Recap: Hockey Offseason '12

As we continue through September and (some) players return to their teams for informal workouts, it’s time to say goodbye to another NHL offseason.  Though there is still plenty of CBA uncertainty and a lockout looming on the horizon, the actual offseason will be over as of September 15^th.  Yes, the calendar moves on even if the NHL does not.

It has been four long months since the Penguins were knocked out by the Flyers, how have we passed the time?

April 22:  Pens season officially ends at the hands of a 5-1 loss to the Flyers in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.  Memories of the series: Blown 3 goal leads, Neal Suspension Watch, Kris Letang shushes the crowd, Crosby fights Giroux, Collapse of the Defense/PK/Fleury, Jordan Staal’s potential assent to stardom.

This moment will live in infamy.  How will he explain that to
his kid one day?!?

April 25:  Joel Ward scores the winner for Washington to knock the defending Cup Champion Bruins out of the playoffs.  Tim Thomas gestures at his daughter to smile in the crowd while Ward gets berated by racists on the internet.

May 12:  The Conference Semifinals end as the Rangers, Devils, Kings, and Coyotes advance.  Pens fans rejoice at seeing the Flyers and Caps go down while NHL fans are confused to see the existence of a Pacific Division that plays at 10pm EST.

May 25:  The Conference Finals end as the Devils and Kings advance to the Stanley Cup Final.  NBC executives sob in a dark corner due to the unexpectedly sudden death of their tv ratings.

May 31:  Future Hall of Famer Nicklas Lidstrom retires thinking that the NHL’s postseason had already ended.

June 4:  Tim Thomas announces on facebook that he will take a year off from the NHL.  Millions realize it’s time to get off of facebook.

Yes.

June 11:  The Los Angeles Kings win the Stanley Cup in a 6-1 rout, forever boosting their fan base unless something crazy like a lockout might occur 3 months later.

June 14:  Fans go f*cking crazy about the f*cking Kings thanks to Jonathan f*cking Quick.

June 20:  The NHL wows its fans in Vegas with a horrible awards show.  Brendan Shanahan is not amused.  Malkin takes home ALL of the awards (literally, for display at the draft).

June 27:  At the NHL draft in Pittsburgh, fans go wild as Jordan Staal is traded to Carolina in the first round.  Fans later go wild again when the Trib’s Rob Rossi suggests that the team might acquire Keith Yandle from Phoenix.  Reports are later confirmed that the Pens actually just gave away Zbynek Michalek as a charitable donation to Phoenix instead.  Rumor has it, the donation was tax deductible.

June 29:  Pittsburgh agrees to a 12 year deal worth $104.4 million with Sidney Crosby.  Instead of rejoicing over a signing, Pens fans tear each other apart over whether the term was too long and what Malkin should get.

June 30:  NHL fans hit DEFCON 1 as they prepare for a free agent frenzy that is led by bidding wars for Zach Parise and Ryan Suter.

July 1:  The “frenzy” begins at 12:30 as Jonas Gustvasson signs with Detroit.  10 hours later, NHL fans realize they have no life in the summer.  Meanwhile, HockeyyInsiderr reports that Parise and Suter will both go to Pittsburgh, Detroit, New Jersey, Minnesota, or some mystery team over the course of a few days.

Errrrr....

July 1:  Jordan Staal signs a suspiciously familiar 10 year, $60 million extension with Carolina.  Pens fans start to consider the idea that maybe he didn’t want to stay in Pittsburgh, but go unconscious at the thought of such a concept.

July 2:  Parise Watch continues as the media and fans fight each other about where Parise will end up.  Mark Madden leads the charge with arguments suggesting that there is no way Parise would turn down Pittsburgh and Crosby.  Fans vomit.

July 3:  Everyone hits the snooze button as the watch continues.

July 4:  In a patriotic move that forces reporters to do work on a national holiday, Parise and Suter sign with the Minnesota Wild.  Pens fans call them stupid for turning down a chance to play with the magical Sidney Crosby and for the best franchise that was every created in the history of the universe.  Ha, and Tortorella thinks Pittsburgh is arrogant…

July 5:  Pittsburgh shifts to Doan watch after the Parise debacle.  Historians later determine that the Mayans were not predicting the end of the world, but actually suggesting the end date for Doan Watch.

July 12:  As the wait for Doan continues, head coach Dan Bylsma suggests that Eric Tangradi could play a role on one of the top lines as the Pens search for a winger.  Fans call for Bylsma’s head, begin questioning Shero’s abilities, and look to bang bodies.

July 14:  The NHL makes its first CBA offer to the players.  The offer restricts seemingly everything about player careers, ranging from contract lengths to brands of toothpaste.  Fans side with the players and the lockout monster dusts himself off after a 7 year slumber.

July 17:  The Flyers offer Shea Weber a massive offer sheet worth $110 million over 14 years.  The contract is truly in the spirit of the new CBA offer as it would violate every single clause of it.  Nashville has 7 days to match as they argue that they can’t afford to compete in the NHL with these player salaries.

