Brent Johnson to the rescue.
Again.
After returning home from a road trip that finished with a lackluster come-from-ahead loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday, the Penguins returned home to The Bird House and played a carbon-copy of that contest in falling to the hated Philadelphia Flyers Friday, before having a ten-minute, closed-door, players-only post-game meeting, then traveling to Carolina and watching goaltender Brent Johnson slam the door and save his teammates again, shutting out the Hurricanes, 3-zip.
The Flyers' game Friday night was a miserable one for the Penguins after the first 20 minutes.
Sure, at the drop of the puck they were great. The bell rang and the fisticuffs came, and the Penguins came out on the winning end of each bout, with LW Matt Cooke getting the better of Philadelphia Captain Mike Richards at the opening faceoff and defenseman Deryk Engelland severely bloodying the eye of Flyers' heavyweight Jody Shelly.
Not long after, defenseman Kris Letang finished off a tic-tac-toe passing play beautifully to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead.
But like in Tampa on Wednesday night, things unraveled in the final 40 minutes, and it started with a shorthanded goal to Flyers' forward Claude Giroux in the second -- the 2nd time he's scored a man down for Philadelphia in 3 games against the Pens' this year.
Daniel Carillo then tipped a seeing eye shot that somehow found its way through the pads of Pens' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury -- starting for the 2nd consecutive game, despite the miserable defeat to the Lighning the other night -- later that period, and then Giroux scored again in the final frame to really put Pittsburgh behind the 8-ball.
A late goal by RW Tyler Kennedy only changed the Flyers' margin of victory, which finished at 3-2.
For the 4th straight game, the Penguins power-play failed them, going 0-6 in the defeat.
Apparently, the closed-door meeting helped, because Pittsburgh came out flying earlier tonight against the Hurricanes, looking to shelve the inconsistency that's been plaguing them and establish their identity.
They played a full 60-minutes with heart and energy. And they did it without C/RW Evgeni Malkin, who suffered a bruised knee in the game against the Flyers and wasn't able to go against Carolina after testing it in the pre-game skate.
No matter. Pascal Dupuis scored twice for the Penguins (he now has 4 on the year), and those tallies sandwiched one by Maxime Talbot.
That was 2 more than Johnson needed in stopping 33 shots -- and looking good doing it -- to record his 14th career shutout, and first in nearly 5 seasons.
BJ is now 5-0-1 on the year and second in both goals againts average and save %-age league-wide.
Crosby had 2 helpers tonight as well, and while the power play came up empty again, Pittsburgh only had 2 opportunities to break their bad run on the man-advantage.
They'll have to wait until Wednesday night to try again, though, when they continue their road trip in Dallas against the Stars, before going on to play the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night, and then the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday night.
I bet we'll see Johnson between the pipes again in the next one, and really -- how could Head Coach Dan Bylsma not play him??? He's just too hot. Give him the nod that night, let Fleury try his luck against an underachieving Ducks' squad Friday, and then go back to Johnson against a stingy Phoenix team at the end of the trip when you might need him most.
Fleury is going to need a lot of games to get him back in the groove, but now just isn't time to give the action to #29. Pittsburgh needs wins.
I'll have an update on Geno's injury next time., as well as a status check on defenseman Kris Letang, who suffered a hand injury against Carolina and didn't finish the game.
Finally, I'll get everyone up to speed on where Michalek and Staal are, too.
More soon.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Penguins Unveil Winter Classic Uniforms
This afternoon, the Pittsburgh Penguins unveiled the new jerseys they will wear for this year's Winter Classic @ Heinz Field, and on two other occasions this year:
Kudos to the organization for going with the franchise's original logo, colors and number style. Those decisions get a A+.
But just like trying to drink so much you convince yourself that the DUFF (not to be confused with Hilary -- instead, Designated Ugly Fat Friend) you're preoccupied with is worth your time so your friend can get a much better piece, trying too hard usually ends up with bad results.
The striping at the bottom and on the sleeves is also a homage to the team's first jersey, but those stripes were much less pronounced, and therefore didn't look as bad.
The stripes on these jerseys are -- in a word -- hideous.
In fact, I heard a rumor that when Brent Johnson saw them, he vomited so hard, he pulled a hamstring and forced Dan Bylsma to go back with Fleury tomorrow night against the Flyers.
Okay, that's only somewhat of a true story.
Johnson doesn't have a hammy problem, but Blysma is said to be going back with #29 tomorrow night.
I can neither confirm or deny the vomiting (fortunately).
More tomorrow.
Kudos to the organization for going with the franchise's original logo, colors and number style. Those decisions get a A+.
But just like trying to drink so much you convince yourself that the DUFF (not to be confused with Hilary -- instead, Designated Ugly Fat Friend) you're preoccupied with is worth your time so your friend can get a much better piece, trying too hard usually ends up with bad results.
The striping at the bottom and on the sleeves is also a homage to the team's first jersey, but those stripes were much less pronounced, and therefore didn't look as bad.
The stripes on these jerseys are -- in a word -- hideous.
In fact, I heard a rumor that when Brent Johnson saw them, he vomited so hard, he pulled a hamstring and forced Dan Bylsma to go back with Fleury tomorrow night against the Flyers.
Okay, that's only somewhat of a true story.
Johnson doesn't have a hammy problem, but Blysma is said to be going back with #29 tomorrow night.
I can neither confirm or deny the vomiting (fortunately).
More tomorrow.
Lightning Beat Adams And His Uninspired Teammates, 5-3
When defensive forward Craig Adams scores 3 points in a game -- let alone 3 in one period -- as he did last night in Pittsburgh's final game of a 3-game road trip against the Tampa Bay Lightning, one has to like the Penguins' chances of winning.
That is, unless your starting goaltender lets up a few more soft ones, your power play goes 0-for in the third straight game, and most of the rest of the cast look more uninspiring than Rosie O'Donnell coming out of the shower.
And so it went for the Penguins last night, racing out to a 3-1 lead on the strength of Adams' contributions and chasing a Lightning goaltender -- Mike Smith -- who has always given them trouble, then blowing that lead and falling 5-3 to Tampa Bay.
The Penguins finished their road trip a disappointing 1-1-1.
Pens' goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury took the loss last night. He's now 1-4 on the season, and his goals against average and save percentage are even less unappealing than his record.
Worse, Fleury's uneven and disappointing play this year continued last night, letting up a soft early goal to a no-name Lightning forward, Dana Tyrell, on the first shot he faced.
The second goal Fleury allowed to Teddy Purcell was no gem either, coming on an straightforward 2-on-2 rush where Purcell just beat Fleury with an average wrist shot to the glove side from the left circle.
Sure, Fleury came up with some big stops in the 2nd period, including on a penalty shot to Tampa Bay forward Sean Bergenheim, but those stops do nothing to wipe away his continued penchant for allowing easy goals.
Undoubtedly, Brent Johnson will be back in the net tomorrow night as the Penguins' return home to The Bird House to play the Philadelphia Flyers.
Meanwhile, most of the rest of the Penguins looked like they were more interested in being at Mons Venus than they did on the ice last night.
Captain Sidney Crosby and RW Evegni Malkin were mostly non-factors, finishing a combined -3. It's no conicidence that the Penguins lost last night and on Saturday night against St. Louis without real contributions from those guys.
Disappointing forward Mike Comrie also continued to be a non-factor, and even was benched for periods of time in the 2nd and 3rd frame last night. (Hilary has to be distracting him too much at home).
Even star rookie Mark Letestu hasn't made the same impact the last few games.
It's good at least a few of the Penguins role players showed up last night, though, or it might have been ugly. Adams scored a nice shorthanded goal for his first tally in the equivalent of almost 1 and 1/2 regular seasons, finishing off a 2-on-1 rush with Matt Cooke and tying the game at 1 after Tyrell's opening goal for the Lightning.
Cooke then finished off a 3-on-2 rush Adams' started by beating his man to the net and depositing a rebound over Smith, before Adams fed Pascal Dupuis for the 3rd tally to make it 3-1.
The Penguins were off and running at that point but simply couldn't sustain their momentum.
After Purcell made it 3-2 before the first period ended, Tampa forward Vincent LeCavalier tied the game in the 2nd on a 5-on-3 power play goal.
In the 3rd period, when the moment was there for the Penguins to seize and perhaps take 5 out of 6 points on this trip with a strong 20 minutes, Martin St. Louis stole the show for Tampa Bay, beating defenseman Ben Lovejoy to break in on Fleury and avoid his pokecheck by chipping the puck over him for a 4-3 lead, then outracing Alex Goligoski in the final minute to seal things with an empty net goal.
And so, the Penguins returned home last night with a sour taste in their mouth after the way their road trip ended.
Let's hope they don't have a spooky Halloween weekend against the Flyers and, on Saturday night, in Carolina.
More soon.
NOTES:
Forward Aaron Asham suited up for the Pens for the first time this year last night and didn't look like he missed a beat. He'll surely be amped up to face his former team on Friday night.
The Penguins will reveal their Winter Classic jerseys later today. I'll have a report on that later this afternoon or tomorrow.
That is, unless your starting goaltender lets up a few more soft ones, your power play goes 0-for in the third straight game, and most of the rest of the cast look more uninspiring than Rosie O'Donnell coming out of the shower.
And so it went for the Penguins last night, racing out to a 3-1 lead on the strength of Adams' contributions and chasing a Lightning goaltender -- Mike Smith -- who has always given them trouble, then blowing that lead and falling 5-3 to Tampa Bay.
The Penguins finished their road trip a disappointing 1-1-1.
Pens' goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury took the loss last night. He's now 1-4 on the season, and his goals against average and save percentage are even less unappealing than his record.
Worse, Fleury's uneven and disappointing play this year continued last night, letting up a soft early goal to a no-name Lightning forward, Dana Tyrell, on the first shot he faced.
The second goal Fleury allowed to Teddy Purcell was no gem either, coming on an straightforward 2-on-2 rush where Purcell just beat Fleury with an average wrist shot to the glove side from the left circle.
Sure, Fleury came up with some big stops in the 2nd period, including on a penalty shot to Tampa Bay forward Sean Bergenheim, but those stops do nothing to wipe away his continued penchant for allowing easy goals.
Undoubtedly, Brent Johnson will be back in the net tomorrow night as the Penguins' return home to The Bird House to play the Philadelphia Flyers.
Meanwhile, most of the rest of the Penguins looked like they were more interested in being at Mons Venus than they did on the ice last night.
Captain Sidney Crosby and RW Evegni Malkin were mostly non-factors, finishing a combined -3. It's no conicidence that the Penguins lost last night and on Saturday night against St. Louis without real contributions from those guys.
Disappointing forward Mike Comrie also continued to be a non-factor, and even was benched for periods of time in the 2nd and 3rd frame last night. (Hilary has to be distracting him too much at home).
Even star rookie Mark Letestu hasn't made the same impact the last few games.
It's good at least a few of the Penguins role players showed up last night, though, or it might have been ugly. Adams scored a nice shorthanded goal for his first tally in the equivalent of almost 1 and 1/2 regular seasons, finishing off a 2-on-1 rush with Matt Cooke and tying the game at 1 after Tyrell's opening goal for the Lightning.
Cooke then finished off a 3-on-2 rush Adams' started by beating his man to the net and depositing a rebound over Smith, before Adams fed Pascal Dupuis for the 3rd tally to make it 3-1.
The Penguins were off and running at that point but simply couldn't sustain their momentum.
After Purcell made it 3-2 before the first period ended, Tampa forward Vincent LeCavalier tied the game in the 2nd on a 5-on-3 power play goal.
In the 3rd period, when the moment was there for the Penguins to seize and perhaps take 5 out of 6 points on this trip with a strong 20 minutes, Martin St. Louis stole the show for Tampa Bay, beating defenseman Ben Lovejoy to break in on Fleury and avoid his pokecheck by chipping the puck over him for a 4-3 lead, then outracing Alex Goligoski in the final minute to seal things with an empty net goal.
And so, the Penguins returned home last night with a sour taste in their mouth after the way their road trip ended.
Let's hope they don't have a spooky Halloween weekend against the Flyers and, on Saturday night, in Carolina.
More soon.
NOTES:
Forward Aaron Asham suited up for the Pens for the first time this year last night and didn't look like he missed a beat. He'll surely be amped up to face his former team on Friday night.
The Penguins will reveal their Winter Classic jerseys later today. I'll have a report on that later this afternoon or tomorrow.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Penguins Demote Tangradi, Hutchinson; Ready For Asham's Return
As the Pittsburgh Penguins get ready to conclude their 3 game road trip tomorrow night at the St. Pete Times forum in Tampa against the Lightning, they made some roster moves yesterday.
With Brooks' Orpik's return to the lineup on Saturday against the St. Louis Blues -- and with him suffering no ill effects afterwards -- the Pens' demoted defenseman Andrew Hutchinson to Wilkes-Barre of the American Hockey League.
No surprise there, really. Hutchinson didn't play poorly with the big club in 5 games. In fact, in many ways, he held his own. On the other hand, he was a -3 in those contests and, between him and teammates on the blueline Ben Lovejoy and Deryk Engelland, he was going to be the first to go down.
Of more import is the fact that with Hutchinson to Wilkes-Barre went the Pens' top forward prospect, Eric Tangradi.
Sending Tangradi down was mostly a by-product of forward Aaron Asham's readiness to return to the lineup Wednesday night after being out of the lineup since the next-to-last pre-season game with a shoulder injury. Pittsburgh needed a roster spot for Asham and Tangradi doesn't need to clear waivers to be demoted.
Other factors went in to sending him down, however. Tangradi only had 1 goal and 1 assist (and a plus/minus of -1) in his 9-game cup-of-coffee to start the season, and in recent games, has rolled primarily on the 4th line -- a place where he isn't going to continue developing all that well.
Or at least not the way the team wants.
Tangradi needs top 6 minutes and the hope is that he will go down to undefeated Wilkes-Barre (6-0) and dominate up-front on one of the best teams in the AHL.
The team is putting on a public face about how Tangradi is mostly NHL ready and just needs a little more seasoning before he'll be an impact regular with the big club.
I'm not necessarily convinced, however.
At least not yet.
Tangradi was supposed to be a top prospect when he was acquired with LW Chris Kunitz in the deal that sent defensman Ryan Whitney to the Anaheim Ducks --- and understandably so given his physical talents. But while he has proven he has the size and strength to work in front of the net, in the corners and along the wall, he hasn't shown top-caliber hands he needs to consistently contribute offensively at the NHL level so far, and that gives me some concern as to whether he'll ultimately develop into the reliable top-6 forward prospect the Penguins have been missing in their organization for quite some time.
I'm certainly not writing off the BIG DOG, but he needs to show the type of offensive punch with the Baby Penguins that a guy like Dustin Jeffrey showed last season -- something along the lines of 30-35 goals and a 65-70 point season.
Asham, meanwhile, is very eager to get into the lineup, and who can blame him?
Coincidentally, he's coming back just in time to face his former team -- the Philadelphia Flyers -- who visit the CONSOL Energy Center on Friday night.
Teammate Jordan Staal also continues to come along nicely in his recovery. He's been a full participant in practice for going on 5 days or so now, and is probably about a week or so away from returning. I'd look for him to rejoin the lineup sometime on the Penguins' next road trip, a 4-gamer which starts Saturday night in Carolina against the Hurricanes and continues out on the West Coast next week.
Joining him back in the lineup probably at some point during that trip will be defenseman Zbynek Michalek, who is now also practicing with the team.
Michalek is at the 2-week point since he suffered his shoulder injury, so participating in full-contact drills at this point is a positive development for him.
I'll be anxious to see which players up front and on the blueline Head Coach Dan Bylsma decides to scratch when both #11 and #4 get back. The Penguins have a lot of solid numbers right now and a few players who have been regulars in the lineup so far are going to have to take a different view of the action in the very near future.
The press-box view.
Marc-Andre Fleury is expected to be in goal tomorrow night, by the way. He'll be challenged by a Lightning squad that has an impressive collection of offensive forwards and who are playing well as a team.
More soon.
With Brooks' Orpik's return to the lineup on Saturday against the St. Louis Blues -- and with him suffering no ill effects afterwards -- the Pens' demoted defenseman Andrew Hutchinson to Wilkes-Barre of the American Hockey League.
No surprise there, really. Hutchinson didn't play poorly with the big club in 5 games. In fact, in many ways, he held his own. On the other hand, he was a -3 in those contests and, between him and teammates on the blueline Ben Lovejoy and Deryk Engelland, he was going to be the first to go down.
Of more import is the fact that with Hutchinson to Wilkes-Barre went the Pens' top forward prospect, Eric Tangradi.
Sending Tangradi down was mostly a by-product of forward Aaron Asham's readiness to return to the lineup Wednesday night after being out of the lineup since the next-to-last pre-season game with a shoulder injury. Pittsburgh needed a roster spot for Asham and Tangradi doesn't need to clear waivers to be demoted.
Other factors went in to sending him down, however. Tangradi only had 1 goal and 1 assist (and a plus/minus of -1) in his 9-game cup-of-coffee to start the season, and in recent games, has rolled primarily on the 4th line -- a place where he isn't going to continue developing all that well.
