that Pittsburgh has become a front runner to host the 2010 Winter Classic featuring the Pens and Caps either at PNC Park or Heinz Field.
His piece can be found here:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/penguins/s_671580.html
That's all for now.
More later.
First, as the Penguins get ready for their final crack at beating the New Jersey Devils for the first time this season tomorrow night in New Jersey, they know first place in the Atlantic Division will be at stake again, thanks to the Devils' 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins last night.
The Devils are now 2 points back of Pittsburgh.
I still can't stop ruminating about how the standings would look right now if the Pens' had beaten the Devils just twice this year. Pittsburgh would be up 6 points in the division, if that were the case.
As it is, the Penguins have to worry about being swept by New Jersey. The Penguins don't want to have lost every game to the Devils this year and then have that mental albatross to deal with if they happen to meet their rivals in the post-season.
Speaking of Wednesday's matchup, there's no word yet whether Pens' center Evgeni Malkin will be in the lineup for the game, but there is at least good word that Geno didn't break a bone in his foot after being hit by a shot from teammate Kris Letang late in the second period of Pittsburgh's 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday. His x-ray yesterday was negative, and he's currently day-to-day with what's being described as a bone bruise.
For as big as the Penguins' game against New Jersey tomorrow night is, I actually think that their game the next night -- on the road in Boston against the Bruins -- is getting more press.
Of course, everyone in Bruin nation is looking to that game for revenge against Pens' LW Matt Cooke, who by now everyone knows knocked Bruins' star center Marc Savard probably out for the season with a grade 2 concussion on a shoulder-to-head -- but legal -- hit in their game last week in Pittsburgh.
Everyone will be watching that game to see what happens, and that includes League Vice-President and head disciplinarian Colin Campbell, who will be there in person after deciding not to suspend Cooke for his hit on Savard because it was currently legal under the rules.
I wouldn't be shocked to see Gary Bettman in the stands as well. If his presence and Campbell's presence might help keep another incident like the one that happened involving Todd Bertuzzi earlier this decade from happening, it will be worth it.
But the question remains -- will something like that happen anyway?
Former ESPN NHL announcer and current Bruins' TV play-by-play man Jack Edwards embarrased himself and his team when he came out publicly after Campbell's decision to not suspend Cooke and said that the Bruins should extract revenge by retaliating against the face of the NHL, Sidney Crosby, and "take out 9 of his teeth".
While I don't think that will happen, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see the Bruins go after Cooke in the game right away. After all, the Bruins have long planned to recongize several of their 'Big, Bad Bruin' legends before that very game. That should have their team and fans going.
On top of that, their General Manager, Peter Chiarelli, publicly questioned after the game last week why his team failed to respond to the hit. He said he intended to discuss it with his players, and when a GM essentially questions the togetherness of his team -- publicly or in private -- you can pretty much be sure that something is going to be done about it.
So, with that, and with common public sentiment being that Campbell missed the boat in suspending Cooke -- see, for example: http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/32127-The-Straight-Edge-Campbell-needed-to-step-up-and-punish-Cooke.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=thn_daily_20100313 -- I think it's pretty logical to believe that the Bruins will take matters into their own hands at some point on Thursday night.
Assuming they do, I expect Cooke to answer the bell and drop the gloves, if necessary. Cooke has been around long enough and he knows the code in the league. He's aware that he'll have to back up his actions in this circumstance -- whether the hit was legal or not, right or wrong. And I think he will.
And, he'll probably hope it happens early, just to settle the matter and reduce the chance of one of the Bruin players taking a run at one of his star teammates.
After the Pens' finish with the Devils and Bruins, they'll return home to play the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday afternoon, then head back to the road for two marquee matchups next week -- first on Monday in Detroit for the 2nd Stanley Cup Final rematch this year against the Red Wings, then on Wednesday in Washington against their arch-rivals, the Capitals.
One thing was settled about that game yesterday -- Alexander Ovehckin will be available to play in it.
Ovechkin was suspended yesterday for 2 games as a result of his boarding major and game misconduct incurred on Sunday afternoon against the Chicago Blackhawks when he again showed questionable judgment in shoving Hawks' defenseman Brian Campbell from behind into the boards at high speed, resulting in a broken clavicle, ribs and a concussion for the D-man.
Not surprisingly, Ovechkin and the Capitals organization spoke out publicly against the suspension, saying they felt the hit was legal and just like a lot of contact that occurs out there every game.
AO clearly either hasn't learned that sometimes he needs to peel back, or he simply doesn't want to.
While I'm talking about the Capitals, I'll end with this. Rob Rossi of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported on Sunday that Pittsburgh has become a front runner to host the 2010 Winter Classic featuring the Pens and Caps either at PNC Park or Heinz Field.
His piece can be found here:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/penguins/s_671580.html
That's all for now.
More later.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Penguins Regain Equilibrium And Defeat Lightning, 2-1; Lose Malkin
The hockey spirits were antsy yesterday.
And not just in Tampa, where the Pittsburgh Penguins regained their equilibrium after two straight defeats by scoring two goals in the third period to come back and beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 2-1.
Pascal Dupuis and Sergei Gonchar scored just under three minutes apart in the first half of the third period to erase a second period marker by Lightning Captain Vincent LeCavalier.
Pittsburgh got back to its game in this one -- especially in the third period. They outshot Tampa Bay 39-22 overall and were rewarded with Gonchar's power play marker.
Remember the abysmal power play I talked so much about earlier this year? Well, Pittsburgh has now scored a power play goal in 9 of the last 13 games.
Aside from the victory and the 2 points in the standings that came with it, the Penguins were also rewarded when Captain Sidney Crosby went down with a grotesque-looking injury less than 40 seconds into the contest, but came back to action not long thereafter with no apparent ill effects.
Crosby was hurt when Lightning winger Steve Downie backchecked Crosby along the near boards and, as he was doing so, lifted up his left leg in the air and almost held it in position for a few seconds right behind Crosby's right knee, before slew-legging Sid and pulling him down with his right knee and ankle underneath him.
The Pens' Captain stayed down for a little while before skating to the bench without putting any weight on his leg. After the game, he described the play as 'scary', and said that after the initial stinger, he was okay. After questioning Downie's actions on the play, Crosby said it might have been worse if the ice wasn't fresh. As it was, according to Crosby, his skate didn't get stuck in the ice and he was able to just glide out of it.
Here's the play:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHeh3tyUL10
I, too, have no idea what Downie is doing there. I've never seen a player just glide in position behind an opponent like that with his leg up before doing what Downie did. Although, something like that is probably not beneath a guy like Downie. The former Philadelphia Flyer has never had the greatest reputation and is second in the league in penalty minutes this season. Somehow, though, he's turned himself into at least a semi-competent player at the same time, managing 40 points and a +18 on the year.
He's also playing on Tampa Bay's top line with Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis, and not looking out of place in doing it either.
Nevertheless, he's fortunate Crosby wasn't hurt, or he might have been on the receiving end of more abuse than he took from Crosby's teammates. Tyler Kennedy -- back into the lineup after being scratched for 2 games and finding himself on Sid's line that shift -- confronted Downie about it, but that was pretty much the extent of the retribution the Penguins sought. Again, that was likely because Crosby came back to play with no apparent problem.
Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the Penguins' other tower of power, Evgeni Malkin, who left the game late in the second period after being hit with a deflected shot off the stick of teammate Kris Letang and did not return.
Malkin was seen favoring his left leg after the game and Head Coach Dan Bylsma said he was unsure of the severity of the injury.
Right now, it's being called a bone bruise, but Malkin will be re-evaluated back in Pittsburgh today, where the Penguins have decided to fly home before traveling to New Jersey and Boston to finish their 5-game road slate on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
While I think it's possible Malkin might miss some short term action, it doesn't appear as if he'll be out for an extended period. I guess we'll see.
Meanwhile, the Penguins weren't the only team with stars in controversy over questionable hits yesterday.
