Pens Head to the Trade Deadline Content with Winning

Main Storylines:

- Brad Thiessen will make his NHL debut today, getting the start against Columbus.  This will give Ray Shero a last look at a potential backup before the trade deadline.  The trade deadline is Monday at 3pm EST.

- Arron Asham will not play in today’s game after hurting himself delivering a hit yesterday.  Dustin Jeffrey will enter the lineup for him.

- Though it has nothing to do with the Penguins, all eyes will be on Rick Nash as he potentially plays his last game with Columbus.  Nash is easily the best player that could move before the deadline tomorrow.

Columbus fans made the trek to Pittsburgh to potentially see their captain off.

- Dan Bylsma is going for career win #150 and he could be the 4^th quickest coach to achieve that mark with a win today.

Result:

Pens  4  Blue Jackets  2

Goals:  Malkin (37) (PP) from Neal, Sullivan

            Dupuis (15) from Sullivan, Staal

            Letang (9) (PP) from Park, Cooke

            Vitale (4) from Tangradi, Cooke

               

The Good:

- Congrats to Brad Thiessen for his 1^st NHL win in his 1^st career start and congrats to Dan Bylsma on his 150^th career regular season win!

- The powerplay had another solid day, scoring on 2 out of 5 chances.  A black mark for that short-handed goal allowed though.

Pascal Dupuis – Dupuis has been playing very well since the line of him, Staal, and Sulivan was put together.  All 3 did their part on Dupuis’ goal with Staal committing to the forecheck, Sullivan getting the puck, and both of them causing traffic to give Dupuis room to take the shot and score.  His speed and increase in scoring have been a great complement to the second line.

Dupuis wasn't fazed by Sanford's raspberry freeze pop pads

Matt Cooke – Cooke has also seen his play improve over the past few weeks as he added a couple assists today and has looked very good on the 2^nd PP.  He screened goalie Curtis Sanford perfectly, allowing Letang to score his PP goal easily.  Cooke also played very well on the PK as usual, getting his stick on a couple passes and helping the PK unit go perfect on the day.

Kris Letang – Letang’s offense has slowed down as of late, but he still managed to score 2 PP goals, even if one didn’t count today.  He also has acted very responsibly on defense with Paul Martin as his partner.  Letang may not be jumping up as much to score, but his commitment to defense is one of the biggest reasons why the Pens have only allowed 3 goals in their past 3 games.

The Bad:

- Sullivan’s blatant turnover breaking the powerplay out of the zone led to Nash’s short-handed breakaway and goal.  He made up for it with 2 assists in the game, but that was just a senseless play to give the Blue Jackets the early momentum and lead.

The Ugly:

- Kunitz had 2 goals waived off.  One for kicking the puck in, where there was no distinct kicking motion that anyone could see.  Another for goalie interference, where Sanford came out of his crease and pushed Kunitz.  I understand the first one just because it was called no goal on the ice, so it’s harder to overturn.  The second one was flat out ridiculous.  Even Sanford said afterwards that he was surprised the goal was waived off.

Thoughts:

- Shero told the media that he still doesn’t have a timetable for Crosby, but he won’t make a trade that relates to his cap space in any way.  He’s happy with Johnson as a backup and isn’t looking to add another.  And he isn’t close to making any moves, he’s happy with the roster as is.  I’m guessing a minor league deal will happen, maybe a depth move for the big team, but don’t expect much.

Looks like Thiessen will remain 3rd on the depth chart, and it will still be behind Johnson.

- Paul Martin looked pretty good today, only having one major gaffe as he got blown past on a semi-breakaway which Thiessen stopped.  He has certainly seen fewer goals against when paired with Letang, but Letang has also contributed less 5 on 5, so it’s an interesting trade off.  I’d still rather see Martin with Engelland I think.

- It was nice to see Eric Tangradi get a point today and get some PP time as he played pretty well with his 8 minutes of ice time.  He moved a spot up on the depth chart it looks like as Dustin Jeffrey only played 6:34 and was the low man on the list.  This is definitely a hard lineup to get minutes with at this point, which is why I don’t anticipate much of a move at the trade deadline for the Pens.

- Not a Pens thought, but it was a rough debut for Jack Johnson with the Blue Jackets.  Malkin's goal deflected in off of his shin and he screened Sanford on the Dupuis goal.  Thanks for the help Johnson!

Pens Record: 36-21-5, 77 pts, 2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East

Next Game:  2/29 @ Dal, 7:30pm

We'll Miss You, Tampa. Pens Win!

Main Storylines:

- Brad Thiessen has returned to the team to back up Fleury again after Brent Johnson hurt himself in practice on Thursday.  Expect a lot of rumors about trading for a backup goalie as we hit the trade deadline on Monday.

- Fresh off of his recent contract extension, James Neal will be the subject of the next NHL 36, which is the NHL’s show that follows a player for 36 hours in HBO’s 24/7 style.  Cameras will be following him around this weekend.  The episode will air for the first time on March 7^th, at 6:30 on NBC Sports Network.

- Orpik is returning to action after missing a game with an upper body injury.  Lovejoy goes back to his normal spot as a healthy scratch.

Result:

Pens  8  Lightning  1

Goals:  Kunitz (17) from Malkin, Neal

            Cooke (12) from Vitale, Michalek

            Staal (20) (SH), unassisted

            Staal (21) (PP) from Sullivan, Neal

            Malkin (34) from Kunitz, Engelland

            Malkin (35) from Niskanen

            Malkin (36) (PP) from Neal, Sullivan

            Dupuis (14) from Staal, Sullivan

               

The Good:

- The Pens put up a ridiculous 8 goals for the 3^rd time this season, absolutely demolishing the Lightning in the process.  Only 2 players were not a plus on the day.  11 players figured into the scoring.

