It's going to be a damp one at Heinz Field on Saturday, folks.
With all eyes on the National Hockey League and it's signature event between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals currently scheduled for 1:00 PM on Saturday afternoon at Heinz Field, the websites of The Weather Channel and Accuweather, among others, are on overdrive.
As of right now, the forecast for almost all of Saturday looks -- in a word -- terrible.
The temperatures are supposed to be surprisingly fantastic (in the 50's), but there is a 100% chance of rain, and it's expected to add up to about an inch before the day is over.
Meanwhile, the NHL seems hell-bent on making a mistake -- er, playing this game on Saturday sometime -- at all costs, even if it involves baseball-style rain delays.
Obviously, there's a lot that goes into the decision of when to play the game, including television considerations, ice conditions, and player safety, among others.
What doesn't seem to -- BUT SHOULD BE -- a consideration is fan enjoyment.
The Winter Classic has become the NHL's signature crossover event to try and grow the game, and with the league seemingly less interested in setting up ideal conditions for it than they are keeping it on New Year's Day -- whether just to be able to say it was played sometime that day, or avoid conflicts with interest in NFL games the day after -- I'm not sure how they're going to do that this year.
The right thing for the league to do is examine the forecast tonight or first thing tomorrow morning -- there shouldn't be any problem doing that, because at this point, so much rain is at stake, variations in the degree or time of it probably won't matter much -- and make a call to officially push the game back to later in the evening Saturday. They could even push it back to Sunday when, by the way, the weather is expected to be clear and dry, albeit about 20 degrees colder.
I don't know about you, but I'd take 20 degrees colder in dry weather 11 times out of 10 for this one.
Moving the game like that would continue to let the hype build without all the uncertainty that comes with it for everyone involved -- players, league officials, local students performing in the band, musical acts performing between periods, the fans, etc.
Whether the league actually shows some brains and does that or not remains to be seen. The league has not set a drop-dead time for announcing any changes to the schedule. Instead, they've said simply that they'll get word out at "the appropriate time" if there are any changes.
It seems likely that the league is going to leave the 1 PM start time in place and instead delay the game, keeping everyone hanging around @ Heinz field for hour after hour after hour just waiting.
Leave it to the NHL to find a way to jack this event up for everyone.
Okay, enough ranting. Let's change gears for a minute and talk about the players.
Of course, a discussion about the players involved in this tilt leads everyone to talk about Pens' Captain Sidney Crosby and Capitals' Captain Alexander Ovechkin, but there's already been enough written about those two, so the guy I want to talk about is Pittsburgh center Jordan Staal.
As most people know, Staal hasn't played a game this season after missing the first 6 weeks while still recovering from several offseason surgerys to correct a torn foot tendon and the infection that followed, then suffering a broken hand in practice on his verge of returning to the lineup in early November.
One day before the Classic, there's still no word as to whether or not Gronk may suit up in the team's baby blues for the contest. He's been skating and stickhandling and participating in all drills with his teammates in practice all week.
Staal also had a repeat x-ray this week that seemed to show no problems and proper healing.
As I've said, if #11 can deal with the contact and otherwise show little or no limitation out there, he deserves the opportunity to play in this special event simply because he's had a miserable year being on the shelf the whole season.
Now, if risk of re-injury is there, then he obviously shouldn't go, because the Penguins have longer-term goals in mind this year.
As it is, though, it appears any risk of re-injury is low or non-existent.
There's been no word from the team or staff (although that may come today) about Staal's status for tomorrow, so I'm hoping that's just because the Penguins are planning on surprising the hockey world with his return.
Finally, with nice weather fortunately scheduled TODAY, there's going to be a little preliminary event over at Heinz Field this morning @ 9:30 AM when the Penguins' alumni face-off against the Capitals' alumni.
The headliner of this game is undoubtedly the Pens' owner, Mario Lemieux, who will be suiting up with many of his former champion star and Hall-of-Fame teammates, including Paul Coffey, Ron Francis, Larry Murphy and Brian Trottier, among others.
Sniper Peter Bondra and former 60-goal scorer Denis Maruk headline a Washington lineup that really pales in comparison to the local club's alumni.
In fact, I look at the rosters of both clubs and it's obvious why one team's franchise has 3 Stanley Cup Championships and the other has a grand total of ZERO.
Still, it's going to be great to see the magnificent one on skates again. In the pre-game practice sessions this week, he's looked fantastic.
Forgetting for a moment the fact that he still seems to have the hands and wizardry to do damage in today's league even at 45, he's been smiling ear-to-ear on the ice and has appeared to genuinely enjoy himself and the stage that he's helped build for his franchise.
Good for Lemieux. It's going to be great to see him wearing #66 again.
That's all for now, dear readers.
Enjoy the Classic tomorrow wherever you are, and celebrate a safe and enjoyable New Year.
Let's Go Pens!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Thursday, December 30, 2010
TRAPPED! Islanders Slam The Door On Pens, Crosby's 25-Game Point Streak
It takes a lot of things to score at least one point in 25 consecutive National Hockey League games.
Consistency, for one.
Skilled teammates who finish your chances, for another.
Even some luck.
Apparently, the New York Islanders aren't on that list, and that's unforuntate, because last night at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, the Pittsburgh Penguins matched up against the Isles for the first time during Captain Sidney Crosby's extended run.
Pittsburgh was 11-1-1 against the Islanders the last 2 years and 16-4-1 dating back the last +, and since the Isles were the team that Crosby has scored more against than any team in his career, everything seemed ripe to keep the run going.
Instead, all New York did last night was trap the Penguins right to a grinding halt in a 2-1 shootout defeat, and end Crosby's streak in the process.
"It would have been nice to keep things going, but it was one of those games," Crosby said afterwards.
The Pens' were a little sluggish last night, but they also ran square into a New York squad that has recently instituted a new defensive system under their latest coach, Jack Capuano.
Worse, it seemed to me that part of their game plan last night included sending out a particular player to 'shadow' Crosby, since he had Frans Nielsen in his face most of the evening.
That tactic just isn't done a great deal in the NHL anymore. In the 1980's, it was a constant practice.
Still, Crosby had a few good chances in the game. He hit the crossbar at one point, and watched teammate Paul Martin miss a golden chance to get him a helper. For the most part, though, he was bottled up.
The Penguins couldn't even get him a point using trickery, which they might have been attempting with about 7 minutes left in the 1-1 tie game when the zebras called a penalty shot after deeming that Islanders' defenseman Bruno Gervais covered up the puck in the crease with his hand.
I wasn't able to see Gervais actually close his hand on the biscuit, but when the call was made, Pens' head coach Dan Blysma sent Crosby quickly over the boards and on to the ice in the hope of having him take the shot, despite the fact that he wasn't on the ice when the call was made.
With the little matter of a rule requiring that a person on the ice take the penalty shot in the situation when the puck is covered with a hand in the crease by someone not a goaltender, that effort didn't work, so Bylsma instead chose Kris Letang to take the shot.
While it was Letang's first career penalty shot, he has been very sick on them in the shootout, so the Penguins had to feel good about the chance to go up 2-1 fairly late in the game, even if it would have left Crosby still searching for a point.
Unforunately, Letang was stopped by Isles' netminder Rick DiPietro, and ultimately, the game went into overtime.
That was the 12th consecutive time a Penguin has been stopped on a penalty shot, by the way -- a rather dubious team record, if you ask me.
Anyway, Pittsburgh had a good chance in the extra frame -- not just to win the game, but have Crosby keep his streak alive -- when they were awared a power play for the final 75 seconds, but they didn't really get off a good scoring chance.
And so, at the end of 65 minutes, with Chris Conner having scored the Pens' only goal, and since any shootout goals don't count towards personal statistics, Sid's streak was over.
Worse, Crosby was stopped in the shootout, to boot. And while Letang and Evegni Malkin scored for the Penguins, goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury had a surprisingly rough time against the non-descript Islanders' shooters.
Coming into the shootout, Fleury had allowed only 1 goal on 9 attempts this year. For some reason, though, Rob Schremp, Neilsen, and P.A. Parentau -- with 12 less goals combined than Crosby has scored by himself this year -- all made it look easy against the Flower last night, and that was enough to give the Islanders a rare win against Pittsburgh.
Forgetting for a moment that Crosby's streak was starting to get more and more national attention as he chased the top 2 in league history -- 51 straight games held by Wayne Gretzky, and 46 straight by his owner, #66 -- the fact that Crosby was able to score for 25 straight games is an amazing accomplishment.
As it was, while it didn't even top Lemieux's 28 game run with the Pens, it still was the 11th longest ever in the history of the game, and the longest in the league in the last 18 seasons. Sid did an amazing job during the run, too, scoring 24 goals and 26 assists for 50 points in those 25 games.
Averaging 2 points per game during that run and knowing that he scored at least one in every game -- meaning that for every game he only scored one point, there was another game where he had at least 3 -- was pretty special.
But the reality is that too many variables go into scoring on any given night, especially in the league these days when it's generally harder to score than it was during the years Wayne and Mario were running up their streaks.
The fact that Sid's run is over right before the Winter Classic this weekend is extra disappointing, because you know the streak would have been something that everyone on NBC and in league circles talked about surrounding the game. It would have given an already-incredibly hyped game even more drama. As it is, we'll have to settle for the Penguins/Capitals.
Well, I think that will be fine, thankyouverymuch.
Heading into the Classic, after last night's shootout loss (and the point that goes with it), Pittsburgh has a 25-11-3 record, good for 53 points, currently first overall in the Atlantic Division, Eastern Conference, and overall NHL standings.
The Capitals, meanwhile, are 22-12-5, first in the Southeast Division, and 2nd in the East.
I'll have more on the Classic tomorrow, as the teams get ready, and as everyone weather-watches.
NOTES:
Brent Johnson dressed to back up Fleury in last night's game, which means the Pens' returned John Curry to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Forward Mike Comrie is now officially on the shelf and set to be babied by wife Hilary Duff for 3-4 months, which the team announced yesterday after revealing that he had recent, 'successful' hip surgery in Colorado. Of course, they didn't mention the Duff part. He may be back for the playoffs, but what role he might have at that time -- if any at all -- is almost impossible to guess at this point.
Meanwhile, center Jordan Staal continues to skate and practice with the team, which he's been doing for the last several days. He's involved in all puck drills and full contact, and is said to feel good. It remains to be seen whether he'll be cleared to play in the elements this weekend. I'm hoping he gets the chance, though. He deserves a little enjoyment in what has otherwise been a miserable season on the shelf for him so far.
Consistency, for one.
Skilled teammates who finish your chances, for another.
Even some luck.
Apparently, the New York Islanders aren't on that list, and that's unforuntate, because last night at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, the Pittsburgh Penguins matched up against the Isles for the first time during Captain Sidney Crosby's extended run.
Pittsburgh was 11-1-1 against the Islanders the last 2 years and 16-4-1 dating back the last +, and since the Isles were the team that Crosby has scored more against than any team in his career, everything seemed ripe to keep the run going.
Instead, all New York did last night was trap the Penguins right to a grinding halt in a 2-1 shootout defeat, and end Crosby's streak in the process.
"It would have been nice to keep things going, but it was one of those games," Crosby said afterwards.
The Pens' were a little sluggish last night, but they also ran square into a New York squad that has recently instituted a new defensive system under their latest coach, Jack Capuano.
Worse, it seemed to me that part of their game plan last night included sending out a particular player to 'shadow' Crosby, since he had Frans Nielsen in his face most of the evening.
That tactic just isn't done a great deal in the NHL anymore. In the 1980's, it was a constant practice.
Still, Crosby had a few good chances in the game. He hit the crossbar at one point, and watched teammate Paul Martin miss a golden chance to get him a helper. For the most part, though, he was bottled up.
The Penguins couldn't even get him a point using trickery, which they might have been attempting with about 7 minutes left in the 1-1 tie game when the zebras called a penalty shot after deeming that Islanders' defenseman Bruno Gervais covered up the puck in the crease with his hand.
I wasn't able to see Gervais actually close his hand on the biscuit, but when the call was made, Pens' head coach Dan Blysma sent Crosby quickly over the boards and on to the ice in the hope of having him take the shot, despite the fact that he wasn't on the ice when the call was made.
With the little matter of a rule requiring that a person on the ice take the penalty shot in the situation when the puck is covered with a hand in the crease by someone not a goaltender, that effort didn't work, so Bylsma instead chose Kris Letang to take the shot.
While it was Letang's first career penalty shot, he has been very sick on them in the shootout, so the Penguins had to feel good about the chance to go up 2-1 fairly late in the game, even if it would have left Crosby still searching for a point.
Unforunately, Letang was stopped by Isles' netminder Rick DiPietro, and ultimately, the game went into overtime.
That was the 12th consecutive time a Penguin has been stopped on a penalty shot, by the way -- a rather dubious team record, if you ask me.
Anyway, Pittsburgh had a good chance in the extra frame -- not just to win the game, but have Crosby keep his streak alive -- when they were awared a power play for the final 75 seconds, but they didn't really get off a good scoring chance.
And so, at the end of 65 minutes, with Chris Conner having scored the Pens' only goal, and since any shootout goals don't count towards personal statistics, Sid's streak was over.
Worse, Crosby was stopped in the shootout, to boot. And while Letang and Evegni Malkin scored for the Penguins, goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury had a surprisingly rough time against the non-descript Islanders' shooters.
Coming into the shootout, Fleury had allowed only 1 goal on 9 attempts this year. For some reason, though, Rob Schremp, Neilsen, and P.A. Parentau -- with 12 less goals combined than Crosby has scored by himself this year -- all made it look easy against the Flower last night, and that was enough to give the Islanders a rare win against Pittsburgh.
Forgetting for a moment that Crosby's streak was starting to get more and more national attention as he chased the top 2 in league history -- 51 straight games held by Wayne Gretzky, and 46 straight by his owner, #66 -- the fact that Crosby was able to score for 25 straight games is an amazing accomplishment.
As it was, while it didn't even top Lemieux's 28 game run with the Pens, it still was the 11th longest ever in the history of the game, and the longest in the league in the last 18 seasons. Sid did an amazing job during the run, too, scoring 24 goals and 26 assists for 50 points in those 25 games.
Averaging 2 points per game during that run and knowing that he scored at least one in every game -- meaning that for every game he only scored one point, there was another game where he had at least 3 -- was pretty special.
But the reality is that too many variables go into scoring on any given night, especially in the league these days when it's generally harder to score than it was during the years Wayne and Mario were running up their streaks.
The fact that Sid's run is over right before the Winter Classic this weekend is extra disappointing, because you know the streak would have been something that everyone on NBC and in league circles talked about surrounding the game. It would have given an already-incredibly hyped game even more drama. As it is, we'll have to settle for the Penguins/Capitals.
Well, I think that will be fine, thankyouverymuch.
Heading into the Classic, after last night's shootout loss (and the point that goes with it), Pittsburgh has a 25-11-3 record, good for 53 points, currently first overall in the Atlantic Division, Eastern Conference, and overall NHL standings.
The Capitals, meanwhile, are 22-12-5, first in the Southeast Division, and 2nd in the East.
I'll have more on the Classic tomorrow, as the teams get ready, and as everyone weather-watches.
NOTES:
Brent Johnson dressed to back up Fleury in last night's game, which means the Pens' returned John Curry to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Forward Mike Comrie is now officially on the shelf and set to be babied by wife Hilary Duff for 3-4 months, which the team announced yesterday after revealing that he had recent, 'successful' hip surgery in Colorado. Of course, they didn't mention the Duff part. He may be back for the playoffs, but what role he might have at that time -- if any at all -- is almost impossible to guess at this point.
Meanwhile, center Jordan Staal continues to skate and practice with the team, which he's been doing for the last several days. He's involved in all puck drills and full contact, and is said to feel good. It remains to be seen whether he'll be cleared to play in the elements this weekend. I'm hoping he gets the chance, though. He deserves a little enjoyment in what has otherwise been a miserable season on the shelf for him so far.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Bounceback Kids Do It Again: Pens Thrash Atlanta, 6-3
It's goes without saying that a good team wins 12 games in a row.
The sign of a team better than just good, however, is the ability to bounce back after a loss and keep yourselves from spiriling into something like an 8-game losing streak.
It's just another lesson for the Capitals to take from the Penguins, so I hope they were paying attention last night when Pittsburgh pulled up their bootstraps and ran their record against the Southeast Division to 9-1 this year with a 6-3 beating of the Atlanta Thrashers at CONSOL Energy Center.
Pittsburgh was hoping to get a much better start last night than it did against the Ottawa Senators on Sunday, but the players instead found themselves behind the 8 ball less than a minute into the game when Atlanta forward Evander Kane snuck in on a rush, got behind the Pens' "D", took a pass and buried it behind a sprawling Marc-Andre Fleury for a 1-0 Thrasher lead.
