As the Pittsburgh Penguins get ready to start a stretch of 8 out of 10 at Mellon Arena tonight against the New York Islanders in their first home contest after a long road trip, their goaltending situation is suddenly quite muddled.
Starter Marc-Andre Fleury is still dealing with the effects of a broken ring finger on the glove hand sustained last Thursday in Pittsburgh's 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers in Edmonton.
Backup Brent Johnson is on his way back from a groin injury he suffered at the conclusion of the morning skate 8 days ago as the Pens prepared to face the Minnesota Wild in the Twin Cities.
3rd goaltender and usual Baby Penguins' starter John Curry is also with the club, but coming off a horrific performance in Saturday's night's 6-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks in Vancouver that saw the young netminder pulled after allowing 5 goals on 14 shots in a span of approximately 8 minutes.
At this point, while the starter for tonight's game is uncertain, it's likely that it won't be Fleury -- who didn't take any shots in practice yesterday but instead skated around with a skater's glove on his left hand -- or rookie Alexander Pechurski, who was returned to his Western Hockey League club in Tri-City after he performed admirably in relief stopping 12 of 13 shots in his unexpected NHL debut after Curry hit the bench Saturday.
That means either Johnson is going to get the call, or Head Coach Dan Bylsma is going to give Curry a bounceback opportunity against the club he defeated for his first NHL win last season.
Regardless of who is in the net for the Penguins, he'll be facing a suddenly hot Islanders squad who has won four games in a row and is coming off a 4-0 shutout of the Atlantic Division leading New Jersey Devils yesterday.
While that win over the Devils was favorable for Pittsburgh, don't expect the Islanders -- a team that has always been a thorn in the side of the Penguins -- to give them any similar favors tonight, even though they'll be yet another opponent the Pens face on the second day of back-to-back games.
New York has been playing much better lately, and a big part of that has been the return of franchise goaltender Rick DiPietro.
DiPietro has missed about a year with yet another injury and, after a period of rehabilitation, has looked strong in his return to the net.
The Penguins probably won't see DiPietro tonight, however, since he was responsible for the Islanders' 4-0 whitewashing of the Devils yesterday. The Penguins will likely see Dwayne Roloson instead.
In other injury and roster news, the Penguins should have defenseman Brooks Orpik back in the lineup tonight.
Orpik has missed the last 4 games after suffering another undisclosed injury, this time in Toronto's Air Canada Centre when the Pens played the Maple Leafs there to open their road trip on Saturday, January 9.
While the injury has been undisclosed, it was believed to be another lower-body, ice-induced, no-contact injury, similar to the one Orpik suffered earlier this year in a game against the Boston Bruins.
Orpik has practiced well the last few days and looks ready to go.
To make room for him, the Penguins sent defenseman Ben Lovejoy back down to Wilkes Barre.
Lovejoy joined the team on their recently-completed road trip for their 2nd game against Minnesota, and played in all 4 contests the remainder of the trip. Moreover, he looked good doing it. He kept veteran Martin Skoula in the press box during that period and finished plus 3 over the course of those games -- including a +1 in the Pens' blowout loss at Vancouver on Saturday.
Lovejoy is now +8 on the year in his limited action.
I was a bit surprised Lovejoy was sent down, because he's looked very solid with the team in nearly every game he played this season. In fact, I thought he's played well enough to stick around, but sending him down may only be temporary, because it's very possible that Pittsburgh might move a defenseman at the trade deadline and call up Lovejoy then.
LW Luca Caputi joined Lovejoy in being sent down to the Baby Penguins, after being a scratch in the last 3 games of the road trip.
Caputi looked good at the outset of his call-up, but tailed off rapidly after that. It's clear that he needs to bulk up some to handle the physicality at the NHL level. While his 6' 2" frame helps him, the mere 180 pounds he carries on it does not. He needs to be at 190 or 195.
As far as the action on the ice is concerned, I'm anxious to see if the Penguins get back into their groove tonight.
They started to gain some traction on their road trip and, while Saturday's loss could be the seed that reverses that grip, it won't be looked at as anything more than a bump in the road if the Penguins get back on the winning track this evening.
To do that, they'll need to be sure they aren't looking ahead to their first matchup of the season against arch-rival Washington at the Arena on Thursday night.
Recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
NOTES: Penguins' assistant coach Mike Yeo spoke publicly yesterday for the first time since sustaining some kind of undisclosed medical problem starting at the conclusion of the Penguins' loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, January 2. While there has been a lot of speculation about why Yeo needed medical attention after that loss, Yeo said yesterday that his problem was blood-pressure related and that, while his tests have come back fine, he is now on medication for the condition. He should be back behind the bench tonight.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Malkin's Struggles: A Closer Examination
By all accounts, this season's play of 2009 Conn Smythe Trophy winner and Pittsburgh Penguins' all-world center Evgeni Malkin has been widely dissected.
On pace for a mere mortal 75 or so points on the season, Malkin clearly is and has not been playing up to his usual form.
So why the struggles? And, more importantly, what can he or the Penguins coaching or management staff do to help him halt the funk?
This is my take.
I think Malkin's struggles have their root in a couple different factors.
The first is his lack of help on the wing.
Right now, he's playing with Ruslan Fedotenko and Max Talbot -- the same line that did so much damage in last year's postseason, but looks like a shadow of its former self at the moment.
While Feds has seen a majority of his time on Geno's wing, Malkin has had a variety of other wingers this season, too. Bill Guerin saw about 3 to 4 weeks with Geno. Pascal Dupuis has played there. Matt Cooke has seen a game or two. So has Mike Rupp and Luca Caputi.
We all know how much Rusty has struggled this season, but him aside, none of the rest of the guys who have played on Malkin's wing -- except maybe for Guerin -- have had an immediate and notable impact.
It is true that Maklin didn't have a star complement of wingers to play with last season either. Certainly, he produced at a high level then.
But when compounded with other factors, the lack of a proven scorer on his wing certainly may finally be catching up to him.
Another of Malkin's problems right now is that he's simply trying too hard.
Most players who slump do that and, while it's a detriment in the short-term, the reality is that it means the player truly cares about getting out of his malaise.
Malkin is no different.
As he has tried -- mostly unsuccessfully -- to get out of his slump, his confidence has taken a major hit.
You still see flashes of Malkin's dominance out the ice, but what you see more of is the quick frustration that sets in if something he tries doesn't work.
Malkin trying too hard is, in turn, leading to the third thing plaguing his game lately.
Lack of focus, both in the defensive zone and in the offensive zone.
By trying too hard, Geno is turning over the puck more. And doing it carelessly.
He's also taking needless penalties -- most born out of frustration -- that have been hurting the team a little.
All of these things have plagued the group as a whole in various forms during the last month or so, but Malkin has probably done more of that than most players in the spirit of trying to make something happen.
The good news is that most of these issues will likely sort themselves out in time. And probably all at once.
But what can be done to accelerate getting Geno going again?
Head Coach Dan Bylsma has already done what I would have done a few weeks sooner, which is take Malkin off the left point on the power play. That's a place he's clearly not comfortable and, more importantly, because he's a left handed shot, not nearly as effective.
I would put Malkin exactly where he is on the right half-wall and let the entire play funnel through him.
While fellow all-world center Sidney Crosby is just as effective there, he can also be effective distributing the puck down low and working around the goal.
I mean, the power play can't get worse, right? If Malkin doesn't get things going immediately, the Penguins aren't necessarily worse for wear.
The next thing I would do if I were Bylsma is move Bill Guerin back down to play with Geno.
By all accounts, Bylsma wants to give the Malkin, Fedotenko and Talbot line some time to see if it can get going again, but the fact is that Guerin is the only linemate who produced with Malkin this year, and Crosby is generating enough offense on his own that it's worth seeing if Crosby can make hay with other wingers.
Bylsma seems to be exploring playing Crosby without Guerin, giving Mike Rupp some time with Crosby recently, but those two haven't shown the ability to click in the short periods of ice time they've shared.
If the Penguins don't send Caputi down to Wilkes-Barre in the coming days, Bylsma should try him with Crosby. Or, if it means playing Guerin with Crosby, he should move Max Talbot up. Again, helping get Malkin's MOJO back should be a priority right now. Let Crosby see what he can manufacture with less help. At least for the time being.
If those line changes aren't tried or don't work, Bylsma might want to consider giving Jordan Staal some time with Malkin.
Their success together in Staal's rookie year has been well-documented, so based on that alone, it can't hurt to at least try it, but doing that would really change the Penguins' third line, and that is something that Bylsma is loathe to do.
