Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Missing in Action
It is often a tradition at Mellon Arena for fans to wait outside by the parking lot and wait for the team to arrive. Unfortunately, many are still waiting. The Pittsburgh Penguins lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning Wednesday night 2-0 in a game where their offense was non-existant and their defense flawed as well. The team looked as if they were uninterested at times, and this lack of motivation and effort combined with a strong game from the playoff-desperate Lightning was only a recipe for disaster for the Pens. Mike Smith faced only 27 shots from the Pens, and many of those were not realistic scoring chances. On the other hand, Fleury saw only 17 shots, but many of them were on breakaways and powerplays, including an extremely impressive wrist shot from young phenom Steven Stamkos late in the first to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead. "NHL Pest" Steve Downie would score the second for Tampa very early in the second, and that would be all the scoring for the rest of the game. The Pens looked the polar opposite from their strong weekend performance, where they were crisp and had a jump in their step. Not only was there a lack of scoring, but this was a rather chippy game that included a scary hit from behind on Ruslan Fedotanko and a long fight between Bill Guerin and Lightning enforcer Zenon Konopka. (yes, his name IS Zenon) It was a frustrating performance for the Pens, who were again without Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Gonchar. Dan Bylsma, who was visably irritated throughout the game, called a players only meeting after the game perhaps to address the issues that so frequently plagued the Pens tonight. The important thing for Pittsburgh is that they find a way to put this one behind them and move on to the rest of their schedule. They have only five games remaining, the next being Saturday afternoon at home against the 9th place Atlanta Thrashers.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Pens, Letang Agree On Extension
Pittsburgh has signed defenseman Kris Letang to a four-year contract extension. ESPN is reporting that the deal is worth $3.5 million per year. Letang, who is only 22 years old, was to become a restricted free agent. Now let's get Matt Cooke signed. Go Pens!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Dispelling the Steeler Myth
There is also a myth that has run rampant amongst Steelers fans, and the media in particular though. This myth is that the Steelers only work with players of the highest quality and top notch character. I think it's about time this myth gets laid to rest.
Ben Roethlisberger's travails have been well documented by now so they basically go without saying. The guy is immature, and from most accounts just a flat out jackass when it comes to decision making and how he treats people.
Santonio Holmes had big questions about his character and maturity coming out of Ohio St. and these questions, at least in my mind, still need answered. He has been caught with illegal drugs in his possession, and now is accused of assaulting a woman at a night club with a glass full of liquor.
Jeff Reed is another one who seems to like his alcohol a bit too much. In addition to being the first tough guy I know of to take on and beat up a paper towel dispenser at Sheetz, he has been charged with resisting arrest, public drunkenness, disorderly conduct and assault. Maybe he should have a few shots before taking the field so he can find the beer muscles to get in front of the guy with the ball during returns.
Then there is James Harrison who was accused of slapping around his girlfriend.
These are all core, key guys. The Steelers front office is about winning first, not great PR. Sure they like the image but the bigger image is the 6 Lombardi's on display. They only have a zero tolerance for guys like Cedric Wilson and Gary Russell. When it comes down to brass tacks the Steelers are about winning, and that's probably how it should be.
Can we please just stop saying how high class our team is, because they aren't.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Welcome to the Sidney Crosby Show
Seven games left in the season, division title on the line, and in a fight against a desperate Toronto team laying everything on the line: Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Sidney Crosby Show. He had two pivotal goals and one in the shootout to lead the Pens to a 5-4 shootout victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs Sunday afternoon at Mellon Arena. This, combined with a New Jersey loss to the Flyers, gives the Penguins a two point lead in the Atlantic Division with only 6 games remaining. (Devils have 7) It was a game of "cat and mouse" the entire game with each team exchanging goals all the way until the shootout. Tyler Kennedy put the Pens on the board first with an important goal midway through the first to tie the game up after Colton Orr of the Leafs scored earlier in the game. Kennedy's goal came after Mike Rupp managed to box out two Leafs defenders in the corner boards and pass the puck out to an open Kennedy for the score. The pattern would continue when Phil Kessel managed to put a long wrist shot past Fleury to give Toronto a 2-1 lead and the majority of the momentum. It was up to the captain to turn things around, and he wasted little time doing so. His first goal of the game came after Brooks Orpik wristed a long shot on J S Giguere and Crosby was there to dig out the rebound and poke it home for the score. Just over 3 minutes later, Crosby would score yet again after taking a pass from Orpik in the offensive zone and beating Giguere just over his blocker to put the Pens up 3-2. Unfortunately for the Pens, however, there was still some work to be done. The Leafs managed to tie it and take the lead on a pair of goals from Carl Gunnarsson and Tyler Bozak in the second and third periods respectively. It appeared for a long time that this would be the way things would end until the Pens changed all that with 2:48 to go in the third. Jordan Leopold slapped a shot towards Giguere ,but instead of a routine save being made, Matt Cooke jumped in front of it and made an extraordinary deflection between his legs to tie the game up and eventually send it into overtime. It looked like the Pens would pull it off at the end of overtime as they got a 4 on 3 powerplay in the final minutes, but a few acrobatic saves from Giguere kept it tied and sent the game into a shootout. Crosby cemented his status as first star of the game by beating Giguere high side to give the Pens the shootout lead. Pascal Dupuis also scored in the shootout and Fleury stopped both attempts thrown his way by Kessel and Nikolai Kulemin. Despite allowing 4 goals, it was a strong performance by Fleury, who made 25 saves and picked up his 35th win of the season. Crosby also had a good stats night getting his 47th goal of the season putting him ahead of Alexander Ovechkin and Steven Stamkos for the league lead. Crosby's performance was extremely important considering the absence of co-star Evgeni Malkin, who missed his 4th straight game and 6th out of the last 7. Sergei Gonchar also was absent due to illness, missing his 3rd straight. Another individual performance worth noting was that of Brooks Orpik, who recorded 3 assists and was a +1 for the game. This win capped off an important weekend for the Pens, who got 4 out a possible 4 points, clinched the playoffs, and seized the division lead from the Devils. The Pens will hope to keep their momentum going on Wednesday, when young superstar Steven Stamkos and the Tampa Bay Lightning come into town.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Kings of Pennsylvania!
