Crosby Leaves Me Uncomfortably Numb

I sincerely hope that yesterday's gold medal game and really, the entire Olympic hockey tournament will bring a new wave of fans to the sport.

For as great as last year's NHL playoffs were, I think this two week exhibition was some of the best hockey we have ever seen.

Outside of die-hard hockey fans and maybe some gamers of EA's NHL series, who had ever heard of guys like Tore Vikingstad and Hnat Domenichelli before?

Who knew Belarus had a hockey team that could actually put a scare into some of the world powers?

Who knew the USA would actually get the easiest road to the gold medal game by beating their rivals to the north in the round-robin?

Here's the thing, no one could have predicted the United States coming together as well as they did.

I will say that some of my prognosticating was spot on.

First off, Ryan Miller was what kept this team alive for the entire tournament except for the semifinal game against Finland where an orange cone in net would have done the job after the Americans jumped out to a 6-0 lead early.

Against Canada, Miller sparkled and made two or three game-changing saves in the third period to keep USA within striking distance.

Would he love to have the overtime goal by Sidney Crosby back?

Absolutely.

Can anyone really place any blame on Miller for giving it up?

Hell no and if you're of that mentality, you need electroshock therapy.

Which brings me to why I have no emotions about the game other than a vast appreciation for how great the game was.

Had anyone else scored the game-winner I'd be sitting here right now ripping someone apart (Ryan Whitney most likely) about the loss.

But it was Crosby.

The same kid who delivered a Stanley Cup to Pittsburgh this past June. The kid who is the captain of my beloved Penguins.

How can I hate him for realizing a childhood dream?

My captain beat my country and I am left uncomfortably numb. I'm in hockey fan purgatory like I was when the Red Wings pasted the Flyers in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Crosby's goal robbed me of elation or depression and I think this feeling might be worse, but I still like the guy.

I feel like I'm being torn apart inside. I really wanted to jump off my couch screaming like an idiot as the boys in blue piled on top of Miller as the hushed Canadian crowd looks on.

If that couldn't happen, let me be pissed off when someone like Jarome Iginla scores to knock us off.

Had Jeff Carter scored, I might have needed a new television, but at least I'd have closure.

Maybe this numbness will wear off tomorrow when Sid's back in the black and gold and I no longer have to root for Zach Parise to put the team I'm rooting for on his back.

All I can say is thankfully Martin Brodeur wasn't in net and that I can be happy that I said Canada won't win gold with him in net.

If he was in net yesterday, this whole post becomes a thank you letter to the aging wonder.

Nothing made me happier than seeing the look on his face while sitting on the bench sulking. He looked like someone told him crepes were outlawed and that Quebec's official language was being changed to English.

I will say that I feel lucky enough to have witnessed this display and can only hope that yesterday's game helped to grow the game in the country.

Everything that is good and great about the game was on display for two weeks. Hopefully someone took notice.

USA Vs. Canada Tomorrow

While I'm not shocked by the United States being 2-0 in this tournament so far, I am shocked that Switzerland nearly knocked off Canada.

That game against the Swiss was probably the most exciting game I've seen since the Pens knocked off Detroit in Game 7 for the Stanley Cup.

Jonas Hiller was the Greek god of goaltending and has permanent bragging rights over Ducks teammate Ryan Getzlaf.

He not only stoned him in the shootout, he flat out pulled the greatest glove save in at least the last 10 years late in the third.

No words came out of my mouth as my jaw hung wide open. Simply incredible and Getzlaf was in desperate need of a long hug from your girlfriend.

Anyway, I still think that Team USA is screwed for tomorrow's showdown in Vancouver.

What's on the line is potentially a first round bye if they can force OT or get a win.

A win assures them of a top four seed, but with how the Group of Death (Group B) is playing out, one point in the standings could also get it done.

Here's my issue with the Americans right now.

In my predictions, I said that the inexperience of the young squad was concerning. That inexperience has shown up big time and if the USA would have played a top notch team in either of those openers, we're not sitting at 2-0.

I've completely lost count of how many odd-man rushes the Americans have given up so far. Keep in mind they were giving these up to the Swiss and the bastard child of Scandinavia in Norway.

If they continue to play fast and loose on defense, this will be an ugly game. Ryan Miller is a very good goaltender, but not even he will be able to shut down those odd-man rushes.

The way this game needs to go tonight if the United States wants to get a win is to play a very tight checking game.

If Canada puts up 4 goals, it's over. With Martin Brodeur in net, even getting three will be a challenge if they don't put bodies out in front of him. I can't stand the guy, but he stops what he sees and hates traffic.

David Backes should take a run at him early to get in his head and if anyone breathes on Marty, watch for him to start crying to the refs like he always does.

Some say he's the greatest of all-time and they're right. He's the greatest whiner of all-time.

Either way, if they get to overtime, the United States should get a first round bye, which is far more than any of us probably expected.

Puck drop is 7:40 p.m. Eastern.

Canada 5 USA 1 - write it down and take it to the bank.

Pens Fall 4-3 In Shootout

OK so I detailed out the whole game on KDKA.com earlier today, but obviously in a recap story there's things I can't say to remain as an objective journalist.

That's what this platform is for right?

So here we go.

For one, I am not happy at all with seeing the Pens blow the lead....again.

They did it against the Capitals last Sunday, they did it against the Rangers the other night and they did it not once, not twice, but THREE times today against the Predators.

Good Lord.

This has been a problem for months and if the Pens were as explosive as they are, I'm not so sure they're one point out of the Atlantic Division lead.

Crosby got his 42nd goal of the season to open the scoring and Brooks Orpik got his first goal in 112 games to break a 2-2 tie in the third.

Fleury made some nice saves throughout the game to keep the Pens in the game, but surrendered goals against Martin Erat and Cal O'Reilly in the shootout.

Kris Letang and Crosby were denied by Dan Ellis and that was that.

I'd go into more detail, but there's really no point.

The effort wasn't there for 60 minutes and the Pens are lucky to get a point.

Their next game isn't until March 2, due to the Olympic break.

Now, going back to the other day I meant to tell this gem of a story, but figured I'd save it.

On Friday, I took my wife down to the Mellon Arena to go get autographs after the morning skate.

It was freezing out there, but she was a trooper and went along to help out and use her charm to help score some more signatures.

I will go on the record and say, I do not sell these. I am purely a collector and am not just going down there to make a buck like some other people I see there.

Anyway, we get to the arena around 11 a.m. and the players start filing out shortly before noon.

For those doing the math, that's 45 minutes roughly and did I mention it was freezing out there and we were standing in a snowbank to be up near the front of the line? No? Well there you go.

Why is any of this relevant?

Some girl from south Florida was there gushing her Pens knowledge. I'm OK with hearing other stories from fans and such, but here's where I draw the line.

There's four types of fans in this world.

1- Bandwagon - No explanation needed.

2 - Casual - The follow the team and sport, but don't know stats and wouldn't recognize any of the players on the street if they bumped into them.

3 - Die Hard - I throw myself into this. We have rituals and routines and know more about the team than we probably should and for no good reason.

It's been documented on here before that I haven't changed clothes or shaved for a period of time because the team was winning.

During the playoffs I only shaved after every playoff round because of work and work alone.

I had a daily routine that somehow kept spreading to all facets of my life, down to what songs I would listen to and from which bands and in what order during the playoffs.

If this sounds like OCD, it probably is, but when I veered away from the plan the Pens lost. Every time. When I nailed my 24 hour routine, they won, 16 times and hoisted the Stanley Cup.

4 - Obsessive and Ignorant - These are the types of people who think the world revolves around them. They think their team will always win even when the team sucks and is in last place and out of contention.

These are also the same individuals who think they know everything about the player's personal lives.

Ladies and gentlemen, this woman outside the Igloo on Friday was No. 4 and had a voice that I would prefer Fran Drescher to.

My wife is more a hybrid of options two and three and it's only because of me. As such, she was even getting pissed at this girl.

This girl and her friend were chatting (non-stop) for the entire time we were there. I don't think she took a breath.

If that wasn't bad enough, she starts talking about rumors about some of the Pens in their personal lives.

I don't claim to know anything about the player's personal lives. I don't really care to know about their personal lives either.

As long as they're good citizens and being productive members of the team, I'm happy.

Not this girl.

One shining example was the topic of Marc-Andre Fleury and his supposed girlfriend. Again, I don't know if he has one, don't care either. I'm certainly not going to waste my time looking it up either to further illustrate the glaring differences between Fans of the third and fourth varieties.

This girl turns to her friend and says "I hear she's not even that pretty either."

I wish I had a picture of this girl to post on here to make this next line even more amusing.

If that wasn't calling the kettle black, I don't know what is.