Another thing the club can do for Geno is try to acquire more of a proven guy to play with him. I expect Pens' GM Ray Shero to do this leading up to the trade deadline, making it three years running the club looks to acquire a scoring winger of some kind for the stretch run.
That's the by-product of buidling the team down the middle, really.
The final things that need to be done to improve Malkin's game need to be done by Malkin himself.
The first thing he needs to do is start being physical.
Laying the body on the opponent tends to jump start certain players' games. It might work for Malkin. He's usually at his best when he's moving his feet and battling for the puck.
Mind you, Geno needs to be careful with this. Among the careless penalites he has taken in recent games are two boarding penalties. But I don't think those plays are going to happen in every game. Malkin can and should be more physical without that being a big concern.
The other thing he needs to do is start shooting the puck more.
Malkin has a wicked shot, and while he doesn't have confidence in it right now, he must start making a purposeful effort to just unleash that thing. All the time. Left. Right. Forwards. Backwards. Every chance he gets. Especially on the power play.
Finally, Malkin has to at least eliminate the turnovers in the defensive zone.
I mind them less when he's at least trying to create something in the offensive zone, but he has to stop doing things like making passes across his own blue line. In part, this is simply him not being focused and not paying attention to detail -- which everyone on the club has to do a better job of right now -- but it's even more important for Malkin because his confidence plummets even further when there's a bad result of something he's done.
I'd like to sit here and say Malkin needs to stop trying so hard, but that's just unrealistic for a star player like him. He wears his heart on his sleeve and the best players in this game always have expectations through the ceiling for themselves.
If Malkin concentrates on getting the small parts of his game going -- and if he gets a little help from the coaching staff (and, maybe, through a trade) -- the rest will take care of itself.
Again, just my take.
On pace for a mere mortal 75 or so points on the season, Malkin clearly is and has not been playing up to his usual form.
So why the struggles? And, more importantly, what can he or the Penguins coaching or management staff do to help him halt the funk?
This is my take.
I think Malkin's struggles have their root in a couple different factors.
The first is his lack of help on the wing.
Right now, he's playing with Ruslan Fedotenko and Max Talbot -- the same line that did so much damage in last year's postseason, but looks like a shadow of its former self at the moment.
While Feds has seen a majority of his time on Geno's wing, Malkin has had a variety of other wingers this season, too. Bill Guerin saw about 3 to 4 weeks with Geno. Pascal Dupuis has played there. Matt Cooke has seen a game or two. So has Mike Rupp and Luca Caputi.
We all know how much Rusty has struggled this season, but him aside, none of the rest of the guys who have played on Malkin's wing -- except maybe for Guerin -- have had an immediate and notable impact.
It is true that Maklin didn't have a star complement of wingers to play with last season either. Certainly, he produced at a high level then.
But when compounded with other factors, the lack of a proven scorer on his wing certainly may finally be catching up to him.
Another of Malkin's problems right now is that he's simply trying too hard.
Most players who slump do that and, while it's a detriment in the short-term, the reality is that it means the player truly cares about getting out of his malaise.
Malkin is no different.
As he has tried -- mostly unsuccessfully -- to get out of his slump, his confidence has taken a major hit.
You still see flashes of Malkin's dominance out the ice, but what you see more of is the quick frustration that sets in if something he tries doesn't work.
Malkin trying too hard is, in turn, leading to the third thing plaguing his game lately.
Lack of focus, both in the defensive zone and in the offensive zone.
By trying too hard, Geno is turning over the puck more. And doing it carelessly.
He's also taking needless penalties -- most born out of frustration -- that have been hurting the team a little.
All of these things have plagued the group as a whole in various forms during the last month or so, but Malkin has probably done more of that than most players in the spirit of trying to make something happen.
The good news is that most of these issues will likely sort themselves out in time. And probably all at once.
But what can be done to accelerate getting Geno going again?
Head Coach Dan Bylsma has already done what I would have done a few weeks sooner, which is take Malkin off the left point on the power play. That's a place he's clearly not comfortable and, more importantly, because he's a left handed shot, not nearly as effective.
I would put Malkin exactly where he is on the right half-wall and let the entire play funnel through him.
While fellow all-world center Sidney Crosby is just as effective there, he can also be effective distributing the puck down low and working around the goal.
I mean, the power play can't get worse, right? If Malkin doesn't get things going immediately, the Penguins aren't necessarily worse for wear.
The next thing I would do if I were Bylsma is move Bill Guerin back down to play with Geno.
By all accounts, Bylsma wants to give the Malkin, Fedotenko and Talbot line some time to see if it can get going again, but the fact is that Guerin is the only linemate who produced with Malkin this year, and Crosby is generating enough offense on his own that it's worth seeing if Crosby can make hay with other wingers.
Bylsma seems to be exploring playing Crosby without Guerin, giving Mike Rupp some time with Crosby recently, but those two haven't shown the ability to click in the short periods of ice time they've shared.
If the Penguins don't send Caputi down to Wilkes-Barre in the coming days, Bylsma should try him with Crosby. Or, if it means playing Guerin with Crosby, he should move Max Talbot up. Again, helping get Malkin's MOJO back should be a priority right now. Let Crosby see what he can manufacture with less help. At least for the time being.
If those line changes aren't tried or don't work, Bylsma might want to consider giving Jordan Staal some time with Malkin.
Their success together in Staal's rookie year has been well-documented, so based on that alone, it can't hurt to at least try it, but doing that would really change the Penguins' third line, and that is something that Bylsma is loathe to do.
Another thing the club can do for Geno is try to acquire more of a proven guy to play with him. I expect Pens' GM Ray Shero to do this leading up to the trade deadline, making it three years running the club looks to acquire a scoring winger of some kind for the stretch run.
That's the by-product of buidling the team down the middle, really.
The final things that need to be done to improve Malkin's game need to be done by Malkin himself.
The first thing he needs to do is start being physical.
Laying the body on the opponent tends to jump start certain players' games. It might work for Malkin. He's usually at his best when he's moving his feet and battling for the puck.
Mind you, Geno needs to be careful with this. Among the careless penalites he has taken in recent games are two boarding penalties. But I don't think those plays are going to happen in every game. Malkin can and should be more physical without that being a big concern.
The other thing he needs to do is start shooting the puck more.
Malkin has a wicked shot, and while he doesn't have confidence in it right now, he must start making a purposeful effort to just unleash that thing. All the time. Left. Right. Forwards. Backwards. Every chance he gets. Especially on the power play.
Finally, Malkin has to at least eliminate the turnovers in the defensive zone.
I mind them less when he's at least trying to create something in the offensive zone, but he has to stop doing things like making passes across his own blue line. In part, this is simply him not being focused and not paying attention to detail -- which everyone on the club has to do a better job of right now -- but it's even more important for Malkin because his confidence plummets even further when there's a bad result of something he's done.
I'd like to sit here and say Malkin needs to stop trying so hard, but that's just unrealistic for a star player like him. He wears his heart on his sleeve and the best players in this game always have expectations through the ceiling for themselves.
If Malkin concentrates on getting the small parts of his game going -- and if he gets a little help from the coaching staff (and, maybe, through a trade) -- the rest will take care of itself.
Again, just my take.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Penguins Finish 5-Game Road Journey With 6-2 Loss To Canucks and Alternate Ending
Usually, when you're down to your fourth goalie, it's not a good state of affairs.
And so it was for the Pittsburgh Penguins last night as they finished their 5-game road trip with an ugly 6-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks at GM place.
At least they did it with unusual flair.
In a curious turn of events, the Penguins ended up turning to a guy in goal who they just signed to a one-game amateur tryout contract earlier in the day --- 2008 5th round draft pick Alexander Pechurski.
Pechurski, who came to North America from Russia only 4 weeks ago to play for the Tri-City Americans of the Western Hockey League and doesn't speak a single word of English, entered the game with less than 4 minutes gone in the second period after Pens' starter John Curry was pulled after abysmally allowing 5 goals on 14 Vancouver shots over a span of about 8 minutes.
At that stage, I loved Bylsma's move to put the kid in there. Really. I mean, why not? What did he have to lose? The Penguins weren't going to come back and win the game, and why not see the kid in action?
Truthfully, having the chance to actually see Pechurski play kept me interested in the rest of the game.
Throwing him to the dogs with another goalie's leg pads (he wore Marc-Andre Fleury's because the pads he uses in the WHL are compliant with different rules than those in the NHL) and against the NHL's leading scorer, Henrik Sedin, and one of the best netminders in the leauge in Roberto Luongo, well ... those things were just a bonus.