Pens' Captain Sidney Crosby didn't wait long after that to run his scoring streak to 25 games, taking a pass from defenseman Kris Letang to the left of Atlanta netminder Ondrej Pavelec and easily whipping it into the open cage on the power play to tie the score about 6-7 minutes later.
When Thrashers' star blueliner Dustin Byfuglien then capitalized on the Penguins leaving him alone at the point by drilling a bullet by Fleury to make it 2-1 Atlanta later that period, Crosby took his cue again, this time taking a nice pass from Alex Goligoski on the move at the Thrashers' blueline, deftly splitting Atlanta defensemen Brent Sopel and Ron Hainsey in Lemieux-like fashion, then going top corner, glove side on Pavelec to tie the score at 2 before the first intermission.
In case anyone hadn't noticed, Crosby is just dangerously wicked right now.
The game started to turn in the Pens' favor in the second period, as they outshot Atlanta 10-1 to start the frame, then were rewarded when LW Matt Cooke made a nice play to steal the puck on the forecheck behind the Atlanta goal and quickly feed an oncoming Craig Adams, who scored his first goal in 28 games by flicking a wrister off the crossbar and past Pavelec for a shorthanded tally and a 3-2 Pittsburgh advantage about 11 minutes in.
The score remained that way heading to the third period, but it didn't stay that way for long.
9 seconds into the final frame, off the opening face-off, Crosby bowled into the Atlanta zone from left to right and fed the puck in to an oncoming Chris Kunitz, who easily tapped it in virtually uncontested on the doorstep for a 4-2 Pens lead.
Putting the pedal down, Mark Letestu scored at the 13 minute mark after making a nice play to pressure an Atlanta defender (I can't recall who), then steal the puck from him, then stickhandle around him, then show the patience of Job before sliding the puck around Pavelec for a 5-2 Pens' lead.
Everyone in attendance thought Sid got the HT a few minutes later when he took a point shot that went in, but it turned out that Cooke deflected the puck past Pavelec on the way in, so he got the tally at around the 16 minute mark, and Crosby got the assist -- his 4th point of the night.
Eric Boulton scored for Atlanta less than a minute later, but all that did was dent Fleury's personal statistics and put another notch -- one of the few lately -- on the board where the Pens' allowed an opponent to score more than two goals.
The final was 6-3.
Kudos to the Pittsburgh PK in this one, for killing off 7 of 8 Atlanta man-advantage opportunities in the game. That group was sharp all night long, even faacing another 5-on-3, which has been a bit of a disturbing trend lately.
With the win, the Pens are now 25-11-2 for 52 points. That continues to leave them as the top dog in the NHL, 2 up on the Detroit Red Wings, 3 up on the Philadelphia Flyers -- who took a bath at the hands of the Canucks in Vancouver last night, 6-2 -- and 3 up on the Capitals in the Eastern Conference standings.
Both Washington and Philadelphia have 49 points, by the way.
With no rest for the weary, the Penguins hit the road immediately after last night's game and went to long island, where they will match up with the Islanders tonight in the 2nd half of back-to-back games -- a scenario that Pittsburgh has been very good with this season, but remains something they have to be careful about because, a 7-2 shellacking by the New York Rangers on Monday night aside, the Isles' have been playing well on the 4-0-1 run they put together prior to that. Let's hope the Islanders are done with their credible play and are instead ready to crash back down to earth.
Let's also hope that Pittsburgh doesn't get caught looking ahead to the Winter Classic showdown this weekend with Washington. With so much hype surrounding that event, and only one more game against a bottom-feeder team on consecutive nights in the way, it's unfortunately easy to envision a scenario where the Penguins might stumble tonight.
Pittsburgh has been focused for the better part of the last two months, though, so I'll be looking for more of that from them this evening.
I'll also be anxious to see who starts in goal. I'm not sure if Brent Johnson is healthy enough to play. We'll see.
I'll have a recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
The sign of a team better than just good, however, is the ability to bounce back after a loss and keep yourselves from spiriling into something like an 8-game losing streak.
It's just another lesson for the Capitals to take from the Penguins, so I hope they were paying attention last night when Pittsburgh pulled up their bootstraps and ran their record against the Southeast Division to 9-1 this year with a 6-3 beating of the Atlanta Thrashers at CONSOL Energy Center.
Pittsburgh was hoping to get a much better start last night than it did against the Ottawa Senators on Sunday, but the players instead found themselves behind the 8 ball less than a minute into the game when Atlanta forward Evander Kane snuck in on a rush, got behind the Pens' "D", took a pass and buried it behind a sprawling Marc-Andre Fleury for a 1-0 Thrasher lead.
Pens' Captain Sidney Crosby didn't wait long after that to run his scoring streak to 25 games, taking a pass from defenseman Kris Letang to the left of Atlanta netminder Ondrej Pavelec and easily whipping it into the open cage on the power play to tie the score about 6-7 minutes later.
When Thrashers' star blueliner Dustin Byfuglien then capitalized on the Penguins leaving him alone at the point by drilling a bullet by Fleury to make it 2-1 Atlanta later that period, Crosby took his cue again, this time taking a nice pass from Alex Goligoski on the move at the Thrashers' blueline, deftly splitting Atlanta defensemen Brent Sopel and Ron Hainsey in Lemieux-like fashion, then going top corner, glove side on Pavelec to tie the score at 2 before the first intermission.
In case anyone hadn't noticed, Crosby is just dangerously wicked right now.
The game started to turn in the Pens' favor in the second period, as they outshot Atlanta 10-1 to start the frame, then were rewarded when LW Matt Cooke made a nice play to steal the puck on the forecheck behind the Atlanta goal and quickly feed an oncoming Craig Adams, who scored his first goal in 28 games by flicking a wrister off the crossbar and past Pavelec for a shorthanded tally and a 3-2 Pittsburgh advantage about 11 minutes in.
The score remained that way heading to the third period, but it didn't stay that way for long.
9 seconds into the final frame, off the opening face-off, Crosby bowled into the Atlanta zone from left to right and fed the puck in to an oncoming Chris Kunitz, who easily tapped it in virtually uncontested on the doorstep for a 4-2 Pens lead.
Putting the pedal down, Mark Letestu scored at the 13 minute mark after making a nice play to pressure an Atlanta defender (I can't recall who), then steal the puck from him, then stickhandle around him, then show the patience of Job before sliding the puck around Pavelec for a 5-2 Pens' lead.
Everyone in attendance thought Sid got the HT a few minutes later when he took a point shot that went in, but it turned out that Cooke deflected the puck past Pavelec on the way in, so he got the tally at around the 16 minute mark, and Crosby got the assist -- his 4th point of the night.
Eric Boulton scored for Atlanta less than a minute later, but all that did was dent Fleury's personal statistics and put another notch -- one of the few lately -- on the board where the Pens' allowed an opponent to score more than two goals.
The final was 6-3.
Kudos to the Pittsburgh PK in this one, for killing off 7 of 8 Atlanta man-advantage opportunities in the game. That group was sharp all night long, even faacing another 5-on-3, which has been a bit of a disturbing trend lately.
With the win, the Pens are now 25-11-2 for 52 points. That continues to leave them as the top dog in the NHL, 2 up on the Detroit Red Wings, 3 up on the Philadelphia Flyers -- who took a bath at the hands of the Canucks in Vancouver last night, 6-2 -- and 3 up on the Capitals in the Eastern Conference standings.
Both Washington and Philadelphia have 49 points, by the way.
With no rest for the weary, the Penguins hit the road immediately after last night's game and went to long island, where they will match up with the Islanders tonight in the 2nd half of back-to-back games -- a scenario that Pittsburgh has been very good with this season, but remains something they have to be careful about because, a 7-2 shellacking by the New York Rangers on Monday night aside, the Isles' have been playing well on the 4-0-1 run they put together prior to that. Let's hope the Islanders are done with their credible play and are instead ready to crash back down to earth.
Let's also hope that Pittsburgh doesn't get caught looking ahead to the Winter Classic showdown this weekend with Washington. With so much hype surrounding that event, and only one more game against a bottom-feeder team on consecutive nights in the way, it's unfortunately easy to envision a scenario where the Penguins might stumble tonight.
Pittsburgh has been focused for the better part of the last two months, though, so I'll be looking for more of that from them this evening.
I'll also be anxious to see who starts in goal. I'm not sure if Brent Johnson is healthy enough to play. We'll see.
I'll have a recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Episode II of 24/7 Penguins/Capitals Is Continued Excellence
I just can't say enough about HBO's epic reality series, "24/7 Penguins/Capitals: Road to the Winter Classic".
The first episode was almost legendary in its behind-the-scenes look at both clubs. If you missed my take on that premier, you can read it here.
While I'm talking about the initial 24/7 edition, I strongly recommend that, if you haven't seen it, you do so before reading on below because the second installment of the 4-part series that I'm about to share my thoughts on builds on some things that went on in the first show.
Not surprisingly, episode II picks up where episode I left off, with the Penguins looking for 13 straight wins and on the plane into Philadelphia for their showdown against the arch-rival Flyers in a nationally televised contest.
Of course, we all know how the game turned out, so there's no need to revisit that defeat, but viewers got to see a neat clip of Penguins' Captain Sidney Crosby in his hotel room the night before watching with linemate Pascal Dupuis the fight between Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals and Brandon Dubinsky of the New York Rangers in their game the night before.
That naturally leads to Sid talking about a similar fight he engaged in earlier this year in a game against the Dallas Stars when he dropped the mitts with Dallas blueliner Matt Niskanen with the Pens' in a 4-0 hole.
Crosby says that he told Niskanen they were going to go, and Niskanen's response was, "Are you serious?"
Needless to say, you know how Crosby answered that question.
The episode continues with some great footage from the on-ice session that the Pens have on the afternoon of every home game for every staff member or alumni player who wants to suit up for a little casual shinny.
With the Penguins and Capitals' alumni game scheduled the day before the upcoming Winter Classic and coming up quickly, some of the alumni skated that afternoon, and that group included some guy named Lemeiux.
Not surprisingly, the HBO cameras had a special treat capturing him on the ice, showing the same tall and smooth skating stride at 45 as he had when he was 30.
Better still, it looked like Lemieux was enjoying himself just as much out there, with a smile from ear to ear I would expect to see again during the actual alumni game.
One of the most interesting things which followed that footage was a scene of the NHL officials in their changing area after the game the next night between the Pens' and Rangers -- a 4-1 New York victory -- patting themselves on the back for making what they continued to believe was the right call on a goal Evgeni Malkin had waved off which would have tied the game in the third period.
The call wasn't a penalty, but a reset and faceoff for Dupuis not permitting Rangers' goaltender Henrik Lundqvist to get in position to make a save.
Forgetting for a minute the fact that New York rearguard Michael Rozsival backed Dupuis into Lundqvist, I'll say that -- by the letter of the rule book, anyway -- the zebras were probably right. My problem, however, is the fact that the type of contact Dupuis and Lundqvist had on that play goes on constantly, and that ruling is almost-never made.
Skipping past that scene, viewers of episode II then got to see something else they never get to catch a glimpse of --- a coach and GM talking with a player and telling him that he is being sent back down to the minors.
That's what happened in this instance when Pens' Head Coach Dan Bylsma and GM Ray Shero met alone with recent call-up Dustin Jeffrey in the locker room to tell him he was headed back to Wilkes-Barre of the American Hockey League.
Fascinating stuff.
Back on the Capitals' side of things, I then learned something I didn't know before --- that former San Jose Sharks' netminder Arturs Irbe is actually Washington's goalie coach.
Are you kidding me?
No wonder question marks surround their team's goaltending.
And it's also no wonder more question marks don't surround what the hell the Caps' trainer was doing to Ovechkin on the massage table in the next scene.
That was quite a flogging.
Maybe he was attracted to Ovie's tramp stamp on his lower back?
On the lighter side, we then got to see Pens' LW Matt Cooke playing a prank on former teammate Paul Bissonette, now of the Phoenix Coyotes, in advance of Pittsburgh's next game with the Yotes, which Cookie deftly pulls off by sneaking into the visiting locker room and not only cutting Bissonette's skate blades, but also putting gum in his gloves.
The world of pranks among hockey players is well-known, but what I didn't know before is that those guys actually have an opportunity to do it to a visiting player.
Viewers also finally got to see Washington win a game during this series, when they beat the Ottawa Senators to halt their 8-game losing streak.
I know .... that's a shame.
But not as much of a shame as them celebrating in their locker room afterwards like they won the Stanley Cup, which went down in plain sight of every HBO viewer.
Personally, I'd like to take their 'shovel' that they give to the team's hardest worker after every win -- which we also learned in this episode -- and use it to try and trim the waistline of their pregnant coach.
Violence aside, I'll end with the focus on the 'home' team, including one of Crosby's superstitions being a 5 PM game-day peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Of course, that goes down right before he puts on his 'lucky cup' -- a jock strap which looks like it's been used by 3 different generations within his family.
The worst part is I bet that it's actually been sewn and put back together again like Humpty Dumpty so he can keep using it.
There were fewer one liners from the 2nd episode compared to the first, but for me, the best ones in episdoe II were Pens' forward Mike Rupp telling Crosby during practice that he was wearing a 'sick fanny pack', and Pittsburgh Hall of Fame Radio Play-By-Play Man Mike Lange with the call of "Holy Cheese and Crackers" on one of Crosby's goals.
All in all, another fantastic 60 minutes in this series.
Overall, I don't feel it was quite up to the level of the first episode, and I feel that way notwithstanding that there probably was more buzz to the premier of the entire series. Of course, that was true, but substantively, I also feel that episode I was slightly better than the 2nd installment.
However, I have little doubt that the 3rd episode -- which premiers tomorrow night (10:00 PM EST) -- is going to raise the stakes again, since that show will cover the team's first matchup of the season, last Thursday's pre-Christmas thrilling Pens' 7-round shootout victory over Washington.
Can't wait to catch all the footage on camera from that one.
Remember, the Pens' host the Atlanta Thrashers tonight at The Bird House (7:00 PM EST), looking to get back on track after Sunday's defeat in Ottawa.
Recap tomorrow. Let's Go Pens!
The first episode was almost legendary in its behind-the-scenes look at both clubs. If you missed my take on that premier, you can read it here.
While I'm talking about the initial 24/7 edition, I strongly recommend that, if you haven't seen it, you do so before reading on below because the second installment of the 4-part series that I'm about to share my thoughts on builds on some things that went on in the first show.
Not surprisingly, episode II picks up where episode I left off, with the Penguins looking for 13 straight wins and on the plane into Philadelphia for their showdown against the arch-rival Flyers in a nationally televised contest.
Of course, we all know how the game turned out, so there's no need to revisit that defeat, but viewers got to see a neat clip of Penguins' Captain Sidney Crosby in his hotel room the night before watching with linemate Pascal Dupuis the fight between Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals and Brandon Dubinsky of the New York Rangers in their game the night before.
That naturally leads to Sid talking about a similar fight he engaged in earlier this year in a game against the Dallas Stars when he dropped the mitts with Dallas blueliner Matt Niskanen with the Pens' in a 4-0 hole.
Crosby says that he told Niskanen they were going to go, and Niskanen's response was, "Are you serious?"
Needless to say, you know how Crosby answered that question.
The episode continues with some great footage from the on-ice session that the Pens have on the afternoon of every home game for every staff member or alumni player who wants to suit up for a little casual shinny.
With the Penguins and Capitals' alumni game scheduled the day before the upcoming Winter Classic and coming up quickly, some of the alumni skated that afternoon, and that group included some guy named Lemeiux.
Not surprisingly, the HBO cameras had a special treat capturing him on the ice, showing the same tall and smooth skating stride at 45 as he had when he was 30.
Better still, it looked like Lemieux was enjoying himself just as much out there, with a smile from ear to ear I would expect to see again during the actual alumni game.
One of the most interesting things which followed that footage was a scene of the NHL officials in their changing area after the game the next night between the Pens' and Rangers -- a 4-1 New York victory -- patting themselves on the back for making what they continued to believe was the right call on a goal Evgeni Malkin had waved off which would have tied the game in the third period.
The call wasn't a penalty, but a reset and faceoff for Dupuis not permitting Rangers' goaltender Henrik Lundqvist to get in position to make a save.
Forgetting for a minute the fact that New York rearguard Michael Rozsival backed Dupuis into Lundqvist, I'll say that -- by the letter of the rule book, anyway -- the zebras were probably right. My problem, however, is the fact that the type of contact Dupuis and Lundqvist had on that play goes on constantly, and that ruling is almost-never made.
Skipping past that scene, viewers of episode II then got to see something else they never get to catch a glimpse of --- a coach and GM talking with a player and telling him that he is being sent back down to the minors.
That's what happened in this instance when Pens' Head Coach Dan Bylsma and GM Ray Shero met alone with recent call-up Dustin Jeffrey in the locker room to tell him he was headed back to Wilkes-Barre of the American Hockey League.