Or at least not the way the team wants.
Tangradi needs top 6 minutes and the hope is that he will go down to undefeated Wilkes-Barre (6-0) and dominate up-front on one of the best teams in the AHL.
The team is putting on a public face about how Tangradi is mostly NHL ready and just needs a little more seasoning before he'll be an impact regular with the big club.
I'm not necessarily convinced, however.
At least not yet.
Tangradi was supposed to be a top prospect when he was acquired with LW Chris Kunitz in the deal that sent defensman Ryan Whitney to the Anaheim Ducks --- and understandably so given his physical talents. But while he has proven he has the size and strength to work in front of the net, in the corners and along the wall, he hasn't shown top-caliber hands he needs to consistently contribute offensively at the NHL level so far, and that gives me some concern as to whether he'll ultimately develop into the reliable top-6 forward prospect the Penguins have been missing in their organization for quite some time.
I'm certainly not writing off the BIG DOG, but he needs to show the type of offensive punch with the Baby Penguins that a guy like Dustin Jeffrey showed last season -- something along the lines of 30-35 goals and a 65-70 point season.
Asham, meanwhile, is very eager to get into the lineup, and who can blame him?
Coincidentally, he's coming back just in time to face his former team -- the Philadelphia Flyers -- who visit the CONSOL Energy Center on Friday night.
Teammate Jordan Staal also continues to come along nicely in his recovery. He's been a full participant in practice for going on 5 days or so now, and is probably about a week or so away from returning. I'd look for him to rejoin the lineup sometime on the Penguins' next road trip, a 4-gamer which starts Saturday night in Carolina against the Hurricanes and continues out on the West Coast next week.
Joining him back in the lineup probably at some point during that trip will be defenseman Zbynek Michalek, who is now also practicing with the team.
Michalek is at the 2-week point since he suffered his shoulder injury, so participating in full-contact drills at this point is a positive development for him.
I'll be anxious to see which players up front and on the blueline Head Coach Dan Bylsma decides to scratch when both #11 and #4 get back. The Penguins have a lot of solid numbers right now and a few players who have been regulars in the lineup so far are going to have to take a different view of the action in the very near future.
The press-box view.
Marc-Andre Fleury is expected to be in goal tomorrow night, by the way. He'll be challenged by a Lightning squad that has an impressive collection of offensive forwards and who are playing well as a team.
More soon.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Penguins Sing The Blues In St. Louis
There's not much to say about this one folks.
On the 2nd game of their 3-game road trip tonight, the Pittsburgh Penguins battled hard for more than 60 minutes against St. Louis and last year's playoff nemesis, goaltender Jaroslav Halak -- now of the Blues -- and ended up in their second straight overtime game.
But this time the Penguins didn't have the extra-time magic they did 2 nights earlier in Nashville, falling 1-zip to the Blues when defenseman Eric Johnson beat Pens' netminder Brent Johnson from the slot for the game's only tally 50 seconds into overtime.
Johnson played a strong game for Pittsburgh, too, rejecting St. Louis' other 23 shots in his first loss of the year. Halak -- not surprisingly, perhaps -- did the same, stopping all 31 Penguins' shots (and looking good doing it) for his second straight win after beating the Chicago Blackhawks the evening before.
There really isn't much to take from this loss. It was a tough one -- no doubt. The Penguins had their chances against Halak, but couldn't break-through, whether on 4 power-plays or at any time 5-on-5 in regulation.
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin -- both so hot of late -- were (obviously) completely kept off the board. Crosby finished with 5 shots in the contest, and that doesn't count the 1o-bell clanger he put off the post with less than 10 minutes left in the third.
The Penguins were just an inch or two away from victory there.
Then, minutes later, your fortunes turn.
And it's particularly tought to swallow when you play 60 minutes of solid hockey, as Pittsburgh did tonight. Their frustration was embodied by Brent Johnson doing everything in his power to avoid shattering his goalstick on the post after letting up the game-winner following a real strong effort from all of his teammates.
Unfortunately, Johnson and the Pens will have several days to chew on this defeat, as they're not scheduled to play again until next Wednesday in Tampa against the Lightning. The Pens' chartered there after the game and will practice a few times in Florida while getting some R&R in my favorite road city leading up to that one.
Marc-Andre Fleury is expected to get the call in net that evening.
More this week.
NOTES: Pens' defenseman Brooks Orpik returned to the lineup tonight, and looked pretty good out there on the ice. He was as smooth and physical as ever. We'll see if Aaron Asham looks the same way on Wednesday, when he is expected to make his Penguins' regular season debut against the Lightning after suffering a shoulder injury that's kept him out of the lineup since the next-to-last Pens' preseason game against the Blackhawks.
On the 2nd game of their 3-game road trip tonight, the Pittsburgh Penguins battled hard for more than 60 minutes against St. Louis and last year's playoff nemesis, goaltender Jaroslav Halak -- now of the Blues -- and ended up in their second straight overtime game.
But this time the Penguins didn't have the extra-time magic they did 2 nights earlier in Nashville, falling 1-zip to the Blues when defenseman Eric Johnson beat Pens' netminder Brent Johnson from the slot for the game's only tally 50 seconds into overtime.
Johnson played a strong game for Pittsburgh, too, rejecting St. Louis' other 23 shots in his first loss of the year. Halak -- not surprisingly, perhaps -- did the same, stopping all 31 Penguins' shots (and looking good doing it) for his second straight win after beating the Chicago Blackhawks the evening before.
There really isn't much to take from this loss. It was a tough one -- no doubt. The Penguins had their chances against Halak, but couldn't break-through, whether on 4 power-plays or at any time 5-on-5 in regulation.
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin -- both so hot of late -- were (obviously) completely kept off the board. Crosby finished with 5 shots in the contest, and that doesn't count the 1o-bell clanger he put off the post with less than 10 minutes left in the third.
The Penguins were just an inch or two away from victory there.
Then, minutes later, your fortunes turn.
And it's particularly tought to swallow when you play 60 minutes of solid hockey, as Pittsburgh did tonight. Their frustration was embodied by Brent Johnson doing everything in his power to avoid shattering his goalstick on the post after letting up the game-winner following a real strong effort from all of his teammates.
Unfortunately, Johnson and the Pens will have several days to chew on this defeat, as they're not scheduled to play again until next Wednesday in Tampa against the Lightning. The Pens' chartered there after the game and will practice a few times in Florida while getting some R&R in my favorite road city leading up to that one.
Marc-Andre Fleury is expected to get the call in net that evening.
More this week.
NOTES: Pens' defenseman Brooks Orpik returned to the lineup tonight, and looked pretty good out there on the ice. He was as smooth and physical as ever. We'll see if Aaron Asham looks the same way on Wednesday, when he is expected to make his Penguins' regular season debut against the Lightning after suffering a shoulder injury that's kept him out of the lineup since the next-to-last Pens' preseason game against the Blackhawks.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Music To My Ears: Penguins Defeat Predators In OT
It was hitch-a-ride night in cowtown last night at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
As in, hop on the back of the Pens' Captain, as Sidney Crosby's virtuoso performance helped the Penguins win a hockey game in Nashville for the first time in 11 years (and only 2nd time ever), and stay on the winning track with a 4-3 overtime victory.
In an extremely physical, fast-paced, and entertaining October hockey game between two non-conference rivals, Crosby paced the way with two goals and a lead assist on the game winner by defenseman Kris Letang -- a slap shot that rocketed by Predators' goaltender Pekka Rinne for the "W".
After a bit of a slow start, Crosby is tied for the league lead in scoring with former teammate Marion Hossa of the Chicago Blackhawks.
Evgeni Malkin also was dominant in the game, as he scored and added an assist while playing much of the night on a line with Crosby.
That ceratinly was not Blysma's intent entering the contest, but when those two got the occasional shift together as the game went along, they were just too dominant to separate. That was especially true in the 2nd half of the game when the Penguins just took over, outshooting Nashville 17-5 in the third period and 20-8 including the overtime.
And Pittsburgh needed to step on the gas, too, because they were challenged by a good Predators club who had an early 1-0 lead, took advantage of a careless retaliatory penalty from Crosby in the 2nd period to score a power-play goal, and stayed ahead or right with the Pens' throughout the rest of the contest until Crosby's tying goal with about 7 minutes left preceded Letang's game winner.
Speaking of Letang, he, too, had a fantastic outing last night. In addition to his goal in overtime, he added two assists and was +2 on the night.
Tanger is now tied for second in the league in plus/minus at +9 on the season.
In fact, Letang, Goligoski and Paul Martin sit 2, 3, and 4 in league scoring among all blueliners this year so far. They've really given the Penguins great punch from the back end, and have taken advantage of the increased minutes given to them following the absences of teammates Brooks Orpik and Zbynek Michalek.
They are validating what many thought going into the season --- with their offseason additions and growth, the Penguins would have among one of the best groups of rearguards in the league this year, despite the loss of Sergei Gonchar.
In the pipes, let's give some credit to Marc-Andre Fleury, who came up with a pretty strong game last night for his first win of the season.
Fleury stopped 21 of 24 shots and bounced back from an early goal-against that wasn't his fault. While the goal was really accountable to his teammates' open and obvious dementia about who was covering which Predator player on the ice, it still could have set him back.
It didn't though, as #29 made several strong stops in the game, including on 3 different breakaways by Nashville forwards J.P. Dumont, Joel Ward, and Steve Sullivan.
Fleury got a little help from his post and forward Pascal Dupuis at one key point in the game, too. Fleury took a high shot in OT that he stopped at first, but had it roll up over him. After it did that, the puck hit the crossbar and laid right down in the crease dangerously close to the goal line before Dupuis came to the rescue, swiped it away, and gave Letang a chance to give Pittsburgh the extra point.
Obviously, everyone in the Pens' locker room after the game was excited to help get Fleury his first "W".
"It's a great feeling to get a win," said Dupuis. "The best feeling is getting a win for Flower."
Will Fleury start on Saturday night in the Pens' next game in St. Louis, though? That remains to be seen. Bylsma might go back to him, although his intentions were to play Johnson on this trip, too. In fact, Saturday night's game was one the Penguins had pegged at the beginning of the season to play BJ in, so it will be interesting to see what the Head Coach decides to do.
Regardless, the Penguins will come into the game winners of 4 straight and 5 of 6, and atop the Atlantic Division standings with 10 points.
More over the weekend.
As in, hop on the back of the Pens' Captain, as Sidney Crosby's virtuoso performance helped the Penguins win a hockey game in Nashville for the first time in 11 years (and only 2nd time ever), and stay on the winning track with a 4-3 overtime victory.
In an extremely physical, fast-paced, and entertaining October hockey game between two non-conference rivals, Crosby paced the way with two goals and a lead assist on the game winner by defenseman Kris Letang -- a slap shot that rocketed by Predators' goaltender Pekka Rinne for the "W".
After a bit of a slow start, Crosby is tied for the league lead in scoring with former teammate Marion Hossa of the Chicago Blackhawks.
Evgeni Malkin also was dominant in the game, as he scored and added an assist while playing much of the night on a line with Crosby.
That ceratinly was not Blysma's intent entering the contest, but when those two got the occasional shift together as the game went along, they were just too dominant to separate. That was especially true in the 2nd half of the game when the Penguins just took over, outshooting Nashville 17-5 in the third period and 20-8 including the overtime.
And Pittsburgh needed to step on the gas, too, because they were challenged by a good Predators club who had an early 1-0 lead, took advantage of a careless retaliatory penalty from Crosby in the 2nd period to score a power-play goal, and stayed ahead or right with the Pens' throughout the rest of the contest until Crosby's tying goal with about 7 minutes left preceded Letang's game winner.
Speaking of Letang, he, too, had a fantastic outing last night. In addition to his goal in overtime, he added two assists and was +2 on the night.
Tanger is now tied for second in the league in plus/minus at +9 on the season.
In fact, Letang, Goligoski and Paul Martin sit 2, 3, and 4 in league scoring among all blueliners this year so far. They've really given the Penguins great punch from the back end, and have taken advantage of the increased minutes given to them following the absences of teammates Brooks Orpik and Zbynek Michalek.
They are validating what many thought going into the season --- with their offseason additions and growth, the Penguins would have among one of the best groups of rearguards in the league this year, despite the loss of Sergei Gonchar.
In the pipes, let's give some credit to Marc-Andre Fleury, who came up with a pretty strong game last night for his first win of the season.
Fleury stopped 21 of 24 shots and bounced back from an early goal-against that wasn't his fault. While the goal was really accountable to his teammates' open and obvious dementia about who was covering which Predator player on the ice, it still could have set him back.
It didn't though, as #29 made several strong stops in the game, including on 3 different breakaways by Nashville forwards J.P. Dumont, Joel Ward, and Steve Sullivan.
Fleury got a little help from his post and forward Pascal Dupuis at one key point in the game, too. Fleury took a high shot in OT that he stopped at first, but had it roll up over him. After it did that, the puck hit the crossbar and laid right down in the crease dangerously close to the goal line before Dupuis came to the rescue, swiped it away, and gave Letang a chance to give Pittsburgh the extra point.
Obviously, everyone in the Pens' locker room after the game was excited to help get Fleury his first "W".
"It's a great feeling to get a win," said Dupuis. "The best feeling is getting a win for Flower."
Will Fleury start on Saturday night in the Pens' next game in St. Louis, though? That remains to be seen. Bylsma might go back to him, although his intentions were to play Johnson on this trip, too. In fact, Saturday night's game was one the Penguins had pegged at the beginning of the season to play BJ in, so it will be interesting to see what the Head Coach decides to do.
Regardless, the Penguins will come into the game winners of 4 straight and 5 of 6, and atop the Atlantic Division standings with 10 points.
More over the weekend.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Will The Penguins Become Predators In Nashville Tonight?
On a small roll where they've won 3 games in a row, 4 of their last 5, and are generally playing their best and most confident hockey of the young season thusfar, the Pittsburgh Penguins waltz into a place tonight where they've traditionally played very poorly -- Nashville -- to face a Predators squad that's one of only two teams in the league to have yet to lose in regulation (3-0-2) (8:00 PM EST).
The Penguins have lost a number of games in Nashville in recent years, and in fact, have only beaten the Predators 4 times in 13 tries since they came into the league.
Trying to help Pittsburgh get over that honkey-tonk hump tonight will be goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. You remember him, right? The Penguins' #1 goaltender who is 0-3 on the season with some of the most miserable statistics in the game -- and who has sat on the bench the last week and watched backup Brent Johnson start 3 games in 4 days and play very well in the process of winning all 3.
It's obviously going to be very interesting to see what #29 has to offer this evening. If Nashville pops a couple behind Fleury early, it's not going to be good for his probably already-fragile confidence.
And the goaltending controversy that has been just percolating under the surface so far will slide more towards the brew setting.
Make no mistake about one thing. While most intelligent Penguins' observers realize and recognize that Fleury has to be the guy to lead the team to the promised land, and that his recent stretch of poor play is (thusfar, anyway) nothing more than a small blip on the radar of an 82-game regular season, many of those same people can't seem to grasp what message it was that Head Coach Dan Bylsma may have been sending to Fleury by going with BJ for three straight games despite them all being in a 4-night stretch.
The answer to that is simple. There was no message to Fleury.
Blysma was just trying to win games.
Now.
Remember, the games now are worth the same 2 points that they're worth in March, and by starting Johnson in this last stretch, Bylsma was doing nothing other than relying on the hot hand and giving his team the best chance to win.
Fleury simply hasn't had his MOJO since the beginning of the regular season. Sure, you have to keep him in the mix and help him get it back at some point, but there's plenty of time for that. And it may take Fleury weeks or a month or more to truly get back into the puck-stopping groove we're typically accustomed to seeing him in around here.
In the meantime, though, you owe it to the other 19 guys to go with the goaltender who you believe gives you the best chance to get a "W".
Lately, that's undoubtedly been Johnson, and the Penguins are lucky to have a backup of his caliber.
Meanwhile, while Fleury will return to the net tonight, several of his injured teammates are also likely to return at some point during the Pens' curent 3 game trip to Nashville, St. Louis (Saturday) and Tampa (next Wednesday).
Defenseman Brooks Orpik is likely the closest to coming back. Orpik has been dealing with a continued groin and abdominal injury. He's been practicing with the team full bore for the last several days and, at this point, it's just a matter of #44 having his full timing back and getting as close to 100% as possible.
Another guy likely to return on this trip is winger Aaron Asham. Like Orpik, Asham also has been skating and practicing full-go with the team. #45 has yet to see regular season action in black-and-gold after suffering a shoulder injury in the Penguins' next-to-last pre-season game against the Chicago Blackhawks. But Asham's been putting in additional time to test that shoulder more and more the last several days, and is only a game or two away from returning.
The last of the Penguins' walking wounded -- and maybe the most important -- Jordan Staal, has also been skating and practicing with his teammates the last two to three days. Better yet, Staal has looked pretty good doing it.
While his recovery from the severed tendon he suffered on his foot has been a long time in the making -- and complete with several setbacks -- his recovery and timetable for returning is finally accelerating.
Rapidly.
