Crosby, Malkin, and Staal, Oh My! Pens Win!

Main Storylines:

- Coming off of a terrible loss in Ottawa last night, the Pens get a chance to rebound and hit the 100 pt mark tonight at home against the Devils.

- Fleury gets the start tonight.  Steve Sullivan is out with a lower body injury, so Dustin Jeffrey finally gets back into the lineup to take his place.  Vitale and Niskanen remain out.  Park and Lovejoy fill their spots respectively.

Result:

Pens  5 Devils  2

Goals:  Kunitz (23) from Malkin

            Staal (23) from Cooke

            Dupuis (23) from Crosby, Adams

            Crosby (4) from Michalek, Dupuis

            Malkin (46) from Staal, Kunitz

Stats/Milestones:

- The Pens have hit the 100 pt mark for the 3^rd straight season, setting a franchise record.  This is also the 10^th straight win at Consol, setting a record there as well.

- Pascal Dupuis extended his career high point streak to 10 games.  He has also set a new career high for points with 50.

Dupuis looks more shocked with every goal he scores.

- Marc-Andre Fleury has now tied his career high in wins with 41 this season.

               

The Good:

- After a horribly disappointing effort on Saturday night against the Senators, the Pens bounced back with a better game, though work still needs to be done. 

- Matt Cooke’s effort on Staal’s goal was simply unreal.  Cooke was the one who initially got the puck into the zone to Staal, and then he was back on the boards to block a clearing attempt by the Devils, where he took the puck and fed Staal for the goal.  It’s little things like that play that show you Cooke isn’t the goon he portrayed himself as last year, but is a legit, smart hockey player.

- Crosby’s breakaway goal was simply vintage Crosby (hey, if every shot can be vintage Ovechkin, Crosby can have those too).  He tapped the puck past Marek Zidlicky on one side and skated past him on the other side to leave Zidlicky confused and in the dust.  Crosby then finished off the breakaway with a goal much to the delight of the home crowd.

- This is the first time that Staal, Malkin, and Crosby have scored in the same game since late 2009.  Wow.

Pascal Dupuis – Joe Vitale’s absence has left me searching for a true grit and energy guy in the lineup.  Somehow, while he kills penalties, plays along superstars, and scores goals, Dupuis has found a way to be that guy as well.  Dupuis showed by far the most energy on the Pens last night and was well-rewarded for it when he pounced on a rebound sitting in the slot to score what was ultimately the game-winner.  His effort is simply unmatched right now and he simply shows an aptitude for playing with any one of the Pens’ 3 big centers.  The biggest luxury with Dupuis might be the fact that he can comfortably rotate onto any line and adjust to the playing styles of Crosby, Malkin or Staal. 

Marc-Andre Fleury – If that Ottawa game didn’t demonstrate the value of having Fleury in net, this one should have.  Fleury stopped 32 of 34 shots he faced and bailed out the defense and the PK on a few occasions.  He faced quite a few “surprise” shots due to bad turnovers (led by Crosby and Letang, making them even bigger surprises) but looked calm and comfortable all night.  The Pens have to admit they were outplayed in a good portion of that game, but #29 in net made sure the scoreboard never said it.

Fleury 1 on 1: No problem.  His backups: goal.

The Bad:

- The turnovers in this game were astounding at times as the Pens couldn’t clear the zone on numerous occasions.  They were sloppy with the puck and never got to their puck possession game that saw them absolutely dominate New Jersey just a week ago.  It appears that some bad habits may have formed during the course of winning over this past week, especially in the defensive zone.

- Ben Lovejoy left after 3 shifts in the 1^st period with a “lower body injury”.  I imagine we will hear more about it on Monday.  Kris Letang also missed a few shifts, but returned to action.