Fascinating stuff.
Back on the Capitals' side of things, I then learned something I didn't know before --- that former San Jose Sharks' netminder Arturs Irbe is actually Washington's goalie coach.
Are you kidding me?
No wonder question marks surround their team's goaltending.
And it's also no wonder more question marks don't surround what the hell the Caps' trainer was doing to Ovechkin on the massage table in the next scene.
That was quite a flogging.
Maybe he was attracted to Ovie's tramp stamp on his lower back?
On the lighter side, we then got to see Pens' LW Matt Cooke playing a prank on former teammate Paul Bissonette, now of the Phoenix Coyotes, in advance of Pittsburgh's next game with the Yotes, which Cookie deftly pulls off by sneaking into the visiting locker room and not only cutting Bissonette's skate blades, but also putting gum in his gloves.
The world of pranks among hockey players is well-known, but what I didn't know before is that those guys actually have an opportunity to do it to a visiting player.
Viewers also finally got to see Washington win a game during this series, when they beat the Ottawa Senators to halt their 8-game losing streak.
I know .... that's a shame.
But not as much of a shame as them celebrating in their locker room afterwards like they won the Stanley Cup, which went down in plain sight of every HBO viewer.
Personally, I'd like to take their 'shovel' that they give to the team's hardest worker after every win -- which we also learned in this episode -- and use it to try and trim the waistline of their pregnant coach.
Violence aside, I'll end with the focus on the 'home' team, including one of Crosby's superstitions being a 5 PM game-day peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
Of course, that goes down right before he puts on his 'lucky cup' -- a jock strap which looks like it's been used by 3 different generations within his family.
The worst part is I bet that it's actually been sewn and put back together again like Humpty Dumpty so he can keep using it.
There were fewer one liners from the 2nd episode compared to the first, but for me, the best ones in episdoe II were Pens' forward Mike Rupp telling Crosby during practice that he was wearing a 'sick fanny pack', and Pittsburgh Hall of Fame Radio Play-By-Play Man Mike Lange with the call of "Holy Cheese and Crackers" on one of Crosby's goals.
All in all, another fantastic 60 minutes in this series.
Overall, I don't feel it was quite up to the level of the first episode, and I feel that way notwithstanding that there probably was more buzz to the premier of the entire series. Of course, that was true, but substantively, I also feel that episode I was slightly better than the 2nd installment.
However, I have little doubt that the 3rd episode -- which premiers tomorrow night (10:00 PM EST) -- is going to raise the stakes again, since that show will cover the team's first matchup of the season, last Thursday's pre-Christmas thrilling Pens' 7-round shootout victory over Washington.
Can't wait to catch all the footage on camera from that one.
Remember, the Pens' host the Atlanta Thrashers tonight at The Bird House (7:00 PM EST), looking to get back on track after Sunday's defeat in Ottawa.
Recap tomorrow. Let's Go Pens!
Monday, December 27, 2010
Holiday Hangover: Sens Beat Pens
It may not have been like Phil working over the tiger in The Hangover, but last night must have seemed a lot like a hangover for the Pittsburgh Penguins against the Ottawa Senators north of the border at Scotiabank place.
Maybe it was the huge win they banked in their last game -- a shootout victory over the arch rival Washington Capitals.
Maybe it was a post holiday-thing.
Either way, Ottawa took it to the Penguins in the first period and by the time 60 minutes were done, sent Pittsburgh home on the wrong end of a dissatisfying 3-1 defeat.
First, Carrie Underwood's husband -- Mike Fisher -- stuck a knife in Pens' Captain Sidney Crosby by scoring with him in the penalty box for a 1-0 lead, and then defenseman Erik Karlsson twisted it by scoring later that period on a delayed penalty that also belonged to #87 to make it 2-0.
When Karlsson added his second goal of the night on another power play 20 seconds into the 2nd frame, the game was quickly unraveling for The Boys of Winter.
The Penguins stabilized their play, though, and took the pace to the Senators for most of the final two periods. In fact, after being outshot 12-6 in the first period, the Pens' outshot Ottawa by a whopping 39-12 the rest of the game.
Unfortunately, they were only able to get one of the 45 pucks they put on Ottawa netminder Brian Elliott past him, and that occurred with about 3 minutes left in the game.
Right about at that point, things were looking bleak for the prospect of Sid extending his career-long points streak to 24 games, but at least the hockey gods smiled on him for a moment when his quick shot from in tight was stopped by Elliott, but the rebound bounced off the pants of Ottawa defenseman Matt Carkner and just inside the far post to give Sid his 30th goal of the year and keep the streak alive.
Sid had to feel some redemption there -- especially since he was the victim of those first period penalties, as well as another cheap call in the third period -- but it really was too little, too late for Pittsburgh.
They had little jump off the hop in this one, and the early penalties also hurt their momentum -- much like it did against the Capitals early on the other night.
The fact of the matter, though, is that the game against Ottawa last night was poorly called on both sides throughout the contest.
Calls were missed and ignored and then, not surprisingly, the game got chippy. Pittsburgh enforcer Eric Godard, for one, was on the wrong end of a fight with Carkner early in the game after taking a right to the eye. His return was announced as doubtful, but when he did come back, he got one more shift and -- despite a very swollen eye and a look that suggested he was a few apples short of a bushel -- tried to engage Carkner again.
Perhaps fortunately for Godard, at least on this night, Carkner declined and Godard got a 10-minute misconduct penalty for his trouble.
Those were his 2 shifts on the evening.
The physicality in the game also ramped up after Pens' blueliner Kris Letang nailed Senators' star forward Jason Spezza into the boards early in the 2nd period, leaving him crumped on the ice for about 10 seconds before Spezza quickly gathered himself and immediatley went off to the locker room significantly favoring one of his arms.
Without trying to be a homer, I didn't see Letang at fault on the play. He had actually started into his check on Spezza near the boards when Spezza turned his back to him. There was nothing Tanger could do.
There was a lot of garbage in the game after that, though, with the Senators' Jarkko Ruutu and Chris Neil acting stupid -- or put another way, just doing what they usually do -- and Mike Foligno tangling with Deryk Engelland, which teammate Chris Phillips realized was a mistake before quickly intervening.
Pens' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury didn't have a bad game, but I think he'd tell you that he's played better. He did have a beautiful stop on a penalty shot by Foligno in the third period that was awarded after a play where it looked like Foligno might have actually scored.
In super slow motion replay -- and isolated close up -- of Foligno's live shot a few seconds before, it appeared to show a shade of white between the puck and edge of the red goal line, but apparently the folks in Toronto felt differently and decided to affirm the on-ice ruling of the zebras last night that there was no goal.
All in all, the Penguins just weren't able to get on track in this contest, and their power play also came up empty for them in 4 chances when they really needed some production from it to match what the Senators were doing with their man advantage against the Pens' #1 ranked PK unit.
Perhaps the biggest surprise in the game, though, was the play of Elliott in the net for Ottawa.
I mean, this was the same guy that the Penguins made look bad in last year's first round playoff series, and a guy that had won only 1 of his last 10 decisions.
Last night, he was suddenly unbeatable. A lot of what Pittsburgh threw at him hit him in the chest, and he looked a lot more confident and controlled than he has in the past.
Sure, the Penguins hit a post or two, and watched the likes of Chris Kunitz and Paul Martin fail on prime scoring chances, but Elliott clearly was a different goaltender in this one.
What wasn't a surprise was the play of Karlsson, who had a rough start to this season, but is starting to come on strong lately.
Karlsson has a little bit of Kris Letang in him. He's not the defensive player Letang has, and doesn't have a lot of edge in his game defensively like #58, but he skates extremely well and has strong offenisve instincts.
It's a good thing because that other blueliner of theirs who wears #55 is having a terrible season and has even been called a collassal flop by the local media.
Anyway, the Penguins return home for a tilt on Tuesday against the Atlanta Thrashers, who continue to surprise folks this season, and then on Wednesday on the road against the New York Islanders, before the weekend's Winter Classic.
Speaking of the Classic, I'll have a review of episode 2 of HBO's "24/7 Penguins Capitals: Road To The Winter Classic" series tomorrow. I caught it when it premiered last week, but with the Pens'/Caps' game last Thursday, then the holiday, I haven't been able to sit down and speak on it.
More then.
NOTES:
Backup goaltender Brent Johnson sat out last night's game still dealing with what seemed to be a groin injury sustained in last Wednesday's win over the Florida Panthers, while forward and teammate Aaron Asham also missed last night's game with the same ailment.
Meanwhile, Jordan Staal skated with his teammates yesterday morning for the first time since November 1. I don't know whether he's been cleared for full contact, but I assume that his participation involved puck drills. I have not been able to confirm that, however.
Not surprisingly, Staal is pushing the team to be released to play for this weekend's Winter Classic. I still don't think that's likely, especially since the Penguins haven't even announced a formal timetable for his return. I was under the impression that team brass hoped to establish that this week.
While we've seen Gronk return from injury much faster than anyone ever anticipated, I don't know whether that will be the case again this weekend or not. We'll see.
Maybe it was the huge win they banked in their last game -- a shootout victory over the arch rival Washington Capitals.
Maybe it was a post holiday-thing.
Either way, Ottawa took it to the Penguins in the first period and by the time 60 minutes were done, sent Pittsburgh home on the wrong end of a dissatisfying 3-1 defeat.
First, Carrie Underwood's husband -- Mike Fisher -- stuck a knife in Pens' Captain Sidney Crosby by scoring with him in the penalty box for a 1-0 lead, and then defenseman Erik Karlsson twisted it by scoring later that period on a delayed penalty that also belonged to #87 to make it 2-0.
When Karlsson added his second goal of the night on another power play 20 seconds into the 2nd frame, the game was quickly unraveling for The Boys of Winter.
The Penguins stabilized their play, though, and took the pace to the Senators for most of the final two periods. In fact, after being outshot 12-6 in the first period, the Pens' outshot Ottawa by a whopping 39-12 the rest of the game.
Unfortunately, they were only able to get one of the 45 pucks they put on Ottawa netminder Brian Elliott past him, and that occurred with about 3 minutes left in the game.
Right about at that point, things were looking bleak for the prospect of Sid extending his career-long points streak to 24 games, but at least the hockey gods smiled on him for a moment when his quick shot from in tight was stopped by Elliott, but the rebound bounced off the pants of Ottawa defenseman Matt Carkner and just inside the far post to give Sid his 30th goal of the year and keep the streak alive.
Sid had to feel some redemption there -- especially since he was the victim of those first period penalties, as well as another cheap call in the third period -- but it really was too little, too late for Pittsburgh.
They had little jump off the hop in this one, and the early penalties also hurt their momentum -- much like it did against the Capitals early on the other night.
The fact of the matter, though, is that the game against Ottawa last night was poorly called on both sides throughout the contest.
Calls were missed and ignored and then, not surprisingly, the game got chippy. Pittsburgh enforcer Eric Godard, for one, was on the wrong end of a fight with Carkner early in the game after taking a right to the eye. His return was announced as doubtful, but when he did come back, he got one more shift and -- despite a very swollen eye and a look that suggested he was a few apples short of a bushel -- tried to engage Carkner again.
Perhaps fortunately for Godard, at least on this night, Carkner declined and Godard got a 10-minute misconduct penalty for his trouble.
Those were his 2 shifts on the evening.
The physicality in the game also ramped up after Pens' blueliner Kris Letang nailed Senators' star forward Jason Spezza into the boards early in the 2nd period, leaving him crumped on the ice for about 10 seconds before Spezza quickly gathered himself and immediatley went off to the locker room significantly favoring one of his arms.
Without trying to be a homer, I didn't see Letang at fault on the play. He had actually started into his check on Spezza near the boards when Spezza turned his back to him. There was nothing Tanger could do.
There was a lot of garbage in the game after that, though, with the Senators' Jarkko Ruutu and Chris Neil acting stupid -- or put another way, just doing what they usually do -- and Mike Foligno tangling with Deryk Engelland, which teammate Chris Phillips realized was a mistake before quickly intervening.
Pens' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury didn't have a bad game, but I think he'd tell you that he's played better. He did have a beautiful stop on a penalty shot by Foligno in the third period that was awarded after a play where it looked like Foligno might have actually scored.
In super slow motion replay -- and isolated close up -- of Foligno's live shot a few seconds before, it appeared to show a shade of white between the puck and edge of the red goal line, but apparently the folks in Toronto felt differently and decided to affirm the on-ice ruling of the zebras last night that there was no goal.
All in all, the Penguins just weren't able to get on track in this contest, and their power play also came up empty for them in 4 chances when they really needed some production from it to match what the Senators were doing with their man advantage against the Pens' #1 ranked PK unit.
Perhaps the biggest surprise in the game, though, was the play of Elliott in the net for Ottawa.
I mean, this was the same guy that the Penguins made look bad in last year's first round playoff series, and a guy that had won only 1 of his last 10 decisions.
Last night, he was suddenly unbeatable. A lot of what Pittsburgh threw at him hit him in the chest, and he looked a lot more confident and controlled than he has in the past.
Sure, the Penguins hit a post or two, and watched the likes of Chris Kunitz and Paul Martin fail on prime scoring chances, but Elliott clearly was a different goaltender in this one.
What wasn't a surprise was the play of Karlsson, who had a rough start to this season, but is starting to come on strong lately.
Karlsson has a little bit of Kris Letang in him. He's not the defensive player Letang has, and doesn't have a lot of edge in his game defensively like #58, but he skates extremely well and has strong offenisve instincts.
It's a good thing because that other blueliner of theirs who wears #55 is having a terrible season and has even been called a collassal flop by the local media.
Anyway, the Penguins return home for a tilt on Tuesday against the Atlanta Thrashers, who continue to surprise folks this season, and then on Wednesday on the road against the New York Islanders, before the weekend's Winter Classic.
Speaking of the Classic, I'll have a review of episode 2 of HBO's "24/7 Penguins Capitals: Road To The Winter Classic" series tomorrow. I caught it when it premiered last week, but with the Pens'/Caps' game last Thursday, then the holiday, I haven't been able to sit down and speak on it.
More then.
NOTES:
Backup goaltender Brent Johnson sat out last night's game still dealing with what seemed to be a groin injury sustained in last Wednesday's win over the Florida Panthers, while forward and teammate Aaron Asham also missed last night's game with the same ailment.
Meanwhile, Jordan Staal skated with his teammates yesterday morning for the first time since November 1. I don't know whether he's been cleared for full contact, but I assume that his participation involved puck drills. I have not been able to confirm that, however.
Not surprisingly, Staal is pushing the team to be released to play for this weekend's Winter Classic. I still don't think that's likely, especially since the Penguins haven't even announced a formal timetable for his return. I was under the impression that team brass hoped to establish that this week.
While we've seen Gronk return from injury much faster than anyone ever anticipated, I don't know whether that will be the case again this weekend or not. We'll see.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Pens/Caps -- Round One: Not Quite A Classic, But Still A Win
The Washington Capitals have had the Pittsburgh Penguins' regular season number the last two years, winning 7 of their last 8 meetings.
Those victories included one last year in Washington in a shootout where the Penguins came back to tie the game in regulation late and then scored on their first two shootout attempts after a scoreless overtime. At that point, with the Caps' missing on their first opportunity, Pittsburgh was only one save away from a big win.
Defying all wisdom, Washington scored on their next two attempts while the Penguins missed their third try, then veteran Mike Knuble scored the first shootout goal of his career to end it and send yours truly -- who was there in person -- home miserable.
So things looked again last night at the Verizon center in the first clash of these two titans this season.
Sidney Crosby scored early in the first period on a nice deflection to extend his scoring streak to 23 straight games and give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead, and then Evgeni Malkin had a chance to up that lead to 2-0 when he was awarded a penalty shot in the first period, but Geno has been miserable on those in his career and it was no different tonight, as he was easily stopped by Caps' goaltender Michael Neuvirth -- making his first career start against the Penguins.
Not surprisingly, Washington defenseman Mike Green made that miss hurt when he capitalized on Washington's second extended 5-on-3 advantage of the game, each due to a Penguin player shooting the puck out of action from their own zone.
Green got the puck alone in the high slot and zinged in a top corner, glove side wrist shot to tie the score in the second period.
While Pittsburgh probably was outplayed for most of the first two periods, that was primarily because they were so busy killing penalties. Since they were shorthanded so often, they had a hard time getting to their game and instead had to rely on goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to bail them out.
And that's exactly what the Flower did -- stopping 24 of 25 shots through 2 periods, and looking good doing it.
When Chris Kunitz scored on a rebound just seconds into the third period and his teammates finally got their share of power plays (4) in that final frame, they started to get into a zone and it looked like they had the game under control.