The good part was the Pechurski -- from Evgeni Malkin's hometown of Magnitogorsk -- acquitted himself quite well the remainder of the game, showing some of the form that he used to fashion a 4-1-1, 1.84 GAA and .936 sv.% while with Tri-City. He stopped 12 of 13 shots in the contest and was awarded the game's #3 star, which was fairly telling considering the type of offense the home team flashed against Pittsburgh last night.
Curry, on the other hand, was being counted on by the Penguins to provide them solid emergeny work since Fleury was out with a broken ring finer on the glove end (erroneously reported by me yesterday to be on the blocker hand) and backup Brent Johnson is still recovering from a groin problem. Unfortunately, Curry was just battling the puck -- and, admittedly, some strange bounces -- for his 25 minutes of work.
It simply wasn't Curry's night.
While Malkin actually staked the Pens' to a 1-0 lead with his first goal in 11 games a little more than 7 minutes in -- finishing a nice play he began by causing a turnover and then getting fortunate as he couldn't handle an expected Ruslan Fedotenko pass but still had it riccochet off him and past Luongo -- things went quickly downhill after that.
7 minutes later, the Canucks' Henrik Sedin began padding his NHL-leading point total by flipping the puck from behind the goal line towards Curry and having it hit Curry's arm and sneak in.
After Alexander Burrows beat Curry shorthanded on a breakaway later in the period after a turnover at the blueline by Pittsburgh defenseman Sergei Gonchar, the onslaught began early in the 2nd frame.
Vancouver forward Mikael Samuelsson watched a meek shot from the point bounce first before he deflected it up and off the knob of Curry's stick and in at the 1+ minute mark, then Canucks' RW Jannik Hansen easily re-directed one by Curry on a 2-on-1 after getting behind the Pens' defense less than 2 minutes later, and then 45 seconds after that, Curry let defenseman Willie Mitchell steam towards the net and toss the puck through his legs for a 5-1 Canuck edge before Curry knew what happened.
Enter the guy on the single day per-diem.
Matt Cooke and Ryan Kessler traded goals after that, but all that did was finalize the score and let Pechurski say he allowed an NHL goal -- not do anything to change the outcome.
Several Penguins other than Curry were visible in a bad way last night. Gonchar and his ghastly turnover were -4 in the game.
Sidney Crosby also was noticably absent from having a meaningful impact in the game. He finished -3.
As a whole, it looked like the team just wanted to get home. Especially after the way the first 25 minutes went last night.
Fortunately, the Penguins didn't lose any ground to the New Jersey Devils in the Atlantic Division, as New Jersey lost in Colorado last night.
Still, the Penguins might have bigger headaches going forward.
While Fleury's injury doesn't appear to be serious, he might have to miss another game or two, and Johnson also may not be ready to return to the lineup yet either. He's reportedly close,b ut only got his first work in nearly a week during the morning skate yesterday after suffering a groin problem at the conclusion of practice Monday. The status of those two position players is particularly meaningful given that Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals are coming to town this Thursday. If they aren't ready, Curry will probably continue to play, as the Penguins had no intention of doing anything other than leave Pechurski out west back in Tri-City after his surprise action last night.
Time will tell how all this shakes out, of course.
However it does, hopefully the Pens can get back on the winning track quickly against the New York Islanders at home on Tuesday.
More tomorrow, when I plan to address Evgeni Malkin's recent struggles.
And so it was for the Pittsburgh Penguins last night as they finished their 5-game road trip with an ugly 6-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks at GM place.
At least they did it with unusual flair.
In a curious turn of events, the Penguins ended up turning to a guy in goal who they just signed to a one-game amateur tryout contract earlier in the day --- 2008 5th round draft pick Alexander Pechurski.
Pechurski, who came to North America from Russia only 4 weeks ago to play for the Tri-City Americans of the Western Hockey League and doesn't speak a single word of English, entered the game with less than 4 minutes gone in the second period after Pens' starter John Curry was pulled after abysmally allowing 5 goals on 14 Vancouver shots over a span of about 8 minutes.
At that stage, I loved Bylsma's move to put the kid in there. Really. I mean, why not? What did he have to lose? The Penguins weren't going to come back and win the game, and why not see the kid in action?
Truthfully, having the chance to actually see Pechurski play kept me interested in the rest of the game.
Throwing him to the dogs with another goalie's leg pads (he wore Marc-Andre Fleury's because the pads he uses in the WHL are compliant with different rules than those in the NHL) and against the NHL's leading scorer, Henrik Sedin, and one of the best netminders in the leauge in Roberto Luongo, well ... those things were just a bonus.
The good part was the Pechurski -- from Evgeni Malkin's hometown of Magnitogorsk -- acquitted himself quite well the remainder of the game, showing some of the form that he used to fashion a 4-1-1, 1.84 GAA and .936 sv.% while with Tri-City. He stopped 12 of 13 shots in the contest and was awarded the game's #3 star, which was fairly telling considering the type of offense the home team flashed against Pittsburgh last night.
Curry, on the other hand, was being counted on by the Penguins to provide them solid emergeny work since Fleury was out with a broken ring finer on the glove end (erroneously reported by me yesterday to be on the blocker hand) and backup Brent Johnson is still recovering from a groin problem. Unfortunately, Curry was just battling the puck -- and, admittedly, some strange bounces -- for his 25 minutes of work.
It simply wasn't Curry's night.
While Malkin actually staked the Pens' to a 1-0 lead with his first goal in 11 games a little more than 7 minutes in -- finishing a nice play he began by causing a turnover and then getting fortunate as he couldn't handle an expected Ruslan Fedotenko pass but still had it riccochet off him and past Luongo -- things went quickly downhill after that.
7 minutes later, the Canucks' Henrik Sedin began padding his NHL-leading point total by flipping the puck from behind the goal line towards Curry and having it hit Curry's arm and sneak in.
After Alexander Burrows beat Curry shorthanded on a breakaway later in the period after a turnover at the blueline by Pittsburgh defenseman Sergei Gonchar, the onslaught began early in the 2nd frame.
Vancouver forward Mikael Samuelsson watched a meek shot from the point bounce first before he deflected it up and off the knob of Curry's stick and in at the 1+ minute mark, then Canucks' RW Jannik Hansen easily re-directed one by Curry on a 2-on-1 after getting behind the Pens' defense less than 2 minutes later, and then 45 seconds after that, Curry let defenseman Willie Mitchell steam towards the net and toss the puck through his legs for a 5-1 Canuck edge before Curry knew what happened.
Enter the guy on the single day per-diem.
Matt Cooke and Ryan Kessler traded goals after that, but all that did was finalize the score and let Pechurski say he allowed an NHL goal -- not do anything to change the outcome.
Several Penguins other than Curry were visible in a bad way last night. Gonchar and his ghastly turnover were -4 in the game.
Sidney Crosby also was noticably absent from having a meaningful impact in the game. He finished -3.
As a whole, it looked like the team just wanted to get home. Especially after the way the first 25 minutes went last night.
Fortunately, the Penguins didn't lose any ground to the New Jersey Devils in the Atlantic Division, as New Jersey lost in Colorado last night.
Still, the Penguins might have bigger headaches going forward.
While Fleury's injury doesn't appear to be serious, he might have to miss another game or two, and Johnson also may not be ready to return to the lineup yet either. He's reportedly close,b ut only got his first work in nearly a week during the morning skate yesterday after suffering a groin problem at the conclusion of practice Monday. The status of those two position players is particularly meaningful given that Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals are coming to town this Thursday. If they aren't ready, Curry will probably continue to play, as the Penguins had no intention of doing anything other than leave Pechurski out west back in Tri-City after his surprise action last night.
Time will tell how all this shakes out, of course.
However it does, hopefully the Pens can get back on the winning track quickly against the New York Islanders at home on Tuesday.
More tomorrow, when I plan to address Evgeni Malkin's recent struggles.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Fleury Has Broken Finger; Unlikely To Start Against Canucks
Pittsburgh Penguins' goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury has a broken ring
finger and is doubtful to play tonight as the Penguins complete their
5-game road trip in Vancover tonight against the Caunucks at GM Place
(10:00 PM EST).
finger and is doubtful to play tonight as the Penguins complete their
5-game road trip in Vancover tonight against the Caunucks at GM Place
(10:00 PM EST).
Fleury sustained the injury when he took a shot underneath the blocker
from Edmonton Oilers' forward Duatin Penner in the Pens' 3-2 comeback
win on Thursday night.
#29 contined to play in the game after having the finger bandaged, but
things looked less optimistic for him yesterday.