July 23:  Scott Howson wakes up and realizes it has been roughly a month since his last trading gaffe.  Forgoing his traditional call to Philadelphia, he decides on the Rangers and sends Rick Nash to New York for role players.  This would also be the last morning that Artem Anisimov and Brandon Dubinsky would ever smile.

July 24:  Nashville matches the Weber offer sheet as the NHLPA scratches its collective head about the owners not having enough money to spend.

August 1: Doan watch continues as he is reportedly interested in every NHL, AHL, KHL, and somehow OHL team, according his agent.  He has also been spotted in 8 different cities with 4 different kids wearing 6 different jerseys at the same time and is expect to sign “soon” with all of those teams.  There is also a rumored mystery team that offers him a winning powerball ticket.

August 13:  Reports come out that HockeyyInsiderr is a 17 year old kid.  Thousands of fake accounts continue to follow him.  More concerning, thousands of real accounts continue to do so as well.

Read:  This is how much the Owners care.

August 14:  The NHLPA finally sends the NHL a counteroffer after a month of consideration.  Bettman tells the media that the NHLPA clearly put some thought into their counteroffer.  In a helpful and revolutionary method of protest, fans begin using 3 seconds of their day to type “No Lockout”, create twitter accounts, and sign petitions.  The owners use those 3 seconds to double check their bank accounts instead of paying attention or caring.

August 21:  EA Sports releases their NHL 13 demo.  The game receives universal praise for gameplay while dealing with harsh critiques about its realism with no lockout mode.

August 29:  The NHL provides the players with their 2^nd CBA offer.  Hope grows as the media leaks that the NHLPA will provide a counteroffer within a day or 2.

August 30:  NBC releases its national tv schedule for the NHL.  Advertisers take note of which 3 hour periods to avoid until 2013.

August 31:  The NHLPA meets with the NHL briefly; talks stall and break off completely with no future scheduled meetings.  The lockout monster swallows hope whole.

September 1:  An anti-lockout video goes viral as fans try to protest the upcoming lockout.  The video runs 8 minutes and 31 seconds.  NHL owners collectively earn thousands of dollars in interest during that time and laugh about it on their way to the bank.

Want the harsh truth?  Together we can't make a difference because together we don't matter.  Get over yourselves.  Also, if you cry over a lockout, I strongly urge you to reconsider what you're doing with your life.

September 4:  Gabriel Landeskog is named the captain of the Colorado Avalanche.  Pens fans have a meltdown that Crosby is no longer the youngest captain in history, arguing about Crosby’s achievements and skill level in comparison to Landeskog.  Crosby finds out he was once the youngest captain in NHL history and shrugs.

Today, September 6:  Nothing.  And nothing is anticipated until…

September 15:  Expected Lockout.

Brief Season in Review

Before we move on to the NHL’s 2^nd season, the more important one, let’s take a moment to look at some final stats, highs, lows, and other miscellaneous tidbits that have the Pens sitting in 4^th in the Conference.  If you’re really bored, check out my season predictions and laugh at how off I was on some of these things:  http://crosbyftw.blogspot.com/2011/10/pens-season-preview-2011-2012.html

Win/Loss:

Record:  51-25-6, 108 pts.  2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East (though, 4^th in the NHL)

Home: 29-10-2 (4^th in NHL)

Away: 22-15-4 (7^th)

Shootouts: 9-3 (7^th)

Goals:

Goals For: 282 (1^st)

Goals Against: 221 (12^th)

Differential: +61  (2^nd)

Special Teams:

Power Play: 19.7% (5^th)

- Power Play Opportunities: 289 (7^th)

- Short-Handed Goals Allowed: 10 (26^th)

Penalty Kill: 87.8% (3^rd) *Franchise Record

- Times Shorthanded: 270 (15^th)

- Short-Handed Goals: 11 (3^rd)

Geno may have led the team in scoring, but these 3 were integral parts of the PP's success.

Random:

Hits: 2058 (6^th)

Blocked Shots: 1065 (22^nd)

Missed Shots: 1088 (2^nd)

Giveaways: 498 (28^th)

Takeaways: 439 (30^th)

Faceoffs: 50.4% (13^th)

- The Pens won 45.7% of the games in which they allowed the 1^st goal, the highest % in the NHL.

Transactions:

- Marc Letestu was traded to Columbus for a 4^th round draft pick.

- Chris Kunitz received a 2 year extension for $3.725 mil./yr.

- James Neal received a 6 year extension for $5 mil./yr. 

Neal became a part of the "core" of this team this year.

  

Season Highlights:

- Opening Night, 10/6: 4-3 (SO) win over Vancouver.  Led by a shocking 2 goal performance from the new Matt Cooke, the Pens won in Vancouver to start off the season with a playoff type win (minus the shootout)

- 10/27: 3-2 (SO) win over NYI: The Pens extended their winning streak to 5 games to take their record to 8-2-2, tops in the NHL early on.