Washington Capitals' star and Captain Alexander Ovechkin was at it again in their game in Chicago against the Blackhawks when he pushed Hawks' defenseman Brian Campbell hard into the boards from behind to the right of the Chicago goal.
Ovechkin got a 5-minute boarding major and a game misconduct -- his 3rd such misconduct this season -- for his trouble. Don't be surprised if the Blackhawks deem that to be insufficient punishment because news started circulating late last night that Campbell may very well miss the remainder of the season after suffering a fractured clavicle and broken ribs on the play.
Ovechkin's hit is sure to stir up plenty of emotion and debate at a time when injuries to players as a result of senseless acts are a hot topic around the league and at the NHL office.
Here's a look at that play:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb6EfttNhGI
While the play seems innocent enough, it happened at high speed, which is why the Campbell's collision into the boards was so hard. And it's also why people will wonder why it was necessary at all.
Personally, I don't think the shove was so removed from Campbell dishing the puck away that you can say it was late. On the other hand, you certainly can't help but detect that this type of thing is a pattern in Ovechkin's game and decision-making.
Some would say the same thing about Matt Cooke.
Ovechkin, like Cooke, is definitely not a guy that errs on the side of avoiding contact. When there's even a chance for a hit, he'll push the envelope and go for it rather than pulling up. And, the fact that Ovechkin does everything out on the ice at such high tempo increases the risk for a negative consequence when he does.
Anyway, I don't think Ovechkin will be suspended, but I'm anxious to hear what everyone says about it in the next day or two.
More on the Penguins' tomorrow.
NOTES:
Kennedy's return to the Pens' lineup made forward Max Talbot a healthy scratch. And Talbot wasn't the only one to take a seat in the press box without an injury, either. Defenseman Alex Goligoski also did that, when Bylsma opted to play defenseman Jay McKee in his place. McKee looked strong yesterday, too. It will be interesting to see what Bylsma does from a lineup standpoint in the rematch against the Devils on Wednesday. Of course, that may be influenced by whether or not Geno will be able to play.
And not just in Tampa, where the Pittsburgh Penguins regained their equilibrium after two straight defeats by scoring two goals in the third period to come back and beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 2-1.
Pascal Dupuis and Sergei Gonchar scored just under three minutes apart in the first half of the third period to erase a second period marker by Lightning Captain Vincent LeCavalier.
Pittsburgh got back to its game in this one -- especially in the third period. They outshot Tampa Bay 39-22 overall and were rewarded with Gonchar's power play marker.
Remember the abysmal power play I talked so much about earlier this year? Well, Pittsburgh has now scored a power play goal in 9 of the last 13 games.
Aside from the victory and the 2 points in the standings that came with it, the Penguins were also rewarded when Captain Sidney Crosby went down with a grotesque-looking injury less than 40 seconds into the contest, but came back to action not long thereafter with no apparent ill effects.
Crosby was hurt when Lightning winger Steve Downie backchecked Crosby along the near boards and, as he was doing so, lifted up his left leg in the air and almost held it in position for a few seconds right behind Crosby's right knee, before slew-legging Sid and pulling him down with his right knee and ankle underneath him.
The Pens' Captain stayed down for a little while before skating to the bench without putting any weight on his leg. After the game, he described the play as 'scary', and said that after the initial stinger, he was okay. After questioning Downie's actions on the play, Crosby said it might have been worse if the ice wasn't fresh. As it was, according to Crosby, his skate didn't get stuck in the ice and he was able to just glide out of it.
Here's the play:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHeh3tyUL10
I, too, have no idea what Downie is doing there. I've never seen a player just glide in position behind an opponent like that with his leg up before doing what Downie did. Although, something like that is probably not beneath a guy like Downie. The former Philadelphia Flyer has never had the greatest reputation and is second in the league in penalty minutes this season. Somehow, though, he's turned himself into at least a semi-competent player at the same time, managing 40 points and a +18 on the year.
He's also playing on Tampa Bay's top line with Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis, and not looking out of place in doing it either.
Nevertheless, he's fortunate Crosby wasn't hurt, or he might have been on the receiving end of more abuse than he took from Crosby's teammates. Tyler Kennedy -- back into the lineup after being scratched for 2 games and finding himself on Sid's line that shift -- confronted Downie about it, but that was pretty much the extent of the retribution the Penguins sought. Again, that was likely because Crosby came back to play with no apparent problem.
Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the Penguins' other tower of power, Evgeni Malkin, who left the game late in the second period after being hit with a deflected shot off the stick of teammate Kris Letang and did not return.
Malkin was seen favoring his left leg after the game and Head Coach Dan Bylsma said he was unsure of the severity of the injury.
Right now, it's being called a bone bruise, but Malkin will be re-evaluated back in Pittsburgh today, where the Penguins have decided to fly home before traveling to New Jersey and Boston to finish their 5-game road slate on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
While I think it's possible Malkin might miss some short term action, it doesn't appear as if he'll be out for an extended period. I guess we'll see.
Meanwhile, the Penguins weren't the only team with stars in controversy over questionable hits yesterday.
Washington Capitals' star and Captain Alexander Ovechkin was at it again in their game in Chicago against the Blackhawks when he pushed Hawks' defenseman Brian Campbell hard into the boards from behind to the right of the Chicago goal.
Ovechkin got a 5-minute boarding major and a game misconduct -- his 3rd such misconduct this season -- for his trouble. Don't be surprised if the Blackhawks deem that to be insufficient punishment because news started circulating late last night that Campbell may very well miss the remainder of the season after suffering a fractured clavicle and broken ribs on the play.
Ovechkin's hit is sure to stir up plenty of emotion and debate at a time when injuries to players as a result of senseless acts are a hot topic around the league and at the NHL office.
Here's a look at that play:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb6EfttNhGI
While the play seems innocent enough, it happened at high speed, which is why the Campbell's collision into the boards was so hard. And it's also why people will wonder why it was necessary at all.
Personally, I don't think the shove was so removed from Campbell dishing the puck away that you can say it was late. On the other hand, you certainly can't help but detect that this type of thing is a pattern in Ovechkin's game and decision-making.
Some would say the same thing about Matt Cooke.
Ovechkin, like Cooke, is definitely not a guy that errs on the side of avoiding contact. When there's even a chance for a hit, he'll push the envelope and go for it rather than pulling up. And, the fact that Ovechkin does everything out on the ice at such high tempo increases the risk for a negative consequence when he does.
Anyway, I don't think Ovechkin will be suspended, but I'm anxious to hear what everyone says about it in the next day or two.
More on the Penguins' tomorrow.
NOTES:
Kennedy's return to the Pens' lineup made forward Max Talbot a healthy scratch. And Talbot wasn't the only one to take a seat in the press box without an injury, either. Defenseman Alex Goligoski also did that, when Bylsma opted to play defenseman Jay McKee in his place. McKee looked strong yesterday, too. It will be interesting to see what Bylsma does from a lineup standpoint in the rematch against the Devils on Wednesday. Of course, that may be influenced by whether or not Geno will be able to play.
Saturday, March 13, 2010
New Jersey Is The Epitome Of Devil Frustration Again; Beat Penguins, 3-1
If there's one word to sum up the Pittsburgh Penguins' latest defeat to New Jersey -- this time 3-1 to the Devils on the road last night -- it's frustration.
Massive and untolerable frustration.
Okay, so that's 4 words.
The Penguins came out of the gate last night intending to show the Devils that they weren't the same team New Jersey has defeated 4 straight times already this year.
And for a while, that's exactly what they did.
After giving up an early goal where the Devils caught a break when New Jersey defenseman Andy Greene's shot missed the net wide only to bounce hard off the backboards in front for an easy goal by winger/center Patrick Elias, Sidney Crosby brought the Penguins right back into it less than a minute later when he capitalized on a Devils' turnover in the neutral zone and scored on the ensuing 2-on-1 to tie the game.
In the 2nd period, what already was a chippy affair got chippier, when Penguins' LW Craig Adams was given a 5 minute boarding penalty and a game misconduct for a hit from behind on former Penguin and current Devils' defenseman Martin Skoula.
