Pens 5, Devils 4; Flirting with Disaster....

On behalf of all Pens fans, let me exclaim, "we'll take it".

Another game, another game with a big lead, another game with a blow....

Not so fast.

The Pens combined some fortunate deflections with a less-than-Brodeur-ish effort, and then held on for dear life in defeating the Devils 5-4 in front of thousands of empty seats at the Meadowlands. The official attendance was 15,404, but obviously the weather played a part in many of those paid ticket holders staying home.

MAF let his share of bad goals in tonight. The shot from the blue line from Zajak that went in the net off of MAF's glove was really bad.

Sid finally got off of the schnide tonight with his 26th goal of the season when he beat Brodeur by the 5-hole.

Next up are Ovechkin and the Caps on Sunday afternoon on NBC.

Pens Gameday; Another mediocre effort won't do tonight...

You'll have to excuse me, I've been feeling like dog shit for a few days, so this may be short-winded.

The Pens roll into the Jersey swamp tonight on that amazing 14 point game streak.

But one thing's for sure, if the Pens play a sloppily as they have recently, they won't get close to overtime against Marty Brodeur and the Devils.

The Devils are gonna be without a couple of their starters in Colin White and Brian Gionta. In addition, defensive forward John Madden took a nasty hit to the face with a puck the other day. Madden is expected to play, but his face was awfully swollen recently.

With the Devils usual boring defensive style of play, it's gonna be difficult to get a win (or at least a point) without Sid having a good game. Sure, you can have Sid go pointless and win vs. the Caps, but you won't be able to do it vs. the Devils.

Looks like MAF will be in goal again tonight, with Thibault getting a start either Sunday against the Caps, or Monday vs. the Isles.

LET'S GO PENS !!!

Pens 5, Blackhawks 4 (SO); By the skin of their teeth...

Statistics can be a deceiving thing, ya know ?

Certainly, the Penguins' 14 game point streak is a remarkable feat for such a young team. They've earned points in those 14 games in just about every way possible.

They've had their share of blowouts and comebacks. They've had games in which their special teams were outstanding, as well as games in which their special teams were absolutely lousy.

But one common demoninator remains; They've earned points in all 14 games.

But there's one more demoninator, and this is really the reason why the Pens' streak is so remarkable;

This team is not playing good hockey at all right now.

Their power play is in complete "cutesy mode" right now, wanting to make the pretty pass for the one-timer.

Which, of course, leads to 2 on 1's the other way, because the Pens don't seem to want to backcheck in their own end.

They've completely sat back on their heels after getting 2 and 3 goal leads lately.

Sid is starting to show a resemblence to Jan Hrdina, he's not shooting on some absolutely great scoring opportunities.

If it weren't for the muckers, this team, instead of having home ice advantage in the 1st round of the playoffs, would still be fighting for the 8th spot.

But, they ARE contributing, and that's a great thing.

And let's not forget, MAF has made some incredible saves to save games late in the last several games for the Pens. That save he made on Havlat in OT was amazing.

So I really can't believe how they're surviving playing this mediocre and not only getting points, but winning most of the games.

Well, one thing's for sure, this type of effort won't do against Marty Brodeur and the Devils on Friday night.

Pens Gameday; Trap Game with a capital "T"

Danger, Will Robinson, Danger.

Sorry to say it, but tonight's game at the Igloo vs. the Blackhawks has all the makings of a trap game.

The Pens have been off for four days, and are playing at home, where they've historically not have been as focused.

They're playing a non-conference team with a poor record, but a team who has played better recently, beating teams like Calgary (twice) and Vancouver.

They've got one of the hottest players in the NHL in former Senator Martin Havlat, with 8 points in his last 4 games.

So one thing's for sure, they can't take this team lightly, like they did against the Blackhawks' divisional rivals, the St. Louis Blues.

On the positive, I look for Sid to get off of the schnide tonight in his 7 game goalless streak. It's not like the kid's not shooting, but just hasn't gotten the breaks in hitting the twine lately.

Looks like Fleury will start again in goal. It was speculated that Thibault may start tonight to get him some work. Let me say this, I'd rather have Thibault start tonight than against New Jersey on Friday. Maybe on Sunday against Washington.