- Bounces were simply amazing for the Pens, starting with Cooke’s goal, where the puck bounced in the air and landed right on his stick in the slot.  It continued as Jordan Staal got a short-handed breakaway goal because a linesman kicked the puck to him and then interfered with Hedman.  The Pens got a lot of weird breaks in this one.

Better believe Staal was laughing about the assist from the linesman.

- The powerplay was a perfect 2 for 2, scoring on a 4 on 3 and a 5 on 4 chance.

- A shoutout to Eric Tangradi here, who played a very solid 10 minutes, using his body to maintain puck possession and dishing out 3 hits. 

- Another strong game by mostly everyone, so I’ll just highlight a choice few:

Evgeni Malkin – A year ago, Bruce Boudreau told his locker room that Malkin could be knocked off of his game easily if you hit him a few times.  A year ago, that was true.  Today, Dwayne Roloson shoved Malkin in the face.  Today, Malkin scored 3 goals and added an assist to humiliate Tampa Bay and demonstrate to the league that he is the leading candidate for MVP.

Marc-Andre Fleury – Lost in all of the goal support was the fact that Fleury had a marvelous game, stopping 3 breakaways in the 2^nd period and making 34 saves overall.  His athleticism and reaction time were on display all game.  His numbers may not be pure in suggesting a Vezina nomination, but anyone who has watched him play or watched his highlight reel today realizes that he deserves the credit.

Fleury looking the puck directly into his pads, just like on the other 3 breakaways too.

Brooks Orpik – Day to day with a body injury turned into Orpik putting up a team leading +3 with a team leading 5 blocked shots.  He was positionally sound all game, and honestly, I didn’t notice him most of the game, which is a huge compliment to his play.  He began the game with Michalek and they were paired mostly against Stamkos who put up a big 0 points.  So kudos to Orpik on a strong return after a game off.

- Also exceptional games from Staal (2g, 1a), Sullivan (3a), and Neal (3a)

The Bad:

- Though it was a strong game by Fleury, and a great game by the offense, the defense had its issues at times, namely allowing 4 breakaways on Fleury.  Thanks to the stellar goalie, none led to a goal.  However, Martin/Letang were on for 3 of those, and Martin/Michalek was the pairing for the 4^th.  Martin did have some good shifts, so I won’t beat him up here, but you do the math.

The Ugly:

- Nothing to report here again!

  

Thoughts:

- Not only has Malkin’s play improved, but I am very impressed with his maturity.  As I mentioned in the good, he is no longer thrown off by frequent attacks, but it now fuels him to play better.  That’s a very Crosby-like way to handle things and it speaks a lot to Malkin’s character right now.

Malkin simply staring down Roloson after his 1st goal. 

- As impressive as Malkin looked, give some credit to Tampa’s defense for being awful, especially on Malkin’s Lemieux-like highlight reel 2^nd goal.  I take nothing away from Geno, it was an amazing goal.  But watching the replays, he had his head down watching the puck for most of his stick-handling.  Eric Lindros used to do that too… Had any of the Lightning defenders had the awareness or guts to knock Malkin off the puck, that goal doesn’t come close to happening.  If Scott Stevens is defending him, Malkin is probably concussed.

- Kris Letang had 0 points tonight.  How often do you think Letang will put up 0 points in a game where the Pens score 8 goals?  I’m still kinda surprised by it.

- After the Pens went up 3-0, I was hoping a little bit that Thiessen would go in for Fleury just to get some time in.  I realize that was unrealistic, but I really hope Thiessen gets the start tomorrow against Columbus.  Shero shouldn’t go into the deadline without at least getting one more look at what we have at backup goalie.

- Thank you Dwayne Roloson for bringing all of that upon yourself.

I see the issue Roloson...you should probably try looking at the puck.

  

Pens Record: 35-21-5, 75 pts, 2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East (with Philly playing tonight still)

Next Game:  2/26 vs Cls, 1pm

Fleury is Perfect, Pens win!

Main Storylines:

- Some roster changes going into this one.  Brent Johnson is “ill”, so Brad Thiessen is on emergency recall to back up Fleury.  Also, Eric Tangradi was called up and is expected to play on the 4^th line.  Expect Cal O’Reilly, and potentially Dustin Jeffrey to sit.

- Bylsma stated that the team wanted to call up Tangradi to add a physical presence and forecheck to the 3^rd and 4^th lines.  Other rumors swirling: showcase for a trade, keep him up in case someone else gets traded

- Brooks Orpik is also out with an upper body injury.  He is day to day and Ben Lovejoy will take his place.  It appears the top pairing will be Martin-Letang….oh no.

Result:

Pens  2  Rangers  0

Goals:  Malkin (33) from Letang, Dupuis

            Sullivan (11) (PP) from Malkin, Cooke

The Pens gave the Rangers a swift kick to...I'll just stop there.

               

The Good:

- Start with the milestones:  Malkin recorded his 300^th career assist and Fleury recorded his 22^nd career shutout, tying Barrasso’s franchise record.

- Offensive pressure:  The Pens had a period of over 3 minutes in the 1^st during which the puck did not leave the offensive zone.  Though they didn’t score during it, it forced the Rangers to use their timeout, which turned out to be nice a 2-0 close win.  The Kunitz-Malkin-Neal line and Dupuis-Staal-Sullivan line were masterful during those shifts

- Defensive intelligence:  By my count at least, Fleury only faced 2 clean odd man breaks in that game, a massive reduction from either of the past 2 games.  The defense was very smart about stepping up, and committed far fewer turnovers than usual.  Everyone on the defense played well (yes, including Paul Martin).

