Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Game 47: Pens 4, Red Wings 1

Flower Power!

PENS LINEUP
Cooke-Staal-Kennedy
Kunitz-Malkin-Dupuis
Rupp-Talbot-Conner
Adams-Letestu-Asham
Orpik-Letang
Martin-Michalek
Goligoski-Engelland
Fleury

WINGS LINEUP
Franzen-Zetterberg-Eaves
Hudler-Filppula-Bertuzzi
Draper-Helm-Miller
Tatar-Abdelkader-Mursak
Lidstrom-Kronwall
Ericsson-Rafalski
Salei-Kindl
MacDonald

SCORING
Penguins-4
-Jordan Staal (Kennedy) 1-3:02
-Chris Conner (PS) 1-11:29
-Chris Kunitz (Dupuis, Malkin) 2-17:58
-Matt Cooke (EN) (Kennedy, Orpik) 3-18:41
Red Wings- 1
-Johan Franzen (Eaves, Zetterberg) 2-17:28

FIGHTS
-none

GOALTENDING
Pens- Fleury
W- Fleury (36-37)
Wings- MacDonald
L- MacDonald (25-28)

POWERPLAYS
Pens- 0/1 (1:16)
Wings- 0/4 (6:27)

1st Period
-The Staal line out to start against Detroit's top unit. I'd expect to see this all night.
-Teams feeling each other out for the 1st few minutes.
-MacDonald goes back to play the puck. TK steals it right from his stick and centers it to Staal with a wide open net in front of him. 1-0 Pens! Kennedy's 100th career point.
-Geno takes another steal in for a breakaway but MacDonald denies his wrist shot. MacDonald had to make that save or he'd be in trouble.
-Bertuzzi redirects one just past the left post. Fleury looked a bit out of position but no harm no foul.
-Malkin with yet another impressive steal. Sets up Dupuis for a good shot but MacDonald makes the stop. He did give up a rebound but Dupuis rang it off the pipe.
-Fleury absolutely robbed Zetterberg with the pad! Great save by the Flower. Wow, so much action already only 8 minutes into the 1st.
-Chris Conner turns on the jets for a breakaway of his own. Tripped up into the goalie but he does get a backhand shot off. No call.
-Huge pressure generated by the Malkin line. Lots of shots including a great chance for Michalek but he just missed the net. Both teams attacking like its the playoffs.
-Conner got another breakaway! He got hooked this time and there IS a penalty shot called. That's what speed does for you.
-Conner takes the puck with speed. Skates straight at McDonald like a missile and chips one by on the backhand! 2-0 Pens 1st career penalty shot for Cons and the 1st successful one for the Pens since 2007.
-Geno accidentally mistakes the official for a blackshirt and passes it to him, but he realizes his error and hustles back to regain possession and set up a shot by Kunitz.
-Fleury with a couple of nice saves on Helm with 2 min remaining.
-Mike Rupp with a nice turnaround shot. Ref blows the play dead with the puck not frozen.
-Staal line ends the period with a strong last shift.

Notes: Solid period by the Pens. It is really important to get a good start against Detroit and that is exactly what the Pens did. Tyler Kennedy continued his elevated play next to Staal and Chris Conner did what he does best...skate. And anyone who watched the 1st period can vouch that Evgeni Malkin played well, even though he doesn't have any points. He and the rest of his team looked hungry.

2nd Period

-Slow start
-Letestu with a nice chance after MacDonald has trouble handling the puck.
-Wings come right back down the ice after Letestu's chance and create one of their own. Fleury with a nice save on Tatar.
-Cooke off for tripping. Detroit gets the first PP of the game.
-Pens with an OK looking kill. Didn't look as aggressive as usual but they got the job done.
-Another Detroit PP. Fleury with a great save on Zetterberg.
-Kunitz out of the box takes a nice pass from Staal and nearly banks one into the net. Somehow it stayed out.
-Rupp tripped. Pens PP
-Malkin with a shot, trickles to Letang who was right by the post. Letang had a completely open net but hit the far post. Celebrated a goal that just didn't happen.
-Drew Miller all alone on a shorthanded chance. Letang had to trip him. Penalty called but surprisingly no PS.
-Fleury and the D take care of the penalty. Flower looks solid tonight.
-Staal line out for some solid pressure. The lines have been a bit jumbled this period with all the penalties.
-Puck travels across the front right to Franzen who had a half-empty net to shoot at. Nice pass by Zetterberg. 2-1
-Malkin with yet another steal. Sets up Dupuis for a shot and Kunitz buries the rebound! Malkin was screening in front. 3-1 Pens Great quick response just 30 seconds after Franzen's goal.
-Period ends with all momentum going Pens way.

Notes: 18 minutes of that period belonged to Detroit. They outshot, outworked, and outhustled Pittsburgh and got themselves a few powerplays in the process. But Marc-Andre Fleury had the answer for everything until Franzen slipped that one in. The response by the Pens just seconds after Detroit pulled within 1 was absolutely critical and Kunitz was able to get one by MacDonald after yet another good steal by Geno. I like the looks of this one.

3rd Period

-Fleury with a nice stop on Filppula
-Red Wings are really trying to set up plays. Pens defense in "bend don't break" mode.
-Wings are really firing. Fleury with a nice glove save as he sticks his glove way up in the air.
-Not relevant to the game but just heard Letestu has signed a 2 year extension. Great news.
-Pens finally starting to wake up a little bit.
-Staal with a scoring chance but MacDonald makes the save. I'm just happy to see the puck in the other end for a change.
-Back and forth. No major chances worth noting. Lot of balance now in this 3rd period.
-Paul Martin with a nice offensive opportunity. Broken up by MacDonald.
-Pens really falling back to play defense. 2 forwards backchecking at any given time.
-Fleury in lockdown mode. 2:30 to go.
-Kennedy with a nice steal. Heading down the ice at an empty net but chooses to be generous and passes it to Cookie. 24 buries it into the twine. 4-1 Pens
-Game ends with another solid penalty kill by the Pens. That's game.