I'm not trying to be mean, but when you're overweight and your face makes little kids run in fear, don't harp on athletes wives/girlfriends.

It's a known fact that 99% of NHL players have hot significant others. Mike Fisher is engaged to Carrie Underwood for crying out loud. The other one percent either have average looking mates or none at all.

Not trying to sound sexist or anything, but even women athletes bring home good looking guys too, so it goes both ways.

Anyway, the jealously oozing out of this girl was palpable and I'm pretty sure the snow pile around her was melting at an alarming rate anytime Fleury's name came up.

As for the friend, there's a lot of bridges in and around the city of Pittsburgh, but for a couple hours the bridge-keeping troll was not at her post.

So flash forward a little bit, every player that exits the building she's yelling at as they're getting in their cars to come over to us.

On top of that, she's telling anyone in earshot who is going to stop and who isn't. As if this sort of thing is done on a scheduled basis.

She had a sign she made that looked like a 2-year-old had drawn it up and was trying to get the whole team to sign it.

Finally I had enough and moved to the other side of the entrance/exit to the parking lot as Bill Guerin rolls up.

I go over and get his autograph despite the all-knowing psychic predicting that he wouldn't stop.

Again, the main reason I went was to get my Crosby jersey signed so that I could frame it and mount it on my wall.

As Sid pulls up and gets out of his car, she starts yelling "I came all the way from Florida, please sign my sign!!!!"

As Sid was signing my jersey I wanted to be kind and warn him of what he was about to encounter, but there were some other nice people on the other side that deserved a chance to get his signature.

It was also apparent that she thought she was friends with the players because of having met a few for 30 seconds while they signed her pathetic sign.

This girl is the real reason why I hate the obsessive fans as much as bandwagoners. Bandwagoners suck because when the team isn't on top they're jumping on the one who is.

These obsessive/ignorant fans think they know everything and are too blinded by their egos and inner fears of rejection to see things clearly.

Anyway, I hope she had a safe trip back to Florida and I also hope to not run into her again.

Crosby Gets #40, 41, Pens Lose 3-2 In OT

Sidney Crosby didn't disappoint in Friday's game against the Rangers, just hours after signing my jersey outside the Mellon Arena.

I was still pretty jacked up after that while watching the game and I'm fairly certain that Sid needs to sign some more of my items if he's going to get production like that.

Anyway, the Pens looked very good in the first period and I honestly think that had they gotten more pucks behind Henrik Lundqvist in the opening frame that the result would have differed greatly.

In the first period, Lundqvist looked shakier than a teenage boy getting intimate with a girl for the first time.

Watch The Highlights From NHL.com Below



Despite all that, he somehow only allowed one goal on a rocket through the wickets from Crosby.

Everything looked to be going well for the Pens after the first. The energy was there, the commitment level was there and the Rangers looked lost.

Then, as has happened countless times this season, the Pens came out in the second and it was like watching a train wreck.

Pucks weren't getting to the net. Brent Johnson was digging pucks out his own net and then tweaked something forcing Marc-Andre Fleury to come in for the rest of the game.

After two periods, the Pens trailed 2-1.

In the third, it took a little coaxing but the Pens finally started to get back to their game.

On the power plan, a loose puck squirted back to Sergei Gonchar at the point. Gonch surveyed the situation and fired a slap-pass right onto Crosby's blade.

Sid did the rest as he redirected the puck past Lundqvist to tie the game at 2-2.

Neither team was able to light the lamp for the rest of regulation and so we head to overtime.

About a minute in, Olli Jokinen carries the puck over the Pens' line and launched a wrister over Fleury's shoulder to win the game.

I'm going to send an e-mail to PETA about Jokinen because he's an absolute Penguin killer and he needs to be stopped.

I knew my anger in reading the news that the Rangers had traded for him was justified from going back to his Florida Panther days. The Pens always struggled against the Panthers and it was mainly because of him.

As soon as he leaves, the Pens start getting wins over them. The worst part is that he's in the division now.

Great. Awesome. Splendid.

Anyway, at least the Pens got a point for their roughly 28 minute effort against the Rags last night.

Up next are the Nashville Predators at 1 p.m. Sunday. Look for the preview story on KDKA.com by me tomorrow morning.

Back To The Point Is Gearing Up For A Return

It's true.

After nearly a year absence, we are gearing up for a return. Many life-altering things happened to the authors, including myself, over the last year and now that things have calmed down we are planning to start updating this site again.

That being said, let's get right into it shall we?

The Pittsburgh Penguins are the defending Stanley Cup Champions and I couldn't be happier.

The Pens winning the Cup last season was the turning point of my year. I had just gotten laid off, bills were piling up and I had to take a job as a waiter at a Chili’s just to make ends meet.

On top of it all, my fiancée and I were planning our wedding.

The Pens were one of the only things that kept my mind of the tornado of suck that was draining me.

The longer the playoff run went, the more absorbed I became in it and the hope grew that things might turn around for me too.

After dispatching the Flyers (again), the Capitals (who didn't like seeing Alex Ovechkin cry?), and then sweeping the Canes under the rug, the rematch of the century was set.

Pens Vs. Wings Volume 2

Part of me felt all along that things would be different this time around and after the first two games, I still believed.

Games 3 and 4 went to the Pens and I was riding high.

Then, my hopes were nearly crushed when the Wings took a 3-2 lead in the series with a 5-0 drubbing.

I had to work at Chili’s during Game 6.

My shift ended right after the second period and there was no way I was driving home and missing any part of it.

I'm fairly certain there's still nail marks in the bar as I and the Pens held on for dear life in the final seconds.

Rob Scuderi made a couple saves while on his knees in the crease to preserve the 2-1 decision and to force a Game 7.

Around that time, I got a call from WBZ in Boston to come up and fill in part-time for a woman going out on maternity leave.

Why is that important?

My first day was the day of Game 7.

I left the office at 5 p.m. and got into my car in the middle of rush hour traffic in Beantown.

Of course that was probably dumb on my part, but I needed to get up to go visit my parents in Maine.

After I cleared the city limits, I floored it and made it to my parents' house with just enough time to change and turn on the game.

As stated before somewhere on this blog, my dad hates the Penguins and the rest of the family are all Bruins fans, so watching Game 7 at home was like being the road team.

Just like the Pens.

I'll never forget watching Talbot bury two goals and jumping off the couch fighting back tears after Marc-Andre Fleury robbed Nick Lidstrom as time expired.

A couple weeks later, I get a call from KDKA in Pittsburgh with a job offer.

Now I'm actually living in the same general area as the hockey team I have spent my entire life following.

It's beyond surreal to drive into the city every day and see the Igloo and know I work just blocks from the arena.

Even today, I froze my twins off outside the arena on the off-chance that Sidney Crosby would come out and sign the jersey I have been trying to get him to sign for 2 years.

He did too. Now I've got that to go along with my Marc-Andre Fleury signed jersey, also obtained outside the Igloo last year.



In any event, this season has been nuts so far and some of you may have seen me blogging on KDKA.com.

I'll still be making cameo appearances on there while I work on carving out a niche over there, but I write a majority of the previews of Pens games. Just go to www.kdka.com/penguins and look for any of the previews.

But tonight is a game-night and the Pens have a chance to get back into first place in the Atlantic Division with a win over the New York Rangers.

The Penguins have won all four previous meetings this season and have won seven straight games against the Rags overall.

Stay tuned for more on the Pens as we begin to get Back To The Point.

You can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/CaseySheaPens

Pens Go 1-1 Over Weekend

Things have been rather hectic for myself over the last few days so this will be relatively short as well.

I'm happy with the weekend's results for the most part.

The 4-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings was what I expected in that game. The Kings are not a team the Penguins should lose to. They showed up and competed and got the valuable two points in the standings.

The lone goal given up by the Pens can't really be blamed on anyone on the ice. It was a 5-on-3 powerplay goal on a bomb by Drew Doughty that was tipped by Michal Handzus.

Video Highlights Courtesy Of NHL.com


The blame here will go on the two guys in the penalty box. In this case, Mark Eaton and Jordan Staal took minor penalties 20 seconds apart that eventually set up this goal.

All around I was happy with the performance in this game and even Sunday's 3-1 loss to the hated Flyers.

The Penguins once again wore the ugly powder blue jerseys and paid for it as a result. Can we please stop this experiment already?

For the most part, the Pens dominated the game and forced Martin Biron to win the game for Philadelphia.

The Pens got a few pucks behind Biron, but just not over the goal-line. On several occasions a Flyers player was there to clear the puck out of danger, or Biron somehow found the puck just in time.

The first Flyers goal is entirely Rob Scuderi's fault.