- Malkin’s goal was just flat out gorgeous.  It was a great outlet off the boards by Letang to spring him on a breakaway, and then Geno just showed an amazing amount of patience in waiting for Lundqvist to be completely out of the play before shooting.

- Sullivan is one of the last players on this roster that I would expect to score on a slapshot from the point on the powerplay…kudos to him.  It was a perfect shot and a great screen by Cooke as well.

Even he doesn't look sure that he did it.

- Literally everyone played a solid game, so I’m just going to highlight my 3 standouts for the night.

Zbynek Michalek – Michalek has been playing lights out since he was taken away from Paul Martin.  He led the team yet again with 3 blocked shots and got his stick on several passes to slow the Rangers down.  His positioning has been very sound and he looks very comfortable and confident now.  He has definitely reverted back to the player that the Pens wanted to pay $4 mil/yr.

Marc-Andre Fleury – Fleury had an outstanding effort in earning his 22^nd shutout.  He made 27 saves, including a breakaway, and was masterful in his rebound control tonight.  Hell, he didn’t even have any mishaps in playing the puck, that’s how in the zone Fleury was tonight.  The commitment to team defense tonight let Fleury do his thing, his positioning was great, he didn’t overcommit on any shots or passes, and he simply was unbeatable tonight.

Thiessen's recall clearly made all the difference.

Kris Letang – Letang gets here, not for his assist, but for his outstanding defensive awareness tonight.  He led the team with over 28 minutes of ice time and didn’t get caught too far up at all.  He didn’t try and force the offense, he just played his game and took open looks as he saw them.  I was concerned with him and Martin being paired together, but both played very well together.  Letang’s patience and commitment to defense tonight was simply perfect against a Rangers team that tends to be opportunistic. 

The Bad:

- Lovejoy played a very solid game and had a nice set of shots, getting 3 on one shift.  One thing that I could have done without was his delay of game penalty, of course.

- Martin also played a very solid game, my only complaint for him was on one play, where he missed his coverage and allowed the one breakaway on Fleury.  Aside from that gaffe though, Martin was definitely in the good category.

 The Ugly:

- Arron Asham made a very boneheaded play when he took his penalties.  Adams drew a penalty with a hard drive to the net, and Asham needlessly started shoving with Bickel as every player skated to the benches.  Asham’s gotta be smarter than that, Bickel didn’t even do anything to him to lead to it.  I would categorize throwing a powerplay away as ugly.

With 2 healthy scratches a game, better play smart to stay in the lineup.

  

Thoughts:

- Nothing against Eric Tangradi, he played well in his 5:39 of ice time.  But why call him up to play 5:39?  Wouldn’t he be better served playing in the minors with a regular shift?  We aren’t doing him or ourselves any favors by calling him up to play that little.

- On a related note, what did Dustin Jeffrey do to get booted from the lineup?  He could have played that 5:39 just as well, with the addition of he has PK capabilities and can take faceoffs.  I don’t think he’s done anything in the past few games to warrant getting a healthy scratch.

- The special teams continue to be outstanding this year.  The powerplay went 1 for 2 and the PK went 3 for 3.  Another sign of a Cup favorite.

- As Phil Bourque said on the radio after the game, this is the type of game that the Pens need to circle and reference.  No matter what ups and downs are left in this season, this game against the Rangers was a complete 60 minute effort, with a team commitment to defense and doing the little things right.  The Pens will not lose a best of 7 series to anyone with efforts like this.

- By the way, this was all without Crosby.  Can you imagine the possibilities?

  

Pens Record: 34-21-5, 73 pts, 4^th in the Atlantic, 6^th in the East

Next Game:  2/25 vs TB, 1pm

There Was a Game Today? Pens lose.

Main Storylines:

- The big buzz of the morning is certainly James Neal’s new 6 year, $30 million extension!  Check out the previous post on the left for my thoughts on that.

- Brent Johnson gets the start today in Buffalo.  His career numbers against Buffalo are pretty bad, 6-4 with a 3.60 GAA and .873 Save %.  But, Buffalo is pretty awful right now as well.

I don't expect you to get a shutout...but I expect you to finish the game.

- Buffalo has allowed 5 powerplay goals in their last 3 games.  If the game is called anything like yesterday’s 6-4 win over the Flyers, that could be the key matchup in this game.

Result:

Sabres  6  Pens  2

Goals:  Engelland (3) from Malkin

            Staal (19) (PP) from Neal, Sullivan

               

The Good:

- Special Teams:  Despite losing 6-2, the Pens managed to go 1 for 4 on the PP and 5 for 5 on the PK.  Sadly, that couldn’t make up for piss poor play during the rest of the game (including a shorthanded goal allowed)

Zbynek Michalek – Z was the only defenseman that didn’t screw up at some point during this game.  Despite his blueline mates being awful, Michalek played a strong and dependable game, blocking 7 shots and playing through 6:31 of the 8 minutes of powerplay time the Sabres had.  His game has been very steady over the past couple weeks, though the team defense has disappeared.

The Bad:

- The Pens let up 2 goals in the first period for the 4^th time in 5 games.  A Cup contender does not continually put themselves in that hole, regardless of where the fault lies between defense and goaltending.

Missing:  Defense.  Please notify if found. 

Brooks Orpik – The first 2 goals were on him (though Johnson shared credit on the 2^nd one).  Orpik missed his coverage on Pominville for the first one, giving him all day to beat Johnson.  On the 2^nd goal, he let Dreek Roy go past him to throw a backhander past Johnson.  It was hardly the start the Pens wanted.  He was steady after the first period, but the damage was done.