There's no formal word from the team whether this injury will turn into
a long-term thing for the Pens' netminder, but early indications are
that it won't be, since Fleury is technically regarded as questionable
for tonigh('s game.
Assuming Fleury doesn't play, third string goaltender John Curry is
likely to start, since backup Brent Johnson -- while eligible to come
off IR today -- still isn't ready to return to action after sustaining
a groin injury in practice last week.
Curry is 2-1 in his NHL career thusfar and certainly won't be the
beneficiary of any favors against opposing goaltender Roberto Luongo
and the Canucks tonight if he does play.
Recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
Friday, January 15, 2010
Gonchar Contract Talks; Other Penguins' News And Notes
The Penguins have started getting more actively involved in contract talks with star defenseman Sergei Gonchar and his agent, J.P. Barry.
Both Barry and Pens' GM Ray Shero kicked off negoitations in greater earnest while Pittsburgh was in Calgary to face the Flames earlier this week.
While it is believed that contract term and exact numbers have not been discussed, the parameters of any deal would seem to be in the 2-4 year range, with numbers over the course of the deal floating anywhere from $9 to $20 million dollars.
Gonchar is going to be 36 in April and largely because of that, it seems that Pittsburgh appears to want a shorter deal -- ideally 3 years.
The salary they are looking for hovers around $4 million per season, give or take.
If the deal is even shorter, Shero might be willing to increase the salary to $4.5 million per.
Gonchar's camp, meanwhile, would like to land a 4 year contract, and are hoping to keep his new salary as close as possible to the current one, which is $5 million.
Both sides appear to be willing to actively engage in further discussions to try and get this done and, from the perspective of both sides, why not?
Gonchar has been a Penguin for five seasons and his children are established in the community.
For the Penguins, Gonchar has proven to be pretty much indispensable on the backline, and given the continued inconsistency shown by young defenseman Alex Goligoski and Kris Letang, it would be hard to argue that the Pens' "D" wouldn't suffer greatly without Sarge.
Speaking of Letang, he's also a contract priority for Shero, although unlike #55 who will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1, Letang will be restricted this summer, coming off his 3-year entry level contract that currently pays him $825K per season.
By all accounts, Shero hasn't negotiated a great deal with Letang's camp thusfar, and it seems as if the Penguins are focusing on Gonchar first.
Depending on how the Gonchar talks continue to go, Letang could be left to hang out to dry a little bit, and that could lead to increased speculation leading up to the March 3 trade deadline that the Penguins would rather deal Letang than lose him to a team who tries to poach him with a contract in the summer that the Pens can't match because they will be pretty close to the salary cap.
In other team matters, I thought it was interesting that LW Luca Caputi was a healthy scratch again last night against the Oilers.
Caputi had a good first two games after his call-up from Wilkes-Barre Scranton about 10 days ago, but admittedly struggled in the games which followed.
However, the guy who basically took his lineup spot -- RW Eric Godard -- is hardly getting any ice time while being counted among the 12 dressing forwards.
Sure, that could be exactly why head coach Dan Bylsma doesn't want to dress Caputi in that position. In other words, why dress him if he's only going to play a few minutes?
That could be true, but if that's the case, just send Caputi back to Wilkes-Barre and get him playing big minutes again.
What surprises me a great deal about Godard is that he was in the lineup again last night, in a back-to-back situation against an Edmonton team without a known tough guy, and after playing only a few minutes the night before thanks to another bad penalty.
That's been the rub with Godard. It was the second straight game he took a bad penalty that put his team in a poor situation.
It seems that Blysma wants to give the "newly-formed" second unit of Evgeni Malkin with Ruslan Fedotenko and Max Talbot some time to see if they recapture their chemistry from last season's playoff run, but again -- you can't keep scratching Caputi. That's not doing him any good.
Meanwhile, on the backend, defenseman Ben Lovejoy has looked pretty solid in the last three games. He surprisingly got into the lineup on Monday against the Minnesota Wild as a late call-up and at the expense of veteran Martin Skoula.
Brooks Orpik isn't expected back until next week at the very earliest as he recovers from an undisclosed lower body injury, and it doesn't look like we're going to see Lovejoy taken out of the lineup until then, at least.
Jay McKee also had a much better game last night than he has been lately. Getting back to blocking shots will be a key for the him -- and the Penguins -- down the stretch.
In a few other notes, goaltender Brent Johnson was placed on injured reserve with his groin problem, retroactive to last Saturday. He's eligible to come off IR this Saturday, but there's no word yet on whether that will happen or whether Baby Penguin netminder John Curry will continue to stay with the club. Regardless, after having a day off, I would expect Fleury to start Saturday night against his expected Team Canada goaltending counterpart for the Vancover Canucks, Roberto Luongo.
Also, NBC has picked up Penguin games to nationally televise on two consecutive Sundays.
First, they will televise Pittsburgh's 1-24 game against the Flyers in Philadelphia beginning at 12:30 PM.
They also announced last night they will televise the Pens' Stanley Cup Final rematch against the Detroit Red Wings at Mellon Arena on Sunday, 1-31.
As far as I know, a time change has not yet been announced for that game, however. Usually, NBC's "Game of the Week" is a 12:30 PM contest. The Pens'/Red Wings game is currently set for 3:00 PM.
It's also likely the network will pick up the Penguins for a third week in a row when they match up against Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals on Sunday, February 7.
If they do, Pittsburgh can only appear one more time on NBC during the regular season, as each team is allowed 4 maximum appearances on the network.
More over the weekend.
Both Barry and Pens' GM Ray Shero kicked off negoitations in greater earnest while Pittsburgh was in Calgary to face the Flames earlier this week.
While it is believed that contract term and exact numbers have not been discussed, the parameters of any deal would seem to be in the 2-4 year range, with numbers over the course of the deal floating anywhere from $9 to $20 million dollars.
Gonchar is going to be 36 in April and largely because of that, it seems that Pittsburgh appears to want a shorter deal -- ideally 3 years.
The salary they are looking for hovers around $4 million per season, give or take.
If the deal is even shorter, Shero might be willing to increase the salary to $4.5 million per.
Gonchar's camp, meanwhile, would like to land a 4 year contract, and are hoping to keep his new salary as close as possible to the current one, which is $5 million.
Both sides appear to be willing to actively engage in further discussions to try and get this done and, from the perspective of both sides, why not?
Gonchar has been a Penguin for five seasons and his children are established in the community.
For the Penguins, Gonchar has proven to be pretty much indispensable on the backline, and given the continued inconsistency shown by young defenseman Alex Goligoski and Kris Letang, it would be hard to argue that the Pens' "D" wouldn't suffer greatly without Sarge.
Speaking of Letang, he's also a contract priority for Shero, although unlike #55 who will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1, Letang will be restricted this summer, coming off his 3-year entry level contract that currently pays him $825K per season.
By all accounts, Shero hasn't negotiated a great deal with Letang's camp thusfar, and it seems as if the Penguins are focusing on Gonchar first.
Depending on how the Gonchar talks continue to go, Letang could be left to hang out to dry a little bit, and that could lead to increased speculation leading up to the March 3 trade deadline that the Penguins would rather deal Letang than lose him to a team who tries to poach him with a contract in the summer that the Pens can't match because they will be pretty close to the salary cap.
In other team matters, I thought it was interesting that LW Luca Caputi was a healthy scratch again last night against the Oilers.
Caputi had a good first two games after his call-up from Wilkes-Barre Scranton about 10 days ago, but admittedly struggled in the games which followed.
However, the guy who basically took his lineup spot -- RW Eric Godard -- is hardly getting any ice time while being counted among the 12 dressing forwards.
Sure, that could be exactly why head coach Dan Bylsma doesn't want to dress Caputi in that position. In other words, why dress him if he's only going to play a few minutes?
That could be true, but if that's the case, just send Caputi back to Wilkes-Barre and get him playing big minutes again.
What surprises me a great deal about Godard is that he was in the lineup again last night, in a back-to-back situation against an Edmonton team without a known tough guy, and after playing only a few minutes the night before thanks to another bad penalty.
That's been the rub with Godard. It was the second straight game he took a bad penalty that put his team in a poor situation.
It seems that Blysma wants to give the "newly-formed" second unit of Evgeni Malkin with Ruslan Fedotenko and Max Talbot some time to see if they recapture their chemistry from last season's playoff run, but again -- you can't keep scratching Caputi. That's not doing him any good.
Meanwhile, on the backend, defenseman Ben Lovejoy has looked pretty solid in the last three games. He surprisingly got into the lineup on Monday against the Minnesota Wild as a late call-up and at the expense of veteran Martin Skoula.