At first, I thought the call was made because it was a senseless hit on an icing play, and that's something the league is trying to get out of the game. Strangely, however, there seemed to be some question as to whether the play actually was icing. It occurred behind the New Jersey net and play stopped after the hit, but Skoula never went down and the Penguins never had possession of the puck to have play stopped.
Mixed explanations for the call from the officials didn't help the Penguins, but despite that adversity, Pittsburgh's strong PK unit stepped up and killed off the major.
Late in the 2nd frame, Pittsburgh faced -- and overcame -- more adversity.
Devils' star forward Ilya Kovalchuk found himself on a breakaway, only to be slashed and hauled down from behind by Pens' defenseman Kris Letang, resulting in a penalty shot for one of the more dangerous forwards in the game.
But Pittsburgh netminder Marc-Andre Fleury stepped up big and stoned Kovalchuk to give the Penguins some momentum back going into the third period.
That momentum continued when Pens' LW Matt Cooke and Devils forward Rob Niedermayer fought just 3 seconds in, which was the carryover from an incident that occurred at the end of the 2nd period when those two collided near the penalty box and Niedermayer needlessly got his stick up on Cooke's head, but no penalty was called.
Despite giving up 3 inches to the Devils' forward in height, Cooke handled Niedermayer in the fight easily, but the lift the Penguins got from that was killed just a few minutes later when Greene ripped one from 40 feet over Fleury's glove, top corner on a long, uncontested rebound to give the Devils a 2-1 lead.
The Penguins certainly weren't out of the game at this point -- despite continued difficulty getting pucks past New Jersey goaltender Martin Brodeur, who had been playing poorly recently but suddenly looked like his usual self against Pittsburgh last night.
But if they weren't out of the game then, they were effectively out of it at the 10 minute mark when Devils forward Travis Zajac got away with goaltender interference on a simple point shot by Kovalchuk that ended up floating past Fleury for an insurmountable 3-1 Devils' edge.
Zajac was skating towards the front of the net from Fleury's left and, just as Kovalchuk tossed the puck on net and Fleury was about to glove it, Zajac jabbed at Fleury's glove hand with his stick and knocked it out of the path of the puck.
Fleury protested vigorously, and the official listened, but since he didn't see it, there was little he could do.
Of course, Zajac could very well have been trying to deflect the puck there, but simply missed and caught Fleury's glove instead. That doesn't matter, though, because there's no exception to goaltender interference when you don't intend to do it. The fact is, it was a penalty that should have been called and the officials' failure to catch it really put the Penguins in a tough position.
Not surprisingly, with the Devils up to their usual trapping, Pittsburgh got no closer and the game ended in a 3-1 New Jersey victory.
The Devils moved to within 2 points of Pittsburgh in the Atlantic Division with the win. The teams play again in New Jersey next Wednesday in what is sure to be another highly contested game. Will the Penguins finally beat those guys? I mean, REALLY.
One thing is for sure -- I know how the Philadelphia Flyers felt a few years ago when the Penguins swept the season series from them. And that was EIGHT games. It's just the epitome of frustration.
Ugh.
Let's hope the Penguins can get back on the winning track before then when they play the Lightning Sunday afternoon in Tampa (5:00 PM EST). They don't want to have lost 3 straight going into next Wednesday's rematch in New Jersey.
More later.
Massive and untolerable frustration.
Okay, so that's 4 words.
The Penguins came out of the gate last night intending to show the Devils that they weren't the same team New Jersey has defeated 4 straight times already this year.
And for a while, that's exactly what they did.
After giving up an early goal where the Devils caught a break when New Jersey defenseman Andy Greene's shot missed the net wide only to bounce hard off the backboards in front for an easy goal by winger/center Patrick Elias, Sidney Crosby brought the Penguins right back into it less than a minute later when he capitalized on a Devils' turnover in the neutral zone and scored on the ensuing 2-on-1 to tie the game.
In the 2nd period, what already was a chippy affair got chippier, when Penguins' LW Craig Adams was given a 5 minute boarding penalty and a game misconduct for a hit from behind on former Penguin and current Devils' defenseman Martin Skoula.
At first, I thought the call was made because it was a senseless hit on an icing play, and that's something the league is trying to get out of the game. Strangely, however, there seemed to be some question as to whether the play actually was icing. It occurred behind the New Jersey net and play stopped after the hit, but Skoula never went down and the Penguins never had possession of the puck to have play stopped.
Mixed explanations for the call from the officials didn't help the Penguins, but despite that adversity, Pittsburgh's strong PK unit stepped up and killed off the major.
Late in the 2nd frame, Pittsburgh faced -- and overcame -- more adversity.
Devils' star forward Ilya Kovalchuk found himself on a breakaway, only to be slashed and hauled down from behind by Pens' defenseman Kris Letang, resulting in a penalty shot for one of the more dangerous forwards in the game.
But Pittsburgh netminder Marc-Andre Fleury stepped up big and stoned Kovalchuk to give the Penguins some momentum back going into the third period.
That momentum continued when Pens' LW Matt Cooke and Devils forward Rob Niedermayer fought just 3 seconds in, which was the carryover from an incident that occurred at the end of the 2nd period when those two collided near the penalty box and Niedermayer needlessly got his stick up on Cooke's head, but no penalty was called.
Despite giving up 3 inches to the Devils' forward in height, Cooke handled Niedermayer in the fight easily, but the lift the Penguins got from that was killed just a few minutes later when Greene ripped one from 40 feet over Fleury's glove, top corner on a long, uncontested rebound to give the Devils a 2-1 lead.
The Penguins certainly weren't out of the game at this point -- despite continued difficulty getting pucks past New Jersey goaltender Martin Brodeur, who had been playing poorly recently but suddenly looked like his usual self against Pittsburgh last night.
But if they weren't out of the game then, they were effectively out of it at the 10 minute mark when Devils forward Travis Zajac got away with goaltender interference on a simple point shot by Kovalchuk that ended up floating past Fleury for an insurmountable 3-1 Devils' edge.
Zajac was skating towards the front of the net from Fleury's left and, just as Kovalchuk tossed the puck on net and Fleury was about to glove it, Zajac jabbed at Fleury's glove hand with his stick and knocked it out of the path of the puck.
Fleury protested vigorously, and the official listened, but since he didn't see it, there was little he could do.
Of course, Zajac could very well have been trying to deflect the puck there, but simply missed and caught Fleury's glove instead. That doesn't matter, though, because there's no exception to goaltender interference when you don't intend to do it. The fact is, it was a penalty that should have been called and the officials' failure to catch it really put the Penguins in a tough position.
Not surprisingly, with the Devils up to their usual trapping, Pittsburgh got no closer and the game ended in a 3-1 New Jersey victory.
The Devils moved to within 2 points of Pittsburgh in the Atlantic Division with the win. The teams play again in New Jersey next Wednesday in what is sure to be another highly contested game. Will the Penguins finally beat those guys? I mean, REALLY.
One thing is for sure -- I know how the Philadelphia Flyers felt a few years ago when the Penguins swept the season series from them. And that was EIGHT games. It's just the epitome of frustration.
Ugh.
Let's hope the Penguins can get back on the winning track before then when they play the Lightning Sunday afternoon in Tampa (5:00 PM EST). They don't want to have lost 3 straight going into next Wednesday's rematch in New Jersey.
More later.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Penguins Head Into Showdown With Devils On Down Note After Falling To Carolina, 4-3 (OT)
On the ice, things looked relatively good.
They controlled play, limited the opposition's scoring chances, and rang up a 40-21 advantage in shots.
In short, they did so many of the things they've been doing well since the Olympic break.
On the scoreboard, though -- which is really the only place that matters -- the Pittsburgh Penguins came up on the short end to the Carolina Hurricanes last night in a 4-3 overtime loss at the RBC Center in Raleigh, NC.
Where was Bill Cowher when you need Carolina to fall at home?
