Offseason Podcast #4 - Most Boring Offseason Ever

On to Podcast #4. We have made it on to iTunes, so subscribe here for your convenience: http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/crosbyftw/id542573263 or hit the link above. While you're at it, like my page on facebook (above as well).

After Adam serenades you guys in an introduction after the intro music, we discuss the options at winger that Bylsma suggested, the sparse offseason moves around the NHL so far this season, and the ESPYs.

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Thanks as always for listening!!  We would love to hear your thoughts, questions, suggestions, criticisms, rants, and pure hatred - so leave a comment below or send a message on twitter to @HockeyMeesh and/or @PolishHMR.

Here are some links from the plugs I made on the podcast:
The Classy Yinzer: http://theclassyyinzer.blogspot.com/p/our-t-shirt-shop.html (@TheClassyYinzer)
and
Are Champions Built Through Free Agency?: http://thehockeywriters.com/does-free-agency-build-championship-teams/

Finally, don't forget...

Demoralized, but not done. Pens drop Game 2.

Quick Notes:

- The recap style I tried for Game 1 doesn’t work when there are 13 goals scored and no form of defense or opposition. (I’m a defenseman by nature and I am offended and irritated by that 8-5 ridiculousness)

- If you read my last recap (and I hope you did: http://crosbyftw.blogspot.com/2012/04/start-strong-relax-blow-lead-repeat.html), you saw that I called out the line matchups as not making sense in Game 1.  Well, they still didn’t make sense, and it worries me that I can call it out but Bylsma didn’t bother changing it.  He knows far more about hockey than me and is far more qualified than I am to do anything, so how does he miss it or why does he ignore what he sees?  More on this below…

Stop handicapping yourself, Disco. 

- Lastly, I hope you listen to the podcasts I’m trying to come out with!  Give them a shot, and feedback is encouraged!  The first 2 are in the previous post.  Thanks as always for reading and listening!

Result:

Flyers 8  Pens  5

Goals:  Crosby (2) from Sullivan, Dupuis

            Kunitz (1) (PP) from Neal, Malkin

            Martin (1) from Crosby, Dupuis

            Kunitz (2) (PP) from Neal, Malkin

            Kennedy (2) from Cooke, Staal

Interesting Stats:

- Craig Adams had 5 hits and a takeaway in 10 shifts over 8 minutes

- Kunitz was a -5, Malkin -4, Neal -4, Sullivan -3

- Letang and Neal lead attempted shots with 6.  Letang only got 2 on net, Neal had 5.

The Good:

- The Pens did a great job sending a message physically with some huge hits by Neal, Letang, Adams and others.  Their playoff intensity was there at least.

If only physicality meant wins.

- Well, an offensive output of 5 goals is solid, and 2 of them on the powerplay erased the offensive PP questions that everyone had from Game 1.  Bylsma took Sid off the 1^st PP line and Neal-Kunitz-Malkin combined for 2 PP goals.  They looked much more comfortable at times…

- The 1^st period was yet again, a great period top to bottom.  The Pens were up 3-1 by the end of it and had yet again survived a Laviolette timeout. 

- Best 3: Dupuis, Kennedy, Adams.  Great game by all 3, Duper was somehow a +2 in this debacle with 2 assists.  Kennedy scored a weak goal admittedly, but he was solid all over the ice.  Adams was crushing people all game despite limited time.

"Woah buddy, pull it back a little"

The Bad:

- Of course, another 2 goal lead was blown as the Penguins continue to get destroyed defensively.  This team does not know how to drop into a strong/aggressive defense stance when they are in the lead.  They only know how to either attack at full speed or how to be completely passive.  Their inability to transition between the two stances is giving Philly a lot of leeway to adjust to the Pens’ style and then attack in different ways.

Malkin/Neal/Kunitz – The +/-‘s say a lot on their own about how this line played.  They are doing a great job hitting, but the puck possession for this line has been dismal.  Their 2 goals together were on the powerplay; at even strength they are being fully dominated by the Flyers’ checking line.  The reason this line was so successful in the regular season was 1) natural talent, and 2) their ability to work with the puck in the offensive zone, wearing down the D with their size, and sneak into open areas.  They are generally losing even puck battles and the guys away from the puck don’t seem to be working towards open ice to provide passing outlets.  It’s not like we’ve seen these 3 missing on great chances, they are simply just trying to do too much on their own looking for a spark.

