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.

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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...

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

Streak Ends at 11, Pens Lose in OT

Main Storylines:

- The Pens have won 11 in a row, the best streak in the NHL this season and the longest streak since their own 12 game streak last year.  If they win today, they will be the first franchise in the NHL to have 3 win streaks of at least 12 games.

- Fleury starts in back to back games, Asham is back in after missing yesterday’s game and Vitale sits for him.  Tangradi stays in the lineup. 

- Milestone-wise, Staal and Dupuis are looking to continue career high streaks (currently 10 and 5 game point streaks respectively).  Meanwhile, every goal Dupuis and Cooke score from here on out will be a new career high.

Result:

Flyers  3  Pens 2 (OT)

Goals:  Adams (5) from Letang, Dupuis

            Malkin (41) from Letang

               

The Good:

- Milestones:  Dupuis extended his career high point streak to 6 games. 

- Geno’s goal was a great demonstration of strength and patience, has he rolled off of Giroux in the corner and took the puck across the crease until Bryzgalov lifted his pad for Malkin to slide it through.  Vintage NHL 94 goal right there.

Craig Adams – Adams only played 10 minutes, with 4 of those being on the penalty kill, but his time was very efficient and useful.  He basically set himself up for the first goal by crushing Simmonds in the corner and keeping the puck in the zone.  He somehow led the team with 6 hits and was pretty much a force on every shift he played.

Playoff effort from Adams in this game.

Kris Letang – Letang played an outstanding game offensively and defensively.  He assisted on both Pens goals and was huge in the physical game.  The highlight of his day might have been crushing Jagr, and then knocking over Hartnell when he came after Letang (resulting in Hartnell high sticking his own teammate Rinaldo in the face).  Letang finished 2^nd on the team with 6 shots and also added 2 blocks.  His ability to break up passes was clutch today.

The Bad:

- Staal’s point streak ended at 10, along with the Pens win streak at 11.  The Flyers ended the Pens streak at 12 last year as well.

- Quite a few bad penalties in this one.  Kunitz with an unnecessary cross-checking penalty earlier in the game, and though I loved him attacking Hartnell, he’s lucky it didn’t lead to a Flyers powerplay.  Malkin also had a couple of bad ones as well.  If we remain stuck in a 4-5 matchup with the Flyers, the team that stays disciplined will have a great advantage in this rivalry.

Hartnell was a major catalyst in this game.  The Pens simply can't allow that.

- The Flyers scoring with .9 seconds left in OT.  Unfortunately, Hartnell was Crosby’s guy and the whole team got caught up puck watching at the end.  Crosby knew that was his mistake, and expect that to drive him even harder.

- The puck possession and shooting for the Pens was outstanding in the first 2 periods.  However, lack of finishing kept the Flyers in the game the whole time.  No matter how dominant this team can be, they can’t afford to leave teams in the game when they are dominating the play.  Give Bryzgalov a lot of credit for handling the onslaught to keep the Flyers in it.

Bryzgalov's play as of late has the Flyers catching up to the Pens.

The Ugly:

- The reffing left a lot to be desired at times, and not just for the Pens sake.  Both teams had penalties not called and the Kunitz/Hartnell wrestling debacle should never occur in a hockey game.  The refs didn’t have much control in this one.  If these teams meet in the playoffs, everyone better hope that the refs take control early and often, or there will be some injuries from ugly plays.

Thoughts:

- As the powerplay experiment continues with Crosby back in the lineup, I have to wonder if leaving them out as long as 1:30 to 2 minutes each time isn’t a problem. There is a lot of skill on that line, but powerplay goals need to be ugly sometimes, and putting in the 2^nd powerplay to wear down the other team’s PK might help every so often.  Also, when that line knows they can stay out for 2 minutes, I wonder if it kills some of the urgency to get shots on early and quickly in a powerplay. 