Until defenseman Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski carelessly managed the puck on one of their power plays and allowed Knuble to score SHORTHANDED to tie the game with about 4 minutes left.
After a scoreless overtime that included a ten-bell save by Fleury on Green to keep the game tied, the shootout required 7 rounds to decide the contest.
Letang and Caps' forward Alexander Ovechkin both scored on their shootout chances -- each team's first -- then watched as 11 other skaters (6 Washington players and 5 from those in the black and gold) miss their opportunities.
Fleury, in particular, was extremely solid in shutting down the Caps' big guns on their attempts.
Which, of course, allowed Pascal Dupuis to come down with Pittsburgh's seventh shot and make it look easy, burying a shot above the glove hand of Neuvirth so quickly that the netminder hardly flinched on the play, and sending the Capitals back to their locker room with the HBO cameras losers who failed to keep the momentum of their modest 2-game win streak.
Clearly, the Home Box Office had to be thrilled with the drama they got from tonight's game.
But not as much as the Penguins were happy to get on that plane a joyous bunch after their 3rd straight win -- and very difficult second of back-to-back victories.
Of course, the little matter of reclaiming the top spot in the Atlantic Division and overall in the NHL back from the Philadelphia Flyers helps, too.
But that's what a 17-3-1 run in your last 21 games will do for you.
If tonight was an appetizer for the upcoming Winter Classic next weekend, it was a good one. Not a great one, as there were a lot of penalties and a lot of sloppiness during the game, but still excellent for drama and physicality --- including Ovechkin headhunting Malkin early in the game again like he did several years ago.
And, of course, the result.
With the Penguins now basking in tonight's win and enjoying their Christmas, Sidney Crosby and the boys can only look forward to their next matchup with Alexander Ovechkin and the Capitals @ Heinz Field on New Year's Day.
I'm sure glad 87 is on our side. Not only is he better on the ice, his one liners are better too:
Truth Serum From Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin
Let's Go Pens!
Those victories included one last year in Washington in a shootout where the Penguins came back to tie the game in regulation late and then scored on their first two shootout attempts after a scoreless overtime. At that point, with the Caps' missing on their first opportunity, Pittsburgh was only one save away from a big win.
Defying all wisdom, Washington scored on their next two attempts while the Penguins missed their third try, then veteran Mike Knuble scored the first shootout goal of his career to end it and send yours truly -- who was there in person -- home miserable.
So things looked again last night at the Verizon center in the first clash of these two titans this season.
Sidney Crosby scored early in the first period on a nice deflection to extend his scoring streak to 23 straight games and give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead, and then Evgeni Malkin had a chance to up that lead to 2-0 when he was awarded a penalty shot in the first period, but Geno has been miserable on those in his career and it was no different tonight, as he was easily stopped by Caps' goaltender Michael Neuvirth -- making his first career start against the Penguins.
Not surprisingly, Washington defenseman Mike Green made that miss hurt when he capitalized on Washington's second extended 5-on-3 advantage of the game, each due to a Penguin player shooting the puck out of action from their own zone.
Green got the puck alone in the high slot and zinged in a top corner, glove side wrist shot to tie the score in the second period.
While Pittsburgh probably was outplayed for most of the first two periods, that was primarily because they were so busy killing penalties. Since they were shorthanded so often, they had a hard time getting to their game and instead had to rely on goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to bail them out.
And that's exactly what the Flower did -- stopping 24 of 25 shots through 2 periods, and looking good doing it.
When Chris Kunitz scored on a rebound just seconds into the third period and his teammates finally got their share of power plays (4) in that final frame, they started to get into a zone and it looked like they had the game under control.
Until defenseman Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski carelessly managed the puck on one of their power plays and allowed Knuble to score SHORTHANDED to tie the game with about 4 minutes left.
After a scoreless overtime that included a ten-bell save by Fleury on Green to keep the game tied, the shootout required 7 rounds to decide the contest.
Letang and Caps' forward Alexander Ovechkin both scored on their shootout chances -- each team's first -- then watched as 11 other skaters (6 Washington players and 5 from those in the black and gold) miss their opportunities.
Fleury, in particular, was extremely solid in shutting down the Caps' big guns on their attempts.
Which, of course, allowed Pascal Dupuis to come down with Pittsburgh's seventh shot and make it look easy, burying a shot above the glove hand of Neuvirth so quickly that the netminder hardly flinched on the play, and sending the Capitals back to their locker room with the HBO cameras losers who failed to keep the momentum of their modest 2-game win streak.
Clearly, the Home Box Office had to be thrilled with the drama they got from tonight's game.
But not as much as the Penguins were happy to get on that plane a joyous bunch after their 3rd straight win -- and very difficult second of back-to-back victories.
Of course, the little matter of reclaiming the top spot in the Atlantic Division and overall in the NHL back from the Philadelphia Flyers helps, too.
But that's what a 17-3-1 run in your last 21 games will do for you.
If tonight was an appetizer for the upcoming Winter Classic next weekend, it was a good one. Not a great one, as there were a lot of penalties and a lot of sloppiness during the game, but still excellent for drama and physicality --- including Ovechkin headhunting Malkin early in the game again like he did several years ago.
And, of course, the result.
With the Penguins now basking in tonight's win and enjoying their Christmas, Sidney Crosby and the boys can only look forward to their next matchup with Alexander Ovechkin and the Capitals @ Heinz Field on New Year's Day.
I'm sure glad 87 is on our side. Not only is he better on the ice, his one liners are better too:
Truth Serum From Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin
Let's Go Pens!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Penguins Avoid Cat-Trap; Roll Over Florida, 5-2
With tonight's showdown against the arch-rival Washington Capitals losing, it was undeniable that last night's game at The Bird House against a Florida Panther squad that had been on a little bit of a roll lately was the quintenessential trap game.
The problem was that the Penguins were to fast for the Cats to capture, with the Penguins rolling to an early 3-1 lead in less than 11 minutes of first period action, and ultimately defeating the Panthers, 5-2.
Mark Letestu got the Pens on the board first with a nice goal 90 seconds in, beating a Panther backchecker on the rush and taking a pass from Tyler Kennedy, before showing nice patience in deking Florida netminder Tomas Vokoun to the ice and sliding the puck behind him.
While Stephen Weiss snuck a goal under the arm of Pens' backup netminder Brent Johnson -- giving starter Marc-Andre Fleury the night off -- less than 90 seconds later, Sidney Crosby gave Pittsburgh the advantage again when he extended his career-high scoring streak to 22 games just prior to the 8 minute mark of the period, taking a pass from linemate Chris Kunitz steaming up the left wing, and lasering a slapshot under Vokoun's arm, far side for a 2-0 lead.
At 22 games, Crosby's streak is now tied for the second longest in the last 18 seasons, even with Dany Heatley's 22-game run in 2005 and 8 games off a 30-gamer Mats Sundin had when playing for the Quebec Nordiques in 1992/1993.
When Matt Cooke capitalized on an Evgeni Malkin rebound just minutes later to make it 3-1, Florida head coach Peter Deboer had seen enough. He pulled Vokoun -- who had shutout the Philadelphia Flyers on the road just 2 days earlier -- in favor of backup Scott Clemmensen.
It was the second straight game in which the Penguins chased the opponent's starting goaltender, after sending Phoenix's Jason Labarbara to the bench on Monday night.
After getting into a first period scrap, 6th defenseman Ben Lovejoy -- getting the call last night instead of Deryk Engelland (and obviously trying to make him proud) -- scored his first career NHL goal in the second period and gave the Pens' a 4-1 lead in the process.
Lovejoy also added 11 stitches for good measure when he took a puck to the face in the 3rd period.
Coming out for that final frame, Fleury took over between the pipes, because Johnson suffered a minor groin injury late in the second period. And, rather than have a relaxing time back there, he was quite busy.
To their credit, Florida worked hard, and didn't wilt. They put up 16 shots in the 3rd and their efforts paid off when defenseman Bryan McCabe scored with about 3 minutes to go in the game to keep things interesting.
But Pascal Dupuis added an empty netter for Pittsburgh to finish the scoring and keep the Pens' rolling going into this evening.
The Panthers actually outshot the Pens, 37-34 on the night.
With the win, the Penguins moved to within 1 point of the Flyers in the Atlantic (and for the overall NHL lead) and since Philadelphia is off until next Tuesday, the Pens can pass them tonight with a victory over the Capitals, or Sunday, in their next game after the Christmas break, with a victory on the road over the Ottawa Senators.
With all eyes on the league on the game tonight, Pittsburgh will likely recall a goaltender -- either Brad Thessien or John Curry -- to back up Fleury this evening in Washington, because Johnson is not expected to be ready to go.
Winger Aaron Asham also seems questionable for the game, as he sat out most of the third period last night with an undisclosed problem. If he can't go, it will be interesting to see if the Pens' make a call up, or put Eric Godard in the lineup. The Caps' have an enforcer -- DJ King -- but he's only played 8 games on the season, and with Washington having bounced back to win 2 games in a row leading into this evening's throwdown, they aren't likely to change their lineup much.
I'll try to get a recap of the game up tomorrow, but can't offer any promises as I get ready for Santa's appearance on the home front.
Let's Go Pens!
The problem was that the Penguins were to fast for the Cats to capture, with the Penguins rolling to an early 3-1 lead in less than 11 minutes of first period action, and ultimately defeating the Panthers, 5-2.
Mark Letestu got the Pens on the board first with a nice goal 90 seconds in, beating a Panther backchecker on the rush and taking a pass from Tyler Kennedy, before showing nice patience in deking Florida netminder Tomas Vokoun to the ice and sliding the puck behind him.
While Stephen Weiss snuck a goal under the arm of Pens' backup netminder Brent Johnson -- giving starter Marc-Andre Fleury the night off -- less than 90 seconds later, Sidney Crosby gave Pittsburgh the advantage again when he extended his career-high scoring streak to 22 games just prior to the 8 minute mark of the period, taking a pass from linemate Chris Kunitz steaming up the left wing, and lasering a slapshot under Vokoun's arm, far side for a 2-0 lead.
At 22 games, Crosby's streak is now tied for the second longest in the last 18 seasons, even with Dany Heatley's 22-game run in 2005 and 8 games off a 30-gamer Mats Sundin had when playing for the Quebec Nordiques in 1992/1993.
When Matt Cooke capitalized on an Evgeni Malkin rebound just minutes later to make it 3-1, Florida head coach Peter Deboer had seen enough. He pulled Vokoun -- who had shutout the Philadelphia Flyers on the road just 2 days earlier -- in favor of backup Scott Clemmensen.
It was the second straight game in which the Penguins chased the opponent's starting goaltender, after sending Phoenix's Jason Labarbara to the bench on Monday night.
After getting into a first period scrap, 6th defenseman Ben Lovejoy -- getting the call last night instead of Deryk Engelland (and obviously trying to make him proud) -- scored his first career NHL goal in the second period and gave the Pens' a 4-1 lead in the process.
Lovejoy also added 11 stitches for good measure when he took a puck to the face in the 3rd period.
Coming out for that final frame, Fleury took over between the pipes, because Johnson suffered a minor groin injury late in the second period. And, rather than have a relaxing time back there, he was quite busy.
To their credit, Florida worked hard, and didn't wilt. They put up 16 shots in the 3rd and their efforts paid off when defenseman Bryan McCabe scored with about 3 minutes to go in the game to keep things interesting.
But Pascal Dupuis added an empty netter for Pittsburgh to finish the scoring and keep the Pens' rolling going into this evening.
The Panthers actually outshot the Pens, 37-34 on the night.
With the win, the Penguins moved to within 1 point of the Flyers in the Atlantic (and for the overall NHL lead) and since Philadelphia is off until next Tuesday, the Pens can pass them tonight with a victory over the Capitals, or Sunday, in their next game after the Christmas break, with a victory on the road over the Ottawa Senators.
With all eyes on the league on the game tonight, Pittsburgh will likely recall a goaltender -- either Brad Thessien or John Curry -- to back up Fleury this evening in Washington, because Johnson is not expected to be ready to go.
Winger Aaron Asham also seems questionable for the game, as he sat out most of the third period last night with an undisclosed problem. If he can't go, it will be interesting to see if the Pens' make a call up, or put Eric Godard in the lineup. The Caps' have an enforcer -- DJ King -- but he's only played 8 games on the season, and with Washington having bounced back to win 2 games in a row leading into this evening's throwdown, they aren't likely to change their lineup much.
I'll try to get a recap of the game up tomorrow, but can't offer any promises as I get ready for Santa's appearance on the home front.
Let's Go Pens!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Penguin Hits And Happenings: Holiday Edition
As we come up on Christmas, I thought it was a good time to examine some holiday hits and happenings surrounding the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Most people expect that the Pens are readying themselves for their match up against the Washington Capitals in their first clash of the season Thursday night in front of the HBO cameras. Undoubtedly, Pittsburgh has had that game circled on its calendar most of the season, but the Pens need to be sure they don't overlook the Florida Panthers, who visit CONSOL Energy Center first tonight (7:oo PM EST).
The Panthers are on a little bit of a roll lately -- having won 5 of their last 7 games -- and are getting their usual strong netminding from Tomas Vokoun, who whitewashed the top team in the league (at least according to the standings), the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-0, Monday night.
Pittsburgh will have to bring their lunch pails against Florida if they want to win, but if the way they played two evenings ago in roughing up the Phoenix Coyotes is any indication, they should be fine.
Evgeni Malkin led the way in that game, tying a career-high with 5 points. He now has 8 in his last 3 games (including 5 goals) and is again above a point-per-game clip, with 30 points in 29 contests on the season.
Not coincidentally, Malkin has surged to the third spot overall among all forwards in balloting for the National Hockey League All-Star game, as of yesterday.
If Malkin stays there, he'll secure a starting forward position along with his teammate and Pens' Captain Sidney Crosby, who leads all players in voting by a country mile and is a lock to start the game.
Obviously, Sid's strong play all year long to-date hasn't just captured the attention of the Canadian News Media, leading sports outlets in the U.S. or NHL executives.
And the same appears true of defenseman Kris Letang.
Tanger is starting to get some nice recognition in national media circles for his play on the ice this season.
He's even been mentioned as a potential Norris Trophy candidate, as the bottom feature of this article makes plain.
It should be no surprise, then -- especially given the media-savvy nature of Penguin fans -- that Letang is second overall in the All-Star balloting (and first in write-in votes). With Crosby and Malkin, he is poised to give Pittsburgh 3 starters in the league's annual showcase for the first time since Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr and Kevin Stevens were all starters in the game more than 15 years ago.
One can only wonder whether Pens' Center Jordan Staal might someday join that group -- something which, beyond wonder, certainly won't be possible unless Gronk first gets back on the ice and resumes playing.
Staal skated hard yesterday -- by himself -- for 30 minutes before the Pens practiced. He had a device on his broken hand and held a stick, but participated in no stickhandling or puck drills.
With him not even on the horizon of being cleared for practice for probably another 10-14 days, it looks like he's going to have the misfortune of missing next weekend's Winter Classic.
Like most Penguin fans, I'm excited to see how well the team can play with #11 back in the lineup. Considering how well they've been playing lately, that has to be a scary proposition for the opposition.
Speaking of scary, tonight we get to see more of the horror that is Washington Coach Bruce Boudreau, as the second episode of 24/7 debuts this evening (10:00 PM EST/replay @ 11:00 PM EST).
Now that the Caps' have won their last two games, it seems as if some of the pressure that Washington -- and Boudreau -- were under during their 8-game losing streak may have subsided somewhat.
That's too bad. I was actually hoping they'd fire Boudreau during the 24/7 series.
Well, maybe at least he won't have ketchup or BBQ sauce on his face this time.
I know I'll be tuned in to find out tonight.
I'll have a recap of the Pens/Panthers tomorrow, and I'll also have tomorrow a preview of the Pens/Caps faceoff tomorrow evening.
Let's Go Pens!
Most people expect that the Pens are readying themselves for their match up against the Washington Capitals in their first clash of the season Thursday night in front of the HBO cameras. Undoubtedly, Pittsburgh has had that game circled on its calendar most of the season, but the Pens need to be sure they don't overlook the Florida Panthers, who visit CONSOL Energy Center first tonight (7:oo PM EST).
The Panthers are on a little bit of a roll lately -- having won 5 of their last 7 games -- and are getting their usual strong netminding from Tomas Vokoun, who whitewashed the top team in the league (at least according to the standings), the Philadelphia Flyers, 5-0, Monday night.
Pittsburgh will have to bring their lunch pails against Florida if they want to win, but if the way they played two evenings ago in roughing up the Phoenix Coyotes is any indication, they should be fine.
Evgeni Malkin led the way in that game, tying a career-high with 5 points. He now has 8 in his last 3 games (including 5 goals) and is again above a point-per-game clip, with 30 points in 29 contests on the season.
Not coincidentally, Malkin has surged to the third spot overall among all forwards in balloting for the National Hockey League All-Star game, as of yesterday.
