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.

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.

Devils vs Penguins Gameday 75. We're going streaking!

Coming into the fourth match up with Playoff or hopeful playoff contenders, the Penguins are 2-1 so far after shootout wins in Detroit and Philly's arenas. Chris Kunitz is playing absolutely lights out hockey, tallying an assist in last nights win over the Cryers, he extended his point streak to 5 games, he also had the shootout game winning goal. Last time these two teams met the Devils won in extra time tying the series 2-2 for the year.

New Jersey must win out essentially to get anywhere near playoff contention, the Penguins on the other hand with a win tonight and a Hurricanes loss in regulation will clinch a playoff birth for the Penguins and take some of the stress off them. Jersey is fully intent on raining on this parade, after the injury to Dustin Jeffrey last night (Right knee) there is a question mark as to how effective the first line will be now. Mike Comrie will be filling in for Jeffrey, Comrie hasn't played since November due to a hip injury that required surgery. Analysts thought the world of Comrie in the preseason but in his stint in the regular season before injury wasn't impressive. It will be interesting to see how he does with Neal and Kovalev as his wingmen considering they've not played with him, all three are new Penguins as of this year.

Neal and Kovalev had several opportunities last night that were turned aside so it is good to see that the shots are there but they aren't getting behind the net. Tyler "Crosby" Kennedy is still doing a good Sid the Kid impression and has scored a career high 18 goals this season, with him and Kunitz providing the offensive charge, the acquisitions need to step up their game and help this hot duo. No practice this morning officially, Sid and Testtube practiced at 9am, Devils skated around 11am, then there was an option Pens skate.

Lines will look something like this:

James Neal - Mike Comrie - Alex Kovalev
Chris Kunitz - Jordan Staal - Tyler Kennedy
Pascal Dupuis - Maxime Talbot - Chris Conner
Mike Rupp - Craig Adams - Arron Asham

Zbynek Michalek - Paul Martin
Kris Letang - Ben Lovejoy
Deryk Engelland - Matt Niskanen

Between the pipes for the penguins? Marc Andre Fleury.
Brad Thiessen will not be in net tonight, Fleury has been given the nod.Fleury has a 3 game shutout streak on March 25th dating back to 2007, they did not play on march 25th in 2010. Here's hoping the Flower will keep that streak alive as well.

It's time to show these teams who's boss and who doesn't need superstars to succeed. 2 more points needed here Pens, lets shut the Devils and the Canes down in the same night!

Do it!

Penguins vs Flyers Gameday 74 Battle for P.A.

Pennsylvania... Land of opportunity, land of the Blue Collar folk, and Brotherly love. However there will be no love for our "brothers" in Philadelphia. The last time these two teams met, the Philly Cryers ended a 12 game winning streak heading into the Winter Classic. The last time these two teams played the Penguins were on the top of the world and no one was going to stop them, at least that's how it seemed... Unfortunately their momentum was put to a crawl, however despite that the Penguins are still just 5 points outside of this Flyers team for first place, but the Flyers have a game in hand above the Pens.

Without a doubt, Penalty Killing must be improved on in this game, since Cooke's ejection in the game against the Rangers, the Penguins have let in 4 power play goals, and have dropped their percentage down to 85.9% PK and tied for 1st in the league with the Kings and the Capitals.Cooke's presence on PK will be missed for the remainder of this season but someone will need to step up to make things happen out there.

Goaltending is a question mark today, as Brent Johnson will not be attending this back to back pair of games, Brad Thiessen has been assigned to the Penguins and has traveled to Philly to meet the team. Brad will back up Fleury tonight in net, and possibly start tomorrow against the Devils as there is another game on Sunday against the Panthers. In Thiessens 42 games he has a32-7-1 record, 1.88GAA .924SV % and 7 shutouts.

Player to watch for? Chris Kunitz who is hotter than hot right now with 4 goals and 4 assists in 4 games. Everyone kept talking about Ben Lovejoy and his production, meanwhile Kunitz was coming back from a 12 game injury like it never even happened. He didn't score the first two games against Buffalo and the Habs but now that he's gotten his wheels back it definitely shows why he is one of the top scorers on this team. Expect Kunitz and Kovalev to do something tonight, Neal needs to eliminate his regulation time struggles but Overtime Neal is beastmode.