- 11/21: 5-0 win over NYI:  Sid’s Return Part I.  Crosby came back from his concussion in dramatic fashion, scoring the 1^st goal of the game and putting up a 4 point night to dazzle the NHL in his long-awaited return.

Everyone was all smiles as Crosby skated around the corner with a big
"F*ck Yeah!!"

- 12/27: 4-2 win over Car:  The culmination of a 4 game win streak which saw the PK return to perfection and the PP score 6 goals in 4 games. 

- 1/31: 5-4 (SO) win over Tor:  The Pens 8^th win in a row, 5 of which had come in OT, 4 of which had been in a shootout.  Fleury started every game of the streak and simply had all the answers when he needed them most.

The shootout may be a gimmick, but Fleury has perfected it.

- 3/15: 5-2 win over NYR:  Sid’s Return Part II.  The Pens were on the tail end of an 11 game win streak which would see them streak towards the top of the Conference and they were just getting healthy as they had their captain return yet again.  They would win their next game before losing the streak to Philly.

- 4/7: 4-2 win over Phi:  Though the game was meaningless, the Pens still managed to finish the season on a 3 game win streak and beat the Flyers for the first time in Consol Energy Center.

Season Lowlights:

- 11/19: 3-2 loss to Fla:  The Pens hit a rough stretch, losing 3 of 4 games to Car, TB, and Fla, and watching the powerplay hit a 1 for 21 slump while the PK allowed 2 goals for the 2^nd game in a row.

- 12/5: 3-1 loss to Bos:  The loss to Boston was tough, but the bigger loss was Crosby re-injuring himself from a multitude of collisions, sending him off with concussion like symptoms yet again.

- 12/16: 6-4 loss to Ott:  The 4^th loss in 5 games since Crosby went out, and the 6^th straight game the PK let up a goal.  Panic began to take over Pens nation after this Friday night loss.

BJ wasn't himself and the D didn't help.

- 12/29: 4-2 loss to Phi:  In the much anticipated return of Talbot and Jagr to Pittsburgh, the Flyers watched both of them score to end the Pens 4 game win streak, and send them into what turned into a very rough losing streak.

- 1/11: 1-0 loss to Was:  The Pens went on a major goal scoring drought, scoring just 6 goals in 6 games, all losses highlighted by a frustrating 1-0 loss to the rival Caps.  The Pens outshot every team during the losing streak, and only received 14 powerplays through the streak, easily a 6 game low.

- 3/29: 5-3 loss to NYI:  The Pens lost their 2^nd straight game to the Isles, by 5-3 in both games and panic set in for what was supposed to be an unbeatable team.

- 4/1: 6-4 loss to Phi:  In a game that simply turned into a disaster at the end, the Pens played poor defense and then got into a line brawl to end the game off of clean hit.  Peter Laviolette and Tony Granato got into a shouting match in between the benches and were both fined for the mess.

This may be the defining point of the season in the end.

Players Overrated Going Into the Season:

Paul Martin – I don’t think I have to write much about this, it’s safe to say that everyone has been disappointed in his performance from top to bottom.  Not enough offense, weak shot, poor defense, pinches too much….just pick a complaint.  His final stat line was: 73gp, 2g, 25a, +9, 18 PIM.  It really isn’t a bad stat line…until you consider his $5 mil contract and if you’ve watched him play.

This was the story of Paul Martin:  missing.

Brent Johnson – Johnny may have set the expectations a little too high when he saved Fleury at the start of the season.  He had a rough go for most of the season, though he came up very strong towards the end for the Pens.  His final stat line: 16gp, 6-7-2, 3.11 GAA, .883 Save %.  It will be interesting to see if the Pens want to retain him for next season.  He’s a great locker room guy, cheap, and Thiessen doesn’t look ready to me, but we shall see.

Tyler Kennedy – Coming off of a career year, he was one of the bigger question marks going into last offseason.  Without top PP and top line time this year though, he was a disappointment after last year.  His final stat line:  60gp, 11g, 22a, +10, 29 PIM.  Hidden disappointing stat: 5.6 shooting %.  He finished 5^th on the team in shots on net, but 15^th in shooting %.  That pretty much sums up his disappointing year.

Players Underrated Going Into the Season:

This section literally could be half the roster, so I’ll try to keep it short, I know I left players out.

Pascal Dupuis – No one saw Dupuis breaking out like this, having a career year in all aspects.  He put up a 17 game point streak to end the season and was simply fantastic all year.  His final stat line:  82gp, 25g, 34a, +18, 34 PIM.  Dupuis finished 4^th on the team in scoring, raise your hand if you saw that coming.

Dupuis has turned into the ultimate spark plug and threat.

Matt Cooke – It was hard to know what Cooke would do coming off of his season ending suspension last year.  He had the talent, but would he use his brain?  He did.  Final stats:  82gp, 19g, 19a, +5, 44 PIM.  Big 2 for me: 82gp and 44 PIM.  Very impressive numbers for Cooke and a true inspiration for change.

