Penguins Ground Wings, Pare Pre-Season Roster, And Move To Prime Time

Boy .. the kids get sick .. the wife goes out of town .. then everything under the sun happens in Penguin Nation.

Let's start with the first competive action on the ice for the local hockey club, which was Wednesday night in the pre-season home opener against the Detroit Red Wings, who the Penguins promptly went out and blitzed, 5-1, in front of a sellout crowd of 18,087 and an atmosphere that bordered on that which you'd find for a playoff game.

Of course, that's what you get when everyone gets to see the CONSOL Energy Center for the first time, let alone for a game against a rival like Detroit -- even a preseason one.

While the crowd didn't need any help, Pittsburgh made sure to keep things raucous.  When the game was just over 10 minutes old, the Penguins ALREADY had a 3-0 lead, racing to that advantage on goals by Hilary Duff's husband (a.k.a. Mike Comrie) -- the first in the history of the building less than 2 minutes in -- Captain Sidney Crosby and Ryan Craig, all against the human sieve, Red Wing's goaltender Chris Osgood.

Brooks Orpik also got tossed out of the game before the thrilling first period ended when he collided with Red Wings star forward Johan Franzen and was given a 5-minute major penalty for kneeing and a game misconduct.

The fight which ensued when Detroit' winger Todd Bertuzzi challenged Orpik was just gravy.

Speaking of fights, there was a lively one about 4 minutes before the Orpik hit when Pens' winger Jesse Boulerice squared off against Red Wings' forward Aaron Downey -- a fight that can't be considered a surprise since the two of them staged a notable bout several years ago when Boulerice was with the Carolina Hurricanes and Downey was with the Dallas Stars. 

That fight ended with Downey one-puncing Boulerice and breaking his jaw. 

This fight ended with revenge, as Boulerice pummeled Downey to the delight of the CONSOL faithful.

Detroit tried to get back in the game in the 2nd period after being outshot 20-7 in the first, and started down that path with a goal by defenseman Ruslan Salei that got by Pens' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury from the point, but Pittsburgh squashed any hope of a Red Wings' rally with goals by Brett Sterling and a 2nd one by Craig before the next intermission.  And the score at that time was how the game finished.

Sidney Crosby left the third period after feeling his hip get a little tight, but said after the game and the next day that the injury was not serious, and that he stayed in the locker room largely as a precautionary measure.

Pittsburgh outshot Detroit 37-26 in the game; Fleury finished with 20 saves on 21 shots in two periods of work before Brad Theissen replaced him for the third.

Sterling and Craig, by the way, may have been the Penguins two best forwards.  Craig is a verteran of a few hundred NHL games and shouldn't be overlooked for a potential roster spot on the club to start the season, especially if he keeps playing like he did Wednesday night.  Sterling, meanwhile, continued his impressive camp run with his goal and a helper, mostly while on Crosby's left wing -- at least for 2 periods.

Sterling's strength is that he consistenly plays hard in the corners and around the goal despite his generous 5' 7" frame.  That's what he's been doing the last several weeks and Pens' brass has to be beginning to wonder whether they might have to find a roster spot for him.

Tyler Kennedy -- the guy probably most likely to be on the chopping block if Sterling, Craig or anyone else theatens to stay on the roster -- also had a good game, but will it be enough?

Others who were notable for the Penguins were Mark Letestu, who continued his impressive camp with 2 helpers, and Mike Comrie, who got the opening goal. 

I knew I loved Hilary Duff for reasons other than what you see when you look at her.

New blueline acquisition Zbynek Michalek also had a strong night, blocking 6 shots and looking fierce on the penalty kill.

The morning after the game, the Penguins sent to Wilkes-Barre forwards Boulerice, Chris Collins, Joey Haddad, Nick Peterson, Kevin Veilleux, Ryan Schnell, and three guys who looked real good in last week's rookie tournament -- Geoff Walker, Zach Sill and Alex Smigelski, the latter of which earned his first pro contract with the club.

Carl Sneep was among 3 blueliners who also went to the Baby Penguins, as did goaltender Patrick Killeen.

I'm not sure if they were still around when the big news was announced yesterday, but if not, they surely missed a lot of buzz surrounding the word that the NHL will team up with cable heavyweight and network made famous for it's "Hard Knocks" NFL reality show, HBO, to feature the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals in their own reality mini-series, called "24/7", starting in December and carrying through early January.

HBO's 24/7 series has earned multiple Emmy awards, and has previously focused mostly on boxing productions (and one NASCAR production).

The series it produces involving the Pens and Caps will include the production of four, 1-hour episdoes airing each Wednesday starting on December 15 that will feature behind-the-scenes footage of the two clubs on the ice, off the ice, in the locker room, while they travel, during their meetings, while they rehab, etc --- all starting with the teams in early December.

It also will be the first sports reality program anywhere to track teams during their regular seasons.

The pinnacle of the program will be the final two episodes, which will largely coalesce around the Penguins and Capitals game in Washington, DC on December 23, and their already-anticipated Winter Classic at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh on New Year's Day.

Undeniably, the impetus for this series is the rivarly between Crosby and Capitals' star Alexander Ovechkin.  Still, it goes beyond that.  I mean, HBO knows what it's doing here.   In featuring these two clubs for it's debut NHL series, it selected the clubs that have the greatest NHL rivalry running right now, and that was no accident. 

Not coincidentally, that's the same logic that led the NHL to decide it wouldn't be wrong to feature the Penguins in the Winter Classic again against the Capitals even though the Pens' participated just 3 years ago and other teams have been calamoring to play in the game.

Speaking of the Classic, HBO also knows that the game has fast become a must-see event, and that by capitalizing on it (no pun intended), it will reach even more viewers interested in knowing things about the teams and game that they never knew about before.

Finally, HBO knows that the National Hockey League is on the rise right now, and obviously wants to seize the opportunity to get ratings because of it.  For its part, the league has to be thankful for an opportunity to gain further mainstream exposure as its television contract expires after this year.

Personally, I can't wait for the series.  I've always thought that, with NHL players typically being as gracious, professional and acceptable as they are, and with hockey being a sport that is immensely underrated, difficult, and unique, a reality series of some kind would be great for the sport.  It's going to lend even more excitement to a game and rivalry that seems like it can't stand anymore of either as it is.

Kudos to HBO for agreeing to go forward with the project in general, let alone feature the Boys of Winter in it.

More over the weekend, including recaps of the back-to-back preseason games between the Pens and Columbus Blue Jackets, starting tonight in Ohio and continuing Saturday night in Pittsburgh.