All of the Pen's defense practiced today but Orpik will not be in the line up until Tuesday at the earliest. Your lines look something like this based off of practice:

James Neal - Dustin Jeffrey - Alex Kovalev
Chris Kunitz - Jordan Staal - Tyler Kennedy
Pascal Dupuis - Maxime Talbot - Chris Conner
Mike Rupp - Craig Adams - Arron Asham

Zbynek Michalek - Paul Martin
Kris Letang - Ben Lovejoy
Deryk Engelland - Matt Niskanen

Between the Pipes for the Penguins? Marc Andre Fleury!

Lets go Pens! Do it!

Penguins vs Redwings gameday 73. Pittsburgh comes to Joke Town.

Welcome to Joke Town.

After swallowing a pretty tough pill yesterday in Pittsburgh, the Pens got on a flight headed over to Detroit for the second half of another back to back set of games. This is the second time this year the Pens and the Flying Tires will face off against each other. What you might of missed in the last game was Chris Conner breaking an almost 5 year drought on penalty shots with this beauty:



This of course was against MacDonald in net, not Jimmy Howard or Chris Osgood. Howard will be in net tonight for the Wings, Pavel Datsyuk will not be in the line up tonight for them however and that will add a bit of breathing room for the pens. They'll still have Zetterberg out there though, and of course Bertuzzi.

The upcoming stretch of games has officially become the toughest set of games the Penguins are going to have to go through all year, probably even tougher than when 40 of the skaters were injured. Of the upcoming games to finish March only the two against the Devils and Panthers are games against non playoff teams. Including Philly twice, this game against Detroit, and Tampa on the 31st. You also can't discredit the Devils due to the fact that they were playing lights out hockey since the middle of January, even if they will ultimately fall short of their goal. Pens must win and get 2 points to pull out ahead of Tampa in the playoff race and keep 4th place in the standings. Tampa Bay has been off the previous two days and plays the Islanders tomorrow in Tampa.

Cooke will most likely be suspended for his shenanigans in the game yesterday for the rest of the regular season, however Arron Asham is now ready for hockey and will be in the line up in Cookes spot today. The Penguins lines today from practice looked something like this:

James Neal - Dustin Jeffrey - Alex Kovalev
Chris Kunitz - Jordan Staal - Tyler Kennedy
Arron Asham - Maxime Talbot - Pascal Dupuis
Mike Rupp - Craig Adams - Chris Conner

Zbynek Michalek - Paul Martin
Kris Letang - Ben Lovejoy
Deryk Engelland - Matt Niskanen

Between the pipes for the Penguins? BIG Brent Johnson!

Lets go Pens! Do it.

Penguins vs Senators Gameday 71

With just 11 games left in the regular season the Penguins (4-3-3 in last 10) will take on the Senators (6-4-0 in last 10) for the fourth time this year, the Penguins lead this series 2-1. This will be the first game these two teams have met since the Alexei Kovalev trade, a trade which is working out handsomely for Dan Bylsma. "He’s fit in tremendously." the newly extended headcoach said of Kovalev, "The first meeting I had with him, he said, ‘Tell me what you’d like me to do. Tell me what my role is. Tell me what I’m doing well and what I’m not. I just want to help this team win. I can be a leader on this team.” He’s done all of that." That he has. It didn't take long for Kovy' to come into his own again in a Penguins sweater scoring his first goal of the 10-11 season as a Pen against the Maple Leafs. It is his only point this year but his production has still been there. He has set up many opportunities that just have not been capitalized on yet, or simply didn't get past the goaltender.

Kris Letang offers words of advice to Kovalev during his first game back as a Penguin at RBC Center on Feb, 25th 2011.

Injury wise the Penguins are starting to come out of the rut they were in prior to the trading deadline. Almost all the forwards with the exception of Arron Asham, Eric Tangradi, Nick Johnson, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Mike Comrie are back, however on Defense the team is without the services of Matt Niskanen (Flu) and Brooks Oprik (Finger). Crosby has been on the ice the past couple of days and is beginning his rehab process. Comrie, and Asham have been doing workouts and skates for some time now. Comrie most likely will not return to action after missing almost the entire season, trying to fit his puzzle piece into the picture isn't such an easy task to do anymore with the players on this team who have been producing. Especially when Max Talbot is getting dangerously closer to healthy scratch status.