Notes: Just taking care of business for the Pens. It was really quite a boring and uneventful period, which is A ok for a team protecting a 2 goal lead. 2 points from this one, and hopefully a few more upcoming before the all-star break.

Final Thoughts and Notes:

-Fantastic game from Chris Conner. People are starting to take notice of just how hard he works every night.
-Tyler Kennedy's season has been resurrected ever since he was put on Staal's wing. Those 2 are really clicking.
-Malkin played fine tonight. I don't know why everyone is criticizing him so much.
-As the news spreads of Letestu's new contract, the pressure shifts to Talbot. Tonight he was average. He will need to be better than that.
-Zbynek Michalek was a penalty killing beast tonight.
-One of Letang's shakiest games in a long time. He did improve in the 3rd period, though.
-Kind of a boring game.
-I'm going to list the Staal line as line 1 tonight because they started the game and were out all night against Detroit's top unit.

Quite honestly this was kind of a boring game. But the Pens were less boring and they have bragging right over Wings fans for at least the next few weeks.

GRADES

Line 1: A
Line 2: A
Line 3: B+
Line 4: B-
D1: B
D2: A-
D3: B
Fleury: A
Powerplay: N/A
Penalty Kill: A


QUOTE OF THE NIGHT
"A turnover off the goalie, a penalty shot, we paid attention to details"
-Kris Letang

GAME CHANGING MOMENT
-Conner's penalty shot.

MY 3 STARS
1. Marc Andre Fleury
2. Chris Conner
3. Tyler Kennedy

Monday, January 17, 2011

Rex Ryan Jobbing

Huge weekend for the Stillers coming up, and as a Pens blogger I think this crosses over into my jurisdiction. Here's some photos of Jets coach Rex Ryan at a Flyers-Canes game earlier in the season.That's enough right there to strike up some hate, but it gets more interesting. Notice the attractive Canes ice girls that have walked up to him and how quickly he rips off that Flyers jersey to show off his gut to the RBC Center.
And will ya look at that. Didn't think ol' Rex would succumb THAT easily.
But anyway, let's hope Larry Foote and the Steelers will be a step ahead of him this weekend.Here We Go.
Let's Go Pens.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Game 45: Pens 5, Canadiens 2

Response

PENS LINEUP
Kunitz-Malkin-Dupuis
Kennedy-Staal-Cooke
Rupp-Talbot-Conner
Asham-Letestu-Adams
Orpik-Letang
Martin-Michalek
Goligoski-Engelland
Fleury

CANADIENS LINEUP
Eller-Plekanec-Kostitsyn
Pacioretty-Gomez-Gionta
Pouliot-Desharnais-Darche
Moen-Pyatt-Halpern
Gill-Subban
Hamrlik-Wisniewski
Spacek-Weber
Price

SCORING
Penguins- 5
-Alex Goligoski (Kunitz, Letestu) 1-12:57
-Tyler Kennedy (Letang, Staal) 2-4:12
-Jordan Staal (unassisted) 2-19:49
-Alex Goligoski (Staal, Letang) 3-2:33
-Chris Kunitz (Letang, Goligoski) 3-11:29
Canadiens- 2
-Tomas Plekanec (Darche, Pouliot) 1-13:15
-David Desharnais (Subban, Pyatt) 2-2:05

FIGHTS
-none

GOALTENDING
Pens- Fleury
W- Fleury (20-22)
Habs- Price
L- Price (31-36)

POWERPLAY
Pens- 4/6 (9:19)
Habs- 0/4 (5:04)

1st Period
-Goligoski and Letang out together to start? And Goligoski goes straight to the box...
-Good kill for the Pens. A good start tonight is unspeakably important.
-Goligoski back with Engelland now. Good shift by the Staal line.
-Michalek crept in close to the net and almost buried a Kunitz rebound but Price slid over to deny him of his first goal.
-Malkin has created 2 great scoring opportunities so far. Best he's looked in the last few games.
-Habs now picking up the pace. Fleury had a bit of difficulty with one shot but leaned back to keep it out of the net.
-Interesting series of events. Malkin with a great neutral zone steal, drops it to Kunitz, Kunitz turns it over and Montreal starts a 2 on 1, Plekanec ends up all alone on Fleury but shot it at the side of the net.
-Good catch from Errey and FSN cameras. Subban took a kick at Staal behind the net that looked VERY similar to the one that sidelined Jordan for 5 months but this time Jordan was able to fall less awkwardly and got up fine. No penalty.
-Letang to the box. Great penalty kill again by the Pens.
-Goligoski takes a drop pass from Kunitz and fires a HOWITZER to the corner of the net! He shot it so hard I'm not sure Price ever even saw it. 1-0 Pens.
-Well, not a good response. Michalek owned behind the net by Plekanec and he works it to his teammates in front. Tipped it past Fleury at close range. 1-1
-Malkin with a blast but right into Price. Less than 5 to go in the 1st.
-Moen tries to put a hit on Rupp but he missed and faceplanted into the boards. Slow to get up. Habs fans boo for some reason (not that anyone is surprised)
-Letang and Goligoski again? Both are playing well tonight so I guess Dan can get away with it.
-Period ends at 1-1. Pens looked a bit better at the end of the frame.

Notes: Besides that momentum-killing defensive hiccup this period belonged to Pittsburgh. Malkin looked as good as he's been in a the last week and the defense was for the most part effective in taking the heat off Fleury. This game just has the feel that it won't take much to blow it apart for either team. Like to see the Pens pick up the checking game.

