The Pittsburgh Penguins announced yesterday that they extended rugged defenseman Deryk Engelland's contract for 3 years at $1.7 million dollars.
The deal is a guaranteed, one-way contract with an annual cap hit of around .56 of a million dollars.
While Engelland has fast developed a reputation as one of the toughest fighters in the NHL -- ask Colton Orr and Jody Shelley about that if you have any doubts -- he's also proven himself to be a pretty solid 6/7 defenseman in the league.
Engelland has gotten better defensively in the season's first half, and adds a needed physical element in the corners and in front of the Pens' goal. If he continues to do that while providing the intimidation factor, his contract can only be considered a bargain for Pittsburgh.
"His ability to play defense and to defend and to be physical against good players is the biggest thing he's shown this year," head coach Dan Bylsma said.
Obviously, many in the organization are happy that Engelland has developed into someone the team can trot out there on a regular basis and feel fairly comfortable about it, but let's face it --- while Engelland has been around the organization for several years, I don't think many people saw him taking the jump he did this year.
If the Penguins' brass and GM Ray Shero had anticipated Engelland playing so well, they probably wouldn't have signed Ben Lovejoy to a similar contract before the season.
Lovejoy, of course, was who the Pens thought would capture and hold down the spot as their #6 blueliner this year.
The Penguins are going to have an interesting conundrum on their blueline the next several years. Just about every regular in their lineup at that position is under contract for at least the next several seasons, and Pittsburgh is very, very deep in their organization with prospects on defense.
In fact, their top prospect on the back end -- Simon Despres -- is almost NHL ready as it is, and the Penguins have several other strong rearguards in the pipeline that are probably going to be ready to take things to the next level at some point.
What does all of that mean?
Trades.
I'm not suggesting Shero will make such a move before this year's February 28 trading deadline, but with all of the depth the franchise has at that position, it only makes sense that he'll move a blueliner or two eventually -- and probably for help up front. The only questions are when it will happen, and who's going to go.
Moreover, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see it be someone from the big club. If it happens that way, I'm afraid that Alex Goligoski is the most likely one to move, both beacuse of his skill set and role on the team, as well as the fact that he has a reasonable cap hit on a soon-to-be expiring contract.
In short, the Penguins could probably get decent value for the offensive blueliner.
Obviously, time will tell.
Meanwhile, it appears that some of the Winter Classic television rating information I talked about yesterday may have been incomplete.
Yesterday, I wrote that the game appeared to score a 1.8 rating. Later, it seemed to be reported at a 2.3. Then, news broke that Saturday's Winter Classic was the most watched game in the National Hockey League in 36 years, with an average of 4.5 million people tuning in to watch the game in primetime.
That's a 22% increase over last year's 3.7 milion who tuned in to watch the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers play in the 2010 Winter Classic, and .1 million more than those who watched the 2009 Classic between the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks.
Now, I'm not in television, so I don't understand how you can have a 1.8 rating (or even a 2.3 rating) be less than last year's 2.6 rating, yet have 4.5 million people tuned in compared to 3.7 million, but like most other numbers in this world, I'm sure they can be skewed any way desired to make a point.
Hey, I'm all for the league tooting its own horn in any way that will help them secure a good national TV deal at the end of this season, so if number-skewing is what it takes to spin the public perception, you won't find any objection here.
Where you will find an objection, however, is in the Penguins' locker room.
To David Steckel's hit on Sidney Crosby late in the 2nd period of the Winter Classic, that is.
There's been increasing hub-bub about this hit in the days since the game. I didn't talk about it in either of my two post-Winter Classic pieces because I didn't see anything to it.
And, frankly, I still don't.
The Penguins, obviously, don't feel the same way about the hit.
"It was definitely dirty," said Pens' defenseman Brooks Orpik.
"It was not a clean play," said forward Mike Rupp. "If anybody would have seen it, I promise there would have been a reaction."
For those who haven't seen the play, it can be found here.