Goaltending has been the backbone of this team throughout the injury crisis, and Fleury has recorded his third straight 30 win season with the Penguins. Fleury won't be in net tonight, but instead we will see Big Brent Johnson and his menacing image in between the pipes.Fleury has been the talk of not only HART trophy contention but goaltender of the year contention as well, many will argue against this but it's hard to refute that the Penguins are still just within three points of the Flyers because of the brick wall Fleury puts up in net.

Lineups tonight are a little up in the air due to the defensive injuries this team has suffered recently, no line ups were posted from practice. The possible line-ups should look something like this, but expect the defensive pairings to most likely be different:

James Neal - Mark Letestu - Alex Kovalev
Chris Kunitz - Jordan Staal - Tyler Kennedy
Matt Cooke - Dustin Jeffrey - Pascal Dupuis
Mike Rupp - Maxime Talbot - Craig Adams

Paul Martin - Zbynek Michalek
Corey Potter - Kris Letang
Ben Lovejoy - Deryk Engelland

Big Brent Johnson will be between the Pipes for the Penguins.

Let's go Pens!

Penguins vs Devils Gameday 66. Playoff mode in full effect?

Pens vs Devils, the fourth match-up between these two teams so far this year. The series is led 2-1 by the Penguins, however they lost against the Devils in their last outing on January 20th, a game much like today's with the absence of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. Injuries are still an issue for the Penguins, but give them a little bit of credit as they came out of Toronto on Wednesday night without losing a player to injury.

New Jersey has turned things on of late going 18-2-2 since January 9th, and 9-1 in their last 10 games. Pittsburgh is a paltry 3-4-3 in their past 10 games and has not won a game in regulation since February 4th.It was speculated that Chris Kunitz would be back for this game however Bylsma announced he won't be attending tonights game in Jersey, he may however play tomorrow night in Boston.

Mark Letestu was recently given top line duties with Kovalev and Neal, he didn't come out and do too well last time against the Leafs but he was getting into his role as the game progressed. Hopefully after a bit more time together this line will work some magic and help Neal get his first goal as a Penguin, so that Errey can freak out about grabbing the puck for the guy who netted it.

Defensively Niskanen and Lovejoy are coming into their own as well. Niskanen tallied his first 2 point game since 2009, and Lovejoy was all over the ice on Wed against the Leafs. With Orpik out still both of these guys will be on the ice for the Penguins D, however Penalty Killing is not a crutch and the team knows they can't lean on it.When asked about the P.K "One thing we have to do a better job of is staying out of the penalty box. Keep teams from testing our penalty kill too much." Bylsma said, "We’re comfortable in those situations and it’s that time of year where games tighten up and it feels more like playoffs."

That is definitely what the Devils have been trying to do since going on this "one game at a time" mentality. Win every game possible, one at a time, just like the playoffs. They've tightened up significantly but the Pens have studied up and been practicing for this type of situation. Based on practice and Wednesday's game we can expect the same line ups.

Predicted Line ups for tonight's game:

 Offense

James Neal - Mark Letestu - Alex Kovalev

Matt Cooke - Jordan Staal - Tyler Kennedy

Maxime Talbot - Dustin Jeffrey - Pascal Dupuis
Mike Rupp - Craig Adams - Chris Conner

Defense

Paul Martin - Zbynek Michalek
Kris Letang - Deryk Engelland
Matt Niskanen - Ben Lovejoy

Between the pipes for the Penguins? Big Brent Johnson! Fully healthy and here to give Fleury some rest in a back to back series.

What I said during the game day write up for Jan 20th:

Tonight we're going to have a match-up between what used to be a really good team, and what used to be a really bad team. The Penguins meet the Devils tonight in Jersey, without both of their star players. This is the first time that this has happened since February of 2006, back then Geno wasn't even on the team! To fill the void Byslma has called up Dustin Jeffrey again and put him up on the first line against the Devils.

Ah to live in a world where only calling up Dustin Jeffrey was the least of our worries...

Let's Go Pens!

Pens vs Leafs again... Gameday 65. Another Shootout at the ACC coral?