While Staal probably won't be back on this road trip as he continues to strengthen his foot/leg and work on his on-ice conditioning, it shouldn't be too long after that before he gets back in the lineup. Early November is not unreasonable for him at this point at all, and that would be an improvement from what I expected, since I didn't think he'd be back until the holidays (hopefully more Thanksgiving rather than Christmas).
Good for #11.
Pittsburgh will have one thing going for them tonight. While they're still a bit shorthanded, the Predators will be without key defenseman Ryan Suter for the contest.
Suter is typically paired with Captain Shea Weber on Nashville's #1 D-pairing, but Suter suffered a lower body injury in the Predators' last game, and is out for a few games.
Let's hope the Penguins can take advantage of that and keep their streak going tonight.
I'll have a recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
The Penguins have lost a number of games in Nashville in recent years, and in fact, have only beaten the Predators 4 times in 13 tries since they came into the league.
Trying to help Pittsburgh get over that honkey-tonk hump tonight will be goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. You remember him, right? The Penguins' #1 goaltender who is 0-3 on the season with some of the most miserable statistics in the game -- and who has sat on the bench the last week and watched backup Brent Johnson start 3 games in 4 days and play very well in the process of winning all 3.
It's obviously going to be very interesting to see what #29 has to offer this evening. If Nashville pops a couple behind Fleury early, it's not going to be good for his probably already-fragile confidence.
And the goaltending controversy that has been just percolating under the surface so far will slide more towards the brew setting.
Make no mistake about one thing. While most intelligent Penguins' observers realize and recognize that Fleury has to be the guy to lead the team to the promised land, and that his recent stretch of poor play is (thusfar, anyway) nothing more than a small blip on the radar of an 82-game regular season, many of those same people can't seem to grasp what message it was that Head Coach Dan Bylsma may have been sending to Fleury by going with BJ for three straight games despite them all being in a 4-night stretch.
The answer to that is simple. There was no message to Fleury.
Blysma was just trying to win games.
Now.
Remember, the games now are worth the same 2 points that they're worth in March, and by starting Johnson in this last stretch, Bylsma was doing nothing other than relying on the hot hand and giving his team the best chance to win.
Fleury simply hasn't had his MOJO since the beginning of the regular season. Sure, you have to keep him in the mix and help him get it back at some point, but there's plenty of time for that. And it may take Fleury weeks or a month or more to truly get back into the puck-stopping groove we're typically accustomed to seeing him in around here.
In the meantime, though, you owe it to the other 19 guys to go with the goaltender who you believe gives you the best chance to get a "W".
Lately, that's undoubtedly been Johnson, and the Penguins are lucky to have a backup of his caliber.
Meanwhile, while Fleury will return to the net tonight, several of his injured teammates are also likely to return at some point during the Pens' curent 3 game trip to Nashville, St. Louis (Saturday) and Tampa (next Wednesday).
Defenseman Brooks Orpik is likely the closest to coming back. Orpik has been dealing with a continued groin and abdominal injury. He's been practicing with the team full bore for the last several days and, at this point, it's just a matter of #44 having his full timing back and getting as close to 100% as possible.
Another guy likely to return on this trip is winger Aaron Asham. Like Orpik, Asham also has been skating and practicing full-go with the team. #45 has yet to see regular season action in black-and-gold after suffering a shoulder injury in the Penguins' next-to-last pre-season game against the Chicago Blackhawks. But Asham's been putting in additional time to test that shoulder more and more the last several days, and is only a game or two away from returning.
The last of the Penguins' walking wounded -- and maybe the most important -- Jordan Staal, has also been skating and practicing with his teammates the last two to three days. Better yet, Staal has looked pretty good doing it.
While his recovery from the severed tendon he suffered on his foot has been a long time in the making -- and complete with several setbacks -- his recovery and timetable for returning is finally accelerating.
Rapidly.
While Staal probably won't be back on this road trip as he continues to strengthen his foot/leg and work on his on-ice conditioning, it shouldn't be too long after that before he gets back in the lineup. Early November is not unreasonable for him at this point at all, and that would be an improvement from what I expected, since I didn't think he'd be back until the holidays (hopefully more Thanksgiving rather than Christmas).
Good for #11.
Pittsburgh will have one thing going for them tonight. While they're still a bit shorthanded, the Predators will be without key defenseman Ryan Suter for the contest.
Suter is typically paired with Captain Shea Weber on Nashville's #1 D-pairing, but Suter suffered a lower body injury in the Predators' last game, and is out for a few games.
Let's hope the Penguins can take advantage of that and keep their streak going tonight.
I'll have a recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Penguins Win 3rd Straight; Throttle Senators 5-2
Undeniably, there was a lot to celebrate last night at the CONSOL Energy Center.
Sergei Gonchar's return to Pittsburgh, where he was cheered heartily by a sellout crowd after watching a scoreboard video tribute to his career in black and gold.
And the Penguins continuing to roll, winning their third straight game and 4th in the last 5 by pasting Gonchar's new team -- the Ottawa Senators -- to the tune of 5-2.
Gonchar, playing as a visitor agains the Penguins for the first time in more than 5 seasons, must have had a hard time sorting out his mixed feelings about being in town again, because he was TERRIBLE in the game. He was on the ice for all five goals-against. And, like many of his teammates, looked bad in the process.
Forward Mark Letestu continued to shine last night by scoring the opening goal 8 minutes into the game by taking a nice feed in the slot from teammate Mike Comrie before blistering a water-bottle wrist shot top-shelf past Senators' netminder Brian Elliott for a power play marker and early 1-0 Penguins' edge.
Talk about a goal-scorer's goal? That was it folks. And it's just more kudos for the rookie who looks like he clearly belongs, and not just in a support role, either.
Sidney Crosby added another man-advantage tally about five minutes later taking the rebound of an Alex Goligoski shot off the lively back boards and quickly depositing it behind Elliott before he could get to the post.
The power play, by the way, finished 2-for-3 on the night, and is 7 for its last 28 -- a strong 25% during that stretch.
Evgeni Malkin padded the Pens' lead to 3-0 before the period ended by hustling to a loose puck around Elliott off a face-off in Ottawa's zone and swiping it by him.
While Daniel Alfredsson gave Ottawa fans a moment of hope by scoring early in the second period, it required a picture-perfect, top-corner, off the post/crossbar shot past a screened Brent Johnson.
But the Penguins didn't waste any time squashing any momentum that goal may have generated.
Forward Pascal Dupuis got his first of the year when a centering pass intended for teammate Chris Kunitz off a rush went behind Elliott off an Ottawa defender, and less than 30 seconds later, defenseman Kris Letang sailed one past Elliott through a maze of players to give Pittsburgh a 5-1 advantage.
The Senators got a goal from Chris Campoli in the third period, but Johnson continued his strong play and shut Ottawa down the rest of the way. He stopped 32 of 34 shots and was the game's #1 star.
For as strong as Johnson was, indications are that Head Coach Dan Bylsma may go back to Marc-Andre Fleury for the Penguins' next game, Thursday in Nashville against the Predators. That's a stretch where the Pens have 7 of their next 8 on the road, so Fleury is bound to get back in the lineup at some point.
Blysma has actually said some good things about Fleury the last several days, publicly reminding everyone that Fleury is the Penguins' #1 and franchise goaltender. This after making some surprising remarks last week that were critical of Fleury's play.
Personally, I agree with that general sentiment. As I've already said in this space, Fleury has to be the guy if the Penguins are going to get to the promised land again. But right now, I see nothing wrong with riding Johnson. He's playing great and deserves to continue to get a fair amount -- if not more -- playing time.
I mean, with him playing the way he is right now, he gives the team the best chance to win. And if Blysma agrees, how can he not continue to put #1 between the pipes? He owes it to the other 19 players who dress.
All in all, though, a good problem to have, would you say?
More later this week.
Sergei Gonchar's return to Pittsburgh, where he was cheered heartily by a sellout crowd after watching a scoreboard video tribute to his career in black and gold.
And the Penguins continuing to roll, winning their third straight game and 4th in the last 5 by pasting Gonchar's new team -- the Ottawa Senators -- to the tune of 5-2.
Gonchar, playing as a visitor agains the Penguins for the first time in more than 5 seasons, must have had a hard time sorting out his mixed feelings about being in town again, because he was TERRIBLE in the game. He was on the ice for all five goals-against. And, like many of his teammates, looked bad in the process.
Forward Mark Letestu continued to shine last night by scoring the opening goal 8 minutes into the game by taking a nice feed in the slot from teammate Mike Comrie before blistering a water-bottle wrist shot top-shelf past Senators' netminder Brian Elliott for a power play marker and early 1-0 Penguins' edge.
Talk about a goal-scorer's goal? That was it folks. And it's just more kudos for the rookie who looks like he clearly belongs, and not just in a support role, either.
Sidney Crosby added another man-advantage tally about five minutes later taking the rebound of an Alex Goligoski shot off the lively back boards and quickly depositing it behind Elliott before he could get to the post.
The power play, by the way, finished 2-for-3 on the night, and is 7 for its last 28 -- a strong 25% during that stretch.
Evgeni Malkin padded the Pens' lead to 3-0 before the period ended by hustling to a loose puck around Elliott off a face-off in Ottawa's zone and swiping it by him.
While Daniel Alfredsson gave Ottawa fans a moment of hope by scoring early in the second period, it required a picture-perfect, top-corner, off the post/crossbar shot past a screened Brent Johnson.
But the Penguins didn't waste any time squashing any momentum that goal may have generated.
Forward Pascal Dupuis got his first of the year when a centering pass intended for teammate Chris Kunitz off a rush went behind Elliott off an Ottawa defender, and less than 30 seconds later, defenseman Kris Letang sailed one past Elliott through a maze of players to give Pittsburgh a 5-1 advantage.
The Senators got a goal from Chris Campoli in the third period, but Johnson continued his strong play and shut Ottawa down the rest of the way. He stopped 32 of 34 shots and was the game's #1 star.
For as strong as Johnson was, indications are that Head Coach Dan Bylsma may go back to Marc-Andre Fleury for the Penguins' next game, Thursday in Nashville against the Predators. That's a stretch where the Pens have 7 of their next 8 on the road, so Fleury is bound to get back in the lineup at some point.
Blysma has actually said some good things about Fleury the last several days, publicly reminding everyone that Fleury is the Penguins' #1 and franchise goaltender. This after making some surprising remarks last week that were critical of Fleury's play.
Personally, I agree with that general sentiment. As I've already said in this space, Fleury has to be the guy if the Penguins are going to get to the promised land again. But right now, I see nothing wrong with riding Johnson. He's playing great and deserves to continue to get a fair amount -- if not more -- playing time.
I mean, with him playing the way he is right now, he gives the team the best chance to win. And if Blysma agrees, how can he not continue to put #1 between the pipes? He owes it to the other 19 players who dress.
All in all, though, a good problem to have, would you say?
More later this week.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Crosby, Johnson Help Penguins Dominate Flyers In Their Own Barn, 5-1
Make no mistake -- the Pittsburgh Penguins have played some fairly inconsistent and uneven hockey the first few weeks of the regular season.
And they've either been missing or lost some key people along the way too, namely defenseman Brooks Orpik and Zbynek Michalek, along with forward Jordan Staal.
Look up at the Atlantic Division standings today, however, and you'll see the local hockey club somehow at the top of the heap with a 3-3 record, after last night's second straight win, this time over the arch-rival Flyers, 5-1.
Backup goaltender Brent Johnson --starting on back-to-back nights for his first time as a Penguin -- was again strong, stopping 29 of 30 shots in the victory, and allowing only the game-opening power play tally to Flyers' forward Daniel Briere.
Johnson is now 3-0 on the season with an incredible save %-age of .953 and a sub 2.00 goals against average.
Sidney Crosby also stepped out into the limelight for the first time this year last night, scoring two goals in the third period -- on both parts of a 5-on-3 power play, no less, including a slapper from center point -- and added a helper for 3 points on the night against a team he commonly raises his game against almost every single time.
Pittsburgh's power play, by the way, went 2-for-8, and while they still have a ton of work to do to get better, they came through for the second straight game when they were needed the most, this time up 2-1 and with a chance to put a nail in the Flyers' coffin early in the final frame.
And that's exactly what the man-advantage -- and Crosby -- did.
Even if the power play still can improve by leaps and bounds, at least the Penguins are getting a ton of man-advantage chances. They lead the league in that category.
The Penguins also got a goal from Chris Kunitz on a mini-breakaway in the first period last night, a second period tally from Mark Letestu, and an empty net goal from Matt Cooke.
Speaking of Letestu, more props are in order for him. He outworked about 3 Flyers in front of the goal for his tally -- including stalwart Philadelphia Blueliner Chris Pronger, who couldn't even stop him illegally by holding his stick on the play.
Letestu continues to be a real impressive player for the Penguins. He's making a real impact on the ice, and doing it with not just great hockey smarts, but hard work. He battles for pucks over every square inch of the ice.
(Hilary Duff's husband, a.k.a., Mike Comrie, could learn a thing or two from him).
And so, the Penguins might finally be gaining a little bit of momentum here. They'll have another chance to keep that going in their next game, tomorrow night at home against former Penguin Sergei Gonchar and the Ottawa Senators.
As I said before the Philadelphia game, the most interesting thing worth watching will again be who Head Coach Dan Bylsma starts in goal.
Does he go with the hot hand in Johnson, or give Fleury a chance to get his game right?
There's been some skeptism raised in the local media that Bylsma may have made the wrong call by going back to Johnson last night. In other words, there was less to gain in the short term (wins) and more to lose in the long term by seeing Johnson continue to succeed, dealing further blows to Marc-Andre Fleury's confidence, and potentially creating a goaltending controversy.
Even without the benefit of hindsight, I'm not sure I see it that way.
Johnson is clearly the man right now, and he deserves to be given a little bit of the ball. Especially while his teammates continue to play shorthanded and work to get the other aspects of their game straightened out. He's just oozing confidence in the net. You can see it in his positioning and the way he's tracking the play.
And I don't think giving Johnson extra starts right now masquerades anyone into thinking that #29 isn't your #1 goaltender. Penguin Nation knows that if the team is going to go anywhere long term, Fleury has to be their guy. And I think the team and coaching staff knows that, too.
Fleury will get his chance again. But it's hard for Blysma to play Fleury just for those intangible reasons right now, don't you think? In other words, if he believes Johnson gives his team the best chance to win at the present time, wouldn't he be doing a disservice to the other players on the team by not putting him in the lineup?
I think, yes. And I think that's why he's riding Johnson right now.
The Penguins should be thankful they have another guy they can put in who gives them that goaltending.
More this week.
And they've either been missing or lost some key people along the way too, namely defenseman Brooks Orpik and Zbynek Michalek, along with forward Jordan Staal.
Look up at the Atlantic Division standings today, however, and you'll see the local hockey club somehow at the top of the heap with a 3-3 record, after last night's second straight win, this time over the arch-rival Flyers, 5-1.
Backup goaltender Brent Johnson --starting on back-to-back nights for his first time as a Penguin -- was again strong, stopping 29 of 30 shots in the victory, and allowing only the game-opening power play tally to Flyers' forward Daniel Briere.
Johnson is now 3-0 on the season with an incredible save %-age of .953 and a sub 2.00 goals against average.
Sidney Crosby also stepped out into the limelight for the first time this year last night, scoring two goals in the third period -- on both parts of a 5-on-3 power play, no less, including a slapper from center point -- and added a helper for 3 points on the night against a team he commonly raises his game against almost every single time.
Pittsburgh's power play, by the way, went 2-for-8, and while they still have a ton of work to do to get better, they came through for the second straight game when they were needed the most, this time up 2-1 and with a chance to put a nail in the Flyers' coffin early in the final frame.
And that's exactly what the man-advantage -- and Crosby -- did.
Even if the power play still can improve by leaps and bounds, at least the Penguins are getting a ton of man-advantage chances. They lead the league in that category.
The Penguins also got a goal from Chris Kunitz on a mini-breakaway in the first period last night, a second period tally from Mark Letestu, and an empty net goal from Matt Cooke.
Speaking of Letestu, more props are in order for him. He outworked about 3 Flyers in front of the goal for his tally -- including stalwart Philadelphia Blueliner Chris Pronger, who couldn't even stop him illegally by holding his stick on the play.
Letestu continues to be a real impressive player for the Penguins. He's making a real impact on the ice, and doing it with not just great hockey smarts, but hard work. He battles for pucks over every square inch of the ice.
(Hilary Duff's husband, a.k.a., Mike Comrie, could learn a thing or two from him).
And so, the Penguins might finally be gaining a little bit of momentum here. They'll have another chance to keep that going in their next game, tomorrow night at home against former Penguin Sergei Gonchar and the Ottawa Senators.
As I said before the Philadelphia game, the most interesting thing worth watching will again be who Head Coach Dan Bylsma starts in goal.
Does he go with the hot hand in Johnson, or give Fleury a chance to get his game right?
There's been some skeptism raised in the local media that Bylsma may have made the wrong call by going back to Johnson last night. In other words, there was less to gain in the short term (wins) and more to lose in the long term by seeing Johnson continue to succeed, dealing further blows to Marc-Andre Fleury's confidence, and potentially creating a goaltending controversy.
Even without the benefit of hindsight, I'm not sure I see it that way.
