Game 7. The final countdown.

Should it of come to this? No, I really don't think so. Did it come down to this? Best believe your ass this is real, this is game 7. Stanley Cup playoffs round 1, game 7. Win, and move on, lose and cry over what could of been.When we started this journey it was wrought with a lot of questions. Can the Power Play do anything? The answer to that so far is a resounding unfortunate, no. Can the Penalty Kill stand up to the Power Play of the lighting? Again a resounding and unfortunate, no. Can the Penguins stop the offense of St.Louis, Lecavalier, and Stamkos? Well part of that equation but St.Louis has lit the lamp far too many times. Would Ryan Malone be a factor? In the first 5 games he was a joke, penalty after penalty putting his team in the wrong spots. Game six? He comes out and roofs Fleury for a goal that would put the Pens in crisis mode and send Game 7 back to Pittsburgh.

The past 82 regular season games and 6 Playoff games have been for one reason, getting to the Stanley Cup finals. Game 7, is no different. Everything is on the line in these final 60 minutes (barring OT) of round 1. Sid's possible return, reaching round 2 and getting a step closer to the finals, Kovalev's future in Pittsburgh, Marc Andre Fleury's confidence, Bylsma overcoming all the injury adversity and showing the league that superstars don't always have to carry the load... Much more than that and beyond for each of the 18 men who will be dressed to play tonight against Tampa.

This game, is it. The finality of it can be crushing to either side. You win here, you feel like you can do anything and ride that confidence into round 2. You lose? Well you go home and practice your golfing until training camp starts. Pittsburgh didn't battle all this way, through all this pain and through all this adversity, to lose against Tampa Bay. To lose against anyone. Until I see it happen, I won't believe it's possible. This is Consol Energy Centers biggest game of it's young lifetime and everyone in that arena tonight, outside, and in the city of Pittsburgh better be wearing white. Playoff beards are being grown for this by more than just players. Lives are on the line.

Pittsburgh's Power play isn't going to win them this game, it's at a dismal 4% or worse and won't improve drastically for this game. What needs to be done, is disciplined play, Tampa can take the penalties because they're killing all of them they take, Pittsburgh cannot afford this luxury and must keep themselves out of the box. No stupid hooks, or trips, no elbows, no damn interference calls, just play disciplined hockey. Keep the puck in the offensive zone and in the 70/30 ratio of control Bylsma likes. Out forecheck the opponent and get a handle on the dump and chase. Most of all pepper Roloson until he sneezes the rest of the game, he can get confused easily and make mistakes, capitalize off of it!

This one is for everything, every fan from infancy to elder adult hood has their hopes and dreams riding on this last game of the first round. Heart Attack city. Every shot by the Pens will bring you out of your seat, every shot by the Bolts will make you dread the outcome. Every hit, every play, should bring a roar from the crowd. They need to energize this team, they need to keep Tampa out of the game and most of all, Pittsburgh needs to bring this one to round 2, so they can face whomever it is gets reseeded against us. Buffalo lost to Philly and won't be advancing. Montreal and Boston are tied in their own game, so it's still up in the air who will be reseeded to face whom. Either way, one has to believe the Pens will play someone, whoever it is, they won't let them get in the way either.

Lets Go Pens, This what everything was for.

Pens take 3-1 lead over Lightning, Neal seals the deal in double OT.

By now it's probably known to you. This was a moment of "Where were you..." When James Neal scored off a laser beam of a goal at a near impossible angle to propel the Pens to a 3-1 series lead after taking away 2 games in Tampa. An arena the Pens had not had much success in in the regular season. Another reason why Neal and the Penguins can tell themselves the regular season no longer matters. All that matters is the post season run, and that history is in fact, being made.



It's amazing, because Errey was spot on with his call of the game at this point in time. It just takes one, and you hear Steigerwald scream "There it is!" and as soon as you do, your body feels electrified. So much ridicule, so much unnecessary disgust and lack of faith in a man who was always on the cusp of doing something amazing. All of that and more erased with a single goal.

If you've watched any of the games that have gone into overtime since the trade deadline, James Neal was a factor in that game. He has an ability, when the game is on the line, to elevate his to a level that not many players will ever realize. Of the last 10 games the Penguins participated in to end the regular season, there was a stretch where 4 straight games went to overtime and shootouts. Scoring in 3 of those 4 shootouts? James Neal, winning 2 of them on his stick. The potential was always there, but he is on a top line without it's star centermen to take the spotlight. On most given lines Neal is the biggest target due to his size and hockey intelligence. This can hold a player back.

What happens after this moment for James Neal is up to him. Does he allow this to be only a temporary respite to the long arduous regular season he slumped in, or does he allow it to show himself that he can elevate his game to a level only Asham, Kennedy and then St.Louis of Tampa can realize right now? Time will tell, but it won't be long to wait. The Penguins will face off against the Lightning tomorrow in game 5 at home in Consol Energy Center. Sgt. Bob will be singing the anthem again to get the crowd going.  I've got my new Brent Johnson shirt for the whiteout conditions we'll be experiencing.

Go Pens. Never relent, never surrender, continue to be a devouring pack of wolves.

Forecast? Fleury's with no chance of Lightning. Pens win game 1!

Alright first off, Fleury is already getting MVP chants, if you want to know why? Heres why:

Lecavalier stick handles in a phone booth trying to beat MAF and what does everyone forget? You can't spell BAMF without MAF. Fleury denies him the joy of a goal and then makes a couple additional stops in the same defensive series. What really set the tone for the entire game though, was this hit by Orpik on Stamkos:

Smeared him on the boards and Stamkos wasn't the same afterward. This is playoff Brooks Orpik, like the video I posted in the pre-game, where Orpik gets 4 hits in like 15 seconds. Brooks has the ability to become a whole lot more intense and focused during the playoffs. Almost as if he flips this switch in his head and becomes a beast on skates. The Pens had a gameplan and it wasn't any different than other playoff series, wear the other team down with physicality and when the time is right, strike hard and fast.