Kris Letang – While Letang had issues just surviving this game as he left the ice due to a hit to the head and after crashing into the boards on a trip, he didn’t play his best when he wasn’t being abused.  Letang as turnover city at times in the D zone, twice giving the puck up to Kovalchuk, the last man you want to see battling Fleury.  On the 2^nd Devils goal, Letang got caught chasing the puck carrier too far from his zone, and while Staal and Adams failed to give him support, he was still out of position.  He also seemed to be headhunting a little and going out of his way for hits.  He took that high stick to the head because he was taking a run at someone and missed – that shouldn’t be forgotten.

The Ugly:

- Who would have guessed that the first 2 goals of the game would be on major gaffes behind the net by Brodeur and Crosby.  Brodeur mishandled the puck (I’m not sure that’s ever been said in his career) behind the net and lost it to Malkin, who fed it to Kunitz with a wide open net for the first goal.  Meanwhile, Crosby gave a gift right back – passing the puck to New Jersey in the slot while Fleury was behind the net for an empty netter basically. 

While both screwed up in the 1st, Crosby got the last laugh.

Thoughts:

- The defense still looks very lackluster as it has for the past week.  Many of the defensemen seem to be trying to play out of their styles and are simply trying to do too much.  I’m not sure how this got started, but it’s a trend that needs to be fixed over the course of this week before the Pens play the Rangers once and the Flyers twice in games that will surely determine the final playoff seedings.  The team would be much better off if we don’t see Orpik leading rushes like Letang would and Letang throwing the body like Orpik would (both of which occurred against NJ).

- The Pens now sit 1 point behind the Rangers for 1^st in the East, and 3 points behind St. Louis for 1^st in the NHL.  This is looking way too far ahead, but with St. Louis only have 4 home losses this season, the road to the Cup might require the President’s trophy as well.  First thing’s first of course - catch the Rangers.

- Though I expected Niskanen to return this week, if both him and Lovejoy miss some time, I hope Simon Despres gets the call up.  He has looked fantastic in all of his NHL games this season and I really think he’s ready to experience a stretch run with this team.  It will both help the team and his own growing process to get some key games in.

Pens Record: 47-22-6, 100 pts, 2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East

Next Game:  3/27 vs NYI, 7pm

Defense Optional, Pens Let Up 8 in a Loss.

Main Storylines:

- Brad Thiessen gets the start tonight as Fleury rests up for a big Atlantic Division matchup against the Devils tomorrow.

- With the Rangers losing to the Sabres last night, the Pens have a chance to take over 1^st place in the Conference tonight.  The Rangers do play the Leafs though, so no matter what happens the Pens will have one less game played after tonight and be in striking distance of 1^st.

- Tangradi and Lovejoy get back into the lineup as Park gets a healthy scratch and Niskanen sits out with an upper body injury.  Vitale remains hurt as well.

Result:

Sens 8  Pens 4

Goals:  Cooke (18) from Engelland

            Cooke (19) from Crosby, Martin

            Kennedy (9) from Sullivan, Staal

            Crosby (3) from Asham, Dupuis

Stats/Milestones:

- Matt Cooke added to his career high goals total, making it 19 now.  He’s had 7 goals in his last 6 games with Crosby.

How do you score over a 6'7 goalie??

- Pascal Dupuis added an assist to extend his career high scoring streak to 9 games

               

The Good:

- The game is over and the Pens get a chance to rebound immediately against the Devils at home tomorrow night.

- Honorable mention to Engelland and Lovejoy, who didn’t do anything spectacular, but I felt played very solid and responsible games on a night where no one else felt like doing that.  Also, it was very nice to see Sid get his first goal in his 2nd comeback.

One of the rare reasons for everyone to smile tonight.

Matt Cooke – Another 2 goal game for Cooke, his 3^rd since Crosby’s return, has him vying to become the 6^th Penguin to hit the 20 goal mark this season.  He pretty much has kept it simple with Sid, either going directly to the net or getting the puck to the net.  It’s a shame he got called for a complete BS penalty, but that hardly nullifies his new found scoring prowess.

The Bad:

- Forwards in their own end.  Everyone got caught up with watching the puck in the zone on three of the Ottawa goals.  There were signs of this in the Nashville game as the Preds certainly had their chances from in close.  The Pens are going to have to start watching closer for players on the backside sneaking in looking for passes.