Brooks Orpik isn't expected back until next week at the very earliest as he recovers from an undisclosed lower body injury, and it doesn't look like we're going to see Lovejoy taken out of the lineup until then, at least.
Jay McKee also had a much better game last night than he has been lately. Getting back to blocking shots will be a key for the him -- and the Penguins -- down the stretch.
In a few other notes, goaltender Brent Johnson was placed on injured reserve with his groin problem, retroactive to last Saturday. He's eligible to come off IR this Saturday, but there's no word yet on whether that will happen or whether Baby Penguin netminder John Curry will continue to stay with the club. Regardless, after having a day off, I would expect Fleury to start Saturday night against his expected Team Canada goaltending counterpart for the Vancover Canucks, Roberto Luongo.
Also, NBC has picked up Penguin games to nationally televise on two consecutive Sundays.
First, they will televise Pittsburgh's 1-24 game against the Flyers in Philadelphia beginning at 12:30 PM.
They also announced last night they will televise the Pens' Stanley Cup Final rematch against the Detroit Red Wings at Mellon Arena on Sunday, 1-31.
As far as I know, a time change has not yet been announced for that game, however. Usually, NBC's "Game of the Week" is a 12:30 PM contest. The Pens'/Red Wings game is currently set for 3:00 PM.
It's also likely the network will pick up the Penguins for a third week in a row when they match up against Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals on Sunday, February 7.
If they do, Pittsburgh can only appear one more time on NBC during the regular season, as each team is allowed 4 maximum appearances on the network.
More over the weekend.
Sidney Crosby Gets Marriage Proposal
For those who didn't see it during the Pittsburgh Penguins' 3-1 win over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night, a female fan in the stands had a little offer for the Pens' star center and Captain, Sidney Crosby: A marriage proposal.
There have been other girls with proposals and signs like that for Sid in the various venues he has suited up in during his 4+ year NHL career. The only in Calgary surely wasn't the first, and won't be the last.
However, she did have a little something different for him, as she suited up in a wedding gown in the stands.
Here's a great capture of the shot from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette:
Not bad.
Tight dress -- good.
Cute factor -- good.
Arms -- not so good.
Rack -- not so good.
In the aggregate, Sid was right to reject the offer (which he did) and hold out for more.
By the way, that doesn't take the cake for the best Crosby sign I have ever seen. That sign is, undoubtedly:
Gronk Fuels Third Period Comeback Win Over Oilers, 3-2
For all Penguins third-line center Jordan Staal has accomplished in his short career -- 29 goals as a rookie (including 7 shorties), forming perhaps the best third line in the game with mates Tyler Kennedy and Matt Cooke, and being arguably the Penguins' best player when they won games 6 and 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals last season -- Gronk, as he's known to teammates, had never recorded a three-assist game in the NHL.
Let alone in one period.
Well, like Austin Powers' crossing off "threesome with Japanese twins" on his list of "Things To Do Before I Die" in the third GOLDMEMBER installment of that series, Staal can cross that one off after his virtuoso performance in the third period of last night's 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers at Rexall Place in Edmonton.
With zero points from Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, the Penguins were hanging on to the cliff going into the third period last night, down 2-0 after 40 minutes of some pretty uninspired hockey, but thanks to Staal -- and a little help from teammates Bill Guerin and Marc-Andre Fleury -- the Penguins were able to come back from the dead and win their second game in two nights and third of 4 to leave them 3-1 on a 5-game road trip that finishes in Vancouver against the Canucks at GM Place on Saturday night.
Staal got the primary assist on goals by Tyler Kennedy (a wrister), Matt Cooke (a power play marker) and Pascal Dupuis (a deflection off his leg) in the first 10 minutes of the third period to lead the scoring charge against a netminder -- Devan Dubnyk -- who was making only his third NHL start and should have had googly-eyes facing Crosby, Malkin and company but who instead, nevertheless, looked like Martin Brodeur against them in periods one and two.
Meanwhile, Fleury actually tried to jumpstart the Penguins beginning late in the second period.
After allowing two Edmonton power play goals up to that point -- including a 5-on-3 goal -- Fleury was bowled over in the crease by Oilers' forward Robert Nilsson and instantly took exception, getting up over the ice-bound forward and throwing a few jabs at him before his teammates and other players came in the fray like killer bees on a swarm.
Both players received minors in the fracas.
Then, within the first 90 seconds of the final frame -- and during the ensuing 4-on-4 -- Fleury rejected the best Edmonton forward, Dustin Penner, on a breakaway with a pokecheck, just one of his 33 stops on 35 Oiler shots in the game.
He did all that after having sustained a cut on his left ring finger thanks to a Penner shot earleir in the contest.
Less than two minutes after The Flower's stop on Edmonton's big gun, the Penguins' onslaught was on, and the Oilers never recovered.
Bill Guerin also deserves a helper, as he apparently stood up in the dressing room between periods two and three and had a few choice words for his teammates.
Obviously, they responded well, getting back to playing their kind of game in the third period against an Oilers team that had been so bad the last month -- losing 12 of their last 13 -- but who looked like All-Stars against them in the first and second frames last night.
"It was the best game we played in a long time", offered their star defenseman, Sheldon Souray.
Good thing the Penguins didn't decide to tank it thanks to fatigue in the third after playing and beating the Calgary Flames the night before. As it is, they gained 2 points on the New Jersey Devils, who lost to the Phoenix Coyotes last night, and are now only 4 back of the Atlantic Division leaders.
The Devils do have 4 games in hand, however.
More shortly.
Let alone in one period.
Well, like Austin Powers' crossing off "threesome with Japanese twins" on his list of "Things To Do Before I Die" in the third GOLDMEMBER installment of that series, Staal can cross that one off after his virtuoso performance in the third period of last night's 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers at Rexall Place in Edmonton.
With zero points from Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, the Penguins were hanging on to the cliff going into the third period last night, down 2-0 after 40 minutes of some pretty uninspired hockey, but thanks to Staal -- and a little help from teammates Bill Guerin and Marc-Andre Fleury -- the Penguins were able to come back from the dead and win their second game in two nights and third of 4 to leave them 3-1 on a 5-game road trip that finishes in Vancouver against the Canucks at GM Place on Saturday night.
Staal got the primary assist on goals by Tyler Kennedy (a wrister), Matt Cooke (a power play marker) and Pascal Dupuis (a deflection off his leg) in the first 10 minutes of the third period to lead the scoring charge against a netminder -- Devan Dubnyk -- who was making only his third NHL start and should have had googly-eyes facing Crosby, Malkin and company but who instead, nevertheless, looked like Martin Brodeur against them in periods one and two.
Meanwhile, Fleury actually tried to jumpstart the Penguins beginning late in the second period.
After allowing two Edmonton power play goals up to that point -- including a 5-on-3 goal -- Fleury was bowled over in the crease by Oilers' forward Robert Nilsson and instantly took exception, getting up over the ice-bound forward and throwing a few jabs at him before his teammates and other players came in the fray like killer bees on a swarm.
Both players received minors in the fracas.
Then, within the first 90 seconds of the final frame -- and during the ensuing 4-on-4 -- Fleury rejected the best Edmonton forward, Dustin Penner, on a breakaway with a pokecheck, just one of his 33 stops on 35 Oiler shots in the game.
He did all that after having sustained a cut on his left ring finger thanks to a Penner shot earleir in the contest.
Less than two minutes after The Flower's stop on Edmonton's big gun, the Penguins' onslaught was on, and the Oilers never recovered.
Bill Guerin also deserves a helper, as he apparently stood up in the dressing room between periods two and three and had a few choice words for his teammates.
Obviously, they responded well, getting back to playing their kind of game in the third period against an Oilers team that had been so bad the last month -- losing 12 of their last 13 -- but who looked like All-Stars against them in the first and second frames last night.
"It was the best game we played in a long time", offered their star defenseman, Sheldon Souray.
Good thing the Penguins didn't decide to tank it thanks to fatigue in the third after playing and beating the Calgary Flames the night before. As it is, they gained 2 points on the New Jersey Devils, who lost to the Phoenix Coyotes last night, and are now only 4 back of the Atlantic Division leaders.
The Devils do have 4 games in hand, however.
More shortly.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Penguins, Fleury Douse Flames, 3-1
Pittsburgh Penguins' goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was one of the biggest reasons why the Penguins were not able to secure a victory in the second contest of their 5-game road trip on Monday in what ended up being a 4-3 loss to the Minnesota Wild at the Excel Center, and I didn't hesitate to call Fleury out for his play in this space.
He was fighting the puck a lot and relying much more on his athleticism than positioning -- which is the surest sign he's not on top of his game.