Kris Letang – Letang just couldn’t seem to be bothered with playing defense today.  I put this largely on the fact that the Pens fell behind so quickly, but Letang was out of position for much of the game, most frequently too far in the offensive zone.  He finished the game with a -4 and only played 18:52 in this game, the least we have seen him play in a while.

The Ugly:

- How about letting up 6 goals to Buffalo?  Or the whole game?

Brent Johnson – The defense surely deserves a lot of blame in this, but Johnson’s 2^nd goal was very weak, and he doesn’t inspire confidence in pretty much anyone at this point.  Fleury has already played a lot of games, more than one would like, and if Johnson can’t spell Fleury for a solid 7 or 8 more games this season comfortable, the Pens may have to look into another back up.  Calling up Thiessen isn’t out of the question.  Remember – the year the Pens won the Cup, they ditched Sabourin as a backup and picked up Garon to do it.  It’s not out of the question right now.

Paul Martin  - I try to defend him when I can, but his play was bench worthy today.  He was also a -4 today, though much more directly at fault for the Sabres goals.  He completely missed his coverage on 3 of the goals, giving the Sabres all the time in the world to make perfect plays.  He was caught behind the SABRES net 3 times as 2 on 1s broke the other way, but he got lucky and none of them turned into goals.  Martin’s play at this point just brings down his partner (see: Orpik and Letang who were paired with him at times today, and Michalek who wasn’t).  Lovejoy shouldn’t be on the bench for this.

Martin skating away from a goal celebration...not a rare picture.

Thoughts:

- For as nice as the win over Philly was yesterday, today pretty much wasted it.  The Pens have to beat the bad teams to make a move in the standings, and a game like this is pretty much unacceptable.  The one nice thing is you know they will be very fired up for the Rangers on Tuesday

- The team defense has been incredibly inconsistent over the past month, something we aren’t used to seeing with Bylsma’s team.  They’ve allowed at least 4 goals in 4 outta the past 7 games, that needs to change.  Fundamental coverages are being missed in front of the net.  Offense is fun, but the D needs to go back to basics.

- The first line is starting to cool off again, not just in production, but largely in chances created.  It's just an observation for now, but it will be interesting to see over the coming weeks how teams continue to defend Malkin's line.  The last 3 opponents have done a great job of it.

Teams are checking Malkin and Neal tightly, time to make adjustments.

Pens Record: 33-21-5, 71 pts, 3^rd in the Atlantic, 5^th in the East

Next Game:  2/21 vs NYR, 7pm

Pens sign Neal to 6yr, $30 mil deal

So, as the title says, GM Ray Shero signed James Neal to a 6 year, $30 mil extension this morning.  On this day, at this point in time, it looks like a great contract and an absolute steal.

I imagine this was Neal's look as he signed it.

Let's break it down into POTENTIAL pros and cons:

Pros:
- Neal has had a breakout year at the age of 24, already with career highs of 30 goals and 56 points through only 58 games so far.

- The chemistry between Malkin and Neal has almost been tangible with how impressive it has been.  This contract keeps Neal next to Geno, and may entice Geno to stay when it's his turn to extend as well.

- The contract keeps Neal through the prime of his career, until he's 30.

- At $5 mil/yr., if Neal continues to put up 30-40 goals through the contract, it's a great deal by NHL standards.  Other guys making $5 mil or more and failing miserably in comparison: Gomez, Cammalleri, Semin, and many many more.  Even highly sought after, free agent to-be, Zach Parise has less production than Neal.

Imagine seeing that goofy smile 40-50 times every year until 2018.

Cons:
- Neal is being paid at a potential high point in his career.  I'm not saying Neal has peaked, nor that he won't turn into a 50 goal scorer, just that he is getting  paid at the instant of his best performance, which is a questionable way to give out contracts sometimes (see: the above questionable contracts).

- His performance has also been mostly with a healthy, and NHL dominant Malkin.  We have seen what Mario could do with his wingers.  I'm not suggesting that's the case with Neal, but it's something to consider in how much he's truly worth.  The Pens always have a difficult task in judging a players value with and without centers like Crosby and Malkin.

- Let's say, for arguments sake, Neal turns into one of those players who puts in a spectacular regular season every year but disappears in the playoffs.  Do we still like the contract?  We don't have a barometer for that yet because I consider last season an aberration, but that just means no measurement still.

- The Salary Cap, which sits at $64 million right now, is expected to go up after this season...until September.  Then, it appears that everyone in the NHL is expecting an argument and another short lockout that will bring down player's revenue and also bring down the cap which has been increasing every year.  How much the cap moves will certainly have an impact on how strong of a deal this is since it covers 6 years.

Here's to seeing a lot more pictures like this!

Bottom line is this:  A contract can't be judged at any instant in time, but only over the full length of its term.  Shero has had the luxury of giving extensions to proven players that the Pens have had for a while (Orpik, Fleury, Letang, Crosby, Malkin).  He also gave out an iffy 6 year, $24 mil. deal to Ryan Whitney (though admittedly, he fixed that one quite well).  This contract will be an interesting test for Shero.

As of today, it's a win.  But don't throw the parade quite yet!

Less is More, Pens Win Behind 2 SH goals!

Main Storylines:

- It’s Pens-Flyers, do you need storylines?

- The Pens are 2 points behind the Flyers for 4^th place in the conference and 2^nd in the division.  A win here does not give the Pens that spot, because the Flyers own the tie breaker, but will at least get them close to passing the Flyers.