- The powerplay.  Ottawa played a very energetic and aggressive large box setup against the Pens and it disrupted them completely.  The powerplay couldn’t complete passes, got very few chances, and allowed a shorthanded breakaway goal to Daniel Alfredsson as well.  This powerplay is simply too talented to get caught by Ottawa’s aggressiveness like they did.  We need to see more instinct and less thinking in those situations.

- Odd Man Rushes.  The Pens allowed a disgustingly high amount of odd man breaks and breakaways to the Sens.  Thiessen surely didn’t bail them out on anything, but the defensive was pretty much horrible in providing support.  There were 2 breakaway goals and 2 odd man rush goals against the Pens tonight.  That’s absolutely pathetic.  You can add another goal to that list where an Ottawa player skated in 1 on 3, got through 3 Penguins, and slid the puck over to a wide over Alfredsson.  A horrible effort on defense by the Pens.

A goal celebration covering half the zone shouldn't be this devoid of Penguins.

- Steve Sullivan left at some point in the late 2^nd or early 3^rd period (I didn’t catch when clearly).  Reports seem to be that whatever injury has is minor, but we shall see tomorrow.

This is the last play I recall seeing Sullivan, maybe overextended something?

The Ugly:

- The anthems before the game were seriously horrendous.  The singer sounded like Ms. Piggy, botched the words, and held both anthems out to a total of over 6 minutes.  She even paused at one portion to ask the crowd to get into it.  The Pens bench was laughing the whole time and it was seriously just an embarrassment to both countries.  I won’t even give you a youtube link because you deserve better than that.

- The Penalty Kill was uncharacteristically inattentive tonight.  Both powerplay goals were scored on cross-ice passes where the Pens simply weren’t watching the backside.  There was just a serious lack of focus by the Pens in the defensive end.  I am just going to call it a lapse in judgment for the night and leave it at that.

Orpik/Michalek – By far the worst pairing of the night, they put up a -4 and simply never got to their styles.  Orpik wasn’t very physical and got caught in the offensive zone a few times, including on Spezza’s breakaway from his own blue line.  Meanwhile, Michalek was wandering too far away from the crease looking for stick checks and checks instead of doing his usual good job of blocking passes and shooting lanes.  Both players simply did not stick to their strengths and Thiessen is the one who paid for it.

Uh yeah, one of you should probably cover the future Hall of Famer.

Brad Thiessen – Speaking of Thiessen, his effort wasn’t exactly sharp either.  He had issues controlling rebounds and simply looked small in the net.  I can’t blame him solely for this game as the Pens gave him no help, but he also has to come up with a couple more big stops along the way.  20 saves on 28 shots looks bad for pretty much anyone.

Thoughts:

- I didn’t want to see Bishop injured for Ottawa necessarily, but after the major dive he took when Cooke skated past him, you couldn’t help but think the Hockey Gods were getting him back for that move.  Especially since Ottawa scored on that powerplay they never should have had.

- This team can clearly score.  This team clearly has a Cup winning goalie in Fleury.  But the defensive effort over the past week has been all over the place.  Winning the Cup requires defensive consistency just as much as goaltending and probably moreso than scoring.  So while this team can light it up, the kind of effort they showed tonight is the type of effort the Caps showed in previous years with early exits in the playoffs.  This needs to be fixed immediately.

- The Pens looked more tired/sluggish than the Senators did today even though Ottawa played last night.  With the Sens slumping, I wonder if the team got caught being a little too excited about the Nashville win and looking ahead to NJ tomorrow night.

- Everyone get over Thiessen getting the start.  The argument that the Pens could get first place is not a reason to start Fleury for every game for the rest of the season.  The playoffs are more important than first place, so Fleury will need to sit sometimes.  He will likely sit March 29^th as well.  Johnson looks to be healthy again, so I’m pretty sure this was Thiessen’s last start and Johnson will get the nod on Thursday.  Regardless, if Fleury goes out in the playoffs, all is lost anyways.  So protect him, not a chance at first place.