With the Flyers on a powerplay in the first period, Mike Knuble fired a shot on Marc-Andre Fleury who made the save, but left a rebound. Scuderi attempted to clear the puck up the middle of the ice on his backhand while staring Fleury in the face and completely whiffed on it.

The attempted clear became a direct pass to Simon Gagne who buried the puck behind Fleury for the early 1-0 lead.

Video Highlights Courtesy Of NHL.com


The second goal was another penalty killing mishap in the second period. With the Flyers breaking into the zone and driving to the net, Brooks Orpik made a play on his man as he should have.

Mark Eaton was visibly confused and somehow didn't notice Scott Hartnell racing to the backpost looking for the easy tap-in goal. Jeff Carter saw Hartnell and attempted a pass to him that ended up hitting Hartnell in the skate and going in. The goal was reviewed and deemed legit.

Eaton takes the full point on this one for not blocking the pass and not picking up the backside player.

The Flyers third goal was an empty netter and I will not assign points for empty net goals, unless a Penguin puts it in their own net.

The effort was there, but the bounces went Philadelphia's way. Simple as that. No need to dwell on it. The Penguins just need to focus on continuing to play with high energy and effort and things will work out in the end.

Up next are the recently vastly improved Calgary Flames in what should be a good measuring stick for the Penguins. The Flames come to town on Wednesday.

Updated Hal Gill Quotient Standings:

Kris Letang - 6.34 - 15 GP
Marc-Andre Fleury - 5.08 - 17 GP
Sergei Gonchar - 5.08 - 16 GP
Hal Gill - 5.34 - 17 GP
Mark Eaton - 6.33 - 18 GP
Brooks Orpik - 5.09 - 18 GP
Rob Scuderi - 4.50 - 18 GP
Ryan Whitney - 3.5 - 6 GP - TRADED
Jordan Staal - 2.88 - 18 GP
Evgeni Malkin - 2.0 - 18 GP
Matt Cooke - 1.0 - 18 GP
Ruslan Fedotenko - 1.0 18 GP
Tyler Kennedy - 1.0 - 18 GP
Pascal Dupuis - .83 - 18 GP
Max Talbot - 1.0 - 18 GP
Sidney Crosby - 0.5 - 4 GP
Referee Paul Devorski - 0.5 - 1 Game Reffed
Bill Thomas - .33 - 5 GP - WAIVED

Pens Destroy Thrashers 6-2

Well, it's about time the Pens won a game and didn't force me to down a bottle of Tums.

This one was over before it started as the Thrashers were without several players, but most notably Ilya Kovalchuk.

The 6-2 win tonight ties the Pens with the Flyers for 4th in the Eastern Conference, but the Flyers have three games in hand.

There were some anxious moments early when Bryan Little banged home his own rebound just 34 seconds into the game.

The only reason this puck ended up in the net is because of Hal Gill who practically handed the lead to Atlanta.

Gill received a pass behind the net from Rob Scuderi and attempted a pass up the boards to Evgeni Malkin. The problem here is that Gill can't handle a puck to save his life and as such, the pass went awry.

Viktor Kozlov picked off the pass and one-touched it on to Little. After a give-and-go with Todd White, Little was wide open at the top of the left faceoff circle. Marc-Andre Fleury made a great first save, but his momentum took him out of the crease and Little slammed the rebound home.

Little should not have been as open as he was. The only reason he was that open was because Gill got confused as to where he was supposed to be and slid over to White was already being marked by Scuderi.

Gill is taking the full point in the standings on this one.

Highlights Courtesy Of NHL.com


Lucky for him, this was Malkin's night to shine as he gathered five points to put him over 100 on the season.

Midway through the first period, the Penguins went on a 5-on-3 powerplay and completely controlled the play. They would have scored had Johan Hedberg not done the splits and robbed Bill Guerin on the backpost.

Right after the two-man advantage ended Malkin fed Guerin who found Sergei Gonchar at the point. Gonchar teed it up and found the twine around a screen set up by Chris Kunitz to tie the game at 1-1.

With under a minute to play in the period, the Penguins went back on the powerplay and Kunitz found the back of the net on a rebound shot by Sidney Crosby. Kunitz has been unconscious since coming to Pittsburgh and is showing no signs of waking up any time soon. Malkin got the secondary assist for his second point of the night.

With the Penguins up 3-1, Malkin decided it was time to put on a show for the fans. Both sides were short a man and a short 4-on-4 play took place. Malkin won the draw back to Kris Letang who made a quick pass to Gonchar. Again, Gonchar wasted no time in letting one fly and Malkin was there to deposit the rebound into the empty net for his third point.

Just 43 seconds later Malkin connected again on a one-timer from the farside halfboards that beat Hedberg clean.

Malkin capped his evening when he took a big hit, but sprung Gonchar and Mark Eaton for a 2-on-1 on Hedberg. Gonchar waited out the defenseman and slid a slick pass to Eaton, who had a wide open net to make the score 6-2.

The Mellon Arena starting chanting "Geno! Geno!" for a majority of the third period hoping that he would get the hat trick and he had a golden opportunity to do so.

With about three minutes to play, Malkin was hauled down on a breakaway and was awarded a penalty shot. As he closed in on Hedberg, he threw a bunch of head and shoulder fakes to try and confuse the goaltender, but it did not work. Hedberg stuck with him and forced Malkin to shoot wide.

The game turned nasty and tensions finally boiled over late in the third period. A melee ensued behind Fleury's net that saw Eric Godard and Boris Valabik engage in a very short fight. Valabik threw one haymaker and immediately dropped to the ice favoring his shoulder. He skated directly to the gate and did not return.

Earlier, Matt Cooke went to put a hit on Zach Bogosian, but ended up colliding with the young defenseman's knee. Bogosian tried to stay in the game, but eventually left and did not return.

Jordan Staal scored his 20th goal of the season on the lone goal that Malkin didn't figure in on in the game. Staal has taken his game to a new level since Dan Bylsma became coach. Something tells me he likes the aggressive forecheck and wide open playstyle that the Pens have shown of late.

As for the second Thrashers goal:

Chris Thorburn moves out of the corner with the puck and Max Talbot draped all over him. Brooks Orpik slides over to him leaving Eric Boulton open with space five feet away from Fleury.

Boulton attempts a pass through Eaton, but the puck hits a stick and pops up and appears to hit Eaton in the face or upper chest and bounce behind Fleury to cut the lead to 5-2.

Talbot will receive 0.5 for allowing his man to beat him in the corner and Orpik gets the other 0.5 for not staying with his man when Thorburn had nothing to shoot at and would have had to make an incredible shot with Talbot in hot pursuit.

Updated Hal Gill Quotient Standings:

Kris Letang - 6.34 - 13 GP
Marc-Andre Fleury - 5.08 - 15 GP
Sergei Gonchar - 5.08 - 14 GP
Hal Gill - 5.34 - 15 GP
Mark Eaton - 4.83 - 16 GP
Brooks Orpik - 5.09 - 16 GP
Rob Scuderi - 3.50 - 16 GP
Ryan Whitney - 3.5 - 6 GP - TRADED
Jordan Staal - 2.38 - 16 GP
Evgeni Malkin - 2.0 - 16 GP
Matt Cooke - 1.0 - 16 GP
Ruslan Fedotenko - 1.0 16 GP
Tyler Kennedy - 1.0 - 16 GP
Pascal Dupuis - .83 - 16 GP
Max Talbot - 1.0 - 16 GP
Sidney Crosby - 0.5 - 12 GP
Referee Paul Devorski - 0.5 - 1 Game Reffed
Bill Thomas - .33 - 5 GP - WAIVED

Up next for the Penguins are the Los Angeles Kings on Friday night at the Igloo.

Pens Score 4 In 3rd, Win 6-4

If there was any doubt that the Penguins are trying to kill me before this weekend, it has officially been erased.

Why would a team willingly do this to its fan base? I have no answers, but I'm convinced that's what's going on here.

With a two-goal lead in the third against Ottawa, they blow it and later lose in the shootout to Ottawa.

Sunday against Boston, just more of the same.

With the Pens trailing 3-2 heading to the third period against the Bruins, I was hoping and begging for a win. They've made a season out of third period comebacks and blown leads, so why not one more for good measure?

I'm already in my paranoid playoff antics mode where apparently if I put my pants on wrong, the team is doomed.

Prime example?

I hadn't shaved during the recent seven-game win streak. Then, before the Columbus game on Thursday I had to shave out of necessity for work. The result? 4-3 loss in a shootout. The hockey gods then punished me some more with yesterday's 4-3 shootout loss against Ottawa. I'm so screwed and it's only March.

Moving onto today's third period where the question was, "could the Pens do it again?"