Lovejoy/Engelland – Lovejoy will obviously get called out right off the bat for his turnover to Couturier in the slot that led to an easy goal against Fleury.  That isn’t all though, this pairing was also on for a breakaway that began at the Flyers blue line but luckily Fleury saved.  Engelland had a very poor game in my opinion as I counted at least 5 missed hits where he slammed into the boards but did not touch the guy he was aiming for, pulling him out of position.  This pairing has low expectations to begin with, all we ask is they not make mistakes…they failed.

Rest of the Defense – The defense simply looks like they do not communicate with each other at all.  On the Couturier goal with 3 seconds left in the 2^nd period, THREE guys were covering Eric Wellwood in front and no one paid attention to Couturier on the back door.  Not only is that clearly a vast misuse of resources and failure in coverages, but how is Fleury expected to see a puck clearly through 3 of his own guys.  This isn’t rocket science, if the team is looking around then they will realize that at least 2 guys are uncovered in that situation.  Just like I harped on in my last recap, heads on a swivel!  Every defenseman hears that phrase a billion times growing up, I’d like to see the Pens act like they know what it means.

Ike Taylor would have had this covered.

The Ugly:

- The powerplay, defensively.  Two short-handed goals…are you kidding me?  The first one was a mess, Crosby turned it over at the point on the powerplay and Giroux went in on a semi-breakaway with Sullivan chasing him.  Fleury stopped the breakaway but the rebound went to Talbot who buried it into a basically empty net.  Two issues:  1) Sullivan was the guy following Giroux, Crosby had no business still chasing Giroux and should have been watching Talbot, horrible defensive awareness by Sid.  2) Where were the other 3 guys on the ice?  Martin was the only defenseman on that line, but he and the other 2 forwards were doing anything but hustling back to the play.  No one bothered to chase Talbot at all.  Lack of effort there is inexcusable in a vital playoff game, everyone should have put their heads down and skated as hard as possible.  For the second short-handed goal, Letang, Malkin, and Sullivan were back to cover 3 Flyers.  No one knew who to cover and it turned into 3 Penguins back covering no one.  Lack of communication, lack of awareness, I’m not sure what to call it.  But the coaching staff should be concerned when 3 players who are defensively capable don’t know what to do in that situation.

- The penalty kill had another dismal performance, allowing 1 powerplay goal on 2 chances.  They were acting very passively and again seemed unaware of their surroundings at times.  The Flyers had Voracek circling to the left of the faceoff circle by himself just like where he was at for the OT winner in Game 1.  The Pens simply ignored him for most of the powerplay (the whole team did this all night for some reason actually) and when the Flyers finally gave him the puck, no one knew how to react.  He had time and space to move towards the crease, draw everyone in, and flick the puck back to Giroux for an easy PP goal.  The Pens made the Flyers PP good on that chance by giving them all the time and space to work with in the world.

Fleury shouldn't have to act as a defenseman and a goalie.

- Normally I would say hindsight is 20/20 for line matchups, but seeing how I was questioning it in Game 1, it’s really inexcusable that line matchups were a problem in Game 2 when the Pens get last change.  Couturier’s line owned Malkin’s all night, but Bylsma kept putting Malkin out there against him.  My seats are behind the Flyers bench, so I tend to pay more attention to this than most, but Laviolette had his way with matchups.  He predicted what Bylsma wanted to do and placed the line he wanted out first.  Bylsma then did not adjust to it. By the 3^rd period, I was hitting at over 80% for picking the lines that were coming out.  Even before the game, I was a fan of how Couturier played.  Talbot said he looked like Staal in his rookie year, and I tend to agree, actually I think that’s undercutting him.  Couturier has Staal’s ability plus he is far more physical than Staal was his rookie year.  Bylsma did a massive disservice to his season long MVP in game 2 (don’t worry, I don’t absolve Malkin, that’s below).

Thoughts:

- The goaltenders have been solid.  It sounds ridiculous, but it is very true, these results should be much worse for both teams but Fleury and Bryzgalov have made some huge saves at times.  With that being said, Bryz is outplaying Fleury.  He has made bigger saves and has improved as the game goes on.  None of this is necessarily Fleury’s fault, but the Pens are going to need him to make some absolute steals if they want to stay in this series.  Bryzgalov did it twice, once to Letang on the backside, once to Sullivan alone in front.  Fleury does stop some breakaways, but the Pens need more sadly.