- Neal did not record a shot in the last game, a first for him this season, and the Pens had a lot of trouble generating offense against Anaheim, getting only 26 shots.  Look for the team to get back to their usual 35+ shots in this one.

- The PK hasn’t allowed a goal against in 7 games, a major reason for the team’s success in close games.

- The only lineup change will be Arron Asham returns after missing a few weeks with a concussion.  Cal O’Reilly sits for him.

Result:

Pens  6  Flyers  4

Goals:  Cooke (10), unassisted

            Staal (18) (SH) from Adams

            Cooke (11) (SH), unassisted

            Jeffrey (4) from Cooke

            Dupuis (13) from Staal, Sullivan

            Neal (30) from Malkin, Kunitz

               

The Good:

- Start with the basics, this was a big win over a division rival that the Pens are trying to catch up to.  It’s the first win for the Pens against the Flyers this season, and there are still 3 more games to go in this rivalry.  Expect fireworks.

- James Neal score his 30^th goal of the season, a continuing career high.  I didn’t think he would be putting up 30, and he’s on pace to go over 40.  Start clearing out room for his contract Shero!

- Marc-Andre Fleury wins his 30^th game of the season.  Despite allowing 4 goals, Fleury’s play was actually above average as he made some great saves at times, especially on the PK, to keep the Pens in it when the game was very close through the first 2 periods.

Don't care about the stats, I'll take a goalie who wins. 

- Engelland’s hit on Giroux was perfect, and may have had a big effect on Giroux’s game.  He was certainly quiet the rest of the night.  It was also hilarious seeing Hartnell bark at Engelland, but refuse to do anything that required physical contact.

- Short-handed goals.  Two of them.  One during a 5 on 3 penalty kill.  That’s called taking an opportunity and capitalizing on it right there.

Matt Cooke – Last recap, I talked about how Cooke was doing everything right aside from getting on the scoreboard.  Touche Cooke.  He blocked a shot and took the puck down on a 2 on 1 with Asham to score the opening goal.  He then somehow found himself going in on a semi-breakaway when the Pens were killing a 5 on 3 powerplay to score his 2^nd of the game.  He also added the primary assist on the Jeffrey goal that gave the Pens the lead early in the 3^rd.  His penalty killing was fantastic, his offense was fantastic, just a great all-around game from Cooke.

Poor Cooke had no one to celebrate with during the 5 on 3.

Jordan Staal – He scored his 18^th of the season, short-handed, and set up Dupuis’ goal for a 2 point night and a +2.  Just as important, however, is that he was matched up against the Giroux line.  Did you hear Giroux’s name aside from getting crushed by Engelland?  Giroux only had 1 assist on the powerplay and was a -3.  Staal continues to give the Pens a two-fold benefit of shutting down top players and adding goals on his own.

Brooks Orpik – In a game where 10 goals were scored, how much did you notice Brooks Orpik?  Not at all?  That’s the perfect answer for the stay at home defenseman.  Orpik was a +4 tonight and led the team with 6 hits.  He is probably playing the best hockey of his year right now.

Well, the Flyers surely noticed him.

 The Bad:

- The Pens allowed a powerplay goal for the first time in 8 games.  It was amidst all the bad reffing and during a 4 on 3, but it’s sad to see those streaks end.

- Paul Martin finally decides to display some sort of emotion, and proceeds to slash a Flyer while he’s laying on the ground in front of the ref.  Are you serious Martin??

- Malkin was a little off with his shooting tonight, only hitting the net twice, though he did hit the post twice as well.  He ended up with 4 missed shots.

Kris Letang – Letang was awfully quiet, and at some times awful, in this game.  He was caught completely flat-footed at the blue line for the first Jagr goal, where Neal attempted to cover for the fact Letang was well behind the play.  He was trying to jump into the play a little too much in this one, and got caught up a few times, especially on the powerplay.  Just a bump in the road for him I would imagine.

Joe Vitale – Vitale didn’t look all that sharp today, taking a bad penalty and not doing much throughout the game.  As the team gets healthy, he’s seeing a little less time, especially in penalty kill situations.  The kicker ended up being that he went 4 for 13 on faceoffs, so between that and the penalty, not his best effort.

The Ugly:

- Watching Jagr score 2 goals in 18 seconds on the exact same shot on Fleury was painful and shocking at the time.  Luckily, the Pens won out in the end.

- Watching Niskanen turn the puck over at the blue line, Engelland recover for him to save it from being a breakaway, and then Engelland just falls on his own accord with the puck in front of Fleury, leading to the Flyers 3^rd goal.  Talk about a comedy of errors.

- The reffing was flat out horribly inconsistent.  First nothing was called, then everything was called, then calls were being made when nothing happened.  Every part of spectrum from calling a game tightly to not calling anything at all was touched.  Both teams got completely screwed at times, esp when the Flyers’ Simmonds got called for goalie interference that never occurred.  Stephane Auger shouldn’t be allowed to ref in the NHL ever.

When a ref is a focal point of a picture, nothing good is being called.

- From the Flyers side – goaltending.  A good goalie probably allows 2 of the Pens goals, maybe 3.  The Bryzgalov – Bobrovsky combination better make you appreciate the luxury of having Fleury and Johnson in net.  That’s a big hole the Pens haven’t had to worry about in a relatively long time.

Thoughts:

- You wanted secondary scoring?  Well the first line only added one goal and the rest of the team put up 5.  Maybe we should worry a little less about the secondary scoring and the constant search for a scoring winger.  The defense certainly still needs to tighten up a bit.

- There is an above average chance that the Pens-Flyers find their way into a first round matchup.  I don’t think the Devils are strong enough to stay with them, and the Rangers are so far ahead that 4-5 seems inevitable.  If that holds true…yikes.