- Asham and Tangradi only played 4 and 5 minutes respectively.  I was rather surprised against a bigger/grittier team that those two did not get more ice time.  This was also a big factor in how slow the Penguins looked for much of the 3^rd period.  The role players certainly didn’t get out to rest the big guys much in the 3^rd game in 4 days. 

- My heart rate cannot handle a 7 game series with the Flyers in the first round.  It really is a shame that at least one Atlantic team is guaranteed to be knocked out in Round 1.  All of the teams are very strong and that 4-5 matchup is going to deny the NHL a very strong team in the 2^nd round.

- It sucks to see the win streak end, but if you told me a month ago that the Pens would take 5 out of 6 points on a 3 games in 4 days road trip that went through NY, NJ, and Philly, I would have bet heavily against it.  So, kudos to the Pens for putting their work in, it’s time to start a new streak with Crosby’s return to home ice on Tuesday.  After he was on for that last goal, my meaningless prediction is expect a goal out of him on Tuesday night.

When Crosby is at fault, he usually comes out on fire...look for it on Tues.

Pens Record: 44-21-6, 94 pts, 2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East

Next Game:  3/20 vs Win, 7pm

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

We'll Miss You, Tampa. Pens Win!

Main Storylines:

- Brad Thiessen has returned to the team to back up Fleury again after Brent Johnson hurt himself in practice on Thursday.  Expect a lot of rumors about trading for a backup goalie as we hit the trade deadline on Monday.

- Fresh off of his recent contract extension, James Neal will be the subject of the next NHL 36, which is the NHL’s show that follows a player for 36 hours in HBO’s 24/7 style.  Cameras will be following him around this weekend.  The episode will air for the first time on March 7^th, at 6:30 on NBC Sports Network.

- Orpik is returning to action after missing a game with an upper body injury.  Lovejoy goes back to his normal spot as a healthy scratch.

Result:

Pens  8  Lightning  1

Goals:  Kunitz (17) from Malkin, Neal

            Cooke (12) from Vitale, Michalek

            Staal (20) (SH), unassisted

            Staal (21) (PP) from Sullivan, Neal

            Malkin (34) from Kunitz, Engelland

            Malkin (35) from Niskanen

            Malkin (36) (PP) from Neal, Sullivan

            Dupuis (14) from Staal, Sullivan

               

The Good:

- The Pens put up a ridiculous 8 goals for the 3^rd time this season, absolutely demolishing the Lightning in the process.  Only 2 players were not a plus on the day.  11 players figured into the scoring.

- Bounces were simply amazing for the Pens, starting with Cooke’s goal, where the puck bounced in the air and landed right on his stick in the slot.  It continued as Jordan Staal got a short-handed breakaway goal because a linesman kicked the puck to him and then interfered with Hedman.  The Pens got a lot of weird breaks in this one.

Better believe Staal was laughing about the assist from the linesman.

- The powerplay was a perfect 2 for 2, scoring on a 4 on 3 and a 5 on 4 chance.

- A shoutout to Eric Tangradi here, who played a very solid 10 minutes, using his body to maintain puck possession and dishing out 3 hits. 

- Another strong game by mostly everyone, so I’ll just highlight a choice few:

Evgeni Malkin – A year ago, Bruce Boudreau told his locker room that Malkin could be knocked off of his game easily if you hit him a few times.  A year ago, that was true.  Today, Dwayne Roloson shoved Malkin in the face.  Today, Malkin scored 3 goals and added an assist to humiliate Tampa Bay and demonstrate to the league that he is the leading candidate for MVP.

Marc-Andre Fleury – Lost in all of the goal support was the fact that Fleury had a marvelous game, stopping 3 breakaways in the 2^nd period and making 34 saves overall.  His athleticism and reaction time were on display all game.  His numbers may not be pure in suggesting a Vezina nomination, but anyone who has watched him play or watched his highlight reel today realizes that he deserves the credit.

Fleury looking the puck directly into his pads, just like on the other 3 breakaways too.