For two periods these two teams battled physically and not a goal was given up, many close opportunities on each side but nothing could slip past either teams goaltender and going into the third you could wonder if this was going to be a defensive duel into overtime.Then things changed, and the facilitator of that change was a hard working James Neal. Kovy gets blasted by a lightning player and that player loses his stick, having to make a hand pass instead of a regular pass he gets it along the boards but Martin is there and plays it to Neal who has come across the rink to help. Neal with only seconds to react sees Kovalev has gotten up from his hit, is wide open on the right side of the net and gives him a shot pass, the same player who lost his stick is there and could of made a play had he picked up his stick, no defensive play, wide open Kovalev with Roloson out of position and the first goal of the game goes in:

The veteran gets the pass from the playoff 'rookie' and Shero looks like a genius for putting these two together. Neal is hopefully one step closer to understanding his slumping regular season doesn't matter and that now that he's in the playoffs, it's a whole new animal and he needs to tame that beast and make it his own. Wait... what's that sound? It's the sound of the crowd roaring again as 18 seconds later Arron Asham beats the world and scores another goal after wrapping around the net, and beating Roloson, who is again out of position and puts one in for a 2-0 lead after 45 or so minutes of scoreless hockey. Consol Energy Center erupted and it was louder than it's ever been.

Asham comes in along the right hand boards, uncontested, cut's to the middle of the ice, fakes a slap shot, goes down to the goal and skates just about into Roloson, Roloson goes down and challenges but doesn't get it. Asham cut's it back and wraps around the goal, tries to tuck it in but isn't far enough out yet, somehow keeps the puck and slips it into the net beautifully past a scrambling Roloson, who is now probably thoroughly confused.

Near the end, Lightning coach Guy Boucher decides to pull Roloson with less than 2 minutes remaining in the third. Everyone thinks Fleury is going to try and shoot one down and get a goal, he does look to try once but there is too much pressure, eventually after a shot comes down he turns it to the corner, where Brooks is waiting to play the puck, Brooks gets it to Staal who gets it to Kunitz along the half boards, and he plays it beautifully at the blueline into the empty net and the Pens would go on to be 3-0 victors against the Lightning in game 1.

Now a couple things I didn't point out in the above. The Pen's Defense got away with quite a few noncalls and one drawn penalty that was a real work of art. Michalek, perhaps without even really realizing it, gets his stick in St Louis's mouth, drew quite a bit of blood for all we know probably took out a tooth for that much blood, no call on Michalek and the Pens avoid a 4 minute penalty kill.
**Footage of that hit up now.**

Not but a few minutes later Michalek catches another Bolt in the face with his stick, this one less damaging but still, no call.

In the third period, keeping the trend of highsticking alive, Letang does the greatest acting job I've ever seen. He is being challenged and the Bolt put's his stick near Letang's chest, realizing he could use this to his advantage, Letang grabs the middle of the stick, brings it up into his own chin, and snaps his head back wildly as though he was just shot. Tampa Bay penalty, and Letang goes laughing all the way back to the bench I would imagine. I know I was laughing pretty hard at the acting job, he sold me and the crowd, but not Bob Errey. Sadly there is no footage of this yet but boy was it something of a work of art.

Cue the MVP for Fleury Chants.

Bolts vs Pens Game 1, Round 1. Nothing worth winning... Ever came easy.

In a little under 2 hours the Penguins and the Lightning will face off on hockey's greatest stage, the Stanley Cup Playoffs. There had been many signs leading up to the culmination of the regular season that these two teams would be facing off in the first round, that outcome is now the reality. In this reality, the Penguins are without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, something you will hear much of through out the series. In this reality, Tyler Kennedy is the biggest offensive threat, Marc Andre Fleury is the pillar of hope, and the Defensive corps will look to continue to murder all the penalties it faces.

One team has all the offense, the other team has all the defense. Tampa's netminder is getting up there in age, Pittsburgh's on the other hand has been here now 5 straight seasons. Losing one in a fateful game 7 at home, then holding on to steal one in game 7 on the road with an amazing save in the final seconds. Here are the last 3 minutes of that game:



The moral of all this? The Penguins have veterans with cup experience,  young guns with cup experience, and only 3 players on the team debuting in their first playoff games. James Neal, Ben Lovejoy, and Deryk Engelland all have not played in an NHL playoff game in their careers. Lovejoy was a part of the team during the 2009 cup run and is technically a champion even though he did not participate. The two blueliners will look to make their presence known to the offense when out on the ice, and could make or break a game very easily. Neal, who if you didn't know is in some kind of slump, should use this experience as a time to become the hero. Difficult task however as he still will have all that first line spotlight on him without Crosby centering his line.



In case you hadn't heard, Crosby's not going to be playing and could miss the first round due to still not starting contact practice. So for anyone who thought the organization was bringing him back too soon, guess again as it hasn't happened yet. If you haven't seen the hits by Steckel or Hedman yet this year for whatever reason, be prepared to see it all playoffs long. Pittsburgh is also without the services of penalty killer and professional cookie, Matt Cooke for the first round due to suspension. His absence during the P.K has definitely been noticeable down the stretch of the final few games of the season and will certainly be mentioned any time the Pens give up a P.P goal.



Get your minds ready for playoff hockey because everything you saw in the regular season doesn't mean anything now that it's crunch time. Shootout wins? Who needs em, unlimited overtimes now. 16 teams are 0-0 and 16 teams have one goal, 16 wins and a Stanley Cup championship. Pittsburgh are you ready to answer the call? Hope you're wearing white because they're calling for white out conditions in the 'Burgh.

Do it Pens. LETS GO!

It's a Playoff night innnnnnnn Pittsburgh!

All 82 games, mean nothing. They were simply the precursor to the set up of the final dance, everyone is at 0-0 and the first team to get to 16 is going to be the team that drinks from Stanley's Cup. Will it be the Presidents trophy winning Cannucks? Will it be the defending Blackhawks? Will it be the Nashville Preda... sorry I can't even finish the question the idea is hilarious, just ask Jeremy Roenick. The Capitals? The Sharks? The Pens? Better be the Pens!

