Pittsburgh Penguins vs Carolina Hurricanes Pros and Cons

Well, I'm still trying to get over last nights loss. I'm honestly struggling to be excited about tonights game. But here goes...

The Hurricanes come into the game with a record of  5-4-0. That is good for 4th place in the Southeast division. The Penguins dropped to 5-5-1 last night that puts them 2nd in the Atlantic. The Hurricanes are coming off a 4-3 win over the Rangers last night. As we know, the Penguins also played last night but lost to the Flyers. The loss was the Pens 3rd in a row. Carolina has been getting a lot of shots on goal(32.67/game) but also giving up a lot(35.89). They average 2.67 goals per game and give up 3 goals against per game. To compare, the Pens score 2.91 and give up 2.55 per game. Carolina edges the Penguins power play 15% to 13.3%. However Pittsburghs penalty kill wins out 82.6% to Carolinas 76.3%.

I do not follow Carolina, but judging from some of these stats, it looks like the Pens should be able to come at these guys. They give up a ton of shots and aren't very good on special teams. Jordan Staal's brother, Eric leads the team in goals, assists, and points with 3, 4, 7 respectively.

The Hurricanes have not had a very friendly schedule. This is only their 2nd home game of the year. They started the season overseas in Finland. All the travel plus playing last night may be an advantage for the Pens.

It looks as if it will be Brent Johnson in goal for the Pens and Cam Ward for the Canes.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Malkin is questionable tonight with a bruised knee. It sounds like he will test the knee at the pregame skate.

On to the Pros and Cons.....


PROS:

• Carolina has got to be tired. Playing 2 games in Finland then coming home to 5 straight road games has got to take a toll on you. Both teams played last night as well, but I got to bet the Pens will have the stronger legs tonight. 
• Brent Johnson is in goal tonight. Fleury is definitely not to blame for last nights loss, but Johnson has given the team every opportunity to win every time he has played this year. 
• The Pens have faired better on the road this year at 3-1-1. Maybe they simplify their game or maybe its just the way it happens? Who knows, but this is a game they could and should win.

CONS:

• Cam Ward has been solid in his career vs the Penguins. He has posted 9-3-2 record with a 2.39 GAA
• The Pens power play is now 0-20 in the last 4 games. You are not going to win too many with these numbers

So thats it, this should be a winnable game. Lets see which Penguins come out tonight. Game is at 7:00pm.



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Malkin questionable tonight with knee bruise

Evgeni Malkin is questionable for tonights Penguins and Hurricanes games with an apparent knee bruise. According to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, he was injured after being pinned to the boards. There appears to be no ligament damage and he will test the knee during the pregame skate. 

The Pens announcers last night kept saying Malkin was not on the ice after he served a penalty for too many men on the ice, but he did play one shift. He went behind the Flyers net to retrieve a puck and was hip checked against the boards. This must have been the play in question. Hopefully it is nothing more than a bruise and we will see him in the lineup tonight.




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Penguins Flyers aftermath

It started off ugly and ended ugly. Fights, penalties, stoppages of play. This game started off with all the flair that has been the Penguins Flyers rivalry. It ended rather ugly as well, with the Pens going 0-6 on the power play and losing 3-2. Here's some random thoughts after watching last nights game....

• I've been having patience with the pp. I was willing to give it a chance. There's a new coach in charge of the pp and a new scheme. I wanted to give it a shot before I gave up on it. But this is just plain bad. It's time to get to basics. Put Malkin on the right side circle where he can unleash that wicked one timer. If the coach wants a rover, let Crosby handle those duties. Keep the D on the blue line. 
• After the 2 fights to start the game, the game really got bogged down by whistles, offsides, and play stoppages. It actually turned into a hard to watch, frustrating game. By the 3rd period, I was extremely frustrated with the action
• I am not impressed with Ashams first two games. I will still cut him a break since his injury, but I have not seem anything physical to his play. As a matter of fact, I thought I saw a couple times where he actually pulled up on hits. He is not very valuable unless he is throwing his body around. To his credit, he did have a nice shift late in the game where he, Talbot, and I believe Kennedy controlled the puck. 
• Deryk Engelland...I've been hyping this kid in my posts and I continue to be impressed. He took on another established tough guy in Shelly last night and again came out the winner. He also has been playing pretty good defense. He has not been a liability out there. He is making a push for more playing time and will make it tough when Michalek comes back. Ben Lovejoy better step up his game or he may see Engelland blow right past him.
• Paul Martin has not been having a very good stretch of games. He is regularly getting caught up ice and being in the wrong position. 
• The players held a post game meeting last night. Hopefully a few guys got called out.
• Crosby and Malkin again held to no goals. These guys are the stars. They get paid to produce and right now, they arent.
• Speaking of Malkin, he left the game in the 3rd period last night. The last play I saw of him was when he got hit behind the net. No word on any injury at this time.