2nd Period
-Slow start to the period.
-Subban fires a shot. Takes a low and strange deflection off Desharnais and past Fleury. Ugly. 2-1 Montreal
-Malkin behind the net feeds a pass in front to Kunitz. Price makes the save but Kunitz is high-sticked in the process. Powerplay Pens.
-Staal faceoff back to Letang. Letang with a nifty change-up move to get Kennedy open on the left boards and TK fires a beautiful looking shot right past Price. Gorgeous looking play but more importantly a quick answer to Montreal's goal. Also Staal's first point of the season. 2-2
-Kennedy with a decent backhand opportunity on the next shift. Price stops the shot and the puck trickles into the corner. Referee thought it was in Price's pads so he blows the play dead and ends any rebound opportunity for the Pens.
-Habs must have felt some pressure so Martin calls a timeout a few min into the 2nd period. They don't have any more left for the rest of the game.
-Conner-Talbot-Rupp line log 3 quality shots at the end of a shift. Still tied midway through the 2nd.
-Wisniewski off for slashing. Pens get 2nd powerplay of the game.
-Another back and forth series: Habs on a shorthanded 2 on 1, great diving block by Goligoski, Letang scoops up the puck and headmans TK on a 2 on 1 with Geno. Kennedy gets the pass through to Malkin but Price makes the save.
-Letestu with a great chance, then Gomez with one the other way, and then Dupuis with a great shot back on the other side, and then Gomez again. Wow! Both goalies getting a workout.
-Fleury is giving up rebounds but he is also stopping them. Finally we get a commercial break to catch our breath (the teams AND the fans).
-First faceoff after the break Gionta rings one off the post. Close call...
-Habs whistled for having about 27 guys out on the ice. Pens powerplay.
-Staal gets his feet set, takes a nice backhand feed from Letang, and slips it through Price's pads. First point and now his first goal of the season! 3-2 Pens with a huge timely goal at the very end of the period.
-The final 10 seconds runs off after Staal's goal. Period ends 3-2 Pens.

Notes: This period was enough to make you dizzy! In the beginning they traded goals and then it was just chance after chance on both sides of the ice. That Staal goal couldn't have been timed better and the Pens really did take the last laugh into the locker room. The Pens might be better off trying to slow down the 3rd period and chip away at hopefully an insurance goal. As we learned on Monday it's certainly not over but you gotta love the way the Pens have played so far.

3rd Period
-Michalek hits the boards hard after getting tangled up with Pouliot. Pouliot sent to the box although it really didn't look like he intended to trip up Michalek.
-Staal anchored in front of the net on the powerplay. Letang takes a shot, Price gives up the rebound, Staal pokes it loose and Goligoski buries it into an essentially empty net! 4-2 Pens with their 3rd powerplay goal of the night against Montreal's top rated PK unit.
-Pouliot slashed Kennedy. Whistle blows but he shoots it anyway. He actually scored but it was obviously waved off in favor of another Pens powerplay.
-Letestu and Subban get into a wrestling match behind the goal. And Letestu topples the much larger Subban to the ground!
-Pens completely controlling things as the period hits the halfway mark.
-Letang fires a slapshot on net right past Price! 5-2 Pens and the FOURTH powerplay goal of the night. Kunitz may have gotten a piece of it but as of now it's Letang's goal.
-Gionta and Gomez causing problems in front of Fleury. Little bit of mayhem afterwards.
-Commercial break with just under 4 minutes to go. Let's hope this is a different story from Monday (and it will be).
-Pens defense is locking it down.
-Goligoski had a chance for the hats but Price was able to make the save.
-Goligoski to the box. No hat trick for him tonight. Soft call.
-Pens with a stellar PK. They will certainly be 1st after their PP put 4 up on Habs.
-And that's the game. Huge turnaround from the last 2. Not to mention that Fleury struck the same pose as Price did last Thursday after the victory. FINAL SCORE PENS 5 HABS 2

Notes: Fantastic. If the Pens play more games like this then I think this team can really be special this year. Everything/everyone that has been heavily criticized this year (Goligoski, Kennedy, powerplay) was phenomenal. After not being to say anything positive about them on Monday I simply cannot say enough today.

Final Thoughts and Notes:
-Goligoski is getting back to "early season form." And even more impressive was that he was making defensive plays tonight.
-Malkin still hasn't really stepped up to the level people thought he would without Sid but he did play a solid, consistent game tonight.
-Tyler Kennedy played one of his best of the year. He was actually taking over shifts in the 2nd period.
-Staal has been playing this well since he came back but it's great to see him finally rewarded for it.
-Last year's dynamic 3rd line reunited for the 2nd game and they looked good. Does Bylsma keep them together or reunite the buzz line when Sid comes back?
-Pens did a good job keeping Subban from drawing them into dumb decisions. PK was a non-factor tonight.
-Watching Rupp and Conner together on the ice is quite entertaining. Totally different styles but they actually work well together.

This was actually one of my favorite games of the year considering when it happened and the conditions around it. These boys were out to prove a point that they can win without Sid and save me the trouble of drafting a post tomorrow explaining why I think they don't need to trade the entire team for scoring wingers. And Fleury's celebration at the end: epic... Proud to be a Pens fans tonight.

GRADES:
Line 1: B+
Line 2: A
Line 3: A-
Line 4: B
D1: A
D2: B
D3: A-
Fleury: A
Powerplay: A+
Penalty Kill: A+

GAME CHANGING PLAY:
-The importance of Staal's goal in the last 10 seconds of the 2nd period can not be forgotten. Not only was it a momentum shifting goal, but it was so late in the period that Montreal had no chance to respond.