James Neal – After Neal slumped his way out of everyone’s hearts through the playoff run last year, predictions were all over this year.  Guess what, it didn’t matter what anyone predicted, he beat them all.  Final stats:  80gp, 40g, 41a, +6, 87 PIM.  I could have done without some of those 87 PIM, but 40 goals from Neal is success no matter how you look at it.  18 of those goals were on the PP too, helping a dismal PP from last year.

It took him far too long to get on the roster, but he surely deserved it.

Steve Sullivan – Sullivan seemed like a good bargain and depth signing going into the season.  What he turned into was a durable powerplay specialist that the Pens badly needed.  Final stats:  79gp, 17g, 31a, -3, 20 PIM.  21 of his 48 points came on the PP as he joined Neal to help that unit out greatly.  The 79gp are still a shock to me for the former Masterton winner who has missed well over 100 games in his career due to injuries.

Evgeni Malkin – I’ll end this with a player that everyone knew was great but no one was sure how great he would be this season.  I can certainly tell you I did not predict Malkin would score 50 and put up a Hart worthy season as he led this team without Sid for much of the year.  Final stats: 75gp, 50g, 59a, +18, 70 PIM.  He took fewer stupid penalties, scored more goals, and simply kept his head in the game throughout most of the season.  He literally grew up in front of our eyes this year into a league MVP (though not official yet).

Time to push for Conn Smythe #2! 

Individual Stats Leaders:

Goals:  Malkin (50)

Assists:  Malkin (59)

Pts:  Malkin (109)

+/-:  Letang (+21)

PIM:  Neal (87)

Avg. Time on Ice: Letang (24:50)

Shots:  Malkin (339)

Shooting %:  Staal (16.8%)

Staal found his scoring touch from his rookie season again.

Hits: Orpik (259)

Blocked Shots: Michalek (144)

Missed Shots: Neal (123)

Giveaways:  Malkin (73) *Next Highest: Martin (39)

Takeaways:  Malkin (52) *Next Highest:  Staal (39)

Faceoff %: Vitale (55.7%)

Faceoffs, Fights, PK, Joe Vitale demonstrated he can do it all this year.

- Asham and Engelland led the team in fights with 8 each

- Malkin was on for the most goals for, 132

- Martin and Orpik were on for the most goals against overall, 81 for each

- Interesting stat on Martin: He is a +14 against the Atlantic, but a -5 against other divisions

- Malkin was the team shootout leader, going 8 for 11.

Team Awards:

Baz Bastien Memorial “Good Guy” Award (Media Cooperation) – Fleury & Dupuis

NHL Masterton Nominee (Dedication to Hockey) – Cooke

A.T. Caggiano Memorial Booster Club Cup (Most 3 Star Votes) – Malkin

Player’s Player Award (Leadership) – Orpik

Edward J. DeBartolo “Community Service” Award (Charity Work) – Malkin

Defensive Player of the Year (Best Defensively) – Orpik & Fleury

MVP (Best Overall) - Malkin

Now, ON TO THE PLAYOFFS!!!

Pens End the Regular Season with a Win

Main Storylines:

- While this is a “meaningless game”, quite a few players are looking for milestones.  Most importantly, the Flyers have yet to lose in Consol in heading into the last game of the season.

- These teams are locked into the 4/5 matchup.  Don’t expect too much craziness because they both know next week is far more important than anything today.

- While this is a playoff preview, it also isn’t.  Flyers aren’t dressing Giroux, Briere, and Grossmann.  Pens aren’t dressing Neal, Sullivan, Niskanen.

Result:

Pens  4  Flyers  2

Goals:  Dupuis (25) from Asham, Staal

            Kunitz (26) from Malkin

            Crosby (8) (PP) from Kunitz, Staal

            Malkin (50) from Letang, Crosby

Stats/Milestones:

- Goals: Dupuis (25), Kunitz (26), Malkin (50)

Just an unreal season for Dupuis, what a stud.

- Point Streak: Dupuis (17 games)

- Points Malkin (109), Staal (50), Dupuis (59), Kunitz (61)

- Evgeni Malkin will officially win the Art Ross Trophy for finishing as the league’s leading scorer.

Not quite how I want him celebrating #50, but better than Neal's #40 celebration.

- The crowd set a new record at Consol Energy Center, packing in 18,616 to see the season finale.

The Good:

- The refs did a fantastic job in this game.  Everyone was worried about what shenanigans may occur, but after an early fight between Joe Vitale and Harry Zolnierczyk, nothing dirty or gritty occurred.  The refs called a pretty tight game and even gave Shelley a 10 minute misconduct before he could get in any real trouble or take a penalty.  I expect that type of reffing all series.

Oh yeah, and Vitale won, by a landslide.

- The defense was the best I have seen in weeks, though obviously not going against Giroux or Briere helped a bit.  Michalek and Letang played exceptionally well, both making some great diving breakups and stops.