Pittsburgh started the game blazing on goals in the first 5-minutes by Jordan Staal (even strength) and Bill Guerin (power play), but Carolina creeped back into the game later that period on a man-advantage goal by Ray Whitney and just the 2nd goal of the season by center Zach Boychuk.
I'm still shaking my head a little bit at Boychuk's goal. It came right off a faceoff play just outside the Penguins' blueline. Boychuk didn't take the draw, but the puck came to him on the left wing and he immediately stormed into the Pens' zone, cut across the middle and tossed a backhand that went top corner over the right shoulder of Pittsburgh backup goaltender Brent Johnson to tie the score.
When Eric Staal scored early in the 2nd period on a soft, bank-in goal past Johnson to give the Hurricanes a 3-2 lead, I was struggling to see how the Penguins' lead had evaporated.
Fortunately, the league didn't suspend Matt Cooke, because he made me temporarily forget about that when he tied the game for the Penguins on a backhander from the slot about 4 minutes later.
The game remained tied at 3 until overtime -- thanks to a solid stop by Johnson on a breakaway by Carolina forward Erik Cole in the 3rd period -- but only 23 seconds into the extra frame, each one of the Penguins on the ice suffered the most common 4-on-4 overtime malaise at the same time, and it cost them.
Each of them got caught looking at the puck carrier.
That indiscretion allowed Whitney to send the puck through the crease from low in the near corner to defenseman Brian Pothier in the far circle. Pothier made a shot he couldn't make again in 50 tries when he one timed the pass over Johnson's glove hand top corner for the winner.
And with that, the Penguins' 4-game winning streak ended.
Of course, Pittsburgh pulled in a point for stretching the game to OT, but they have to be frustrated about not being able to get more pucks past Carolina's third-string goalie, Justin Peters -- in the lineup because of an injury to starter Cam Ward, and because backup Manny Legace had played the night before against the Washington Capitals.
Peters played relatively well, but I don't think the Penguins challenged him enough, despite the 40 shots they posted.
They also missed several good scoring chances by fanning on the puck or missing the net.
That said, the Penguins played well overall and know it, so they still feel pretty good about their game going into tonight's showdown with the New Jersey Devils -- a team they will play twice in their next 3 games.
While the Penguins have yet to beat New Jersey this year in 4 tries, they know that these next two games could do a lot to decide who wins the Atlantic Division title -- and the likely #2 playoff seed that goes with it.
The Pens' are up 4 points on the Devils at this point, but if Pittsburgh manages to beat New Jersey in both contests, that's an 8 point swing, and they could stand to be up on New Jersey by 8 points next week with about 14 games left in the season. Even with the current 2 games in hand that the Devils have, that wouldn't be an easy deficit for them to overcome.
Marc-Andre Fleury will be back in goal for Pittsburgh tonight.
There's no word whether Tyler Kennedy -- who sat out last night's game with a nagging groin problem, but who otherwise probably would have been in the lineup anyway if not for the fact that he's been struggling so much offensively -- will return to the ice this evening.
More this weekend.
Let's Go Pens!
NOTES:
Stop the press! Sidney Crosby's missing Olympic glove and stick have been found!!!
I meant to mention this the other day in my off day notes post, but apparently, lost in the Canadian Olympic men's hockey team's on-ice celebration after winning the gold medal a few weeks ago were one of Crosby's gloves and his stick, which he tossed in the air together with his other glove and mouthpiece after scoring the Golden Goal in overtime. Eventually, the glove was found in a Boston Bruins equipment bag, and likely traveled back to the B's with Canadian teammate Patrice Bergeron somehow. The stick was found with a bunch of other items from the games that were headed from Toronto to the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in Russia. Of course, both items only turned up after Hockey Canada posted a reward for their return .....
They controlled play, limited the opposition's scoring chances, and rang up a 40-21 advantage in shots.
In short, they did so many of the things they've been doing well since the Olympic break.
On the scoreboard, though -- which is really the only place that matters -- the Pittsburgh Penguins came up on the short end to the Carolina Hurricanes last night in a 4-3 overtime loss at the RBC Center in Raleigh, NC.
Where was Bill Cowher when you need Carolina to fall at home?
Pittsburgh started the game blazing on goals in the first 5-minutes by Jordan Staal (even strength) and Bill Guerin (power play), but Carolina creeped back into the game later that period on a man-advantage goal by Ray Whitney and just the 2nd goal of the season by center Zach Boychuk.
I'm still shaking my head a little bit at Boychuk's goal. It came right off a faceoff play just outside the Penguins' blueline. Boychuk didn't take the draw, but the puck came to him on the left wing and he immediately stormed into the Pens' zone, cut across the middle and tossed a backhand that went top corner over the right shoulder of Pittsburgh backup goaltender Brent Johnson to tie the score.
When Eric Staal scored early in the 2nd period on a soft, bank-in goal past Johnson to give the Hurricanes a 3-2 lead, I was struggling to see how the Penguins' lead had evaporated.
Fortunately, the league didn't suspend Matt Cooke, because he made me temporarily forget about that when he tied the game for the Penguins on a backhander from the slot about 4 minutes later.
The game remained tied at 3 until overtime -- thanks to a solid stop by Johnson on a breakaway by Carolina forward Erik Cole in the 3rd period -- but only 23 seconds into the extra frame, each one of the Penguins on the ice suffered the most common 4-on-4 overtime malaise at the same time, and it cost them.
Each of them got caught looking at the puck carrier.
That indiscretion allowed Whitney to send the puck through the crease from low in the near corner to defenseman Brian Pothier in the far circle. Pothier made a shot he couldn't make again in 50 tries when he one timed the pass over Johnson's glove hand top corner for the winner.
And with that, the Penguins' 4-game winning streak ended.
Of course, Pittsburgh pulled in a point for stretching the game to OT, but they have to be frustrated about not being able to get more pucks past Carolina's third-string goalie, Justin Peters -- in the lineup because of an injury to starter Cam Ward, and because backup Manny Legace had played the night before against the Washington Capitals.
Peters played relatively well, but I don't think the Penguins challenged him enough, despite the 40 shots they posted.
They also missed several good scoring chances by fanning on the puck or missing the net.
That said, the Penguins played well overall and know it, so they still feel pretty good about their game going into tonight's showdown with the New Jersey Devils -- a team they will play twice in their next 3 games.
While the Penguins have yet to beat New Jersey this year in 4 tries, they know that these next two games could do a lot to decide who wins the Atlantic Division title -- and the likely #2 playoff seed that goes with it.
The Pens' are up 4 points on the Devils at this point, but if Pittsburgh manages to beat New Jersey in both contests, that's an 8 point swing, and they could stand to be up on New Jersey by 8 points next week with about 14 games left in the season. Even with the current 2 games in hand that the Devils have, that wouldn't be an easy deficit for them to overcome.
Marc-Andre Fleury will be back in goal for Pittsburgh tonight.
There's no word whether Tyler Kennedy -- who sat out last night's game with a nagging groin problem, but who otherwise probably would have been in the lineup anyway if not for the fact that he's been struggling so much offensively -- will return to the ice this evening.
More this weekend.
Let's Go Pens!
NOTES:
Stop the press! Sidney Crosby's missing Olympic glove and stick have been found!!!
I meant to mention this the other day in my off day notes post, but apparently, lost in the Canadian Olympic men's hockey team's on-ice celebration after winning the gold medal a few weeks ago were one of Crosby's gloves and his stick, which he tossed in the air together with his other glove and mouthpiece after scoring the Golden Goal in overtime. Eventually, the glove was found in a Boston Bruins equipment bag, and likely traveled back to the B's with Canadian teammate Patrice Bergeron somehow. The stick was found with a bunch of other items from the games that were headed from Toronto to the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame in Russia. Of course, both items only turned up after Hockey Canada posted a reward for their return .....
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Cooke Avoids Suspension; My Thoughts
As the Pittsburgh Penguins return to the ice tonight in Raleigh, NC to start a 5-game road trip by facing a hot Carolina Hurricanes team that has won 8 out of its last 10 (despite falling in overtime on the road to the Washington Capitals last night), it appears that Head Coach Dan Bylsma will have an unexpected personnel decision to make.