Johnson is clearly the man right now, and he deserves to be given a little bit of the ball. Especially while his teammates continue to play shorthanded and work to get the other aspects of their game straightened out. He's just oozing confidence in the net. You can see it in his positioning and the way he's tracking the play.
And I don't think giving Johnson extra starts right now masquerades anyone into thinking that #29 isn't your #1 goaltender. Penguin Nation knows that if the team is going to go anywhere long term, Fleury has to be their guy. And I think the team and coaching staff knows that, too.
Fleury will get his chance again. But it's hard for Blysma to play Fleury just for those intangible reasons right now, don't you think? In other words, if he believes Johnson gives his team the best chance to win at the present time, wouldn't he be doing a disservice to the other players on the team by not putting him in the lineup?
I think, yes. And I think that's why he's riding Johnson right now.
The Penguins should be thankful they have another guy they can put in who gives them that goaltending.
More this week.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Pens Beat Islanders It OT For First Win At The Bird House
We all knew the Penguins would win a game at the CONSOL Energy Center.
Someday.
No moment like the present, though, and Pittsburgh finally broke through for their first 2 points on home ice last night when defenseman Alex Goligoski scored on a 4-on-3 power play just under 2 minutes into overtime to beat the New York Islanders., 3-2.
All I can say is --- IT'S ABOUT TIME!
And not just for the Penguins to win a game in The Bird House.
But also for the man-advantage -- which has looked only like a man DISadvantage since the beginning of the season -- to FINALLY come through for the Pens.
After going a miserable 0-for-7 during the first 3 periods and continuing to pass up opportunity after opportunity, it delivered when the team needed it most.
After losing the first three games on home ice -- all by one goal -- how bad would it have felt to lose last night's game against a team that hasn't won in Pittsburgh since 2007? Sure, those games were across the street, but after building a 2-0 lead in the second period on the strength of goals from forwards Mike Rupp and Eric Tangradi, (the latter's first in the National Hockey League, by the way) it would have been a disaster had they come from ahead to drop last night's contest.
But the Penguins' best players so far this year saved them, to wit:
Goligoski, who now has 3 goals (most in the league among blueliners) and 5 points (second) to lead the team in scoring at this early stage;
Mark Letestu, who assisted on both Penguins' goals last night, and now has 4 points to lead the team among forwards -- which is more than a couple guys getting paid $8.7 million dollars a season to do that, by the way;
Brent Johnson, the only goaltender to win a game for Pittsburgh this year, who again was strong in stopping 22 of 24 shots --- and who may just get the call again in the pipes tonight when the Penguins visit Philadelphia to face-off against the arch-rival Flyers (6:00 PM EST)
One other thing of note about the game. The Penguins held firm defensively despite playing with only 5 rearguards for more than half of it after defenseman Kris Letang got tossed from the game on an absurd 5-minute major penalty and game misconduct for an open-ice, shoulder-to-shoulder hit on Islanders forward Blake Comeau.
As we all probably know, the league has instituted automatic 5-minute major and game misconduct penalties to anyone who targets the head of another player with a hit from behind or from the side when they're defenseless, but this hit was nothing like that, and the officials last night completely blew that call.
It's not Letang's fault Comeau spun around and acted like he got shot on contact. Heck, after being on the ice for a few minutes and watching his teammate, Josh Bailey, jump Letang to seek retribution after the hit, Comeau continued to play and even assisted on both Islanders' goals to tie the game later that same period -- a power-play marker by Bailey after he served his two-minute penalty for chasing Letang down, then a later tally by defenseman Radek Martinek to tie it.
Give me a break.
The point is, kudos to the Penguins' defenders -- including 3 guys who played basically all of last year in the AHL, Lovejoy, Engelland and Hutchinson -- for standing tall in the face of adversity.
As I said, big game tonight. The most interesting thing to see will be whether Head Coach Dan Bylsma goes back to Johnson between the pipes, or whether he gives Fleury a chance to start straightening out his uneven play so far this year.
I'm also hoping from a virtuoso effort from our Captain tonight. We need a big game from him on back-to-back nights with the team still shorthanded on the blueline.
Recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
Someday.
No moment like the present, though, and Pittsburgh finally broke through for their first 2 points on home ice last night when defenseman Alex Goligoski scored on a 4-on-3 power play just under 2 minutes into overtime to beat the New York Islanders., 3-2.
All I can say is --- IT'S ABOUT TIME!
And not just for the Penguins to win a game in The Bird House.
But also for the man-advantage -- which has looked only like a man DISadvantage since the beginning of the season -- to FINALLY come through for the Pens.
After going a miserable 0-for-7 during the first 3 periods and continuing to pass up opportunity after opportunity, it delivered when the team needed it most.
After losing the first three games on home ice -- all by one goal -- how bad would it have felt to lose last night's game against a team that hasn't won in Pittsburgh since 2007? Sure, those games were across the street, but after building a 2-0 lead in the second period on the strength of goals from forwards Mike Rupp and Eric Tangradi, (the latter's first in the National Hockey League, by the way) it would have been a disaster had they come from ahead to drop last night's contest.
But the Penguins' best players so far this year saved them, to wit:
Goligoski, who now has 3 goals (most in the league among blueliners) and 5 points (second) to lead the team in scoring at this early stage;
Mark Letestu, who assisted on both Penguins' goals last night, and now has 4 points to lead the team among forwards -- which is more than a couple guys getting paid $8.7 million dollars a season to do that, by the way;
Brent Johnson, the only goaltender to win a game for Pittsburgh this year, who again was strong in stopping 22 of 24 shots --- and who may just get the call again in the pipes tonight when the Penguins visit Philadelphia to face-off against the arch-rival Flyers (6:00 PM EST)
One other thing of note about the game. The Penguins held firm defensively despite playing with only 5 rearguards for more than half of it after defenseman Kris Letang got tossed from the game on an absurd 5-minute major penalty and game misconduct for an open-ice, shoulder-to-shoulder hit on Islanders forward Blake Comeau.
As we all probably know, the league has instituted automatic 5-minute major and game misconduct penalties to anyone who targets the head of another player with a hit from behind or from the side when they're defenseless, but this hit was nothing like that, and the officials last night completely blew that call.
It's not Letang's fault Comeau spun around and acted like he got shot on contact. Heck, after being on the ice for a few minutes and watching his teammate, Josh Bailey, jump Letang to seek retribution after the hit, Comeau continued to play and even assisted on both Islanders' goals to tie the game later that same period -- a power-play marker by Bailey after he served his two-minute penalty for chasing Letang down, then a later tally by defenseman Radek Martinek to tie it.
Give me a break.
The point is, kudos to the Penguins' defenders -- including 3 guys who played basically all of last year in the AHL, Lovejoy, Engelland and Hutchinson -- for standing tall in the face of adversity.
As I said, big game tonight. The most interesting thing to see will be whether Head Coach Dan Bylsma goes back to Johnson between the pipes, or whether he gives Fleury a chance to start straightening out his uneven play so far this year.
I'm also hoping from a virtuoso effort from our Captain tonight. We need a big game from him on back-to-back nights with the team still shorthanded on the blueline.
Recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Maybe They Missed The Memo: Pens Stay Winless At The Bird House
The Pittsburgh Penguins' new home -- the CONSOL Energy Center -- was supposed to be a place where the home team would be intimidating.
Where the home team would be tough to play against.
After 3 games this season and the latest defeat in their own barn, 4-3 to the Toronto Maple Leafs last night, The Bird House is fast becoming a easy place to play for the opposition.
Maybe the players missed the memo that they should stop showing up at 66 Mario Lemieux place for work?
I'm not sure, because the guys who were in Penguins sweaters last night looked anything but desperate to get a win for their home faithful -- especially in the first 10 minutes when a search party could have easily been called to find a competent, interested hockey club out there.
Okay, it's hard to blame the Penguins for leaving thug Colton Orr alone in front for the opening goal of the game. He scores about as often per season as Dan Blysma will from behind the Penguins' bench.
But giving up the 2-1 lead you claimed after that in a miserable 7 minute stretch of the second period to go down 4-2 was pretty deflating.
Especially when Clarke MacArthur scores two of the goals.
I didn't have as much of a problem with his first one, or the bullet by Leafs' defenseman Francois Beauchemin which followed it to put Toronto back up by a goal. Sure, it would have been nice to see Fleury get one of those, but they can't be considered "bad" goals.
The last one MacArthur scored, however, was the killer.
Again, it's hard to say it was Fleury's fault. In fact, I'd pin more of the blame on typically-reliable defensive forward Craig Adams who got caught in no-man's-land watching the puck carrier behind the net and Fleury while not covering MacArthur -- who was wide open in the slot before he got the pass and buried it behind #29 -- but the bottom line is that the Penguins simply can't continue to have those letdowns and expect to win.
Sure, they got back in the game. The Pens' Captain, Sidney Crosby, got his first goal of the season on a nice play later in the second period, taking a pass right on the net from defenseman Ben Lovejoy and fooling Leafs' netminder Jonas Gustavsson into going down before depositing a backhand behind him.
But after that, it was nothing but failed opportunities, including a missed penalty shot by Evgeni Malkin -- who's now 0-for-4 in his career on those -- another failed power play in the third period when it mattered most, and several good scoring chances they just didn't finish before the horn sounded.
And so, the script played the same, with the Penguins losing on home ice by a single goal. To a team that scored 4 times on only 14 shots, to boot.
Marc-Andre Fleury's save percentage certainly isn't looking better this morning.
And neither is the Penguins record, which now stands at a discouraging 1-3.
I'm trying to give the Boys time to get in synch. They are getting used to new personnel on the blueline -- even though one of them, Zybnek Michalek missed the game last night while he's still being evaluated after suffering a shoulder injury in Monday's game against New Jersey -- and the power play is operating on a completely different platform.
But there's no excuse for the lack of scoring punch they are getting, the continued failure to capitalize on their opportunities, the still substandard overall defensive play, and the mediocre -- at best -- goaltending.
Even if they come together on defense and get the power play going, there's still much for them to work on, and they don't want to get too far behind this early in the season.
The games now are worth the same number of points they're worth in February and March, after all.
One thing is for sure -- the Penguins won't have long before getting back on the horse. Starting Friday, they play 3 games in 4 days.
Unfortunately, 2 of those 3 games are at home.
On the bright side, Pittsburgh has something to look forward to after that.
They go on their first extended (3-game) road trip of the season.
Since that appears to be the only place they can win games right now, it can't come soon enough.
Where the home team would be tough to play against.
After 3 games this season and the latest defeat in their own barn, 4-3 to the Toronto Maple Leafs last night, The Bird House is fast becoming a easy place to play for the opposition.
Maybe the players missed the memo that they should stop showing up at 66 Mario Lemieux place for work?
I'm not sure, because the guys who were in Penguins sweaters last night looked anything but desperate to get a win for their home faithful -- especially in the first 10 minutes when a search party could have easily been called to find a competent, interested hockey club out there.
Okay, it's hard to blame the Penguins for leaving thug Colton Orr alone in front for the opening goal of the game. He scores about as often per season as Dan Blysma will from behind the Penguins' bench.
But giving up the 2-1 lead you claimed after that in a miserable 7 minute stretch of the second period to go down 4-2 was pretty deflating.
Especially when Clarke MacArthur scores two of the goals.
I didn't have as much of a problem with his first one, or the bullet by Leafs' defenseman Francois Beauchemin which followed it to put Toronto back up by a goal. Sure, it would have been nice to see Fleury get one of those, but they can't be considered "bad" goals.
The last one MacArthur scored, however, was the killer.
Again, it's hard to say it was Fleury's fault. In fact, I'd pin more of the blame on typically-reliable defensive forward Craig Adams who got caught in no-man's-land watching the puck carrier behind the net and Fleury while not covering MacArthur -- who was wide open in the slot before he got the pass and buried it behind #29 -- but the bottom line is that the Penguins simply can't continue to have those letdowns and expect to win.
Sure, they got back in the game. The Pens' Captain, Sidney Crosby, got his first goal of the season on a nice play later in the second period, taking a pass right on the net from defenseman Ben Lovejoy and fooling Leafs' netminder Jonas Gustavsson into going down before depositing a backhand behind him.
But after that, it was nothing but failed opportunities, including a missed penalty shot by Evgeni Malkin -- who's now 0-for-4 in his career on those -- another failed power play in the third period when it mattered most, and several good scoring chances they just didn't finish before the horn sounded.
And so, the script played the same, with the Penguins losing on home ice by a single goal. To a team that scored 4 times on only 14 shots, to boot.
Marc-Andre Fleury's save percentage certainly isn't looking better this morning.
And neither is the Penguins record, which now stands at a discouraging 1-3.
I'm trying to give the Boys time to get in synch. They are getting used to new personnel on the blueline -- even though one of them, Zybnek Michalek missed the game last night while he's still being evaluated after suffering a shoulder injury in Monday's game against New Jersey -- and the power play is operating on a completely different platform.
But there's no excuse for the lack of scoring punch they are getting, the continued failure to capitalize on their opportunities, the still substandard overall defensive play, and the mediocre -- at best -- goaltending.
Even if they come together on defense and get the power play going, there's still much for them to work on, and they don't want to get too far behind this early in the season.
The games now are worth the same number of points they're worth in February and March, after all.
One thing is for sure -- the Penguins won't have long before getting back on the horse. Starting Friday, they play 3 games in 4 days.
Unfortunately, 2 of those 3 games are at home.
On the bright side, Pittsburgh has something to look forward to after that.
They go on their first extended (3-game) road trip of the season.
Since that appears to be the only place they can win games right now, it can't come soon enough.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Now It's the Penguins Turn
Two days removed from defeating a shorthanded New Jersey Devils squad, the Pittsburgh Penguins expect to have some key guys out of the lineup for their game tonight at the CONSOL Energy Center against the still-undefeated Toronto Maple Leafs (7:30 PM EST).
Defensemen Brooks Orpik and Zbynek Michalek are both expected to miss the game. Orpik, of course, missed Monday's tilt against the Devils with a nagging groin problem, while Michalek suffered a right shoulder injury in the second period and did not return.
There's some very preliminary talk circulating that Michalek's injury could be a separation. If that's the case, it's bad news for the Penguins, because that type of injury would keep him out of action probably until sometime in 2011.
Former Penguin' defenseman Sergei Gonchar suffered a similar injury a few years back in the exhibition opener and didn't play until February.
Unlike the Devils, however, the Penguins' aren't so flush against the salary cap that they can't recall anyone to help the team's manpower shortage and thus, blueliner Andrew Hutchinson -- one of the final cuts of training camp -- was called up from Wilkes-Barre last night and is expected to be in the lineup this evening.
Unlike Orpik and Michalek, Hutchinson is an offensive defenseman, so the Penguins are going to have to play good team defense against a Leafs team that's going to pose a challenge tonight. Led by forwards Phil Kessel and surprise contributor Clarke MacArthur up front, they are scoring their share of goals. Netminder Jean-Sebastian Giguere has had a strong start to the season in goal for them, too.
It would help the cause tonight if Captain Sidney Crosby got going. The Penguins could use a goal from Hilary Duff's husband (a.k.a. Mike Comrie), too.
Comrie was one of the Penguins' best players in the pre-season, but hasn't had nearly the same impact in 3 regular season games. He was brought in to give the Penguins some depth up front, and needs to start contributing.
No word yet on whether Head Coach Dan Bylsma will go back with Marc-Andre Fleury in goal tonight, or stick with Brent Johnson, who had a real strong game on Monday. The Penguins have to play both Friday night and Saturday night, though, so there's logical sentiment for going with Fleury tonight and getting Johnson back in again during one of those games over the weekend.
Recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
Defensemen Brooks Orpik and Zbynek Michalek are both expected to miss the game. Orpik, of course, missed Monday's tilt against the Devils with a nagging groin problem, while Michalek suffered a right shoulder injury in the second period and did not return.
There's some very preliminary talk circulating that Michalek's injury could be a separation. If that's the case, it's bad news for the Penguins, because that type of injury would keep him out of action probably until sometime in 2011.
Former Penguin' defenseman Sergei Gonchar suffered a similar injury a few years back in the exhibition opener and didn't play until February.
Unlike the Devils, however, the Penguins' aren't so flush against the salary cap that they can't recall anyone to help the team's manpower shortage and thus, blueliner Andrew Hutchinson -- one of the final cuts of training camp -- was called up from Wilkes-Barre last night and is expected to be in the lineup this evening.
Unlike Orpik and Michalek, Hutchinson is an offensive defenseman, so the Penguins are going to have to play good team defense against a Leafs team that's going to pose a challenge tonight. Led by forwards Phil Kessel and surprise contributor Clarke MacArthur up front, they are scoring their share of goals. Netminder Jean-Sebastian Giguere has had a strong start to the season in goal for them, too.
It would help the cause tonight if Captain Sidney Crosby got going. The Penguins could use a goal from Hilary Duff's husband (a.k.a. Mike Comrie), too.
Comrie was one of the Penguins' best players in the pre-season, but hasn't had nearly the same impact in 3 regular season games. He was brought in to give the Penguins some depth up front, and needs to start contributing.