Yep. Sure enough the Pens delivered in a big way.

Blake Wheeler had a holding penalty called on him just 28 seconds into the final frame and the Pens pounced on the opportunity.

Sergei Gonchar fired a wrist shot through traffic from the point that bounced off something in front and dropped dramatically to the ice and behind Tim Thomas to tie the game at 3-3.

The initial call was that Chris Kunitz had deflected it, but it was later deemed that he did not. Why is this important? This was his second goal of the game. Still not important right? Read on.

Sixteen seconds later, Bill Guerin blocked a shot and the puck ricocheted to Kunitz who had a breakaway from his own blueline. With a little shoulder fake he got Thomas to open the pads and Kunitz slipped it through the opening for what appeared to be his third goal of the game and second career hat trick.

Thankfully, I was not in attendance and throwing my hat. If I had been, I'd want my hat back for sure.

In typical Penguin fashion, Petr Sykora takes a hooking call about a minute after Kunitz's go-ahead goal. As a result, Michael Ryder picks off a clearing attempt by Brooks Orpik and roofs it over the glove of Mathieu Garon to tie the game at 4-4.

Orpik will take the full 1.0 in this for an absolutely awful clearing attempt up the middle of the ice. Use the boards big guy or make sure you have a clear lane to get rid of the puck.

Just under seven minutes later, Jordan Staal protects the puck in the corner to the right of Thomas and finds Sykora in his sweet spot in the high slot. Sykora rifles a one-timer past Thomas to send the Mellon Arena into a frenzy with a 5-4 lead.

The Bruins upped the pressure and had some very good chances late to tie the game, but Garon and the Pens were up to the task.

The Pens iced the game when Staal picked off a pass from Zdeno Chara and deposited the puck into the empty cage with 57 seconds to play.

Video Highlights Courtesy Of NHL.com


I can't even begin to put into words the magnitude of this win. Huge does not do it justice. Normally, the Pens fold on the second day of back to back games. I was fully expecting the team to come out flat after yesterday's physical game with the Senators, but such wasn't the case.

This team has a new attitude about them. They want it now. They know they are feared and are preying on that fear in the opponent. The new aggressive forecheck is a nightmare to play against because you never know when it's coming.

Dan Bylsma has a system that fits this team like a glove and it's working. 10-1-3 under him is proof enough. Imagine where this team could be had Shero and Co. pulled the trigger on Michel Therrien a month sooner when it should have happened.

The Penguins have 11 games remaining in the regular season and currently sit 5th in the Eastern Conference with 82 points. Most teams they are battling with for playoff positioning have a game or two in hand, so it's time to start hoping for some losses from those teams to even things out.

Here's the other three goals against to update the Hal Gill Quotient:

Goal #1 - Mark Recchi Tips In A Mark Stuart Blast

The puck gets dumped into the far corner and Kris Letang is forced to retrieve it because Mark Eaton was slow to react. Letang attemps a pass to Staal in the faceoff circle, but the puck bonces away from Staal and right to Stuart who unloads a bomb. Letang and Eaton are both standing next to each other and Recchi is untouched in the slot and deflects the puck past Garon to tie the game at 1-1.

Points assigned: Letang gets 0.5 for the bad pass to Staal and Eaton gets the other 0.5 for not moving over and covering Recchi in the slot.

Goal #2 - Phil Kessel Tap In On Backdoor

Chara fires a wrist shot on goal through a crowd from the point. Wheeler beats Sidney Crosby to the rebound and passes through the slot to a streaking Kessel who buries it into the empty net behind Garon for the 2-1 lead.

Points assigned: Crosby gets 0.5 for being late to the rebound and allowing Wheeler to get the pass off. Eaton gets the other 0.5 goes to Eaton for looking lost and not blocking the pass to Kessel. Can we break up the pairing of Eaton and Letang please?

Goal #3 - Wheeler Shorthanded One-Timer From 3 Feet

This was the point in the game I thought would be the back breaker, but the Pens rebounded nicely as noted above.

Anyway, Wheeler leads the shorthanded rush up the ice and fires a puck off the side of the net. Evgeni Malkin comes back into the zone hard and drills Wheeler in the corner to free up the puck. Gonchar whiffs on it and David Krejci steals it away and feeds Wheeler out front for the easy goal.

Points assigned: Malkin gets 0.5 for a weak attempt at getting Gonchar the puck after the big hit. Gonchar gets the other 0.5 for his half of the mishap in the corner that resulted in the goal.

Updated Hal Gill Quotient Standings:

Kris Letang - 6.34 - 12 GP
Marc-Andre Fleury - 5.08 - 14 GP
Sergei Gonchar - 5.08 - 13 GP
Hal Gill - 4.34 - 14 GP
Mark Eaton - 4.83 - 15 GP
Brooks Orpik - 4.59 - 15 GP
Rob Scuderi - 3.50 - 15 GP
Ryan Whitney - 3.5 - 6 GP - TRADED
Jordan Staal - 2.38 - 15 GP
Evgeni Malkin - 2.0 - 15 GP
Matt Cooke - 1.0 - 15 GP
Ruslan Fedotenko - 1.0 15 GP
Tyler Kennedy - 1.0 - 15 GP
Pascal Dupuis - .83 - 15 GP
Max Talbot - 0.5 - 15 GP
Sidney Crosby - 0.5 - 11 GP
Referee Paul Devorski - 0.5 - 1 Game Reffed
Bill Thomas - .33 - 5 GP - WAIVED

Up next for the Penguins are the Atlanta Thrashers in the third game of an eight-game homestand on Tuesday night.

Pens Vs. Sens LIVE!

I haven't been able to do one of these in a while, but this should be fun.

The Cardiac Kids are back at it today opening up a franchise record eight-game homestand. A solid homestand here should solidify the Pens place in the playoffs and it all starts today against the hated Senators.

The Pens are coming into this game off a 4-3 shootout loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night.

The reason there wasn't a post about that game is because of the massive chest pains and stomach pains that game caused me.

Down 3-0 after an early goal in the third period, the Pens storm back to tie the game with three goals in 3:08 to tie it.

In overtime, Chris Kunitz cleanly beats Steve Mason, but catches iron. Seconds later, Ruslan Fedotenko channeled Sidney Crosby's hands and deked two defenders out of their skates. Mason came out to challenge and Fedotenko slides a nice pass to Kris Letang who was streaking in from the point. Letang fires a one-timer only to be flat out robbed by Mason's blocker.

In the shootout, Kristian Huselius scored the lone goal in the third round for the win.

During the intermissions today, I'll break down the three goals against in the Columbus game to update the Hal Gill Quotient.

Video Highlights Courtesy Of NHL.com


Some things to keep in mind today:

- Lead after two periods and your odds of winning are very good as Ottawa is just 1-25-2 when trailing after two periods.

- Marc-Andre Fleury is expected to be the starting goaltender today with Mathieu Garon getting the call tomorrow against Boston.

- Petr Sykora is still listed as day-to-day, but could play this weekend. When he plays is the question.

- The Sentors lead the season series 2-1.

- Kunitz has caught fire since coming to Pittsburgh and has eight points in his last nine games. Thank you Ray Shero!

- The Pens are 9-1-2 under Dan Bylsma.

- Brian Elliot in net for the Senators

First Period

20:00 - Pens wearing the ugly powder blue jerseys.......

19:00 - Looks as if Sykora is in the lineup according to the Hockey Night In Canada crew. PP coming for the Pens. Mike Fisher for roughing.

18:17 - Couple solid chances down low for Bill Guerin, but Elliot is up to the task early

17:00 - Penalty killed, but some very good puck movement by the boys in blue and some solid saves by Elliot.

15:20 - Daniel Alfredsson rings a wrister off the iron behind Fleury, but it stays out.

14:07 - Senators get a ton of pressure thanks to two horrible pass attempts and turnovers by Hal Gill.

13:55 - SCORE! 1-0 PENGUINS - Eric Godard with an amazing individual effort. Who knew the big fella could skate like that?! Godard flew up the far boards to chase down a puck, beating the defenseman no less. He hauls in the puck along the wall by the hashmarks and makes a power move to the net looking for a teammate in the slot, but the pass goes off a Senator skate and behind Elliot.

13:30 - Fleury stones Mike Comrie on a breakaway. Nice save Flower.

11:24 - 1-1 Tie Chris Campoli fires a wrister from the point off a face-off. The puck had eyes and hit something in front of the net to deflect past Fleury. Malkin takes the blame on this one for losing the draw cleanly and then losing his man off the draw who set the screen. Full point for Geno.

