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 Game 65 recap. Pens get a point...

Penguins faced off against the Leafs again last night, unfortunately for the Penguins they only came away with a point after allowing the Leafs to tie the game and send it to O.T. Chris Conner was playing out of his mind in short 10-20 second bursts. One such burst resulted in what should of been the go ahead goal in a nice single handed effort.

Niskanen also tallied his first goal of the season last night and first goal as a Penguin, James Neal's scoring drought continues despite several good opportunities last night to score. Coming away with one point in last nights game is honestly a bit upsetting simply because there were several opportunities to put the game away that weren't capitalized on. Missed passes to the slot taken as shots on goal instead, over passing and turning over the puck leading to multiple breakaways, not getting back to the slot on defense, a myriad of things that need to change.

The team is still getting used to each other especially as new bodies get added to the line up, but the Penguins haven't won a game in regulation since February 4th. Tomorrow being March 4th lets hope they can break the almost 30 day snide and put a game away within 60 minutes of hockey.

Fleury made several excellent saves but ultimately wasn't able to keep the tide from turning in the favor of the Leafs. With a slew of tough games coming up this month almost all against playoff contenders or teams playing as though they're in playoff mode, the Pens need to come away with more wins than losses this month.It's looking very ominously like a Pens vs Caps 1st round playoff match up, doing anything possible to avoid this would be ideal. Even if the Capitals can't get past the first round of the playoffs.

Funny face of the night:

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!

Penguins injury news 3-1-2011

So the Penguins survived February, but it wasn't pretty. Finishing 6-6-2 in February, the Penguins went through a slew of injuries, made 2 trades with one being a long term acquisition, and saw the debacle on Long Island take place.

Somehow, the Pen's have survived this onslaught of terrible by simply adapting and overcoming. Using a constant up and down stream of Wilkes-Barre boys to keep the line up full of healthy bodies, and a little wheeling and dealing the team has been able to stay in the race, playing .500 hockey. It's been obvious they wouldn't need to do much more than this to make it into the playoffs, but it's the state of the team after getting to playoffs that many are worried about.

Nick Johnson, Arron Asham, Eric Tangradi, and Sidney Crosby are still out with concussion like symptoms. There is absolutely no news on Sidney Crosby, other than speculation. Notably, involving the Jason Arnott trade to Washington, it was speculated that the Penguins were also attempting to get Arnott but nothing ever materialized that Shero liked, so is this because they're worried that Crosby isn't going to be back at all this season, or was it simply to replace Geno for the time being while he is out with his torn MCL? Until Sid ever comes back that question may go unanswered.

Chris Kunitz participated in his first full practice today, and also participated in this month's mustache boy competition. Kunitz lost and is March's mustache boy. Zybenek Michalek is smiling with a lot less facial hair somewhere right now. It is still unknown when Kunitz will be back but it would factor to be relatively soon. Having Kunitz back with new additions Neal and Kovalev along with Letestu being back is a huge help to bolstering the offense.

Paul Martin and Tyler Kennedy will return to action tomorrow night in Toronto, this is good news as T.K went down prior to the game against Toronto on Saturday after practice. Paul Martin was injured by Sharpe of the Blackhawks on the 20th of February, after missing four games there was a noticeably large hole on defense in all of the matches Martin was missing in action. Losing Brooks Orpik also did not help the defensive corps any, after seeing all the previous injuries to the forwards, go figure after trading Goligoski the Pens lose two guys on defense.

Orpik is still on 3 weeks of additional recovery time for a broken finger, but is very expectant of coming back to play for the Pens in April to wrap up the season. Considering there are only 18 games left they need everyone healthy and back for the playoffs.

Brent Johnson is fully recovered and participated in the mustache boy shootout as a goalie. Dustin Jeffrey returned to play against the Hurricanes and Toronto during the back to back play. So the players who have returned or are returning are Dustin Jeffrey, Mark Letestu (19 days healing for a 4-6week injury), Tyler Kennedy, and Paul Martin. Chris Kunitz will join them some time next week most likely.

The biggest question though? Where in the world is Sidney Crosby?

Sharks vs Penguins Recap. Tyler Kennedy tries his best Crosby impression.

Tyler Kennedy... He continues to be essentially the biggest threat offensively for the Pens. In the past 10 games, Kennedy has scored 6(14th of the year) goals and 2 assists(17th came in Chicago). In this game against the Sharks he scored not only the opening goal of the period off a nice rebound, he picked up another rebound with only 50seconds left in regulation to tie the game up. The magic after that had faded with the exception of a couple of phenomenal saves by Fleury that unfortunately weren't enough to bring home a win for the Penguins.