Well, there is no time to dwell too much, the Pens move on to Carolina tonight and face off with the Hurricanes at 7pm. I will try to get a pros and cons preview up sometime today.



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More notes on Pens vs Flyers game tonight including new lines

The Penguins skated some new lines at the morning skate today. I always kind of take these reports with a grain of salt because Bylmsa tinkers with lines more the Coach therrien used to. Five minutes into the game, this may be all different, but here goes...

Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis
Asham-Letestu-Malkin
Cooke-Talbot-Kennedy
Rupp-Adams-Comrie


So really the main point is Comrie has been demoted to the 4th line. Given his production, or lack of production, this doesnt surprise me. After a great preseason, he has really struggled when it really matters. He has 0 goals on the season. He has been playing primarily on Malkins line and has had his fair share of scoring chances. At times he seems lost on the ice. Byslma did mention he will still give Comrie chances to pull out of it by using him on the power play and in other spot situations. This is a big disappointment so far. I was in the group that believed the Penguins got a real steal with this guy. Theres a lot of hockey left and hopefully he will show the finishing flashes that he had in the preseason. 


Asham up on the 2nd line brings an element that wasnt there before..toughness. Letestu has cooled off points wise but still plays a smart style of hockey. Asham might be able to do what Malkins other linemates could not do consistently-drive to the net and clear some space. We'll see how it works out. 




All the news outlets are saying Fleury is definitely in goal tonight. Bylsma would not comment other than to say it is a game time decision. 




Laperriere, Walker, and Leighton are all injured for the Flyers and will not play tonight.



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Pens vs Flyers round 3 pros and cons

Ok, tonight marks the third meeting already between the Flyers and Penguins. They split the first 2 games. Philidelphia comes in with a record of 4-4-1, good for 4th place in the Atlantic division. They are 2 points behind the Penguins but do have a game in hand. Some stat stuff to think about...The Flyers average 2.78 goals per game compared to the Pens 3. They give up 2.67 compared to the Pens 2.5. The Flyers power play has not been sharp this year either. They are converting 15% while the Penguins are at 14.8%.

After what I thought was a pretty tame opener against the Flyers, the last game featured more of what we are used to between these 2 teams. One good story line for tonights game is Aaron Asham facing his former team for the first time after being injured for the first 2 meetings. He has admitted that he still has friends over there but I want to see him take it to them. Boy, wouldnt and Asham pounding of Scotty Hartnell just be great?

Another storyline is the comments from Flyers captain Mike Richards after last game. Richards accused the Penguins as falling easily and drawing unfair penalties. He also mentioned he would fight Matt Cooke when Crosby fights Carcillo. I wonder if this will give Cooke a little extra incentive(like he needs it!) to punish Richards every opportunity he gets.

I expect a good one tonight. It is expected Fleury will get the nod and have the chance to gain some momentum. If Fleury does start, he needs this game, big time. Its the Flyers, in front of the home crowd, Fleury cannot afford anything less than a stellar game to save face in this city. If the first shot for the Flyers goes in tonight, it could get pretty ugly with Fleury and the home town crowd. With that said, I believe in Fleury and think he will rise to the occasion.

On to the pros and cons


PROS:

• The Pens have gotta be hungry. This is Philly. This is in their building. They got ripped pretty good by the media, talk shows, and fans for their performance last game. I expect Cooke, Asham, Rupp, and others to come out here and set the tone.
• Flyers goalie Bobrovsky has looked human since the 1st game of the season. After being the star of the opener, he has posted a record of 2-2 and has a 3.02 GAA in his last 4 games. The Pens got to him last game and should be able to do the same tonight.
• It's the Flyers. They will find ways to self implode. They will take stupid penalties. They will be, well, the Flyers!!