No word yet on whether Head Coach Dan Bylsma will go back with Marc-Andre Fleury in goal tonight, or stick with Brent Johnson, who had a real strong game on Monday. The Penguins have to play both Friday night and Saturday night, though, so there's logical sentiment for going with Fleury tonight and getting Johnson back in again during one of those games over the weekend.
Recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Penguins Finally Be-Devil New Jersey, Brodeur With First Win Of Season
So eveything is not quite like last year after all.
Behind a strong performance from backup goaltender Brent Johnson, the Pittsburgh Penguins got their first win of the 2010/2011 season yesterday, beating an undermanned New Jersey Devils squad, 3-1, that they failed to defeat a single time all of last year.
Even though the Devils were forced to play with only 17 players because of injuries and salary cap issues, they tested Johnson. But he stopped 30 of 31 shots, looked solid throughout, and gave the Penguins a boost when they needed it the most.
Defenseman Alex Goligoski got the Penguins off and running just before the end of the first frame when he rewarded his team for their edge in shots (15-8) and overall play up to that point in the contest by lasering one from the left circle past Devils' netminder Martin Brodeur.
The play was made possible by LW Eric Tangradi who smeared Devils' star winger Ilya Kovalchuk off the puck in the neutral zone, letting GoGo grab the biscuit and steam into New Jersey's zone with full speed before unleashing his howitzer of a shot.
That helper, by the way, was Tangradi's first NHL point.
Mark Letestu got credit for his 2nd goal of the season when a Kris Letang shot during a second period power play went off him and past Brodeur for a 2-0 lead.
While Patrick Elias lasered one past Johnson with about 12 minutes left in the third right off a face-off the Devils won thanks to Letestu's stick breaking on the draw, the Penguins held the fort -- unlike what happened on Saturday night against the Canadiens -- until former Devil Paul Martin scored an empty net goal with 10 seconds left to seal the 3-1 victory.
Interestingly, the win was the 2nd time in 3 games this season that Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin failed to score a point.
They certainly aren't off to the fastest starts this season.
Neither is defenseman Brooks Orpik, who missed yesterday's game with a continued right groin problem that has bothered him since training camp and reportedly flared up again in practice on Sunday.
Orpik is day-to-day, and hopefully the same thing can be said of fellow blueliner Zybnek Michalek, who left yesterday's game in the 2nd period after sustaining what appears to be a right upper arm/shoulder injury, and did not return.
Michalek -- and Orpik, for that matter, will be re-evaluated back in Pittsburgh today, where the Penguins get ready for the unbeaten Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night, and the New York Islanders on Friday, before taking off to visit the Flyers in Philadlephia on Saturday night.
More soon.
Behind a strong performance from backup goaltender Brent Johnson, the Pittsburgh Penguins got their first win of the 2010/2011 season yesterday, beating an undermanned New Jersey Devils squad, 3-1, that they failed to defeat a single time all of last year.
Even though the Devils were forced to play with only 17 players because of injuries and salary cap issues, they tested Johnson. But he stopped 30 of 31 shots, looked solid throughout, and gave the Penguins a boost when they needed it the most.
Defenseman Alex Goligoski got the Penguins off and running just before the end of the first frame when he rewarded his team for their edge in shots (15-8) and overall play up to that point in the contest by lasering one from the left circle past Devils' netminder Martin Brodeur.
The play was made possible by LW Eric Tangradi who smeared Devils' star winger Ilya Kovalchuk off the puck in the neutral zone, letting GoGo grab the biscuit and steam into New Jersey's zone with full speed before unleashing his howitzer of a shot.
That helper, by the way, was Tangradi's first NHL point.
Mark Letestu got credit for his 2nd goal of the season when a Kris Letang shot during a second period power play went off him and past Brodeur for a 2-0 lead.
While Patrick Elias lasered one past Johnson with about 12 minutes left in the third right off a face-off the Devils won thanks to Letestu's stick breaking on the draw, the Penguins held the fort -- unlike what happened on Saturday night against the Canadiens -- until former Devil Paul Martin scored an empty net goal with 10 seconds left to seal the 3-1 victory.
Interestingly, the win was the 2nd time in 3 games this season that Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin failed to score a point.
They certainly aren't off to the fastest starts this season.
Neither is defenseman Brooks Orpik, who missed yesterday's game with a continued right groin problem that has bothered him since training camp and reportedly flared up again in practice on Sunday.
Orpik is day-to-day, and hopefully the same thing can be said of fellow blueliner Zybnek Michalek, who left yesterday's game in the 2nd period after sustaining what appears to be a right upper arm/shoulder injury, and did not return.
Michalek -- and Orpik, for that matter, will be re-evaluated back in Pittsburgh today, where the Penguins get ready for the unbeaten Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night, and the New York Islanders on Friday, before taking off to visit the Flyers in Philadlephia on Saturday night.
More soon.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Flashbacks: Is It Last Year All Over Again? Today May Tell The Tale
Sorry I've been missing a few days, dear readers. That's what happens when you have to move your kid 3 hours away into his first apartment and get hospitalized with a kidney stone while you're doing it.
Then again, maybe it's a good thing I haven't been around.
After all, who wants to hear about the flashbacks I had Saturday night as the Penguins failed to capitalize on their chances, watched their #1 netminder let up an awful soft goal when the game was on the line, and let new Pittsburgh-killer Mike Camalleri again beat them -- all in a 3-2 home-ice defeat at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens.
Was I seeing last year's post-season against The Habs all over again or what?
In their 2nd game of the season -- and second in their new home, The Bird House -- Pittsburgh outshot Montreal, 38-27, and forced Canadiens' goaltender Carey Price to make several big saves. In the process, despite going 0-for-6 on the power play, they still managed to forge a two goal lead on a goal by Mark Letestu with about 11 minutes left in the game, then watched it evaporate faster than you could say "Sacre Bleu!" when Camalleri scored his second goal of the contest to tie the game with less than 3 minutes left, then Habs' forward Scott Gomez won it 24 seconds later by tossing a weak shot from the bottom of the left circle meekly and inexcusably through Marc-Andre Fleury's pads for the game-winner.
In watching that agony unfold, it was like the Penguins' 7-game, second-round defeat at the hands of Montreal last May being distilled to about 60 minutes.
And so, the Penguins remain winless in their new home while they get ready to play the New Jersey Devils in their first road game of the year.
Start time for the contest on this Columbus Day holiday is about an hour or so (4:00 PM EST).
In an effort to stop the bleeding, Head Coach Dan Bylsma has lineup changes in store for this afternoon's game.
Mike Comrie will move up from the second line to play on Sidney Crosby's RW on the #1 line, while Letestu will slide into Comrie's spot centering the 2nd unit with Evgeni Malkin and Eric Tangradi.
Max Talbot will move into Letestu's spot on the 3rd line between LW Matt Cooke and RW Tyler Kennedy, while Pascal Dupuis -- who Bylsma said has forgotten what made him successful last year -- will slip to the 4th line with Mike Rupp and Craig Adams.
Also, while there has yet to be any formal announcement of this, it's likely that Bylsma will go with backup goalie Brent Johnson between the pipes today, and give Fleury the day off.
While I don't believe sitting #29 is directly the result of the bad goal the Flower let up at the end of the Canadiens' game, Bylsma was unabashed in saying after the contest that it was a bad one for him to let in.
Hopefully, Johnson will come in and do what he does best, which is battle and give the Penguins a performance they can win with. They'll need it against a team who, despite also not having a win this season and leading the league in goals allowed at 5.50 per game after two contests, dominated them last year in 6 games, going undefeated and outscoring them 22-5.
If Pittsburgh falls on the road today, we'll undoubtedly hear even more comparisons to last season.
It would be helpful for the Pens' Captain to break out on the scoresheet more today, too.
Sidney Crosby hasn't played poorly thusfar -- and he made a nice assist to set up Malkin's goal just as a 4-on-3 power play was expiring Saturday night -- but Pittsburgh could clearly use an offensive boost, and who better to look at than #87 for a jumpstart?
The Penguins will also look to former New Jersey Devil Paul Martin today in his first game against his former team.
One thing the Penguins may have going for them this afternoon is that the Devils may be forced to play with only 16 players.
Two of New Jersey's key performers -- shot-blocking machine and free-agent defenseman signee Anton Volchenkov and reliable forward Brian Rolston -- were injured in Saturday's 7-2 defeat at the hands of the Washington Capitals, and while they didn't suffer long term injuries sufficient to put them on IR, neither took the morning skate today.
Normally that wouldn't be a big deal except that the Devils are flush up against the salary cap and can't call up a player to replace either unless someone goes on IR, which is a minimum 10-day absence.
Couple that with the fact that Devils forward Pierre Luc Letournau-Lebland (how do they get that name on a jersey plate anyway?) was automatically suspended for today's game after taking an instigating penalty in the final 5 minutes of Saturday's defeat, and the Devils' are suffering from significant manpower issues. Hopefully the Penguins can exploit that.
It should be interesting. Of course, I'll have a game recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
Then again, maybe it's a good thing I haven't been around.
After all, who wants to hear about the flashbacks I had Saturday night as the Penguins failed to capitalize on their chances, watched their #1 netminder let up an awful soft goal when the game was on the line, and let new Pittsburgh-killer Mike Camalleri again beat them -- all in a 3-2 home-ice defeat at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens.
Was I seeing last year's post-season against The Habs all over again or what?
In their 2nd game of the season -- and second in their new home, The Bird House -- Pittsburgh outshot Montreal, 38-27, and forced Canadiens' goaltender Carey Price to make several big saves. In the process, despite going 0-for-6 on the power play, they still managed to forge a two goal lead on a goal by Mark Letestu with about 11 minutes left in the game, then watched it evaporate faster than you could say "Sacre Bleu!" when Camalleri scored his second goal of the contest to tie the game with less than 3 minutes left, then Habs' forward Scott Gomez won it 24 seconds later by tossing a weak shot from the bottom of the left circle meekly and inexcusably through Marc-Andre Fleury's pads for the game-winner.
In watching that agony unfold, it was like the Penguins' 7-game, second-round defeat at the hands of Montreal last May being distilled to about 60 minutes.
And so, the Penguins remain winless in their new home while they get ready to play the New Jersey Devils in their first road game of the year.
Start time for the contest on this Columbus Day holiday is about an hour or so (4:00 PM EST).
In an effort to stop the bleeding, Head Coach Dan Bylsma has lineup changes in store for this afternoon's game.
Mike Comrie will move up from the second line to play on Sidney Crosby's RW on the #1 line, while Letestu will slide into Comrie's spot centering the 2nd unit with Evgeni Malkin and Eric Tangradi.
Max Talbot will move into Letestu's spot on the 3rd line between LW Matt Cooke and RW Tyler Kennedy, while Pascal Dupuis -- who Bylsma said has forgotten what made him successful last year -- will slip to the 4th line with Mike Rupp and Craig Adams.
Also, while there has yet to be any formal announcement of this, it's likely that Bylsma will go with backup goalie Brent Johnson between the pipes today, and give Fleury the day off.
While I don't believe sitting #29 is directly the result of the bad goal the Flower let up at the end of the Canadiens' game, Bylsma was unabashed in saying after the contest that it was a bad one for him to let in.
Hopefully, Johnson will come in and do what he does best, which is battle and give the Penguins a performance they can win with. They'll need it against a team who, despite also not having a win this season and leading the league in goals allowed at 5.50 per game after two contests, dominated them last year in 6 games, going undefeated and outscoring them 22-5.
If Pittsburgh falls on the road today, we'll undoubtedly hear even more comparisons to last season.
It would be helpful for the Pens' Captain to break out on the scoresheet more today, too.
Sidney Crosby hasn't played poorly thusfar -- and he made a nice assist to set up Malkin's goal just as a 4-on-3 power play was expiring Saturday night -- but Pittsburgh could clearly use an offensive boost, and who better to look at than #87 for a jumpstart?
The Penguins will also look to former New Jersey Devil Paul Martin today in his first game against his former team.
One thing the Penguins may have going for them this afternoon is that the Devils may be forced to play with only 16 players.
Two of New Jersey's key performers -- shot-blocking machine and free-agent defenseman signee Anton Volchenkov and reliable forward Brian Rolston -- were injured in Saturday's 7-2 defeat at the hands of the Washington Capitals, and while they didn't suffer long term injuries sufficient to put them on IR, neither took the morning skate today.
Normally that wouldn't be a big deal except that the Devils are flush up against the salary cap and can't call up a player to replace either unless someone goes on IR, which is a minimum 10-day absence.
Couple that with the fact that Devils forward Pierre Luc Letournau-Lebland (how do they get that name on a jersey plate anyway?) was automatically suspended for today's game after taking an instigating penalty in the final 5 minutes of Saturday's defeat, and the Devils' are suffering from significant manpower issues. Hopefully the Penguins can exploit that.
It should be interesting. Of course, I'll have a game recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
Friday, October 8, 2010
Too Much Glitz And Glamour, Not Enough Arm And Hammer: Pens Lose CONSOL And Season Opener To Hated Flyers, 3-2
Before the Pittsburgh Penguins opened up their sparkling new $321 million dollar bird house for the first time last night to start the 2010/2011 season in front of a standing-room only crowd of nearly 18, 300 gawk-eyed people -- yours truly included -- their players and coaches walked the red carpet into the buliding. Undeniably, a hollywood-like move that presented their organization like hollywood rock stars.
Fittingly, the Penguins played pretty on the ice, trying to look fancy rather than go at their opponent, the arch-rival Philadelphia Flyers, with hard hats and lunch pails.
And in the end, it cost them in a 3-2 season-opening loss.
You would think the Penguins would have been able to capitalize on all the energy that would come from the fans in the first ever regular season game in the new building.
You would think the Penguins could warm up to initiating Philadelphia rookie netminder Sergei Bobrovsky, starting his first National Hockey League game on the road, against a huge rival, in a hostile environment.
You would think there was nothing more fitting than total domination on a night when a moving pre-game ceremony was fittingly capped by showing on the jumbotron (in the dark) some of the greatest franchise highlights from Mellon Arena -- including Stanley Cup wins, huge goals, and other marvelous moments -- together with clips of the Mellon ice melting all while a chemistry flask was being filled with symbolic liquid, then to have owner and legend Mario Lemieux appear at center ice in his skates when the footage was over and the lights came on to dump liquid in a flask on CONSOL's center circle.
But no.
It just wasn't to be last night for Pittsburgh. The Penguins had chances throughout the night, but either passed them up or couldn't finish, and it haunted them in a contest where they skated better, won more faceoffs and probably outplayed the Flyers -- particularly in the first period -- and ended up just one goal behind when the final buzzer sounded.
The Flyers scored the first goal in the history of the CEC when center Daniel Briere redirected a point shot on a Flyers power play past Pens' goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury early in the second period.
Then, Philadelphia forward Blair Betts put the screws to the Penguins late in the second when he drove the net on a rush and was the first guy to pick up the loose puck in the crease, finding it before Pens' blueliner Paul Martin and depositing it behind Fleury to make it 2-0.
You'd think the flightless birds might have taken a hint from that style of play.
Tyler Kennedy did get the Pens back into the game early in the third on a bad angle shot from the near corner that beat Bobrovsky, but Philadelphia reclaimed their lead with a killer goal at just before the 5 minute mark of the final frame.
The Penguins were on the power play coming out of their own zone when defenseman Kris Letang tried to drop the puck to Martin. Martin couldn't get to it before Flyers' forward Claude Giroux did, and he chipped the puck behind Martin and had a step on him going in alone on Fleury from the blueline.
Giroux made a nice move and Martin eased up on the play at just the time of Giroux's last deke, and that allowed him to beat #29 for a huge 3-1 lead.
What bothered me most about that play is that the Penguins were making cute drop passes at their own blueline on the power play all night long. There were no strong rushes up the ice, and there was no dump and chase to acquire possession. Instead, it was all east/west or dispy doodle.
Giroux probably watched the Penguins do what Letang did on that play at least a half a dozen times earlier in the game. It's no wonder he was able to read the play and capitalize.
Pittsburgh rebounded quickly with a goal on the same power play before it ended when Alex Goligoski tipped a shot from his fellow point man Zbynek Michalek that went through Bobrovsky's legs to make it 3-2 with plenty of time left.
It was strange to see a blueliner tip one in the slot, but he was skating through there on his way back to the point, after taking the puck deep, moving around and trying to create something.
Anyway, despite a later power play to close the game -- wihch the Penguins relied on to pull Fleury and play 6-on-4 -- the Penguins got no closer.
Bobrovsky finished with 29 stops on 31 shots. Fleury had 24 saves in a losing effort for the Penguins.
One of the biggest problems for Pittsburgh in the game was the power play.
Despite that goal at the end, the Penguins were too fancy on the man-advantage, continuing what they did too much of while skating 5-on-5. They had good puck movement, but TOO MUCH of it. When they had an open shot, they didn't take it. Instead, they tried to find the perfect play. Finishing with only 4 shots on about 9 minutes of man-advantage time isn't going to cut it. Of course, this isn't anything new in Pittsburgh. The Penguins are renown for not shooting enough on their power play.
You know, with Sergei Gonchar gone and Dan Blysma instead of Mike Yeo running the man-advantage, I knew it would be interesting to watch what they did; I just didn't know that it was going to be that ineffective.