In all seriousness though this playoff season is wide open and match ups could go anywhere. The important thing for now is getting ramped up for the playoffs. Getting your mind right for hating the Lightning. As infuriating as it's going to be get used to the idea that you're going to hear Martin St. Louis's name over the intercom for scoring a goal. Get used to the idea that every time the Pens are on the attack you're going to be inches from leaping out of your seat. Get used to the idea that every time the Lightning are on the attack you're going to be clenching up in fear it could go past Fleury or Johnson. Most of all be ready, be ready for the in your face intensity of the greatest postseason in sports.

These 16 teams have battled hard all year, some through hell and back, others barely made it through on the skin of their teeth like the Blackhawks and Rangers. Each one has it's eye on only one prize, a prize not many of them have been able to covet at all, much less recently. A prize that Pittsburgh Penguins coach Dan Bylsma hoisted in his first half of a year with the team, a prize he hopes to hoist again come June.

Every series is a great match up, but only one matters more than the others right now for Pittsburgh. Tampa Bay stands in our way to victory, and the Pens must stand strong and banded together to block their way to the cup. It all starts tonight in Pittsburgh, Consol Energy Centers first ever whiteout. The Big screen is going to be back in the parking lot for all the fans who couldn't get tickets, the intensity is going to be brewing in the arena, and the noise will be electric and send shivers down your spine.

Pittsburgh stars in it's 5th straight playoff appearance, and they're dancing with the team that got them here. Time to grind these bitches down, Bylsma style.

Penguins season in review.

Pen's finished their regular season with a whopping 106 points, tied for first in the division, and on a 4 game winning streak.This is exceptional for a lot of reasons, the main being the fact of course that half the team was dead for the last half of the season. It was a tale of two seasons for the Penguins, in the beginning times were a little rocky but not unstable, Fleury was struggling to get into his groove until early November the crowd helped him "FLEURY! FLEURY! FLEURY!" since then he never looked back. Sidney Crosby was playing the best hockey of his career and dominated essentially everyone and everything. Leading the team with Fleury's help to 12 straight regulation wins and 15 unbeaten games in a row, the supernova captain was also on a streak of his own. 25 straight games with a point or more scoring 50 points in that span. He was on a pace for 60 goals, and sadly is still the leading scorer on the team after only 41 games played. The streaks both ended in the end of December, spoiling a few Christmas's.

This is when the second half of the season came into play. The calendar turned to 2011, and all eyes were on the Penguins and Capitals, literally as this New Years day Winter Classic was the most watched hockey game of all time. Everyone saw it, and only a few people liked it, Crosby gets a blindside shoulder to the head that leaves him clearly dazed and then some. Penguins would lose the Winter Classic on "home" ice in Heinz Field 3-1, and 4 days later would lose their captain for the rest of the regular season after a less than punishing hit by Hedman of the Lightning ran Crosby's head into the boards. The turmoil had officially begun.


From this point forward, the Penguins season would be much, much bleaker. The hockey world decreed the team would be going nowhere without their molten hot centerman. Myriads of people claimed the season was over, but those people forgot there are 17 other skaters on this team any given night, and honestly probably stopped watching after he went down.To make matters worse, in the beginning of February the Penguins lost red hot center Mark Letestu for a month due to injury, then Evgeni Malkin tears both his ACL and MCL during a Sabres game and gets shut down for the whole season while he rehabs for next year. The team was now without it's two hottest and brightest stars and it's best remaining face-off man and the questions began to loom ever heavier over the heads of the Penguins. The season that was already in question, looked almost over if you weren't keen eyed enough.

Enter Dan "give me the Jack Adams" Bylsma, who as I've spoken on before, has taken this team through adversity and persevered to score the 2nd most points in team history, breaking 100 points in just the 7th time in franchise history, and tying the defending eastern conference champion Flyers for first place in the Atlantic. He did this without his two stars, and without half of the team as the injury bug that latched itself to the bloodflow of the Pen's during January did not jump off until the 3rd to last game of the season when it bit James Neal's hand and hopefully jumped onto the ice and got runover by a skate and murdered.

He did what many coaches have to do, fill holes from injuries with players on the AHL team to plug in the gaps. As a new player went down, another was called up from Wilkes-Barre, each doing their part to the best of their abilities using the same offensive and defensive scheme that took WBS to number 1 in the league and the most points in team history. In the end though, even some of those players got hurt, Dustin Jeffrey who was essentially sealing his position on the starting roster next year went down with a knee injury requiring surgery. Eric "Big Dog" Tangradi suffered a concussion at the hands of Handlebar Mustache during the debacle on Long Island and didn't return to play until game 82! Nick Johnson suffered his own concussion, and now even the reserves, needed reserves.

This team needed a hero, and it came from the most unlikeliest of players, in Tyler Kennedy. Kennedy has always had a shoot first mentality, a mentality that up until this season was not lucrative for the team and in most cases detrimental as shots would go wide or just straight at the goalie. Things were different this year for T.K as he enjoyed a career year overall, but let's take a look at his stats from the time Crosby went down compared to Chris Kunitz and Jordan Staal.

Jordan leads in points since Crosby's injury with 11 goals, 19 assists, 30 points and 4 game winning goals, Staal also played a ridiculous amount of minutes graduating from his 3rd line position to first in most cases with 21:42 average ice time.Chris Kunitz while missing a month of action was able to put up 10 goals, 10 assists and 20 points since Crosby was hurt. Tyler Kennedy however, was able to score 15 goals, 12 assists, 27 points, as well as 2 game winners but the most telling stat? Power Play goals. Prior to Crosby going down Kennedy had zero, afterward he put up 7 goals, nearly matching Crosby's 10 in 41 games. When the Penguins needed someone down low in front of the net picking up huge rebounds, Tyler Kennedy was there.

This teams power play was already one of the worst in the league heading up the injury of their stars, it finished 25th in the league at 15.8%. So there were questions as to whether or not this would get worse. With Kennedy's help it didn't, but without the boost of the superstars or other players it didn't improve much either. Though it is tough to deny that Tyler Kennedy came up huge in the last half of the season, and not a single person saw it coming. Tyler Kennedy gave Kris Letang a great run for Most Improved Player of the year, but overall this would still go to Letang.

