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

Officially Playoff Bound! Pens Clinch with a Win!

Main Storylines:

- Fleury gets the start tonight looking for win #40.  He is currently tied with the opposing goalie, Rinne, for the league lead in wins at 39.  Other lineup changes: Park comes in, Tangradi goes out.

- The Pens will clinch a playoff spot tonight if they gain any points tonight.

- Crosby continues his goal “slump” on the season, though his play has certainly been nothing to complain about

- From the Predators side, Alexander Radulov makes his controversial return from the KHL tonight, appearing in his first NHL game since 2008.

Will he disrupt the locker room or take the Preds to the Cup?

Result:

Pens  5  Preds 1

Goals:  Malkin (44) from Neal, Letang

            Dupuis (22) from Letang, Sullivan

            Cooke (17) from Neal

            Kunitz (22) from Neal, Orpik

            Malkin (45) from Neal, Kunitz

Stats/Milestones:

- Things are getting flat out crazy for the Pens in terms of streaks and milestones to the point that it’s time for a new section to cover it!

- Pascal Dupuis scored his career high 22^nd goal and extended his point streak to 8 games now.

Might he be the best value on a team of superstars?

- James Neal recorded a career high 4 assist game and tied his career high 4 point night, which was set all of 2 days ago.

- Marc-Andre Fleury became the first goalie in franchise history to win 40 games in multiple seasons.  He also took over the NHL lead in wins with 40.

- The Pens as a team lead the league in scoring with 244 goals and in goal differential with a +59.  They also won their 9^th straight game at Consol, extending the record streak. 

               

The Good:

- In a game hyped up as a potential Stanley Cup Finals preview, the Pens demonstrated that they might be in a league of their own at this point.  Mind you, Nashville lost to Edmonton in their previous game, so they aren’t playing at their best, but it was still a very impressive win for the Pens.

- Not that anyone expected anything else, but the Pens officially clinched a playoff spot with the win.

James Neal – For all of the impressive goals he has scored, did anyone know Neal could display the patience and passing abilities that he did tonight?  He put up 4 primary assists and was a +4 tonight, highlighted by a beautiful takeaway in the offensive zone as he baited Rinne until setting up Cooke with an easy tip in goal at the last second.  Even Cooke stated he expected Neal to shoot.  Neal leapt up to 5^th in the scoring with his performance.

Marc-Andre Fleury - It's crazy how quietly he goes about his work nowadays.  Another great performance with 29 saves on 30 shots; he just looks so calm and poised in net at this point.  Fleury is entering the prime of his career on fire and the crazy part is he could still get better.  Now if only he'd learn how to play the puck a little better...

A rare moment where Fleury could actually thank Martin. 

Paul Martin – Gotta give credit where it’s due, Martin played a very solid game tonight.  Beyond his +3 (overrated stat, right?), his positioning was much better than it was in the Jets game.  There were a couple of times where Letang got caught pinching, but Martin was there to handle the odd man rush.  He also added 3 blocked shots to his stat line.

Evgeni Malkin – One might argue that Rinne let up some soft goals on Malkin tonight, but hey, when Geno shoots the puck at you 10 times, you’re going to let a couple in.  Despite not even reaching the 20 minute mark in ice time, Malkin accounted for 43% of the Pens shots tonight and scored the first and last goals of the game.  For everyone worried that Crosby would take away from Malkin – it looks like the whole first line has been reenergized/motivated by Sid’s return.

The Bad:

- Matt Niskanen went out half way through the 2^nd period with an upper body injury.  He is day to day but will likely miss the games over the weekend.

- Kris Letang left the ice hunched over early in the 2^nd period and went straight to the locker room.  He ended up returning just a few shifts later, but any potentially injury to Letang should cause concern for Pens fans.

Sidney Crosby – Forget the lack of points, that’s not why I’m listing him here.  Crosby looked a little sluggish and tired in this game.  His patented speed burst wasn’t there and Nashville seemed to have little trouble neutralizing him.  Looks like Sid still has a little bit to go before he’s back into full form.

The Ugly:

- From the Preds side, Pekka Rinne looked less than spectacular after getting pulled in the game before this one.  Not to take away anything from the Pens, but Rinne was not in his usual Vezina form.  Shea Weber also looked off tonight, so I guess I am discounting the win a little bit compared to a usual victory over the Predators.

Weber did more for the Pens than the Preds tonight.

Thoughts:

- The Predators put a lot of work in on the crease and appeared to focus their offense in tight on Fleury.  Radulov got their only goal from a rebound while he was standing on the crease.  The tactic obviously didn’t work, but it’s the type of playing style that could lead to a Pens loss via bad bounces.  The D, especially Orpik and Engelland, will have to be on the watch for that as teams try to figure out the Pens.

Fleury had a lot of company around his blue paint.

- I was very impressed with the healthy ringing of Boos that rained down on Radulov when his goal was announced.  I have complained about the crowd at Consol frequently, but as we get closer to the playoffs, it appears more and more of the regular fans are coming out to actually cheer on the team rather than sit there silently.

- I loved the move of playing Park instead of Tangradi in this game.  It appears Bylsma may be trying to match them up against playing styles for opponents.  I hope Jeffrey enters this rotation as well, but I guess time will tell.

- After being stuck in the 4/5 slot for months, start rooting for who you want in as the 8^th seed as the Pens continue to pressure the Rangers for first!

Pens Record: 46-21-6, 98 pts, 2^nd in the Atlantic, 4^th in the East

Next Game:  3/24 @ Ott, 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