At least for one game.
Don't get me wrong. The Penguins did some good things out there. They did have a lot of movement with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Goligoski switching places and passing the puck around a great deal, while one and sometimes two guys stood in front and in the low slot, but it was just too pretty. They need to hammer the puck at the net more and crash for loose rebounds.
I also think they need to find a way to get Letang out there on the man-advantage because of his right-handed shot. I know he still is susceptible to mental breakdowns and I know he doesn't hit the net enough with his shot, but having 3 leftys play the umbrella on the power play is problematic.
And it encourages them to pass the puck around too much.
Crosby and Malkin, by the way, were held off the scoresheet altogether. That only happened twice at home all of last season.
Besides Kennedy, Mark Letestu and Mike Comrie had strong games for the Penguins. Both had several chances but, again, they just couldn't finish. I think both hit posts at some point. In fact, the Penguins clanked the iron 4 times on the night, I believe. There's a bit of bad luck there, but it still comes back to bearing down and finishing.
Eric Tangradi also had a good game for the Pens, as did new rearguard Michalek.
Paul Martin was a bit of a mixed bag out there, in my opinion. I watched him closely last night and it seemed to me that he was standing still more than he should have been, and I wondered if that was just a holdover from playing in New Jersey's trapping system for so long. He also wasn't strong enough defensively on the shorthanded goal, as I mentioned, but he did make a nice pass to Kennedy across the crease for his goal, and made a few other slick, patient offensive plays on the night.
Overall, the Penguins definitely still have to work the kinks out. At times they seemed in slow gear and they weren't nearly as intense as they needed to be against a rival like the Flyers (I mean, did that look like a Penguins/Flyers game to you?). They weren't as crisp and clean as their new building with it's great sightlines and views, huge jumbotron, and wide selection of top notch food -- that's for certain. But hopefully that will work itself out over the next few games.
Next up for the Penguins is another grudge match at home, this time against the Montreal Canadiens, Saturday night (7:00 PM EST).
More soon.
Fittingly, the Penguins played pretty on the ice, trying to look fancy rather than go at their opponent, the arch-rival Philadelphia Flyers, with hard hats and lunch pails.
And in the end, it cost them in a 3-2 season-opening loss.
You would think the Penguins would have been able to capitalize on all the energy that would come from the fans in the first ever regular season game in the new building.
You would think the Penguins could warm up to initiating Philadelphia rookie netminder Sergei Bobrovsky, starting his first National Hockey League game on the road, against a huge rival, in a hostile environment.
You would think there was nothing more fitting than total domination on a night when a moving pre-game ceremony was fittingly capped by showing on the jumbotron (in the dark) some of the greatest franchise highlights from Mellon Arena -- including Stanley Cup wins, huge goals, and other marvelous moments -- together with clips of the Mellon ice melting all while a chemistry flask was being filled with symbolic liquid, then to have owner and legend Mario Lemieux appear at center ice in his skates when the footage was over and the lights came on to dump liquid in a flask on CONSOL's center circle.
But no.
It just wasn't to be last night for Pittsburgh. The Penguins had chances throughout the night, but either passed them up or couldn't finish, and it haunted them in a contest where they skated better, won more faceoffs and probably outplayed the Flyers -- particularly in the first period -- and ended up just one goal behind when the final buzzer sounded.
The Flyers scored the first goal in the history of the CEC when center Daniel Briere redirected a point shot on a Flyers power play past Pens' goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury early in the second period.
Then, Philadelphia forward Blair Betts put the screws to the Penguins late in the second when he drove the net on a rush and was the first guy to pick up the loose puck in the crease, finding it before Pens' blueliner Paul Martin and depositing it behind Fleury to make it 2-0.
You'd think the flightless birds might have taken a hint from that style of play.
Tyler Kennedy did get the Pens back into the game early in the third on a bad angle shot from the near corner that beat Bobrovsky, but Philadelphia reclaimed their lead with a killer goal at just before the 5 minute mark of the final frame.
The Penguins were on the power play coming out of their own zone when defenseman Kris Letang tried to drop the puck to Martin. Martin couldn't get to it before Flyers' forward Claude Giroux did, and he chipped the puck behind Martin and had a step on him going in alone on Fleury from the blueline.
Giroux made a nice move and Martin eased up on the play at just the time of Giroux's last deke, and that allowed him to beat #29 for a huge 3-1 lead.
What bothered me most about that play is that the Penguins were making cute drop passes at their own blueline on the power play all night long. There were no strong rushes up the ice, and there was no dump and chase to acquire possession. Instead, it was all east/west or dispy doodle.
Giroux probably watched the Penguins do what Letang did on that play at least a half a dozen times earlier in the game. It's no wonder he was able to read the play and capitalize.
Pittsburgh rebounded quickly with a goal on the same power play before it ended when Alex Goligoski tipped a shot from his fellow point man Zbynek Michalek that went through Bobrovsky's legs to make it 3-2 with plenty of time left.
It was strange to see a blueliner tip one in the slot, but he was skating through there on his way back to the point, after taking the puck deep, moving around and trying to create something.
Anyway, despite a later power play to close the game -- wihch the Penguins relied on to pull Fleury and play 6-on-4 -- the Penguins got no closer.
Bobrovsky finished with 29 stops on 31 shots. Fleury had 24 saves in a losing effort for the Penguins.
One of the biggest problems for Pittsburgh in the game was the power play.
Despite that goal at the end, the Penguins were too fancy on the man-advantage, continuing what they did too much of while skating 5-on-5. They had good puck movement, but TOO MUCH of it. When they had an open shot, they didn't take it. Instead, they tried to find the perfect play. Finishing with only 4 shots on about 9 minutes of man-advantage time isn't going to cut it. Of course, this isn't anything new in Pittsburgh. The Penguins are renown for not shooting enough on their power play.
You know, with Sergei Gonchar gone and Dan Blysma instead of Mike Yeo running the man-advantage, I knew it would be interesting to watch what they did; I just didn't know that it was going to be that ineffective.
At least for one game.
Don't get me wrong. The Penguins did some good things out there. They did have a lot of movement with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Goligoski switching places and passing the puck around a great deal, while one and sometimes two guys stood in front and in the low slot, but it was just too pretty. They need to hammer the puck at the net more and crash for loose rebounds.
I also think they need to find a way to get Letang out there on the man-advantage because of his right-handed shot. I know he still is susceptible to mental breakdowns and I know he doesn't hit the net enough with his shot, but having 3 leftys play the umbrella on the power play is problematic.
And it encourages them to pass the puck around too much.
Crosby and Malkin, by the way, were held off the scoresheet altogether. That only happened twice at home all of last season.
Besides Kennedy, Mark Letestu and Mike Comrie had strong games for the Penguins. Both had several chances but, again, they just couldn't finish. I think both hit posts at some point. In fact, the Penguins clanked the iron 4 times on the night, I believe. There's a bit of bad luck there, but it still comes back to bearing down and finishing.
Eric Tangradi also had a good game for the Pens, as did new rearguard Michalek.
Paul Martin was a bit of a mixed bag out there, in my opinion. I watched him closely last night and it seemed to me that he was standing still more than he should have been, and I wondered if that was just a holdover from playing in New Jersey's trapping system for so long. He also wasn't strong enough defensively on the shorthanded goal, as I mentioned, but he did make a nice pass to Kennedy across the crease for his goal, and made a few other slick, patient offensive plays on the night.
Overall, the Penguins definitely still have to work the kinks out. At times they seemed in slow gear and they weren't nearly as intense as they needed to be against a rival like the Flyers (I mean, did that look like a Penguins/Flyers game to you?). They weren't as crisp and clean as their new building with it's great sightlines and views, huge jumbotron, and wide selection of top notch food -- that's for certain. But hopefully that will work itself out over the next few games.
Next up for the Penguins is another grudge match at home, this time against the Montreal Canadiens, Saturday night (7:00 PM EST).
More soon.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
2010 Pittsburgh Penguins Season Preview
It seems like ages ago when we last saw a meaningful hockey game around here, doesn't it?
Well, that's because it was ages ago.
About 5 months, in fact, which is when the doors to Mellon Arena closed forever with a sudden thud following a miserable 5-2 defeat to the Montreal Canadiens in Game 7 of the teams' Eastern Conference Semifinal series last year.
But finally, it's a hockey night in Pittsburgh again, as the Penguins open up the 2010 regular season -- and their sparkling $321 million dollar facility, the CONSOL Energy Center -- against the arch-rival Philadelphia Flyers in front of a national television audience and red carpet (literally) tonight (7:00 PM EST, VERSUS).
The Penguins had an eventful offseason for sure, with many players coming and going, and one key player hitting the injury shelf a bit unexpectedly.
But are they in a better position to recapture their success of 2009 (or even 2008) and challenge for Lord Stanley?
Let's take a look at the roster and examine the group position-by-position. After that I'll give you 3 signs that the season is going right. And 3 that will show it's not. Then, I'll predict their regular season finish.
FORWARDS
Gone from last season's group up front is grizzled veteran and first line RW Bill Guerin, who recently failed to stick with the Flyers on a tryout, as well as mostly 2nd line underachievers Ruslan Fedotenko and Alexei Ponikarovsky, who are now with the New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings, respectively.
Would you believe Ruslan Fedotenko actually led the Rangers in pre-season scoring with 6 points?
Me neither. Isn't that about the same number of points he had all of last year with us?
Anyway, the Penguins will also be missing Selke Trophy finalist and spetacular 2-way center Jordan Staal to start the season, as he continues to recover from multiple off-season surgeries to deal with the lacerated tendon he suffered in the top of his foot in game 1 of the 2nd round series against the Canadiens -- as well as to deal with the infection which resulted after-the-fact.
The team originally expected Staal to be available for the start of the regular season. Then, they forecast that he would miss the first few weeks of the regular season. Realistically -- given that he hasn't really been able to skate or train intensely yet -- Gronk probably won't return to the team until mid-November.
At the earliest.
In the place of these guys slide two free agents -- Mike Comrie, formerly of the Edmonton Oilers, and Aaron Asham, formerly of the Flyers -- and two players who spent most of last season at Wilkes-Barre, Mark Letestu and Eric Tangradi.
Of course, that assumes Tangradi returns after the bizarre transactional moves that took place surrounding him yesterday. Read my post below this one for more on that.
In any event, Letestu had an outstanding camp, showing exemplary two-way play, and deserves his roster spot. Tangradi also had a good camp, spending a lot of time on the 2nd line and a lot of time staking his 6' 4" frame in front of the net on the power play.
We all know what Asham brings from across the Commonwealth -- grit, sandpaper, and fair hands.
Meanwhile, Comrie has been nothing but an offensive revelation in the pre-season, scoring 4 goals in 5 games and showing instant chemistry centering the line Staal was supposed to lock down -- the #2 unit with Evgeni Malkin (and Tangradi).
Can Comrie keep up that pace when things get tougher in the regular season? Time will tell, but if he can, it will go a long way towards giving the Penguins greater offensive depth up front -- depth many think they don't have.
Let's hope Hilary is keeping him happy at night.
Getting back to Malkin, he led the Penguins in scoring in the pre-season and just seems invigoriated this year. He's been galloping all over the ice and oozing his offensive talent -- a stark contrast to the way he played most of last year when the former Art Ross Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy winner struggled and performed below his standards.
If he returns to form, look out.
Elsewhere up front, the Penguins will fill their bottom 2 lines with guys that are tough to play against. Max Talbot, Mike Rupp, Matt Cooke, and Craig Adams all fit that description, and will all probably be lineup regulars. We all know what they bring. Rupp, with 13 goals, and Cooke, with 15, are coming off strong season, so the onus will be on them to duplicate their efforts from last year. Adams doesn't hit the scoresheet much, but isn't asked to, either. With him, you know you're going to get a good penalty killer and a smart, physical defensive game night in and night out, and that's all you need.
Max Talbot -- the Penguins' Stanley Cup hero after scoring the team's only 2 goals in a 2-1 win in game 7 of the 2009 final against the Detroit Red Wings -- is in the final year of his contract, and after a miserable washout season last year mostly spent recovering from off-season shoulder season and in-season groin and other injuries, he needs to bounce back strong and get back to being the clutch, energy player he's capable of being.
Tyler Kennedy is in a similar boat. He struggled big time last year and is probably the guy who faced the most competition for a roster spot in camp this season. It showed, because he upped his game, but he can't rest on his laurels for a minute. If he does, he's likely to be the first healthy scratch --- or the first one moved on to another team in a trade. As I've said in this space before, TK has to concentrate this season more on being a little abrasive, and less on trying to transform himself into a 35-goal scorer. While I and many others thought he had that potential at one point, I think he's shown at this point that's not going to happen. But if he scores 15 and plays physically and with energy, he can be that great 3rd line presence he was during the Penguins' Cup run 2 seasons ago.
Eric Godard remains on the team as the resident pugilist and, while he'll probably see less games this year, the team has chosen to keep him around. He may even be in the lineup tonight against the always-physical Flyers.
Two guys I haven't mentioned -- Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis -- sit here today as the likely wingers on the #1 unit.
Kunitz suffered from some injuries last year, which made it hard for him to get on track. The extended off-season probably benefited him as much as anyone, and if he can stay in the lineup on a consistent basis, expecting 25 goals and 60 points from him is not unreasonable.
And frankly, he needs to stay in the lineup and produce that way to justify his 3.75 million dollar salary.
Dupuis had a near-career season last year with 18 goals, all the while continuing to be a sound defensive player. He's probably miscast as a permanent top liner, but he's shown that he can fill in there capably and not look overwhelmingly out of place for a few months at a time.
For the forwards, that about covers it.
Wait.
Oh yeah.
There's that Crosby guy.
The Pens' Captain, #1 center, and the best player in the game is the easiest to talk about, beacuse he does everything well. In fact, the only real question surrounding him is what he's going to take and go from great to outstanding at next. Last year, he upped his faceoff percentage to around 55%, and turned into a sniper, to boot -- tying for the league lead and the Rocket Richard Trophy with 51 goals, while still producing points, leading the power play, setting an example and otherwise being the NHL and Penguins' marketing posterboy.
Crosby does all of that well and with aplomb.
The Penguins are blessed to have him.
While many observers have questioned and continue to question the Penguins' depth and the quality of their wingers, the team still finished in the top 10 in offense last year. Would it be nice to have a 4o-goal man patrolling the wing? Sure. But clearly, even without that, they are capable enough of fililng the net. Offense isn't one of their worries ....
DEFENSE
..... which is why Pens' GM Ray Shero set out instead to re-tool the blueline this summer, rather than ink a free-agent impact forward. The Penguins finished the 2009/2010 season ranked in the bottom 3rd of the league in overall defense, and team brass felt that the team's defensive play contributed to their 2nd round playoff exit, and less than stellar netminding from Marc-Andre Fleury.
And so, after stalwart power play quarterback Sergei Gonchar packed his free agent bags and signed his longed-after 3-year contract with the Ottawa Senators a mere 15 minutes into free agency, and after it became clear that he would not be able to sign two-way rearguard Dan Hamhuis -- who he acquired the free-agent-to-be's rights to for a 3rd round pick on draft day -- Shero moved to plan B.
Quickly.
Learning a lesson after waiting for -- and losing -- Marion Hossa in free agency two years ago, Shero wasted no time inking the other two marquee blueliners on the free agent market to long-term contracts: Paul Martin, formerly of the New Jersey Devils, and Zbynek Michalek, formerly of the Phoenix Coyotes.
Martin is an accomplished two-way defenseman in this league. He would have been the United States' top blueliner in the 2010 Olympics had he been able to play, but he was still recovering from a broken arm he sustained in a game against the Penguins early last year.
In New Jersey, Martin -- like everyone else -- was asked to play defense first. Still, he has offensive potential, averaging around 30 points a year in the swamp. In Pittsburgh, he's going to get to showcase that part of his game more, while still being counted on to be solid in his own zone.
With the Penguins' offensive talent and puck-moving system, a year for him with 45/50 points and a +15 rating is not out of the question.
Michalek, on the other hand, is built to play in his own zone. Similar to former Penguin Rob Scuderi, Michalek is a smart blueliner who uses his stick, body and smarts to consistently disrupt plays. He led the league in blocked shots two years ago and will undoubtedly bring that dirty willingness to the Penguins' blueline. It's clearly an element the team lacked last season.
Michalek also has underrated offensive skill. He makes a good first pass, and has a strong shot. While he's not going to get any power play time, Brooks Oprik doesn't either, and he had about 25 points last season. There's no reason Michalek can't do the same.
Speaking of Orpik, he had minor abdomen surgery this off-season to correct an injury that occured in the next-to-last regular season game against the Atlanta Thrashers, and which he played through during the entire post-season. He seemed to come into camp healthy, but dealt with a little groin issue on the opposite side that forced him to miss the last two pre-season contests. He's been sensitive about watching the injury, since that's what caused him to overcompensate and slightly tear a muslce on his abdominal wall last year. He seems like he's ready to go for tonight, though, and one of the best hitters in the NHL has gone on record as saying he can't wait to dish out free candy in the regular season.