5:34 - There hasn't been a whistle in a long time until Kunitz takes a tripping call. Sens head to the powerplay. Just as an observation, Gill has looked awful so far in this game. Every time he gets the puck on his stick, his hands turn to stone and he panics. Breathe Baby Huey Breathe!

4:27 - Pascal Dupuis runs over Nick Foligno for no reason. 53 seconds of 5-on-3 coming...

1:59 - Penalties killed, but the Sens rang two more posts on consecutive shots. Fleury getting help from his best friends.

End of period one and we're toed at 1-1. Pens lead 9-7 in shots, but most of those came early in the period.

Not a bad period, but the Penguins need to work on their in-zone play right now. Sens are getting to many good looks off turnovers and bad breakout passing.

In the offensive zone, the Pens need to stop looking for the pretty play and just fire it on net. Look what happened when Godard threw it on net. I rest my case.

Now let's go back to Thursday's game and breakdown the first goal:

Fedor Tyutin leads Huselius into the zone with a pass through a couple of Pens, but Kris Letang got caught flat-footed and a little out of position and ended up chasing Huselius instead of being in his face. Huselies protects the puck an moves to the top of the left faceoff circle. He fires a shot, but Letang recovered slightly to get a stick on Huselius' stick, but it wasn't enough to stop the shot. Instead, the puck comes off the stick as a changeup and beats Fleury through the 5-hole.

Points assigned - Letang 0.5 for being out of position, Fleury 0.5 for overreacting to the changeup and getting beat between the legs.

Second Period

17:43 - Elliot makes a nice save on a Sykora one-timer from the high slot. Pens are picking up the physical play early in the period.

16:14 - Dupuis takes his second penalty of the game on a trip on Brian Lee. Nice acting job by Lee.

14:04 - SCORE!!! 2-1 Pens! - SIDNEY CROSBY WITH A TAP IN ON A BEAUTIFUL TIC TAC GOAL FROM JORDAN STAAL AND MARK EATON. The goal comes just after the penalty to Dupuis had expired. Eaton brought the puck up ice and hit Sid in stride. After a weak clearing attempt, Staal sends the puck down low to Eaton who finds Crosby wide-open on the backpost for the tap in goal.

12:58 - Fedotenko takes a high-sticking penalty after failing to lift Jason Spezza's stick and catching him in the face instead.

10:05 - Comrie throws an elbow into Brooks Orpik's face while trying to get around him. PP Pens.

8:37 - Chris Phillips is not happy with a by Kunitz on Chris Neil and a melee ensues. Phillips goes after Kunitz, Crosby goes after Phillips, Neil joins the fracas and everyone on the ice pairs off in the scrum. Phillips is physically manhandled by a linesman while trying to kill someone. Nice job zebra.

5:57 - Pens can't find the back of the net on a couple solid chances by Tyler Kennedy and Staal. Pens are starting to find some open ice to move into now though. Looks like the goal woke them up a little.

5:20 - Trademark glove save by Fleury. Nothing less than what we've come to expect out of the young goaltender. Still looks impressive every time though.

4:12 - Jesse Winchester holds Staal. PP Pens. Time to make the Sens pay for taking these penalties.

1:34 - SCORE!!! 3-1 PENS! - Kennedy buries a wrister on a 2-on-1 from Matt Cooke after Cooke stole the puck from Campoli at the Pens' blueline. Prety play again.

End of period two and the Pens have a 3-1 lead. Remember that stat about the Sens and their record after two periods when trailing that's noted above.

The other 2 goals from the Columbus game will be broken down after the game.

Third Period

19:36 - Sens head to the powerplay after a hold by Sergei Gonchar, who has played a solid game so far.

16:59 - Penalty over. Fleury covers up the puck and takes a bump from Neil. Fleury punches Neil in the back of the leg with the blocker and another scrum ensues. Way to protect your paint Fleury, but he takes the penalty for slashing. Odd call, but in any event, the Sens have another PP.

15:59 - Dany Heatley drills Gonchar in the teeth with the stick while trying to lift his stick and draws blood. No word yet on how many missing teeth Gonchar might have now, but it's a four-minute penalty to Heatley.

13:50 - Anton Volchenkov has a "lower body injury" and will not return to this game.

11:13 - Kennedy has been something else lately. He's been flying around making plays and taking good shots. He's definitely been one of the best players on the ice today.

12-00 - 3-2 Pens - Foligno rips a wrister to the shortside twine through a sea of blue bodies. Fleury never saw it as Orpik, Staal and Gonchar were all screening him.

7:08 - Malkin gets wide open in the slot and takes a hard wrister, but Elliot is up to the task and leaves no rebound.

6:06- 3-3 Tie - Phillips ties it on a horrible turnover by Scuderi who attempted a breakoutpass/clearing attept. Heatley fires it off Fleury's shoulder and the puck rolls down him into the pain and Phillips pounds it home. This is all on Scuderi.

3:09 - I cant take this. Another two goal lead blown in the third period. Staring OT in the face for a 4th straight game.

2:02 - After a brilliant skate save by Fleury, Malkin kills the logo on Elliot's jersey again.

:5.8 - Gonchar battling with Heatley and somehow the refs call a tripping penalty on Gonchar. Complete and utter diver by Heatley.

End of period 3 and we go to overtime for the fourth straight game.

Overtime

4:36 - Huge save by Fleury on a cross-crease pass from Spezza to Heatley. Keeps us alive for now.

4:25 - Another save by Fleury on a slapper by Heatley.

3:58 - Fleury eats one in the chest on a bomb by Filip Kuba.

3:45 - Fleury makes two big saves on Alfredsson and Spezza off a rebound. Pens losing every draw so far.

1:48 - Fleury is standing on his head to keep the Pens alive in this game. Fans are on their feet chanting "Fleury! Fleury! Fleury!"

End of overtime and we head to a shootout for the fourth straight game. Unofficial NHL record has been set by the Pens for most consecutive shootouts.

Pens got a couple chances including a 2-on-1 with Crosby and Malkin, but Elliot got the shoulder on a rising shot by Geno.

If the Pens win this shootout, everyone owes this win to Fleury for his spectacular play tonight especially in overtime.

Shootout

Pens will shoot first.

Letang the first shooter - Letang bails on his usual move and Elliot makes the save.

Alfredsson - Dekes around the sprawling Fleury and the Sens lead 1-0.

Sykora - Stoned by Elliot on the backhand.

Spezza - Fleury makes a nice save on a backhander by Spezza to keep the Pens alive.

Crosby the last hope - SCORES!

Ruutu - Fleury makes the save and we're going to extras.

Malkin - Elects to shoot and not make a move and Elliot saves it with the glove.

Fisher - Fleury slams the door on the 5-hole and we play on.

Kunitz - Dekes Elliot out of hi jock, but goes over the net.

Comrie - Slides the pucks under the outstretched pad of Fleury and the Sens win the shootout 2-1 and the game 4-3.

Here's the remaining two goals:

Goal #2: Jackets dump the puck into the zone and Fleury comes out to play it. There's a big miscommunication between Letang and Fleury, which allows Antoine Vermette to steal the puck and fire an aerial pass out front from his knees. The pass connects with Jason Williams who fires a backhander from the slot to the shelf over Fleury's glove.

Points assigned: Letang and Fleury get 0.5 each for their little mishap behind the net that led to the goal.

Goal #3: Gonchar has the puck in the corner and coughs it up to Williams who finds Vermette out near the blueline in the high slot. Vermette tees one up and blasts it by Fleury for the 3-0 lead.

Points assigned: Gonchar takes full blame on this one as Fleury had no chance to stop that rocket.

Updated Hal Gill Quotient Standings:

Kris Letang - 5.84 - 11 GP
Marc-Andre Fleury - 5.08 - 14 GP
Sergei Gonchar - 4.58 - 12 GP
Hal Gill - 4.34 - 13 GP
Mark Eaton - 3.83 - 14 GP
Brooks Orpik - 3.59 - 14 GP
Rob Scuderi - 3.50 - 14 GP
Ryan Whitney - 3.5 - 6 GP - TRADED
Jordan Staal - 2.38 - 14 GP
Evgeni Malkin - 1.5 - 14 GP
Matt Cooke - 1.0 - 14 GP
Ruslan Fedotenko - 1.0 14 GP
Tyler Kennedy - 1.0 - 14 GP
Pascal Dupuis - .83 - 14 GP
Max Talbot - 0.5 - 14 GP
Referee Paul Devorski - 0.5 - 1 Game Reffed
Bill Thomas - .33 - 5 GP - WAIVED

Pens don't have long to think about this one that got away as the Bruins come to town tomorrow. Hopefully, this will teach them a lesson about those awful powder blue jerseys. For the love of God, STOP WEARING THEM! Show me a powder blue penguin in nature and I'll drop my argument. Until then, my point stands.