Appears that Malone is back on the 1st line with Sid and Recchi. I really think that Therrien and Shero are preparing eventually to trade Malone, and are lofting him again to the 1st line to showcase him. Of course, I could be dead wrong, just a gut feeling.

Gonna need a strong start tonight, let's keep the string going.

LET'S GO PENS !!!!

A Sunday statistical look at the Pens, for better and for worse

As has been the case all year long, the young Penguins are producing some eye-opening stats.

Some, as you will see, are simply amazing, considering how young they are.

Some, however, may show us some not-so-good trends that are creeping up on them.

Of course, we have to lead the stats post with Sid's 87 points, a full 15 points ahead of a 3-way tie for 2nd place between Ovechkin, Hossa, and St. Louis. And that's been with Sid "only" getting 5 points in his last 5 games.

Malkin is starting to pull away with the rookie scoring race over LA's Anze Kopitar, leading him now 63 points to 50.

But his teammate Jordan Staal is quickly catching up to him on the rookie goal scoring race, with Malkin only leading Staal now 27 goals to 23. Staal has 7 goals in his last 5 games.

Sticking with Staal for a minute, maybe the most impressive stats for a Penguin, outside of Sid's impressive NHL points lead, is that Staal is leading the entire NHL in shooting percentage. After Staal's hat trick last night in Toronto, he now has 23 goals in only 82 shots, for an amazing 28.0% percent, easily ahead of Calgary's Kristian Huselius at 22.9%.

Other individual Pens' stats among the league leaders are Staal's 5 and Talbot's 3 short-handed goals (#1 and tied for #3, respectively) and Malkin's 13 powerplay goals ares tied for 7th.

On the team side, the Pens are tied for 8th in the league with allowing only 1.14 5-on-5 goals per game. Their powerplay is now 4th with a 20.6%. They also are 9th in the NHL with a 38.5% win percentage if they're losing after one period. But consequently, they are only 23rd in the league with a 69.2% win percentage is they're leading after one period.

But on the other side of the tracks, the plus/minus stats are somewhat revealing. Staal now leads the team at a +14, Crosby at +13, and Nasreddine at +12. But they also have several players in a minus rating, including Ouellet at -1, Gonchar at -2, Christensen at -6, and the injured Nils Ekman at -13. Kinda surprising for a team 11-0-2 in their last 13 games, huh ??

Their PK is now down to 24th in the league at 80.5%. Their faceoff percentage is dead last at 30th in the league at 46.6%.

Also, the amount of time that Crosby and Malkin are off the ice has been a topic of discussion this year as well. While Gonchar is 8th in the league in ice time per game at 26:38 per game, you have to go way down to 104th to find Crosby at 20:41 per game and 154th to find Malkin at 19:41 per game. Crosby is 206th in the league with 24.1 shifts per game, while Malkin is 263rd at 22.8 shifts per game.

Dominic Moore "leads" the Pens in faceoff percentage with 50.9%, ranked 43rd in the league. Crosby is 53rd in the league with a 49.6%. Malkin is 82nd with 44.2%.

So overall, one can't complain about the great streak the Pens are on. There no doubt that if the Pens continue to play at anywhere close to this level, they'll not only make the playoffs, but will have home ice advantage for the 1st round.

But, you're seeing signs, as indicated by the negative plus/minus ratings, the PK%, and the falling faceoff percentages, that the team needs to tighten up on it's defense.

The Penguins, The NHL Trade Deadline, and the hype it causes; One schmuck's opinion....

This is one of those posts that I feel a blogger, webmaster, journalist, or whomever should tread lightly on.

Blogging in itself has skyrocketed in popularity the past few years. It must have, it brought my hairy ass out of the woodwork to do it.

The matter of those people jotting down ideas or opinions online, or even those who simply type a couple of sentences then just cut and paste other website's posts on their own sites (and I really dislike those, you know who you are), open themselves up for opinions coming back at them (unless they don't allow comments, and what fun would that be ??).

Then you get to pro sports blogs. What a different animal these are.

