Pens Week in Review - 2/3

Penguins Record Since Saturday:  1-1  (Overall: 29-18-4, 3^rd in the Atlantic, 5^th in the East)

- Beat Toronto, 5-4 (SO)

- Lost to Toronto, 1-0

Special Teams

- Powerplay:  0 for 3

- Penalty Kill:  6 for 7

*Steve Mears, who does the Penguins Live radio show on weekdays, did some research and came up with some interesting numbers on powerplays this season.  In the opening weekend of the season, teams were averaging about 5 powerplays per game.  This past Tuesday (with 13 games on the docket), teams were averaging just over 2 powerplays per game.  He suggested a few reasons for this difference:  players knowing what to get away with, refs relaxing on calls, teams being more careful with the playoff race at hand.  Interesting numbers to watch as the playoffs get close…

In case you forgot how to do the Macarena.

Injuries:

- Sidney Crosby (neck injury) is out indefinitely with what is now believed to be a soft-tissue injury in his neck.

- Jordan Staal (knee) is expected to be out another 2 weeks or so.

- Simon Despres (knee) is expected to be out another week or so.

- Arron Asham was diagnosed with concussion like symptoms and there is no timetable for his return.

Transactions:

- The Pens signed center Joe Vitale to a 2 year extension on Friday, worth an average of $550k per year.  While it's a good deal, and a solid price since Vitale has filled a big role as a center and energy guy this year, I have to wonder if this is just going to turn into another Letestu deal where the Pens get healthy and he suddenly doesn't have a spot in the next couple years.  For now though, another solid move by Shero.

- They also claimed center Cal O’Reilly off of re-entry waivers from the Coyotes.  This is a great move for the Pens as it adds depth at center and will only cost them approximately $190,000 for the rest of the season.  Also, he is a restricted free agent, giving the Pens options with him in the future.  A very nice, no-risk move by Ray Shero to get something for nothing.

O'Reilly celebrating with Sullivan, hopefully something we get to see in a Pens jersey.

Rumors:

- Rumors continue to still fly that Shero is looking to add another “scoring winger”.  The Pens have a lot of depth at defense.  Niskanen is a valuable trade piece with his RFA status after the season.  Lovejoy has been odd man out.  Engelland has shown a great improvement in his overall play.  I’d be shocked if all 3 remain on the team through the trade deadline.

Overall View:

- The Penguins ran their win streak up to 8 games in a crazy come from behind victory against Toronto before finally seeing the streak end the next day in Toronto.  Marc-Andre Fleury won all 8 games on the streak, and though it was no fault of his own, Brent Johnson was in net for the 1-0 loss on Wednesday.  Fleury had appeared in 23 straight games before Wednesday, and has now been in 43 games.  With 31 games to go, there is some concern that Fleury may be getting too much work as the playoffs haven’t generally been kind to goalies who play in over 60-65 games.

Random Notes:

- Yahoo’s Puck Daddy column had an interesting idea with a reader suggesting the Mario Lemieux hat trick.  The Lemieux hat trick would consist of a powerplay goal, even-strength goal, and a short-handed goal in a game.  The inspiration for it was Lemieux’s 5 goals in 5 different ways (those 3 + empty netter and penalty shot), which will likely never happen again.  If Gordie Howe has his own hat trick, why not Mario?

- As we have all seen, the Civic Arena is finally coming down.  The first implosion of 8 panels took place last weekend.  The rest of the panels are scheduled to come down every couple of weeks pending the weather in the next 2 months.

I think this would be considered "Dying Alive", Jagr.

- Through the All-Star festivities over the past weekend, Evgeni Malkin opened up to the media far more than usual and had fun with it in the process.  It appeared that he had a great time with the other all-stars, especially fellow countryman Pavel Datsyuk.  My favorite quote for the weekend involved Malkin being asked about the fantasy draft, where he stated, “I was waiting to see who’d get picked first in the draft.  I remembered the real draft when drafted second.  Now third.  I’m degrading.”  I hope the Pens remember that line when contract negotiations come up!

Week Ahead:

Sat 2/4 @ Boston, 1pm

Sun 2/5 @ NJ, 1pm

Tues 2/7 @ Mtl, 7:30pm

LET’S GO PENS!!!