Touching on special teams and the power play it's time to tout the prowess of the Penalty Kill. Pittsburgh finished the season leading the league in PK at 86.1%, up from 84.1% the season before, and way above the cup winning year in 08-09 at 82.7%. Thanks to the acquisitions of Paul Martin and Zybenek Michalek by Ray Shero to bolster an ailing defense with young legs. Michalek has blocked 146 shots this season and will probably double that number in the next season. He has two show stopping saves in the crease in one game that kept the Pens alive in a tough match up, and just finally at the end of the season found a way to start lighting the lamp, getting his first goal as a Penguin against Buffalo on March 8th, with a game winner and as Bob Errey put it: "He scored his first goal since the 8th grade!" Not quite that long Errey but it took 59 games in the regular season to break his snide.

Defensive improvement didn't just stop at PK% it also was bolstered in the Goals Against category, allowing only 199 goals and coming in 7th in the league. During the 09'-10' season the Penguins allowed 233 goals, when the Pen's won the cup in 08'-09' they had allowed 239 goals. You have to go all the way back to the 97'-98' season to find another time when they held teams to below 200GAA, they finished that season with 188. It is very clear that the addition of Michalek and Martin, with the overall all star improvement of Kris Letang, Brooks Orpik's tenacity, and the solid play of 6th men Ben Lovejoy and Deryk Engelland this defensive corps is one to be reckoned with and should be heavily watched in the playoffs.

This was one of the crazier seasons to witness with all these ups and downs. A season where Brent Johnson got into not just one but two fights, which brought Alexei Kovalev back to Pittsburgh along with new Penguins James Neal and Matt Niskanen and a season which brought the team to a new barn they would call home. Every game with the exception of a few Devil's and Islander games, the Wild game and the Stars game had exciting pace and were fun to watch night in and night out. Especially when the Pen's were going streaking. Yet even in the dark second half of the season, watching the Pen's come out game after game and still punish teams or hold onto 1 goal victories was an even bigger joy to watch. There is something about watching a group of guys overcome adversity that just hit's home with you, especially when it's the team you cheer for. Bylsma is proving himself as one of the best coaches in the league, taking the Penguins to their 5th straight playoff appearance, and taking them to new heights without all their crew.

Truly one hell of a regular season, but now it's time to focus on the arduous road ahead, The Stanley Cup Playoffs. This year will be no easy task, and it starts out with the Lightning at home for Consol Energy Center's first ever White Out on Wednesday night at 7pm. The cat is still in the bag on whether or not Crosby will play. Considering he has not started contact practice yet it doesn't look good but the hockey world could still be in for a surprise. According to the Lightning coach they're preparing as if Crosby will be undoubtedly out on the ice, it would be nice if this were the case. Round 1 is going to be a serious look at the toughness of this Penguins team, these two teams split their games this year but the Penguin's wins at home were very lopsided victories. The Penguins beat Tampa 5-1 on Nov 12, and 8-1 on Jan 5. Tampa Bay beat the Pens 5-3 on Oct 27 then finished the series with a 2-1 win on March 31 at home.

Wednesday night can't come soon enough. Let's go Pens!

Pens clinch home ice advantage with grueling win on Long Island

 

 Well it wasn't easy, even after the game couldn't be decided in regulation, Chris Kunitz found a way to escape from Long Island with a win and home ice advantage against whoever they face in the Playoffs. This was a huge game, and it came up huge. There weren't fireworks right out the gate but they came out after about 8 minutes. Off a beautiful setup from Eric Godard, Rupp comes up with the puck in front of the crease and sends it opposite side of Montoya into the goal. Pens take a big first lead in this game where goals were not coming at a premium. 

Right afterward on the ensuing face-off, Eric Godard and Handlebar mustache got into a fight. It was fairly uneventful but was a way for the Ref's to send a message early. Both players got a match penalty and removed from the remainder of the period. Good thing too because not having to see Gillies the rest of the period was a blessing. 

In the second period Michalek rifles in another beautiful goal to put up his 5th of the year after going almost the entire season without a goal. This one was the insurance goal, or so we thought until shortly after Comeau comes in and scores on a significantly easier shot, but it's the Islanders and they need any break they can get. 2-1.

Going into the third period it seemed like things were still going to be okay for the Penguins and they were going to hold onto the extra goal, but needed another insurance goal to finish it off. This unfortunately didn't happen as Comeau yet again came in and scored on another pretty easy gimmie from Grabner behind the net and the game is now 2-2. 

Not to be outdone, Mark Letestu comes in on a beautiful move and rifles his own goal home giving the Penguins fans another boost of confidence. Unfortunately there was still 8 or so minutes left in the game and there was much left to be decided. Still looking for the insurance goal the opportunities were there but not taken, even an empty net goal near the end of the game was just wide of the goal and would of put this one home. 

Instead, with just under 2 minutes left in the game, the Islanders appear to score again but it gets immediately waived off due to Tavares being in the crease interfering with Fleury, no penalty is called but the goal is wiped away. Unfortunately still with just :35 left in the period, with 6 on 5 off the empty net, the Islanders scored and put the game into a tie, again.

Pascal's cries for help go unanswered.

The game then goes in OT, and for the most part overtime was uneventful unless you count the outstanding hustle of Pascal Dupuis. His theme song if it isn't already should be "Everyday I'm Hustlin" because he is putting out some of the hardest work of anyone on the team half the time chasing down pucks.After getting seemingly done from behind by an Islander in the crease though, he doesn't get the scoring opportunity he hopes for after batting down the puck at the point with his stick, getting it to Tyler "They call me Crosby" Kennedy who does a few sweet dekes but gets rewarded with nothing. In the end the best thing to come out of this OT period was the fact that the Pen's sealed up home ice with this one point. One wasn't good enough, and one man knew this.