While RW Bill Guerin is expected to return to the lineup this evening, it was thought that he would simply take the forward spot of the player that was sure to be suspended after his grade 2 concussion-inducing shoulder-to-head hit on Boston Bruins' star center Marc Savard in the Penguins' last game Sunday afternoon.
Alas, it was surprisingly announced yesterday by NHL head disciplinarian Colin Campbell that Cooke would not be suspended for the hit.
I and almost everyone else universally expected Cooke to be watching the next several games from the press box. It wasn't a question of when, it was more how many.
But Campbell didn't see it that way, citing the very similar hit early in the season by Philadelphia Flyers' center Mike Richards on Florida Panthers' young star winger David Booth that knocked Booth out of action almost 4 months.
Richards was not suspended for the play, even though just about everyone panned the dirty nature of that contact.
Here are links to the videos of each hit for similarity -- first the hit by Cooke, then the one by Richards:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXtbMaTZNAk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIXcGOr4-04
Campbell was in a tough position on this one, but in choosing not to suspend Cooke (and in drawing a comparison to the Richards' hit), Campbell didn't just take the easy way out. He stood behind the current NHL rule book, which does not prohibit either type of hit. The fact that all 30 league general managers addressed this issue yesterday by recommending a rule to fill that gap for next season was coincidental, but it certainly didn't do anything to take the heat out of Campbell's kitchen.
The thought was that the timing of Cooke's hit would allow the league to send a message that these types of hits would not be tolerated. The league did that -- but by recommending a long-overdue rule adoption on the issue for next year, not by having Campbell suspend a player for doing something the current rules don't prohibit.
A tough stance to be sure, but for consistency's sake -- at this point, without any rule against the contact -- probably the right one.
What I found interesting was Campbell's comment that he couldn't just suspend Cooke because he was a repeat offender. That clearly says that a player's status as a repeat offender only affects the length of the suspension, if given, but not the existence of the one in the first place.
Not surprisingly, despite the fact that there was some logic to Campbell's decision under current NHL rules, his failure to suspend Cooke was not looked at with favor in Boston or throughout NHL circles.
Here are some pieces on that:
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Pittsburgh/2010/03/10/13186911-qmi.html
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=4982930
I've watched Cooke's hit over and over and what stands out to me about it is that it appeared as if he was lined up for clear shoulder to body contact, but as Savard is following through with his shot, his momentum and forward skate carries him backwards a little bit after the follow-through. That seemed to put his head right flush in the place Cooke thought he was going to make contact -- the body.
The legality or illegality of hits on the ice in the National Hockey League is always debatable, and probably always will be. There are so many different situations that players can find themselves in and subtleties can make a huge difference -- whether it's a subtlety like the one I described on the Cooke hit, or a subtlety like a player turning to face the boards at the last minute after an opponent has already committed to what he thought was going to be a shoudler-to-shoulder hit, but then ends up being a 5-minute call for boarding and, potentially, a severe injury.
No matter what the league does, they'll never be able to regulate all of those situations. For that reason and other reasons, I agree that it's highly important for the players to maintain respect for one another and do all they can to avoid plays like that.
But hockey is a fast paced game played by large men with great skill who are supposed to play physical. In the end, the league never be able to legislate all unfortunate, injury-resulting contact out of the game, no matter how hard they try.
They've taken a step in the right direction with their latest proposed rule, but to say Cooke had a deliberate intent to contact Savard's head -- like Tampa Bay Lightning center Vincent Lecavalier did in one of the articles above -- is an opinionated, biased, stereotypical, closed-minded characterization of the intent of a player based solely on his reputation.
Cooke is an edgy, aggressive player who pushes the boundaries of the rules from time-to-time, but no matter what anyone says, he wasn't out there intending to put another player on the sidelines with a grade 2 concussion. I can't be convinced that Cooke said to himself, "I'm going right after this guy's head". That just doesn't happen. The end result may be that contact, but 99.% of the players in the game -- Cooke included -- don't play it that way, no matter how otherwise abrasive they are from shift-to-shift.
Make no mistake, Savard's injury was extremely unfortuante. And all players -- Cooke included -- need to avoid making that type of contact with their fellow players as much as they can; otherwise they're going to start sitting a lot of games out because of it. And that's the case even if, as Cooke did, he didn't jump, didn't throw an elbow, and led with the shoulder.
But criticizing the league for not suspending Cooke for a rule that doesn't exist yet is wrong.
It's one thing to dislike the NHL for not having such a rule in the first place. It's another to feel Cooke doesn't show enough respect to his opponents. But it should stop there.
The Penguins play in Boston next Thursday to finish their road trip in what should be a very intersting contest.
But first, the Hurricanes are on tap.
Game recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
While RW Bill Guerin is expected to return to the lineup this evening, it was thought that he would simply take the forward spot of the player that was sure to be suspended after his grade 2 concussion-inducing shoulder-to-head hit on Boston Bruins' star center Marc Savard in the Penguins' last game Sunday afternoon.
Alas, it was surprisingly announced yesterday by NHL head disciplinarian Colin Campbell that Cooke would not be suspended for the hit.
I and almost everyone else universally expected Cooke to be watching the next several games from the press box. It wasn't a question of when, it was more how many.
But Campbell didn't see it that way, citing the very similar hit early in the season by Philadelphia Flyers' center Mike Richards on Florida Panthers' young star winger David Booth that knocked Booth out of action almost 4 months.
Richards was not suspended for the play, even though just about everyone panned the dirty nature of that contact.
Here are links to the videos of each hit for similarity -- first the hit by Cooke, then the one by Richards:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXtbMaTZNAk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIXcGOr4-04
Campbell was in a tough position on this one, but in choosing not to suspend Cooke (and in drawing a comparison to the Richards' hit), Campbell didn't just take the easy way out. He stood behind the current NHL rule book, which does not prohibit either type of hit. The fact that all 30 league general managers addressed this issue yesterday by recommending a rule to fill that gap for next season was coincidental, but it certainly didn't do anything to take the heat out of Campbell's kitchen.
The thought was that the timing of Cooke's hit would allow the league to send a message that these types of hits would not be tolerated. The league did that -- but by recommending a long-overdue rule adoption on the issue for next year, not by having Campbell suspend a player for doing something the current rules don't prohibit.
A tough stance to be sure, but for consistency's sake -- at this point, without any rule against the contact -- probably the right one.
What I found interesting was Campbell's comment that he couldn't just suspend Cooke because he was a repeat offender. That clearly says that a player's status as a repeat offender only affects the length of the suspension, if given, but not the existence of the one in the first place.
Not surprisingly, despite the fact that there was some logic to Campbell's decision under current NHL rules, his failure to suspend Cooke was not looked at with favor in Boston or throughout NHL circles.
Here are some pieces on that:
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Pittsburgh/2010/03/10/13186911-qmi.html
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=4982930
I've watched Cooke's hit over and over and what stands out to me about it is that it appeared as if he was lined up for clear shoulder to body contact, but as Savard is following through with his shot, his momentum and forward skate carries him backwards a little bit after the follow-through. That seemed to put his head right flush in the place Cooke thought he was going to make contact -- the body.
The legality or illegality of hits on the ice in the National Hockey League is always debatable, and probably always will be. There are so many different situations that players can find themselves in and subtleties can make a huge difference -- whether it's a subtlety like the one I described on the Cooke hit, or a subtlety like a player turning to face the boards at the last minute after an opponent has already committed to what he thought was going to be a shoudler-to-shoulder hit, but then ends up being a 5-minute call for boarding and, potentially, a severe injury.
No matter what the league does, they'll never be able to regulate all of those situations. For that reason and other reasons, I agree that it's highly important for the players to maintain respect for one another and do all they can to avoid plays like that.
But hockey is a fast paced game played by large men with great skill who are supposed to play physical. In the end, the league never be able to legislate all unfortunate, injury-resulting contact out of the game, no matter how hard they try.