Brooks Orpik – Day to day with a body injury turned into Orpik putting up a team leading +3 with a team leading 5 blocked shots.  He was positionally sound all game, and honestly, I didn’t notice him most of the game, which is a huge compliment to his play.  He began the game with Michalek and they were paired mostly against Stamkos who put up a big 0 points.  So kudos to Orpik on a strong return after a game off.

- Also exceptional games from Staal (2g, 1a), Sullivan (3a), and Neal (3a)

The Bad:

- Though it was a strong game by Fleury, and a great game by the offense, the defense had its issues at times, namely allowing 4 breakaways on Fleury.  Thanks to the stellar goalie, none led to a goal.  However, Martin/Letang were on for 3 of those, and Martin/Michalek was the pairing for the 4^th.  Martin did have some good shifts, so I won’t beat him up here, but you do the math.

The Ugly:

- Nothing to report here again!

  

Thoughts:

- Not only has Malkin’s play improved, but I am very impressed with his maturity.  As I mentioned in the good, he is no longer thrown off by frequent attacks, but it now fuels him to play better.  That’s a very Crosby-like way to handle things and it speaks a lot to Malkin’s character right now.

Malkin simply staring down Roloson after his 1st goal. 

- As impressive as Malkin looked, give some credit to Tampa’s defense for being awful, especially on Malkin’s Lemieux-like highlight reel 2^nd goal.  I take nothing away from Geno, it was an amazing goal.  But watching the replays, he had his head down watching the puck for most of his stick-handling.  Eric Lindros used to do that too… Had any of the Lightning defenders had the awareness or guts to knock Malkin off the puck, that goal doesn’t come close to happening.  If Scott Stevens is defending him, Malkin is probably concussed.

- Kris Letang had 0 points tonight.  How often do you think Letang will put up 0 points in a game where the Pens score 8 goals?  I’m still kinda surprised by it.

- After the Pens went up 3-0, I was hoping a little bit that Thiessen would go in for Fleury just to get some time in.  I realize that was unrealistic, but I really hope Thiessen gets the start tomorrow against Columbus.  Shero shouldn’t go into the deadline without at least getting one more look at what we have at backup goalie.

- Thank you Dwayne Roloson for bringing all of that upon yourself.

I see the issue Roloson...you should probably try looking at the puck.

  

Pens Record: 35-21-5, 75 pts, 2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East (with Philly playing tonight still)

Next Game:  2/26 vs Cls, 1pm

Fleury is Perfect, Pens win!

Main Storylines:

- Some roster changes going into this one.  Brent Johnson is “ill”, so Brad Thiessen is on emergency recall to back up Fleury.  Also, Eric Tangradi was called up and is expected to play on the 4^th line.  Expect Cal O’Reilly, and potentially Dustin Jeffrey to sit.

- Bylsma stated that the team wanted to call up Tangradi to add a physical presence and forecheck to the 3^rd and 4^th lines.  Other rumors swirling: showcase for a trade, keep him up in case someone else gets traded

- Brooks Orpik is also out with an upper body injury.  He is day to day and Ben Lovejoy will take his place.  It appears the top pairing will be Martin-Letang….oh no.

Result:

Pens  2  Rangers  0

Goals:  Malkin (33) from Letang, Dupuis

            Sullivan (11) (PP) from Malkin, Cooke

The Pens gave the Rangers a swift kick to...I'll just stop there.

               

The Good:

- Start with the milestones:  Malkin recorded his 300^th career assist and Fleury recorded his 22^nd career shutout, tying Barrasso’s franchise record.

- Offensive pressure:  The Pens had a period of over 3 minutes in the 1^st during which the puck did not leave the offensive zone.  Though they didn’t score during it, it forced the Rangers to use their timeout, which turned out to be nice a 2-0 close win.  The Kunitz-Malkin-Neal line and Dupuis-Staal-Sullivan line were masterful during those shifts

- Defensive intelligence:  By my count at least, Fleury only faced 2 clean odd man breaks in that game, a massive reduction from either of the past 2 games.  The defense was very smart about stepping up, and committed far fewer turnovers than usual.  Everyone on the defense played well (yes, including Paul Martin).