Now, I've watched this footage over and over and I don't see any ill intent on Steckel's part whatsoever. I don't see him turning his stride towards Crosby at the last second, as some Penguins have alleged, nor do I see him doing anything which looks like he's trying to take a cheap shot at Pittsburgh's Captain.
To me, it appears that Steckel is looking ahead watching the play going up the ice and trying to get in on the rush --- then Crosby makes a sudden turn into his path. The fact that Steckel is about a half a foot taller than Crosby is what would put his shoulder at Sid's head-level.
Perhaps even more would be made of this is Crosby suffered a serious injury on the play. As it was, he was only temporarily dazed, and no long term harm was done.
As far as I'm concerned, it's much-ado about nothing, even if Orpik doesn't think so.
"We still play him a couple of times," he said.
More tomorrow on the Pens/Lightning.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
More Post-Mortem On The Winter Classic, Then A Look Ahead
Well, the results are in, and they are surprisingly not that great.
Saturday's soggy Winter Classic at Heinz Field between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals -- the National Hockey League's first foray into prime time for this event, whether forced or otherwise -- drew a 1.8 overnight rating after television viewership results were announced yesterday.
That is meaningfully less than the 2.6 rating from last year's Winter Classic between the Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins, and even less than the 2.9 rating from the Classic in 2009 between the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks.
I'm anxious to gauge league-wide reaction to these numbers. I'm sure they'll be spun as a positive, but I'm not sure that's the case.
I think the biggest indicator of whether the NHL viewed the wet prime-time spectacle as a success is whether they (and/or NBC) decide to voluntarily schedule the game for prime-time in future years.
While so many of the players, including Pittsburgh forward Max Talbot, spoke after Saturday's game about how the event was good for hockey because you want to sell the game, at least one observer felt that the game failed to live up to its billing.
One player who probably cared a little less about how the game was viewed and instead was just thrilled to be in game action again was Penguins' center Jordan Staal, who played for the first time after missing the season's opening 39 games while recovering from foot and hand surgeries.
Staal really amped up his practice work with the team in the week leading up to the Winter Classic and it was good to see him finally medically cleared and back in the lineup.
Head Coach Dan Bylsma professed that he would have put Staal in the lineup if it were just a game in Buffalo, and indicated in advance that Staal wouldn't see the same minutes as he normally would while he gets his game conditioning up to where it needs to be. Sure enough, Gronk only played about 14 minutes.
But they were strong minutes. He had 3 hits, 3 shots, a few blocks and finished 11-for-18 on face-offs,w hich is something he didn't really practice much leading up to the game.
Staal played center on the Pens' second line with Evgeni Malkin most of the game, by the way, and I'll be curious to see if Disco Dan sticks with that combination. After all, that was the plan going into training camp.
It's going to take #11 more time to get up to speed, but it was great to see him out there again. He adds a lot to the team all over the ice.
Staal will have at least a few more days of work before he gets to suit up again on Wednesday night, when the Pens next play. That evening, they host Steven Stamkos and the Tampa Bay Lightning at The Bird House.
That game will be a good test for them, but they'll have the added benefit of catching Tampa Bay one day after they play the Caps' in a showdown for the Southeast Division lead in Washington. The Lightning may come into Pittsburgh a little on the comedown, but the Penguins would be wise not to take anything for granted now that they've dropped 3 of their last 4. They need a strong effort that night, especially since turnaround will be fair play when they travel to Montreal to face the Canadiens the next day themselves.
When Pittsburgh does lace 'em up again on Wednesday, they'll be looking even at the Philadelphia Flyers in the Atlantic Division after the Flyers' win in Detroit yesterday.
They may also no longer be the holders of the top spot in the NHL, since Detroit and the Vancouver Canucks also have matched their 53 points on the season, and both of those clubs play once before then.
Going forward, I'll have a preview up of Wednesday's game coming up, and then looking further down the line, I'll dish out player grades at the halfway mark of the season. Look for that probably sometime this weekend.
More soon.
Saturday's soggy Winter Classic at Heinz Field between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals -- the National Hockey League's first foray into prime time for this event, whether forced or otherwise -- drew a 1.8 overnight rating after television viewership results were announced yesterday.
