Pens Season in Review - Second Half

Where we last left off, the Penguins were on the doorstep of the much anticipated Winter Classic.  While the previous 3 versions had gone off without a hitch, it was a matter of time before the weather would become an issue and Pittsburgh provided the perfect location for that.  The game was originally scheduled for 1pm, but was pushed back to 8pm due to rain in the forecast.  In reality, it would rain during the game anyways, no matter when it was played.  The Pens lost the classic by a score of 3-1, in a game that would be a turning point of sorts for the team.

"This is the closest we've come to winning the Stanley Cup"
- Bruce Boudreau, Caps Coach, Professional Moron

The Winter Classic marked the return of Jordan Staal from injury, FINALLY.  But it also will be known for the David Steckel hit to Sidney Crosby's head.  January 1st, the Winter Classic, would be the only time all season that the Penguins had Crosby, Malkin, and Staal in the lineup for a full 60 minutes.  The next game started with all 3 centers in the lineup, which equated to an 8-1 rout of Tampa Bay.  But by the end, Crosby was out indefinitely with a concussion from taking a 2nd hit to the head on account of a Victor Hedman check.  Little did we know the drama and the season that would unfold from that point. 

The Penguins lost the next 3 games in January, scoring a combined 3 goals, as people began to panic about where the offense would come from without Crosby.  Malkin was still playing his on-again off-again act, and Staal clearly did not have his legs under him yet.  But the team rallied back behind the forces of Fleury, Staal, Kunitz, and Kennedy to start putting wins together again.  Pittsburgh ended January winning 5 of their last 6 games, demonstrating a remarkable ability to put the puck in the net no matter who was on the ice.

Kennedy set career highs in goals, points,
and awful Christmas sweaters.

The team continued their unexpectedly strong play into February, winning their first 3 games, including a February 2nd matchup against the Islanders, where Brent Johnson punched out Rick DiPietro, and a February 4th matchup against Buffalo.  That game would put another dagger into the Penguins though, as Evgeni Malkin went down with a knee injury after awkwardly colliding with Tyler Myers in the corner.  While we were still unsure about Crosby's prognosis and return (no timetable), we knew the status of Malkin.  Torn ACL and MCL, done for the season.  The two-headed monster was on the IR and it was only early February.  At this point, the Penguins were 34-16-4, and were fighting Philadelphia for the top spot in the conference and the NHL.

Sadly, one of the highlights of DiPietro's career.

The following month would be the toughest that Pens fans had seen since Crosby's first year in the league.  The Pens went 4-6-4, dropping out of the race for 1st in what turned out to be an eventful month for many reasons.  Here are the highlights/lowlights/WTFlights:
- Of the 14 games played between Feb 6th and Mar 5th, 8 of them were decided in overtime.
- Friday, Feb 11th saw the Islanders and Penguins accumulate over 300 penalty minutes, with the league handing out 3 suspensions from the game and fining the Islanders organization.  Godard received a 10 game suspension for leaving the bench to fight, and Brent Johnson got into his 2nd fight of the season.  The final score was 9-3 Islanders, and the game was considered a travesty to the NHL.
- Matt Cooke received a 4 game suspension for a hit from behind on Fedor Tyutin, leading to all kinds of arguments about how the Penguins could employ Matt Cooke and still complain about the Islanders.
- Chris Kunitz went down with a lower body injury, taking away the Penguins 3rd leading scorer at the time (behind the injured Crosby and Malkin).

Also within that month span, the trade deadline (which seemed to last a month long) shook up a few rosters, including the Penguins'.  We said goodbye to Alex Goligoski and welcomed James Neal and Matt Niskanen back in return from the Stars.  What a steal! (he said, as he tried to write this without hindsight).  We also welcomed back everyone's most frustrating Russian, Alex Kovalev, and for only a 7th round pick.  Another steal! (Maybe the issue isn't hindsight is 20/20, but that our foresight sucks).   With all of the injuries and trades, many rookies got a look, whether it be short or long.   Dustin Jeffrey spent some very productive time with the team and established himself as NHL ready.  Eric Tangradi spent time on the team before being concussed in the Islanders brawl.  Nick Johnson came up and was concussed as well.  We also saw glimpses of Brett Sterling, Joe Vitale, Corey Potter, and other players that I could never pick out of a lineup.

Tangradi became a casualty of the absurd fact that
Trevor Gillies is allowed in this league.

Despite all of the roster moves, all of the injuries, the never-ending drama of Crosby's timetable (he's in florida, he's in nova scotia, he's in pittsburgh, where is he, what's he doing, is he working with the US Navy Seals?!?), the Penguins found a way to succeed.