- Malkin’s goal was just flat out gorgeous.  It was a great outlet off the boards by Letang to spring him on a breakaway, and then Geno just showed an amazing amount of patience in waiting for Lundqvist to be completely out of the play before shooting.

- Sullivan is one of the last players on this roster that I would expect to score on a slapshot from the point on the powerplay…kudos to him.  It was a perfect shot and a great screen by Cooke as well.

Even he doesn't look sure that he did it.

- Literally everyone played a solid game, so I’m just going to highlight my 3 standouts for the night.

Zbynek Michalek – Michalek has been playing lights out since he was taken away from Paul Martin.  He led the team yet again with 3 blocked shots and got his stick on several passes to slow the Rangers down.  His positioning has been very sound and he looks very comfortable and confident now.  He has definitely reverted back to the player that the Pens wanted to pay $4 mil/yr.

Marc-Andre Fleury – Fleury had an outstanding effort in earning his 22^nd shutout.  He made 27 saves, including a breakaway, and was masterful in his rebound control tonight.  Hell, he didn’t even have any mishaps in playing the puck, that’s how in the zone Fleury was tonight.  The commitment to team defense tonight let Fleury do his thing, his positioning was great, he didn’t overcommit on any shots or passes, and he simply was unbeatable tonight.

Thiessen's recall clearly made all the difference.

Kris Letang – Letang gets here, not for his assist, but for his outstanding defensive awareness tonight.  He led the team with over 28 minutes of ice time and didn’t get caught too far up at all.  He didn’t try and force the offense, he just played his game and took open looks as he saw them.  I was concerned with him and Martin being paired together, but both played very well together.  Letang’s patience and commitment to defense tonight was simply perfect against a Rangers team that tends to be opportunistic. 

The Bad:

- Lovejoy played a very solid game and had a nice set of shots, getting 3 on one shift.  One thing that I could have done without was his delay of game penalty, of course.

- Martin also played a very solid game, my only complaint for him was on one play, where he missed his coverage and allowed the one breakaway on Fleury.  Aside from that gaffe though, Martin was definitely in the good category.

 The Ugly:

- Arron Asham made a very boneheaded play when he took his penalties.  Adams drew a penalty with a hard drive to the net, and Asham needlessly started shoving with Bickel as every player skated to the benches.  Asham’s gotta be smarter than that, Bickel didn’t even do anything to him to lead to it.  I would categorize throwing a powerplay away as ugly.

With 2 healthy scratches a game, better play smart to stay in the lineup.

  

Thoughts:

- Nothing against Eric Tangradi, he played well in his 5:39 of ice time.  But why call him up to play 5:39?  Wouldn’t he be better served playing in the minors with a regular shift?  We aren’t doing him or ourselves any favors by calling him up to play that little.

- On a related note, what did Dustin Jeffrey do to get booted from the lineup?  He could have played that 5:39 just as well, with the addition of he has PK capabilities and can take faceoffs.  I don’t think he’s done anything in the past few games to warrant getting a healthy scratch.

- The special teams continue to be outstanding this year.  The powerplay went 1 for 2 and the PK went 3 for 3.  Another sign of a Cup favorite.

- As Phil Bourque said on the radio after the game, this is the type of game that the Pens need to circle and reference.  No matter what ups and downs are left in this season, this game against the Rangers was a complete 60 minute effort, with a team commitment to defense and doing the little things right.  The Pens will not lose a best of 7 series to anyone with efforts like this.

- By the way, this was all without Crosby.  Can you imagine the possibilities?

  

Pens Record: 34-21-5, 73 pts, 4^th in the Atlantic, 6^th in the East

Next Game:  2/25 vs TB, 1pm