Sidney Crosby fueled the Pens with 3 assists to a 4-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers that was important for a multitude of reasons. First, they defeated their cross-state rivals yet again to take the season series 5-1 and cement themselves as regular season "Kings of PA". Second, it gave them two important points to stay tied with the New Jersey Devils for the division lead. And third, but certainly not least, they clinched a spot in the playoffs with 7 games remaining in the regular season. This was truly a team effort from the Pens, and just about every player played their part in the victory. They did have a slow first period, giving up a fluky "slow motion" goal to Arron Asham little over 1 minute into the game. Philadelphia would then control the next 10 or so minutes, but it would be the last time they controlled the game. The Pens got the momentum started when Chris Kunitz scored on a Jordan Leopold rebound with 58 seconds to go in the first period. Also, Marc-Andre Fleury got an assist on that goal, giving him his first offensive point of the season. Sidney Crosby then got things started 6:03 into the second by leading a breakaway and throwing a wrister on Flyers' goalie Backlund. Backlund made the original save but Pascal Dupuis was there to poke home the rebound for his 18th goal of the season and a 2-1 lead for the Pens. The third period was even more eventful, featuring more of a Pens-Flyers atmosphere with 7 minor penalties, compared to the 4 in the previous 2 periods combined. The Pens also extended their lead when Matt Cooke took a pass from Ruslan Fedotenko in front and gave Pittsburgh a 3-1 lead. Fedotenko was still not done though and scored a powerplay goal of his own on a pass from Sidney Crosby to put the Pens up by 3 with less than 6 minutes remaining. The Pens did all this without star forward Evgeni Malkin, who missed his 5th game out of 6 with a foot injury and powerplay captain Sergei Gonchar who missed his second straight due to illness. It is unknown when either will officially return, although footage of Malkin skating in practice was shown. As mentioned above, the Penguins clinched a place in the Eastern Conference playoffs, joining the Capitals, Devils, and Sabres as the teams that clinched in. Coach Dan Bylsma mentioned in the postgame press conference that the Penguins will continue to work hard in the remaining 7 games, but "you always want to have the x by your name," referring to the way teams that have clinched the playoffs get a small x to the left of their name on the standings sheet. For the Flyers, it was a polar opposite reaction as they fell to eighth spot only 2 points ahead of the ninth place Atlanta Thrashers for the final playoff spot. It also should be noted that, barring a playoff matchup, this was the last game between the Pens and their most hated rivals in Mellon Arena, as they are moving to the Consol Energy Center next season. The Pens next play Sunday afternoon against the Toronto Maple Leafs, in the first matchup between the two teams since the "blockbuster" trade sending Alexei Ponikarovsky to the Pens for WBS prospect Luca Caputi and defenseman Martin Skoula.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Heartbreak Again
My New Favorite Song This Week
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Hart Failure
Cutch 2.0 earned the job after out pitching him as a Pirate last season (Cutch - 1-2, 4.21 with 19 k and 11 BB in 36.1 innings, Hart - 1-8, 6.92 with 39 K and 26 BB in 53.1 innings). Hart's struggles in Spring Training have been well documented.
I don't think the problem was actually with Hart being handed the job per se. I think it was seen as a lack of a real competition, something the Pirates claimed would happen. Neil Huntington has been clear that there would be no scholarship players and this "competition" really went against the spirit of what the Pirates are trying to accomplish.
Sure Hart's upside is higher and his stuff is better. But if he can't repeat his delivery, and if the Pirates are only planning to use their fifth starter just one time between now and April 24th, it just makes sense for him to learn how to repeat his delivery in Triple A instead of getting smacked around and discouraged in the Majors.