Even ice girls weren't safe in this game.

- With the team playing a slumping Buffalo (can I say slumping if they have sucked all season?), I would expect Johnson to get the start tomorrow.  Fleury could use a rest after the emotional insanity that occurred today.

- Has anyone missed TK?  Did anyone miss O’Reilly today?  Asham had a very solid, though quiet game.  He forechecked well, and was a key part of Cooke’s first goal.  The Pens, when healthy, have a solid amount of depth amongst their role players.  That depth may give Shero some extra trade pieces to work with, health withstanding.

- Look for Shanahan to analyze Staal’s hit on Coburn.  Staal got a 2 minute minor for boarding, but it was definitely an ugly hit.  Not sure how Shanahan will view it.  Staal has a few things on his side, he’s never been disciplined, Coburn did nothing to help his own cause, and Staal did show some compassion (which I think makes a difference even if no one says so).
UPDATE:  Staal was fined $2,500, the max under the CBA for his boarding penalty.  http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=617649

Pens Record: 33-20-5, 71 pts, 3^rd in the Atlantic, 5^th in the East

Next Game:  2/19 @ Buf, 12:30pm

Ducks Fly. Penguins Can't. Pens lose.

Main Storylines:

- The Pens, one of the hotter teams in the NHL, face perhaps the hottest team in the NHL in Anaheim, who has lost only 2 of their previous 18 games in regulation

- Bruce Boudreau returns to Pittsburgh for the first time with his new team.  He is 12-1-3 all-time in the regular season against the Pens.

- The Pens have overcome 2 goal deficits in each of their last 2 games and will be looking to get off to a much stronger start in this game, especially with the Ducks playing last night.

- Today is the 3 year anniversary of Bylsma getting hired by the Penguins.  On top of it, he coaches against his most memorable team as a player, the Ducks.  I’m sure he’s looking for a big win here.

Happy 3 year anniversary Disco!

Result:

Ducks 2  Penguins 1

Goals:  Staal (17) from Dupuis

               

The Good:

- The Pens honestly played a good game overall.  They had a lot of pressure in the Ducks zone, but just couldn’t find a way to turn that into scoring chances and goals.  This is just one of those nights where you’ll be relatively happy with how the team played though the result did not go your way.

- Letang came up with another save on the goal line, something he seems to be doing a lot since he came back from his concussion.

Matt Cooke – He may not be lighting up the scoreboard or ending anyone’s career, but Cooke had a very big contribution in the game tonight in a defensive effort.  He had 2 takeaways and 2 blocked shots during regular 5 on 5 play, and then contributed his usual stellar work on the PK.  Cooke was a big part of the effort that kept a potentially high scoring Ducks team rather quiet.

Jordan Staal – Staal continues to show that he has found his goal scoring touch from his rookie season.  He picked the corner perfectly on Hiller to score the only goal of the game for the Pens.  He also put in a solid effort defensively along with Cooke, both on the PK and during 5 on 5 play.  Staal’s line was assigned the Perry-Getzlaf line, and Staal and Cooke kept them off of the board when the matchup was in play.

Brooks Orpik – Orpik led the team in ice time with 24:39, had 2 blocked shots, was a +1, and led the team with astounding NINE hits.  He was very sound positionally and didn’t commit a single mistake as far as I could tell all game.  This may have been his best game of the season, though unfortunately it did not help enough on the scoreboard.

The Bad:

- For all of the pressure the Pens got tonight, they only managed 26 shots and the failure to get the puck on net even led to the 2^nd goal for the Ducks.  There was a little too much work done at the blue line in the offensive zone, leading to the turnover that sent the Ducks in on a 2 on 1 and a beautiful game winner for Selanne.  To make my point even more clear, 13 of the Pens shot (half for those of you counting at home) were by defensemen tonight.  Additionally, Neal was shotless, which is rare for the leading shooter in the NHL.

Michalek going in for a wrap-around isn't exactly a good sign offensively.

- The Pens simply don’t know how to beat Bruce Boudreau in the regular season.  The Ducks clearly knew what they were doing against the Pens and how they wanted to handle their matchups.  Gotta give Boudreau credits, it doesn’t matter who he’s coaching, he knows how to play the Pens, moving to 13-1-3 in his career against them.

If anyone outside of the organization knows the Penguins, it's definitely Boudreau.

The Ugly:

- The Martin/Michalek pairing.  They weren’t even paired together tonight, but ended up on the ice for the last minute of the 2^nd period.  The last minute saw Martin lose coverage on Bobby Ryan skating around a corner.  Ryan then passed it off to Perry.  Michalek, who seems to go brain-dead when paired with Martin, dropped to the ice and Perry shoved the puck under him and then through Fleury.  One shift together, one goal against.

- The powerplay.  We’ve all seen at this point that refs are now giving out only 1-3 powerplays per game.  With their one powerplay, the Pens managed to give up a breakaway, a semi-breakaway, and more chances to the Ducks than they had for themselves.  Efficiency is key with the reffing now, and the Pens were awful on their one chance.

Thoughts:

- Being a hockey dork, I found the line matchups to be fascinating tonight.  With the Pens having last change, the Staal line was matched up against Perry/Getzlaf and the Malkin line was matched up against Selanne/Ryan.  How did it work out?  The Staal line held Perry’s line scoreless, and even came up with a goal of their own.  The Malkin line was out for Perry’s goal and for Selanne’s goal.    It is becoming increasingly clear that one of the ways to slow down Malkin’s line is to put your top offensive guys against them so they have to play defense instead of putting out a normal defensive checking line.