Guess what, not many goalies are stopping one timers from the crease

Pens Record: 46-22-6, 98 pts, 2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East

Next Game:  3/25 vs NJ, 7pm

Pens Win Their 11th in a Row, 1500th in Franchise History!!

Main Storylines:

- The Pens have won 10 in a row and go for #11 against one of their toughest opponents over the past couple years. The Pens have lost 4 straight in NJ, and Malkin and Crosby have each scored only 1 point in their last 5 games against the Devils.

Keys to the game right here. 

- Fleury gets the start and the only lineup change is Tangradi is in for Asham (illness). 

- Staal looks to continue his career high 9 game point scoring streak, while Dupuis looks to match his career high by making it 5 today.  Malkin’s next goal will be #40, which will make him the 6^th player in franchise history to score 40 goals multiple times.

- The Pens’ next win will be the 1,500^th in franchise history, making them to the 11^th team to hit that mark.

- Matt Cooke has been named the Penguins’ Masterton Trophy nominee (player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey). Jump to the thoughts at the end for more on this.

Result:

Pens  5  Devils  2

Goals:  Neal (32) from Malkin

            Dupuis (20) from Staal, Niskanen

            Cooke (15) from Crosby, Kennedy

            Malkin (40) (PP) from Crosby, Kunitz

            Cooke (16) from Kennedy, Crosby

               

The Good:

- The Pens make it 11 in a row!!  This is simply the best team in hockey, there is no even remote argument otherwise right now.  It is also the 1500^th win in franchise history!

- Milestones: Dupuis becomes the 5^th player on the Pens to hit 20 goals this season.  Dupuis matches his career high point streak at 5 games and that 20^th goal tied a career high as well.  Meanwhile, Staal extends his career high points streak (and assists streak) to 10 games.  Malkin scores his 40^th goal, becoming the 6^th player in franchise history to hit that mark multiple times for the Pens.  Cooke has set a new career high for goals with 16 so far.

Just 8 goals less than Hossa, makes $4 mil/yr less.  Dupuis is the centerpiece to that deal now.

- The pace of this Pens-Devils game was the best we’ve seen in years.  It was a quick moving game from the very first shift as opposed to those boring chess matches we usually see in New Jersey.  Playoff hockey is nearing quickly!

- Everything and everyone.  The defense played great, Martin/Letang looked good, the offense is efficient, the defense is on lock down, this team is just clicking on all cylinders.  The Pens outshot the Devils a ridiculous 43-14 today.

Matt Cooke – Back to back 2 goal games for Cooke, wait what?  Cooke is apparently in all-star form on a line with Crosby.  Most people thought he’d have to defend and protect Sid, but instead he’s just putting the puck in the net at will.  What more can you ask from a guy who almost had his career end through stupidity last year?  A very well-earned Masterton nomination for him.  Cooke now has 31 points and 30 PIM this year.  A far cry from his usual 30 and 120.

Sidney Crosby – Just look at Kennedy’s and Cooke’s stats to see exactly what kind of impact Crosby has on anyone.  He had 3 assists in this game, and was robbed twice by Brodeur on some nice chances.  That first goal of this comeback is coming very soon, any other goalie and he would probably have had it today.  A happy, healthy Sidney Crosby has made this team look simply unbeatable.

Pens fans are showing up everywhere to welcome Sid back

Evgeni Malkin – In a very weird concept, might Malkin actually be overlooked right now due to the team dominance and a fully healthy roster?  Geno scored on a blistering one-timer on the PP and also won the faceoff to set up the “Neal play” which led to a goal.  He just quietly continued his Hart worthy season.  Just Geno being Geno.

The Bad:

- Cooke made an ugly misplay/pass back to Engelland in the defensizve zone when he wasn’t ready for it, turning into Sykora all alone on Fleury for a goal against early in the 3^rd period.  The Pens will have to learn not to get too comfortable with the leads that this team can build too early.  Luckily, Cooke decided to score right after to shut up the Devils instantly.