The Bad:

- I will be quite happy to see the end of the Engelland/Strait pairing.  Mostly on Strait’s part.  I don’t believe he’s nearly as ready as the Pens seem to, as I would prefer Despres over him right now.  The Schenn goal was on account of a lack of communication between Engo and Strait as neither knew who should go into the high slot to cover him.  Strait is a little too untethered in his coverage for my liking right now.  Hopefully Niskanen will be healthy and ready as the playoffs start.

- The powerplay did score a goal, but looked awful on their 5 minute major chance.  I will let this slide because they were trying to feed Malkin constantly and were also without Sullivan and Neal, but it still goes under bad for this game.

- It was sad to see Fleury get pulled on the verge of franchise record breaking win #227 just to see Johnson allow a goal instantly to give Fleury a no decision.  Fleury looked visibly displeased on the jumbotron, but hey, a game plan is a game plan.  Just have to wait til next year flower!

Johnson went straight to Fleury and shook his head in apology after the game.

The Ugly:

- Zac Rinaldo took a 5 minute major for checking from behind and a game misconduct when he crushed Michalek into the boards from behind.  I honestly believe half of this penalty was because of the refs wanting to keep control of the game and because his last name was Rinaldo.  He received a warning earlier in the shift from a ref after hitting Kennedy and was promptly thrown out after that hit.  The refs clearly wanted to take control and I approve of them acting in that way towards both teams.

Thoughts:

- Here are your East matchups: NYR – Ott, Bos – Was, Fla – NJ, Pit – Phi….guess who has the winning records in each series?  Not who you expect: Ott, Was, Fla, Phi.

- The 3^rd period was clearly both teams dropping into a stance of, let’s not get hurt, let’s not get into trouble, we’ll settle everything over the next 2 weeks.  Props to both teams for being smart with that.

- Though this was a meaningless game, I believe it was HUGE to beat the Flyers in Consol so they couldn’t go into the playoff series with that over our heads.  They will rationalize it based on the players they were missing, but the result does not change, it was a big psyche win whether anyone admits it or not.

- I’ll save the rest for future posts in the next few days, I PLAN on doing a Regular Season Review, Flyers Roster Preview, and Pens-Flyers Series Preview before the playoffs get underway…we’ll see how much I can accomplish.  Thanks for reading!

Pens Record: 51-25-6, 108 pts, 2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East

Next Game:  TBD, Playoffs announced Sunday, 4/8 at 1pm.  Likely 1^st 4 games: Wed, Fri, Sun, Wed

Race for Home Ice Tightens, Pens Lose to Flyers

**I’m actually going to talk about hockey here more than the circus acts allowed by the Refs and NHL, so be forewarned.

And so it begins...

Main Storylines:

- It’s Philly, not much needs to be said, and I can imagine the Pens are still bitter about losing in OT with .9 seconds left in their last meeting.  A big key for the Pens will be not getting suckered in by the likes of Hartnell and company.

- If Philly wins this, they will be 1 point behind the Pens for 4^th place/home ice with 3 games left to go including another head-to-head.  The Flyers do have the tiebreaker (non-shootout wins).

- Kris Letang returns to the lineup after missing 3 games with a lower body injury.

Result:

Flyers  6  Pens  4

Goals:  Sullivan (16) from Crosby, Dupuis

            Neal (39) from Malkin, Kunitz

            Sullivan (17) from Dupuis, Michalek

            Kunitz (24) from Malkin, Crosby               

Stats/Milestones:

- Pascal Dupuis extended his career high point streak to 14 games with an assist on the 1^st goal.  He is now up to a career high 56 points this season as well.

The Good:

- The Pens came out storming in the first period to a quick 2-0 lead.  Consol was loud and in playoff mode (at least for the first 10 minutes) and the team responded with a terrific start.

- While not the classiest set of events, I love seeing Tony Granato going to the defense of his team and his head coach.  All of Pittsburgh will hate on Laviolette for it, but I was impressed with his fire as well (at least until he picked up Talbot’s stick and broke it in between the benches, that was pathetic and awful).

Maybe not the best execution, but it could be a team rallying maneuver.

Steve Sullivan – Though many will not remember a thing any player did before the last 2 minutes, I want to start off with yet another great game by the wily vet, Steve Sullivan.  He scored twice, once on an odd changeup and the second on a rocket from the slot that came out so fast that half the players on the ice didn’t realize it went in.  He certainly looked bad when he had to take a penalty on the powerplay to prevent a Flyers breakaway, but that will happen from time to time and it was a smart penalty to take.  (Yes, there are smart penalties to take).  He has looked very good when paired up with Dupuis no matter who the center is.  Their speed together has caused great problems for other teams.

Yes, the game had happy moments at one point.

Joe Vitale – Poor Joe Vitale, he’s like that guy on the road who made a proper left turn and everyone crashes behind him because they weren’t paying attention.  Before the game went nuts, Vitale had another strong start, throwing some big hits (including an accidental knee on Grossman that knocked him out of the game) and drawing an interference penalty on Briere.  But now he’ll be known best by a clean hit on Briere towards the end of the 3^rd that started chaos.  Vitale is a great spark plug, and while Laviolette lumped him in as a goon on the 4^th line, I’m not sure many Flyers fans or players would agree.