The thing that separates these from other blogs is the speculation aspect of them. You know, free agency, trades, drafts, contracts, and the like. That portion of the sports world has exploded over the last several years, so now there are these types of speculation shows in all venues of the media, TV, radio, newspapers, and now, the Internet.

And of course, that has further caused the formation of those types of shows/blogs to focus more intensely on the opinion and rumor aspects of the sport. Unfortunately, it has also caused more and more people in that business to become too wrapped up in their own opinions and causes them to speak more in "absolutes", or shall I say, their own perceived absolutes.

The best example recently came in the days prior to the Superbowl, when ESPN blowhard #1 Sean Salisbury boldly exclaimed "If Devin Hester runs back a kickoff for a touchdown, I GUARANTEE that the Bears will win the Superbowl".

We saw how far that prediction went, huh ??

Moreover, who in the hell do you think you are even to suggest a guarantee on national television ??

Anyway, the hockey world is no different, although understandably, as hockey is next to breathing in Canada, the NHL trade deadline annually causes speculations in the thousands as it leads up to this year's Feb. 27th deadline.

The Canadian big media boys, like TSN, Sportsnet, CBC, and the others all have big plans heading into that day.

Sportsnet has even gone one step further this year, enlisting the often-discussed anonymous hockey blogger Eklund into it's trade deadline special on the 27th. Of course, in true Bruce Wayne-ish fashion, his identity will be hidden, all the while on the phones behind a Wizard of Oz-ish partition to his supposed contacts around the NHL.

I'm not going to turn this into an Eklund post, I tire of it, to be honest. I personally enjoy reading all rumors, not just from Eklund, but from the others as well, like Spector (Lyle Richardson), but just as personal speculations that I like to think about myself.

In the States, I haven't read anything specifically that ESPN will be doing, but I'm sure that they'll have some sort of special that afternoon on ESPNEWS, such as having Barry Melrose and E.J. Hradek on there. Nothing too elaborate, as compared to what TSN and Sportsnet will be having (I mean, let's not get carried away, this IS the States after all), but they'll have all of the big deals listed just as much as their Canadian counterparts, just without as much speculation on them, that's all.

So anyway, that leads us to a discussion on how this year's trade deadline will affect (or won't affect for that matter) the Penguins.

This will be most difficult trade deadine for a Pens GM in several years, arguably since the Cup years for Craig Patrick.

These Pens are close, THIS close, to being a Stanley Cup contender.

Hell, if you consider last year's Stanley Cup playoffs, when the #5 through #8 Western Conference seeds all advanced to the 2nd round of the playoffs, and the #8 seed, Edmonton, went all the way to Game 7 of the Cup finals against Carolina, this makes the trade deadline for Pens' GM Ray Shero even more enticing.

He's got the best player in the game in 19 year old Sidney Crosby. He's got the overwhelming choice for the Calder Trophy as the NHL's Rookie of the Year in Evgeni Malkin. He may have the Calder runner-up in Jordan Staal, although LA's Anze Kopitar will have something to say about that. He's got the hottest goalie this side of Martin Brodeur in Marc-Andre Fleury. He and head coach Michel Therrien have the team's chemistry flowing at a rate not seen since Mario's magical return in '00-'01.

So the question becomes, do you disrupt that chemistry, and if so, how much ??

In my opinion, for as much (or little) as that's worth (emphasis on the little), I say you need a few tweaks to this club.

If I were GM on the 27th, my priorities at the trade deadline;