They've taken a step in the right direction with their latest proposed rule, but to say Cooke had a deliberate intent to contact Savard's head -- like Tampa Bay Lightning center Vincent Lecavalier did in one of the articles above -- is an opinionated, biased, stereotypical, closed-minded characterization of the intent of a player based solely on his reputation.
Cooke is an edgy, aggressive player who pushes the boundaries of the rules from time-to-time, but no matter what anyone says, he wasn't out there intending to put another player on the sidelines with a grade 2 concussion. I can't be convinced that Cooke said to himself, "I'm going right after this guy's head". That just doesn't happen. The end result may be that contact, but 99.% of the players in the game -- Cooke included -- don't play it that way, no matter how otherwise abrasive they are from shift-to-shift.
Make no mistake, Savard's injury was extremely unfortuante. And all players -- Cooke included -- need to avoid making that type of contact with their fellow players as much as they can; otherwise they're going to start sitting a lot of games out because of it. And that's the case even if, as Cooke did, he didn't jump, didn't throw an elbow, and led with the shoulder.
But criticizing the league for not suspending Cooke for a rule that doesn't exist yet is wrong.
It's one thing to dislike the NHL for not having such a rule in the first place. It's another to feel Cooke doesn't show enough respect to his opponents. But it should stop there.
The Penguins play in Boston next Thursday to finish their road trip in what should be a very intersting contest.
But first, the Hurricanes are on tap.
Game recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Penguin Odds and Ends
During an unusual 3-day break before the Penguins' next game tomorrow night against the Carolina Hurricanes, I wanted to catch up on various things surrounding the team -- some current and some I've been meaning to get to.
Let's first talk about the present.
There has been no word thusfar from the NHL office and head disciplinarian Colin Campbell on whether LW Matt Cooke will be suspended for his shoulder-to-head hit on Boston Bruins' star center Marc Savard Sunday afternoon.
Savard suffered a grade 2 concussion on the play and may not be back in action for Boston again the rest of this season.
Interestingly, while Cooke's hit on Savard came at a time when NHL GM's were about to start meeting in Florida and already planned to further discuss hits to the head, Campbell released a statement yesterday that somewhat defended Cooke's actions, saying that he and his team looked at the tape for 90 minutes and it was plain to them that Cooke didn't use an elbow to hit Savard, but instead used a shoulder and kept it in tight to his body as he followed through.
Despite the tenor of that statement, I don't believe that means Cooke won't be suspended. In fact, I still think he's going to sit several games. The only question will be how many.
The Penguins will probably find that out today.
Assuming Cooke will be out for tomorrow's game, it looks like RW Bill Guerin will be back in the lineup.
BG has put in some practice time this week getting over his back spasms and is probably a 75/25 bet at this point to get back to game action against the Hurricanes.
On a different note, an interesting story cropped up about the Penguins' Captain yesterday.
Apparently, Sidney Crosby turned down an invitation recently from the David Letterman show to come on -- not as a guest, but simply to read the top 10 list while he the Penguins were recently in New York.
Presumably, the list was likely to focus on the Olympics and his golden goal.
This story came out in the New York Post and, when the subject was first publicized yesterday, it also was reported that Crosby had also previously decline a similar invitation to come on the show for the same purpose.
All of this led Penguins' GM Ray Shero to defend Crosby's decision yesterday, saying that he was focused on the team's upcoming 4 games in 6 day stretch, and stating very plainly that nobody -- not Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux -- did as much for the game as Crosby does.
That's up for debate, but there's no question that Crosby promotes the game today as well as anyone who even approaches his current stature does, so it's difficult to begrudge most decisions he makes about those things.
Speaking of Crosby and the Olympics, there are several pieces of interest I want to share with my readers about that subject.
I've collected several good articles over the last week or so, including ones that talk about whether Crosby's goal was the greatest marker in the history of the game.
Happy reading:
http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/31941-THNcom-Blog-Crosbys-goal-the-greatest-ever.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=thn_daily_20100308
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/penguins/s_669738.html
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=312058
http://olympics.fanhouse.com/2010/02/28/sid-the-kid-becomes-canadas-best-man/?icid=mainmaindl1link3http%3A%2F%2Folympics.fanhouse.com%2F2010%2F02%2F28%2Fsid-the-kid-becomes-canadas-best-man%2F
More later this week.
Let's first talk about the present.
There has been no word thusfar from the NHL office and head disciplinarian Colin Campbell on whether LW Matt Cooke will be suspended for his shoulder-to-head hit on Boston Bruins' star center Marc Savard Sunday afternoon.
Savard suffered a grade 2 concussion on the play and may not be back in action for Boston again the rest of this season.
Interestingly, while Cooke's hit on Savard came at a time when NHL GM's were about to start meeting in Florida and already planned to further discuss hits to the head, Campbell released a statement yesterday that somewhat defended Cooke's actions, saying that he and his team looked at the tape for 90 minutes and it was plain to them that Cooke didn't use an elbow to hit Savard, but instead used a shoulder and kept it in tight to his body as he followed through.
Despite the tenor of that statement, I don't believe that means Cooke won't be suspended. In fact, I still think he's going to sit several games. The only question will be how many.
The Penguins will probably find that out today.
Assuming Cooke will be out for tomorrow's game, it looks like RW Bill Guerin will be back in the lineup.
BG has put in some practice time this week getting over his back spasms and is probably a 75/25 bet at this point to get back to game action against the Hurricanes.
On a different note, an interesting story cropped up about the Penguins' Captain yesterday.
Apparently, Sidney Crosby turned down an invitation recently from the David Letterman show to come on -- not as a guest, but simply to read the top 10 list while he the Penguins were recently in New York.
Presumably, the list was likely to focus on the Olympics and his golden goal.
This story came out in the New York Post and, when the subject was first publicized yesterday, it also was reported that Crosby had also previously decline a similar invitation to come on the show for the same purpose.
All of this led Penguins' GM Ray Shero to defend Crosby's decision yesterday, saying that he was focused on the team's upcoming 4 games in 6 day stretch, and stating very plainly that nobody -- not Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux -- did as much for the game as Crosby does.
That's up for debate, but there's no question that Crosby promotes the game today as well as anyone who even approaches his current stature does, so it's difficult to begrudge most decisions he makes about those things.
Speaking of Crosby and the Olympics, there are several pieces of interest I want to share with my readers about that subject.
I've collected several good articles over the last week or so, including ones that talk about whether Crosby's goal was the greatest marker in the history of the game.
Happy reading:
http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/31941-THNcom-Blog-Crosbys-goal-the-greatest-ever.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=thn_daily_20100308
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/penguins/s_669738.html
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=312058
http://olympics.fanhouse.com/2010/02/28/sid-the-kid-becomes-canadas-best-man/?icid=mainmaindl1link3http%3A%2F%2Folympics.fanhouse.com%2F2010%2F02%2F28%2Fsid-the-kid-becomes-canadas-best-man%2F
More later this week.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Winning Streak Reaches 4 as Pens Beat Bruins, 2-1
Could this be the beginning of the annual March of the Penguins?
After yesterday's 4th straight win -- a 2-1 defeat of the Boston Bruins at Mellon Arena -- its not at all unreasonable to think that Pittsburgh is just beginning its typical spring domination.
Pascal Dupuis -- his 16th -- and Evgeni Malkin provided the goals, and netminder Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 22 of 23 shots in leading the Penguins to their 40th victory of the season in their 66th game.
It's the 2nd fastest the franchise has ever reached the 40 win plateau.
Much like the last 3 games, the Penguins again dominated play for a majority of the game. They outshot a Bruins team that had won 6 of their last 7 by a 30-23 margin, and it wasn't really that close.
What also won't be that close is the decision on whether Penguins' LW Matt Cooke will be suspended after a shoulder-to-head head on Bruins' star center Marc Savard with 5 minutes left in the third period.
Savard just finished taking a shot and was in an exposed position just inside the Penguins' blue line when Cooke made contact.
Savard was knocked momentarily unconscious on the play, and had to be taken off the ice on a stretcher. I heard mixed reports after the game with regard to whether he was hospitalized, but he did stay in Pittsburgh overnight.