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT:
"With or without Sid, we're not going to change our game. We're going to try and grind teams down and play our best hockey."
-Jordan Staal

My 3 Stars
1. Alex Goligoski
2. Marc-Andre Fleury
3. Jordan Staal

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Yinz Luv 'Da Stillers!, (Wildcard Weekend '10)

Game 44: Bruins 4, Pens 2


Fail

PENS LINEUP
Kunitz-Malkin-Dupuis
Cooke-Staal-Kennedy
Rupp-Talbot-Conner
Jeffrey-Letestu-Adams
Orpik-Letang
Martin-Michalek
Goligoski-Engelland
Fleury

BRUINS LINEUP
Lucic-Savard-Ryder
Marchand-Bergeron-Recchi
Wheeler-Krejci-Seguin
Paille-Campbell-Thornton
Chara-Kampfer
Seidenberg-Boychuk
Ference-Bartkowski
Rask

SCORING
Bruins

-Zdeno Chara (Seidenberg, Campbell) 3-16:37
-Brad Marchand (Bergeron, Campbell) 3-16:49
-Mark Recchi (Ryder, Seidenberg) 3-19:10
-Gregory Campbell (Wheeler, Bergeron) 3-19:52
Penguins
-Mike Rupp (Engelland) 2-11:39
-Kris Letang (Malkin, Martin) 2-15:12

FIGHTS
none

GOALTENDING
W- Rask (23-25)
L- Fleury (28-31)

POWERPLAYS
Pens 1/6 (9:31)
Bruins 2/5 (7:25)


1st Period

-1st shift. Geno looks like he's in "I'm going to try to do everything" mode. This can be a good or a bad thing.
-Pens answer with 2 straight shifts of puck possession. Last year's dynamic 3rd line playing as line 2 tonight and they're picking up where they left off.
-Lucic and Savard each with point blank shots at Fleury but Flower keeps the puck out of harm's way.
-Rupp and Conner together on the ice certainly bring an interesting mix. One is crushing and one is flying. 25 in the middle.
-Great skating by Malkin creates a nice chance for Kunitz. Just a hair wide. Halfway through the 1st.
-Jeffrey off for a hook. Soft call if you ask me.
-Staal with a nice looking shorthanded breakaway but poke-checked away by Rask.
-Rest of the PK goes smoothly. Guys look like they came out to do work tonight.
-Staal with a nice shot. Boston is keeping a lot of traffic in front of Rask and it is causing for some interesting scrums in front of the net.
-Cooke off for high-stick. Another picture perfect penalty kill.
-Pens end the period on a powerplay. Looked nothing like an advantage until a doorstep chance by Letang as time expired but Rask met the challenge. 0-0 after 1.

Notes: Overall it was just a hard fought period by 2 of the best defensive teams in the league. Can't be upset with the way the Pens came out after watching Saturday's disaster although still no goals. These lines look like they are working well together and as usual the penalty killers are phenomenal. I know this sounds like a contradiction, but I'd actually like to see a bit less work down low/puck possession and a bit more shooting.

2nd period
-Geno goes forward on the faceoff and finds a streaking Letang. Rask is ready for it.
-Pens get another chance on the powerplay. Starting to find a bit of success working it out to the points, but still no dice.
-Paul Martin's ridiculously lazy turnover behind his own net leads to a few chances for Bergeron but Fleury bails his dman out.
-Good hustle by Kunitz and Dupuis leads to the game's best chance so far. Also the game's best save by Rask. 12 min to go.
-24-11-48 line with a massive shift at midway.
-Jeffrey and Letestu getting some time with Geno. I would like to see more of this. (or something similar)
-Rupp barrels into the zone like a Tiger Tank on steroids and pokes a backhander through Tuuka's arms! 1-0 Pens
-Some confusion when Fleury goes behind the net to play a puck and it almost ends up like the Winter Classic goal. But thankfully it doesn't.
-After singlehandedly holding the first half of the powerplay together, Letang fires a rocket slapshot from a bouncing pass to beat Rask high! 2-0 Pens
-Fleury with a huge save on Lucic. Closed the 5 hole just in time to preserve the 2 goal lead. Some fireworks after the play between Letang and Savard. Rumor is that Savard had a hangnail.
-Recchi takes a 4 minute penalty. Pens hold the puck too much and don't make much out of their 4 on 3 chance. When it turns to 5 on 4 the Bs go to work with some shorthanded chances and it leads to a Goligoski penalty.
-Period comes to a close 2-0 Pens.

Huge that the 2-0 lead stuck into the intermission. This has been a solid defensive game by both teams, but there have been some chances as well. So far this looks like exactly the opposite of Saturday and the Pens just need to dig in and crank out one more solid period of hockey. Although can't help but think of that last game against Boston...

3rd Period

-3rd starts out like the last 2....Defense.
-One thing I'm noticing about the D tonight is that they are working very well with each other. All 3 pairings showing good chemistry tonight.
-Orpik and Wheeler really get into it behind the net.
-I'm hearing Talbot struggled down the runway but he returned rather quickly. Probably equipment. 13 minutes left.
-Boston picking up the pressure but so is Fleury. Still 2-0 Pens with 11 to go.
-Boston kills off a Pens PP. They are gaining some momentum with 6 minutes to go.
-Orpik called for boarding...meh, I guess. Anyways, its a big powerplay opportunity for Boston in the last 5 and a half minutes.
-Great penalty kill by the Pens but Chara blasts one home at the very end of the man advantage. Uh oh. 2-1
-Here we go again... Boston scores again. Marchant had the entire net to shoot at after a delicious Fleury rebound. Fleury looked like he was either frozen in place or sleeping.
-Bylsma timeout. Why does Boston do this to us? Regardless, the Pens have been the better team tonight so they can bounce back from this.
-Now Staal in the box. Boston with a powerplay to do take the lead. Do or die penalty kill without one of our best killers here. Gut check.
-Recchi given all the room in the world in front of the net. And he scores.
-And why not? An empty netter for Boston too.
-Final Boston 4, Pens 2

Notes: I have no words other than every single black jersey should be ashamed and disgusted about this game. There is no excuse for that kind of sloppy play to happen in the ECHL, let alone the top level of hockey. And even though the Pens were outplaying the Bs essentially all game, there were a lot of people (myself included) who just felt this coming. Its just a shame that the HBO series ended because this will be a very interesting locker room postgame chat.