• Scoring winger for the 1st line - Sorry, but I'm continue to not be impressed with Ryan Malone, in terms of having him on the 1st line with Crosby and Recchi. He does not generate hardly any scoring opportunities, and while he has done a good job at penalty killing and freezing the puck again the boards when it's needed, the Pens need more production out of that slot on the 1st line. Rumors a couple of months ago indicated that the Pens and Rangers were talking about a Malone-Prucha swap, possibly also involving Brooks Oprik. While Prucha may not be the ideal choice, his type (that of a right-handed young sniper), certainly would be better on the 1st line than having Malone clod his way around the ice. I don't feel that Malone specifically needs traded, as I think he'd also be good on the 3rd line, or 2nd in a pinch, but Malone, in my view, is expendable.
• Right-handed defenseman - While the Pens' overall defense is no doubt one of the primary reasons for the team's improvement this year, mainly due to the addition of Mark Eaton, it certainly is not without it's liabilities. Nearly all of the Pens' D-men have had their times in the spotlight of making horrendous defensive lapses. The Pens' penalty killing is starting to hurt them. The lack of a right-handed D-man restricts their ability to put more shots on net from the point. It's for these reasons that I believe it would do the Pens good to acquire a right-handed D-man for the postseason run. I'm not talking about a Pronger-like, who would cost the Pens way more than they'd be willing to take, but simply a decent D-man who can also play the powerplay. Who to give up ?? In my view, I think there are several players on the team right now who are realistically expendable. Malone, Ouellet, Welch, Petrovicky, Thorburn, even Armstrong should be considered if the right D-man or scoring winger is offered.
• Enforcer - This is the controversial one. Does Sidney Crosby really NEED an enforcer, one that can pummel someone on the opposition, because of Crosby's nightly muggings on the ice ?? Or do the muckers that just so happen to be able to throw a few punches after the fact, such as Malone, Ruutu, Petro, Army, or Thorburn suffice for the retaliations ?? Well, going back to the chemistry of the team, if you do acquire one, you bench someone off of the 4th line most likely. In that respect, I have no problem with someone such as Phoenix's George Laraque (my #1 choice) replacing Petrovicky or Thorburn. Moreover, with 20 points in 51 games in Phoenix, Laraque would be MUCH more of an offensive asset to the Pens than any of the current 4th liners. As a matter of fact, if the Pens were to acquire Laraque, not only would they have arguably the top enforcer in the league, but he would be the 9th highest scorer on the team as a "goon", with his scoring totals higher than players such as Malone (17 points - 1st line), Christensen (18 points - 3rd line), and Dominic Moore (13 points - 3rd line). If I'm Ray Shero, I pull this trigger, and pull it quick.

Of course, we have literally no idea how many, if any, of these types of ideas are going through the minds of Shero and the Pens' front office. I'm sure that with the stable of young stars the Pens have (the majority of which are untouchable), a lot of calls will be made to the Igloo over the next 17 days.

In addition, how much leeway do Lemieux and Burkle give Shero in terms of future payroll ?? If the right deal comes along, but will require adding a few million to the payroll, will Shero get the go-ahead, or will the ownership reject it due to the instability of the franchise and the eventual change in ownership ??

All of which leads to much speculation, which always makes the NHL trade deadline day so exciting.

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.

Pens Gameday; Let's keep the goose egg going...

Might as well keep a good thing going, ya know ??

The Pens visit Philly tonight in search of their 7th straight win against the Flyers without a loss.

That in itself is such a remarkable statistic, considering the Pens' absolutely horrendous record in Philly over the last 15 years.

The Flyers might be dragging a little tonight, especially early on, since they played (and got shutout) against the Islanders last night.

It's because of that we may see Esche tonight instead of Nittimakki as well.

The Flyers gameplan, you may be asking ?

Let's see if we've heard this one before; Hammer Crosby everytime he touches the puck.

Well, it's a good thing that the Pens are very used to this type of physical play.

And it's even better that they've adapted a retaliatory attitude themselves, 'cause tonight they'll be sure to get plenty of practice.

Earlier in the year, this post would have been filled with sayings like "trap game" and "letdown".

But I really think the Pens are extremely focused now as they realize that they're in a prime playoff position, and they can't afford to blow two points because they took the night off against Philly.

LET'S GO PENS !!!!!

Confluence Soapbox; Don't look now NHL, the "garbage league" is making a comeback...

You'd have thought the NHL would have earned their lesson by now.

You all remember those times, the quite often boring, clutching, hooking, grabbing, holding, slashing, tripping and cross-checking game of hockey that came to prominence in the mid '90's.

The same type of game that was a primary reason that the greatest hockey player (notice I didn't say "scorer" Gretzky fans, don't start whining just yet) in NHL history, Mario Lemieux, hung up his skates (the 1st time anyway) at the early age of 31. Lemieux famously referred to the NHL during that time as a "garbage league".