In what was a strange turn of events scheduling wise, the Penguins just got done participating in a 6-5 scoring slugfest against this Leaf's club, the two teams will face off against each other again in Toronto tonight at 7pm. Good news for the Pen's in this game is the return of Paul Martin and Tyler Kennedy who will be rejoining their teammates for this redux in Toronto.

It goes without saying but I have to say it anyway, and hate that I said it goes without saying only to say it, Fleury didn't have his best game on Saturday, but he didn't have his worst game on Saturday either, however improvement is a must. 5 goals against with 3-4 other opportunities that could of easily swung the game another direction is not the way the Penguins can afford to have things go.

Penalty Killing has become an issue of late with the Penguins as well, however with new pieces coming in, and pieces going down to injury it is little surprise that as the defense finally started to take it's licks that the numbers would be impacted. Shootouts are one thing the Penguins cannot afford to get into right now while it's offensive productivity is still up in the air. Especially against a Maple Leafs team that is scratching and clawing it's way to a playoff spot, and is looking for revenge after having lost two back-to-back games.

Pittsburgh however feels like it's settling into a good corp of players now with additions to the offense in Neal and Kovalev as well as the swap from Goligoski to Niskanen. Niskanen may not be as fast as Goligoski or have the speed of Goose, he has the added physicality that Goose was lacking and it's shown in the previous match ups he's been a part of. Kovalev has already scored another goal as a Penguin, and is standing at 348 career points as a Pen. Neal is looking to get his first goal as a 'guin tonight against a team he has averaged a point in each of the four games he's been involved in against Toronto. Honorable mention to Zybenek Michalek and his 99 assists, here's hoping for 100 tonight.

Possible lines for tonight's match up:
                   Offense

James Neal - Mark Letestu - Alex Kovalev
Matt Cooke - Jordan Staal - Tyler Kennedy
Dustin Jeffrey - Maxime Talbot - Pascal Dupuis
Mike Rupp - Craig Adams - Chris Conner

                  Defense    

Paul Martin - Zybenek Michalek

Deryk Engelland - Kris Letang
Ben Lovejoy - Matt Niskanen

 

Between the pipes for the Penguins? Marc Andre Fleury

 

Lets go Pens!

Sharks vs Penguins Game Day 62

Tonight marks the first and only match-up between these two clubs during the '10-'11 regular season. San Jose currently is streaking winning four straight, going 8-2-0 in their last 10 games, and winning 13 of their past 16 games with Niemi in net. Niemi has recorded three shutouts in this span and has five so far this season, Niemi was the rookie goaltender who won the Stanley Cup last year with the Blackhawks.

Pittsburgh is coming into this match-up 4-5-1 in their past 10 games, playing to no ones surprise, .500 hockey. This club unfortunately is on a 2 game losing streak, with both losses coming in back-to-back games, Sunday against Niemi's former team Chicago, then only to be shutout the next night 1-0 again by Michael Neuvirth and the Capitals. Tonight's game is the third this week for the Penguins, in a long week that has a game on the schedule five out of the seven days, the 'guins will face the Hurricanes and Maple Leafs in another set of back-to-back games Friday and Saturday.

Two new players joined the Pen's this week in James Neal and Matt Niskanen from the Dallas stars in exchange for Alex Goligoski. Essentially the biggest focus this game is going to be getting the newbies acclimated to the system and their teammates. Neal is expected to play his game and continue to be an offensive threat. Neal has a lot of experience against the Sharks and was included in helping prepare for tonight's match-up.

The Penguins will be wearing their Powder Blues for the second to last time this season, they're 7-3-0 when wearing the light blues so far this year. They are 1-1 when wearing the new dark blue Winter Classic jerseys. 

Actual lines and defensive pairings for the Penguins based on tonight's broadcast:

James Neal - Jordan Staal - Pascal Dupuis
Matt Cooke - Craig Adams -  Tyler Kennedy
Mike Rupp - Max Talbot - Chris Conner
Brett Sterling - Joe Vitale - Tim Wallace

Brooks Orpik - Kris Letang
Deryk Engelland - Zbynek Michalek
Matt Niskanen - Ben Lovejoy

Marc Andre Fleury will be between the pipes for the Penguins tonight. 

Win this game and get off the snide, then show me what you've got in person on Friday when I'm at RBC Center enjoying the game from my box seats.