The Bad:

- The Pens have developed a penchant for getting very fancy once they are up 2 goals.  Honestly, I read the game as starting like this: Pens wanted to make a statement, Flyers weren’t ready.  2-0, Timeout.  Pens coasted as the more skilled team, Flyers knew they had to work harder and did so.  The amount of drop passes in this game was ridiculous.  The Flyers have always been a very opportunistic team and the Pens should know that better than anyone, getting fancy gives them far more opportunities.

- The Pens had TWELVE giveaways to the Flyers 3.  The Baby Pens would beat the big team with all those extra chances.

- Arron Asham was a -2 with 5 minutes of ice time...I'm not even sure how that happened so I can't write about it.

I can tell you he tried to fight 2 Flyers at once though.

Kris Letang – Everyone feel free to hate me for this, but deal with it, he didn’t play that well.  He was out of position just as much as anyone, which is normally perfectly fine because he tends to make big plays as he freewheels around the ice.  However, when Letang isn’t making game-changing plays, his style tends to hurt the team.  I’m not tearing his play down, 80% of the time he will make a positive game-changing play and no one will notice, today just wasn’t one of those times.  Talbot’s goal to the tie the game was completely on Letang.  There was no reason for him to move up away from the crease to take the shooter, his assignment was Talbot on the crease the whole time and he just abandoned him there.

Matt Niskanen – Niskanen looked amazingly flat-footed today.  He kept getting burned on the blue line, which caused him to start backing off when the Flyers entered the zone, which turned into the Flyers taking advantage of that room to make passes.  Basically, Philly adapted to him one step quicker than he was adapting to the game.  The Voracek semi-breakaway goal was basically because he looked like he was skating on concrete.

Zbynek Michalek – Also not a strong game for Michalek (notice how it’s one guy on each pairing, that’s why the Pens looked so dismal in the defensive zone on every shift), as he simply got drawn away from the net too much.  While he is usually the key to the PK, today he chased a Flyer all the way out to the faceoff circles, leaving Orpik to cover 2 guys on the crease.  That’s a pretty sure fire way to give up a powerplay goal. 

Do this BEFORE they score, Z.  Not after.

Chris Kunitz – While he is still racking up points here and there, his overall play has been pretty bad recently.  He has been taking bad penalties, missing hits, and turning the puck over far too much.  He had the same type of performance in the last game against Philly and I am slightly concerned about his mentality going into the likely playoff series with them.  He led the team in hits, but at what cost to his general play?

The Ugly:

- I have two topics here and they are in order of importance, regardless of how they are reported.  The Pens defense was simply awful today.  There were far too many odd man breaks and uncovered guys, especially around the crease.  This didn’t just start today, or against the Isles, or the Senators; this was happening during the great wins too.  Going back to the “statement” win against Nashville, the Pens still allowed 33 shots and some great crease chances. The difference in that game was Rinne had a very off game and Fleury was on top of his.  That result seems to have taught this team some horrible lessons in fundamentals.  They can’t expect Fleury to bail them constantly no matter how well he plays.  Teams are dominating the Pens crease and slot areas and that has to stop immediately if this team wants to go anywhere.  There is far too much puck watching by everyone and I simply don’t understand how the basics of covering guys disappeared.

Give a flower some help, geez.

- The brawl was seriously a disaster.  I don’t fault the teams or the coaches for what they did, as everything was in the heat of the moment.  However, the refs need to set a standard early with these teams, next week and in the playoffs.  They have to call a tight game and call everything, or things will get dirty.  Yeah, Schenn had a “gutless” crosscheck to Crosby’s back, but don’t forget Crosby got away with at least 2 slashes in the game.  Perhaps the Flyers were hitting too much after the whistle, but Malkin was also punching Giroux in the back of the head during the play.  I don't condone any of it.  The problem is, if the refs don’t call any of that, then why shouldn’t chaos just break out?  I give a lot of credit to the Pens 4^th line for responding as they did, to both benches for being fired up, to Wayne Simmonds for fighting despite taking a puck off of the face yesterday, and to Scott Hartnell for simply being playful and entertaining, and interacting with the fans.  I hate Hartnell just like all Pens fans do, but isn’t this what we pay for?  This type of entertainment?  Every hockey player is dirty to a degree, don’t pick and choose when you want to acknowledge it.  And honestly, I would love it if every player taunted the crowd, that’s what makes hockey a wonderful sport – it’s simply a passionate game.

If you don't have respect for Simmonds after that, you're officially a homer.

Thoughts:

- Deryk Engelland only received 9:50 of ice time in this game.  I am not sure why, he clearly was healthy as he was on for the last shift of the game.  This was a bad move on Bylsma’s part I feel.  Engelland was covering for Niskanen rather successfully for most of the afternoon, and he also had the size to deal with the Flyers heavy forecheck.  I expect him to be a bigger part of the game on Saturday.