If Malkin stays there, he'll secure a starting forward position along with his teammate and Pens' Captain Sidney Crosby, who leads all players in voting by a country mile and is a lock to start the game.
Obviously, Sid's strong play all year long to-date hasn't just captured the attention of the Canadian News Media, leading sports outlets in the U.S. or NHL executives.
And the same appears true of defenseman Kris Letang.
Tanger is starting to get some nice recognition in national media circles for his play on the ice this season.
He's even been mentioned as a potential Norris Trophy candidate, as the bottom feature of this article makes plain.
It should be no surprise, then -- especially given the media-savvy nature of Penguin fans -- that Letang is second overall in the All-Star balloting (and first in write-in votes). With Crosby and Malkin, he is poised to give Pittsburgh 3 starters in the league's annual showcase for the first time since Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr and Kevin Stevens were all starters in the game more than 15 years ago.
One can only wonder whether Pens' Center Jordan Staal might someday join that group -- something which, beyond wonder, certainly won't be possible unless Gronk first gets back on the ice and resumes playing.
Staal skated hard yesterday -- by himself -- for 30 minutes before the Pens practiced. He had a device on his broken hand and held a stick, but participated in no stickhandling or puck drills.
With him not even on the horizon of being cleared for practice for probably another 10-14 days, it looks like he's going to have the misfortune of missing next weekend's Winter Classic.
Like most Penguin fans, I'm excited to see how well the team can play with #11 back in the lineup. Considering how well they've been playing lately, that has to be a scary proposition for the opposition.
Speaking of scary, tonight we get to see more of the horror that is Washington Coach Bruce Boudreau, as the second episode of 24/7 debuts this evening (10:00 PM EST/replay @ 11:00 PM EST).
Now that the Caps' have won their last two games, it seems as if some of the pressure that Washington -- and Boudreau -- were under during their 8-game losing streak may have subsided somewhat.
That's too bad. I was actually hoping they'd fire Boudreau during the 24/7 series.
Well, maybe at least he won't have ketchup or BBQ sauce on his face this time.
I know I'll be tuned in to find out tonight.
I'll have a recap of the Pens/Panthers tomorrow, and I'll also have tomorrow a preview of the Pens/Caps faceoff tomorrow evening.
Let's Go Pens!
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Geno Goes Coyote Hunting; Pens Win
Following a 12-game winning streak with two straight losses that coincidentally occurred when he returned to action following a 4-game absence due to a knee injury, Pittsburgh Penguins' forward Evgeni Malkin joked before yesterday's game against the Phoenix Coyotes at the CONSOL Energy Center that the team couldn't win with him in the linup.
And this even though Geno was the only Penguin goal-scorer with 3 tallies in those two consecutive losses.
As it turned out, that was just an encore, though. Last night, Malkin served up the main course, scoring 2 goals and adding 3 assists for a 5-point night in the Penguins' 6-1 romp over a beleaguered Phoenix Coyotes squad that had to feel hunted from the drop of the puck.
"It's really fun to see him take over a game like that," said Pens' Captain Sidney Crosby said of Geno in the locker-room afterwards.
It started in the first period when Geno assisted on a power play goal by defenseman Kris Letang, who unleashed a 50-foot bullet that beat Coyotes' netminder Jason Labarbara glove hand for a 1-0 Pens lead.
Then, in the waning seconds of the first period, Crosby faced off for a draw on a 4-on-4 against Coyotes' faceoff ace Vernon Fiddler. When Fiddler was tossed out of the circle, forward Lauri Korpikoski came in to take it.
Well, that was a clear mismatch for one of the better face-off guys in the game, and Crosby proved that by easily winning the draw against Korpikoski and going forward with the puck, slipping it behind him before sneaking around him to grab it.
That caught Phoenix blueliner Adrian Aucoin in no-man's land, not knowing whether to go to Crosby or cover the near winger --- Malkin --- and the Pens' Captain made Aucoin pay too, slipping a pass to Malkin in the slot and watching him easily beat Labarbara far side for a 2-0 lead.
The Penguins' power play then urned things up in the 2nd period, as the Geno and Crosby show continued.
Malkin got a man-advantage goal less than a minute into the frame, taking a puck from Crosby on a quick pass from the side boards before beating Labarbara for a 3-0 lead, then Crsoby followed-suit, hitting on almost the exact same play about 2 minutes later -- taking a pass from Malkin off the boards before top-shelfing one past Labarara for a 4-0 advantage.
At that point, Pittsburgh was 3-for-3 on the power play. They finished 3-for-5 on the game.
Matt Cooke then upped the Pens' lead to 5-0 before the game was half old and with Malkin adding an assist on that play -- tying a career-high with his 5th point in only about 28 minutes of work -- Phoenix coach Dave Tippett saved Labarbara from any further beating by pulling him from the cage.
Good thing, too, because the Penguins were headed fast towards double digits at that time, and they have rung up as many as 8 on Labarbara before when he played for the New York Rangers.
Plus, with Malkin playing the way he was playing, an assault on Toronto Maple Leafs' Darryl Sittler's record of 10 points in a game wasn't out of the question either.
"I was just trying to keep up with him," said Crosby.
But Malkin's scoring run ground to somewhat of halt when the Penguins had to do some extended work killing off a 5-on-3 disadvantage for about 2 minutes and 45 seconds late in the second period, thanks to 3 consecutive penalties on Mike Rupp, Cooke and Defenseman Brooks Orpik. Fortuantely, the Pens' PK stepped up big and slammed the door on the Phoenix power play, not allowing a goal at any point during that stretch.
In fact, the Coyotes came up empty on 8 chances with the extra man in the game, and that was the first time in 8 games that the Pens' penalty killing unit didn't allow a power-play goal against. After a long period of sustained excellence, they had allowed one in the previous 7 contests.
In the third period, Coyotes' forward Wojtek Wolski deflected one past Pens' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury -- on a play where the puck actually went off Wolski, then the mask of Fleury, then in -- to ruin #29's shutout bid, but Chris Conner added a late goal against Phoenix backup goaltender Matt Climie to wipe that away, and that wrapped up the scoring in a 6-1 final.
Crosby, whose scoring streak extended his career-high run to 21 straight games when he assisted on Geno's first goal, had 3 total points on the night. He's now 10 up on Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steven Stamkos.
With the win last night, and the hot Philadelphia Flyers laying a surprising 5-0 goose egg on home ice against the Pens' next opponent Wednesday night -- the Florida Panthers -- the Pens moved to within 3 points of Philadelphia for the Atlantic Division and NHL points lead.
Unlike the Washington Capitals, who weren't able to keep a defeat or two from morphing into an 8-game losing streak before they finally stopped that run Sunday night against a woeful Ottawa Senators team, Pittsburgh did last night what great teams do: they stopped a mini-rut from developing into something bigger. After two straight defeats -- and 4 days of rest -- they came out strong, clearly looking to get back on their game and back in the win column.
"I liked the way our team was focused and ready to go," said head coach Dan Bylsma.
Not coincidentally, Pittsburgh outshot the Coyotes 38-27 last night. In their prior 2 games against Philadelphia and the Rangers, the Pens were surprisingly outshot by a good margin in each. That's not how they play and, obviously, not how they win hockey games.
Anyway, it was good to see them get back in the "W" column. Let's hope the Pens can bag one more Wednesday and get another roll going efore the big Thursday night showdown against the Capitals in Washington in front of the HBO cameras. Pittsburgh can't look by the Panthers, though, because as Tomas Vokoun showed in slamming the door on the Flyers' last night, they can win on the strength of his play in the net alone.
More soon.
NOTES: Blysma announced before the game that forward Mike Comrie, who has been out the last 3 weeks or so, may need surgery on his hip to correct a condition that has been plaguing him since he injured it in the season's second game. Bylsma said Comrie tried to play through it for about a month -- obviously very poorly -- and then the team elected to try rest and rehabilitation to see if it would improve, with no success. An official decision hasn't been made yet, but if Comrie undergoes surgery, his time off will likely be measured in months, not weeks. Not that it will make any real difference in the club's fortunes ....
And this even though Geno was the only Penguin goal-scorer with 3 tallies in those two consecutive losses.
As it turned out, that was just an encore, though. Last night, Malkin served up the main course, scoring 2 goals and adding 3 assists for a 5-point night in the Penguins' 6-1 romp over a beleaguered Phoenix Coyotes squad that had to feel hunted from the drop of the puck.
"It's really fun to see him take over a game like that," said Pens' Captain Sidney Crosby said of Geno in the locker-room afterwards.
It started in the first period when Geno assisted on a power play goal by defenseman Kris Letang, who unleashed a 50-foot bullet that beat Coyotes' netminder Jason Labarbara glove hand for a 1-0 Pens lead.
Then, in the waning seconds of the first period, Crosby faced off for a draw on a 4-on-4 against Coyotes' faceoff ace Vernon Fiddler. When Fiddler was tossed out of the circle, forward Lauri Korpikoski came in to take it.
Well, that was a clear mismatch for one of the better face-off guys in the game, and Crosby proved that by easily winning the draw against Korpikoski and going forward with the puck, slipping it behind him before sneaking around him to grab it.
That caught Phoenix blueliner Adrian Aucoin in no-man's land, not knowing whether to go to Crosby or cover the near winger --- Malkin --- and the Pens' Captain made Aucoin pay too, slipping a pass to Malkin in the slot and watching him easily beat Labarbara far side for a 2-0 lead.
The Penguins' power play then urned things up in the 2nd period, as the Geno and Crosby show continued.
Malkin got a man-advantage goal less than a minute into the frame, taking a puck from Crosby on a quick pass from the side boards before beating Labarbara for a 3-0 lead, then Crsoby followed-suit, hitting on almost the exact same play about 2 minutes later -- taking a pass from Malkin off the boards before top-shelfing one past Labarara for a 4-0 advantage.
At that point, Pittsburgh was 3-for-3 on the power play. They finished 3-for-5 on the game.
Matt Cooke then upped the Pens' lead to 5-0 before the game was half old and with Malkin adding an assist on that play -- tying a career-high with his 5th point in only about 28 minutes of work -- Phoenix coach Dave Tippett saved Labarbara from any further beating by pulling him from the cage.
Good thing, too, because the Penguins were headed fast towards double digits at that time, and they have rung up as many as 8 on Labarbara before when he played for the New York Rangers.
Plus, with Malkin playing the way he was playing, an assault on Toronto Maple Leafs' Darryl Sittler's record of 10 points in a game wasn't out of the question either.
"I was just trying to keep up with him," said Crosby.
But Malkin's scoring run ground to somewhat of halt when the Penguins had to do some extended work killing off a 5-on-3 disadvantage for about 2 minutes and 45 seconds late in the second period, thanks to 3 consecutive penalties on Mike Rupp, Cooke and Defenseman Brooks Orpik. Fortuantely, the Pens' PK stepped up big and slammed the door on the Phoenix power play, not allowing a goal at any point during that stretch.
In fact, the Coyotes came up empty on 8 chances with the extra man in the game, and that was the first time in 8 games that the Pens' penalty killing unit didn't allow a power-play goal against. After a long period of sustained excellence, they had allowed one in the previous 7 contests.
In the third period, Coyotes' forward Wojtek Wolski deflected one past Pens' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury -- on a play where the puck actually went off Wolski, then the mask of Fleury, then in -- to ruin #29's shutout bid, but Chris Conner added a late goal against Phoenix backup goaltender Matt Climie to wipe that away, and that wrapped up the scoring in a 6-1 final.
Crosby, whose scoring streak extended his career-high run to 21 straight games when he assisted on Geno's first goal, had 3 total points on the night. He's now 10 up on Tampa Bay Lightning forward Steven Stamkos.
With the win last night, and the hot Philadelphia Flyers laying a surprising 5-0 goose egg on home ice against the Pens' next opponent Wednesday night -- the Florida Panthers -- the Pens moved to within 3 points of Philadelphia for the Atlantic Division and NHL points lead.
Unlike the Washington Capitals, who weren't able to keep a defeat or two from morphing into an 8-game losing streak before they finally stopped that run Sunday night against a woeful Ottawa Senators team, Pittsburgh did last night what great teams do: they stopped a mini-rut from developing into something bigger. After two straight defeats -- and 4 days of rest -- they came out strong, clearly looking to get back on their game and back in the win column.
"I liked the way our team was focused and ready to go," said head coach Dan Bylsma.
Not coincidentally, Pittsburgh outshot the Coyotes 38-27 last night. In their prior 2 games against Philadelphia and the Rangers, the Pens were surprisingly outshot by a good margin in each. That's not how they play and, obviously, not how they win hockey games.
Anyway, it was good to see them get back in the "W" column. Let's hope the Pens can bag one more Wednesday and get another roll going efore the big Thursday night showdown against the Capitals in Washington in front of the HBO cameras. Pittsburgh can't look by the Panthers, though, because as Tomas Vokoun showed in slamming the door on the Flyers' last night, they can win on the strength of his play in the net alone.
More soon.
NOTES: Blysma announced before the game that forward Mike Comrie, who has been out the last 3 weeks or so, may need surgery on his hip to correct a condition that has been plaguing him since he injured it in the season's second game. Bylsma said Comrie tried to play through it for about a month -- obviously very poorly -- and then the team elected to try rest and rehabilitation to see if it would improve, with no success. An official decision hasn't been made yet, but if Comrie undergoes surgery, his time off will likely be measured in months, not weeks. Not that it will make any real difference in the club's fortunes ....
Friday, December 17, 2010
24/7 Penguins/Capitals Kicks Off In Outstanding Fashion
HBO's first episode of its legendary 24/7 reality series featuring the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals premiered Wednesday night to rave reviews throughout the hockey world in particular and sporting world in general.
Here and here are just two examples of that.
There's a reason HBO is in the business, folks, and if you missed Wednesday's night's opening episode of the 4-part series, shame on you for 6 weeks, because they just did a fantastic job with the production.
I've been a Penguins and hockey fan for 28 seasons, so I've been around the game long enough to know the way some things work behind the scenes, but some of the things HBO put out there for public consumption surprised even me. I was riveted to my television like my wife when one of the Real Housewives shows comes on.
And that was only after one episode.
The thing that struck me most about the entire 60 minutes is the stark contrast between the styles of the two clubs.
The Penguins seem to be much more of a team. They have more camaraderie among their players and in the locker room than Washington does, and just appear to generally care more about each other.
And I don't think those presentations are solely attributable to the contrasting streaks the teams were on during HBO's coverage this last week.
Sure, the Penguins being on a 12-game winning streak, while the Capitals being on a 6-game losing run played into the storyline. Capitals' coach Bruce Boudreau went as far to mention in one of his locker room addresses that it was a tough week because the HBO cameras were around and he's sure the Penguins are all smiles in their room because of the way they are playing -- in obvious contrast to his team's work lately.
Still, losing streak aside, there was little in the way of team togetherness on display in anything the Capitals did. Okay -- they skated with families on a rink around the National Mall. That may be good for public service, but isn't a team bonding moment.
Meanwhile, we saw the Penguins' players participate in a team Christmas party with their families, engage in a snowball fight on the streets in Buffalo, play a prank on rookies' Ben Lovejoy and Mark Letestu by putting all their hotel room furniture in the hallway, joke and laugh during their team shootout competition to determine the monthly 'moustache boy', and banter with each other throughout -- whether on the plane or in the locker room.
Some of the show's best quips and lines came from all of those moments, by the way:
1) Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury flipping the tables on teammate Max Talbot and calling him a "douche" on the plane (an obvious reference to how he famously referred to Washington Capitals superstar Alexander Ovechkin in an off-season radio interview), then telling the cameras that his road roommate likes to get naked;
2) Pascal Dupuis greeting teammate Evgeni Malkin on his way in the building with a simple, "F-U Geno";
3) Lovejoy coming across all the furniture in the hallway and saying, "We're going to get to the bottom of who did this, and probably do nothing about it.";
4) Talbot first telling one of his teammates' young infant daughters (it was unclear which) at the holiday party never to date a hockey player, then later on playing with Matt Cooke's son, openly (and playfully) accusing him of spearing him, then pretending to drop his gloves with him; and
5) Finally, Talbot approaching Santa Claus at the same party later on and -- with his eyes on two hot female elves on each side of Kris Kringle -- saying to Santa, "I want for Christmas your two little helpers".
Boy I hope we re-sign Talbot just for his character. You can't underestimate what he brings to the team and the locker room.
While Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovehckin were also mentioned at various times throughout the first episode -- including a segment on Ovechkin shaving as a component to a new endorsement deal he has with Gillette -- I thought HBO did a great job of keeping the focus on both teams rather than those individual players.