His name is Chris Kunitz, and after Letang and Kovy both fail to come in and score on Montoya in the shootout we get this beauty by Kunitz:

Puts the Islanders in their coffins, ruins the night of all 12 Islander fans in the upper deck in attendance and rides his mustache all the way to Georgia to get ready to play against the Thrashers.

In other news Philly ended up losing in OT, this is okay, but today at 7pm, if the Penguins hope to take the division they are going to need the Islanders to not lay an egg and hand Philly a win. The hockey gods will surely need to smile upon the Pens if they hope to capture the division and face Buffalo in the first round. No match-up is ideal in the playoffs, but I'm sure they'd take Buffalo over the Lightning. 

Pens take on the Thrashers tomorrow at 3pm in sunny Georgia, the Masters will not matter.

Pens vs Islanders Game Day 81. Wrestlemania 2? Not likely, expect offensive revenge.

Many many weeks have passed since the "Debacle on Long Island" took place on February 11th. This long over due rematch is finally going to take place as the fans invade Nassau Coliseum with many signs that will say "Bury Gillies." Emotions will be running wild during this game tonight.

From my recap:

Between Gilles at the end of the game taunting an injured and concussed Tangradi, Martin making a run at Talbot near center ice trying to sucker punch him, the slash on Letang's right knee before the end of the first period, the fact that the Islanders kept taunting Fleury in the 2nd period and coming down and giving him crap, OR the fact that they did run Johnson into the net twice, one time taking out both him and Letang, but this game pissed me off to new heights.

Just in case anyone missed this tidbit of news, Eric Godard will be in the lineup tonight instead of Chris Conner. I have mixed feelings about this and here's why; this game needs to be won in the goal column, not the fight cards. We all know what Godard is good for, throwing his meat hooks around and tagging people in the face, now not everyone knows Chris Conner's value but to put it simply, gets to the dirty areas to keep pucks alive in the offensive zone, sets up good opportunities even if not always capitalized on. This means that Bylsma is prepared at least, for one fight involving Godard, at the sacrifice of an offensive minded player, and that fight is probably going to be against Gillies or Haley. Haley if you remember took a run at Johnson, and they scrapped, during that time Godard left the bench to go to Johnson's aid and suffered a 10 game suspension because of it. Gillies, well we all know why Gillies needs to be buried.

So to answer back in this budding rivalry, the Penguins will need to find their offense against Al Montoya and this joke squad of a hockey team. Jordan Staal has increased his performance in the past 2 games after going scoreless for 5. Tyler Kennedy continues to have a career year, Max Talbot and Pascal Dupuis are more than capable of putting up goals in this game, but I'd like to see James Neal and Alexei Kovalev get some work done this game on the goal sheets. They weren't there for the debacle and therefor won't care for the events other than team camaraderie, but should still be looking to rifle shots past Montoya to light the lamp. Really would like for Neal to get some confidence going into the playoffs via more than just a shootout win.

Tonight is even more so important because this is one step closer to finding their way to the top of the division. Philly is only 1 point ahead of us now in the standings, they play Buffalo. Buffalo is looking to keep it's own playoff spot and will be playing hard to win these 2 points. Philly already lost one of their remaining 3 games, it is huge to have today go that way, they will want to play hard to keep their number one spot. The Islanders are going to want to beat us to bring us down a peg, keep us in check with reality, but it is going to be necessary to win this game, and Sundays game against Atlanta to seal the division and flip this playoff table in a different direction. A win tonight and a Philly loss puts us at the top of the division by a point. A win tonight and a Philly OT loss keeps us tied. A loss and a Philly win and we're stuck in 4th. An OT loss and a Philly win we have a chance to tie at best and is unacceptable. Winning tonight is the only option for continuing their path of persevering through adversity.

A win tonight brings the Penguins closer to #2 in the conference and #1 in the division. A win tonight brings Dan Bylsma one step closer to a Jack Adams award. If he wins tonight, and wins in Atlanta, and takes the division win, it is a no brainer he is coach of the year if it wasn't clear enough already. So this, is the second to last must-win of the year, and it is against a team that both the coaches and players probably have no respect for what-so-ever, so it is imperative we show that lack of respect by pushing the goals dial up to 11.

Tonight's lines will look something like this based on practice:

James Neal - Mark Letestu - Alexei Kovalev
Chris Kunitz - Jordan Staal - Tyler Kennedy
Arron Asham - Maxime Talbot - Pascal Dupuis
Michael Rupp - Craig Adams - Eric Godard

Between the Pipes for the Penguins? Game time decision between Marc Andre Fleury or Brent Johnson. Expect Fleury.

Another must win in a series of must wins. Get the 2 points and hope to see Philly lose in the standings.

GO PENS!

Penguins vs Devils Gameday 80. Final homegame at CEC, Tampa hot on our tails.

 

Tonight is another must win game in a season finale full of must win games. Pittsburgh will be looking to stay a point or more ahead of the Lightning with a victory against the New Jersey Trappers.  New Jersey as we all know likes to get a small lead and play shut down trap the rest of the game. So it will be imperative that the Penguins continue to get out of the trap as they did the last time they faced the Devils, winning in the shootout off of this very beautiful goal by James Neal against Brodeur. You've seen it before but see it again:

Brodeur will not be in net tonight for the Devils and instead the Pens will be pouring the pepper onto the ex 'Guin Johan Hedberg. The "Moose" was one of the more beloved of the Penguins netminders, despite not performing very well in the sweater. He did take the Pens to the playoffs for 18 games in 2001 but fell short of the ultimate goal. He was shipped out in 03' to the Canucks who sent him to the Stars after the lockout, who then sent him to Atlanta after just one season. He played there until this year backing up for the Devils.

The importance of winning this game shouldn't need an explanation, however it is key to holding onto home ice advantage in the playoffs should Tampa win tonight against Buffalo. Focus now is on having control over the situations that don't require any help, and that is winning the 3 remaining games to accumulate as many points as possible and contain home ice. It would be ideal to capture the division championship but that will require Philly to win only one of its remaining games at the most, and Tampa tapering off for the rest of the season. 

