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!!!

Leafs Get Revenge, Pens Lose 1-0.

Main Storylines:

- The Pens head to Toronto on an 8 game winning streak, including a wild 3 goal come from behind victory last night at home against the Maple Leafs

- The team claimed Coyotes forward Cal O’Reilly off of re-entry waivers today.  O’Reilly has 40 points and 12 pim in 107 career games.  He will be a restricted free agent after the season and only costs the Pens about $200k for the rest of this season.

- Lineup Changes – Lovejoy in for Engelland and Johnson finally gets a start.  Johnson has been pulled in his last 2 starts.

Result:

Leafs 1  Pens 0

Goals:  none

The Good:

- The defense improved drastically in 24 hours, only allowing 24 shots on Johnson and playing far more composed against the Leafs

Brent Johnson – Though the goal he allowed was certainly ugly and he was out of position, he made some stellar saves throughout the game and had his best outing of the season at a time when no one was sure what to expect

Johnson's only mistake turned out to be enough for the Leafs.

Matt Niskanen – Niskanen brought his physical game for this matchup, blocking 4 shots and registering 3 hits as well.  He showed a massive improvement over last night in his patience in leaving the defensive zone.

Ben Lovejoy – After sitting out the last 5 games, Lovejoy looked fresh and like he hadn’t missed a step at all.  He kept up well with Toronto’s speed, and was there to save Brent Johnson by batting away a puck in the crease (after he turned it over, mind you).  Lovejoy proved to be a nice luxury to have for this game.

The Bad:

- The Pens end their winning streak at 8 and actually let Toronto gain a point on them over the home and home series.

- The refs had their influence again in this game, good and bad.  They properly called off a goal where Kunitz kicked in the puck.  But they also missed Kessel high-sticking Letang, which would have been a 4 minute double minor, and they also called the puck frozen when Reimer didn’t have it covered.  Looks like yesterday’s karma fixed itself immediately.

Eh, he was probably like that before.

- Luck:  the Pens simply didn’t have it tonight.  3 shots clanged off the post and the bounces just weren’t working for them.

The Ugly:

- Shooting accuracy:  The Pens missed on 14 shots in the first period alone and finished the game with 23 missed shots (compared to 25 on net).  The Leafs also blocked 13 shots, turning the conversion rate into 25 shots on net with 61 attempted.

- The only goal in the game was scored on another defensive lapse by the 1^st line as Neal got caught in no man’s land in the slot and Kunitz didn’t follow McArthur to the crease.  It did not help that Johnson went out of the net to cut McArthur off for no reason.

Ditto to whatever profanity Orpik is yelling.

Thoughts:

- Give the Penguins PK a lot of credit right now.  Toronto has a dangerous powerplay, and the Pens held them off the board in both games.  Most importantly, they are doing all of this without Jordan Staal, who we all know is usually a big key to that PK.

- While a team like Toronto looks inferior to Pittsburgh in the standings and in terms of talent, they are the type of team that could give the Penguins fits in the playoffs.  Their speed and aggressiveness is matched by very few teams in the NHL, and the Pens were forced to change their game to adjust rather than play their own game.  That style hurt the Leafs in the 1^st game, but clearly worked in the 2^nd game.  This isn’t a matchup I’d want to see in a best of 7 where bounces may determine the series.

- The Pens blocked 22 shots in front of Brent Johnson, putting together a much better effort than last night in front of Fleury.  Despite the loss hopefully the confidence boost for Johnson will go a long way towards the playoff run as the Pens see back to back games the next 3 weekends.

Pens Record: 29-18-4, 62 pts, 3^rd in the Atlantic, 5^th in the East

Next Game:  2/4 @ Bos, 1pm