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.