It appeared to me that Cooke was -- as he said after the game -- simply following through with his check. He didn't leave his feet or stick out his elbow. His arm remained mostly tight to his body.
Unfortunately, though, the league has adopted a de facto no-tolerance policy for hits to the head in the league these days, even if there is no formal rule.
Because of that, and because Cooke is a repeat offender in the NHL's disciplinary system after having already been suspended 2 games this year for a blow to the head of New York Rangers' forward Artem Anisimov, there's little doubt in my mind that Cooke is going to have to be in the press box for a little while after this one.
I expect a 4-6 game suspension for him.
Let's hope RW Bill Guerin -- who missed his 3rd straight game yesterday with back spasms -- will be ready to get back into the lineup to take his place.
Cooke's hit aside, Pittsburgh is just playing very well overall, and they are being rewarded for it in the standings. After beating Boston yesterday and after the New Jersey Devils surprisingly lost to the woeful Edmonton Oilers, the Pens' now sit 5 points up on the Devils in the Atlantic.
While New Jersey still has 2 games in hand, let alone an opportunity to go head-to-head with Pittsburgh twice in the next 2 weeks during the Pens' upcoming 5-game road swing, the Penguins certainly can't complain about their position. If they can beat the Devils in these games -- something they have yet to do this year in 4 tries -- they will really drive a wedge between them and New Jersey in the standings.
More later this week.
After yesterday's 4th straight win -- a 2-1 defeat of the Boston Bruins at Mellon Arena -- its not at all unreasonable to think that Pittsburgh is just beginning its typical spring domination.
Pascal Dupuis -- his 16th -- and Evgeni Malkin provided the goals, and netminder Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 22 of 23 shots in leading the Penguins to their 40th victory of the season in their 66th game.
It's the 2nd fastest the franchise has ever reached the 40 win plateau.
Much like the last 3 games, the Penguins again dominated play for a majority of the game. They outshot a Bruins team that had won 6 of their last 7 by a 30-23 margin, and it wasn't really that close.
What also won't be that close is the decision on whether Penguins' LW Matt Cooke will be suspended after a shoulder-to-head head on Bruins' star center Marc Savard with 5 minutes left in the third period.
Savard just finished taking a shot and was in an exposed position just inside the Penguins' blue line when Cooke made contact.
Savard was knocked momentarily unconscious on the play, and had to be taken off the ice on a stretcher. I heard mixed reports after the game with regard to whether he was hospitalized, but he did stay in Pittsburgh overnight.
It appeared to me that Cooke was -- as he said after the game -- simply following through with his check. He didn't leave his feet or stick out his elbow. His arm remained mostly tight to his body.
Unfortunately, though, the league has adopted a de facto no-tolerance policy for hits to the head in the league these days, even if there is no formal rule.
Because of that, and because Cooke is a repeat offender in the NHL's disciplinary system after having already been suspended 2 games this year for a blow to the head of New York Rangers' forward Artem Anisimov, there's little doubt in my mind that Cooke is going to have to be in the press box for a little while after this one.
I expect a 4-6 game suspension for him.
Let's hope RW Bill Guerin -- who missed his 3rd straight game yesterday with back spasms -- will be ready to get back into the lineup to take his place.
Cooke's hit aside, Pittsburgh is just playing very well overall, and they are being rewarded for it in the standings. After beating Boston yesterday and after the New Jersey Devils surprisingly lost to the woeful Edmonton Oilers, the Pens' now sit 5 points up on the Devils in the Atlantic.
While New Jersey still has 2 games in hand, let alone an opportunity to go head-to-head with Pittsburgh twice in the next 2 weeks during the Pens' upcoming 5-game road swing, the Penguins certainly can't complain about their position. If they can beat the Devils in these games -- something they have yet to do this year in 4 tries -- they will really drive a wedge between them and New Jersey in the standings.
More later this week.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Poni Scores In Debut, as Penguins, Crosby Whip Stars, 6-3, For 3rd Straight Win
Two days after revving up the machine and posting not only a road franchise record 55 shots against goaltender Henrik Lundqvist and the New York Rangers on Thursday in a 5-4 overtime win, but also an NHL record 50 registered hits in one game, the Pittsburgh Penguins were back at it again Saturday at home against the Dallas Stars.
The Penguins fell behind, 3-1, early in the second period, but then stepped on the gas, scored 5 unanswered goals and rolled by the Stars to a 6-3 victory.
Pittsburgh now has 82 points, and is 3 above the New Jersey Devils in the Atlantic Division.
Jordan Staal got things going for Pittsburgh, beating Stars' netminder Kari Lehtonen on a semi-breakaway just a few minutes into the game for his 18th goal of the season.
The Penguins got on their heels after that, though, allowing Mike Ribeiro to tie the score later in the period, then giving up quick back-to-back goals by Brandon Segal and Loui Eriksson about a minute apart to fall behind by two early in the second period and leave everyone wondering whether Pens' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury would have to take a seat on the bench for the 2nd straight game.
Then, the onslaught began.
Chris Kunitz started it, taking a nice cross-ice pass from defenseman Kris Letang and beating Lehtonen high glove side to make things 3-2.
Letang then fed Pascal Dupuis for a re-direct at the foot of the crease to tie the score at 3.
Sidney Crosby added his NHL leading 43rd goal of the season a few minutes later bouncing a backhand wraparound in off a Dallas defender, then upped that total to 44 early in the 3rd period by beating Lehtonen top shelf, near corner on a 2-on-1.
New addition Alexei Ponikarovsky finished off the Stars with a power play goal with about 5 minutes to go when he took a missed shot off the back boards and quickly re-adjusted himself to whack the puck up and over a beleaugered Lehtonen off the crossbar and in.
Overall, it was another strong effort for the team. The penalty killing unit killed off all 6 Dallas power plays and, while Evgeni Malkin was surprisingly held off the scoresheet -- halting his career-tying 15-game point streak -- Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis were really strong players again.
It says something when you can put 6 pucks in the net easily without any contribution from one of the best players in the world, doesn't it?
Anyway, Dupuis filled in on the top line with Crosby and Kunitz for the 2nd straight game, since Bill Guerin again missed yesterday's contest with back spasms.
Guerin is day-to-day and questionable for this afternoon's game at Mellon against the Boston Bruins when the Penguins have to get right back on the horse.
We'll see if they can stretch their post-Olympic winning streak to 4.
Let's Go Pens!
The Penguins fell behind, 3-1, early in the second period, but then stepped on the gas, scored 5 unanswered goals and rolled by the Stars to a 6-3 victory.
Pittsburgh now has 82 points, and is 3 above the New Jersey Devils in the Atlantic Division.
Jordan Staal got things going for Pittsburgh, beating Stars' netminder Kari Lehtonen on a semi-breakaway just a few minutes into the game for his 18th goal of the season.
The Penguins got on their heels after that, though, allowing Mike Ribeiro to tie the score later in the period, then giving up quick back-to-back goals by Brandon Segal and Loui Eriksson about a minute apart to fall behind by two early in the second period and leave everyone wondering whether Pens' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury would have to take a seat on the bench for the 2nd straight game.
Then, the onslaught began.
Chris Kunitz started it, taking a nice cross-ice pass from defenseman Kris Letang and beating Lehtonen high glove side to make things 3-2.
Letang then fed Pascal Dupuis for a re-direct at the foot of the crease to tie the score at 3.
Sidney Crosby added his NHL leading 43rd goal of the season a few minutes later bouncing a backhand wraparound in off a Dallas defender, then upped that total to 44 early in the 3rd period by beating Lehtonen top shelf, near corner on a 2-on-1.
New addition Alexei Ponikarovsky finished off the Stars with a power play goal with about 5 minutes to go when he took a missed shot off the back boards and quickly re-adjusted himself to whack the puck up and over a beleaugered Lehtonen off the crossbar and in.