Just as Fleury will get criticism from me when it's deserved, I'll be the first one to give him praise when it's justified.
Like last night after his performance in stopping 37 of 38 Calgary shots in the Pens' 3-1 victory over the Flames.
True to his usual form of bouncing back after a poor performance, Fleury was sharp from the drop of the puck last night. His position was more sound and he was especially strong around the net on plays in close.
Two of his biggest saves came in the 3rd period when the Flames outshot Pittsburgh 16-5. During those 20-minutes, Fleury stopped Calgary forward Nigel Dawes on a breakaway and rejected a point-blank attempt from 15 feet by Flames' center Jamie Lundmark.
That was more than enough to help goals by center and Captain Sidney Crosby, and RW's Bill Guerin and Tyler Kennedy stand up for the victory.
Crosby got his 30th in the first period on a sensational individual effort, going past Flames' all-around defenseman Jay Bouwmeester before cutting sharply in front of Calgary goaltender Mikka Kiprusoff and somehow flipping the puck by him.
After the Flames tied the score, Guerin scored on the power play, deflecting a point shot from Sergei Gonchar to help the Pens take the lead.
That's right.
You read that correctly.
Pittsburgh scored on the power play.
That 2-1 advantage stood until the final two minutes of the game when Tyler Kennedy broke towards the slot uncontested from the near wall and showed patience he hasn't shown since the first 2 weeks of the season, holding on to the puck long enough to get Kiprusoff to go down and then calmly deposit it behind him for the final margin of victory.
Overall, the Penguins played a much better game last night. Now, they weren't foolproof. Evegni Malkin, for example, continued to struggle. He had another bad giveaway that almost led to a Calgary goal in the second period, and had little impact offensively. But aside from Fleury having a strong game, the Penguins' team as a whole was much better all over the ice, not turning the puck over as much and being more positionally sound.
And even though they had only 27 shots on Kiprusoff, they had a number of good scoring chances.
The trick for Pittsburgh is to now try and keep it going. Their game tonight against a bad Oilers club at Rexall Place presents them with another opportunity to do that and capture momentum that has been as elusive to them over the last month as Diane Lane.
At least until she wants to be caught.
Like in Murder at 1600, or -- better still -- in an apartment hallway in Unfaithful.
Anyway, Fleury has strung together 6 straight games now where he's been bad/good/bad/good/bad/good. The power play has been terrible. And there's no sign that Malkin is going to come out of his slump anytime soon, but you just have to hope that he's going to break out sometime.
Those probably have been the 3 biggest issues ailing the Boys of Winter recently.
If Fleury can get things going and the power play can actually score again -- two out of three ain't bad.
Recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
He was fighting the puck a lot and relying much more on his athleticism than positioning -- which is the surest sign he's not on top of his game.
Just as Fleury will get criticism from me when it's deserved, I'll be the first one to give him praise when it's justified.
Like last night after his performance in stopping 37 of 38 Calgary shots in the Pens' 3-1 victory over the Flames.
True to his usual form of bouncing back after a poor performance, Fleury was sharp from the drop of the puck last night. His position was more sound and he was especially strong around the net on plays in close.
Two of his biggest saves came in the 3rd period when the Flames outshot Pittsburgh 16-5. During those 20-minutes, Fleury stopped Calgary forward Nigel Dawes on a breakaway and rejected a point-blank attempt from 15 feet by Flames' center Jamie Lundmark.
That was more than enough to help goals by center and Captain Sidney Crosby, and RW's Bill Guerin and Tyler Kennedy stand up for the victory.
Crosby got his 30th in the first period on a sensational individual effort, going past Flames' all-around defenseman Jay Bouwmeester before cutting sharply in front of Calgary goaltender Mikka Kiprusoff and somehow flipping the puck by him.
After the Flames tied the score, Guerin scored on the power play, deflecting a point shot from Sergei Gonchar to help the Pens take the lead.
That's right.
You read that correctly.
Pittsburgh scored on the power play.
That 2-1 advantage stood until the final two minutes of the game when Tyler Kennedy broke towards the slot uncontested from the near wall and showed patience he hasn't shown since the first 2 weeks of the season, holding on to the puck long enough to get Kiprusoff to go down and then calmly deposit it behind him for the final margin of victory.
Overall, the Penguins played a much better game last night. Now, they weren't foolproof. Evegni Malkin, for example, continued to struggle. He had another bad giveaway that almost led to a Calgary goal in the second period, and had little impact offensively. But aside from Fleury having a strong game, the Penguins' team as a whole was much better all over the ice, not turning the puck over as much and being more positionally sound.
And even though they had only 27 shots on Kiprusoff, they had a number of good scoring chances.
The trick for Pittsburgh is to now try and keep it going. Their game tonight against a bad Oilers club at Rexall Place presents them with another opportunity to do that and capture momentum that has been as elusive to them over the last month as Diane Lane.
At least until she wants to be caught.
Like in Murder at 1600, or -- better still -- in an apartment hallway in Unfaithful.
Anyway, Fleury has strung together 6 straight games now where he's been bad/good/bad/good/bad/good. The power play has been terrible. And there's no sign that Malkin is going to come out of his slump anytime soon, but you just have to hope that he's going to break out sometime.
Those probably have been the 3 biggest issues ailing the Boys of Winter recently.
If Fleury can get things going and the power play can actually score again -- two out of three ain't bad.
Recap tomorrow.
Let's Go Pens!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Struggling Penguins Try To Right Their Ship Against Flames, Oilers
Losers of 7 of their last 9 and 8 of their last 11 games, the struggling Pittsburgh Penguins face two pivotal games in Western Canada the next two nights, first facing off against the Calgary Flames in Cowtown tonight (9:30 PM EST), and then matching up against the Edmonton Oilers in Edmonton tomorrow night (again, 9:30 PM EST).
The Pens will have their hands full tonight against a good Flames team tied for 4th in the Western Conference and one point ahead of the Penguins in the overall NHL standings with 58.
Calgary is 6-2-1 in their last 9 games and are led by Captain and RW Jarome Iginla -- likely Sidney Crosby's olympic linemate for Team Canada in Vancouver next month.
Iginla has been struggling lately, with only 3 points in his last 9 contests, but has 21 goals and 21 assists for 42 points in 46 games for the Flames this year.
The big surprise on Calgary's roster, though, is who is helping Iginla put up the points this sesason.
That would be LW Rene Bourque, who has 17 goals and 37 points in 40 games.
Guys that have struggled for Calgary this season so far include Center Olli Jokinen and Craig Conroy. Conroy, in particular, is having an awful season.
Conroy has the potential to be a near point-a-game guy, but has only 11 points in 39 games so far this year.
Besides Iginla's scoring, physicality and leadership up front, the Flames continue to be strong on defense and in goal.
On the blueline, they boast an impressive top 3 in physical stalwart Dion Phaneuf, steady defender Robyn Regher and all around offensive threat Jay Boumeester, former of a team the Penguins are more familiar with in the Eastern Conference, the Florida Panthers.
Some might say those three have struggled individually this season -- especially Phaneuf, who has been the subject of increasing trade rumors throughout the league -- but you wouldn't know it from looking at Calgary's goals against totals this year.
Only one other team in the West has allowed fewer goals than the Flames this season.
Of course, that might have less to do with the play of their name defenders and more to do with their goaltender, Mikka Kiprusoff, who is having another really strong season.
Kiprusoff is 23-11-6 with a 2.16 GAA and .927 sv % on the year.
Pittsburgh beat Calgary last season, 2-0 at Mellon Arena, and also prevailed the last time they faced the Flames in Calgary, but like I said, the Penguins clearly won't have it easy tonight -- not just because of the strength of their opponent, but because how they have been playing.
The script might be flipped at least a little bit the next night, though, as the Edmonton Oilers are having an awful season, and are currently in the Western Conference basement with 37 points, 8 points behind the next closest team, the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Oilers are 16-24-5 on the year so far, and have given up the most goals in the West.
Edmonton has been particularly terrible lately -- even more so than the Penguins. They've won only once in their last 13 games, including a stretch where they lost 7 straight.
RW Dustin Penner has clearly been their best player this season. He has stats that basically mirror Iginla's for Calgary, but the problem is, he has little help. Young forwards Sam Gagner, Andrew Coligliano, and Patrick O'Sullivan are not developing this season as many Edmonton fans and observers had hoped.
Worse, more notable forwards Alex Hemsky and Shawn Horcoff have struggled mightly, and the Oilers haven't gotten anything even resembling competitive goaltending this year from Nikolai Khabibulin and Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers.