Here is why this is a difficult thing to ask the hockey gods for. Of the remaining three games for the Pens, they will face off against the Devils tonight, Islanders on 4/8 and the Thrashers on 4/10. Tampa however finishes their season against: Buffalo in Buffalo, Florida at home and the Canes in Carolina. It's possible they'll win all 3, ideally they lose them all but 2-1 is acceptable if the Pens get to 104pts. Philly on the other hand will finish against Ottawa in Ottawa, Buffalo in Buffalo and the Islanders at home. Ideally Philly loses all 3 of these games as well but the fact is, they'll also probably go 2-1, leaving them at 107pts for the year and Atlantic champs. So Philly must go 1-2 for the Pens to have a chance at tying or getting the division lead. Relying too heavily on these less than stellar teams to help the Pens out is not something they can afford to do, but winning out their last 3 games is definitely doable.

The Penguins seem to be very fertile despite the injury bug that riddled the team with more holes than a fine Swiss cheese, Brent Johnson was just the father of a new daughter last night, and now today Chris Kunitz has also had a new daughter of his own brought into his family. Kunitz however will be playing tonight in this very important match up. 

The lines for tonights game are probably going to still look like this:

James Neal - Mark Letestu - Alex Kovalev

Chris Kunitz - Jordan Staal - Tyler Kennedy

Chris Conner - Maxime Talbot - Pascal Dupuis

Mike Rupp - Craig Adams - Mike Comrie

Between the Pipes for the Penguins? Marc Andre Fleury!

Have got to get these 2 points tonight Pens. DO IT.

Bylsma for Jack Adams, defeating Florida and playoff talk.

Zybenek Michaleks one timer game winning goal. All 12 Panther fans in attendance were visibly upset.

After the Penguins come from behind victory against the Panthers on Saturday night, they held onto their home ice advantage for another night battling to stay one point ahead of Tampa Bay after they had won earlier that day. Philly after losing in a shootout last night brought their total to 103 points again, regaining first place tied with the Capitals. When I saw Washington in the top spot for even a second, I could taste the bile.

This squad has only three games remaining in their regular season culminating with a game against the Thrashers on April 10th in Atlanta. They'll play their final home game of the regular season in Consol Energy Center tomorrow night against the Devils, hoping to cap their new barn's season off at 25(24)-14-2 with the win against New Jersey. Afterward they'll hope to finish their road dominance with a record of 24(22)-11-6 with the remaining road games on Long Island and in Atlanta.

Tyler Kennedy enjoying a career year.

As many of us writing about the Penguins have stated before today, Dan Bylsma should be a sure choice for the Jack Adams award. This was before he totaled 100points for the team this season, and in some cases before he won his 100th career game. The man has kept a team riddled all year with injuries in the top four of the Eastern conference, and 3 points outside of Philly for first place in the Atlantic. Without the assistance for half a season of Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, plugging holes with Wilkes-Barre Scranton Pens, and Shero's brilliance during the end of the trading season.

Through all the adversity Bylsma has been able to keep this team churning out points by using a solid and consistent system between both the WBS baby Penguins and the Pens organizations. The seamless transition for the players between their AHL duties and their NHL duties helped when this team had to fill in the gaps after losing both of their star Centers, and a myriad of forwards and defensemen through out the season. This is just the 7th time in franchise history the Penguins have achieved 100 total points as a team, and it was done while battling through adversity.

Kennedy celebrates a career high 20th goal.

This was not all his work alone however but for consideration in the Jack Adams award he certainly has to be the number one choice, no other coach in the league has had to battle through this much adversity and media frenzy, including going through a 24/7 filming month where camera crews were constantly circling the team.Players have stepped up to do the work that the superstars are not there to do. Players like Tyler "They call me Crosby" Kennedy with his shoot first mentality has finally been able to bury a lot of goals behind the net, putting up 20goals and 22 assists now sits currently 5th in total points on the team. He is leading the team in scoring since Crosby has been injured.

Jordan Staal and Chris Kunitz have done their fair share of work as well. Kunitz in the scoring department and Jordan in the unlimited ice time department. Jordan has played career high minutes on ice lately averaging 21 minutes on ice a game, which is 90 seconds more than his previous seasons. He is playing in almost every situation, and not as just a 3rd line shut down center. His defensive prowess and ability to dish out assists has definitely been on display this year. Chris Kunitz has been lighting the lamp consistently all year, sitting at 22goals and 25 assists. Coming back from injury he's scored 11 points (4G 7A) in the 12 games he's participated in, he was blanked for only 5 of those games. During this stretch of time Kunitz was able to come out with a 5 game point streak bolstering a weak offense.

Pens have won the first of the final 4 games in April, looking to tack on the last 6 points necessary and solidify home ice advantage once and for all this season. In other news, Big Brent Johnson was not at practice today because he was attending the birth of his new daughter. Hopefully she doesn't grow up to be a fighter like the Lawgiver, or maybe so. Craig Adams was sporting a Mohawk and the joke was if he scored the game winner Mohawks everywhere. Well he didn't get the game winner but he got the empty netter after Florida botched their goalie bench for an extra attacker as a power play expired.Wonder how many people in the Burgh' have mohawks now?

Battling through adversity with relentless work ethic, passion and integrity, the Penguins way, the pack of wolves mentality. Everyone who could possibly step up for this team has made an effort to step up, and it shows in the standings.

Pens face the Devils tomorrow at 7pm in Consol Energy Center to get within 1 point of Philly in the standings.

Pens vs Lightning game recap.

In a must win game, the Penguins were dominating the action but were unfortunately... not able to seal the deal. A painful stat looms over the heads of the Penguins organization today, and that's that the team is 0-19-1 when trailing in the 2nd period. They have not been able to win a game all year when trailing and this simply is unacceptable. A team that can't come back from behind to win is not going to go very far in the Stanley cup finals. To put it in perspective, in 2009 when the Pens won the cup they were 11-21-2, leading the league in comebacks despite the losses in that column. The year before? The Red Wings were leading the league in comebacks and won the cup.