That is meaningfully less than the 2.6 rating from last year's Winter Classic between the Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins, and even less than the 2.9 rating from the Classic in 2009 between the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks.
I'm anxious to gauge league-wide reaction to these numbers. I'm sure they'll be spun as a positive, but I'm not sure that's the case.
I think the biggest indicator of whether the NHL viewed the wet prime-time spectacle as a success is whether they (and/or NBC) decide to voluntarily schedule the game for prime-time in future years.
While so many of the players, including Pittsburgh forward Max Talbot, spoke after Saturday's game about how the event was good for hockey because you want to sell the game, at least one observer felt that the game failed to live up to its billing.
One player who probably cared a little less about how the game was viewed and instead was just thrilled to be in game action again was Penguins' center Jordan Staal, who played for the first time after missing the season's opening 39 games while recovering from foot and hand surgeries.
Staal really amped up his practice work with the team in the week leading up to the Winter Classic and it was good to see him finally medically cleared and back in the lineup.
Head Coach Dan Bylsma professed that he would have put Staal in the lineup if it were just a game in Buffalo, and indicated in advance that Staal wouldn't see the same minutes as he normally would while he gets his game conditioning up to where it needs to be. Sure enough, Gronk only played about 14 minutes.
But they were strong minutes. He had 3 hits, 3 shots, a few blocks and finished 11-for-18 on face-offs,w hich is something he didn't really practice much leading up to the game.
Staal played center on the Pens' second line with Evgeni Malkin most of the game, by the way, and I'll be curious to see if Disco Dan sticks with that combination. After all, that was the plan going into training camp.
It's going to take #11 more time to get up to speed, but it was great to see him out there again. He adds a lot to the team all over the ice.
Staal will have at least a few more days of work before he gets to suit up again on Wednesday night, when the Pens next play. That evening, they host Steven Stamkos and the Tampa Bay Lightning at The Bird House.
That game will be a good test for them, but they'll have the added benefit of catching Tampa Bay one day after they play the Caps' in a showdown for the Southeast Division lead in Washington. The Lightning may come into Pittsburgh a little on the comedown, but the Penguins would be wise not to take anything for granted now that they've dropped 3 of their last 4. They need a strong effort that night, especially since turnaround will be fair play when they travel to Montreal to face the Canadiens the next day themselves.
When Pittsburgh does lace 'em up again on Wednesday, they'll be looking even at the Philadelphia Flyers in the Atlantic Division after the Flyers' win in Detroit yesterday.
They may also no longer be the holders of the top spot in the NHL, since Detroit and the Vancouver Canucks also have matched their 53 points on the season, and both of those clubs play once before then.
Going forward, I'll have a preview up of Wednesday's game coming up, and then looking further down the line, I'll dish out player grades at the halfway mark of the season. Look for that probably sometime this weekend.
More soon.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
A Classic It Wasn't: Pens' Fall To Soggy Conditions, Caps, 3-1 In Winter Classic
Last night, in front of 68,111 fans, the bright lights of Heinz Field, all the eyes of NBC and the sporting world in prime time during the NHL's 4th Winter Classic -- this time between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals -- it was easy to come up with one word to describe what would otherwise be a difficult event to summarize.
Wet.
After pushing back the game the day before from a 1 PM Saturday start to an 8 PM evening gig based on the threat of rain mostly only up to a certain point, the league got more soggy weather than they bargained for during, and even after, what ended up being a 3-1 Washington victory.
Oh sure, it rained during the day as predicted, although it probably stopped prior to the game a bit sooner than anticipated.
What wasn't forcast, however, was the amount of rain that started again during the second period and really picked up for 10 minutes into the 3rd.
Both teams had to play on a pretty soggy surface that was evident not only by just looking at the rink, but by watching the bouncing puck and the inability of either team -- especially the Penguins -- to get any flow to their game last night.