Edmonton has a new boss behind the bench this year in veteran Pat Quinn, and Quinn just hasn't jelled with his group of players.
While the Oilers are struggling across the board and should give the Penguins an opportunity for a simple victory, Pittsburgh can't take anything for granted right now. They tend to play down to their competition anyway and they need to look no further than last night's 6-0 beating laid down by the New York Islanders over the Detroit Red Wings to realize that anything can happen on any given night.
It will be interesting to see what Blysma does with the Penguins' lineup in these games. Will he mix things up a little bit? Will he sit Fleury for a game? #29 should get one of these games off, but with backup goaltender Brent Johnson suffering from a slight groin injury and John Curry on the trip, will Disco Dan put Curry in the lineup? We'll see.
Recaps to follow tomorrow and Friday.
Let's Go Pens!
NOTES:
In an interesting note, FSN Pittsburgh, the group with the exclusive rights to Penguin hockey TV coverage, indefinitely suspended one of their video producers, Lowell McDonald, Jr. -- son of former Penguin player Lowell McDonald -- for failing to give NHL officials in Toronto a replay of a disputed play between the Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers in a game the Flyers won 7-4 on Thursday, January 7, 2010.
In that game, Simon Gagne thought he had stuffed a puck by Penguins' backup netminder Brent Johnson, but the officials on-ice ruled no-goal. Replays shown in Toronto were inconclusive, so the no-goal ruling was upheld.
However, after play resumed -- and when a no-goal ruling can therafter not be reversed -- FSN Pittsburgh quickly showed an overhead replay that appeared to indicate the puck had, indeed, crossed the goal line.
The Pens will have their hands full tonight against a good Flames team tied for 4th in the Western Conference and one point ahead of the Penguins in the overall NHL standings with 58.
Calgary is 6-2-1 in their last 9 games and are led by Captain and RW Jarome Iginla -- likely Sidney Crosby's olympic linemate for Team Canada in Vancouver next month.
Iginla has been struggling lately, with only 3 points in his last 9 contests, but has 21 goals and 21 assists for 42 points in 46 games for the Flames this year.
The big surprise on Calgary's roster, though, is who is helping Iginla put up the points this sesason.
That would be LW Rene Bourque, who has 17 goals and 37 points in 40 games.
Guys that have struggled for Calgary this season so far include Center Olli Jokinen and Craig Conroy. Conroy, in particular, is having an awful season.
Conroy has the potential to be a near point-a-game guy, but has only 11 points in 39 games so far this year.
Besides Iginla's scoring, physicality and leadership up front, the Flames continue to be strong on defense and in goal.
On the blueline, they boast an impressive top 3 in physical stalwart Dion Phaneuf, steady defender Robyn Regher and all around offensive threat Jay Boumeester, former of a team the Penguins are more familiar with in the Eastern Conference, the Florida Panthers.
Some might say those three have struggled individually this season -- especially Phaneuf, who has been the subject of increasing trade rumors throughout the league -- but you wouldn't know it from looking at Calgary's goals against totals this year.
Only one other team in the West has allowed fewer goals than the Flames this season.
Of course, that might have less to do with the play of their name defenders and more to do with their goaltender, Mikka Kiprusoff, who is having another really strong season.
Kiprusoff is 23-11-6 with a 2.16 GAA and .927 sv % on the year.
Pittsburgh beat Calgary last season, 2-0 at Mellon Arena, and also prevailed the last time they faced the Flames in Calgary, but like I said, the Penguins clearly won't have it easy tonight -- not just because of the strength of their opponent, but because how they have been playing.
The script might be flipped at least a little bit the next night, though, as the Edmonton Oilers are having an awful season, and are currently in the Western Conference basement with 37 points, 8 points behind the next closest team, the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Oilers are 16-24-5 on the year so far, and have given up the most goals in the West.
Edmonton has been particularly terrible lately -- even more so than the Penguins. They've won only once in their last 13 games, including a stretch where they lost 7 straight.
RW Dustin Penner has clearly been their best player this season. He has stats that basically mirror Iginla's for Calgary, but the problem is, he has little help. Young forwards Sam Gagner, Andrew Coligliano, and Patrick O'Sullivan are not developing this season as many Edmonton fans and observers had hoped.
Worse, more notable forwards Alex Hemsky and Shawn Horcoff have struggled mightly, and the Oilers haven't gotten anything even resembling competitive goaltending this year from Nikolai Khabibulin and Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers.
Edmonton has a new boss behind the bench this year in veteran Pat Quinn, and Quinn just hasn't jelled with his group of players.
While the Oilers are struggling across the board and should give the Penguins an opportunity for a simple victory, Pittsburgh can't take anything for granted right now. They tend to play down to their competition anyway and they need to look no further than last night's 6-0 beating laid down by the New York Islanders over the Detroit Red Wings to realize that anything can happen on any given night.
It will be interesting to see what Blysma does with the Penguins' lineup in these games. Will he mix things up a little bit? Will he sit Fleury for a game? #29 should get one of these games off, but with backup goaltender Brent Johnson suffering from a slight groin injury and John Curry on the trip, will Disco Dan put Curry in the lineup? We'll see.
Recaps to follow tomorrow and Friday.
Let's Go Pens!
NOTES:
In an interesting note, FSN Pittsburgh, the group with the exclusive rights to Penguin hockey TV coverage, indefinitely suspended one of their video producers, Lowell McDonald, Jr. -- son of former Penguin player Lowell McDonald -- for failing to give NHL officials in Toronto a replay of a disputed play between the Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers in a game the Flyers won 7-4 on Thursday, January 7, 2010.
In that game, Simon Gagne thought he had stuffed a puck by Penguins' backup netminder Brent Johnson, but the officials on-ice ruled no-goal. Replays shown in Toronto were inconclusive, so the no-goal ruling was upheld.
However, after play resumed -- and when a no-goal ruling can therafter not be reversed -- FSN Pittsburgh quickly showed an overhead replay that appeared to indicate the puck had, indeed, crossed the goal line.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Power Play, Fleury Falter Again As Penguins Fall To Wild For Second Time This Season, 4-3
It's too early for Groundhog day, since it's only the 2nd full week in January, but you certainly wouldn't know it from the way the Pittsburgh Penguins have been playing lately.
Thanks to another putrid performance by their power play and more goaltending from Marc-Andre Fleury that can only be characterized as average, at best, the Pittsburgh Penguins dropped their 7th game out of 9 last night in falling to the Minnesota Wild at the Exel Energy Center, 4-3.
In a back-and-forth contest, it seemed that the Penguins and Fleury just couldn't get out of their own way at times.
They started well, with Sidney Crosby getting a goal less than 4 minutes in when a point shot first went off Pascal Dupuis, then off him and past Wild goaltender Nicklas Backstrom.
Later in the period, however, Wild forward Eric Belanger got a gift that tied the score on an play that was more pass than shot when his flip towards the net from 40 feet deflected off something down off the ice and took a strange bounce over and to Fleury's left past his glove.
The Penguins came out of the 2nd period gate strong, looking to re-establish control of the contest and were rewarded for it less than a minute in when Pascal Dupuis took a pass from Bill Guerin and finished a 3-on-2 rush to give the Boys of Winter a 2-1 lead.
But just as quickly, the Penguins gave up an odd-man rush to Minnesota sniper Martin Havlat made no mistake, taking a pass from Guillaume Latendresse and beating Fleury to the short side to tie the game at 2.
Pittsburgh then had a chance to go up by two goals when they were awared a 2-man advantage for about 75 seconds around the 4 to 5 minute mark of the second frame.
Not surprisingly, they squandered it.
Badly.
Fleury was fighting the puck again later in the period when Cal Clutterbuck got credit for a goal on play where Latendresse again just meekly tossed a puck towards the goal and it went in off the Wild bruiser to give Minnesota the lead.
Again, early in the third, Pittsburgh got back into it on a point shot that got past Backstrom and was originally credited to Mark Eaton, but later changed to Crosby.
It was Crosby's 29th of the year. He's now tied for the top goal-scoring spot in the National Hockey League.
Unfortunately, Latendresse finished off his 4-point night by scoring on a 2-on-2 rush from right in front after he and Kyle Brodziak made Penguins' defensemen Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski -- out together on that shift -- look like meek pylons and capitalized on a virtual tap-in.
Trying to recapture some momentum later in the final period, Pittsburgh successfully killed off a 5-minute interference penalty to Sergei Gonchar which was the result of a wicked bodycheck and forearm shiver to the head of Clutterbuck away from the play.
Basically, Sarge retaliated for a shove and hit along the wall by Clutterbuck several seconds earlier, and got his hand caught in the cookie jar while doing so.