The Penguins came away from this game with just a point, after San Jose scored with 4 seconds remaining in the Overtime period, after those two amazingly show stopping saves Fleury made, sadly the last save he made was a beauty, but it was one that left a rebound, and that rebound was put into the net by the Shark's Marleau, the same Marleau who sent Brooks Orpik to the doctor after a blocked shot in the final 2 minutes of the first period. Brooks as we know now, has a broken finger and will miss 4 weeks.

The first period wasn't bad except for the injury the team took with Orpik. Kennedy scored his first goal of the game in the first which started with a huge shot by Engelland that gets on net to create the rebound opportunity. The rest of the period is essentially uneventful. Neal was beginning to get his wheels moving.

In the second period the Sharks decided that they were hungry and took a huge bite out of the Penguins momentum with a powerplay goal, a rare goal given up by the top PK unit in the league. Most likely has a lot to do with Orpik being gone this period. Admittedly it came off a pretty smooth pass from behind the net for a one timer. Not too long after that Dupuis makes a huge accidental save with the blade of his skate in the crease. Keeps the Penguins 1-1 and Fleury continues to play out of his mind like he has all season.

In the third period the Sharks beat Fleury early after a pass from the side of the net to the slot to Marleau... 2-1 Sharks and Marleau gets his first of two goals in the evening. Not to be out done, Tyler Kennedy decided that he would also put the Penguins nation on his back and attempt yet again to carry the team to victory. After Kris Letang broke his stick on a wild shot from the blueline with an empty net on the opposite end, the Sharks retrieve the puck and dish it towards the empty net but miss just wide. Then with just 50 seconds left Tyler Kennedy finds a way to get the puck into the net in very dramatic fashion. Staal gets a pass from Cooke from behind the net, takes a shot and puts up a rebound, T.K is there to grab it and send it home giving the Pens a point in a tie game and sending it to Overtime.

In overtime Neal really showed his determination and amazing ability even against a team that sees him 6 times a year and knew how to defend him all night. Neal was making plays and creating space for the Pens in the OT period that with more time together will surely result in a lot of productivity. T.K and Pascal Dupuis missed several passes that could of gotten to Neal throughout the game, so it is hopeful with the injuries that are about to come off the list, and one name everyone really hopes to see off it, could result in a lot of offense for the Penguins. Sadly this game went to the Sharks even after a glove save and a hell of a beauty by Fleury. The Shark's Marleau, the nuisance of the night, rings one home after a rebound Fleury left with just 4 seconds left in Overtime.

Pens get a point, but still are on a 3 game losing streak. They'll head to Carolina tomorrow night to face the Hurricanes at RBC Center. This will be the third game of the season that I will thankfully get to be in attendance.

Orpik has broken finger and will miss 4 weeks.

After blocking a shot in the first period of the game against San Jose last night, Brooks Orpik has officially been added to the ever increasing injury list. A list that hopefully is going to decrease after this weekend's games. Brooks had left the game early in the first after diving to block a shot from Marleau. It hit him in the hand and he never returned to the game.

Bylsma after this morning's practice finally let out the news that he has a break in one of his fingers and he is going to miss at least 4 weeks. Thankfully Paul Martin was back at practice this morning and was skating with Letang, it looks like Paul will be in the number one defensive pairing. Thanks to having Niskanen acquired we have a full squad of NHL D'men, so here is hoping Martin can get back into his wheels and Niskanen can get used to the system.

You will be sorely missed Crazy Eyes...

Alexi Kovalev is once again a Penguin.

In Shero we trust...

The once great wingman for the Penguins, has returned after 8 years with other clubs, including international play. He spent time with the Rangers, Canadiens, Senators, and participated in Russian cups and the Russian olympic team. Kovalev played for the penguins from the 98-99 season onto the 02-03 season. He was dished to the Rangers during the 2003 season after 54 games.

Kovalev as a Penguin scored more than 60 points four times, including a monster season in 00-01 where he scored 44 goals and had 51 assists for 95 total points. In his career as a Penguin he has 149 goals 198 assists and 347 total points. Numbers all of Penguins nation hope to see increase now that he will be wearing a Pen's sweater again.

Pittsburgh only gives up a 7th round pick for Kovalev, however if they do get past the first round of the playoffs, and Kovalev plays in more than 50% of the games, he will then command a 6th round pick instead. Kovalev, unlike James Neal is a wingman rental and not long term, Alexei will become an unrestricted free agent after July 1st.

With Letestu, Kunitz and Jeffrey coming back from injury soon and two new wingmen for them to work with, here is hoping they can both get the Center back they really want to play with in Sidney Crosby before the end of the season.