So when the NHL and it's players finally came back after it's yearlong absence in '05, the league took the opportunity to tweak many of it's rules, such as eliminating the redline and allowing the tag-up offsides.

But more imporantly, both the players and the league agreed that they would finally start enforcing the rules concerning hooking, holding, and the like.

But after a season and a half, and this is not only me opining on it, I've heard it on several different media outlets, but the NHL is slowly but surely going back to it's old ways.

You do get your officiating crews that call a tight game from time to time that call the penalties that should be called.

But the majority of games you watch nowadays has plenty of no-call hooking, holding, interference, you name it.

And now, the NHL is turning a blind eye to the game by game mugging of the best player in the league, Sidney Crosby.

It's not an exaggeration.

Nearly EVERY GAME now, Crosby is getting speared, buttended, slashed, high-sticked, and cross-checked to the head.

And that's just within the last two weeks !!!!

To make matters worse, when the NHL reviewed the spearing of Crosby by Jason Blake a couple of weeks ago, the league tapped Blake on his ass and fined him $1000, which is equivalent to a night's tab for he and his Islanders buddies at one of the NYC titty bars.

Moreover, the sentiment (not officially stated by the league, but inferred) was that Crosby was embellishing the spear, therefore that resulted in the low fine, and no suspension.

Last Thursday, at center ice on the opening faceoff of the game, Canadien goon Max Lapierre buttended Crosby in plain view of the referees.

Again, no penalty, no suspension.

Then yesterday afternoon, Crosby was high-sticked to the face by the Canadiens' Francois Bouillon.

You guessed it, no penalty.

We can even go back to last year, when Darian Hatcher high-sticked Crosby to the mouth, chipping 3 of his teeth and gashing his mouth.

I shouldn't have to tell you that there was no penalty.

I'm not stumping for preferential treatment for Crosby, hell that would be the day.

But for Christ sakes, Crosby not only is receiving physical abuse that should be warranting many more penalties than have been getting called, but some of these not only should be getting penalties, but warranting suspensions.

But so far, not a damn one.

So if you're Ray Shero, what do you do ??

Go out and get a goon of your own (he's got Eric Cairns, but he's out indefinitely with post-concussion symptoms, so he doesn't count) ??

Do you make a trade like the recent rumors indicated like George Laraque or Brian McGrattan ??

I'm sure it's tempting for Shero, but I doubt he'll pull the trigger. Here's why;

• There's no way that a goonish teammate will be playing on the same shift as Crosby if/when he gets roughed up
• Who do you remove out of the lineup to put the goon in ??
• Do you really want to trade away a player and/or draft pick for someone for realistically 30 games or less, since playoff fights are a rarity nowadays ??

But it's not just Crosby, Brendan Shanahan recently aired similar remarks in reference to the nightly abuse that Jaromir Jagr is taking.

The NHL has enough problems as it is, and with the renewed Versus contract, they're just digging the grave deeper with bonehead moves like that.

But if they continue to allow the "garbage league" antics to continue, and it's stars to get Hack-a-Shaq'd every night, you might as well yank it off of Versus and the regional networks too, 'cause no one wants to watch this horseshit again.

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.

Crosby selected as Dapper Dan Sportsman of the Year...

To those outside of the Pittsburgh area, winning the Dapper Dan Sportsman of the Year is probably sounds like Michael Corleone winning the Meucci Foundation's Man of the Year in Godfather, Part III.

Ya know, big frickin' deal.

Au contraire, monfraire. (No, never took French, stole that one from George Carlin)

The Dapper Dan award is no doubt the ultimate honor for a Pittsburgh athlete, and this year's award recipient is none other than Sidney Crosby.

Especially for a 19 year old young man.

So for Sidney Crosby, winning this award at this point in his career (hell, his life) is certainly a noteworthy achievement.

Just another of what will no doubt be many, many awards for this young man.

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.

-------------------

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.

Pens 3, Panthers 0; Arena deal by Friday ???

If you notice, this sort of stuff is starting to become a habit.