On an evening when Pittsburgh would have been well suited to dump the puck in and bang bodies, they couldn't do that because they couldn't rely on their normally-quick skaters to even get to the puck through poor ice conditions.
And it goes without saying that they weren't able to rely on their speed through the neutral zone to generate any offense either.
And so, it was up to the pluggers and muckers to do the job last night.
Unfortunately, on this one evening anyway, the Capitals got more from theirs than the Penguins' did.
After Pens' forward Evgeni Malkin scored an early 2nd period tally on a semi-breakaway by beating Washington netminder Simeon Varlamov through the legs, Mike Knuble tied it later that period on a scramble in front of the net, and Eric Fehr (ERIC FEHR?!?) added two third period tallies to win the game for the Caps' and send a lot of Penguin fans -- myself included -- home unhappy.
While there wasn't much beauty to the action last night, Fehr's third goal was a nice top-corner wrist shot as he broke in somewhat uncontested on Fleury and capitalized on a nice give-and-go with teammate Jason Chimera.
Interestingly, one of the factors that played into that goal was the teams switching sides a few minutes earlier at the 10 minute mark of that final frame. That's a specific rule for the Winter Classic so the weather conditions aren't more favorable to one team over the other, but the consequence last night was the Pens' again having the long change from their bench, and on Fehr's goal, that's exactly what kept Pascal Dupuis from catching Fehr on the backcheck after he snuck behind teammate Paul Martin.
Still, the bigger heartburn in the game was Washington's second goal early in the third period -- also by Fehr -- made possible when Fleury misplayed the puck on a dumparound behind the Pens' net and unforutnately, had the puck go right to a Capitals' player. That player was Caps' forward Marcus Johansson, and he wasted about as much time getting it to Fehr in front as Fehr did shooting it into the empty, vacated cage for a 2-1 Caps' lead.
When he scored later, that was all Washington needed for the win.
Curiously, the game involved two more plays where goals were waved off because of contact with the goalie -- but without a goaltender interference penalty being called. That was the same call that hurt the Penguins about a week and a half ago in a loss to the New York Rangers, but I suppose with one on each side last night, they washed each other out.
That, of course, was fitting irony.
To their credit, while the conditions clearly slowed them down, not one Penguin -- including their Captain, Sidney Crosby, who went pointless for the second straight game and, together with Washington star Captain Alexander Ovechkin, failed to hit the scoresheet in this one -- complained. At least publicly.
Despite adjusting his skate edges to account for the tough ice before the game, Crosby said afterwards that, "the conditions were all right." He later added -- in league-ambassador form -- that "it was a privilege" to be a part of the game.
Even Fleury said "the conditions weren't that bad."
The best you could get was from Pens' LW Chris Kunitz who summed up how difficult it was to corral the biscuit in the weather when he said, "it didn't seem like the puck would always sit in the proper area of your stick"
After misplaying the biscuit behind the goal, I'm sure that's something Fleury must agree with.
Frankly, I can't figure how the Pens' put up 33 shots to the Capitals' 32 in this one.
For their part, Washington was obviously exuberant after the game.
"What a wonderful hockey experience," said Caps' GM George McPhee.
"It's one of the best feelings of my life," said Ovechkin.
Still, it's undeniable that this game had more meaning and more value to a Washington franchise still trying to find their way after an 8-game losing streak in December.
Would it have been great for the Penguins to win it?
You betcha.
As it was, they'll have to settle for the privilege of just playing the host.
Wet host, that is.
Anybody have an umbrella?
NOTES:
I'll have more on the game tomorrow, including word on the ratings, the impact of the game on the league as a whole, what's next for the Penguins, and a note on the return of center Jordan Staal, who played for the first time all season.
Wet.
After pushing back the game the day before from a 1 PM Saturday start to an 8 PM evening gig based on the threat of rain mostly only up to a certain point, the league got more soggy weather than they bargained for during, and even after, what ended up being a 3-1 Washington victory.
Oh sure, it rained during the day as predicted, although it probably stopped prior to the game a bit sooner than anticipated.
What wasn't forcast, however, was the amount of rain that started again during the second period and really picked up for 10 minutes into the 3rd.