Dan Bylsma, the coach we all grew to love through a Stanley Cup victory and his performance on 24/7, proved to be masterful at getting his team to simplify their game into a defense first (defense only?) system.  The Penguins played every team tightly and got themselves on the same page in early March.  They went 8-4 through the rest of March, and started making a run at the top spot in the conference again.  Kunitz came back and displayed his scoring touch even without Crosby.  But as with every return this year, it was met with the loss of Dustin Jeffrey to a knee injury for the season.  The Penguins made a habit of not letting any team out of their sights, most notably shown in a 4 game win streak where all 4 games were won in a shootout (NHL Record).

This man could coach a lineup of bobbleheads to the playoffs.

Heading into April, Crosby was starting to skate again, the Penguins looked like they could compete no matter who was on the roster, and fans started to get amped for the playoffs.  The Penguins had been locked into the #4 spot in the conference for quite a while, but had an outside chance at 2nd or 1st if they could push their luck.  They did their best, winning the last 4 games of the regular season in April, but couldn't get enough losses out of the Capitals or Flyers to get out of 4th place.  And with that, the season was over.  The Penguins finished with a 49-25-8 record, and it was on to the playoffs as the 4th seed, a feat that many thought would be impossible with this injury-decimated team.

Other things lost in the shuffle:
- Kovalev and Neal's complete inability to score
- The powerplay got worse, and worse, and worse, even when you didn't think it could get worse.
- Crosby, Malkin, Letang, and Fleury were all voted into the All-Star game, though only Letang and Fleury were healthy enough to play.
- The Penalty Kill finished #1 in the NHL for the first time in team history.
- Kris Letang's fall from potential Norris Trophy candidate to contributing absolutely nothing without Crosby


I was going to do the playoffs in this post...but I'd rather analyze that in more depth.  So TB series in review, coming tomorrow!

Lightning strikes mores than you think.

Pens Season in Review - First Half

It seems like just yesterday (or 8 years ago, I don't know, I can't judge time when it isn't going by the next Penguins game) that Ray Shero had finished his signing frenzy in free agency, and that training camp was beginning.  Along with new players and a new season, we were able to welcome in new jerseys and a brand new arena as well.  2010-2011 was going to begin with some impressive brand new parts:

Arguably, the most impressive free agent signing of the year.

Consol Energy Center
2011 Winter Classic Jerseys
D Paul Martin
D Zbynek Michalek
F Arron Asham
F Mike Comrie
F Brett Sterling


Training camp began with many questions after an unexpected early exit from the '09-10 playoffs.  How would Fleury bounce back from a dismal playoff run?  Was Jordan Staal ready to return from surgery?  Could Malkin adjust to playing on Staal's wing on the 2nd line?  Who else could possibly play within with Crosby and Malkin/Staal?  Would the $45 million we just dropped on defense (Martin and Michalek) prove to be worth the price?  Why do we have 3 fantastic centers and 15 third-liners??

Camp itself negated half of those questions as Staal faced a few setbacks to his surgically-repaired foot and was deemed to be out for at least the first month or two.  Malkin would remain as the #2 center, and the new question became who would make the roster due to Staal's injury.  We entered the '10-11 season with the following opening day roster:


Goalies:  Marc-Andre Fleury, Brent Johnson
Defensemen:  Brooks Orpik, Kris Letang, Paul Martin, Zybnek Michalek, Alex Goligoski, Ben Lovejoy, Deryk Engelland 
Forwards:  Sidney Crosby, Pascal Dupuis, Chris Kunitz, Evgeni Malkin, Tyler Kennedy, Matt Cooke, Craig Adams, Mike Rupp, Eric Godard, Arron Asham, Mike Comrie, Marc Letestu, and Max Talbot
*Jordan Staal started on the Injured Reserve list, and Eric Tangradi was running errands between Pittsburgh, Wilkes-Barre, and Wheeling apparently.


Opening night was far more than just a sporting event.  It was a rush of memories of the old Civic Arena, and all of the drama that led to the night we had all waited for, and at many times, never thought would happen.  Everything from the regret of never raising a Stanley Cup at the Igloo, to the multiple team bankruptcy issues.  From the the Isle of Capri failure (free arena? no thanks), to a potential move to Kansas City.  A mere 4 years ago, we didn't know if we would have a hockey team in Pittsburgh in 2010.  Well, opening night was the paramount moment to celebrate that we kept our Penguins, and we would be keeping them for quite a while.  The man in charge made sure it was memorable:

Lemieux pours a bottle of Mellon Arena melted ice at center to christen Consol.
Similar bottles can be purchased for just $40!  Act now!