Pens blank the Cats last night for their first win against them in a long time.

Earlier in the year, it was the Leafs.

Before that, of course it was the Flyers.

Common demoninator; The Pens are starting to beat the teams that they've had big problems with in the last several years.

I'd say that's a good sign.

Have to say though, the Panthers sure put the pressure on for most of the game. If it were not for Fleury's solid game (again), last night's outcome may have been quite different.

In addition, the Panthers played a clean but physical game against Sid as well, holding him to only one assist. Of course, that one assist may have put the game away, on yet another backdoor goal on the power play by Whitney.

And once again, the muckers had a good game, contributing with a goal that was a result of great hustle by Ruutu combined with a nice backhand to the 5 hole of Belfour. Maybe Eddie would have had that in his late 30's.

Big, big game on Thursday, as the Canadiens come to town. The Pens turn around and travel to Montreal on Sunday afternoon. Sandwiched between the two is Alex Ovechkin and the Caps on Saturday afternoon at the Igloo.

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KDKA's Andy Sheehan is now reporting that the new arena deal between the government officials and the Pens could be completed by Thursday, with an announcement possibly by Friday.

Continued great news. Outside of a catastrophic collapse in negotiations, put this one in the books.

Then I'll be interested to see all of those "I told you so" experts. Yeah, right.

Pens 7, Yotes 2; A complete team win, to be sure...

For all of the sensational headlines about Gretzky and Crosby that preceded the Pens/Yotes game, it turned out that the game was turned into a laugher by the muckers.

And yeah, the Crosby kid helped too.

The Pens played a great team game last night in Phoenix, especially with the contributions of the 3rd and 4th lines, in their 7-2 win.

Goals by Ruutu and Petrovicky (sandwiched by just another highlight goal by Sid) turned a tight game into a blowout.

I don't expect guys like those two to be bigtime scorers, but if the Pens start getting occasional goals from those lines, watch the hell out.

I also liked the fact that the Pens did not back down from the physical play that goons like Laraque and Jovanoski were inflicting. And all the sucker punches that Gratton laid on Petrovicky got him nothing but an early shower.

Ryan Whitney is really starting to impress me on the power play. Opposing teams better start being aware of Ryan going back door on those passes from Sid. What a nice problem to give them !! Overall, after another impressive 3 for 6 on the PP last night, the Pens are now 5th in the NHL on the PP with a 19.7% success rate.

Thibault didn't really face too much action at all, with 22 saves. The second goal may have been construed as soft, but there was so much traffic in front of him, that would be a tough assessment.

And then there's Sid.

Ya know, for as great as his backhanded goal was last night, nearly all of the reading I've done this morning almost glosses over his great diving feed to Malone 24 seconds into the game.

But that goal is just another one for the highlight reel this year. He's had, what, seven or eight of those types this year. Just incredible.

Pens fans, we are truly going to be a spoiled bunch, if we're not already.

The Panthers come back to the Igloo on Tuesday night.

Pens Gameday; The Next One visits the land of The Great One

This should be a great atmosphere tonight, at least if you're going to the game anyways, on a number of fronts.

First and foremost, from what I heard on XM Home Ice anyway, this will be the 1st sellout of the year for the Yotes. Good for them.

But the obvious motivation in this one is the first time that Sid and Geno "match up" against the Yotes head coach, some dude named Wayne.

I guess it really shouldn't be an extra motivating factor to get pumped up to play against your opponent's head coach.

But when that coach is Wayne Gretzky, and you don't play against the team he coaches for what seems like a decade, that rule goes by the wayside.

And I think we all "know" Sid by now, you can just imagine how internally he's licking his lips to have a big game tonight in front of #99.

Let's not forget though; Both teams played last night on the road (Yotes were in Denver), both teams had to go to a shootout, with both teams winning.

So we could also see some tired legs out there.

In addition, we could also see some backup goalies out there.

Uh oh.

I would think that it makes it imperative that the Pens get off to a fast start tonight, and build a decent lead for Thibault, assuming he gets the start.

This trip also for the first time involves the Pens' fathers. I think that is a great idea, just to show appreciation for what had to be hundreds of hours of sacrifice during their son's upbringing.