Bryz has had to bail the D out just like Fleury.

- Bylsma, Granato, and Reirden are being outcoached, very badly.  I mentioned the line matchups earlier, but the powerplay and penalty kills clearly don’t know what they are doing either right now.  Laviolette and his crew just appears to be one step ahead in all facets.  Not to mention, Laviolette seems to be okay allowing his team to play the Pens style until Pittsburgh makes enough mistakes that the Flyers take advantage and take the lead. The game last night was run and gun, the Pens style dictated as the Flyers kept playing catch up.  Once the Flyers took over, they went into lockdown mode and played strong playoff hockey.  The Flyers are letting the Pens screw up their own game before forcing what they want and it is working masterfully.  That being said, I am not calling for Bylsma’s head or anything crazy like that.  I am just saying Laviolette is doing a better job.

- How much of a difference do you think Talbot is making by the way?  There is literally no better scouting report in existence than what he knows about the Pens, their style and their coaching staff.  Years ago, people said the Flyers signed Chris Pronger so they could beat the Penguins and neutralize Crosby.  It didn't work.  GM Paul Holmgren may have done it right with a second chance by signing Talbot over to neutralize everything.

I don't hate you and I won't boo you, so please stop.

- I’m prefacing this with I’m not throwing Malkin under the bus, but if he’s the best player in the NHL, he needs to adjust.  He will definitely see a lot of Couturier’s line in Game 3 and clearly the 1^st 2 games haven’t gone well.  I would like to see him pushing the puck and finessing less.  Malkin needs to start crossing the blue line, pulling up, and firing the puck.  It will give him space and make the Flyers question how much they should press on him.  He starts doing that, and everything will fall into place better as they start giving him room to work with.  He’s capable of changing this series; he just needs to adjust quickly to do it.  His coaching staff should be helping him with this too, by the way.

- Another note on Malkin, and this is one that if I was Laviolette, I would have flipped out on (probably moreso after a loss).  I counted (by the way, every time I say I counted, it’s because I literally keep a tally on things on the notepad app on my phone while I’m at games), 4 penalties that Geno got away with.  Two slashes, a trip, and a hook, so not necessarily judgmental penalties either.  This isn’t a slight against Malkin, I just want to point out how the refs are calling the game.  So don’t go complaining if they don’t call something against the Flyers, they are giving the Pens plenty of leeway as well.

- Despite how ugly everything looks right now, this series is far from over.  All it takes is one game to change a series around (go back to 2000 when the Pens went up 2-0 against the Flyers on the road and came home to lose Game 3 in OT, and then Game 4 in 5OT and then Games 5 and 6).  If anyone can predict the future of this series, you would have predicted the 2-0 deficit for the Pens right now.  Absolutely no one did that.  So just keep faith and watch Game 3, see what happens.  It’s a best of 7, crazy things are possible.

- Finally, while I want to burn Consol to the ground right now, home ice disadvantage isn’t unique to the Pens, Consol, or us as fans.  So everyone stop harping on fans for it.  Aside from potentially the Pho-Chi and NJ-Fla series’, home ice has already been rendered a moot point in every other series.  It just simply isn’t what it used to be now that everyone has made cookie-cutter arenas.  I tend to hate the crowd at Consol as much as most, but it has nothing to do with them unless every other home crowd sucks too.

Let's build a new arena with white seats for these whiteouts. 

Keys to Game 3:

- I want to see a defensive start, not an offensive one.  Forget pushing the tempo and just play solid, opportunistic defense.  Let the Flyers make their mistakes and capitalize on it rather than pushing the offensive play to the point of mistakes.  Given the same amount of opportunities, I would pick a more talented Pens roster to score more goals than the Flyers, stop giving them more opportunities as the equalizer.  The Flyers are a very solid team, but we are making them look amazing on our own accord.

Flyers lead series 2-0.  Next Game: 4/15 @ Phi, 3pm, NBC

Maybe Panic a Little, Pens Lose to Isles AGAIN

Main Storylines:

- Well, the Pens are coming off an ugly loss – if you want the reminder, check out my recap of that: http://crosbyftw.blogspot.com/2012/03/dont-panic-yet-pens-lose.html

- Fleury gets the start tonight after getting pulled on Tuesday.  Fleury is pretty much unbeatable in games after he’s pulled, so this bodes very well for the Pens.  On the backup goalie side, Thiessen has been sent down and Brent Johnson returns to normal backup duties.