Final Thoughts and Notes: I will not erase and allow my comments on periods 1 and 2 to remain in the post, but right now I can say nothing further positive about this team tonight. They don't deserve it right now.
-However I will not waste your time with mindless rage either. It was exactly what it sounded like tonight. 1 embarassing loss is a hiccup, 2 is an eyebrow raiser, but 3 is a problem so they better start AND finish better on Wednesday.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Game 42: Canadiens 2, Pens 1

It's a point...

PENS LINEUP
Kunitz-Letestu-Dupuis
Kennedy-Staal-Malkin
Conner-Talbot-Asham
Rupp-Adams-Engelland
Orpik-Letang
Martin-Michalek
Goligoski-Lovejoy
Johnson

CANADIENS LINEUP
Pacioretty-Gomez-Gionta
Cammalleri-Plekanec-Kostitsyn
Pyatt-Halpern-Moen
Pouliot-Desharnais-Darche
Gill-Subban
Spacek-Wisniewski
Picard-Weber
Price

SCORING
Canadiens- 1
-Benoit Pouliot (Darche, Desharnais) 2-12:28
Penguins- 1
-Arron Asham (Lovejoy, Goligoski) 1-2:14


SHOOTOUT
Cammalleri- X
Letang- X
Subban- X
Dupuis- X
Gionta- X
Malkin- X
Kostitsyn- X
Letestu- X
Pouliot- O
Kunitz- X

FIGHTS
none

GOALTENDING
Canadiens- Price
W- Price (31-32) (5-5)
Penguins- Johnson
L- Johnson (22-23) (4-5)

POWERPLAYS
Pens- 0/2 (4:00)
Habs- 0/5 (8:00)

1st Period
-Game underway. No Sid (upper body) or Cooke (personal). Engelland starting at fwd.
-Asham gets the Pens on the board early with a rebound that looked way too easy. The Habs just let him walk right in. Lovejoy took the original shot. 1-0 Pens
-Kostitsyn looked like he was on a breakaway but tripped. Johnson has no problem clearing the puck. 15 min to go.
-Engelland indeed out with the 4th line. Game continues to be back and forth up the ice through the first 9 minutes. Line changes becoming important.
-Habs almost look like they are in desperation mode right now. Taking no time to set any plays up and just firing all kinds of awkward looking shots at Johnson whenever they can.
-Kennedy behind the net feeds it to Staal but Jordan hits the post. Still 1-0 with 7 min to go.
-Pacioretty comes streaking down the ice and tries a wrap around. Johnson makes a series of acrobatic saves to end the scoring opportunity.
-Kostitsyn with another chance but Johnson denies it with his arm.
-Period over already. Pens dominated the shots 13-5.

Notes: No complaints with this period. The defense looks spectacular tonight and they aren't letting the Habs get many legitimate shots off. Johnson is sharp. The new lines have yet to find much chemistry but just about everyone is working hard out there so things are moving well. I suspect the Habs will make some adjustments at intermission so the Pens should be ready for a bit more of a challenge in the 2nd.

2nd Period
-Habs' Moen with the first legitimate chance of the period. Tried a wraparound but Johnson stuck the pad out to kick it aside. Goligoski's stick also in the mix.
-Malkin turnover turns into 3 good shorthanded shots for Montreal. Great job by Johnson to deny all of them.
-Pens powerplay finishes without much of a strain to Price.
-Spacek winds and fires and hits the pipe. Pens immediately counter-attack and Malkin is stopped on a breakaway chance.
-Lovejoy to the box. Habs firing like mad on their powerplay but they can't seem to hit the net much. Pens PK takes control for the last 40 sec of the penalty.
-Johnson gives up a rebound opportunity but then regains his bearings in time to stop Moen in front.
-Puck bounces right to the waiting stick of Pouliot. He fires it off Johnson's shoulder and in. 1-1
-Johnson knocked over in front of the net by Gionta's foot. A bit slow to get up but eventually regains his footing. 6 min to go
-Letestu with a great backcheck on Subban. Prevented a scoring opportunity for sure. Pens starting to pick it up but still not quite where they were in the 1st.
-Period ends at 1-1. Pens looked a bit better at the end.

Notes: As I said in the 1st, Montreal made some adjustments and dominated the 1st 15 minutes of this period. They continued to shoot from just about everywhere imaginable but every now and then they got that one opportunity and did convert on 1. The Pens new lines continued to struggle to find chemistry together. Physical play certainly picked up at the end of the period. Malkin needs to stop looking for that perfect play and take what the defense is giving him. I'd say Kennedy, Asham, and Letestu have been the most impressive Pens through 2.

3rd Period
-Kennedy tripped. First chance of the powerplay Malkin had an open net but he waited just a second too long to shoot. Price makes the save.
-The rest of the Pens powerplay looked like the Habs powerplay because they controlled the puck the entire time.
-Pens respond with a superb penalty kill of their own.
-Kennedy absolutely flying on a breakaway. Spacek dives to trip him and injures himself on the goal cage. The most absurd thing is that there was no penalty called on that.
-Orpik with a nice play to break up a 2 on 1.
-Goligoski off for hooking around the halfway mark. Johnson shoots the puck over the glass a few seconds later. Montreal to the 2 man advantage.
-Adams blocks 2 huge slapshots and Orpik blocks another.
-Just when the Pens have almost killed off the entire 5 on 3, they take another penalty for delay of game. Questionable call though because the puck went into the bench area. Nonetheless, back to work for Pittsburgh's PK unit.
-Pens with another fantastic call. Kunitz with a shorthanded chance but he was hooked up. No call but finally back to even strength.
-Letang singlehandedly dominates the next shift but just unable to beat Price. 6 min to go
-Gomez gets his stick between the feet of Malkin and Geno goes down hard. Looks like a groin injury. No call.
-Malkin back out for his next shift. Hopefully this injury won't be something to worry about in the future.
-That's it for regulation. Both get a point right now.