Pens Storm Back In 3rd, Win 4-3 In Shootout For 7th Straight Win

Is this really happening? The Penguins really are on a seven-game winning streak after a 4-3 shootout win over the Panthers tonight?

Seriously?

This isn't a joke?

Part of me feels like I'm in a coma and the abnormal delusional part of my brain is creating a false reality, in which the Penguins mysteriously show their true colors as a dominant team in the NHL, after treading along for most of the season in utter mediocrity.

If this really is true, where was this team all season?!

Granted the Pens didn't have the help that Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin have provided since coming over, but come on. The addition of those two guys is the sole reason this team woke up?

The dramatic change in play tells me that Michel Therrien lost this team months ago and that Ray Shero wasted too much time in replacing him.

The Penguins are now 9-1-1 since Dan Bylsma took over. Yeah, 9-1-1. Pretty nuts isn't it? It's like when the Pens called up a kid by the name of Patrick Lalime to lead them down the stretch and then into the playoffs. Hopefully history doesn't repeat itself with Bylsma compared to Lalime, who became about as useful as an orange pylon in the cage.

The Penguins absolutely dominated the majority of this game and were rewarded for their efforts. They outshot the Panthers 50-21 for the game. Tomas Vokoun played a phenomenal game between the pipes, but was no match for Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin in the shootout. Seriously, look at the move Geno pulled on Vokoun to win the game. Vokoun had no idea what hit him.

Video Highlights Courtesy Of NHL.com - Watch to see Hal Gill actually hit someone!


The game wasn't a cakewalk though. The Pens had a 1-0 lead after the first period and were dictating the pace of the game. Matt Cooke and Brooks Orpik were hitting anything that moved like this was a playoff game.

The second period saw the Panthers take back some control and thanks to some fortunate bounces and breaks, a 3-1 lead heading into the final frame.

The Therrien Pens would have packed it in and gotten down on themselves and lost this game by five. Thankfully, those days are long gone. The Bylsma Penguins are starting to believe in themselves once again and showed it again tonight.

They scored two goals in just over 3:30 of play to tie the game at 3-3 with over 14 minutes to play thanks to Jordan Staal and Sidney Crosby. This quick rally put the Panthers on their heels and the Pens were just unable to bury another one in regulation or overtime.

Vokoun flat out robbed Staal shortly after Crosby tied the game. Staal was moving toward the backpost in the slot and fired a one-timer off a rebound to the gaping net, but Vokoun dove over out of nowhere to smother the puck and preserve his team's chances.

Quick note about Crosby's goal. Guerin notched career assist #400 on the play. This makes two career milestones since coming to Pittsburgh. Welcome home Bill!

Malkin scored his 30th goal of the season on a nasty backhanded from just outside the crease with his back to Vokoun and a defenseman draped all over him. Rather than trying to make a move, Geno just rips the puck behind him without even looking. Vokoun looked around after the puck got by him searching for answers about how Malkin got that puck by him.

As for the Panthers, let's break down the three goals:

Goal #1 - Nick Boynton Wrister From The Point

Malkin tried chipping a puck up the boards from the corner, but got nothing on it. Keith Ballard held it in and passed it to the slot to David Booth who immediately passed it back to Boynton at the near side point.

Boynton let a wrist shot go through a screen masterfully set up by Brooks Orpik. Marc-Andre Fleury never saw the puck go over his right shoulder.

Points assigned: Malkin gets 0.5 for a bad pass up the boards, Orpik gets 0.5 for stepping in front of Fleury and not blocking the shot.

Goal #2 - Kamil Kreps Bangs Home Rebound

Boynton fires a low shot on Fleury and Kreps was in the right place at the right time with no one on him to hammer home the rebound past Fleury.

Points assigned: Mark Eaton takes the full 1.0 for being entirely out of position. Letang forced his man around the net, at which point Eaton should have slid over to cover Letang's position. Instead, Eaton followed his man out past the hash marks and never realized he blew the coverage until the red light was on.

Goal #3 - Ballard Deflects Home Rebound In Mid-Air Behind Fleury

The coverage in the defensive zone was pretty good except that no one picked up Ballard streaking to the backpost. Ville Peltonen threw a shot on net from a bad angle, but the resulting rebound went right to Ballard. Fleury made the right move in trying to deflect the puck to the boards, but just got unlucky with it.

Points assigned: Tyler Kennedy takes the full 1.0. Ballard was his man and he didn't do anything to prevent him from getting to the net.

Updated Hal Gill Quotient Standings:

Kris Letang - 4.84 - 10 GP
Hal Gill - 4.34 - 12 GP
Marc-Andre Fleury - 4.08 - 13 GP
Mark Eaton - 3.83 - 13 GP
Ryan Whitney - 3.5 - 6 GP - TRADED
Sergei Gonchar - 3.25 - 11 GP
Brooks Orpik - 3.25 - 13 GP
Jordan Staal - 2.25 - 13 GP
Rob Scuderi - 1.50 - 13 GP
Matt Cooke - 1.0 - 13 GP
Ruslan Fedotenko - 1.0 13 GP
Tyler Kennedy - 1.0 - 13 GP
Pascal Dupuis - .83 - 13 GP
Max Talbot - 0.5 - 13 GP
Evgeni Malkin - 0.5 - 13 GP
Referee Paul Devorski - 0.5 - 1 Game Reffed
Bill Thomas - .33 - 5 GP - WAIVED

Pens Win Thriller In Washington For 6th Straight Win

This is borderline insane and I'm not sure I fully believe it.

Somebody pinch me.....please.

The Penguins have won six games in a row now after knocking off the Capitals 4-3 in a shootout Sunday. Should the game have gone to a shootout? Absolutely not.

The Penguins came out flatter than a day old open beer in the third period with a 3-1 lead and the Caps pounced scoring two goals in 49 seconds to tie the game. I was at Caps/Pens game at the Igloo on Oct. 16 and the same thing happened. The Pens had a 3-1 lead and gave up in the third period and lost 4-3. Thankfully they learned from that mistake this time around.

The shock from those two goals was rather apparent, seeing as how the team looked scared to be on the ice for most of the period after that. If not for a couple of powerplays, they may not have pulled this one out.

There was one scary moment late in the third period thanks to good pal Hal Gill. I have never been more proud of his poor puckhandling skills.

With under five seconds to play, Gill attempts to clear a bouncing puck out of danger in the slot. The key word there is "attempts." Gill fires the puck to the endboards behind Marc-Andre Fleury and barely misses turning the red light on for the Capitals. Had he done that I would have needed a new television.

Video Highlights Courtesy Of NHL.com


Here's some notes from the game:

- Bill Guerin had three points (1G 2A) in the game today. The top line of Sidney Crosby - Chris Kunitz - Guerin is working rather well so far.

- The top powerplay unit is still a shade off from regaining the lethal form it once had. Guerin parking his wide frame in front of the net resulted in one goal tonight on a bomb from Sergei Gonchar. That's a good sign if you ask me.

- Fleury had a roughly .950 save percentage before today's game in March, which is a league high. He played spectacularly again today and came up huge in the shootout stopping Alex Ovechkin to win the game.

- Petr Sykora did not dress for this game due to "an upper body injury," according to the Pitsburgh Tribune-Review. He is listed as day-to-day.

- The Penguins finish this pivitol five-game roadtrip with a perfect 5-0 record. That is a franchise best mark.

- The Bylsma Penguins are now 8-1-1. Not a bad start for the new coach.

- The win prevents a season series sweep by the Caps for the first time in history as well. The Caps have come close to sweeping the Pens a couple of times, but that record lives on for another year now.

The Penguins are making me do some extra work today in breaking down three goals against, but a couple of these are rather simple.

Goal #1 - Alexander Semin dekes around Fleury down low

Kris Letang is set up behind the net and attempts a long outlet pass intended for Evgeni Malkin. The pass fails miserably as he hits Nicklas Backstrom, who was applying pressure. Backstrom picks up the loose puck in the corner and hits Semin rushing into the slot to tie the game at 1-1.

Points assigned: Letang gets the full point for the awful outlet pass.

Goal #2 - Ovechkin Powerplay Goal

Mark Eaton blocks a shot in the slot. Brooks Laich picks up the loose puck and passes it back to Mike Green at the point. Green goes point-to-point to Ovechkin who takes a couple steps toward the net and fires a wrister behind Fleury. The puck appears to have gone off Gonchar, who was battling with Laich behind Fleury at the side of the net.

Points assigned: Max Talbot gets 0.5 for being too far away from his pointman (Ovechkin) and allowing him to get a higher percentage shot. Gonchar gets the other .5 for not getting body position on Laich and as a result of the battle, the puck hits Gonchar and goes in.