In fact, I think the network did a great job just picking up on the teams mid-season. That couldn't have been easy, but with transitions and references to both teams as Stanley Cup contenders, they quickly segwayed to talking about a run-of-the-mill regular season game in December for the Penguins against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Anyway, while Sid and Ovie weren't the main focus of the first episode, head coaches Dan Bylsma and Boudreau did have more of a starring role, and I thought it was fascinating to watch both.
While we know Bylsma is generally regarded as a players' coach, the glimpse we got of the way he addressed his team in the locker room before games and during games only reaffirmed that notion.
He was energetic, and focused on the Penguins' style of play. We know that 'getting to our game' is one of his main principles, and that clearly came out during the episode.
Interestingly, though, we got to see a little bit about how he intereats with his guys behind the scenes ... trying to pump them up and get them going. Seeing him credit defenseman Deryk Engelland for his fight with Toronto tough guy Colton Orr -- and the 3 stitches Engelland had to get in his eye afterwards -- was a treat. As was hearing Blysma rally his guys by saying things like "get after 'em bitches"
It was also fascinating to catch of glimpse of Blysma meeting with Pens' GM Ray Shero and evaluating his players' performance after the Toronto game. Hearing him be frank and say in reference to Cooke that "I didn't like his game" was a rare glimpse into what really goes on when a coach and GM talk.
Meanwhile, on the Capitals' end, it's hard to single out a particular thing that took the cake when it came to Boudreau.
Probably because there were so many things that actually did.
First of all, the guy is even fatter than I thought. You talk about Santa Claus having a bowl full of jelly? Boudreau has about 3X that. I mean, how does this guy look below his gut and see his penis?
Wait a minute .... he has none anyway, so who cares.
Okay, his weight aside (which is hard to ignore when there are shots of him during the episode with ketchup or barbeque sauce or something all over his face), the other thing we learned about him during episode 1 of this series is his ability to drop the F-bomb.
During one locker room speech that lasted about 60 seconds after Washington looked pretty lost in dropping their 4th straight to the Florida Panthers, 3-0, the guy dropped it 15 times, I kid you not. Among those highlights were something like, "so it isn't f'in working for the last 10 days, stop feeling f'in sorry for yourselves, get your f'in heads out of your asses and make it f'in work!"
That may not be the exact quote, but that's only because there were so many uses of the F-word and so many criticisms of his team, I couldn't keep up!
I confess -- one of the most enjoyable parts of the first episode of the series was seeing the Caps' struggle so badly. I mean, really --- watching the 'behind the scenes' of that was outstanding. When I heard Boudreau say on the bench to his players down 3-0 to the Rangers, "I'm f'in sick and tired of losing," I couldn't help but smile.
Since that deficit morphed into a 7-zip loss and their 6th straight defeat, I guess Ovechkin getting into a fight and trying to rally the bench afterwards by saying, "F'in come on for F- sakes!" didn't work too well.
Another moment that made me smile was seeing Boudreau tell his players after their 5th straight defeat that they played well, and that "you play that f'in good tomorrow, I guarantee you'll walk away with 2 points."
Uh, yeah. That worked out.
Boudreau has to be almost out of motivational tactics, doesn't he? I mean, he even had his assistant coach, former Capital Dean Evason, berate his team after 2 periods in the Ranger game instead of him. How about this gem from Evason?:
"F'ing COMPETE! Someone grab their f'in sock and compete, PLEASE!"
All in all, the show left me longing for more, and very anxious for the next episode. Hell, I wish they could follow the Penguins all year like this. That would be amazing.
While the tenor of next week's show will likely change somewhat, since the Penguins have now dropped 2 straight this week after their winning streak ended, it's going to be especially interesting to see in future weeks whether the upcoming games between the two teams -- first next Thursday, 12-23, then the Winter Classic -- impact the way the episodes turn out.
In fact, if Washington continues to struggle, playing the Penguins could be a good thing for them, because it may bring out the competitive beast that for some reason is in their collective closets right now.
All of it will make for compelling hockey. And compelling television.
More soon.
Here and here are just two examples of that.
There's a reason HBO is in the business, folks, and if you missed Wednesday's night's opening episode of the 4-part series, shame on you for 6 weeks, because they just did a fantastic job with the production.
I've been a Penguins and hockey fan for 28 seasons, so I've been around the game long enough to know the way some things work behind the scenes, but some of the things HBO put out there for public consumption surprised even me. I was riveted to my television like my wife when one of the Real Housewives shows comes on.
And that was only after one episode.
The thing that struck me most about the entire 60 minutes is the stark contrast between the styles of the two clubs.
The Penguins seem to be much more of a team. They have more camaraderie among their players and in the locker room than Washington does, and just appear to generally care more about each other.
And I don't think those presentations are solely attributable to the contrasting streaks the teams were on during HBO's coverage this last week.
Sure, the Penguins being on a 12-game winning streak, while the Capitals being on a 6-game losing run played into the storyline. Capitals' coach Bruce Boudreau went as far to mention in one of his locker room addresses that it was a tough week because the HBO cameras were around and he's sure the Penguins are all smiles in their room because of the way they are playing -- in obvious contrast to his team's work lately.
Still, losing streak aside, there was little in the way of team togetherness on display in anything the Capitals did. Okay -- they skated with families on a rink around the National Mall. That may be good for public service, but isn't a team bonding moment.
Meanwhile, we saw the Penguins' players participate in a team Christmas party with their families, engage in a snowball fight on the streets in Buffalo, play a prank on rookies' Ben Lovejoy and Mark Letestu by putting all their hotel room furniture in the hallway, joke and laugh during their team shootout competition to determine the monthly 'moustache boy', and banter with each other throughout -- whether on the plane or in the locker room.
Some of the show's best quips and lines came from all of those moments, by the way:
1) Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury flipping the tables on teammate Max Talbot and calling him a "douche" on the plane (an obvious reference to how he famously referred to Washington Capitals superstar Alexander Ovechkin in an off-season radio interview), then telling the cameras that his road roommate likes to get naked;
2) Pascal Dupuis greeting teammate Evgeni Malkin on his way in the building with a simple, "F-U Geno";
3) Lovejoy coming across all the furniture in the hallway and saying, "We're going to get to the bottom of who did this, and probably do nothing about it.";
4) Talbot first telling one of his teammates' young infant daughters (it was unclear which) at the holiday party never to date a hockey player, then later on playing with Matt Cooke's son, openly (and playfully) accusing him of spearing him, then pretending to drop his gloves with him; and
5) Finally, Talbot approaching Santa Claus at the same party later on and -- with his eyes on two hot female elves on each side of Kris Kringle -- saying to Santa, "I want for Christmas your two little helpers".
Boy I hope we re-sign Talbot just for his character. You can't underestimate what he brings to the team and the locker room.
While Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovehckin were also mentioned at various times throughout the first episode -- including a segment on Ovechkin shaving as a component to a new endorsement deal he has with Gillette -- I thought HBO did a great job of keeping the focus on both teams rather than those individual players.
In fact, I think the network did a great job just picking up on the teams mid-season. That couldn't have been easy, but with transitions and references to both teams as Stanley Cup contenders, they quickly segwayed to talking about a run-of-the-mill regular season game in December for the Penguins against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Anyway, while Sid and Ovie weren't the main focus of the first episode, head coaches Dan Bylsma and Boudreau did have more of a starring role, and I thought it was fascinating to watch both.
While we know Bylsma is generally regarded as a players' coach, the glimpse we got of the way he addressed his team in the locker room before games and during games only reaffirmed that notion.
He was energetic, and focused on the Penguins' style of play. We know that 'getting to our game' is one of his main principles, and that clearly came out during the episode.
Interestingly, though, we got to see a little bit about how he intereats with his guys behind the scenes ... trying to pump them up and get them going. Seeing him credit defenseman Deryk Engelland for his fight with Toronto tough guy Colton Orr -- and the 3 stitches Engelland had to get in his eye afterwards -- was a treat. As was hearing Blysma rally his guys by saying things like "get after 'em bitches"
It was also fascinating to catch of glimpse of Blysma meeting with Pens' GM Ray Shero and evaluating his players' performance after the Toronto game. Hearing him be frank and say in reference to Cooke that "I didn't like his game" was a rare glimpse into what really goes on when a coach and GM talk.
Meanwhile, on the Capitals' end, it's hard to single out a particular thing that took the cake when it came to Boudreau.
Probably because there were so many things that actually did.
First of all, the guy is even fatter than I thought. You talk about Santa Claus having a bowl full of jelly? Boudreau has about 3X that. I mean, how does this guy look below his gut and see his penis?
Wait a minute .... he has none anyway, so who cares.
Okay, his weight aside (which is hard to ignore when there are shots of him during the episode with ketchup or barbeque sauce or something all over his face), the other thing we learned about him during episode 1 of this series is his ability to drop the F-bomb.
During one locker room speech that lasted about 60 seconds after Washington looked pretty lost in dropping their 4th straight to the Florida Panthers, 3-0, the guy dropped it 15 times, I kid you not. Among those highlights were something like, "so it isn't f'in working for the last 10 days, stop feeling f'in sorry for yourselves, get your f'in heads out of your asses and make it f'in work!"
That may not be the exact quote, but that's only because there were so many uses of the F-word and so many criticisms of his team, I couldn't keep up!
I confess -- one of the most enjoyable parts of the first episode of the series was seeing the Caps' struggle so badly. I mean, really --- watching the 'behind the scenes' of that was outstanding. When I heard Boudreau say on the bench to his players down 3-0 to the Rangers, "I'm f'in sick and tired of losing," I couldn't help but smile.
Since that deficit morphed into a 7-zip loss and their 6th straight defeat, I guess Ovechkin getting into a fight and trying to rally the bench afterwards by saying, "F'in come on for F- sakes!" didn't work too well.
Another moment that made me smile was seeing Boudreau tell his players after their 5th straight defeat that they played well, and that "you play that f'in good tomorrow, I guarantee you'll walk away with 2 points."
Uh, yeah. That worked out.
Boudreau has to be almost out of motivational tactics, doesn't he? I mean, he even had his assistant coach, former Capital Dean Evason, berate his team after 2 periods in the Ranger game instead of him. How about this gem from Evason?:
"F'ing COMPETE! Someone grab their f'in sock and compete, PLEASE!"
All in all, the show left me longing for more, and very anxious for the next episode. Hell, I wish they could follow the Penguins all year like this. That would be amazing.
While the tenor of next week's show will likely change somewhat, since the Penguins have now dropped 2 straight this week after their winning streak ended, it's going to be especially interesting to see in future weeks whether the upcoming games between the two teams -- first next Thursday, 12-23, then the Winter Classic -- impact the way the episodes turn out.
In fact, if Washington continues to struggle, playing the Penguins could be a good thing for them, because it may bring out the competitive beast that for some reason is in their collective closets right now.
All of it will make for compelling hockey. And compelling television.
More soon.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Penguins Relapse In Third Period Collapsing Loss To Rangers
Maybe another long winning streak for the Pittsburgh Penguins is on the immediate horizon?
After all, that's what happened the last time the Pens suffered a third period collapse, back on November 10 against the Boston Bruins when they and goaltender Brent Johnson allowed the Bruins to overcome a 4-2 deficit with 5 third-period goals in a 7-4 defeat.
Johnson was back at it again last night, holding a 1-0 lead over the blueshirts when he was front and center in another third-period collapse that morphed into a 4-1 win for New York and the second straight loss for Pittsburgh.
Coming off their first loss in 13 games the night before in Philadelphia, the Penguins cranked it up against the Rangers in the first period last night -- particularly late in the period, when they went on a charge and dominated New York for the final 5 or so minutes of the frame.
That sequence involved one stretch where the Pens maintained possession of the puck in the New York zone for nealy 90 seconds, generating scoring chance after scoring chance and taking momentum of the game in the process.
That culminated in a beautiful individual goal by Evgeni Malkin -- his 3rd in the last two games after missing 4 contests with a knee injury -- when he took a pass from Sidney Crosby down the left wing, cut sharply to the goal, deked Rangers' netminder Henrik Lundqvist to the ice, and slid the puck behind him while going the other way.
Since my words probably don't do the goal justice, just watch it here.
With his assist, Crosby raised his point scoring streak to a career-high 20 games, by the way.
The Pens' lead held up into the third period when a bad penalty call against LW Matt Cooke put Pittsburgh a man down just before the halfway mark of the frame.
Cooke was rushing to get the puck in the corner deep in the Rangers zone. He was in a footrace with New York player Derek Stepan. No other players were in the area and it should have been plain to anyone watching -- including the guys in black and white stripes -- that they were going to battle to get the biscuit.
As the two players approached the puck, Cooke tried to get position on Stepan with his shoulder and outmuscle him.
He did, and knocked Stepan down about 3-5 feet before either player got to the puck, which had come to a dead rest close to both men.
Unfortunately, the official saw that as a tripping call, and not long after Cooke was sent off to the box, former Penguin cast-off Erik Christensen made them pay by beating Johnson with a high wrister from 30 feet to tie the score.
Johnson was too far back in his net on the play, and went down too early.
But Christensen's goal didn't sting as much as the one by the next Rangers' retread to score 15 seconds later. That was when Alexander Frolov found a loose puck and tossed it by Johnson from the low slot, suddenly transforming what had been a Penguins' lead into one held by the guys wearing blue.
Not long after, it appeared that Geno had scored again on a rush to tie the game, but in the immediate aftermath of the goal when Lundqvist complained to the officials about supposedly being interfered with by Pens' LW Pascal Dupuis, the goal was waved off.
No penalty was called on the Dupuis on the play, which wasn't surprising since he was basically backed into Lunqvist by Rangers' defenseman Michael Rozsival; still, the goaltender interference was sufficient in the eyes of the referree to make the play dead, since he determined that Lundqvist was not able to get into position.
So, with even additional wind out of their sails, New York forward Artem Anisimov scored on a wrister from 35 feet a minute or two later -- on another play that Johnson went down too soon on -- and forward Brian Boyle finished off the ignomity of the game by beating a defeated Johnson and making it 4-1 just 90 seconds later.
Johnson looked pretty good in the first two periods in this game, but morphed in the third period into what we see from him on occasion -- dropping down to his knees to soon and not challenging shooters. As a backup, he tends to slip into that mode more often. He wasn't doing that early in the season when he was playing as sharply as any netminder in the game, but obviously, with the Flower back on top of the world and manning the Pens' cage on most nights these days, that's what you're going to get from Johnny, unfortunately.
I'm certain Fleury would not have allowed the Christensen and Anisimov goals, if not the one by Boyle, too.
But, it is what it is.
And with that, even though the Penguins probably outplayed the Rangers most of the night and outshot them 28-22, and even though New York lost key forward Ryan Callahan in the first period when he broke his hand blocking a shot by Pens' defenseman Kris Letang, it was the opportunistic Rangers that got the "W".
Worse, thanks to the Flyers winning again last night, the Pens' are now suddenly 3 points back in the Atlantic.
Hey, at least Washington lost their 7th straight game.
Anyway, with a bad taste in their mouth and 2 straight losses after reeling off 12 straight wins, the Penguins are now forced to sit back and wait until next Monday to play again when the Phoenix Coyotes come to town.
Expect a bit more focus and attention to detail for the HBO cameras in the next few practices.
Sepaking of which, I'll have a ton on the first 24/7 Episode -- which premiered last night -- tomorrow. For those who haven't seen it, find a way to. It was fantastic.
NOTES:
As expected, LW Chris Kunitz missed his second straight game last night with an undisclosed injury. It probably made sense to keep him out of the lineup since the Penguins are off until Monday. Kunitz isn't dealing with anything overwhelming -- he's just a bit banged up -- so hopefully he'll return to action against the 'Yotes.
Defenseman Ben Lovejoy dressed in place of blueliner Deryk Engelland last night, too.
Pittsburgh's top prospect, defenseman Simon Despres, was selected to play for Canada's entry in the World Junior Championships, starting later this month. That's great recognition for the strong season he's having with the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Despres is only going to be better for the experience at the WJC.
After all, that's what happened the last time the Pens suffered a third period collapse, back on November 10 against the Boston Bruins when they and goaltender Brent Johnson allowed the Bruins to overcome a 4-2 deficit with 5 third-period goals in a 7-4 defeat.
Johnson was back at it again last night, holding a 1-0 lead over the blueshirts when he was front and center in another third-period collapse that morphed into a 4-1 win for New York and the second straight loss for Pittsburgh.
Coming off their first loss in 13 games the night before in Philadelphia, the Penguins cranked it up against the Rangers in the first period last night -- particularly late in the period, when they went on a charge and dominated New York for the final 5 or so minutes of the frame.
That sequence involved one stretch where the Pens maintained possession of the puck in the New York zone for nealy 90 seconds, generating scoring chance after scoring chance and taking momentum of the game in the process.
That culminated in a beautiful individual goal by Evgeni Malkin -- his 3rd in the last two games after missing 4 contests with a knee injury -- when he took a pass from Sidney Crosby down the left wing, cut sharply to the goal, deked Rangers' netminder Henrik Lundqvist to the ice, and slid the puck behind him while going the other way.