T.K attempts to fight Hedman who injured Crosby on January 5th

This is something that will be widely tossed out in the 2nd period of games if the Pen's are trailing during this playoff run. Something that Sidney Crosby hopefully would have some influence over should he return to action this year. The team is hurting in the playmaker department, the leading scorer since Sidney Crosby got injured is Tyler Kennedy, and he's been doing a great Crosby impression but still missing the net when the time counts. Still though something to be said about Kennedy's performance out there, he's having a career year, and could have his first ever 20 goal season and I'm really hoping he gets it. Looked like it would be last night but he missed the net...


Lots of bad no calls and strange calls starting right out the gate with Paul Martin in this game, which dictated the way the officiating was going to go, which was badly. Kovy took a terrible cross checking penalty he shouldn't have in the final 5 minutes further hindering the Pen's chances at coming back in this game. Still even with the extra adversity the Pens had a couple short handed opportunities that weren't capitalized on, and even afterward continued to pepper Roloson in an attempt to at least tie this game. It unfortunately wouldn't be as Roloson was seeing the puck like a beach ball and making save after save, that Fleury matched on the opposite end with an amazing glove save and tip toe save as time wound down in the third period.



In the end the Penguins could not get to the 100point mark yet this season and continue struggling in the Power Play department. Special teams was touted heavily in this game and while the P.K unit came up huge all game the Power Play lines could not capitalize on anything. They are now 3-62(or 63) on power plays and it doesn't have any signs of getting any better. Another section in the stats that captain Sidney Crosby would of helped propel forward. A team with a lowly 4% Power Play success rate of late, combined with the fact that they can't come back from behind, doesn't sound like a recipe for a cup run. Yet the Penguins are poised to do so, bucking adversity at every corner to persevere and work towards that ultimate goal.

Pittsburgh will face off against Florida on Saturday at 7pm in Florida. There are only 4 remaining games in the Regular season, they are against Florida, New Jersey, New York Islanders and Atlanta. The game against the Islanders will be interesting as the team travels back to Long Island after the debacle that took place in February. Matt Cooke will again miss the festivities on Long Island which is probably for the best.

Desperately holding onto 4th place in the conference and home ice, the Penguins need and should win at least 3 of the 4 games to finish the season at 104points and home ice advantage in the new Consol Energy Center.

Pens vs Lightning gameday 78. Possible preview of round 1 match-up.

Must win. There haven't been too many "must win" games for the Penguins so far this year but Tuesday's match up against the Flyers was definitely one, and now this potential first round opponent they face tonight is another "must win" situation. Tampa sits 5 points outside of 4th place in the East, the Penguins are in that 4th place and trying to hold on to home ice advantage, Stamkos and St. Louis have other ideas though. It's too bad those ideas won't see fruition if the Pen's have anything to say about it.

Losing to the Flyers on Tuesday was a bitter end cap to a less than fruitful season series against them at Consol, and in general. Due to the circumstances this team has to buckle up and go full throttle playoff mode for this game and the last remaining games to get ready for the first round intensity that's coming. We got a taste of it against Philly earlier, you'll get a good taste of it today against Tampa.

Penalty Killing is another factor that must absolutely be up to the task this evening. In the past six games the Pens have played, they've allowed four power play goals, with a fifth goal scored right after a penalty expired against Philly. All of them were given up after Matt Cooke's ejection for an elbow during the Rangers game on March 20th, Cooke is suspended until the 2nd round of the playoffs. His absence on the PK lines is having an obvious effect on the way it does work.

Defense will need to have their head on swivels and wheels ready to back track and stay tight to the opponent, Steven Stamkos and Martin St.Louis will be out on the ice ready to do damage, both of them have scored 80+ points on the season so far. However, in the previous two appearances for these two teams the Penguins have outscored the Lightning 13-2 and outscored them 8-2 in the first period of play through all the games this season. This game is the fourth and final match up between these two teams for the regular season, but may be a precursor to the first round of the playoffs barring disaster.

Sidney Crosby was on the ice this morning with the guys in Florida doing skating drills, it's good to see his name show up on the line lists from practice even if it is only drills. Mark Letestu will continue to work with the first line, he won 12 of 17 faceoffs on Tuesday night. Your line ups for tonight look something like this:

James Neal - Mark Letestu - Alex Kovalev

Chris Kunitz - Jordan Staal - Tyler Kennedy
Chris Conner - Max Talbot - Pascal Dupuis
Mike Rupp - Craig Adams - Mike Comrie

                   Kris Letang - Brooks Orpik

           Zbynek Michalek - Paul Martin
               Matt Niskanen - Ben Lovejoy

Between the pipes for the Penguins? Marc Andre Fleury, in his fifth straight start will face off against Roloson.

Pick up these 2 points and move out ahead of the Lightning to keep fourth place, may not be able to get to first but can damn sure keep home ice.

Do it Pens.

Cryers vs Penguins gameday 77

"This is it! The moment I've been waiting for, the annual Arlen grillathon!" Not quite the Arlen grillathon but it's game 6 of this seasons match-ups against the Flyers, and if you had asked me at the beginning of February that it would be for the number 1 spot in the conference and division I would of said you're crazy.Crosby was dead, Malkin had an ailing knee going into the start of the month, and the injury train gained a full head of steam and wasn't going to stop.Yet here we are, 2 points out of a tie for first place. Even though the Flyers are one game ahead of us now, before we play Atlanta to end the season, we'll be a game ahead of them with a chance to stay in #1.

Both of these teams have sealed their Playoff chances and now are fighting for seeding and home ice advantage. In order to secure the likelihood of being in 1st place, the Penguins absolutely must win this game in regulation, it cannot go to overtime, even if the record for most shootout wins in a row was achieved on Sunday. Prior to the start of this stretch of shootouts, NHL.com had an article about how shootouts were down 22% leaguewide for the year. Well not for the Penguins after participating in four in a row. Shootouts are great because you get to see good one on one action, and it's pretty like this:

Though in this game, it simply is not an option. Winning in 60 minutes is the only choice on this test question, there is no correct answer other than winning in regulation. Giving the Flyers a point only solidifies the hold they have on first place most likely with an iron fist.