- The 5 forward powerplay is awesome and awful.  It is awesome on the rush when there is a lot of movement and that talent simply can’t be contained.  It is awful once they are set up because no one is decisive and the points can be pressure very hard for bad results.  Letang should definitely be on the first PP, but not at the expensive of Sullivan, who QBs the PP better than many people realize.  Kunitz is the guy I take off and move to the 2^nd line.  Crosby is more than capable of hanging around the net and deflecting shots. In fact, I’m pretty sure he’s the best at deflections.  If you don't want to take Kunitz off, then move Crosby to the second PP.  Yeah I said it.  Put Crosby on the 2nd PP with Staal and Dupuis/Cooke, think that line can't score?

- As the Rangers have lost tonight, the Pens are still mathematically in the race for 1st in the Conference, though that's asking for a lot.  More importantly, they are 1 point up on the Flyers for home ice in this inevitable 4/5 matchup with Philly and each team has 3 games to go.  Pittsburgh has Boston, NYR, and of course, Philly to end the season.  I won't even go through the Flyers schedule because that set of 3 games is enough for the Pens to worry about on its own.

- As a continuation on the brawl rant, the fans throwing stuff at the Flyers bench should be sent to Philly.  Seriously, everyone in this city gets on the fact that Philly is such a dirty city and then we do the exact same things that they do?  Twitter was simply comical today.  Everyone wants Asham to kill someone, but if Hartnell looks at a player, Hartnell is the scum of the Earth.  Just take an extra second and try to be a little less hypocritical.  If we’re a better city and a cleaner city, let’s act like it.

Props to Malkamania and to Hartnell.
This image defines a rivalry, and it's why we all love hockey.

Pens Record: 48-25-6, 102 pts, 2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East

Next Game:  4/3 @ Bos, 7:30pm

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 Outgun the Jets, Win 8-4!

Main Storylines:

- The Pens are coming off a heartbreaking, no, enraging defeat at the hands of the Flyers with .9 seconds left in overtime.  It was the end of an 11 game win streak, though points have still been earned in 12 straight now (11-0-1, duh).

- Brad Thiessen gets the start tonight after Fleury started 3 games in 4 days.  There is still no word on what is going on with Brent Johnson, not that I’m sure anyone seems to care anymore.

- Crosby is making his return to home ice which will give a boost to the Pens crowd.  Speaking of the crowd, the Jets have chanted “Crosby’s Better” at Ovechkin and “Jordan’s Better” at Eric Staal in their past 2 games, so what will Pens fans do for the Jets?

Result:

Pens  8  Jets 4

Goals:  Kennedy (7) from Crosby, Cooke

            Neal (33) (PP) from Malkin, Crosby

            Neal (34) from Malkin

            Kennedy (8) from Crosby, Cooke

            Malkin (42) from Crosby, Martin

            Neal (35) from Malkin, Orpik

            Malkin (43) from Kunitz, Neal

            Dupuis (21) from Staal, Sullivan

We let Kennedy score?? Twice?? Why have they said Kennedy 4 times?!?

               

The Good:

- Everything offense!  The Pens earned their 12^th win in 13 games, extended their points streak (12-0-1) and simply outgunned the Jets in a shootout (like the old fashioned high scoring shootout games, not the skills competition that ends overtime games).

- Milestones:  Malkin scored his 200^th career goal.  Dupuis scored his career high 21^st goal and extended a career high 7 game points streak.  Neal had a career high 4 points in one game.  Malkin and Crosby matched their combined career high of 9 points in a game together.  The Pens won their 8^th straight game at Consol, a new record for the arena.  Brad Thiessen is now 3-0 in his first 3 starts.

- The Pens became the highest scoring team in the NHL after this game (imagine if we had a winger for Sid!) and are now 2^nd in goal differential to only Boston.

- It was fantastic seeing Tyler Kennedy finally get out of his slump.  The emotion he showed after that first goal was priceless, though not as cool as when Dustin Byfuglien mimicked ripping a monkey off of his own back last year (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kaCxtmP1ec). 

TK just needed a little "release' to get his game going...

James Neal – For anyone that was worried about his 2^nd half slump or post-contract doldrums (I will be the first to admit I belong on this list), set your worries aside.  Neal picked up garbage goals and beautiful goals all the same in recording his 2^nd career hat trick and 1^st ever 4 point night.  He even registered a game high 10 shots.  My only complaint would be that he needs to shoot more on the powerplay, yes – despite having 10 shots, but that would be more constructive criticism than anything.  You can now add me to the list of people who can’t wait to see him record goal #40 soon.