Notes: Pens looked a lot better this period. Absolutely clutch penalty killing in the middle of the period and then they tried to get some offense going at the end. I'm happy with the point. I think Johnson is playing well enough the hopefully we can get 2 but can't argue with the point on the 2nd day of a back-to-back

Overtime

-Malkin tries to juggle the puck in the air into the offensive zone. Almost worked but not quite.
-Cammalleri point blank shot but just wide.
-Wisniewski fires a huge slapshot but rejected by Johnson.
-No score at the end of a very quick OT

Notes: Back and forth just like the rest of the game. Both of these goalies are going to be hard to beat in the shootout.


Shootout

-Cammalleri shoots from quite a way out and Johnson sticks the pad out to stop him. SAVE
-Letang slows down on his approach, maybe lost his balance a bit and shoots it right at Price. SAVE
-Subban goes very wide left and cuts across the crease but Johnson holds his balance long enough to stop it. SAVE
-Dupuis comes in very fast, tries to deke but just missed the net. MISS
-Gionta comes flying up the middle and tries a very late deke but Johnson got the stick and pads out to deny him. SAVE
-Malkin with a great deke on Price but he really didn't even shoot it. MISS
-Kostitsyn comes in from the right side and whiffs. MISS
-Letestu patiently walks in and tries glove side but Price snagged it with the mit. SAVE
-Pouliot pulls a nifty little move. Total extension of the stick. GOAL
-Kunitz shoots it right at Price. SAVE

Final Thoughts and Notes:
-Great move by Pouliot. That's all there is about that.
-Both goalies deserve a pat on the back after tonight.
-Malkin was just a little bit off all night long.
-Staal is picking up his physical game now that he is on his 3rd start.
-Kennedy and Letestu were impressive in their elevated roles tonight.
-Kunitz and Dupuis were both non-factors (except on the penalty kill) and didn't really help Letestu much.
-Can't say enough good things about the penalty killers.
-Starting Engelland at forward over Godard was a good idea in my book.

Side note: Bylsma said in his post game presser that Sid has a mild concussion and will miss "about a week." I wonder if it was the Steckel hit or the one yesterday by Hedman. My guess is Steckel

GRADES
Line 1: B
Line 2: B+
Line 3: A
Line 4: B
D1: B
D2: B+
D3: B
Johnson: A
Powerplay: C
Penalty Kill: A+

GAME CHANGING PLAY
Carey Price robbed Malkin on a breakaway midway through the 2nd. At the time he would have made it 2-0.

My 3 Stars
1. Carey Price
2. Benoit Pouliot
3. Brent Johnson

Game 41: Pens 8, Lightning 1

Rampage!

PENS LINEUP
Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis
Kennedy-Staal-Malkin
Conner-Letestu-Cooke
Rupp-Talbot-Adams
Orpik-Letang
Martin-Michalek
Goligoski-Lovejoy
Fleury

LIGHTNING LINEUP
Malone-Stamkos-St Louis
Gagne-Lecavalier-Bergenheim
Tyrell-Thompson-Hall
Downie-Moore-Purcell
Hedman-Clark
Ohlund-Lundin
Smaby-Kubina
Roloson

GOALS
Penguins- 8
-Evgeni Malkin (unassisted) 1-0:07
-Chris Conner (Lovejoy, Cooke) 1-2:23
-Tyler Kennedy (Letang) 1-7:17
-Chris Kunitz (Crosby, Dupuis) 1-7:42
-Chris Kunitz (Goligoski, Letang) 1-18:56
-Mark Letestu (Kennedy, Goligoski) 2-12:54
-Chris Kunitz (Goligoski, Letang) 2-19:49
-Alex Goligoski (Conner, Lovejoy) 3-3:38
Lightning- 1
-Adam Hall (Thompson, Tyrell) 3-2:25

FIGHTS
-none

GOALTENDING
Pens- Fleury
W- Fleury (31-32)
Lightning- Roloson/Ellis/Roloson/Ellis
L- Roloson (18-23)
ND- Ellis (15-18)

POWERPLAYS
Pens- 2/4 (5:38)
Lightning- 0/2 (4:00)

1st Period
-GENO SCORES 7 seconds into the game off a faceoff breakaway. Roloson had the initial poke check but Geno buried the rebound. What a start! 1-0 Pens
-Sid with a great chance on a breakaway of his own. Takes a hard shot. Roloson stops him.
-Now Tampa is buzzing. Fleury stops about 3 rebound chances.
-Lovejoy fires from the point. Deflected off Conner's skate behind Roloson. No kicking motion so the goal stands. 2-0 less than 3 minutes in and this is exactly the kind of start the Pens needed after a big letdown followed by a long break.
-Letang starts the rush. Kennedy very patient and fires it through the 5 hole. Trickles in behind Roloson! Roloson out, Ellis in. 3-0 Pens
-Still announcing TK goal. Kunitz takes it down the left side and wrists it right past Dan Ellis. Great shot. 4-0 Pens.
-Tampa Bay timeout.
-Conner rings one off the goal post at 11:30 mark. Clearly beat Ellis but Dan was saved by the pipe.
-Sid line out. Sid is trying to get himself on the board as well but Ellis all of a sudden looks sharp.
-New buzz line with a solid shift with 3 minutes to go. Good puck possession. Conner is possessed tonight,
-Gagne rams into Fleury with 2 minutes to go. Fleury knocked back into his net but the puck stays out.
-Pens powerplay. Letang with a beautiful spin pass to Goligoski. Goligoski fires it off the stick of Kunitz and in. Kunitz on HT watch. 5-0 Pens with 1 minute to go.
-Downie takes another penalty. Pens will start the next period with a minute of PP time.

