Pens 5, Flyers 4 (SO); Don't be fooled by the wins...

It's true in every sport, professional and otherwise.

Good teams will find a way to win games in which they played poorly.

So in that respect, yes, it's nice to see that for the first time in six years, we're getting confirmation that indeed, the Pens are a good team.

But while they continue to win and get points, they've won and/or gotten points in three out of the last four games in which they've played quite badly.

The Pens 2-0 win vs. the Caps last Saturday was just as much a result of a lousy Caps offense (less Ovechkin and Semin) as it was the Pens performance.

They then went to Montreal the next day and for the most part should have walked out of there with zero points. They played that poorly, especially the defense.

The Pens rebounded on Tuesday against the Predators, leading the NHL in points. After a very sluggish first period, they refocused and played inspired hockey, dominating the Preds.

But then they went right back to their lackadaisical play last night against the Flyers.

Constantly trying to make the pretty pass, the Pens were fortunate to get two of their goals on tips, not deflections, but tips that made their way into the net.

I know I counted at least five turnovers for Malone alone. I don't care what anyone says, his presence on the first line is hurting this team. His ability to freeze the puck along the boards just doesn't cut the mustard to keep him with Sid's line.

Even after the Pens scored twice in the 3rd period to make it 4-2, they still found plenty of time to play on their heels to allow the Flyers to tie it up to force overtime and the shootout.

Speaking of the shootout, I think it's time Christensen gets a new move. The league has seen him plenty by now.

Malkin's move was decent, and I think he had Nittimaki beat, but he just shot it wide.

And FINALLY, Sid puts one past the goalie, and combined with MAF's goose egg, sealed the win for the Pens.

But make no mistake my friends, this team had better take it up a notch, or they WILL get blown off the ice by the Leafs tomorrow night.

Habs 4, Pens 3 (OT); Flat-footed defense dooms Pens

Be glad they got a point out of it.

After leading the game 2-1 going into the 3rd period, the Pens defense did nothing to combat the Habs' crashing of the net, giving up two quick goals and nearly cost them a regulation loss.

But a late powerplay goal, by Ouellet on the second unit, tied the game up with 2 minutes and change left in the game.

The Pens looked like they had a decent chance to win the game in overtime, as Sid was controlling the puck for several seconds around the net, but held onto it for one second too long. The puck was batted away, led to a 3 on 1 break, and Souray nailed a one-timer.

Ballgame.

I have no doubt in the post game interviews that Sid will accept full responsibility for the OT loss.

But once they look at the game tape, the defense better look in the mirror.

Pens 2, Caps 0; Muckers bail out flat Pens....

I could've sworn that was the Devils out there as the Pens opponent today.

An obvious flat effort this afternoon, combined with a good defensive effort by the Caps, aided by new arrival Milan Jurcina from the Bruins, really turned this into a snoozer.

But we'll take a 2-0 win as a snoozer, as opposed to a 2-0 loss.

MAF registered his 2nd shutout in his last 3 games, as well as the Pens winning their 6th straight, with points in their last 9 games.

In addition, I believe I also recall the stat that this is the 1st game that the Pens have won in which Sid has not scored at least one point.

And oh by the way, as of this writing, the Pens are a paltry two points away from the Habs and Senators in 4TH PLACE in the Eastern Conference (the Habs lead 2-1 right now late in the 2nd period against the Isles as I type this).

Speaking of defensive efforts, the Pens played an excellent defensive game themselves. I would also give high marks to Ryan Malone, who really did a great job today against the boards.

Ron Petrovicky's wrister kinda fooled Ollie Kolzig for the Pens only main goal. Jordan Staal had an empty netter in the final minute to close the scoring.

Well, the Pens got away with one today. There is no way that they can have that type of effort tomorrow afternoon in Montreal and come away with a win.

And I don't think they will. That place will be jumping tomorrow, and I'm sure that the Habs will be throwing plenty of elbows to wake up the Pens really quickly.

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UPDATE: Montreal lost 4-2 to the Islanders this afternoon. If the Leafs beat Ottawa tonight, and the Pens beat the Habs tomorrow afternoon, your Pittsburgh Penguins will be in 4TH PLACE in the Eastern Conference.

Pens Gameday; Alex and the boys pay a visit...

For as much as the prospect of Alex Ovechkin and the Caps visiting the Igloo this afternoon should be enticing to the Pens, I'm a little concerned about the Pens overlooking the struggling Caps while looking forward to the rematch in Montreal tomorrow afternoon with the Habs.

I firmly believe the Caps look forward to facing the Pens nowadays much like they would face a divisional rival.

In fact, I would love to eventually see the Caps and Pens back in the same division, like the old Patrick Division days.

But if the Pens overlook the Caps today, and aren't as mentally sharp as they've been the past week, I have no doubt that the Caps will take advantage of that and pounce.

This will not be an easy game.

In much the same way that opposing teams have recently turning up the heat and applying physical pressure to Sid, I would hope that Therrien will call out the dogs and start doing the same to their opponent's stars, starting today with Ovechkin today, and definitely tomorrow with Koivu or anyone else they deem necessary.

Also gonna be interesting to see if Therrien plays MAF in both games today and tomorrow, or if he'll play Thibault for example tomorrow.

I'd also expect now that Chris Thorburn is back from his personal departure from the team that he'll be back in the lineup to apply more muscle.

LET'S GO PENS !!!!

Guy Carbonneau = Contradict much ??; Malkin visits Sportsbeat

You can't have it both ways, Guy baby.

Canadiens' coach Guy Carbonneau still has his panties in a bunch after Colby Armstrong's vicious, but very clean, hit on Saku Koivu last night.