Sidney Crosby – Sure, his shooting is still off, but is any other player in the world capable of looking this good without scoring?!? After turning Cooke into a repeat 2 goal scorer last week, Crosby set up Tyler Kennedy for 2 easy goals in the slot tonight.  Yes, that Tyler Kennedy – the one that misses the net by 15 feet from the slot.  Cooke and Kennedy suddenly make up a line that is putting up points like a first line with Crosby.  Crosby also added a nice assist on Malkin’s 200^th goal and yet another on a beautiful behind-the-back pass to Malkin, who easily set up an uncovered Neal for a PP goal.  His creativity and passing ability is just unbelievable after missing 40 games.

"Who are you and how did you make that pass?!?"

Evgeni Malkin – Nothing like a 5 point night to give you a HUGE lead for the Art Ross trophy, and most likely the Hart as well.  Malkin scored his 200^th career goal with his parents in attendance, much to the delight of his rapidly fist pumping dad.  He was all smiles through most of the game, at least after an inadvertent double minor he took for high sticking.  Malkin is clearly just having a ball playing with an abundance of talent on his line and with Sid back.  He truly looks like he’s having a great time just playing a game, and his play has been phenomenal because of it.

The Bad:

- Goaltending was shaky at best for both teams.  The Thrashers had to pull Pavelec and Thiessen looked a little less than reliable, though he did get the win anyways.

Pavelec wasn't the first and won't be the last to feel this way against the Pens.

Brad Thiessen – Thiessen did enough to get the win, but didn’t look sharp right off the first shot against, where he fought the puck off awkwardly rather than gloving it.  Something about the Jets clearly ends any chance of defense being played, but Thiessen’s play made it clear that he is a backup at best and can’t handle games where the defense doesn’t play well.  He was well protected in his first 2 wins, but he seemed very exposed in this one.  Let’s face it, if Fleury goes down, we’re screwed either way, but I have more faith in Brent Johnson getting hot than I do Thiessen.

Paul Martin – Talk was abound about the fact that Martin had gotten himself back to an Even +/- rating, and then he went out and reverted back to his awful play from the first half of the season.  Wait, he was +1 tonight.  Oh, there is your main argument for +/- being worthless.  Admittedly, I put a lot of stock into that stat because as a defenseman, I’ve always wanted to claim being a plus player.  Martin can do that tonight, but it is certainly not because of anything he did.  He was on the ice for 3 of the Jets goals, getting completely burned twice and not tying up a man on the crease on the 3^rd one.  It wasn’t just that he was on the ice for goals against, but they were largely his fault.  Hopefully this abysmal game was just a fluke from what has been very stellar play over the past month.

One of 5 pics I found with Martin and a Jets goal celebration tonight.

Zbynek Michalek – Maybe Michalek and Martin just spent too much time reminiscing before the game, but Michalek also had trouble staying in position and keeping up with the Jets forwards.  He did manage a +2, but he made no contribution to the offense as he looked hesitant to jump up on pucks near the blue line.  He also went down on a couple of occasions to block shots in situations where the Jets were ready for it and moved around him.  Again, hopefully just a fluke after a very stellar month of play.

Craig Adams – After giving it all in the game against Philly, Adams looked a little off tonight.  His physical game never really got started against a quick set of Winnipeg forwards and they made him pay for it a couple of times as he was a -2 and was on for a powerplay goal against.  It’s very rare to see Adams have a game where he is this off, so I’m not worried about it at all. 

The Ugly:

- The defense for both teams was simply atrocious, bordering on non-existent.  These games are fun to watch, especially when the Pens have so much offensive talent, but that better be a blip on the radar that disappears.

Thoughts:

- The powerplay has pretty much taken on a Jekyl and Hyde type personality.  The first powerplay was awful with way too much passing and no one looking to the net.  The second powerplay was simply gorgeous, registering tons of shots and a goal.  I believe the key to the powerplay is going to be that everyone needs to stay within their roles.  Crosby is pass first, Malkin can pass or shoot, those 2 can be trusted to do their jobs.  Kunitz has to stay in front, and Neal has to shoot every chance he gets.  That 5^th spot, Sullivan or Letang, needs to distribute the puck enough to keep the other guys going, but also take enough shots to keep defenders honest.  It sounds simple, and seems obvious, but the worst powerplays are when one of those guys ditches their role.

It would probably help if Crosby opened his eyes too.

- I miss Joe Vitale.  His energy and effort are a huge spark plug on the 4^th line and Asham-Adams-Tangradi simply don’t have the speed that he has to be an immediate game changer.  The loss of Vitale isn’t a huge deal to a team this talented, but he is more valuable than people realize – mostly when it comes to energy and faceoffs.

- Brent Johnson has been skating before team practices, but there is no timetable for him, and really no information on what is keeping him out.  I would love to see him get healthy enough for a start or 2 before the playoffs, but who knows what we will see.  I have not forgotten how poorly he has played this season, but I would prefer his veteran presence and experience over Thiessen’s play.

Will BJ save this?  Probably not.  But he'll punch you out for questioning him.

- Crosby has 19 assists and is a +14 in 12 games this season.  Just wow.

He has this whole team in disbelief right now.

Pens Record: 45-21-6, 96 pts, 2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East

Next Game:  3/22 vs Nas, 7pm