Hopefully in future years though, the Penguins will initiate their celebrations against teams that don't pose quite as much of a challenge as the Philadelphia Flyers do.  The Flyers spoiled opening night by handing the Penguins a 3-2 loss, but the 2010-2011 season was finally underway.

The Penguins opened up October with a 6-5-1 record.  Certainly a mediocre record, with a disturbing early answer to the question of how Fleury would bounce back.  The answer:  He wouldn't (quite yet).  The defense was not ready to handle the loss of Sergei Gonchar, as Martin and Michalek took some time to get acclimated to the team.  Michalek even missed a couple of weeks due to injury.  This left Fleury in some tight spots and very little room for error.  Unfortunately, he came up with a propensity of committing errors at the wrong times (See: giving up game tying and game winning goals to Montreal in the last minute of the 2nd game of the season).

Brent Johnson came in to save the day in the early part of the season, though the goalie controversy was more manufactured than natural.  The fans clamored for Fleury's benching/trade/tar and feathering (nice loyalty, guys), and Bylsma seemed to follow suit as Johnson started the season 4-0 and Fleury started 0-3.  This "controversy" continued into the early part of November, when both goalies went back to their expected play.  Johnson lost a couple of ugly games early in the month to Dallas and Boston and Fleury found his game. 

Though the early going was tough, there were a few positive takeaways.  We met Deryk Engelland, who could kill players with a single punch.   Engelland and Lovejoy proved to be ahead of where most people thought they would be defensively, adding more depth than we previously thought.  Also, Letang and Goligoski came out with very strong offensive play and Letang appeared to have improved his defensive prowess greatly. 

Heading through November, not only did Fleury find his game, but Sidney Crosby decided to blow away the NHL in a manner that we have not seen since before the lockout.

The only problem with a hot streak is that it brings the pedophiles out.

The Penguins rolled through the last half of November and early December on a 12 game winning streak as Crosby put together a 25 game point streak, during which he amassed 50 points.  During the 12 game win streak, the top performer went to either Crosby or Fleury in each game, except when Marc Letestu snagged the spotlight for a game vs. Toronto.  Letestu was a fantastic surprise in the early part of the season, filling in very well for Jordan Staal, and leading rookies in points for much of the first 2 months.  The streak vaulted the Penguins to the top of the NHL.  The streak was not all good news though.  As Jordan Staal was set to return from numerous setbacks to his injured foot, he promptly took a shot to the hand in his first practice.  Staal left practice with a broken hand, another 6 weeks or so until he would return.

Towards the end of the streak, the world received the opportunity to meet the Penguins on a much more personal level.  HBO's much anticipated 24/7 series began in their efforts to follow Pittsburgh and Washington for the month that would lead up to the Winter Classic.  24/7 was everything and more that Pens fans could have wanted.  We received a behind the scenes look at Bylsma's calm demeanor, and his methodical treatment of games and players.  We had the fortune of meeting the adorable kids of Craig Adams, Matt Cooke, Pascal Dupuis, and Mike Rupp, amongst others.  Cooke's son even taught us nature vs. nurture, as he speared Max Talbot on national television.  We heard Fleury taunt everyone and everything that moved anywhere near him.  And we learned that Max Talbot has a thing for girls in Santa's helper outfits. 

I would have asked for the same thing, Max.

We also had the privilege of watching the Capitals as they went through a mid-season slide.  Bruce Boudreau looked like the moron that we always thought him to be between his f*ing speeches after f*ing bad f*ing games or before f*ing practice, and his never ending quest for a Haagen-Dazs.  Life as a Penguins fan was nearing perfection in mid-December, with a team that couldn't lose, Staal's return on the horizon, and the anticipation of hosting the Winter Classic.

The Penguins streak finally ended (at the hands of those stupid Flyers again, curse you schedule makers), and Penguins fans returned from Cloud 9, realizing that there was still half a season to play.  Pittsburgh ended the 2nd half of December going 4-3-1.  There was a big win in Washington for the teams' first meeting of the season, and a sobering loss to the Islanders in the last game of the calendar year.  The loss would mark the end of Crosby's 25 game point streak, which left him with a commanding lead in the early race for every trophy seemingly ever created. 

Things lost in the shuffle of the first half:  Malkin's mind-boggling inconsistent play, Mike Comrie's great training camp transitioning into a worthless early regular season, transitioning into an injury that would keep him out most of the season, Arron Asham's injuries and lack of ice time.

Next up, the Winter Classic and the 2nd half!  Coming on Thursday!