Therrien benches Fleury for Panthers game

As we've all seen this year, Michel Therrien is not a shy man when it comes to making changes.

Well, just to show everyone that he's an equal opportunity unemployer, Therrien benched the slumping Marc-Andre Fleury for Thursday night's game in Florida, and Jocelyn Thibault gets the start.

But really, when you come to think about it, considering how lousy the Pens have played in the state of Florida (that being 1-17 at both Florida and Tampa Bay in recent years), it may not even matter who's in net both tomorrow or Saturday nights.

However, in a "pick your poison" point of view, I guess that I'd want Fleury back in net for the Tampa game anyways.

Whatever the goalie lineup, the Pens are gonna have to get right back up and dust themselves off after the Islanders loss. The schedule gets no easier after the Pens get back from Florida, as they're only home for one game vs. Jersey next Tuesday before going back to back on the road at the Rangers next Thursday and Carolina next Friday.

The Carolina game next Friday will be The Confluence's third road trip of the year, the second to Raleigh. It sure as hell looks like since the Pens will be at MSG the night before, I'll be sure to see Thibault against the Canes again. Hopefully it won't be a similar outcome like the last 6-2 debacle.

Bolts 3, Pens 2; Let's just face facts....

There are just some things in life that one must simply acknowledge and move on, such as;

1. No one cares about Van Halen unless David Lee Roth is in the band (and if you think otherwise, you've got serious issues)

2. I can't handle my beer as much as I used to (oh, could I tell some stories, but I'd just bore ya)

3. The Tampa Bay Lightning have cursed the Pittsburgh Penguins.

I mean, damn, talk about not matching up well.

Even in games where the team is skating well, defense is playing relatively well (considering the group we're talking about), and they jump to an early lead after ANOTHER sensational goal by Sid, the trio of Lecavalier/St. Louis/Richards uncanningly push the right buttons at the absolute right time.

The lack of goals by anyone other than Sid or Geno is getting ridiculous, outside of the rare one like was scored by Army's elbow last night. Coach Therrien was obviously pissed off, and as usual he didn't mince words, saying "our forwards are doing not such a good job of producing," Therrien said. "We rely on one line. It's pretty simple. Then, we've got three lines that give us one goal every four games. It's not normal. You have to score at least three goals to win a hockey game, and we didn't find a way to score three goals. Defensively we seem not bad, but we don't go hard enough to the net, and we don't do the little things right. It's not normal."

So now it's onto Sunrise, FL and the Panthers. Just to jog your memory, one of the worst losses of the year to date came at home vs. the Panthers with a 3-2 loss on Dec. 5th.

Let's just hope that the Pens have enough legs to be aggressive against the Panthers tonight.

LET'S GO PENS !!!!

Pens Gameday; Time for some revenge, or so we hope...

Sorry about the lack of posts, work has been a pain in the buttocks lately.

Going back to the Bolts game in the Igloo, I hate to say I told you so.

But I told you so.

Just reading the Pens' comments after the games reaffirms what I had hoped wouldn't happen, but did.

No intensity, no energy, slow to the puck, you name it.

Another absolutely incredible goal by Sidney, just ridiculous.

Is anyone else besides me starting to get the feeling that Crosby's spectacular goals are beginning to become commonplace, a la Mario, and that is just par for the course for him ??

I'm sure I could have worded that a helluva lot better, but you know what I mean.

So onto tonight, I don't think it would be a stretch to predict that the Pens will have a much better showing in Tampa tonight.

I would say that the Pens might want to think about consistent intensity at home, especially since you read their comments that they're looking forward to their road trip.

No changes to the scoring lines once again, might as well keep a good thing going.

LET'S GO PENS !!!!

Pens Gameday; Beware of the mighty Letdown...

Some might say it wouldn't be surprising at all.

Coming off emotional wins against Toronto, Carolina, and Buffalo, the Pens come back home tonight to host Tampa Bay in the first of a home-and-home series.

But unlike the last 3 games, the Lightning aren't the kind of team that the Pens would naturally get pumped up for.

Meaning, the Leafs came into town with their 3,000 fans or so and it created a great atmosphere.

The Canes are the defending Cup champs, and since the Pens played two of their worst games of the year previously against them, a spirited effort was not a surprise, in fact, one of their best games of the year.

And then on Friday night in Buffalo, against one of the best teams in the NHL, another great effort resulted another great win.

But Tampa Bay just isn't the sexy matchup for the Pens. And it's because of that that I believe we might unfortunately see a mediocre game from the good guys tonight.

Beating Tampa means stopping the Big 3 of Lecavalier, St. Louis, and Richards. Unfortunately, in recent games the Pens haven't done a good job at that, including the OT winner earlier this year.

Let's hope they keep their momentum going.

LET'S GO PENS !!!!

Pens gameday; Lots of Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Well, they aren't standing pat, that's for sure. The Pens have made several changes since their last game on Saturday.

As most everyone knows, Andre Roy is now back with the Lightning, as was pretty much expected.