- The Kunitz “slash” with 3 minutes to go was a BS call in THIS game.  I’m okay with that being a slash, it was a slash.  However, refs stopped calling that about 3 months ago.  If these refs would have called every slash like that through the game, each team would have had 5-6 powerplays and I would have been okay with the call.  The lack of consistency is infuriating though.  Make those calls all game, or don’t, but it’s gotta be one or the other.  Even Teemu Selanne called it a weak call in his post game interviews.

Shero, get Selanne at the trade deadline, PLEASE.

- Watching the Park-Vitale-Adams line tonight made me realize how much help Arron Asham might actually be for that line.  I imagine Park will be the one who sits as he gets the least ice time per night and the PK has a lot of depth right now.  Asham will add a lot of size and grit to that line in their forechecking.  Adams and Vitale can certainly skate and hit, but they don’t necessarily have the size to turn it into something.  Asham could make even more waves with that line.

Pens Record: 32-20-5, 69 pts, 3^rd in the Atlantic, 5^th in the East

Next Game:  2/18 @ Phi, 1pm

Two Goal Deficit? No Big Deal, Pens win!

Main Storylines:

- Brent Johnson gets the start today after Fleury suffered through an 8-5 win yesterday.  Bylsma said he wants to get Johnson in about 7-10 more games this season, so let’s see what he can do with it tonight.

Johnson's iffy stats may be explained by these situations.

- Simon Despres has started skating with the team again.  Though I think he has played well enough to stay up with the big team, lack of room clearly dictates that he goes down to WBS barring a trade soon.

- The Pens are wearing their blue jerseys in back to back games.  This isn’t a storyline at all, but it annoys me when we wear blue against teams that wear blue…and we’re doing it in back to back games.

Result:

Pens  4  Lightning  2

Goals:  Malkin (31) (PP) from Letang, Neal

            Kunitz (16) from Letang, Johnson

            Letang (8) from Kunitz, Neal

            Malkin (32) from Kunitz, Neal

               

The Good:

- The Pens overcame another early 2 goal deficit to come out with a win that ties them with the Flyers at 69 points. 

- The Martin/Michalek pairing was finally split up late in the 1^st period and pay major dividends for the team defensively as Michalek was with Niskanen and Martin with Engelland.

- Brent Johnson got a win on home ice and played very well after letting up a weak first goal.  He bounced back to keep the Pens in it when they were down by 2 and keep the lead intact afterwards.

Evgeni Malkin – Where to start with Geno…he drew 3 penalties, by himself.  He added 2 goals as he makes a move for the Rocket Richard trophy, and added to his Art Ross leading point total.  His backchecking was incredible tonight, and the powerplay and 1^st line are simply electric because of him right now.  Malkin has simply taken over the NHL on pure will alone.

Kunitz pleading his case that Malkin shouldn't impale him apparently.

Chris Kunitz – A big assist to Malkin’s production goes to Kunitz, who had a 3 point night, including a perfect saucer pass to Malkin across the crease for the Pens’ 4^th goal.  Kunitz is clearly seeing the ice very well right now, as demonstrated by that pass, and another to a wide open Letang on the far side of the ice which led to the 3^rd goal.  He also had a great backhander to Neal, but Garon robbed him.  Add in a goal, and Kunitz is doing his best to keep up with supporting Geno.

Kris Letang – I wasn’t happy with Letang’s defensive performance on Saturday, but he surely made up for it tonight.  He had a 3 point night, including the game winning goal, and was unbeatable on defense tonight.  He was out against the Lecavalier line for most of the game, and the Bolts’ top line simply didn’t get any quality chances.  Letang’s play in this game gave him a good argument for being the top defenseman in the NHL right now.

Zbynek Michalek – Michalek looked absolutely spectacular after he was switched to Niskanen’s side.  He was 2^nd in the team with 5 shots, and led the team with 5 blocked shots.  He skated comfortably, and stuck to his game completely.  He was perfect positionally, and probably played his best game of the season tonight.

The Bad:

- The Pens need to stop spotting teams a 2 goal lead before they find one they can’t come back from.  It may work out against non-playoff teams like Winnipeg and Tampa Bay, but that is certainly a bad habit to form at this time of the year.  The fact that the Lightning scored 2 goals in 11 seconds was flat out pathetic.

Steve Sullivan – Sullivan looked a little off in the 1^st period, and never really got into his game.  He had a couple of bad turnovers in the neutral zone, and looked a little hesitant on the point for the PP.  With how great he has looked since the All-Star break, I wonder if he should be getting some of the 2^nd games in back to back nights off to keep him fresh.

Those short legs can't keep up with turnovers.

The Ugly:

- Nothing to report here, hooray!

Thoughts:

- One of the big aspects to the success of Malkin and Neal right now is their shot total.  Neal now leads the league with 232 shots and Malkin is 2^nd with 221.  Like every broadcaster will stupidly say at 20 different times in a season, put the puck on net and good things will happen.

- Speaking of Neal, while it’s early to look at this, his contract is going to be an interesting situation for the Pens.  Toronto is talking about giving Mikhail Grabovski around $4.5 - $5 mil after this season.  Grabovski has 39 points in 50 games.  Luckily, Neal is a restricted free agent, but his production (55 pts in 56 games) might actually warrant an offer sheet from another GM.  The Pens are going to have a tough time finding a good mix of money and years with him and the salary cap.

- Malkin now has a 7 point lead in the Art Ross race, and is averaging 1.41 points per game.  Second is Claude Giroux, who is averaging 1.19 points per game.  Malkin might win this race by the end of the month at this rate.

Might wanna keep track of where that Malkin guy is.