Both teams had to play on a pretty soggy surface that was evident not only by just looking at the rink, but by watching the bouncing puck and the inability of either team -- especially the Penguins -- to get any flow to their game last night.
On an evening when Pittsburgh would have been well suited to dump the puck in and bang bodies, they couldn't do that because they couldn't rely on their normally-quick skaters to even get to the puck through poor ice conditions.
And it goes without saying that they weren't able to rely on their speed through the neutral zone to generate any offense either.
And so, it was up to the pluggers and muckers to do the job last night.
Unfortunately, on this one evening anyway, the Capitals got more from theirs than the Penguins' did.
After Pens' forward Evgeni Malkin scored an early 2nd period tally on a semi-breakaway by beating Washington netminder Simeon Varlamov through the legs, Mike Knuble tied it later that period on a scramble in front of the net, and Eric Fehr (ERIC FEHR?!?) added two third period tallies to win the game for the Caps' and send a lot of Penguin fans -- myself included -- home unhappy.
While there wasn't much beauty to the action last night, Fehr's third goal was a nice top-corner wrist shot as he broke in somewhat uncontested on Fleury and capitalized on a nice give-and-go with teammate Jason Chimera.
Interestingly, one of the factors that played into that goal was the teams switching sides a few minutes earlier at the 10 minute mark of that final frame. That's a specific rule for the Winter Classic so the weather conditions aren't more favorable to one team over the other, but the consequence last night was the Pens' again having the long change from their bench, and on Fehr's goal, that's exactly what kept Pascal Dupuis from catching Fehr on the backcheck after he snuck behind teammate Paul Martin.
Still, the bigger heartburn in the game was Washington's second goal early in the third period -- also by Fehr -- made possible when Fleury misplayed the puck on a dumparound behind the Pens' net and unforutnately, had the puck go right to a Capitals' player. That player was Caps' forward Marcus Johansson, and he wasted about as much time getting it to Fehr in front as Fehr did shooting it into the empty, vacated cage for a 2-1 Caps' lead.
When he scored later, that was all Washington needed for the win.
Curiously, the game involved two more plays where goals were waved off because of contact with the goalie -- but without a goaltender interference penalty being called. That was the same call that hurt the Penguins about a week and a half ago in a loss to the New York Rangers, but I suppose with one on each side last night, they washed each other out.
That, of course, was fitting irony.
To their credit, while the conditions clearly slowed them down, not one Penguin -- including their Captain, Sidney Crosby, who went pointless for the second straight game and, together with Washington star Captain Alexander Ovechkin, failed to hit the scoresheet in this one -- complained. At least publicly.
Despite adjusting his skate edges to account for the tough ice before the game, Crosby said afterwards that, "the conditions were all right." He later added -- in league-ambassador form -- that "it was a privilege" to be a part of the game.
Even Fleury said "the conditions weren't that bad."
The best you could get was from Pens' LW Chris Kunitz who summed up how difficult it was to corral the biscuit in the weather when he said, "it didn't seem like the puck would always sit in the proper area of your stick"
After misplaying the biscuit behind the goal, I'm sure that's something Fleury must agree with.
Frankly, I can't figure how the Pens' put up 33 shots to the Capitals' 32 in this one.
For their part, Washington was obviously exuberant after the game.
"What a wonderful hockey experience," said Caps' GM George McPhee.
"It's one of the best feelings of my life," said Ovechkin.
Still, it's undeniable that this game had more meaning and more value to a Washington franchise still trying to find their way after an 8-game losing streak in December.
Would it have been great for the Penguins to win it?
You betcha.
As it was, they'll have to settle for the privilege of just playing the host.
Wet host, that is.
Anybody have an umbrella?
NOTES:
I'll have more on the game tomorrow, including word on the ratings, the impact of the game on the league as a whole, what's next for the Penguins, and a note on the return of center Jordan Staal, who played for the first time all season.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Winter Classic Hits and Happenings: Rain, Rain Go Away
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!
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!
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!
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