- Tangradi is in the lineup, Park is out.  Vitale, Niskanen, and Letang all remain out.  Bylsma appears to be reuniting last year’s lines, going with Dupuis-Crosby-Kunitz, Neal-Malkin-Sullivan, Cooke-Staal-Kennedy, and Tangradi-Adams-Asham.

- The PK has been downright awful lately, allowing 5 goals on their last 18 tries.  I don’t even have a clue what has changed to make that happen.

Result:

Isles 5  Pens  3

Goals:  Dupuis (24) (SH) from Adams, Martin

            Staal (24) from Michalek, Martin

            Malkin (47) from Kennedy, Cooke

Stats/Milestones:

- Pascal Dupuis extended his career high scoring streak to 12 games with his short-handed goal and added to his career high point total, making it 52

I think Dupuis would inspire an awesome muppet character.

- Malkin tied his career high in goals at 47 and reached the 100 pt mark for the 3^rd time.  He is only the 4^th Penguin to do so (Lemieux, Jagr, Crosby, no surprises).  He’s the first this year to hit 100 pts and remains 9 points ahead of Stamkos in the Art Ross race.

The Good:

Eric Tangradi – As much as I’m glad to put Tangradi on this list, it also demonstrates how bad the rest of the team was that he starts it off.  Tangradi was one of the rare defensively responsible forwards on the ice against the Isles.  He introduced a physical presence and did a great job on keeping his stick in passing lanes.  He only had 8 shifts, and was still on for a goal against, but I daresay this was one of his better showings in the NHL.  I’m starting to wonder if his offensive game is disappearing bit by bit with his commitment to defense though.

Pascal Dupuis – Easily the hottest player on the team, if not the NHL right now, Dupuis is now on a 12 game point streak.  The only player in the NHL to have a longer streak in the past 2 seasons is that Crosby person everyone talks about.  Dupuis came out full of energy and had a big short-handed goal that brought the Pens back into the game.  My question is, with Dupuis playing lights out hockey, why has he not touched the powerplay?  Not even the first PP line necessarily (thoughts on that later), but the 2^nd PP is Cooke-Staal-Kennedy.  Are you telling me Dupuis can’t supplant Kennedy on there??  It’s asinine that Dupuis isn’t receiving time with the man advantage when the PP is cold and he’s red hot.

He can score down a man, why not up a man?

Tyler Kennedy – I felt Kennedy had one of his better games as well tonight.  He was strong with the puck and looked to pass more than we’ve usually seen him do.  The biggest thing that caught my attention was his speed and effort in the corners; he acted as both gritty TK and skilled TK.  Watching him miss a wide open net on the PP (though it was from like a 10 degree angle) was very frustrating though.  He at least had the right idea in his play even if the scoring results weren’t there.

The Bad:

- In a very disturbing trend, the Pens got dominated in puck possession again.  The Isles knew where to be, won the puck battles, intercepted passes, and made life miserable for the Pens in the neutral zone.  Once the Isles had the puck in the Pens D zone, they had very little trouble keeping it and passing it around.  The first goal was simply pathetic as Mark Streit skated behind the net unfollowed and untouched.  While no Pens followed him, everyone watched him so he could pass the puck to an uncovered Marty Reasoner.  That type of play was one that did not exist when the Pens dominated puck possession, but they seem completely lost when they don’t have the puck.

Chris Kunitz – Kunitz had the worst game I’ve seen him play in a while.  I have to admit, I was very excited to see him reunited with Crosby before the game, but he looked completely off.  He kept misplaying the puck, was missing his hits, and just seemed generally out of position.  Kuni may have been trying a little too hard with Sid.

Martin/Michalek – Just a short blurb.  I saw them paired up once.  A goal was scored seconds later as they both left the front of the net (though Staal was to blame too for leaving his guy in the slot).  Bylsma’s defense is setup to work where the dmen basically are connected by an invisible rubberband.  One defenseman stays in the slot, the other goes to the right.  If the slot guy moves to the left, the guy on the right move back to the slot.  The slot should always be covered.  These 2 have no communication when it comes to that and seem to always abandon the front of the net when paired together.

I guess covering the slot doesn't matter if you won't do anything there anyways.