Since my words probably don't do the goal justice, just watch it here.
With his assist, Crosby raised his point scoring streak to a career-high 20 games, by the way.
The Pens' lead held up into the third period when a bad penalty call against LW Matt Cooke put Pittsburgh a man down just before the halfway mark of the frame.
Cooke was rushing to get the puck in the corner deep in the Rangers zone. He was in a footrace with New York player Derek Stepan. No other players were in the area and it should have been plain to anyone watching -- including the guys in black and white stripes -- that they were going to battle to get the biscuit.
As the two players approached the puck, Cooke tried to get position on Stepan with his shoulder and outmuscle him.
He did, and knocked Stepan down about 3-5 feet before either player got to the puck, which had come to a dead rest close to both men.
Unfortunately, the official saw that as a tripping call, and not long after Cooke was sent off to the box, former Penguin cast-off Erik Christensen made them pay by beating Johnson with a high wrister from 30 feet to tie the score.
Johnson was too far back in his net on the play, and went down too early.
But Christensen's goal didn't sting as much as the one by the next Rangers' retread to score 15 seconds later. That was when Alexander Frolov found a loose puck and tossed it by Johnson from the low slot, suddenly transforming what had been a Penguins' lead into one held by the guys wearing blue.
Not long after, it appeared that Geno had scored again on a rush to tie the game, but in the immediate aftermath of the goal when Lundqvist complained to the officials about supposedly being interfered with by Pens' LW Pascal Dupuis, the goal was waved off.
No penalty was called on the Dupuis on the play, which wasn't surprising since he was basically backed into Lunqvist by Rangers' defenseman Michael Rozsival; still, the goaltender interference was sufficient in the eyes of the referree to make the play dead, since he determined that Lundqvist was not able to get into position.
So, with even additional wind out of their sails, New York forward Artem Anisimov scored on a wrister from 35 feet a minute or two later -- on another play that Johnson went down too soon on -- and forward Brian Boyle finished off the ignomity of the game by beating a defeated Johnson and making it 4-1 just 90 seconds later.
Johnson looked pretty good in the first two periods in this game, but morphed in the third period into what we see from him on occasion -- dropping down to his knees to soon and not challenging shooters. As a backup, he tends to slip into that mode more often. He wasn't doing that early in the season when he was playing as sharply as any netminder in the game, but obviously, with the Flower back on top of the world and manning the Pens' cage on most nights these days, that's what you're going to get from Johnny, unfortunately.
I'm certain Fleury would not have allowed the Christensen and Anisimov goals, if not the one by Boyle, too.
But, it is what it is.
And with that, even though the Penguins probably outplayed the Rangers most of the night and outshot them 28-22, and even though New York lost key forward Ryan Callahan in the first period when he broke his hand blocking a shot by Pens' defenseman Kris Letang, it was the opportunistic Rangers that got the "W".
Worse, thanks to the Flyers winning again last night, the Pens' are now suddenly 3 points back in the Atlantic.
Hey, at least Washington lost their 7th straight game.
Anyway, with a bad taste in their mouth and 2 straight losses after reeling off 12 straight wins, the Penguins are now forced to sit back and wait until next Monday to play again when the Phoenix Coyotes come to town.
Expect a bit more focus and attention to detail for the HBO cameras in the next few practices.
Sepaking of which, I'll have a ton on the first 24/7 Episode -- which premiered last night -- tomorrow. For those who haven't seen it, find a way to. It was fantastic.
NOTES:
As expected, LW Chris Kunitz missed his second straight game last night with an undisclosed injury. It probably made sense to keep him out of the lineup since the Penguins are off until Monday. Kunitz isn't dealing with anything overwhelming -- he's just a bit banged up -- so hopefully he'll return to action against the 'Yotes.
Defenseman Ben Lovejoy dressed in place of blueliner Deryk Engelland last night, too.
Pittsburgh's top prospect, defenseman Simon Despres, was selected to play for Canada's entry in the World Junior Championships, starting later this month. That's great recognition for the strong season he's having with the Saint John Sea Dogs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Despres is only going to be better for the experience at the WJC.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Unlucky 13 -- Flyers Defeat Penguins, 3-2
Have you ever been in a hotel or office building elevator wondering why you can't find the button to the 13th floor?
Superstition, my dear readers.
People don't like the #13.
Apparently, the Pittsburgh Penguins don't either.
The Pens had an opportunity to extend their winning streak to 13 games last night at the Wachovia Center against their arch rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers, and had this little matter of first place overall in the NHL standings at-stake as well.
But between letting the Flyers dictate the tempo of the game and not being able to get out of their own way on the path to the penalty box, Pittsburgh fell to the Flyers, 3-2, last night -- their third loss (all by the same count) to Philadelphia in 4 games this season.
Philadlephia came out strong in the first period and was rewarded for it when Penguin killer Claude Giroux scored 12 minutes into the game to make it 1-0. Giroux did a nice job to finish the play, but the Penguins had their hand in it, too.
First, Pens' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury lost his stick when he came out of the net to play the puck. Second, the Flyers were able to get Giroux out with Daniel Briere and Scott Hartnell -- their best line of late -- against the Pens' 3rd defensive pairing of Alex Goligoski and Deryk Engelland. That paid dividends when both blueliners in black and gold failed to take a man and failed to clear a loose puck in front of Fleury before Giroux picked it up and tossed it in.
Pittsburgh evened the score on the power play in the 2nd period when Evgeni Malkin -- playing his first game after missing 4 contests with a sore right knee -- lasered in a shot from the right circle.
Sidney Crosby got the second assist on Geno's tally, by the way, extending his scoring streak to 19 games, tying a career-high.
The 1-1 tie in the game didn't last long, though, as Nikolai Zherdev gave Philadelphia a 2-1 lead on a nice individual effort about 4 minutes later.
Zherdev lead a rush into the Penguins' zone that was either a 2-on-1 or 3-on-2, depending on how you evaluated whether Pens' defenseman Zbynek Michalek was in the play or not. Primarily, it was Brooks Orpik defending.
Zherdev came down the left wing, backed Orpik in and ultimately got him to leave his feet to try and block Zherdev's effort (whether shot or pass), at which time the Flyer forward quickly pulled up and cut towards the slot. Rather than dish it to a linemate who was steaming up the right side, however (because Michalek dove back in the play to cut that off), Zherdev just waited a second or two and beat Fleury cleanly to the stick side uncontested.
Pens' assistant coach Todd Rierden -- who works with the team's defensemen -- teaches them that it's okay to leave their feet when necessary. Generally, Pittsburgh's blueliners do a good job of that.
But as I've said in this space before, timing and circumstance means everything.
Zherdev showed nice patience on the play, but him scoring with both Orpik and Michalek on the ice says something, doesn't it? And not just about their play, quite frankly, but about how the Pens' found themselves defending that odd-man rush in the first place.
Geno struck again, though, with an assist by #87, early in the 3rd period on another power-play -- this time a 4-on-3 -- to even the score, but once again, the Penguins weren't able to hold the lead.
Carrot top scored on the power play with about 10 minutes to go to give Philadelphia the 3-2 advantage. Pittsburgh had several chances to tie the game late in the third on the power play with a pulled netminder, but defenseman Kris Letang missed the net on 2 good one-timer chances from about 45 feet, making the Flyers' lead one they would not relinquish.
And with that, the franchise's second longest winning streak came to an end, as did their run of 7 straight wins on the road -- a streak which itself was tied for the most ever put together by the organization.
The Flower's 11 game winning streak also was snapped.
I hate to give Philadelphia credit -- so I won't -- but I will say that they took the play to the Penguins in this game. They outshot the Pens 12-7 in the opening frame and, when the game was on the line in the third period, 14-5. Overall, the shot totals for the game were 37-23.
The Flyers are a strong offensive club, but the Penguins didn't play nearly as well defensively in this one as they had been. In fact, it was the first time in the last 11 games that they allowed more than 2 goals.
The other thing the Penguins can look in the mirror and find fault with this morning was their penchant for taking penalties at inopportune times -- and sometimes bad penalties, to boot.
After each of their goals, they took penalties, and there were several times in the game when they took back-to-back penalties. Then, when Malkin took a terrible penalty in the third period -- the Pens' 6th infraction of the game -- Philadelphia finally capitalized.
"It's a stupid penalty, and my fault," Malkin said of the call.
Sure, giving a talented team like the Flyers that many chances on the man-advantage is playing with fire, but the bigger issue for Pittsburgh last night was that the penalties they were taking killed their momentum and kept them from developing any of their own flow in the game.
With the defeat, the Flyers leapfrogged the Penguins into first place in the Atlantic Division -- and overall in the NHL -- with 45 points, while the Pens' have 44. Philadelphia is in action again tonight, as are the Penguins, who return home to The Bird House to host the New York Rangers.
Pittsburgh is undefeated in the second game in back-to-back sets this season, and they generally play good against the Rangers at home, so lets hope they take advantage of the opportunity they have this evening to put last night's defeat in the rear-view mirror quickly. Especially since they don't play again until next Monday. I'm sure they don't want to sit on 2 straight losses for that long.
I'll have a recap of that game tomorrow, and I'll also have a recap of the first 1-hour episode of HBO's well-hyped and highly anticipated 24/7 series featuring the Penguins and Washington Capitals, which airs tonight at 10:00 PM EST (encore at 11:00 PM EST). Can't wait for that ....
NOTES:
LW Chris Kunitz did not play against the Flyers last night. He's dealing with an undisclosed injury (head coach Dan Bylsma said he's just "banged up"). Malkin took his spot in the lineup and on Crosby's wing for the game. It's likely Pittsburgh will go with the same look tonight, since Kunitz will probably sit again.
Crosby and Capitals' star winger Alexander Ovechkin will be guests on "The Price is Right" this coming Monday, together with former NHL player Jeremy Roenick, where they will help give away a 'showcase showdown' package involving tickets to the Winter Classic and other related prizes.
Superstition, my dear readers.
People don't like the #13.
Apparently, the Pittsburgh Penguins don't either.
The Pens had an opportunity to extend their winning streak to 13 games last night at the Wachovia Center against their arch rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers, and had this little matter of first place overall in the NHL standings at-stake as well.
But between letting the Flyers dictate the tempo of the game and not being able to get out of their own way on the path to the penalty box, Pittsburgh fell to the Flyers, 3-2, last night -- their third loss (all by the same count) to Philadelphia in 4 games this season.
Philadlephia came out strong in the first period and was rewarded for it when Penguin killer Claude Giroux scored 12 minutes into the game to make it 1-0. Giroux did a nice job to finish the play, but the Penguins had their hand in it, too.
First, Pens' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury lost his stick when he came out of the net to play the puck. Second, the Flyers were able to get Giroux out with Daniel Briere and Scott Hartnell -- their best line of late -- against the Pens' 3rd defensive pairing of Alex Goligoski and Deryk Engelland. That paid dividends when both blueliners in black and gold failed to take a man and failed to clear a loose puck in front of Fleury before Giroux picked it up and tossed it in.
Pittsburgh evened the score on the power play in the 2nd period when Evgeni Malkin -- playing his first game after missing 4 contests with a sore right knee -- lasered in a shot from the right circle.
Sidney Crosby got the second assist on Geno's tally, by the way, extending his scoring streak to 19 games, tying a career-high.
The 1-1 tie in the game didn't last long, though, as Nikolai Zherdev gave Philadelphia a 2-1 lead on a nice individual effort about 4 minutes later.
Zherdev lead a rush into the Penguins' zone that was either a 2-on-1 or 3-on-2, depending on how you evaluated whether Pens' defenseman Zbynek Michalek was in the play or not. Primarily, it was Brooks Orpik defending.
Zherdev came down the left wing, backed Orpik in and ultimately got him to leave his feet to try and block Zherdev's effort (whether shot or pass), at which time the Flyer forward quickly pulled up and cut towards the slot. Rather than dish it to a linemate who was steaming up the right side, however (because Michalek dove back in the play to cut that off), Zherdev just waited a second or two and beat Fleury cleanly to the stick side uncontested.
Pens' assistant coach Todd Rierden -- who works with the team's defensemen -- teaches them that it's okay to leave their feet when necessary. Generally, Pittsburgh's blueliners do a good job of that.
But as I've said in this space before, timing and circumstance means everything.
Zherdev showed nice patience on the play, but him scoring with both Orpik and Michalek on the ice says something, doesn't it? And not just about their play, quite frankly, but about how the Pens' found themselves defending that odd-man rush in the first place.
Geno struck again, though, with an assist by #87, early in the 3rd period on another power-play -- this time a 4-on-3 -- to even the score, but once again, the Penguins weren't able to hold the lead.
Carrot top scored on the power play with about 10 minutes to go to give Philadelphia the 3-2 advantage. Pittsburgh had several chances to tie the game late in the third on the power play with a pulled netminder, but defenseman Kris Letang missed the net on 2 good one-timer chances from about 45 feet, making the Flyers' lead one they would not relinquish.
And with that, the franchise's second longest winning streak came to an end, as did their run of 7 straight wins on the road -- a streak which itself was tied for the most ever put together by the organization.
The Flower's 11 game winning streak also was snapped.
I hate to give Philadelphia credit -- so I won't -- but I will say that they took the play to the Penguins in this game. They outshot the Pens 12-7 in the opening frame and, when the game was on the line in the third period, 14-5. Overall, the shot totals for the game were 37-23.
The Flyers are a strong offensive club, but the Penguins didn't play nearly as well defensively in this one as they had been. In fact, it was the first time in the last 11 games that they allowed more than 2 goals.
The other thing the Penguins can look in the mirror and find fault with this morning was their penchant for taking penalties at inopportune times -- and sometimes bad penalties, to boot.
After each of their goals, they took penalties, and there were several times in the game when they took back-to-back penalties. Then, when Malkin took a terrible penalty in the third period -- the Pens' 6th infraction of the game -- Philadelphia finally capitalized.
"It's a stupid penalty, and my fault," Malkin said of the call.
Sure, giving a talented team like the Flyers that many chances on the man-advantage is playing with fire, but the bigger issue for Pittsburgh last night was that the penalties they were taking killed their momentum and kept them from developing any of their own flow in the game.
With the defeat, the Flyers leapfrogged the Penguins into first place in the Atlantic Division -- and overall in the NHL -- with 45 points, while the Pens' have 44. Philadelphia is in action again tonight, as are the Penguins, who return home to The Bird House to host the New York Rangers.
Pittsburgh is undefeated in the second game in back-to-back sets this season, and they generally play good against the Rangers at home, so lets hope they take advantage of the opportunity they have this evening to put last night's defeat in the rear-view mirror quickly. Especially since they don't play again until next Monday. I'm sure they don't want to sit on 2 straight losses for that long.
I'll have a recap of that game tomorrow, and I'll also have a recap of the first 1-hour episode of HBO's well-hyped and highly anticipated 24/7 series featuring the Penguins and Washington Capitals, which airs tonight at 10:00 PM EST (encore at 11:00 PM EST). Can't wait for that ....
NOTES:
LW Chris Kunitz did not play against the Flyers last night. He's dealing with an undisclosed injury (head coach Dan Bylsma said he's just "banged up"). Malkin took his spot in the lineup and on Crosby's wing for the game. It's likely Pittsburgh will go with the same look tonight, since Kunitz will probably sit again.
Crosby and Capitals' star winger Alexander Ovechkin will be guests on "The Price is Right" this coming Monday, together with former NHL player Jeremy Roenick, where they will help give away a 'showcase showdown' package involving tickets to the Winter Classic and other related prizes.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
There Will Be No Brotherly Love Tonight
Someone in an orange jersey whining like a baby?
A familiar sight for Pittsburgh Penguin fans to be sure.
Let's hope we see more of that tonight, as the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers face-off in a nationally-televised showdown at the Wachovia Center for first place in the National Hockey League (7:00 PM EST, VERSUS).
And, of course, that's not the only thing on the line in this one.
The Penguins, 15-1-1 in their last 17 overall, are looking to run their winning streak to 13 games, and Pens' Captain Sidney Crosby is looking to tie his career-best 19-game scoring run.
In the last 18 contests, Sid has rang up 20 goals and 16 assists for 36 points.
As if playing in Philadelphia -- where he has historically tortured the Flyers -- doesn't give him any further incentive to pad those numbers this evening, right?
Pens' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury -- sure to be between the pipes in the hostile Wachovia center -- by the way, also has won 11 straight. That's a career best for him, too.
Meanwhile, for as much as it pains me to say it, the Flyers are also playing some good hockey lately. To be sure, it takes that to stick with Pittsburgh in the standings these days.
Philadelphia is 7-1-3 in their last 11. They also went through a stretch prior to that where they were 9-0-1.