It got me to thinking though; I wonder if they've arranged for the dads to meet Gretzky sometime today ?? Would that be cool, or what ?? Also, I don't believe I heard if Mario has followed the Pens to Phoenix. Can you imagine if you're, I don't know, Mr. Christensen or someone like that, and get a Polaroid (dated term, I know) of yourself, Wayne, and Mario. Talk "aboot" priceless.

So it should be an exciting night for the Phoenix crowd, let's just make sure they go home sad.

LET'S GO PENS !!!!

Goose Egg for Sid at All-Star game; Pens roller coaster ride coming back up

Well, hope he had fun anyways.

All of the hype surrounding Sid's first All-Star game, the matching up of Sid and Ovechkin on the 1st line, the new uniforms, yadda, yadda....

Well, it kinda went off like a dud, if you were looking for fireworks anyway.

Neither Sid nor Alex really had any flashes of their collective brilliance during the game, although Alex did get a tap-in goal late in the game.

But Sid was either bottled up or was the subject of poor passes the entire game, and never really got off a good shot.

I read some articles today that said the Western Conference's D-men had already agreed that they would simply clutter up the middle of their own zone in order to eliminate the chance of the usual spectacular cross-ice passes.

Thanks for playing along, boys.

And, not unexpectedly, I thought that the line that had the most chemistry, and therefore looked the best, was the one with Lecavalier and St. Louis.

A lot of the hockey articles today also mentioned that Gretzky had a goose egg in his first All-Star game.

At least Sid's got that going for him.

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It's also been widely reported that Gov. Rendell had a lengthy conversation with Ron Burkle Tuesday night discussing some of the details that had been a sticking point during last Thursday's heated negotations.

Everyone needs to understand, Rendell and Burkle are longtime buddies. They've negotiated business deals for many years.

Does anyone SERIOUSLY think this isn't going to happen ??

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Demolition will begin in February on 11 buildings that will be cleared in preparation for the construction of the new arena.

I say again, still think it's not going to happen ??

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And finally, Noah Welch probably has worn out the PA highways (dunno how those guys make the trip, I-79 to I-80 to I-81, or Turnpike to I-81 ? Who knows) going up and down from Pittsburgh to Wilkes-Barre. So a couple of days after being sent down, he's now on his way back up. I guess the thinking is that they want the extra D-man just in case Eaton isn't quite ready.

NHL All-Star Game; Sid does it once again

Night one of the NHL All-Star Game festivities was most definitely Penguin-laden.

The NHL Young Stars started the night off in, sorry to say, boring style.

Nice to see Phil Kessel keep rebounding from his testicular cancer treatments with his hat trick.

But boy, I kinda feel sorry for Geno Malkin.

Everyone knows, Geno speaks very little English, so when the coaches told him to stand at the blue line and wait for the pass, well, that's sure enough what the hell he did.

Of course, the Canadian idiots in the press gave him a hard time, as if that was HIS intention. Grow the hell up, and get off of your Canadian high horse.

Staal and Whitney looked pretty good as well.

But overall, the game was really too slow for the majority of the game. It's just that all of these guys don't want to be like Iverson and be a super gunner during these games. But what that does is slow the game down way too much, with too many passes.

Then the big boys came out, and I guess there were some more decent moments.

Ovechkin being the slowest skater on the ice, when everyone said he would dominate, got a good chuckle out of me.

But when I saw Sid come out for the shootout, I was thinking that some demented Leafs fan in the NHL front office must've selected him.

But like Sid just seems to do everytime we think he can't do it, he was the star of the show again, smoking Luongo on 2 out of 3 shots during the final shootout phase. He also beat Kiprusoff on his 1st shot during the initial shootout round.

If we know Sid by now, I think it's going to be a good bet that he's gonna work like a dog to improve on the shootouts for the rest of the year. I'm not worried about him at all.

Gonna be fun to watch Sid and Alex on the top line tonight. Danny Briere is their linemate to start with, but I heard on XM Home Ice 204 that one of the other linemates they'd have sometime during the game is Brendan Shanahan.