The Penguins got back the services of Brooks Orpik on Sunday who originally wasn't going to start until tonight, and also will have Mark Letestu back out on the first line with Neal and Kovalev. Deryk Engelland will be a healthy scratch tonight as Bylsma seems to like what Lovejoy is doing lately. After the play Lovejoy had in the 2nd period of the Panthers game pinching the D along the boards and getting it to Kovy who tic tac'd it back to Lovejoy for a top shelf rifle shot, I don't blame Dan for making this decision at all. I wasn't impressed with Lovejoy early on and admittedly was, and still am, in Engelland's camp for that 6th defensive spot, it's still extremely tough to deny what Lovejoy has done of late.

To give you an idea of how impressive Lovejoy has really been lately, when Chris Kunitz was four games into his five game point streak, the "hot" player to watch for was still Ben Lovejoy. What he's done on defense for the Pens filling in for Orpik has been very remarkable, clearly enough so that we will sit Engel down in a rivalry game, meaning you probably won't see a fight unless someone really pisses off Rupper or Talbot.

With Letestu back in the line up the lines from practice and presumably for the game look like this:

James Neal - Mark Letestu - Alex Kovalev

Chris  Kunitz - Jordan Staal - Tyler Kennedy
Chris Conner - Maxime Talbot - Pascal Dupuis
Mike Rupp - Craig Adams - Arron Asham

Kris Letang - Brooks Orpik
Zbynek Michalek - Paul Martin
Matt Niskanen - Ben Lovejoy

Between the pipes for the Penguins? Marc "MVP" Andre Fleury!

2points in regulation Pens, accept no substitute. Do it.

Crosby's still on Ice, Jeffrey with possible ligament damage and the Test tube is fully repaired.

Some injury updates for everyone regarding Sidney Crosby, Dustin Jeffrey, and Mark Letestu. Letestu who's been out with some shoulder soreness is going to be back in the line up with the first line between Kovalev and Neal. In even strength situations this line combination has scored three points in the short time they've been together, as well as two points on the powerplay while sharing center duties with Jordan Staal. The last time Letestu came back from injury after missing an entire month he had a goal and an assist on February 26th against the Maple Leafs during the 6-5 slugfest.

Letestu is hoping to come out and have a repeat of that performance putting points on the board for the Pens; "I just talked to coach and he's throwing me out there," Letestu said during an interview after the morning skate. "It's like Groundhog Day for me. I've been through this once before. Hopefully, I'll have the same kind of game that I had coming back from the other injury tonight." Letestu was recently awarded with the Penguins Rookie of the Year honors, despite missing 18 games. So far for the year he has 12G and 12A in 58 games played.

In this edition of what seems like Injured Centers Weekly, we also have Dustin Jeffrey who underwent an MRI recently. Bylsma had this to say about the knee ailment: "Jeffrey had an MRI yesterday and there is some damage to his knee. It needs further evaluation to determine how much it is at this point and time. There's no timetable right now, but it did show some damage. They need to do further investigation to as much as it is." I would wager to guess that Jeffrey probably has some ligament damage and won't be returning unless it's in the deep rounds of the playoffs.  Jeffrey will be sorely missed for moments like these:

Beating two of the best goaltenders in the game with virtually the same shot? That will be missed indeed. Jeffrey added a lot of value to this team during it's injury ridden season. Jeffrey produced 7goals and 5assists in the 25games he played, ending at a +5 and averaging 13:19 TOI in games, his longest night was a 17:14 minute run against Montreal where he was held scoreless. His best performance was against Boston where he scored  2 goals off 4 shots in 14:51 total ice time., including the game winner above on Tim Thomas. Jeffrey's play this year most likely has earned him a permanent spot on the roster depending on how contracts and training camp go next offseason.

Now for the big Bing, Sidney Crosby. He's been practicing more and more, with more intense skating session each time and it is rumored he will be out on the ice in full practices with the team within the next week or so. It's possible he could get time in before the start of the Playoffs but might be unlikely in order to preserve him for the first round. While it would be ideal to have him out with Neal and Kovalev as soon as possible to gel with these two very big and very different forwards, we will only have practice to look forward to for now. Take a look at the most recent video from Crosby's practice this morning 3/29:


Up and down both ends of the ice balancing the puck on the stick between the two goals and trying to set up for a shot off the faceoff circle. Having just hit the ice, literally (only once!), recently I can tell you that doing that isn't easy, and it's good to see his hand eye coordination isn't affected all too terribly much. His shots look much more accurate than ever, but it could be a byproduct of not having seen him play in so long. Penguins nation and the rest of the hockey world are waiting with bated breath and mixed emotions on the return of Sidney Crosby. Will the young phenom return at the dominating pace he was at before the injury? Scoring 66points (32goals 34assists) in 44 games, or will his timing and shots be off? From the looks of the video, I'd say a 75% healthy Crosby is going to dominate anyone who gets in his way.

A concussion may have knocked him down a peg and sent him back to reality after the punishment he was dishing out, but don't expect him to be afraid of players, playing away from the dangerous situations anymore than he already does or missing too many shots wide or over the net. He definitely still has the accuracy, the will and determination to win, so the other 15 teams going to the playoffs will need to start preparing for a Penguins team that once again has it's shining star on the ice.

To be sure we're not discussing only our centers, Brent Johnson was healthy and back out on the ice today for the Penguins, and as a result of that the Pens have sent Thiessen back to the AHL and the baby Pens. WBS beat the Hershey Bears yesterday to continue their dominance of the AHL, even without the best goaltender in the league. Johnson will not be in net tonight against the Flyers, as newly coined MVP Marc Andre-Fleury will be in net tonight facing off against them in his 5th straight game. Unlike the others however, this one cannot go into overtime and must end in regulation.

"If I had to vote for the Hart Trophy, the Hart in my heart would be 'Flower.'"- Max Talbot after this mornings skate.