Goal #3 - Laich Breakway Off Bad Line Change

David Steckel catches the Pens in a horrific line change on defense and connects with Laich on the home-run pass. Laich walks in on Fleury and almost loses the handle on the puck, but puts on a nice move and roofs it behind Fleury to tie the game at 3-3.

Points assigned: 0.5 each to Letang and Eaton for the horrible line change. It was poorly executed and Washington made them pay as a result.

Updated Hal Gill Quotient Standings:

Kris Letang - 4.84 - 9 GP
Hal Gill - 4.34 - 11 GP
Marc-Andre Fleury - 4.08 - 12 GP
Ryan Whitney - 3.5 - 6 GP - TRADED
Sergei Gonchar - 3.25 - 10 GP
Mark Eaton - 2.83 - 12 GP
Brooks Orpik - 2.75 - 12 GP
Jordan Staal - 2.25 - 12 GP
Rob Scuderi - 1.50 - 12 GP
Matt Cooke - 1.0 - 12 GP
Ruslan Fedotenko - 1.0 12 GP
Pascal Dupuis - .83 - 12 GP
Max Talbot - 0.5 - 12 GP
Referee Paul Devorski - 0.5 - 1 Game Reffed
Bill Thomas - .33 - 5 GP - WAIVED

Pens Pull Away In 3rd For 5th Straight Win

Am I really sitting here writing about a five-game winning streak for the Penguins?

If the Penguins do go on to make the playoffs, they will be the best prepared team in the conference. Why? They have been playing playoff type hockey since the middle of February. They are approaching every game with a life or death mentality and it's paying off.

Tonights 4-1 win over the Florida Panthers (the 6-seed in the Eastern Conference), was huge. The Rangers also won again tonight, so now there is a three-way tie for the 6-seed.

The Penguins are now one point out of 5th and four points out of fourth thanks to the Flames beating up on the Flyers tonight.

Dan Bylsma is making a serious push to drop the "interim" off his title if you ask me. The team is now 7-1-1 since he took over. Let's also remember that the Pens have not been stellar on the road this season, and they now have won four straight on this five-game road trip. The trip concludes Sunday in Washington.

Some observations tonight:

- The top line of Bill Guerin - Sidney Crosby - Chris Kunitz will be a force. Their timing is just a hair off right now, but that's to be expected. Give them a couple games and practices and things will start to flow much better. A sign of things to come would be Crosby's goal tonight. Guerin hit him in stride and Sid does the rest by splitting the flat-footed defense.

- Some people will claim that the Pens got all the breaks in this game. I could see that to some degree. I don't have the exact number of posts the Panthers hit tonight, but needless to say if a couple of those go in, who knows how the game turns out.

Video Highlights Courtesy Of NHL.com


- Marc-Andre Fleury was brilliant when he needed to be. The lone goal against was kind of flukey. More on that later.

- Tyler Kennedy needs to shoot the puck more. I was unaware that he had as big a cannon as he does. Watch the highlights provided here to see the bomb he dropped on Tomas Vokoun in the third period. His second goal on the one-timer tap-in from Evgeni Malkin was just plain pretty.

- I'm very excited to see Sergei Gonchar quarterbacking the power play with Malkin, Crosby, Petr Sykora and Guerin camping out in front of the net. Guerin might want to invest in a full cage for his helmet though. I love Gonchar's shoot at will mindset, but his accuracy isn't exactly perfect.

- The Panthers' color guy (Denis Potvin I believe) needs an education. Kris Letang got drilled from behind in the second period and Cory Stillman received a penalty for charging. Keep in mind, the hit was FROM BEHIND. Is it a charging call? Debatable, but if you look up penalties in the rule book, you'll see an infraction for "HITTING FROM BEHIND!"


Hockey Penalties: Hitting From Behind -- powered by eHow.com

He redeemed himself later by saying he hated the Penguins powder blue third jerseys. I concur. I don't support this team any less because of the ugly third jerseys, but you won't catch me wearing one.

- Hal Gill was actually effective tonight. At various points in the game he actually dropped to the ice to block a shot and succeeded. At another point the Panthers' announcer claimed Gill hit someone in the corner. I still need video proof, but I like the effort. There was a play in the third period though, where he dropped to a knee and his man spun right around him and drilled the post. To quote Meatloaf "two outta three ain't bad."

Speaking of Hal Gill, it's time to update the Hal Gill Quotient after tonight's game. It's normally a good day when I only have to break down one goal.

Goal #1 - Radek Dvorak fires puck off the bottom of the post, puck flutters into the air off Fleury and barely drops in over the line.

The Panthers dump the puck into the zone and Fleury comes out to play it and is forced to throw it to the near corner. Brooks Orpik is a coasting back into the zone and gets beat to the puck. Crosby chases his man around the net who feeds Dvorak who gets the fortunate bounce.

Points assigned - Orpik gets 0.5 for not hustling back to the puck. Letang gets 0.5 for letting Dvorak get complete body position on him and free to take the shot.

Updated Hal Gill Quotient Standings:

Hal Gill - 4.34 - 10 GP
Marc-Andre Fleury - 4.08 - 11 GP
Ryan Whitney - 3.5 - 6 GP - TRADED
Kris Letang - 3.34 - 8 GP
Sergei Gonchar - 2.75 - 9 GP
Brooks Orpik - 2.75 - 11 GP
Mark Eaton - 2.33 - 11 GP
Jordan Staal - 2.25 - 11 GP
Rob Scuderi - 1.50 - 11 GP
Matt Cooke - 1.0 - 11 GP
Ruslan Fedotenko - 1.0 11 GP
Pascal Dupuis - .83 - 11 GP
Referee Paul Devorski - 0.5 - 1 Game Reffed
Bill Thomas - .33 - 5 GP - WAIVED

Crosby Returns Tonight, Gonchar Out

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby (23+56=79) will return to the ice tonight to face the Florida Panthers in Sunrise.

Crosby had missed the last four games following a groin injury. The Penguins have won all four games that Crosby has missed on his latest layoff. He has missed a total of five games this season and the Penguins have won all five.

I'm sure Casey will add something to this, but I can guess he's stoked to see Crosby and Kunitz finally on the same line.

This could be considered Pittsburgh's biggest game of the season to date: facing a Florida Panther team who sit two points ahead of the Penguins for 6th place in the Eastern Conference.

A proverbial four-point game.

Casey's Take: This is great news and it couldn't come at a better time. The Penguins play the Panthers in two of their next three games with the Capitals sandwiched in the middle. A sweep of the Panthers would go a long way toward climbing back into the thick of the Eastern Conference.

In another roster move, the Penguins recalled defenseman Alex Goligoski to replace Sergei Gonchar tonight. Gonchar flew back to Pittsburgh for the birth of his second child.

It should be interesting to see what the line combos are tonight. Here's what I'd like to see:

Kunitz - Crosby - Guerin - This line practiced together today.
Sykora - Malkin - Staal - Do it Bylsma. You know you want to.
Dupuis - Talbot - Fedotenko - Fun scrappy energy line
Cooke - Adams - Kennedy - Don't expect to see Adams in much more of a role than this.

Defense:

Kris Letang - Brooks Orpik
Rob Scuderi - Hal Gill
Alex Goligoski - Mark Eaton

Goaltender:

Marc-Andre Fleury

A win tonight would give the Pens five in a row to head into Washington on Sunday.

Breaking: Pens Put Satan On Waivers

According to a report on TSN.ca, the Pittsburgh Penguins have placed winger Miroslav Satan on waivers.

This to me means something big could be in the works if they are trying to free up some cap space before tomorrow's deadline.

I will fully admit that before the season I really wanted the Penguins to sign him. I was using simple logic in that if you place a guy who has offensive talent on a line with Sidney Crosby, he should be in the vicinity of 65-70 points. Clearly, that is not the case with Satan.


At least the experiment is over. I would think that someone out there will claim him and take him off our hands, but the thought of him clearing waivers and being sent to Wilkes-Barre cracks me up.

Also placed on waivers, was former Penguin Chuck Norris...aka Gary Roberts. I wouldn't be surprised if we tried to claim him, but something tells me he's already played his last game in Pittsburgh.

He wanted no part of contract negotiations last summer, so I'm not expecting him to be back even though it would be fun to see the Igloo with WWGRD (What Would Gary Roberts Do) signs again.

Speaking of Crosby, he will not play tonight against the Lightning due to a sore groin. This will be the fourth straight game the Kid has missed. Do me a favor, if you see posts on message boards about him not in the lineup tonight meaning he's being traded, just point them my way and I'll set them straight.

Stay tuned for more developments as we see them. This is going to be a crazy 24 hours.