Overall, it was another strong effort for the team. The penalty killing unit killed off all 6 Dallas power plays and, while Evgeni Malkin was surprisingly held off the scoresheet -- halting his career-tying 15-game point streak -- Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis were really strong players again.
It says something when you can put 6 pucks in the net easily without any contribution from one of the best players in the world, doesn't it?
Anyway, Dupuis filled in on the top line with Crosby and Kunitz for the 2nd straight game, since Bill Guerin again missed yesterday's contest with back spasms.
Guerin is day-to-day and questionable for this afternoon's game at Mellon against the Boston Bruins when the Penguins have to get right back on the horse.
We'll see if they can stretch their post-Olympic winning streak to 4.
Let's Go Pens!
Friday, March 5, 2010
Penguins' 55 Shots Gives Them Comeback Victory Over Rangers, 5-4 (OT), Division Lead
Coming out of the Olympic break, the focus of the Penguins' coaching staff was to get the team playing its game, and getting them to play it consistently.
That means controlling the puck, keeping it in the other team's zone, and launching a lot of shots on the net.
That's certainly what they did in Tuesday's night's victory over the Buffalo Sabres, but it will be understood if Blymsa gives them the day off today after their performance last night.
The Pens' bombarded the New York Rangers and their all-world netminder Henrik Lundqvist with 55 shots last night -- including the final one from Evgeni Malkin in overtime that Jordan Staal deflected in for the game winner, as Pittsburgh game back from 2 goals down in the third period to beat New York, 5-4.
The 55 shots the Penguins put up last night were more shots than they had ever launched in a road game in the history of their franchise.
And they needed every one, not only because Lundqvist was rejecting most of them left and right, but because their starting goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury, was pulled after about 33 minutes when he allowed 4 goals on 12 shots and looked like he hasn't seen game action in almost 3 weeks in the process.
Which, not surprisingly, was exactly the case, thanks to the Olympic hiatus where he served only as the 3rd string goaltender for Team Canada and didn't see a single second of game action during that time.
While Fleury was noticably ticked off at being pulled (he could be seen throwing his stick down the hall after reaching the bench), he certainly had nothing to gripe about. He was going down to the butterfly early, found himself out of position several times, and generally looked out of rhythm for all of the time he was in the net last night.
So, down 4-2 with a little more than 25 minutes to do, all the Penguins needed from backup Brent Johnson in order to try to get back into the game was to have him reject every single piece of vulcanized rubber the Rangers through at him the rest of the way.
And he did.
All 4 of them.
In a sign of how much the Penguins' truly dominated the game in every facet other than on the scoreboard, the Rangers only put up 16 shots TOTAL in the game, and Johnson could be excused if he found himself napping for the final 27 minutes when he was at least dressed as the goaltender out there.
The Rangers had 8 shots in the first period, 7 total in the second (3 on Johnson), 1 in the third, and zero in the OT.
The Penguins, by contrast, tossed almost that many (15) on Lundqvist in the first period alone, but that wasn't good enough, so they threw 17 at him in the 2nd frame.
Top that? Sure. How about 19 in the third, including goals by Mike Rupp, his first in 19 games, and Alex Goligoski, his first in 36 games, to tie the score and send it into overtime.
They had more than 3X the number of shots the Rangers had overall.
The final one -- Staal's 2nd marker, a 4-on-3 power play tally after he had already scored in regulation -- won it in OT for PIttsburgh.
Malkin's assist on that OT goal quietly gave him points in 15 consecutive games, tying a career high.
Chris Kunitz scored the other goal for the Penguins -- also a power play goal -- and added 2 assists. He had a real strong game last night.
Pascal Dupuis had a strong game, too. He had 10 shots all by himself.
With the victory, the Penguins finally recaptured the Atlantic Division lead from the New Jersey Devils. Pittsburgh now has 80 points; New Jersey has 79. We'll see if that stays that way tonight, as the Devils square off against the Calgary Flames.
For one night, though, the Penguins got a win and division lead they deserved.
More over the weekend.
NOTES:
RW Bill Guerin missed the game last night because of back spasms. In part because of that, and in part because of some back spasms that Mark Eaton also was experiencing, the Penguins inserted Jay McKee in the lineup and dressed 7 defensemen as a result. Eaton played with no apparently problem, and McKee saw only about 5 or so minutes of ice time.
Newly acquired LW Alexei Ponikarovsky has obtained his work visa and should be in the lineup this weekend. He'll probably even be available for practice today, but after last night's strenuous performance, and back-to-back contests scheduled for the weekend, I expect Bylsma will give the team the day off.
That means controlling the puck, keeping it in the other team's zone, and launching a lot of shots on the net.
That's certainly what they did in Tuesday's night's victory over the Buffalo Sabres, but it will be understood if Blymsa gives them the day off today after their performance last night.
The Pens' bombarded the New York Rangers and their all-world netminder Henrik Lundqvist with 55 shots last night -- including the final one from Evgeni Malkin in overtime that Jordan Staal deflected in for the game winner, as Pittsburgh game back from 2 goals down in the third period to beat New York, 5-4.
The 55 shots the Penguins put up last night were more shots than they had ever launched in a road game in the history of their franchise.
And they needed every one, not only because Lundqvist was rejecting most of them left and right, but because their starting goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury, was pulled after about 33 minutes when he allowed 4 goals on 12 shots and looked like he hasn't seen game action in almost 3 weeks in the process.
Which, not surprisingly, was exactly the case, thanks to the Olympic hiatus where he served only as the 3rd string goaltender for Team Canada and didn't see a single second of game action during that time.
While Fleury was noticably ticked off at being pulled (he could be seen throwing his stick down the hall after reaching the bench), he certainly had nothing to gripe about. He was going down to the butterfly early, found himself out of position several times, and generally looked out of rhythm for all of the time he was in the net last night.
So, down 4-2 with a little more than 25 minutes to do, all the Penguins needed from backup Brent Johnson in order to try to get back into the game was to have him reject every single piece of vulcanized rubber the Rangers through at him the rest of the way.
And he did.
All 4 of them.
In a sign of how much the Penguins' truly dominated the game in every facet other than on the scoreboard, the Rangers only put up 16 shots TOTAL in the game, and Johnson could be excused if he found himself napping for the final 27 minutes when he was at least dressed as the goaltender out there.
The Rangers had 8 shots in the first period, 7 total in the second (3 on Johnson), 1 in the third, and zero in the OT.
The Penguins, by contrast, tossed almost that many (15) on Lundqvist in the first period alone, but that wasn't good enough, so they threw 17 at him in the 2nd frame.
Top that? Sure. How about 19 in the third, including goals by Mike Rupp, his first in 19 games, and Alex Goligoski, his first in 36 games, to tie the score and send it into overtime.
They had more than 3X the number of shots the Rangers had overall.
The final one -- Staal's 2nd marker, a 4-on-3 power play tally after he had already scored in regulation -- won it in OT for PIttsburgh.
Malkin's assist on that OT goal quietly gave him points in 15 consecutive games, tying a career high.
Chris Kunitz scored the other goal for the Penguins -- also a power play goal -- and added 2 assists. He had a real strong game last night.
Pascal Dupuis had a strong game, too. He had 10 shots all by himself.
With the victory, the Penguins finally recaptured the Atlantic Division lead from the New Jersey Devils. Pittsburgh now has 80 points; New Jersey has 79. We'll see if that stays that way tonight, as the Devils square off against the Calgary Flames.
For one night, though, the Penguins got a win and division lead they deserved.
More over the weekend.
NOTES:
RW Bill Guerin missed the game last night because of back spasms. In part because of that, and in part because of some back spasms that Mark Eaton also was experiencing, the Penguins inserted Jay McKee in the lineup and dressed 7 defensemen as a result. Eaton played with no apparently problem, and McKee saw only about 5 or so minutes of ice time.
Newly acquired LW Alexei Ponikarovsky has obtained his work visa and should be in the lineup this weekend. He'll probably even be available for practice today, but after last night's strenuous performance, and back-to-back contests scheduled for the weekend, I expect Bylsma will give the team the day off.
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