Evgeni Malkin – Malkin had a nice goal, and played hard in the offensive zone, but I’m going to get on his case for his defensive work here.  I was immensely disappointed with him on the short-handed goal.  I have no problem with him turning the puck over at the point, or that there was a short-handed goal.  The thing that pissed me off was that Malkin stood there after the turnover and just watched as he expected Neal to get the puck.  He didn’t even start to move until the Isles had the puck and a breakaway.  If he starts skating as soon as he sees where the puck is, that play might turn out completely differently. If Geno is going to end up on the point, he has to sprint back to the net immediately on turnovers, he knows that, he’ll tell you himself.

The Ugly:

- Seeing Sidney Crosby take a puck to the face was easily the scariest part of the game.  Luckily he just suffered a bloody nose which didn’t require stitches and he’s okay.  It’s somewhat reassuring that he could take a puck to the face and not be re-concussed.  It’d be nice to have a game where we don’t have to worry about Crosby, that’s for sure.  Maybe when he faces old nemesis Ryan Miller in Buffalo.

Pics I never want to see ever.

- Special Teams pretty much went awry in all facets in this game.  The PP was 0 for 4 and let up a goal.  The PK let up a goal on a fluke bounce off of Engelland’s skate, though at least they did score.  Both units have been struggling lately which is putting the Pens in tough situations no matter how good or bad they are playing.  This was the same formula for losing to Tampa in 7 last year, so brace yourselves if this doesn’t change.

Thoughts:

- A couple thoughts on the lines that Bylsma has used.  First off, the lines change so much in a game that I’m not sure the starting lineup matters anymore, pretty much every possible combination is used, so don’t get too worked up with what the starting lines are.  One thing I was disappointed in though is that Cooke-Crosby-Dupuis has not been used as a line.  Cooke and Crosby clearly have worked well together since Sid’s return.  Add Dupuis as the hottest player on the team and it could be a great spark plug line.  Just my 2 cents on a combination I’d like to see have a few shifts. 

- I’m over the powerplay experiment by now.  There apparently is such a thing as too much talent on one line because the top PP loves to set each other up and defers on far too many shots.  It is almost as if psychologically, the Pens know there is so much talent on the ice that they take less responsibility on themselves individually.  I would rather see 2 very strong lines each playing about a minute, so there is a time factor to press them harder and the talented players on the ice feel more responsible to create things.  My next issue on the PP is WHY IS DUPUIS NOT ON THERE.  Seriously, I’m not crazy enough to put him on the first line, but I can’t comprehend how he hasn’t earned some PP time lately.

Neal watches as the Isles score shorthanded.

- When all is said and done, the Pens don’t deserve to win games in which they play about 15 minutes of good hockey and that’s all they came up with in this game.  There isn’t a single game left this season where playing anything less than 60 minutes will suffice, so the Pens better pick it up immediately.  I was very disappointed with the complete lack of fire they showed to start the game.

- On a happier sidenote, Malkin and Fleury are up for the NHL 13 cover.  You have to vote for one or the other at www.nhl.com/covervote.  My 2 cents here:  Vote for Fleury!!  Malkin gets his trophies: Art Ross, Conn Smythe, soon a Hart probably.  Fleury gets nothing!  So give Fleury the cover!!

- Finally, I need to give credit to the Isles Matt Martin.  Last year, he was trying to beat the crap out of every Penguin on the ice.  This year, though he boarded Brian Strait, he made a very conscious effort to hold Strait up and try to protect him.  I was very impressed with the sportsmanship on the play and it's something that doesn't receive nearly enough attention.  Props to you Matt Martin.

Cooke isn't the only guy to change this year.

Pens Record: 47-24-6, 100 pts, 2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East

Next Game:  3/30 @ Buf, 7:30pm

Winning Doesn't Take Sundays Off, Pens Extend Streak to 9!!

Main Storylines:

- 8 wins in a row so far, another would set a new season high!

- Evgeni Malkin’s next point will be his 500^th in the NHL…he’s been looking for it for 3 games now

- Two droughts to watch:  James Neal has gone 9 games without a goal, since the day before he signed his contract extension.  Also, the powerplay has not scored a goal since Letang went out a week and a half ago.

- Engelland returns to the lineup as Brian Strait sits.  Take note, Despres clearly just jumped Strait on the depth chart after one game.  Also, Tangradi is in for Park – I’m guessing for the inevitable physicality that will be on display with the Bruins.  Paul Martin remains out.