- Joe Vitale went crashing into the boards late in the 2^nd period and missed about a period’s worth of hockey, but returned late in the 3^rd period.  So I would assume he’s okay.  If not, we have a very healthy set of scratches right now.

The Ugly:

- For the Devils: Brodeur actually played a very solid game and robbed a few chances.  I can’t even imagine what it would have been like if anyone else was in net.

38 saves including a penalty shot, what more can a goalie do?

Thoughts:

- Nothing about the team – everyone just sit back, relax, and enjoy this ride, it’s wonderful.

- Cooke is up for the Masterton trophy for the Pens.  Two Pens have won the award before: Lemieux in 93 when he returned from chemotherapy and Lowell McDonald back in 75 when he returned from tearing his knee.  Current Penguin Steve Sullivan also won the award with the Predators back in 09 after returning from missing most of 2 years with a fractured disc and groin issues.  Generally, the award goes to players coming back from major injuries.  Some other nominees around the league so far this year: Jagr (Flyers), Alfredsson (Sens), Tootoo (Preds), Smith (Coyotes), Pacioretty (Habs), Fraser (Kings), Potter (Oilers) and still may more to come out.  I think Cooke definitely deserves the nomination, but he wouldn’t be my top pick in the NHL.

- Even though it’s back to back games, I would expect Fleury to start against the Flyers tomorrow.  The light workload today certainly helped out that decision.  Tomorrow will also be the biggest test for Crosby handling physical play, as I'm sure the Flyers will try to rip his head off.  Early 12:30pm start, so get drinking and pass out early, Happy St Patty's Day!!

Pens Record: 44-21-5, 93 pts, 2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East

Next Game:  3/18 @ Phi, 12:30pm

Crosby Returns, Pens win their 10th in a Row!

Main Storylines:

- SIDNEY CROSBY IS BACK!!!  Easily the biggest headline.  Here’s #2: KRIS LETANG IS BACK!!!  On a lesser note, welcome Paul Martin back to the lineup as well.  Crosby will start with Cooke and Kennedy. But I expect him to take the ice with pretty much everyone.

No more comeback games, okay?  Just continue playing!

- The Pens have won 9 in a row coming into this game, and are chasing the Rangers hard for 1^st place in the conference.  This is as big as games get in the regular season.

- This will be just the 7^th time in the past 157 games that the Pens have Crosby, Malkin, Staal, Letang, and Fleury in the lineup.

Result:

Pens  5  Rangers  2

Goals:  Cooke (13) from Kennedy

            Malkin  (39) from Neal

            Cooke (14) from Kennedy, Staal

            Kunitz (21) from Crosby, Neal

            Dupuis (19) from Letang, Martin

               

The Good:

- Make it 10 in a row!!! The Pens gain 2 points on the Rangers.  They are now 4 points behind New York, with one less game played and one more game against the Rangers ahead.  This will be a tight race to the finish, and don’t look now, but the Flyers are right on the Penguins’ tails as well.

- Staal extended his career high points streak to 9 games with the assist on Cooke’s 2^nd goal

Injury Returns:  Crosby came back with an assist and a +3 in 16 minutes of ice time.  He also was 11 for 21 on faceoffs.  He was able to get into the gritty areas and take hits while showing no ill-effects.  Let’s hope this continues more smoothly than last time.  The bigger story tonight was probably Letang though.  Letang put up a +5 and an assist in 24 minutes of ice time.  He was superb tonight in the defensive end, especially when he was left out to dry for three 2 on 1’s against him, none of which ended in a goal.  Oddly enough, adding 2 of the best players in hockey back to the lineup tends to be a good thing.

He didn't get much help, but he didn't need it.  Letang was flawless.