The real question is why did they try to give Hart the job so much? Was it only his stuff? Was Huntington trying to justify a trade that is looking pretty bad at this point in time? They really never held a fair competition between the two and now it looks like we will never get to see a real competition because Cutch 2.0 still doesn't have a Grapefruit League start.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Henrik or Bust
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Buzzer Beaten
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Answering the Bell (And a Fleury Shutout too)
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Mean Green
Monday, March 15, 2010
Enter TIGOs Bracket Challenge, Winner gets a Penguins Bobblehead
Here's the deal. Fill out a bracket. If you win I will send you a Dennis Bonvie Wilkes-Barre/Scranton bobblehead. Easy enough.
Head over to Yahoo and fill it out. The password is TIGO. If you need the group ID number, its 120295. Tell your friends. You have until tip off of the first game on Thursday (around noon) to complete your bracket. Good luck.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Grinding One Out
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Flat Out
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Rusty in Raleigh
Thank God That's Over
Penn State got hammered by Minnesota in the opening round of the Big Ten tournament, 76-55. It was even that close. This was a terrible season and now the suffering is over. Talor Battle had 10 but was basically a non-factor. Good thing I don't have to watch anymore of the Big 10 tournament. Now it's a wait and see what will happen with HC Ed DeChellis. I think the fans have made up their minds.
On to good PSU news. Talor Battle Earns All-Big Ten Honors for the second straight year.
The Blue-White game on April 24 will be televised by ESPN2.
Off the Hook! (Well, Not Really...)
Monday, March 8, 2010
Big Ten Tournament Predictions
One more game and this dreadful season will be over. No NCAA's. They did play Minnesota tough in both games this year so maybe PSU will win one. Doubtful but that's why they play the games.
Drug Allegations Against Jason Kendall
That is probably going to hurt more than this-
I remember watching that game. You can see the bone pop out of his sock.
And while I'm posting videos, here is one of my favorite bands The Hold Steady with a live performance of Ask Her For Some Adderall. This blog makes no sense sometimes.
Streakin Again!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Star Power
Though the Dallas Stars were in town, it was the Pens' stars that shone brighter Saturday afternoon at Mellon Arena. All star Sidney Crosby had two goals and an assist to lead all players in scoring. Alexei Ponikarovsky also got his first goal as a Penguin, capping off the win with a rebound powerplay goal. Jordan Staal and Chris Kunitz each contributed a goal and an assist as well. The Pens' third goal was scored by Pascal Dupuis also. Perhaps the highlight of the day was the extremely lengthy fight between Craig Adams and Steve Ott of Dallas, leaving both players short of breath and to the delight of the crowd. Marc-Andre Fleury also bounced back well from a lackluster performance on Thursday to get the win. The only "downer" was the ending of Evgeni Malkin's point streak. Dallas goals were scored by Ribeiro, Segal, and Eriksson. The Pens next play Sunday afternoon at 3 pm vs the Boston Bruins.
There's No Tieing In Baseball
I'm sure if Matt Capps was still with the Bucs today's game wouldn't have ended 3-3. Ryan Church homered, Jeff Clement had an RBI and Kevin Hart was horrible. Preseason baseball at its best. Still, I can't wait until opening day. 29 days. The next TV game is Wednesday. Lets Go Bucs!
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Johnny on the Spot!
Yinz Luv 'Da Guins!, Ep. #5
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
TRADE DEADLINE
Who We Gave: Defenseman Chris Peluso
Baseball is Back! Pirates Liveblog
The first spring training game of the year. Pirates at Yankees. Is this a preview of the 2010 World Series? Highly unlikely. It's hard to repeat as champs in the big leagues. Please, anyone but the Yanks again. The game is at 1 and can be seen on the MLB Network. If you happen to live in my neck of the woods, the game is also on YES. Join the guys in the liveblog below. I'll be at work. Go Bucs!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Welcome Back
In a game overshadowed by the fallout of the Olympics and the approaching trade deadline, the Pens managed to pound out a 3-2 win over Buffalo Tuesday night. This was an important two points for the Pens on their first game back since February 14th, as it greatly helps their cause in their division against the New Jersey Devils. Brent Johnson turned in a strong performance and made several of his 28 saves at crucial moments to hold the one goal lead. Sergei Gonchar began the scoring near the end of the first with a slapshot powerplay goal past Lalime. Pascal Dupuis continued it into the second on a wrist shot.(above) Ruslan Fedotanko put the game away in the third beating Lalime on a set play midway through the third. Sabres goals were scored by Lyndman and Roy. While the game was entertaining enough, there were several other stories that "overshadowed" the game. The players from both teams who participated in the Olympics were honored before the game, and Sidney Crosby got a mixed reaction from the fans at mellon arena. The other big story was the acquistion of defenseman Jordan Leopold on Monday and winger Alexi Ponikarovsky during the game. (more to come on trades later) Those stories aside, it was still a very good win for the Pens, who next play Thursday against the New York Rangers.
Monday, March 1, 2010
What? Penn State Wins By 19? Who?
Talor Battle once again led Penn State in scoring as the Nittany Lions pounded Northwestern. The bench though was the story in this game. Cammeron Woodyard was 4-4 from the field in the first half and had a career high with nine points. The bench as a team had 25. Penn State shot 57% for the game. This one was over from the get go which is strange to say about the Lions. Up next is Michigan State in East Lansing on Thursday. Game time is at 7 and is on ESPN2.