Lets go Pens!

Penguins vs Avalanche gameday 59. D-Fence

In the first meeting for these two clubs since 2009, where the Penguins won 4-1, the battered and bruised Penguins will square off against an equally short handed Avalanche team. Recent re-acquisition Peter Forsberg, has retired on Monday and will not be part of the line up for the Avalanche, forcing them to call up another member from their AHL team, a strikingly familiar headline seen in Pittsburgh the past month and a half.

These two teams since the lockout are 2-2 with the home team winning each time. The Penguins have not won in Colorado since February of 1999, being on a two game losing streak they're hoping to snap the trend. Colorado is on an 8 game snide and wants desperately to snap their losing streak, but the Penguins must prevent that dream from coming true. How do the 'guins look to do that? More discipline, and better performances from their tenured players. Brooks Orpik recently stated to the media that he felt like the issue was not with the Wilkes-Barre boys being called up to the ranks, but the every day vets making the mistakes. The locker room in general understands they need to step up and stay out of the box, and that getting back to a simpler game is necessary for their rebound.

They've gotten pretty versed at stating that too if you watch any of the press videos after practices or before games. You'll hear the saying "Max Talbot, Pascal Dupuis, Tyler Kennedy, those guys have to be those guys, they can't be Sidney Crosby, Max is Max, Dupuis is Dupuis, and Kennedy is Kennedy." or something along those lines a lot tonight during intermission interviews or pregame interviews.

With injury woes being the primary hot topic recently, one thing slipped under the radar, a number 1 PK unit and number 5 defense in Goals Against, has let up 14 goals in two consecutive games. It is absolutely imperative that the team stay consistent on defense, especially since all 7 of their D'men are healthy. So how was such a high number of goals achieved by these New York teams? Fleury and Johnson are not injured and yet were unable to stop the onslaught, but they cannot achieve success merely by their blockers and gloves alone. Defensively several stops have been made in the crease during games recently, two memorably by Michalek which kept a game against L.A closer than it should of been. Engelland against the Rangers on Sunday also made an exceptional save in the crease to boost Fleury.

Those stops are monumental, however preventing the puck from even being put on net is much more important, pressuring the puck handler and getting the puck out of the offensive zone must be picked up, the defensive unit and special teams units simply need to tighten up and step up. Offensively this team is a mess, with 56% of it's goals produced by players currently on the injury list and with offense being as it is Defense must step up it's game. The Avalanche are hurting, and the Penguins are hurting, both teams are looking to take advantage of that but only one can, and it must be the Penguins.

Based on the past two games and practices recently the probable line ups for this game are:

Pascal Dupuis - Craig Adams - Tyler Kennedy
Brett Sterling - Jordan Staal - Ryan Craig
Mike Rupp - Maxime Talbot - Chris Conner
Tim Wallace - Joe Vitale - Nick Johnson

Between the pipes for the Penguins Marc Andre Fleury will look to keep from starting his own losing streak.

Meanwhile in Tampa Bay last night, the Flyers picked up another 2 points in a win yesterday, further stretching their lead over the Penguins in the Atlantic Division. Currently the Flyers are 5 points ahead of the Penguins in the standings for first place in the Atlantic, and face the Florida Panthers in Florida tonight at 7:30pm.

Let's Go Pens!

Penguins vs Rangers Game 58 match 5 of 6.

Another series of back to back games against New York teams. Last time the Penguins faced a 3 game stretch against NY clubs they went 3-0.This time however it's just the Isles and the Rangers, and we all know what happened on Long Island already.

When these two clubs met February 1st, the Pens went down 2-0 quick only to go and tally 3 goals in the second period starting with Dustin Jeffrey's to get the team tied 3-3 and head into Overtime. Dustin Jeffrey also tallied the game winning goal in the 7th round of a shootout against King Henrik Stunnedqvist. This game also featured a lot of Prust, and frankly I was tired of seeing him after the game. He scored the opening goal, fought with the king of Engelland, and got hit by Staal's left cross of justice and took a dive trying to get Staal suspended. Nice try Crusty.