Notes: Best period of the season as far as I can remember. Hit them before they even knew what was going on and never stopped. The new lines look great, especially the new buzz line. Chris Conner is unreal so far. I don't think I'd be out of bounds to call this one long gone already. Pad your stats a bit, rest up for Montreal tomorrow.

2nd Period
-Roloson back in net to start the period.
-Lightning kill off the rest of the Pens powerplay.
-Lovejoy trips up Stamkos on a semi-breakaway. Penalty shot called, should have only been 2 min. Stamkos loses an edge on his penalty shot attempt and harmlessly slides across the Consol Energy Center ice while Fleury easily scoops up the sliding puck. It's been that kind of night for TBL. Still 5-0 Pens.
-Rupp and Downie take 2 min minors. 4 on 4 now. Tampa looks better but Fleury is holding the fort.
-Orpik with a great centering pass at the end of the 4 on 4. Kennedy just pokes it wide.
-Kunitz breakaway at the 10 minute mark. Tries to go backhand but Roloson closes his legs.
-Letestu with beautiful hands. 2 quick stick moves and then he goes straight to the top with the backhand! 6-0 Pens
-Fleury with a great save on Malone with 3 minutes to go in the period.
-Another Goligoski shot. Another Kunitz redirect. This time it was a very impressive hands play. Hat trick for Kunitz. 7-0 Pens

Notes: Just going through the motions. Sick move by Letestu and great to see Kunitz get his 2nd career hattie. Pens defense still rock solid. My only concern is that this game may get a bit ugly and with Asham, Engelland, and Godard scratched I wonder who will have to keep Downie from his usual dirty tricks.
3rd Period
-Now Ellis is back in goal.
-Hall redirects one past Fleury. Oh well. 7-1
-The entire Pens team rushes up ice and develops into a 4 on 1. Chris Conner with a nice drop pass to Goligoski and Alex wires a wrister past Ellis! 8-1 Pens
-Michalek and Malone mix it up behind the net. Orpik steps in to help.
-Bergenheim runs Adams behind the play and then runs to the penalty box instead of stepping up to fight Craig.
-Fleury with a great shorthanded save on Adam Hall. Pens look lazy, but why not at this point...
-Some hitting, some shooting, but no goals.
-Its over. 8-1. See you tomorrow!

Notes: Kept it clean. Would have been nice to see Fleury get the shutout but I don't think he's that upset. Bylsma was still coaching them rather hard from the bench and made sure that the defense stayed sharp throughout the third. But it was pretty much a victory lap.

Final Thoughts and Notes:
-I know the first thing that comes to everybody's mind when they see the scoresheet is "Where's Sid?" He did get 1 assist but that was it. Sid looked pretty good in the beginning of the game but really was absent in the final 2 periods. I don't know if he was just taking it easy because of the circumstances or if he was still hurting from that Steckel blindside hit back at Heinz Field but either way Sid was nowhere near 100%. It's obviously not a big deal tonight but we'll see how he does against the Habs.
-Alex Goligoski's best game of the season. He looked confident back on the powerplay and set up both of Kunitz's deflection goals with beautifully placed slapshots. He also got a goal of his own later on a breakaway and his defense looked good.
-Chris Conner really made a strong case not to scratch him again any time soon. He was absolutely flying out there and his stats back him up (not to mention he should have had another goal but it hit the post).
-Kennedy made the best of his golden opportunity next to 2 of the game's best. The Bolts defense concentrated on 71 and 11 all night and allowed Kennedy to make plays.
-Cooke fit right in on the buzz line.
-Kudos to Fleury and the defense for staying sharp all night.

GRADES:
Line 1: A-
Line 2: A
Line 3: A+
Line 3: A-
D1: A
D2: A-
D3: A
Fleury: A
Powerplay: A
Penalty Kill: A

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT:
"We had no juice, nothing, and they had everything."
-Tampa coach Guy Boucher

GAME CHANGING PLAY
-This one never changed. Pens dominated from the first drop of the puck.

My 3 Stars:
1. Alex Goligoski
2. Chris Kunitz
3. Marc Andre Fleury

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

AHL Game 36: WBS 5, Charlotte 2 Short Version

Tim Wallace scored the 1st goal for the Pens at 6:12 after a good neutral zone feed from Brett Sterling. The entire 2nd period showcased solid penalty killing by both sides, until Tangradi followed in on a Ryan Craig shot and poked the loose puck in the crease behind Pogge. The Pens opened things up in the 3rd with 2 quick goals scored by Nick Johnson and Steve Wagner within 40 seconds of each other. Charlotte made a run at it with 2 quick goals by Jacob Micflikier and Michal Jordan. Eric Tangradi ended whatever seed of a comeback there was with an empty netter with 58 seconds to go.

Brad Theissen put in a solid performance with 25 out of 27 saves.

The Pens and Checkers have a rematch set for tomorrow night in Charlotte.