The Pens' weren't able to do anything with that, though, mainly because they were awarded a momentum-sapping power play a few minutes later and didn't post a single shot as a result of it.
They finished 0-for-6 on the man-advantage for the night and got no closer -- despite the 38 total shots they threw on Backstrom.
Fleury, conversely, stopped only 20 of 24.
Pens' head coach Dan Bylsma was optimistic after the game, saying that if the Penguins played that way on the rest of the road trip and the final 33 games of the season after that, they'd be a good hockey team.
I'm not so sure.
Aside from Fleury's continued struggles and the abject pattern of failure shown by his team's man advantage, they continue to be weak on coverage in the defensive and neutral zone. They also aren't very difficult to play against in front of their own net right now, and Orpik's current absence from the lineup certainly doesn't help.
I haven't even heard Jay McKee's name called the last two weeks. He's mostly a non-factor these days.
Geno also continues to be invisible. He has scored in only one game in his last 13 contests, and he had 3 tallies in that game against the Ottawa Senators in the Penguins 8-2 beating of them about 2 and 1/2 weeks ago.
The Penguins really need him to turn things around.
Ron Cook, a columnist from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, issued a fairly blistering critique of Malkin in yesterday's edition, commenting on how Malkin needs to stop sulking about his slump and work harder to get out of it.
He also went as far as likening Malkin's current attitude to that of former Penguin Jaromir Jagr, when Jags said he was "dying alive" during his last 2 seasons in Pittsburgh before being traded to the Washington Capitals.
I'm usually not as much of a Cook basher as many Pittsburgh sports observers can be, but his column yesterday was way, WAY off the mark.
There's little similarity to Jagr's attitude during his last seasons here and Malkin's attitude now. Jagr didn't want to play here anymore and was acting like a petulant baby because of it.
Malkin is just struggling and his confidence is suffering as a result. That's bothering him emotionally but that's because he cares and wants to win so much. Virtually all players go through that.
Cook must not have anything else to do other than stir the pot now that the Steelers season is over. I can't remember the last time he actually wrote a column about the Penguins.
Moving past that garbage, I was going to say that backup goaltender Brent Johnson was due to get a start sometime in the next two games, when the Penguins have back-to-back games against the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers on their slate for Wednesday night and Thursday night, respectively, but that was before Johnson tweaked his groin at the end of the game-day skate in Minnesota yesterday.
That forced the Penguins to call up John Curry from Wilkes-Barre Scranton, where he joined teammate and fellow-call up from earlier in the day, defenseman Ben Lovejoy.
I don't see any harm in giving Curry one of those games if Johnson isn't ready.
Speaking of Lovejoy, he was put right in the lineup last night, taking Orpik's place and surprisingly keeping veteran Martin Skoula in the press-box.
Skoula, obviously, has fallen out of favor with the coaching staff.
The Penguins certainly have a lot of things they need to improve in their game. Right now, they are basically just treading water, and lost a chance last night to get rolling a little bit. As it is, they have to start over and look to be strong in the next 2 contests to try and get that mojo back.
We'll see how it goes.
More later this week.
Thanks to another putrid performance by their power play and more goaltending from Marc-Andre Fleury that can only be characterized as average, at best, the Pittsburgh Penguins dropped their 7th game out of 9 last night in falling to the Minnesota Wild at the Exel Energy Center, 4-3.
In a back-and-forth contest, it seemed that the Penguins and Fleury just couldn't get out of their own way at times.
They started well, with Sidney Crosby getting a goal less than 4 minutes in when a point shot first went off Pascal Dupuis, then off him and past Wild goaltender Nicklas Backstrom.
Later in the period, however, Wild forward Eric Belanger got a gift that tied the score on an play that was more pass than shot when his flip towards the net from 40 feet deflected off something down off the ice and took a strange bounce over and to Fleury's left past his glove.
The Penguins came out of the 2nd period gate strong, looking to re-establish control of the contest and were rewarded for it less than a minute in when Pascal Dupuis took a pass from Bill Guerin and finished a 3-on-2 rush to give the Boys of Winter a 2-1 lead.
But just as quickly, the Penguins gave up an odd-man rush to Minnesota sniper Martin Havlat made no mistake, taking a pass from Guillaume Latendresse and beating Fleury to the short side to tie the game at 2.
Pittsburgh then had a chance to go up by two goals when they were awared a 2-man advantage for about 75 seconds around the 4 to 5 minute mark of the second frame.
Not surprisingly, they squandered it.
Badly.
Fleury was fighting the puck again later in the period when Cal Clutterbuck got credit for a goal on play where Latendresse again just meekly tossed a puck towards the goal and it went in off the Wild bruiser to give Minnesota the lead.
Again, early in the third, Pittsburgh got back into it on a point shot that got past Backstrom and was originally credited to Mark Eaton, but later changed to Crosby.
It was Crosby's 29th of the year. He's now tied for the top goal-scoring spot in the National Hockey League.
Unfortunately, Latendresse finished off his 4-point night by scoring on a 2-on-2 rush from right in front after he and Kyle Brodziak made Penguins' defensemen Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski -- out together on that shift -- look like meek pylons and capitalized on a virtual tap-in.
Trying to recapture some momentum later in the final period, Pittsburgh successfully killed off a 5-minute interference penalty to Sergei Gonchar which was the result of a wicked bodycheck and forearm shiver to the head of Clutterbuck away from the play.
Basically, Sarge retaliated for a shove and hit along the wall by Clutterbuck several seconds earlier, and got his hand caught in the cookie jar while doing so.
The Pens' weren't able to do anything with that, though, mainly because they were awarded a momentum-sapping power play a few minutes later and didn't post a single shot as a result of it.
They finished 0-for-6 on the man-advantage for the night and got no closer -- despite the 38 total shots they threw on Backstrom.
Fleury, conversely, stopped only 20 of 24.
Pens' head coach Dan Bylsma was optimistic after the game, saying that if the Penguins played that way on the rest of the road trip and the final 33 games of the season after that, they'd be a good hockey team.
I'm not so sure.
Aside from Fleury's continued struggles and the abject pattern of failure shown by his team's man advantage, they continue to be weak on coverage in the defensive and neutral zone. They also aren't very difficult to play against in front of their own net right now, and Orpik's current absence from the lineup certainly doesn't help.
I haven't even heard Jay McKee's name called the last two weeks. He's mostly a non-factor these days.
Geno also continues to be invisible. He has scored in only one game in his last 13 contests, and he had 3 tallies in that game against the Ottawa Senators in the Penguins 8-2 beating of them about 2 and 1/2 weeks ago.
The Penguins really need him to turn things around.
Ron Cook, a columnist from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, issued a fairly blistering critique of Malkin in yesterday's edition, commenting on how Malkin needs to stop sulking about his slump and work harder to get out of it.
He also went as far as likening Malkin's current attitude to that of former Penguin Jaromir Jagr, when Jags said he was "dying alive" during his last 2 seasons in Pittsburgh before being traded to the Washington Capitals.
I'm usually not as much of a Cook basher as many Pittsburgh sports observers can be, but his column yesterday was way, WAY off the mark.
There's little similarity to Jagr's attitude during his last seasons here and Malkin's attitude now. Jagr didn't want to play here anymore and was acting like a petulant baby because of it.
Malkin is just struggling and his confidence is suffering as a result. That's bothering him emotionally but that's because he cares and wants to win so much. Virtually all players go through that.
Cook must not have anything else to do other than stir the pot now that the Steelers season is over. I can't remember the last time he actually wrote a column about the Penguins.
Moving past that garbage, I was going to say that backup goaltender Brent Johnson was due to get a start sometime in the next two games, when the Penguins have back-to-back games against the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers on their slate for Wednesday night and Thursday night, respectively, but that was before Johnson tweaked his groin at the end of the game-day skate in Minnesota yesterday.
That forced the Penguins to call up John Curry from Wilkes-Barre Scranton, where he joined teammate and fellow-call up from earlier in the day, defenseman Ben Lovejoy.
I don't see any harm in giving Curry one of those games if Johnson isn't ready.
Speaking of Lovejoy, he was put right in the lineup last night, taking Orpik's place and surprisingly keeping veteran Martin Skoula in the press-box.
Skoula, obviously, has fallen out of favor with the coaching staff.
The Penguins certainly have a lot of things they need to improve in their game. Right now, they are basically just treading water, and lost a chance last night to get rolling a little bit. As it is, they have to start over and look to be strong in the next 2 contests to try and get that mojo back.
We'll see how it goes.
More later this week.
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