Johnny Vermont is technically back with the Pens, but his status is still in limbo. Since no one even claimed him on re-entry waivers, eating only half of his salary, there's a chance he could retire, or be flat-out released. It's too bad it's ending this way, but there's really no graceful way to do this in the middle of the season.

Noah Welch has been sent back down to WBS. Some speculation on why he was really sent down, Therrien says it's because of his confidence was fading, I'd guess it was that as well, PLUS he's the only D-man on a 2 way contract.

In his place, and the other roster spots, Micki Dupont and Alain Nasreddine were called up. I like Dupont's callup, he's the right-handed D-man the Pens desparately need on the PP. He's no Lidstrom, but he's got a decent shot, so why not give him a chance.

As far as Nasreddine, I honestly don't know what Therrien's infatuation with this guy is. I've seen him play about 6 times for WBS, and he doesn't impress me much at all.

But anyway, for tonight's game, Ryan Malone will return from the broken arm. He'll be on the second like with Geno and Ekman.

Jordan Staal will be scratched for the first time tonight. I don't necessarily disagree with this, his ice time has been doing down lately. But having said that, I sure don't hope this gets to be a routine.

Michel Ouellet will continue to be scratched as well, although it's being reported that he's healthy enough to play now.

And that right-handed D-man ?? Uh, he'll be eating popcorn in the press box. Nasreddine somehow gets the start over Dumont tonight.

A lot of rumblings over the weekend concerning the tenure of Therrien should they lose tonight. Mark Madden reported recently that his job could be in jeopardy if the Pens fall again tonight. We've already seen that Shero makes moves a lot quicker than Craig Patrick did, so would I be surprised if he canned Therrien ?? A little bit, but not entirely.

Let's just hope that situation doesn't have a chance to happen.

LET'S GO PENS !!!!

Bolts 4, Pens 3 (OT); Hey, be grateful they're getting points

Sorry about the late post for last night' game. After work today, I had to get some materials for my mini-project, one that I absolutely despise, during tomorrow's holiday.

And what you say am I, a U.S. Navy retiree, doing on Veteran's Day ??

That's right, I'll be frickin' painting. Fortunately, it's only one room, so it shouldn't take too long.

I mean, I've got a hockey game to watch at 7:30, so let's not get crazy now.

Anyway, back to the Pens.

As I mentioned in my title, the Pens could be very well have come out of the past two games with goose eggs. The fact that they got two points out of two games that were played quite sluggishly, to put it politely, is something that previous versions of Penguins teams wouldn't come close to achieving.

Without above average performance from Thibault in Anaheim and Fleury back at home, both of those games could easily have been blowouts.

In reference to last night's overtime loss to the Bolts, I don't believe they were as jetlagged as I feared, but I definitely believe that they were not sharp at all. One player that definitely fell into that category was Malkin. I'm not saying the kid had a "bad" game, but it was apparent that he was a little off last night.

And, I'd like to give myself a little pat on the back for recommending to get Ekman back on the 1st line. Although I will say this, Ekman's hat trick is the penultimate example that those who are on Sid's line have the opportunity to get some SICK point totals if they've got any hands at all.

Once addition, the shots on goal was very mediocre, only 20, counting the 3 goals. I know I remember yelling at the screen at Moore to "Shoot the F#$%ing puck !!!"

You know what else I was thinking of last night while I was cursing at the screen ?? Remember Hans Gruber from "Die Hard" ??

Hans and his blond German buddy are on the floor, John McLean is on the other side of the room hiding...



"Shoot the glass" !!!

OK, maybe that was just me thinking of that.

They've got to get the offense flowing again, the schedule doesn't get any easier. Up next Friday night is Ottawa, who of course have lost five in a row. The Hockey Gods seemingly love to send the Penguins teams when they're hungry for a win, don't they ??

After that, it's Saturday night in Raleigh, where I'll be 6 rows from the ice. Be on the lookout for my first edition posting of "Road Trip, Confluence Style".

Pens gameday; Who's got legs tonight ???

Something's gotta give.

The Pens return home tonight after what seemed like a two month road trip to face Tampa Bay, who themselves are on the last game of a 4-game road trip.

Historically speaking, we all know that the first game back home after a long road trip is usually not a successful one. The Pens at least are talking a good game, several of them mentioning making sure that they put the extra effort into the first period.

Thorburn is still up with the big dogs on the 1st line. I don't have anything negative to say about Chris at all, I'm just not sold yet. He's got good speed, is a very good checker, and seems to have decent shot.

I expect to see Sid shooting pucks on net from the frickin' locker room. Three straight games without even a shot on goal ?? That's gotta change, and soon.

Defensively, the Pens've gotta stop the trio of Lecavalier, St. Louis, and Richards. They've certainly had the Pens' number over the last few years.

So this could be an ugly game if both teams are sluggish. Personally, a sluggish game resulting in a Pens win is fine by me.

Lastly, I wanted to throw some props to Adam and the boys over at The Pensblog. This guy drafts some entertaining stuff, a nice mix of humor and hockey material. If you haven't done so already, check it out.

Let's Go Pens !!!!