Pens Dominate All Star Game Voting

Pens place 4 out of 6 fan vote places.Forwards
Sidney Crosby PIT 635509
Jonathan Toews CHI 407676
Evgeni Malkin PIT 37688
7
Steven Stamkos TBL 308453
Patrick Kane CHI 282961
Michael Cammalleri MTL 264726
Alex Ovechkin WSH 245180
Mike Richards PHI 228828
Claude Giroux PHI 226739
Tomas Plekanec MTL 222117

So Sid dominated by nearly 228k votes over 2nd place Toews. He pretty much had it locked up after the 1st week of voting but fans continued to vote and further run up the score. Hawks fans placed their 1st of 2 players right behind him in Toews and Evgeni Malkin pulled the upset and convincingly took 3rd place. Nearly everyone would have guessed either Stamkos (4th) or Ovechkin (7th) would have taken this spot but Pens fans really pulled through for Geno and he won by almost 70k votes over Stamkos. Ovechkin placed quite low back in 7th behind Kane and Cammalleri followed by a couple of Flyers and Plekanec of the Habs. Looking further down the list you can spot an attempted prank by Rangers fans as Sean Avery somehow took 15th spot with nearly 173k votes. Other Pens that made the list were Talbot with 56k, Kunitz with 42k, and Dupuis with 14k. Some big ticket guys like Iginla, Nash, Thornton, and Vanek finished a good way down the list but the biggest fan flop was Ilya Kovalchuk. Kovalchuk was nearly at the bottom of the list with about 17k votes. In fact, Kovalchuk's fan showing was so bad that he was beaten by Coyotes enforcer Paul Bissionette and his twitter fans.

Defense
Kris Letang PIT 477960
Duncan Keith CHI 382162
Nicklas Lidstrom DET 296600
Chris Pronger PHI 292944
Brent Seabrook CHI 239323
Kimmo Timonen PHI 237406
P.K. Subban MTL 208219
Paul Martin PIT 185140
Dustin Byfuglien ATL 177123
Drew Doughty LAK 166489

Talk about a story! Kris Letang was not even on the ballot but a little campaigning by FSNPIT and the Pens site started an overflow of votes from the fan machine. This was the only way that Letang could have made the ASG, and the fans came through to send him to Raleigh. Hawks d-man Duncan Keith (winner of last year's Norris Trophy) easily took 2nd over Nicklas Lidstrom and injured Chris Pronger. The Hawks placed d-man Seabrook in 5th, Flyers d-man Timonen in 6th, and Habs sophomore PK Subban (this was quite surprising) took 7th. Paul Martin, the only Penguin on the ballot who did not get voted in, respectably placed in 8th amongst defensemen. Thrashers giant Dustin Byfuglien took 9th and Kings standout d-man Drew Doughty rounded out the top 10. Brooks Orpik (another write in) was a bit down the list with a very respectable 66k votes and Alex Goligoski just squeaked his way onto the list with 11k.

Goaltenders
Marc-Andre Fleury PIT 426305
Carey Price MTL 371854
Sergei Bobrovsky PHI 258639
Tim Thomas BOS 158578
Jaroslav Halak STL 143783
Jimmy Howard DET 130908
Ryan Miller BUF 106312
Cam Ward CAR 104281
Jonathan Quick LAK 80084
Roberto Luongo VAN 78389

For the 1st 3 weeks it looked like a head-to-head showdown between write-ins Carey Price and rookie Sergei Bobrovsky, but Marc-Andre Fleury put on a late rally in the final 2 weeks to overtake Price and stay ahead by about 55k. Fleury was not considered a favorite to get in, but once fans saw he had a chance his cause really began to pick up steam and he moved right to the front. Red hot Boston goalie Timmy Thomas finished way back in 4th followed by Blues standout Halak, Wings sophomore Howard, Olympic USA hero Ryan Miller, Cam Ward of the hometown Canes, Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick, and Canadian Olympic hero Roberto Luongo. Missing from the list is Martin Brodeur, who finished way back with only 26k votes.

The remaining 36 players will be selected next week by the NHL along with 12 rookies. This group will select 2 captains amongst themselves and those captains will participate in a fantasy draft a few days before the event to select their teams. The rookies will be able to select which side they want to play for.

Pirates Trade Joe Martinez

Multiple media outlets are reporting the Pirates have somehow traded recently DFA'd RHP Joe Martinez to the Indians for future considerations. Martinez is another in a long line of stiffs Neil Huntington has taken a waiver on at the deadline who have been moved for nothing or next to nothing (not that going after a guy like Martinez was a mistake).

Martinez only pitched in 5 games at the ML level for the Pirates, all of which were out of the bullpen. He struggled mightily in his time with the AAA Indianapolis Indians before his callup and was DFA'd to make room for pitcher Kevin Correia.

Martinez was a redundant pitcher in the Pirates organization, so his movement comes as little surprise. In fact the most surprising part is that they got a return at all for him.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Deryk Engelland Extended for 3 Years

The Pens have announced Monday morning that they have given defenseman Deryk Engelland a 3 year contract extension worth approximately 1.7 million total. Engelland, 28, was signed to a 1 year deal at the end of last season and was to become a UFA at the end of the year.

Great deal if you ask me. Engelland's stock rises for every fight he wins and he was no doubt on the watchlist of a few NHL teams already. Also, unlike some heavyweights like Godard, Engo offers himself as a capable NHL d-man who can start nearly every night without bringing down the overall performance of the team.

The money isn't bad. It comes out to about 566k per year which really isn't bad considering the 750k that Godard makes. I think now that unless Godard finds his "inner-scoring touch" in the next few months that this will be his last year in the black and gold.

Let's Go Pens

Yinz Luv 'Da Stillers!, PIT vs. CLE (Week #17)

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Rob Bolden to Transfer



The one person I can't blame for this is Rob Bolden. He lost his starting job after an injury, got it back, then was benched in favor of Matt McGloin again after just two drives. Two drives that he didn't play that bad in.

Bolden's father had this to say. From The Patriot-News:
"Rob had his ups and downs just the same as anybody would have had. But he was never allowed to rebound from that. He was never, in my eyes, coached through that. He didn't learn a whole lot just sitting on the sideline the rest of the season."


How good is Bolden anyway? He lost out to a former walk-on. He still has a year of redshirt eligibility left so I expect him to stay D1.