In what may be the most contradictory comment of the year (and it takes a helluva comment to grab that title), Carbonneau said "I know it was legal, he hit him with his shoulder, but when a guy's battling one-on-one and (another) guy comes from a blind spot and hits him, I don't like that. It should have been called. And I don't see how they got seven minutes on the power play out of that. It was definitely a cheap shot, I'm not afraid to say it."

So it was a legal hit, but it was a cheap shot ?? Is that what you're actually try to tell us mortals, Guy ??

Uh, how about the buttend to the sternum of Crosby, Guy ?? What say you on that ??

Been doing a lot of reading about last night's game. I'm really getting tired of every non-Pens fans claiming that Crosby embellishes every cheap shot he gets.

One thing's for sure, Sunday's rematch should be another outstanding hockey game.

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Malkin made his appearance on Sportsbeat tonight. Pretty bland interview because of the translations going back and forth, but Geno appears to be just a normal 20 year old kid, just one that can't speak English very well just yet.

They're giving away 20 Malkin bobbleheads for the 1st 20 responders who correctly answered that Malkin's 1st NHL goal came against Brodeur. Of course, I jumped on that, and I know I was among the 1st 20 people. That email was gone within 10 seconds. I sent them a 2nd email later on with my mailing address, so I hope that didn't screw up my chances.

Pens 5, Habs 4 (SO); Now that was a hockey game....

Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Sunday's rematch in Montreal will be, shall we say, physical.

Tonight's game had just about everything you'd want in a great hockey game, including ferocious hits, end-to-end action, and most importantly, a big 5-4 Penguins win.

Yeah, I'm still pissed off that they gave the Habs a point by playing on their heels for the last half of the 3rd period.

But give them credit. They got it to overtime, killed a penalty in overtime, and for the 2nd time in row, won in a shootout.

By the way, how many spears does Crosby have to take before 1) the other guy at least gets a penalty, and 2) he gets suspended ?? It's absolutely ridiculous the shots that Sid is taking nearly every game now.

Army's vicious hit on Koivu was completely clean, and Souray deserved every minute of the penalty that he got, although I believe he was right for standing up for his captain.

But like I said, the Pens should have never been in that predicament late in the game, I hope they'll learn from it.

Next up for the Pens is Ovechkin and the Caps on Saturday afternoon.

Habs 6, Pens 3; Weary legs doom Pens....

They gave it their best shot for 20 minutes.

Malkin with the rebound tap-in.

Even Nasreddine chipped in with his 1st NHL goal with .2 seconds left in the 1st period to give the Pens a 2-1 lead.

And that was about all the Pens' collective legs had left in them.

The second period was a combination of hooking penalties due to being a step slow, and resulted in powerplay goals against tired penalty killers.

Yeah sure, the Pens had a few more chances, both Malkin and Sid hit the post, but overall, you could just see that the Pens really didn't have the energy tonight.

And let's not forget, the Habs are a pretty good defensive team, as well as excellent on both special teams.

A couple of other notes;

DirectTV had the CBC feed on for tonight's game as one of their Hockey Night in Canada games. The color commentary was done by Canadian cutie Cassie Campbell. I have be totally honest, I think she did a damn good job. She didn't do the normal boring sideline reporter job that most female sports reporters do. She provided excellent commentary and analysis, I was quite impressed.

And I don't know if you guys saw it on the FSN feed, but guess who was at the game ?? That's right, good 'ol Jimmy Balsillie. The fact that he was at that game 24 hours after pulling his bid for the Pens' ownership is really surprising.

Or is it ?? I'm telling ya, we haven't heard the last from Jimmy.

Also, they mentioned on the Satellite Hotstove that Mark Cuban has already made it known that he's interested in the Pens if it gets to that point.

So now the Pens get a couple days rest before hosting the Blues on Tuesday night.

Pens gameday; No motivation needed tonight

There are certain games during the course of the NHL regular season that don't need teammates to pump each other up. Certain games that you don't need to force yourself to get that extra jumpstart during pregame warmups.

Tonight would be one of those nights.

The Bell Centre should be rocking tonight as the NHL's hottest player invades Montreal (no, it's not Ryan Malone, although he's been surprisingly great these past couple of games). Sidney Crosby has been on one of those tears that's not seen very often, and the NHL schedule gurus finally got one right, as neither Sid nor the Pens could've asked for a bigger stage to continue his assault of the NHL scoring title.

Plus, with seemingly 90% of the Pens from the Montreal area, there are quite a few reasons that this is a big night for the black and gold.

A night away from the wild speculation concerning the Penguins ownership bid should be good for them, although for sure the mass Montreal hockey media won't let the Pens forget it, that's for sure.

Look at it this way, at least Sid can practice his French some more.

LET'S GO PENS !!!!!

Pens gameday; Keep your foot on the pedal, boys

Fresh off of their highly successful road trip, the Pens return home tonight to face the injury-depleted Flyers.

The Pens would be well advised to forget that tidbit, though.

Now is not the time to take the night off and get fancy.

The Pens need to keep their collective feet planted squarely on the Flyers' throats. There is absolutely no reason why the season series with the Flyers shouldn't end up at least 7-1.

Looks like Rob Scuderi will return tonight after battling the flu, and Micki Dupont will be scratched. To be honest, Micki didn't have the best game in Washington, so his scratching is probably worthy.

One week to go before the slots license is awarded. I'm sure the collective nerves are starting to build, I already know that's going to be one intense day in Penguinland.

So anyway, let's keep the momentum going tonight, and onto Friday at home AGAIN vs. the Islanders, and then in Montreal Saturday night.

LET'S GO PENS !!!!