Rounding out the Penguins' outstanding top-4 is Kris Letang. Letang is as slick and talented as they come on the Pittsburgh blueline, but despite that, he had a down offensive year last season, scoring only a few regular season markers. In the playoffs, he showed what he's capable of, scoring 5 goals in 13 playoff games and making an impact from the blueline.
In camp this year, Letang has gotten back to the physial, two-way game that always makes him most successful. He even dropped the gloves twice. In one game. If Tanger plays with that edge, it keeps his head in the game, and that's something he needs. He also needs to continue to work hard at hitting the net with his shot. As a right-hander, he can be a wicked weapon on the power-play.
Speaking of the power play, the guy who probably remains the lead candidate to quarterback it in Gonchar's absence is the 5th blueliner -- Alex Goligoski.
Last year was GoGo's first full year in the NHL, and he started off like gangbusters, averaging nearly a point a game for the first 1/3rd of the season. His play trailed off noticeably after that, though. Still, Goligoski has the intelligence and offensive savvy to step into the power play and keep it moving. Neither he nor Letang have the experience or acumen that Gonchar had, and won't be seen doing nearly as many of the subtle things that Gonchar did to make the power play hum, but they are still capable.
If they can get the job done on the man-advantage for the Penguins this season, the team will be that much more dangerous.
Rounding out the Pens' blueline are Ben Lovejoy and Derek Engelland. Lovejoy is a smooth two-way guy who was an impressive +8 in 11 games with the big club last year. Engelland is more of a physical, defensive masher with limited offensive skill. Both are probably going to see time in the Penguins lineup as the 6th defenseman, depending on the opponent.
Overall, the Penguins are markedly improved on the blueline this year. Their top-5 is amongst the best in the Eastern Conference -- with that of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Philadelphia Flyers -- and perhaps even the entire NHL.
GOALTENDING
I read a piece yesterday on SI.com from former NHL netminder Darren Elliot where he ranked the NHL's current goaltending tandems.
Fleury and Brent Johnson were ranked third, because they have the perfect mold between the pipes --- a young, proven 20-something starter, and an established veteran who can step in as needed as the backup.
Indeed, that's exactly what the Penguins have, and they are better for it. Johnson is probably one of the best backups in the game, capable of winning a stretch of games if Fleury were to go down, and otherwise spotting in with capable performances despite not having much work.
For his part, Fleury still receives some criticism in these parts, despite making several 10-bell stops on the Penguins' run to the Stanley Cup in 2009. Undoubtedly, Fleury had a subpar season and playoff last year. Like a lot of the team, he could have been suffering from some burnout, given all the high-stakes hockey -- and short-offseasons that went along with it -- that the club had engaged in the prior 3 seasons.
The Olympics didn't help Fleury stay on track either. While it was a privilege to be selected to the Canadian team, to be sure, it was a detriment to be the #3 guy and not have any game action for 3 weeks.
Overall, Fleury needs to continue to be more consistent, and cut down on the occasional soft goal. An improved defense in front of him will help wonders, as will greater focus on his part.
All in all, though, Fleury has shown he can deliver in the clutch. If he gets back to his game this year, the Penguins will be in good shape. If he has another subpar season, they won't be. And, all of a sudden, more questions about the state of the Penguins' goaltending are going to come up.
This is certainly a big season for #29.
THREE SIGNS THE SEASON IS GOING RIGHT:
1) Evgeni Malkin returns to form
If Malkin plays like he has this pre-season, he's quickly going to go from a top-10 or top-15 player in the league to entering the debate about who's the BEST player in the game again. As he adjusts to playing a new position on the wing a lot of this year, the Penguins need him to dominate. When #11 returns, it probably will be to center the 2nd line, so it's going to bear watching whether Malkin clicks with him like they did in Staal's rookie season.
2) The third line excells without Staal
Mark Letestu -- who will start the season centering this unit -- looks like the real deal so far, but he has to continue to get the job done in the regular season. His two-way play and intelligence seem to be a great fit on a line with some skill and a lot of grit, but there has to be a reason why Letestu, 26, hasn't stepped up to this level before now. It could be just a matter of confidence. If that's it, he's going to do well, because he's seeping faith in his game from every pore right now. If he falters, though, the Penguins may look to Talbot to slide into that role regularly, and that would be a big opportunity for him.
3) The defense grows cohesive quickly
With not just a few new faces, but IMPORTANT new faces on the blueline, it's going to be interesting to see how fast the pairs settle -- and hopefully, jell -- on defense. To open the season, it seems as if Blysma is going to pair up shutdown defenders Orpik and Michalek together, but they weren't always smooth in the pre-season. Obviously, that's the time to work out those kinks, but if they don't start doing it, how long will Blymsa stick with that pair -- and the other pairs? Martin is probably too heady to not excel with anyone, so I don't expect to see any difficulty with he and Letang playing together. Ironically, Goligoski and Lovejoy have played regularly together in Wilkes-Barre, so those two are more familiar with each other than any other blueliner.
THREE SIGNS THE SEASON IS GOING WRONG
1) Marc-Andre Fleury struggles out of the gate
As I mentioned above, this is an important season for the Pens' netminder. While Fleury has developed some track record of being able to put individual goals behind him quickly, can he do that if he begins the year struggling like the way he ended last season? At that point, you're trying to put a longer trend of play in your rear-view mirror, and that won't be easy. If Fleury struggles, it also will be a sign that the defense in front of him isn't coming together as well -- or as fast -- as Shero or Blysma hoped.
2) Injuries
The Penguins have been relatively fortunate the last several seasons -- particuarly in the post-season. Now, they've certainly had some scares. Crosby missed a month or so with an ankle issue. Gonchar missed big chunks of time when he was here -- in one case due to a shoulder injury. The normal bumps and bruises that the likes of Chris Kunitz and Max Talbot sustain aside, what Pittsburgh really has to hope they avoid is a long-term, significant, or season-ending injury to their Captain, Malkin or Fleury. Missing any other player for that period is probably something that can be overcome. For as important as Staal is, the team could probaly even do well without him for a long period. But if it's one of the big 3, all bets are off. Injuries are a problem for any team, but beacuse the Penguins are top heavy up front (more so than most), this always will be a concern.
3) Regression of the role players without others stepping up
Last year, Dupuis, Cooke and Rupp had near-career seasons for the Penguins. And they needed to given Malkin's struggles and the lack of overall winger depth the team has. If those guys take a step back this year and their production isn't replaced by their role-playing teammates -- like Talbot, Asham and Kennedy, for instance -- Pittsburgh will be in for a battle night-in and night-out, and they're going to lose more of those than they otherwise would if they were getting good production from their role players.
PREDICTION
Without trying to be a homer, I think more things are situated to go right for the Penguins this year than last. They were bound to take a disappointing step back at some point. Last year they did that. This year, with a revamped defense and a focused, hungry group (and coach), I think the pieces are in place for them to be a real strong regular season team.
The Atlantic Division is probably one of the toughest in the league -- certainly the toughest in the Eastern Confernece. I mean, there's a reason why the last 3 cup finalists from the East have come from the Atlantic.
The Devils are going to be strong again, but you can see they are already on the regression. Martin Brodeur's play is slowly starting to slip. He's been wearing out towards the end of the year, and their 3 consecutive first round playoff defeats is Exhibit A of that. They are going to play a slightly more offensive style this year with Ilya Kovalchuk, Zack Parise and company, but don't have the blueline or system to compensate for it like they used to with Jacques Lemaire gone. But if they can incredibly sweep the 6-game season series from Pittsburgh like they did last year, who knows what their ceiling is?
I still think Philadelphia is likely going to be the Penguins' biggest competition in the division. Their goaltending remains a question mark (what is hockey without mediocre Flyer goaltending?), but they have strong skill and depth both up front and on the blueline to overcome that over 82-games.
Conference-wise, Washington is built for regular season play, and everyone knows they're going to be near the top of the pile come April. Under new GM Steve Yzerman, Tampa Bay is going to be much improved as well. Watch for them to nab a playoff position again. Goaltender Ryan Miller will backbone the Sabres into a playoff position, and the Boston Bruins are probably in for a post-season birth as well. Despite Marc Savard's expected long absence, they have enough other good players at each position -- including the ageless 42-year old former Penguin Mark Recchi -- to not excel.
In the end, when the regular season dust has cleared, the Penguins will finish 1st in the Atlantic Division, and 2nd in the Eastern Conference.
It starts tonight, where I can't wait to start the year by catching the action live @ the CEC.
It's go time, boys.
Recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
Well, that's because it was ages ago.
About 5 months, in fact, which is when the doors to Mellon Arena closed forever with a sudden thud following a miserable 5-2 defeat to the Montreal Canadiens in Game 7 of the teams' Eastern Conference Semifinal series last year.
But finally, it's a hockey night in Pittsburgh again, as the Penguins open up the 2010 regular season -- and their sparkling $321 million dollar facility, the CONSOL Energy Center -- against the arch-rival Philadelphia Flyers in front of a national television audience and red carpet (literally) tonight (7:00 PM EST, VERSUS).
The Penguins had an eventful offseason for sure, with many players coming and going, and one key player hitting the injury shelf a bit unexpectedly.
But are they in a better position to recapture their success of 2009 (or even 2008) and challenge for Lord Stanley?
Let's take a look at the roster and examine the group position-by-position. After that I'll give you 3 signs that the season is going right. And 3 that will show it's not. Then, I'll predict their regular season finish.
FORWARDS
Gone from last season's group up front is grizzled veteran and first line RW Bill Guerin, who recently failed to stick with the Flyers on a tryout, as well as mostly 2nd line underachievers Ruslan Fedotenko and Alexei Ponikarovsky, who are now with the New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings, respectively.
Would you believe Ruslan Fedotenko actually led the Rangers in pre-season scoring with 6 points?
Me neither. Isn't that about the same number of points he had all of last year with us?
Anyway, the Penguins will also be missing Selke Trophy finalist and spetacular 2-way center Jordan Staal to start the season, as he continues to recover from multiple off-season surgeries to deal with the lacerated tendon he suffered in the top of his foot in game 1 of the 2nd round series against the Canadiens -- as well as to deal with the infection which resulted after-the-fact.
The team originally expected Staal to be available for the start of the regular season. Then, they forecast that he would miss the first few weeks of the regular season. Realistically -- given that he hasn't really been able to skate or train intensely yet -- Gronk probably won't return to the team until mid-November.
At the earliest.
In the place of these guys slide two free agents -- Mike Comrie, formerly of the Edmonton Oilers, and Aaron Asham, formerly of the Flyers -- and two players who spent most of last season at Wilkes-Barre, Mark Letestu and Eric Tangradi.
Of course, that assumes Tangradi returns after the bizarre transactional moves that took place surrounding him yesterday. Read my post below this one for more on that.
In any event, Letestu had an outstanding camp, showing exemplary two-way play, and deserves his roster spot. Tangradi also had a good camp, spending a lot of time on the 2nd line and a lot of time staking his 6' 4" frame in front of the net on the power play.
We all know what Asham brings from across the Commonwealth -- grit, sandpaper, and fair hands.
Meanwhile, Comrie has been nothing but an offensive revelation in the pre-season, scoring 4 goals in 5 games and showing instant chemistry centering the line Staal was supposed to lock down -- the #2 unit with Evgeni Malkin (and Tangradi).
Can Comrie keep up that pace when things get tougher in the regular season? Time will tell, but if he can, it will go a long way towards giving the Penguins greater offensive depth up front -- depth many think they don't have.
Let's hope Hilary is keeping him happy at night.
Getting back to Malkin, he led the Penguins in scoring in the pre-season and just seems invigoriated this year. He's been galloping all over the ice and oozing his offensive talent -- a stark contrast to the way he played most of last year when the former Art Ross Trophy and Conn Smythe Trophy winner struggled and performed below his standards.
If he returns to form, look out.
Elsewhere up front, the Penguins will fill their bottom 2 lines with guys that are tough to play against. Max Talbot, Mike Rupp, Matt Cooke, and Craig Adams all fit that description, and will all probably be lineup regulars. We all know what they bring. Rupp, with 13 goals, and Cooke, with 15, are coming off strong season, so the onus will be on them to duplicate their efforts from last year. Adams doesn't hit the scoresheet much, but isn't asked to, either. With him, you know you're going to get a good penalty killer and a smart, physical defensive game night in and night out, and that's all you need.
Max Talbot -- the Penguins' Stanley Cup hero after scoring the team's only 2 goals in a 2-1 win in game 7 of the 2009 final against the Detroit Red Wings -- is in the final year of his contract, and after a miserable washout season last year mostly spent recovering from off-season shoulder season and in-season groin and other injuries, he needs to bounce back strong and get back to being the clutch, energy player he's capable of being.
Tyler Kennedy is in a similar boat. He struggled big time last year and is probably the guy who faced the most competition for a roster spot in camp this season. It showed, because he upped his game, but he can't rest on his laurels for a minute. If he does, he's likely to be the first healthy scratch --- or the first one moved on to another team in a trade. As I've said in this space before, TK has to concentrate this season more on being a little abrasive, and less on trying to transform himself into a 35-goal scorer. While I and many others thought he had that potential at one point, I think he's shown at this point that's not going to happen. But if he scores 15 and plays physically and with energy, he can be that great 3rd line presence he was during the Penguins' Cup run 2 seasons ago.
Eric Godard remains on the team as the resident pugilist and, while he'll probably see less games this year, the team has chosen to keep him around. He may even be in the lineup tonight against the always-physical Flyers.
Two guys I haven't mentioned -- Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis -- sit here today as the likely wingers on the #1 unit.
Kunitz suffered from some injuries last year, which made it hard for him to get on track. The extended off-season probably benefited him as much as anyone, and if he can stay in the lineup on a consistent basis, expecting 25 goals and 60 points from him is not unreasonable.
And frankly, he needs to stay in the lineup and produce that way to justify his 3.75 million dollar salary.
Dupuis had a near-career season last year with 18 goals, all the while continuing to be a sound defensive player. He's probably miscast as a permanent top liner, but he's shown that he can fill in there capably and not look overwhelmingly out of place for a few months at a time.
For the forwards, that about covers it.
Wait.
Oh yeah.
There's that Crosby guy.
The Pens' Captain, #1 center, and the best player in the game is the easiest to talk about, beacuse he does everything well. In fact, the only real question surrounding him is what he's going to take and go from great to outstanding at next. Last year, he upped his faceoff percentage to around 55%, and turned into a sniper, to boot -- tying for the league lead and the Rocket Richard Trophy with 51 goals, while still producing points, leading the power play, setting an example and otherwise being the NHL and Penguins' marketing posterboy.
Crosby does all of that well and with aplomb.
The Penguins are blessed to have him.
While many observers have questioned and continue to question the Penguins' depth and the quality of their wingers, the team still finished in the top 10 in offense last year. Would it be nice to have a 4o-goal man patrolling the wing? Sure. But clearly, even without that, they are capable enough of fililng the net. Offense isn't one of their worries ....
DEFENSE
..... which is why Pens' GM Ray Shero set out instead to re-tool the blueline this summer, rather than ink a free-agent impact forward. The Penguins finished the 2009/2010 season ranked in the bottom 3rd of the league in overall defense, and team brass felt that the team's defensive play contributed to their 2nd round playoff exit, and less than stellar netminding from Marc-Andre Fleury.
And so, after stalwart power play quarterback Sergei Gonchar packed his free agent bags and signed his longed-after 3-year contract with the Ottawa Senators a mere 15 minutes into free agency, and after it became clear that he would not be able to sign two-way rearguard Dan Hamhuis -- who he acquired the free-agent-to-be's rights to for a 3rd round pick on draft day -- Shero moved to plan B.
Quickly.
Learning a lesson after waiting for -- and losing -- Marion Hossa in free agency two years ago, Shero wasted no time inking the other two marquee blueliners on the free agent market to long-term contracts: Paul Martin, formerly of the New Jersey Devils, and Zbynek Michalek, formerly of the Phoenix Coyotes.
Martin is an accomplished two-way defenseman in this league. He would have been the United States' top blueliner in the 2010 Olympics had he been able to play, but he was still recovering from a broken arm he sustained in a game against the Penguins early last year.
In New Jersey, Martin -- like everyone else -- was asked to play defense first. Still, he has offensive potential, averaging around 30 points a year in the swamp. In Pittsburgh, he's going to get to showcase that part of his game more, while still being counted on to be solid in his own zone.
With the Penguins' offensive talent and puck-moving system, a year for him with 45/50 points and a +15 rating is not out of the question.
Michalek, on the other hand, is built to play in his own zone. Similar to former Penguin Rob Scuderi, Michalek is a smart blueliner who uses his stick, body and smarts to consistently disrupt plays. He led the league in blocked shots two years ago and will undoubtedly bring that dirty willingness to the Penguins' blueline. It's clearly an element the team lacked last season.
Michalek also has underrated offensive skill. He makes a good first pass, and has a strong shot. While he's not going to get any power play time, Brooks Oprik doesn't either, and he had about 25 points last season. There's no reason Michalek can't do the same.