Pens Get 1-0 Win Over Islanders Sans Crosby, Whitney

For whatever reason, the New York Islanders always seem to give the Penguins fits. Tonight was just another example of this as the Pens squeaked by the Islanders 1-0.

Before I go any further, can I just say that I'm sick of the powder blue jerseys? They were cool in the Outdoor Classic last year and maybe as a rare throwback jersey, but 20+ times this season? Come on. The team was garbage when they wore those jerseys back in the late '60s and I think it's showing up in their play this season.

Anyway, the Pens had plenty of glorious opportunities in this game. On a few occasions they had the puck behind Isles goaltender Yann Danis, but were unable to slam it home or settle the puck.

Finally, Petr Sykora was the recipient of a fortunate bounce out front on a pass from Sergei Gonchar and buried the puck behind Danis for the game's lone goal. he nearly killed himself while celebrating the goal, but hey when you score a potentially season saving goal, you're allowed.

Video Highlights Courtesy Of NHL.com


Sidney Crosby and Ryan Whitney missed tonight's game for a couple different reasons. Crosby pulled himself out of practice with a sore groin he suffered Sunday against Washington.

Whitney missed the game due to personal reasons and is expected to re-join the team Friday in Chicago.

Updated Hal Gill Quotient Standings:

Marc-Andre Fleury - 3.58 - 7 GP
Ryan Whitney - 3.5 - 6 GP
Kris Letang - 2.84 - 4 Games Played
Hal Gill - 2.34 - 6 GP
Mark Eaton - 2.33 - 7 GP
Sergei Gonchar - 1.75 - 6 GP
Brooks Orpik - 1.75 - 7 GP
Jordan Staal - 1.75 - 7 GP
Rob Scuderi - 1.25 - 7 GP
Matt Cooke - 1.0 - 7 GP
Pascal Dupuis - .83 - 7 GP
Referee Paul Devorski - 0.5 - 1 Game Reffed
Bill Thomas - .33 - 5 GP

As a result of the shutout, the Hall Gill Quotient remains unchanged from the last game and in place of dissecting goals against, let's take a look at some "rumors."

Alexander Frolov To Pittsburgh e4

First off, I like the possibility of having a guy like Frolov on Sidney Crosby's wing. A lot. However, given that Eklund is only correct 2.9% of the time according to HockeyBuzzHogwash.com, this isn't happening. He is also rumored to head to Colorado or Buffalo.

Let's just assume that Eklund is onto something here. What would we give up to get Frolov?

It's widely thought that Ryan Whitney will be shipped out of Pittsburgh by the deadline. I'm willing to take a guy like Frolov and a draft pick for Whitney. The upside to this kind of a deal is that Frolov is signed through the end of next season at $2.9 million, meaning we save about $1.1 million in cap space by dumping Whitney's salary.

Erik Cole To Pitt e4

Eklund seems to think that the Pens will trade Whitney to Edmonton straight up for Cole.

Please.

Does anyone out there seriously think that this would be an equal trade or that the Pens would actually be the victors in this deal? Come on.

Not to mention, Cole's going to be a UFA after this season. Where's the logic here Eklund?

Scott Niedermayer To Pittsburgh

Dear God, why? There's not even an "E" rating on this because there isn't a quantitative negative value for utterly laughable. It doesn't exist.

Moving on.

Ryan Smyth To Pitt

Gimmie gimmie gimmie. Seriously, I'd love this guy in Pittsburgh. The only problem here is his $6.25 million contract. Upside is that he's signed through 2011-2012.

With 20 goals and 30 assists on the season, Smyth could be the perfect fit on the top line with Crosby. Throw Pascal Dupuis on the other wing to wreak havoc and win one-on-one battles in the corners and you have yourself a formidable top line.

Smyth isn't Judas, but it's an improvement over (insert player here not named Sykora or Evgeni Malkin.)

Now onto some other rumors I've read on other sites:

Nik Antropov To Pitt

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I do not see what the big deal is with Antropov. Leaf fans affectionately refer to him as Antropuff.

Here's what I think of Antropov:

He's a good guy to have out in front to set up screens and he does score a bunch of garbage goals. That's fine and dandy. However, he's what Hal Gill would be if Gill was a forward.

At 6'6" 230, he should be feared in the corners. He's not. He's also not going to be able to keep up with Crosby on the rush.

If we send the Leafs Alex Goligoski and a 1st-round pick for him, I'm driving to Pittsburgh to demand a meeting with Ray Shero. Simple as that. Even if we send Whitney up there for him, I'm not happy.

I would much rather a guy like Frolov or Milan Hejduk than Gill's younger brother.

Stay tuned for more as we are now getting ever closer to the deadline and there's bound to be more rumors soon.

Pens Lose To Caps, No One's Surprised

There's not much to be said about the Pens 5-2 loss to the Caps yesterday. I'm not surprised one bit that they lost to the Capitals in such a convincing fashion, especially with how intense Saturday's game against the Flyers was.

Now, this would have been an enormously huge win for the Pens, but it just wasn't in the cards. Let's take a look at the goals against and assign some Hal Gill Quotient points to the deserving players.

Goal #1 - Alex Ovechkin scores on the powerplay - Sergei Fedorov has the puck in the corner and feeds Nicklas Backstrom at the bottom of the right faceoff circle. Shockingly enough, Hal Gill was the man Fedorov beat with the short pass.

Backstrom then sends the puck over to Ovechkin, who's streaking down the weakside with a wide open net. Ovie fires the one-timer and it's 1-0 Caps. Rob Scuderi attempted to block Backstrom's pass, but missed.

Points assigned: Gill - 0.5, Scuderi 0.5

Video Highlights Courtesy Of NHL.com


Goal #2 - Alexander Semin scores on the powerplay - For some reason, all four Penguins were along the near side boards trying to get the puck out of the zone. The four Penguins on the ice were: Sidney Crosby, Matt Cooke, Brooks Orpik and Mark Eaton.

Sid, Orpik, and Cooke were pursuing Backstrom along the wall. Eaton then slides over to mark Ovechkin, leaving Semin wide open in front of Marc-Andre Fleury. Backstrom chips the puck past all three Pens into the vicinity of Semin, who handles the puck and dekes Fleury to the ice for a 2-1 lead.

Points assigned - Orpik 0.5 for being out of position, Eaton 0.5 for cheating to Ovechkin.

Goal #3 - Fedorov blows one through Fleury - Jordan Staal turns the puck over while trying to return a pass to Ryan Whitney along the nearside at the blueline. Semin picked off the pass and found Fedorov entering the zone. Fedorov tees it up from the slot and blows it through the legs of Fleury for a 3-1 lead.

Points assigned - .75 to Staal for the turnover, .25 to Fleury for not getting the pads down quick enough despite the wide open slapper from 15 feet.

Goal #4 - Shaone Morrison scores on rebound blast from tough angle - Ovechkin dances around Tyler Kennedy at the top of the right faceoff circle and dances his way to the nearside to get a shot on net. Fleury makes the save and deflects the rebound aside. Morrison skates down past the hashmarks along the wall and rips the puck right back at Fleury who misplayed the angle and its now 4-2 Caps.

Points assigned - Pascal Dupuis 0.5 for not picking up his pointman (Morrison) streaking to the puck. Fleury 0.5 for not stopping a shot from that bad of an angle.

Goal #5 - Fleury goes behind the net to play the puck to Gill, but the pass gets broken up by Semin. An attempted pass into the slot by Semin goes awry, but the puck finds its way back to Tom Poti at the point. Poti unloads and misses the net by about a foot to Fleury's right. Brooks Laich pounces on the loose puck and just throws it on net. The puck must have had eyes as it found a small opening Fleury must have left and just barely crosses the line. 5-2 Caps.

Points assigned - Fleury 0.5 for not blocking off the post and allowing a very weak goal, Gill 0.25 for not calling Fleury off on the pass or assisting in that aspect of the play in any way, Scuderi 0.25 for not picking up Laich after Poti's shot.


Updated Hal Gill Quotient Standings:

Marc-Andre Fleury - 3.58 - 6 GP
Ryan Whitney - 3.5 - 6 GP
Kris Letang - 2.84 - 3 Games Played
Hal Gill - 2.34 - 5 GP
Mark Eaton - 2.33 - 6 GP
Sergei Gonchar - 1.75 - 5 GP
Brooks Orpik - 1.75 - 6 GP
Jordan Staal - 1.75 - 6 GP
Rob Scuderi - 1.25 - 6 GP
Matt Cooke - 1.0 - 6 GP
Pascal Dupuis - .83 - 6 GP
Referee Paul Devorski - 0.5 - 1 Game Reffed
Bill Thomas - .33 - 4 GP