- While the Pens have tied the Flyers for 4^th place, this is where all of the shootout wins will hurt.  The Flyers have 5 more non-shootout wins, and thus easily have the tiebreaker over the Pens.  New York looks like they will run away with the division easily, so it’s going to be a dogfight between Pittsburgh, Philly, and NJ for seeds 4-6.  There will definitely be an Atlantic only matchup in the first round.

- Monday morning news:  Despres has been activated off the IR and sent down to WBS.  Former Penguin Mike Comrie retired. 

Pens Record: 32-19-5, 69 pts, 3^rd in the Atlantic, 5^th in the East

Next Game:  2/15 vs Ana, 7pm

Jets Get Burned, Pens win 8-5!

Main Storylines:

- While the team say goodbye to Tyler Kennedy for 4-6 weeks (high ankle sprain), they welcome Jordan Staal back to the lineup.  Staal is expected to center the 2^nd line with Cooke and Dupuis.  This also bumps Dustin Jeffrey over to wing.

Staal may be back, but life for Cooke is no different.

 - The Pens have lost 3 out of 4 so far in February and need to get back to winning before they lose ground on NJ and Philly in the standings.  They enter the game 1 point behind NJ for 5^th place and 4 points behind Philly for home ice.

- Evgeni Malkin is playing in his 400^th career game and has 480 points in his 399 so far.

Result:

Pens  8  Jets 5

Goals:  Jeffrey (3) from Staal, Letang

            Neal (29) from Malkin

            Kunitz (13) (PP) from Malkin, Fleury

            Letang (3) from Malkin, Kunitz

            Malkin (30) from Kunitz, Neal

            Park (5) from Orpik, Adams

            Staal (16) from Dupuis, Cooke

            Letang (4) (PP) from Malkin, Kunitz

                                             

The Good:

- OFFENSE: Holy crap, an 8 goal burst from the offense, led heavily by the first line (3 goals) and the powerplay (2 goals).  The Pens took advantage of the Jets’ propensity for using defensemen to push the play, going in on at least 10 odd man rushes and scoring on a few of them. 

- Richard Park got his 100^th career goal.  Talk about a long trip to 100 goals!

- Jordan Staal looked very strong on his skates coming off of his knee injury.  His goal and assist certainly helped his cause, but most importantly – he doesn’t look hampered at all in his skating.

Evgeni Malkin – Malkin is just a beast right now.  Another 5 point night (3^rd of the season) gave him a 5 point lead in the race for the Art Ross.  He is definitely putting himself into the MVP race, though the team as a whole will have to move up in the standings for him to get it.  Every single assist he had was a primary one, including a perfect faceoff win on Neal’s goal and a beautiful pass to set up a breakaway for Kunitz.

Pavelec never had a chance.

Chris Kunitz – Speaking of, Kunitz also put together a dazzling night, getting 4 points.  His work in front of the net continues to be superb as he does the dirty work for Neal and Malkin.  He was the perfect mix of grinder and play maker in this one.

The Bad:

- GOALTENDING:  Fleury was not at his best by any means.  He had issues staying in position, though he may have been overcompensating for a lackluster defensive effort.  His inability to stay square to the puck led to some odd goals, but it won’t be talked about when the offense puts up 8 for him.

Gotta get that pad down, MAF

The Ugly:

- DEFENSE:  The defense was just flat out awful all game.  Out of position, chasing pucks too far, it was like they were trying to play Winnipeg’s style.  Lucky for the pens, their offense is far more potent than Winnipeg’s. 

Brooks Orpik – Orpik looked lost through most of the afternoon, over-pursuing players and maybe getting caught up in the free flowing gameplay a little bit.  As he’s not an offensive guy, his positioning needs to be perfect to contribute, and it wasn’t there for this game.

Deryk Engelland – Engelland pretty much had the same problems Orpik did, except he was clearly getting out of position looking for hits.  He had 3 or 4 very nice hits early in the 1^st period, but most of them took him out of the play and he followed his men way too far trying to make an impact.  He was a -2 on the night because of that effort.

Cal O’Reilly – O’Reilly  essentially scored the 2^nd goal for the Thrashers, as a long shot from inside the blue line glanced off of his shins and past Fleury.  I fault him big time on this because he didn’t square up the puck to block it, but was in perfect position to only have a bad effect for Fleury.  He’s gotta be smarter as a center covering the front of the net.  It didn’t help him that Engelland was vastly out of position, putting him in that spot.

Thoughts:

- Whoever decided the Pens should wear blue against the Jets is an idiot.  I personally like the blue jerseys, but don’t wear them against a team whose primary color is blue and whose primary jersey looks quite similar.

- It was kinda surprising that neither goalie was pulled in a game that combined for 13 goals.  I really hope Brent Johnson starts the next game, a) to give Fleury a break and b) to show at least a little bit of confidence in having Johnson as a backup.

One of the 8 faces of disappointment from Pavelec. 

- While I enjoy seeing the team put up 8 goals, allowing 5 to the Jets is rather inexcusable.  The Pens got caught up in a run and gun game and let go of their system for most of the afternoon.  Hopefully it’s just a fad and not a trend, as the better teams in the East will absolutely feast on the Pens for playing like that.

- I hate to say it, but Tyler Kennedy was simply not missed at all in that game.  Makes me wonder if he might be within healthy scratch range when he’s healthy and if Crosby comes back around the same time.  His lack of impact on the powerplay and lack of PK skills don’t really add much to the lineup at this point.

Pens Record: 31-19-5, 67 pts, 3^rd in the Atlantic, 5^th in the East

Next Game:  2/12 vs Tb, 7pm