Result:

Pens  5  Bruins  2

Goals:  Asham (4) from Lovejoy, Adams

            Niskanen (4) from Malkin, Neal

            Neal (31) (PP) from Malkin

            Kunitz (20) from Neal, Malkin

            Dupuis (18) from staal, Engelland

               

The Good:

- 9 wins in a row!! A new season high for the Pens!

- Malkin earned his 500^th career point on the Niskanen goal and Neal earned his 200^th point.  Malkin is the 4^th fastest active player to reach that mark (behind Crosby, Ovechkin, Selanne)

- Neal and the PP both broke out of their slumps with the 3^rd goal of the game, a 5 on 3 PP goal.

So much relief, he's the real deal again!

- Staal’s assist extended his point streak to a career high 8 games.  Meanwhile, the PK has now killed 21 PPs in a row.

The First Line – Welcome back boys, after a few quiet nights the first line came out on fire with their physical game and they turned it into scoring.  Malkin and Neal put together 3 point nights, catapulting Malkin back ahead of Stamkos in the Art Ross race for the time being.  Malkin also went a stellar 15 for 20 on faceoffs today.  The Kunitz goal was simply unfair, as Malkin makes a perfect pass while falling to Neal, who threads the needle past 3 Bruins to Kunitz, who finishes it off with an easy one timer.  Speaking of Kunitz, his forechecking was simply unreal today.  They pretty much told me to go F myself for thinking about breaking them up (and yet, I still want to when Sid comes back).

Marc-Andre Fleury – I should just make a permanent paragraph for this.  He stopped 34 of 36 shots, and was vital in killing off a late 3^rd period powerplay when the Bruins were trying to make a comeback.  He made a glove save on his back that was absolutely the key save of the game.  I don’t know about anyone else, but I didn’t even notice how high the Bruins shot total was getting, and that’s largely because Fleury makes it look easy.

Joe Vitale – Vitale’s energy and effort is simply unbelievable.  No points on the day for him, but he did amass a blocked shot, 3 hits, and 2 takeaways, and was very noticeable on most of his shifts today.  Vitale is turning into the ultimate checking line player and I have a feeling he will come up big for the Pens at a key moment down the road.

Joe Vitale deserves a movie more than Rudy as far as I'm concerned.

The Bad:

- There were a couple of defensive lapses that led to both Krejci goals.  On the first one, Orpik and Lovejoy got a little ahead of themselves in moving up with the rush and both ended up out of position leading to Krejci’s breakaway.  The second one was a consequence of Kunitz not lifting Krejci’s stick even though he was in position to do it.

Tyler Kennedy – TK had a very quiet day, only getting one shot on net (with another off the post).  He simply was not noticeable on the ice at all.  I was rather surprised to see him not get involved physically with his old scrappy play.  Bylsma clearly noticed something to, as TK only had 10 minutes of ice time.

The Ugly:

- Malkin’s hit on Boychuk earned him a 2 min minor for boarding, and I’m guessing a phone call with Shanahan tomorrow.  There have certainly been worse hits, but my point of contention on this hit was Malkin had the chance to hit Boychuk in the shoulder, but placed his hand in the middle of Boychuk’s back and shoved him from behind instead.  I don’t think anyone can argue that it was a poor decision.

No injury to Boychuk as he returned later, I'm guessing $2500  fine for Malkin.

Thoughts:

- I loved the Tangradi for Park lineup change today.  That’s a rare move for Bylsma, who doesn’t like to change his lineups at all during win streaks, but it was a smart one.  Boston loves to play physical and Tangradi is much better equipped for that.  He had a solid game I felt, and has looked very good in the defensive zone when he has played during this call up.

- The Pens came out today like it was a playoff game and ran out to a 3-0 lead and ran Tim Thomas out of the game.  Despite that, it was still a close game throughout the afternoon due to sloppy play.  It was a good thing that the Pens capitalized on the first period, because the game was pretty much 50/50 the rest of the way.

- Point shots continue to be a big factor for the Pens.  The first goal was on account of Lovejoy’s shot from the blue line and the 2^nd was Niskanen’s blast from the point.  Both goals were off of odd bounces/blocks/tips, but the lesson remains the same – when the defensemen are getting pucks to the net, the Pens are going to do well.

