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!
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