The game saw forward Aaron Asham take a spill which led to his injury, one which is still keeping him out of the action tomorrow afternoon. When the Penguins faced this team last their injury woes were still there, only now they're increased with suspensions to two forwards, possibly Dan Bylsma, and at least 7 players including the last games hero Dustin Jeffrey on the Injury list. Craig Adams thankfully won't find himself on there, even after getting a little dinged up in the game last night against those garbage cans on Long Island.

Fleury stood tall last game and kept the Penguins alive after they had mounted their offensive in the second period. After Johnson let in 7 goals and Fleury 2 last night one can only hope that the Flower hasn't wilted because of the fiasco. Also due to last night it's fairly guaranteed Fleury will be in net against the Rags.

Not even going to begin to give you predictions on the lineups.

With the majority of our Centers out on injury and many of the Forwards also dead or on crutches, the Penguins are going to have to rely on their #1 P.K unit and All Star netminder Fleury again to win this game. Staying out of the box is also key, after last night it should be a no brainer.

The team practiced today on an outdoor rink in Central Park. They didn't arrive without incident however as the team bus was in an accident with another vehicle. The driver of the car in the accident had gotten out of his car with that typical "WTF" reaction. Until he saw a whole team of guys in hockey uniforms and sticks get off the Bus, then he backed off. Bylsma muses that he wonders if it was because he had heard there was a game last night. Mark Letestu injured himself during practice at MSG and we lost him for 4-6 weeks, maybe that's why Bylsma basically said "Nah... Lets go to the park." to avoid any other costly injuries. Here's to hoping there won't be a morning skate before tomorrows game just so we don't lose another player in N.Y.

Dupuis had a little quip about the incident; "It's a good thing we were wearing helmets."

Letang, Dupuis, Johnson, and Craig Adams looking for a cab after the accident. Are they next to Optimus Prime?

Last time these two teams met they were a lot closer in the standings. Now they're 12 points apart and the Rangers appear to be playing themselves out of any type of contention. You'd think the Penguins wouldn't be in 3rd place in the league overall at 74points, let alone 3 points behind the Flyers for first place, but despite injuries they still find ways to keep the losses at bay.

Lets hope that happens tomorrow at MSG at 3:00pm when these two teams clash.

Lets Go Penguins!

Penguins vs Islanders game 57. Islanders look to get physical.

So we meet again, Islanders. Didn't particularly like the end of the last game did you? When Brent Johnson came out and laid down the law against your goalie, now you are on your 5th goalie of the season, and this one isn't named Evgeni. Mikko Koskinen should be in net for the Islanders tonight, another Rookie goaltender that will be starting for them this year, however it is rumored a 6th goalie may start for the Islanders, Al Montoya who was recalled from the AHL today. Kevin Poulin suffered a season ending knee injury during warmups of their previous game.

Both of these teams are absolutely riddled with injuries, there are more holes in these line-ups than a 1lb of Swiss Cheese. The Penguins are skating without eight of their players. Seven of which are out on injury, the other being Matt Cooke, who is serving his 2nd of a 4 game suspension tonight against the Islanders. The most recent and one of the more devastating injuries is one to Dustin Jeffrey who was just coming into his own for this Penguins team. He did not travel to Long Island and is being evaluated by team doctors.

After winning again last night Marc Andre Fleury is 8-2-0 in his last 10 games. He continues to be a force in net after a slow start early on in the first 10 games or so. Fleury has gotten a lot of help from teammates this season in the crease but still stands tall behind his brick wall.



However tonight looks to have Brent Johnson in net against a team that he forwent a shutout on, only to tally a big time K.O and face demolition of DiPietro instead at the end of the game. It probably felt better than any shutout.

With the 14 or so injuries suffered by both teams, the line-ups for the Penguins without Jeffrey may look like this, but could change come game time:

Tyler Kennedy - Jordan Staal - Pascal Dupuis
Mike Rupp - Maxime Talbot - Chris Conner
Brett Sterling - Joe Vitale - Nick Johnson
Ryan Craig - Craig Adams - Eric Tangradi

 The Penguins will be facing one of two possible goalies that they haven't seen before. Historically when this is the case, the Pen's offense doesn't seem to do too well when they haven't faced a goalie before, and that goalie usually ends up playing out of their minds for 60minutes or more. Recently however the Penguins have shutout the Islanders in back to back games, 1-0 and 3-0 respectively.

We're in for another long night in Long Island but hey... Lets go Pens!