- The Pens are (for now) 2 points behind the Rangers with a game against them on Thursday.  The Rangers still play before then, but Thursday’s game will certainly be a massive one, and one where Crosby may come back.  It will be the perfect playoff test as MSG will be rocking, especially if Crosby returns.

Pens Record: 42-21-5, 87 pts, 2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East

Next Game:  3/15 @ NYR, 7pm

Pens Own the West, Winning Streak at 6!

Main Storylines:

- The Pens have won 5 in a row coming into this game

- Kris Letang remains out indefinitely with a concussion, Deryk Engelland will sit out with a lower body injury, and Dustin Jeffrey is out with whatever illness has given him a 101 degree fever.  Brian Strait has been recalled and will join the defense tonight.  If you remember way back to the 1^st quarter of the season, Strait was called up and proceeded to injure his elbow half way into his season debut.

- Tyler Kennedy will also make his return to the lineup tonight after missing a month with a high ankle sprain.  Eric Tangradi takes a seat for him.

- Fleury gets the start tonight.  If he wins, he will become the 4^th goalie in NHL history to record at least 35 wins in 4 or more straight seasons.  The other 3:  Brodeur (11 seasons), Kiprusoff (6 seasons), Lundqvist (5 seasons)

Result:

Pens  2  Coyotes  1

Goals:  Michalek (2) from Staal

            Kunitz (19) from Malkin, Martin

Malkin managed to set up the GWG despite the awkwardness of this.

               

The Good:

- The Pens have won their 6^th in a row and continue to hold pace as the 2^nd best team in the East, though stuck at 4^th in the standings

- Tyler Kennedy looked very good in his return from injury, skating fluidly and shooting from all angles like his usual self

- I love watching Joe Vitale skate around like a nut case.  He went into that Cooke scrum with the intent of grabbing every Coyote.  He skates around at 120% at all times.  He really is just a great blue collar player.

Marc-Andre Fleury – The Pens have been allowing quite a few shots lately, but all that does is improve Fleury’s save percentage with the way he has been playing.  He finished with 36 saves and was named the #1 star, very deservedly so.  He made many purely instinctual pad saves and somehow kept the puck out of the net on quite a few crazy scrambles in front.  Also, no puck misplays = a solid game all around for flower.

Zbynek Michalek – Probably second to Fleury in the amount of times a player has appeared under this heading in the past month, Michalek put together another great game, even scoring a rare goal on his former team.  He finished with 3 blocked shots and played a team high 25+ minutes of strong defensive hockey. 

Brian Strait – Strait just proved how much of a luxury it is to have such a deep defensive core like the Penguins do.  He came into the lineup and led the team with 4 blocked shots and was 2^nd with 4 hits in 12 minutes of ice time.  The fact that the Pens can take their 8^th defenseman and give him a normal shift where he has an impact is a big key to this team’s future with Letang out.

The Bad:

- Mike Smith’s blocker side!  Both Michalek and Kunitz scored on Smith blocker side as he misplayed each and got a piece of both shots but could not stop them

Might wanna compensate to your right a little...

- The only Coyotes’ goal was due to a little bit of lazy backchecking by Malkin, who failed to cover a wide open Ray Whitney in the slot on the play.  Malkin did make the great play to get Kunitz the puck on his goal, but the lapse was definitely bad.

The Ugly:

- The scrum that started with Mike Smith and Matt Cooke was absurd.  Cooke later said that the ref told him that he got a penalty so the Coyotes wouldn’t go 2 men down.  Cooke literally did nothing but get his head shoved into the ice and received a roughing penalty for it.  Goalies apparently can take liberties with him and it will be an even-up at worst.

Maybe Cooke just wanted to grind?

Thoughts:

- As the Pens continue to firm up their grasp on the 4^th seed, start mentally preparing yourself for the Flyers or Devils.  It will almost certainly be an atlantic division foe for the Pens to start off round 1.

- Fleury did it, now only the 4^th goalie in NHL history to have at least 4 straight 35-win seasons.  Makes you wonder how anyone has complained about him EVER.

- The Pens now have 2 games against teams that are pretty much in playoff mode vs. Toronto and Florida.  They are beating teams pretty soundly right now, but the desperation that the next 2 teams show could go a long way in showing how strong the Pens really are.

Just a sweet pic of Neal's stick

Pens Record: 39-21-5, 83 pts, 2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East

Next Game:  3/7 vs Tor, 7pm