They are 19-7-5 with 43 points overall, while Pittsburgh is 21-8-2 with 44 points.
The Flyers and Pens have squared off 3 times this year already -- all during the first month of the season -- with the Flyers winning 2 of those. One of them was the opening game at the CONSOL Energy Center, which Philadelphia spoiled by winning 3-2. After that, the Penguins whupped the Flyers in Philadelphia 5-1 the next week, before the Flyers game back and won another 3-2 game in Pittsburgh a few weeks later.
The Flyers are led by the usual cast of villians -- Captain Mike Richards and forwards Jeff Carter and Daniel Briere. Richards leads the team in scoring this year with 30 points in 31 games, while Briere is their leading goal scorer with 16.
The guy the Penguins have to watch out for tonight, however, is Claude Giroux.
Giroux has 14 goals and 14 assists on the season and has fast ascended into the upper echelon of skilled forwards on the Flyers' team. Worse, he has killed the Penguins in the past -- particularly while shorthanded.
Meanwhile, the Pens will have some interesting lineup decisions to make tonight.
Center/Winger Evgeni Malkin -- who has missed the last 4 games with a sore right knee -- may or may not return to the lineup tonight. He's been practicing the last few days and appears just about ready to go.
Whether he plays or not may actually be tied to the health and status of LW Chris Kunitz, who missed practice yesterday beacuse, according to Head Coach Dan Bylsma, he's "banged up". He's questionable for tonight.
If Kunitz doesn't go, Malkin may just slide into his spot on the top line with the Captain.
If Malkin doesn't play tonight, odds are he will return tomorrow night when the Penguins host the New York Rangers back at The Bird House.
If #14 and #71 are a go tonight, what will the Penguins do with forward Dustin Jeffrey? The Penguins -- in theory, at least -- almost certainly called him up to play and not sit in the press box.
Jeffrey had a real strong first game for Pittsburgh on Saturday night against the Sabres, notching a goal and an assist, and looking like he did when he was dominating the American Hockey League all season long.
If he plays, who do you sit? The Penguins' third line has been rolling, so you don't want to tinker with that unit. That would leave the likes of Craig Adams and Mike Rupp to pick from. Rupp provides a valuable presence in the lineup in a game against Philadelphia, so he's likely to stick. That would mean Adams is most likely to sit out if Kunitz, Malkin and Jeffrey were to all play.
Of course, all of this assumes that Blysma won't dress Eric Godard for the game, either.
While Godard would typically play against the Flyers in anticipation of the rough going, the need to have him in the lineup might have been negated when Philadelphia enforcer Jody Shelley was suspended two games over the weekend for a hit from behind.
Since he'll miss tonight's game -- and since blueliner Deryk Engelland will also almost assuredly dress for Pittsburgh, too -- that probably puts Godard in the press box for the evening.
One guy who won't be in the lineup for the Penguins tonight -- still -- is forward Jordan Staal.
When Staal broke a bone in his hand about 6 weeks ago, the hope was that he might be able to return to the lineup in mid-December. Perhaps even for tonight's game.
That timetable was pushed back last week, however, when it was revealed that Staal may have suffered a bit of a setback in the healing process.
I'm still not certain of exactly what is going on with Staal (and I'm not sure anyone following the team truly is either), but it seems that one of two things are happening.
For one, Staal may still have a broken bone in his hand. A report surfaced last week that the x-ray Gronk had early last week revealed that he had another, small broken bone to deal with.
Disco Dan denied that report specifically, and tossed out another explanation for Staal's current status, saying that some calcification of his bone was detected.
Bylsma further indicated that was a regular part of the healing process and that Staal remained on track with his rehabilitation.
For his part, Staal has been silent on the matter. He's been skating for a few weeks and has started to work with his stick and the puck.
Still, it doesn't look like he's going to be back in the lineup until closer to the end of the month, which would mark the near-8 week mark for him.
At this point, I'm just hoping he returns for the Winter Classic on 1-1.
That's all for now, boys and girls. Lock down for tonight's showdown. The environment in Philadelphia when these two teams play is always elevated. The buzz is likely to be even more heightened this evening. Expect it to be a near-playoff atmosphere.
I'll have a recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
Monday, December 13, 2010
Post-Surgery Recap: A Dirty Dozen and Counting
Boys and girls, I apologize for my hiatus. I went under the knife last week to rid myself of a pesky kidney stone. After recovering for several days, I'm back in the mix.
The Boys of Winter, of course, didn't miss a beat while I was away, running their winning streak to 12 straight games with back-to-back 5-2 defeats over the Toronto Maple Leafs last Wednesday at The Bird House, and over the Buffalo Sabres Saturday night in New York.
Both games were among the most physical of the season for Pittsburgh, with both the Leafs and Sabres trying to physically push around the Penguins in general -- and Captain Sidney Crosby in particular.
All both clubs got for their trouble was a beating both on the ice and on the scoreboard.
Wednesday night, Crosby rang up 2 more goals, one in the first period and another late in the second to raise his scoring streak to 17 games. The Penguins had a 4-0 lead at that point and were really taking it to the Maple Leafs, with the highlight being Pascal Dupuis scoring on a shorthanded 2-on-0 break.
Still, weary of another comeback by a Toronto club that had erased multiple-goal deficits in their last two contests coming into the game -- including a 3-goal, third period hole which they overcame just 2 days earlier to beat the Washington Capitals in a shootout -- Pittsburgh clamped down in the third period.
The Leafs were able to get two goals in the first 9 minutes of the period, but when Pens' forward Mark Letestu squashed that rally with his second goal of the game with just under 3 minutes to go, Pittsburgh had their 11th straight win in the bag.
Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, by the way, stopped 24 shots for his 10th straight victory in that game.
One of the most interesting dynamics in the contest was former Penguin Colby Armstrong taking a little bit of a run at his good friend, Crosby, in the first period.
As I watched Crosby show his displeasure with Armstrong on the play, all I could think of was what 105.9 The X afternoon Radio host Mark Madden said earlier that afternoon.
He was right on the mark when the brought up how Armstrong likes to skate into the defensive zone to catch players off guard with hits down low. He did that a ton when he was with the Penguins -- and angered a lot of opponents with those legal, but borderline, hits along the way.
Madden wondered whether Armstrong would ever do that to Crosby, especially since Colby has now been gone for a few seasons.
And then sure enough, it almost happened that night. It wasn't as bad -- and it was in front of the net, rather than in the corner where Armstrong likes to try and lay someone out -- but clearly, Crosby and the Penguins took exception, as evidenced by the several fights that happened throughout the game.
Those bouts included a rematch between Pens' heavyweight Deryk Engelland and Leafs' enforcer Colton Orr.
As everyone recalls, in their first meeting early this season, Engelland knocked Orr out cold with a right to the chin.
While Engelland didn't render Orr unconscious this time, he again got the obvious victory in their bout.
As did Pittsburgh sheriff Eric Godard -- again in the lineup with Evgeni Malkin still dealing with a knee problem -- when he got ahold of Toronto defenseman Jay Rosehill in the the third period.
Rosehill was running around a little bit and, after a fight between Pens' forward Mike Rupp and Leafs' blueliner Mike Komisarek just seconds earlier, Pens' head coach Dan Bylsma put Godard out on Crosby's line for the next shift.
Sure enough, Rosehill was dumb enough to take a cheap shot at Pittsburgh defenseman Paul Martin -- and then Crosby -- while Godard was out there.
All he got for his trouble was a bloody face thanks to Godard's fists.
After the beating his team took, I heard perhaps the quote of the year from Toronto coach Ron Wilson when he was asked after the game about the Penguins' dominance:
"The turning point in the game was when they dropped the puck for the opening faceoff," Wilson said.
Going into the weekend then, you'd think the Sabres would have learned after watching film of Wednesday's game that the Penguins wouldn't be pushed around. Strangely enough, though, they tried the same tactics Saturday evening -- with Buffalo defenseman Tyler Myers taking a dangerous run at Crosby early in the game, and then Sabres' blueliner and Pittsburgh native Mike Weber punching Crosby in the face repeatedly in the second period.
At this point, it's becoming clear that there aren't any legal means to stop the Pens' Captain and the incredible, 80's-like scoring streak he's on. So, teams are going to target him physically to try and do that instead.
Truth be known, however, the officials in the game -- Ian Walsh and Kevin Pollack -- just let the contest get out of hand a little. That's why it was as chippy as it was, and that's why both teams were taking liberties out there.
Again, however, it was to no avail, largely thanks to rookie Dustin Jeffrey and his band of grinders.
Jeffrey had been called up from Wilkes-Barre the day before and, with Malkin again sitting out with his knee problem, got inserted into the lineup.
Bylsma said that Jeffrey's play in the American Hockey League -- where he was tied for the league lead in scoring with 30 points in 25 games while leading the Baby Pens to a 21-5 record -- was begging for a call-up for the last 6 weeks.
Well, all Jeffrey did was make Blymsa look like a genius, scoring the game's opening goal just under 7 minutes into the contest, then adding a helper in the third period while doing some nice work down low to get the puck in front for Rupp to bang home.
Aaron Asham also scored on a fantastic top corner slap shot from the right circle in the first period, and his tally along with Alex Goligoski's game winner in the third period and Matt Cooke's empty net goal were more than enough for the Penguins to bag their 12th straight "W".
Crosby, by the way, was pretty quiet on the night, but did assist on GoGo's game-winner to run his scoring streak to 18 games.
While the Penguins continued their historical dominance over Sabres' goaltender Ryan Miller in the game, the Flower was real strong between the pipes for Pittsburgh at the other end again, stopping 34 of 36 shots this time to run his record to 14-6-1.
Fleury's personal statistics are also starting to show he's one of the best goaltenders in the game. His GAA is now at 2.31, and his save %-age is at .914.
All those numbers are incredible, considering where Fleury ranked in each of those categories after the season's first 10 games. That's how good he has been.
And that's how good the Penguins continue to play defensively, too.
Going into last night's games, Pittsburgh had the league's best goal differential, at +30, meaning they've scored 30 more goals than they have allowed.
Blueliner Zbynek Michalek has been especially impressive lately, swallowing up shot and after shot like a Hoover vacuum cleaner in front of Fleury. His current plus/minus of -3 doesn't accurately portray how strong he has been in recent weeks.
Up next for the Penguins as they look for 13 straight wins are their arch-rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers, Tuesday night in Philadelphia.
I'll have a preview of that monster game tomorrow, and I'll take a look at what I expect will be some interesting lineup decisions for the head coach.
I'll also have a word about Pens' center Jordan Staal's status. As most know, Staal's recovery from a broken hand was in the news again within the last few days.
More then.
The Boys of Winter, of course, didn't miss a beat while I was away, running their winning streak to 12 straight games with back-to-back 5-2 defeats over the Toronto Maple Leafs last Wednesday at The Bird House, and over the Buffalo Sabres Saturday night in New York.
Both games were among the most physical of the season for Pittsburgh, with both the Leafs and Sabres trying to physically push around the Penguins in general -- and Captain Sidney Crosby in particular.
All both clubs got for their trouble was a beating both on the ice and on the scoreboard.
Wednesday night, Crosby rang up 2 more goals, one in the first period and another late in the second to raise his scoring streak to 17 games. The Penguins had a 4-0 lead at that point and were really taking it to the Maple Leafs, with the highlight being Pascal Dupuis scoring on a shorthanded 2-on-0 break.
Still, weary of another comeback by a Toronto club that had erased multiple-goal deficits in their last two contests coming into the game -- including a 3-goal, third period hole which they overcame just 2 days earlier to beat the Washington Capitals in a shootout -- Pittsburgh clamped down in the third period.
The Leafs were able to get two goals in the first 9 minutes of the period, but when Pens' forward Mark Letestu squashed that rally with his second goal of the game with just under 3 minutes to go, Pittsburgh had their 11th straight win in the bag.
Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, by the way, stopped 24 shots for his 10th straight victory in that game.
One of the most interesting dynamics in the contest was former Penguin Colby Armstrong taking a little bit of a run at his good friend, Crosby, in the first period.
As I watched Crosby show his displeasure with Armstrong on the play, all I could think of was what 105.9 The X afternoon Radio host Mark Madden said earlier that afternoon.
He was right on the mark when the brought up how Armstrong likes to skate into the defensive zone to catch players off guard with hits down low. He did that a ton when he was with the Penguins -- and angered a lot of opponents with those legal, but borderline, hits along the way.
Madden wondered whether Armstrong would ever do that to Crosby, especially since Colby has now been gone for a few seasons.
And then sure enough, it almost happened that night. It wasn't as bad -- and it was in front of the net, rather than in the corner where Armstrong likes to try and lay someone out -- but clearly, Crosby and the Penguins took exception, as evidenced by the several fights that happened throughout the game.
Those bouts included a rematch between Pens' heavyweight Deryk Engelland and Leafs' enforcer Colton Orr.
As everyone recalls, in their first meeting early this season, Engelland knocked Orr out cold with a right to the chin.
While Engelland didn't render Orr unconscious this time, he again got the obvious victory in their bout.
As did Pittsburgh sheriff Eric Godard -- again in the lineup with Evgeni Malkin still dealing with a knee problem -- when he got ahold of Toronto defenseman Jay Rosehill in the the third period.
Rosehill was running around a little bit and, after a fight between Pens' forward Mike Rupp and Leafs' blueliner Mike Komisarek just seconds earlier, Pens' head coach Dan Bylsma put Godard out on Crosby's line for the next shift.
Sure enough, Rosehill was dumb enough to take a cheap shot at Pittsburgh defenseman Paul Martin -- and then Crosby -- while Godard was out there.
All he got for his trouble was a bloody face thanks to Godard's fists.
After the beating his team took, I heard perhaps the quote of the year from Toronto coach Ron Wilson when he was asked after the game about the Penguins' dominance:
"The turning point in the game was when they dropped the puck for the opening faceoff," Wilson said.
Going into the weekend then, you'd think the Sabres would have learned after watching film of Wednesday's game that the Penguins wouldn't be pushed around. Strangely enough, though, they tried the same tactics Saturday evening -- with Buffalo defenseman Tyler Myers taking a dangerous run at Crosby early in the game, and then Sabres' blueliner and Pittsburgh native Mike Weber punching Crosby in the face repeatedly in the second period.
At this point, it's becoming clear that there aren't any legal means to stop the Pens' Captain and the incredible, 80's-like scoring streak he's on. So, teams are going to target him physically to try and do that instead.
Truth be known, however, the officials in the game -- Ian Walsh and Kevin Pollack -- just let the contest get out of hand a little. That's why it was as chippy as it was, and that's why both teams were taking liberties out there.
Again, however, it was to no avail, largely thanks to rookie Dustin Jeffrey and his band of grinders.
Jeffrey had been called up from Wilkes-Barre the day before and, with Malkin again sitting out with his knee problem, got inserted into the lineup.
Bylsma said that Jeffrey's play in the American Hockey League -- where he was tied for the league lead in scoring with 30 points in 25 games while leading the Baby Pens to a 21-5 record -- was begging for a call-up for the last 6 weeks.
Well, all Jeffrey did was make Blymsa look like a genius, scoring the game's opening goal just under 7 minutes into the contest, then adding a helper in the third period while doing some nice work down low to get the puck in front for Rupp to bang home.
Aaron Asham also scored on a fantastic top corner slap shot from the right circle in the first period, and his tally along with Alex Goligoski's game winner in the third period and Matt Cooke's empty net goal were more than enough for the Penguins to bag their 12th straight "W".
Crosby, by the way, was pretty quiet on the night, but did assist on GoGo's game-winner to run his scoring streak to 18 games.
While the Penguins continued their historical dominance over Sabres' goaltender Ryan Miller in the game, the Flower was real strong between the pipes for Pittsburgh at the other end again, stopping 34 of 36 shots this time to run his record to 14-6-1.
Fleury's personal statistics are also starting to show he's one of the best goaltenders in the game. His GAA is now at 2.31, and his save %-age is at .914.
All those numbers are incredible, considering where Fleury ranked in each of those categories after the season's first 10 games. That's how good he has been.
And that's how good the Penguins continue to play defensively, too.
Going into last night's games, Pittsburgh had the league's best goal differential, at +30, meaning they've scored 30 more goals than they have allowed.
Blueliner Zbynek Michalek has been especially impressive lately, swallowing up shot and after shot like a Hoover vacuum cleaner in front of Fleury. His current plus/minus of -3 doesn't accurately portray how strong he has been in recent weeks.
Up next for the Penguins as they look for 13 straight wins are their arch-rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers, Tuesday night in Philadelphia.
I'll have a preview of that monster game tomorrow, and I'll take a look at what I expect will be some interesting lineup decisions for the head coach.
I'll also have a word about Pens' center Jordan Staal's status. As most know, Staal's recovery from a broken hand was in the news again within the last few days.
More then.
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