Marc-Andre Fleury – Flower made some simply defiant saves, to the point that it looked like he was teasing people.  He made at least 4 saves while he was flat on the ground by getting his glove or blocker up just in time.  He ended up stopping 29 of 31 shots and ensured that the Rangers would not get an easy goal to try for a comeback.  As Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo’s Puck Daddy put it: “John Mitchell, sitting alone in the corner, rocking back and forth chanting "Fleury... Fleury ..."” 

Matt Cooke – What’s Sidney Crosby doing on the 3rd line? Wait, maybe it’s what’s Matt Cooke doing on the 3rd line? His first goal was simply odd and lucky as a blocked shot went off the crossbar, a Ranger, and in the net. His second was just beautiful chemistry from the line of Staal-Cooke-Kennedy. Gotta give Cooke credit, he really can adjust to any situation, defensively or offensively, to contribute to this team.

Cooke shouts as Crosby tries to cannibalize a goal from him.

The Bad:

- I will give this one time, but at first glance the powerplay isn’t going to work out when it’s built as a hero line.  All 5 players are tremendously talented and a line of Kunitz-Neal-Malkin-Crosby-Letang has more potential than any line you’ll see, but it doesn’t seem to have a leader.  The nice thing about Sullivan at the point was he took control and quarterbacked the powerplay, allowing Letang to get into a shoot first mentality and the forwards to just do their jobs.  With this set of 5, no one really takes control and it leads to many awkward and unselfish passes/questionable shots.  We shall see how it evolves though. (0 for 4 tonight)

Orpik/Michalek – I had gotten so used to putting them under The Good section, but they simply couldn’t handle the matchup against Gaborik’s line tonight.  They were frequently caught out of position and chasing that line around.  The biggest problem with that matchup was simply pure speed as Michalek and Orpik don’t have that, but Gaborik and Hagelin can skate around anyone.  It was a smart matchup for Tortorella to exploit rather than have his top line against a fleet-footed Letang.

The Ugly:

- Only one shift stuck out in my mind for this, and that was when Girardi, Boyle, and Prust all hit Malkin at various times, leading to Malkin trying to line up guys and missing.  The Rangers clearly wanted to take a page out of the playbook entitled knock Malkin off of his game.  He was solid tonight, so it didn’t work, but I hope he can be consistent with that as it will happen more and more through the playoffs.

Thoughts:

- Bylsma went nuts with the lines, basically trying every combination that was possible for 12 forwards on 4 lines.  I imagine over the next week or so, we will see even more of that as Crosby gets back up to speed and the coaches look for who gels best together.  Remember, Kunitz-Malkin-Neal and Sullivan-Staal-Dupuis are great together, but there is nothing that says another set of 3 can’t be better.  Tonight showed me that Bylsma won’t be complacent with his hot lines, but will keep trying to improve, and that’s a great sign.

Just look at them, you can't keep Sid and Kunitz apart!!!

 - Next 2 games are against a New Jersey team that is cooling down on Saturday and a red hot Flyers team on Sunday.  If Thiessen is getting a start, it will certainly be on Saturday.  I have a hard time seeing Bylsma not using Fleury in both games though.  The division is certainly in reach and I’m sure the team wants it.  As much as I worry about Fleury’s games played going into the playoffs, it’s impossible to say stop doing what is working right now.

- No Rangers really took a run at Crosby, which I was rather surprised by.  I think if Callahan had been in the lineup, he probably would have been the one to pester Sid.  New Jersey doesn’t really have a player or line that is going to rough Sid up either.  His biggest physical test will certainly be Sunday, when all of Philly tries to kill him.

- It’s a shame that the Rangers had to go without Lundqvist in this game.  The Pens look great, and are hot, but the true test would have been to go against the best goalie in the NHL right now.  I look forward to our last meeting with them to see the massive collision of talent there.  And if you aren’t quite sure where Lundqvist stacks up right now, here’s an article I did on thehockeywriters.com that includes his (and other’s) numbers: http://thehockeywriters.com/kings-quick-making-a-strong-case-for-vezina/  They are mind-numbing.

  

Pens Record: 43-21-5, 91 pts, 2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East

Next Game:  3/17 @ NJ, 1pm

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

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