Speaking of Orpik, he had minor abdomen surgery this off-season to correct an injury that occured in the next-to-last regular season game against the Atlanta Thrashers, and which he played through during the entire post-season. He seemed to come into camp healthy, but dealt with a little groin issue on the opposite side that forced him to miss the last two pre-season contests. He's been sensitive about watching the injury, since that's what caused him to overcompensate and slightly tear a muslce on his abdominal wall last year. He seems like he's ready to go for tonight, though, and one of the best hitters in the NHL has gone on record as saying he can't wait to dish out free candy in the regular season.
Rounding out the Penguins' outstanding top-4 is Kris Letang. Letang is as slick and talented as they come on the Pittsburgh blueline, but despite that, he had a down offensive year last season, scoring only a few regular season markers. In the playoffs, he showed what he's capable of, scoring 5 goals in 13 playoff games and making an impact from the blueline.
In camp this year, Letang has gotten back to the physial, two-way game that always makes him most successful. He even dropped the gloves twice. In one game. If Tanger plays with that edge, it keeps his head in the game, and that's something he needs. He also needs to continue to work hard at hitting the net with his shot. As a right-hander, he can be a wicked weapon on the power-play.
Speaking of the power play, the guy who probably remains the lead candidate to quarterback it in Gonchar's absence is the 5th blueliner -- Alex Goligoski.
Last year was GoGo's first full year in the NHL, and he started off like gangbusters, averaging nearly a point a game for the first 1/3rd of the season. His play trailed off noticeably after that, though. Still, Goligoski has the intelligence and offensive savvy to step into the power play and keep it moving. Neither he nor Letang have the experience or acumen that Gonchar had, and won't be seen doing nearly as many of the subtle things that Gonchar did to make the power play hum, but they are still capable.
If they can get the job done on the man-advantage for the Penguins this season, the team will be that much more dangerous.
Rounding out the Pens' blueline are Ben Lovejoy and Derek Engelland. Lovejoy is a smooth two-way guy who was an impressive +8 in 11 games with the big club last year. Engelland is more of a physical, defensive masher with limited offensive skill. Both are probably going to see time in the Penguins lineup as the 6th defenseman, depending on the opponent.
Overall, the Penguins are markedly improved on the blueline this year. Their top-5 is amongst the best in the Eastern Conference -- with that of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Philadelphia Flyers -- and perhaps even the entire NHL.
GOALTENDING
I read a piece yesterday on SI.com from former NHL netminder Darren Elliot where he ranked the NHL's current goaltending tandems.
Fleury and Brent Johnson were ranked third, because they have the perfect mold between the pipes --- a young, proven 20-something starter, and an established veteran who can step in as needed as the backup.
Indeed, that's exactly what the Penguins have, and they are better for it. Johnson is probably one of the best backups in the game, capable of winning a stretch of games if Fleury were to go down, and otherwise spotting in with capable performances despite not having much work.
For his part, Fleury still receives some criticism in these parts, despite making several 10-bell stops on the Penguins' run to the Stanley Cup in 2009. Undoubtedly, Fleury had a subpar season and playoff last year. Like a lot of the team, he could have been suffering from some burnout, given all the high-stakes hockey -- and short-offseasons that went along with it -- that the club had engaged in the prior 3 seasons.
The Olympics didn't help Fleury stay on track either. While it was a privilege to be selected to the Canadian team, to be sure, it was a detriment to be the #3 guy and not have any game action for 3 weeks.
Overall, Fleury needs to continue to be more consistent, and cut down on the occasional soft goal. An improved defense in front of him will help wonders, as will greater focus on his part.
All in all, though, Fleury has shown he can deliver in the clutch. If he gets back to his game this year, the Penguins will be in good shape. If he has another subpar season, they won't be. And, all of a sudden, more questions about the state of the Penguins' goaltending are going to come up.
This is certainly a big season for #29.
THREE SIGNS THE SEASON IS GOING RIGHT:
1) Evgeni Malkin returns to form
If Malkin plays like he has this pre-season, he's quickly going to go from a top-10 or top-15 player in the league to entering the debate about who's the BEST player in the game again. As he adjusts to playing a new position on the wing a lot of this year, the Penguins need him to dominate. When #11 returns, it probably will be to center the 2nd line, so it's going to bear watching whether Malkin clicks with him like they did in Staal's rookie season.
2) The third line excells without Staal
Mark Letestu -- who will start the season centering this unit -- looks like the real deal so far, but he has to continue to get the job done in the regular season. His two-way play and intelligence seem to be a great fit on a line with some skill and a lot of grit, but there has to be a reason why Letestu, 26, hasn't stepped up to this level before now. It could be just a matter of confidence. If that's it, he's going to do well, because he's seeping faith in his game from every pore right now. If he falters, though, the Penguins may look to Talbot to slide into that role regularly, and that would be a big opportunity for him.
3) The defense grows cohesive quickly
With not just a few new faces, but IMPORTANT new faces on the blueline, it's going to be interesting to see how fast the pairs settle -- and hopefully, jell -- on defense. To open the season, it seems as if Blysma is going to pair up shutdown defenders Orpik and Michalek together, but they weren't always smooth in the pre-season. Obviously, that's the time to work out those kinks, but if they don't start doing it, how long will Blymsa stick with that pair -- and the other pairs? Martin is probably too heady to not excel with anyone, so I don't expect to see any difficulty with he and Letang playing together. Ironically, Goligoski and Lovejoy have played regularly together in Wilkes-Barre, so those two are more familiar with each other than any other blueliner.
THREE SIGNS THE SEASON IS GOING WRONG
1) Marc-Andre Fleury struggles out of the gate
As I mentioned above, this is an important season for the Pens' netminder. While Fleury has developed some track record of being able to put individual goals behind him quickly, can he do that if he begins the year struggling like the way he ended last season? At that point, you're trying to put a longer trend of play in your rear-view mirror, and that won't be easy. If Fleury struggles, it also will be a sign that the defense in front of him isn't coming together as well -- or as fast -- as Shero or Blysma hoped.
2) Injuries
The Penguins have been relatively fortunate the last several seasons -- particuarly in the post-season. Now, they've certainly had some scares. Crosby missed a month or so with an ankle issue. Gonchar missed big chunks of time when he was here -- in one case due to a shoulder injury. The normal bumps and bruises that the likes of Chris Kunitz and Max Talbot sustain aside, what Pittsburgh really has to hope they avoid is a long-term, significant, or season-ending injury to their Captain, Malkin or Fleury. Missing any other player for that period is probably something that can be overcome. For as important as Staal is, the team could probaly even do well without him for a long period. But if it's one of the big 3, all bets are off. Injuries are a problem for any team, but beacuse the Penguins are top heavy up front (more so than most), this always will be a concern.
3) Regression of the role players without others stepping up
Last year, Dupuis, Cooke and Rupp had near-career seasons for the Penguins. And they needed to given Malkin's struggles and the lack of overall winger depth the team has. If those guys take a step back this year and their production isn't replaced by their role-playing teammates -- like Talbot, Asham and Kennedy, for instance -- Pittsburgh will be in for a battle night-in and night-out, and they're going to lose more of those than they otherwise would if they were getting good production from their role players.
PREDICTION
Without trying to be a homer, I think more things are situated to go right for the Penguins this year than last. They were bound to take a disappointing step back at some point. Last year they did that. This year, with a revamped defense and a focused, hungry group (and coach), I think the pieces are in place for them to be a real strong regular season team.
The Atlantic Division is probably one of the toughest in the league -- certainly the toughest in the Eastern Confernece. I mean, there's a reason why the last 3 cup finalists from the East have come from the Atlantic.
The Devils are going to be strong again, but you can see they are already on the regression. Martin Brodeur's play is slowly starting to slip. He's been wearing out towards the end of the year, and their 3 consecutive first round playoff defeats is Exhibit A of that. They are going to play a slightly more offensive style this year with Ilya Kovalchuk, Zack Parise and company, but don't have the blueline or system to compensate for it like they used to with Jacques Lemaire gone. But if they can incredibly sweep the 6-game season series from Pittsburgh like they did last year, who knows what their ceiling is?
I still think Philadelphia is likely going to be the Penguins' biggest competition in the division. Their goaltending remains a question mark (what is hockey without mediocre Flyer goaltending?), but they have strong skill and depth both up front and on the blueline to overcome that over 82-games.
Conference-wise, Washington is built for regular season play, and everyone knows they're going to be near the top of the pile come April. Under new GM Steve Yzerman, Tampa Bay is going to be much improved as well. Watch for them to nab a playoff position again. Goaltender Ryan Miller will backbone the Sabres into a playoff position, and the Boston Bruins are probably in for a post-season birth as well. Despite Marc Savard's expected long absence, they have enough other good players at each position -- including the ageless 42-year old former Penguin Mark Recchi -- to not excel.
In the end, when the regular season dust has cleared, the Penguins will finish 1st in the Atlantic Division, and 2nd in the Eastern Conference.
It starts tonight, where I can't wait to start the year by catching the action live @ the CEC.
It's go time, boys.
Recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
Tangradi Re-Assigned To Wheeling?
All of us have heard of movies having alternate endings.
How about an alternate beginning?
After announcing their final roster moves yesterday and revealing that power forward Eric Tangradi had made the team, the Penguins shocked many by later announcing that they had re-assigned the Big Dog to the Wheeling Nailers of the East Coast Hockey League.
Not Wilkes-Barre Scranton.
Wheeling.
Together with that re-assignment came the news that goaltender Patrick Kileen had been called up from Wheeling.
Huh?
Trying to figure out what the Penguins were doing led to all kind of speculation, either about something Tangradi did, about the need to be salary cap compliant, about one of the Penguins' netminders -- Marc-Andre Fleury or Brent Johnson -- having a sudden injury or being ill, and even about whether or not there was any connection between the moves and forward Aaron Asham's seeming uncertain status for tonight's home opener against the arch-rival Philadelphia Flyers at the CONSOL Energy Center.
Right now, exactly what went on remains unclear, but a few reports have indicated that the Fleury and Johnson are both healthy, and that the team expects Tangradi to be back with the big club today because the move was only temporary.
One thing is for sure -- having Tangradi in Wheeling, rather than WBS, keeps him close. And he doesn't have to clear waivers. Both of those things suggest a quick return.
Still, that begs the question --- WHY?
Well, it's only rational to assume the Penguins have a plan of SOME kind, because if they told Tangradi he had made the team, only to reverse course suddenly a few hours later, that would be bad on them. Especially since the joy and emotion from Tangradi was obvious in the immediate aftermath of the announcement that he was supposed to stick.
He even said he was going to have a lot of family and friends coming from Philadelphia -- his home town -- to watch him.
If the Penguins blundered and really didn't intend to keep him despite telling him as much, well .... maybe they aren't as good with player relations as they are with fan relations.
In my season preview, I'm going to assume that #42 will return to the team sometime today.
Look for that shortly.
How about an alternate beginning?
After announcing their final roster moves yesterday and revealing that power forward Eric Tangradi had made the team, the Penguins shocked many by later announcing that they had re-assigned the Big Dog to the Wheeling Nailers of the East Coast Hockey League.
Not Wilkes-Barre Scranton.
Wheeling.
Together with that re-assignment came the news that goaltender Patrick Kileen had been called up from Wheeling.
Huh?
Trying to figure out what the Penguins were doing led to all kind of speculation, either about something Tangradi did, about the need to be salary cap compliant, about one of the Penguins' netminders -- Marc-Andre Fleury or Brent Johnson -- having a sudden injury or being ill, and even about whether or not there was any connection between the moves and forward Aaron Asham's seeming uncertain status for tonight's home opener against the arch-rival Philadelphia Flyers at the CONSOL Energy Center.
Right now, exactly what went on remains unclear, but a few reports have indicated that the Fleury and Johnson are both healthy, and that the team expects Tangradi to be back with the big club today because the move was only temporary.
One thing is for sure -- having Tangradi in Wheeling, rather than WBS, keeps him close. And he doesn't have to clear waivers. Both of those things suggest a quick return.
Still, that begs the question --- WHY?
Well, it's only rational to assume the Penguins have a plan of SOME kind, because if they told Tangradi he had made the team, only to reverse course suddenly a few hours later, that would be bad on them. Especially since the joy and emotion from Tangradi was obvious in the immediate aftermath of the announcement that he was supposed to stick.
He even said he was going to have a lot of family and friends coming from Philadelphia -- his home town -- to watch him.
If the Penguins blundered and really didn't intend to keep him despite telling him as much, well .... maybe they aren't as good with player relations as they are with fan relations.
In my season preview, I'm going to assume that #42 will return to the team sometime today.
Look for that shortly.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Final Roster Set --- Tangradi Stays; Despres Goes
The Pittsburgh Penguins just announced their final roster moves prior to the mandatory 3 PM cutdown today.
Forward Eric "Big Dog" Tangradi has made the team. He'll certainly be juiced up to go against his hometown Flyers team tomorrow night.
Unlike Tangradi, Simon Despres won't be around. The Pens' coaching staff decided in the end that it was best to not keep him and instead sent him back to junior hockey.
After practice today, Head Coach Dan Bylsma said that the team feels Despres is ready to play in the NHL, but went on to essentially add that it doesn't make sense to keep him unless he's going to play meaningful minutes, which he wouldn't do in the #7 role -- and maybe not even in the #6 role, since Blysma has gone on record before as saying that the top 5 blueliners are going to get more icetime than the #6 guy.
Surely, Despres is disappointed, but he shouldn't be. The Penguins' defense is one of the top groups in the National Hockey League. He's knocking on the door and it's only a matter of time before he bashes it in.
In truth, the Penguins have so many good prospects on the blueline who are getting close to being NHL-ready that they're going to have to clear that logjam somehow. As soon as Shero signed Paul Martin and Zybnek Michalek to long-term contracts on July 1, I began speculating about this problem. While it's a topic for another day, it seems to me that a trade is the only way to resolve the issue, and with the new guys and both Brooks Orpik and Kris Letang on longer term, "core" deals, that leaves Alex Goligoski as the player most likely to be moved at some point.
Perhaps not this year, but maybe next --- or even in the offseason.
Anyway, like I said, a topic for another day.
The Penguins are still hopeful that Aaron Asham will be ready to play in the opener tomorrow. I'm not optimistic, but I hope he goes.
I can't say the same about Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger, who had offseason surgery about 6-8 weeks ago and questioned at that time whether he'd be ready to start the regular season.
Well, here we are one day beforehand and there's still uncertainty about whether #44 will suit up. He's been skating and practicing to some extent, but has been secretive about his status with the media.
I guess we'll see, but I certainly won't complain if he's not in the lineup.
Finally, the Penguins announced that Ryan Craig and Andrew Hutchinson cleared waivers, and would report to Wilkes-Barre of the AHL.
They also announced that Oprik and Jordan Staal would be given the privilege of wearing an "A" on their sweaters as assistant captains for this year.
Obviously, Gronk won't be able to wear one until he returns to the lineup, but when they both play, they will alternate between being an assistant captain on the road and at home.
Good decisions both.
Again, season preview tomorrow .....
Forward Eric "Big Dog" Tangradi has made the team. He'll certainly be juiced up to go against his hometown Flyers team tomorrow night.
Unlike Tangradi, Simon Despres won't be around. The Pens' coaching staff decided in the end that it was best to not keep him and instead sent him back to junior hockey.
After practice today, Head Coach Dan Bylsma said that the team feels Despres is ready to play in the NHL, but went on to essentially add that it doesn't make sense to keep him unless he's going to play meaningful minutes, which he wouldn't do in the #7 role -- and maybe not even in the #6 role, since Blysma has gone on record before as saying that the top 5 blueliners are going to get more icetime than the #6 guy.
Surely, Despres is disappointed, but he shouldn't be. The Penguins' defense is one of the top groups in the National Hockey League. He's knocking on the door and it's only a matter of time before he bashes it in.
In truth, the Penguins have so many good prospects on the blueline who are getting close to being NHL-ready that they're going to have to clear that logjam somehow. As soon as Shero signed Paul Martin and Zybnek Michalek to long-term contracts on July 1, I began speculating about this problem. While it's a topic for another day, it seems to me that a trade is the only way to resolve the issue, and with the new guys and both Brooks Orpik and Kris Letang on longer term, "core" deals, that leaves Alex Goligoski as the player most likely to be moved at some point.
Perhaps not this year, but maybe next --- or even in the offseason.
Anyway, like I said, a topic for another day.
The Penguins are still hopeful that Aaron Asham will be ready to play in the opener tomorrow. I'm not optimistic, but I hope he goes.
I can't say the same about Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger, who had offseason surgery about 6-8 weeks ago and questioned at that time whether he'd be ready to start the regular season.
Well, here we are one day beforehand and there's still uncertainty about whether #44 will suit up. He's been skating and practicing to some extent, but has been secretive about his status with the media.
I guess we'll see, but I certainly won't complain if he's not in the lineup.
Finally, the Penguins announced that Ryan Craig and Andrew Hutchinson cleared waivers, and would report to Wilkes-Barre of the AHL.
They also announced that Oprik and Jordan Staal would be given the privilege of wearing an "A" on their sweaters as assistant captains for this year.
Obviously, Gronk won't be able to wear one until he returns to the lineup, but when they both play, they will alternate between being an assistant captain on the road and at home.
Good decisions both.
Again, season preview tomorrow .....
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