CONS:

• Although I said above I believe Fleury will rebound tonight, you still gotta be concerned. If he does give up a goal early it could get pretty rough for him. Hopefully that doesnt happen. I never like to see Penguins players get booed or mock cheers from the home crowd. 
• I really dont see any other cons..I could go on an on about inconsistency, goaltending, power play, ect. but the Pens have the Flyers right where they want em. They are in their head with the Richards comments, they have gotten to Bobrovsky last game, and the Flyers will be playing in a hostile environment. 

Game time at 7:00 pm tonight. To quote Mike Lang, if you miss this one, shame on you!



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Hossa out at least 2 weeks

Marian Hossa  of the Chicago Blackhawks is expected to miss at least a couple of weeks due to an "upper body injury". The injury happened in the 2nd period Wednesday against Los Angeles. The Coach of the Hawks, Joel Quenneville, said it is not believed to be serious yet he is expected to miss at least a couple weeks, with some new reports saying at least a month. Quenneville also said he does not know how or exactly when it happened. 


This hurts Chicago. Hossa started the season red hot and led the league in goals for awhile. He currently has cooled a bit and has 7 goals and 4 assists. Chicago is tied for the league lead in points with 13 although they have played at least 2 games more than the other 3 teams. Hossa also missed 22 games to start the season last year due to injury

Penguins unveil winter classic uniforms

The Penguins showed off the new uni's today after practice. They will debut in the Winter Classic and also be worn Feb. 10 and March 12. The Jerseys will go onsale to the general public the week of November 14. Here is a photo...

I guess these are ok. In my opinion, a little too many stripes. I do like the colors.

Thoughts from Tampa Bay game

Well, the game was played like I expected it. It featured quick action, lots of scoring chances, and the Pens got killed by the 2 players I mentioned in the pros and cons post as being Penguin killers. Here are some random thoughts...

• I imagine the talk shows and message boards will be lit up with the bench Fleury demands. I am a huge Fleury fan. I believe this guy is the franchise goalie and the Pens will live or die with his performance. However, I gotta admit, he is not playing good. Giving up the 1st goal on his first shot faced again is not acceptable. The 2nd goal, in my opinion, was pretty soft as well. Sure, he did make some key saves later in the game including the penalty shot, but the consistency just isnt there at this point. So you have 2 sides to an argument. One could say, put Fleury back in there Friday. Let him try to get some flow to his game. The other side is bench him. He is potentially costing the Pens points in the standings and Johnson is clearly outplaying him at this point. Which side am I on? I say you gotta ride the hot hand right now, especially against division rival Philadelphia friday.
• The power play again struggled. Coming into this season, the power play was one area Coach Bylsma stressed needed improvement. Mike Yeo, who coached the power play the last few couple seasons,  is gone so we cant blame him anymore. The Pens have a new look to the power play. They move guys around more and have adapted a "rover" player. All these changes to this point have not translated to goals. I think the power play does "look" better. So many times last season the pp looked out of sync and often times the Pens couldnt even get set up in the offensive zone. This year, they get established but they still dont shoot the puck enough. This is basic stuff. Throw the puck at the net, get some scrambles, and get some dirty goals!
• What can I say about Marty St Louis? I dont know why but this guy is one of my most disliked players in the league. Some guys you just dont like. There is no real reason for this other than, I guess, he always seems to kill the Pens. 
• One player I am liking more and more is Derek Engelland. I believe he is underrated defensively and the grit he brings can impact a game. 
• Hopefully Kris Letang is ok. He took a puck off the hand/wrist area last night. He did return to the game. Letang is really moving into prime time this year. Offensively and defensively.
• Aaron Asham made his debut last night. I really didnt notice him much, which isnt a good thing. Asham should be one of those players you notice because he is disrupting the other team. When you dont notice him, he is not playing good. Ill give him a break though since it was his first action of the year. 

Pittsburgh Penguins vs Tampa Bay Lightning pros and cons

Tonight the Penguins play the Tampa Bay Lightning in Tampa Bay. Gametime 7:30pm. There are quite a few story lines to watch for. For one, they are playing for the lead in points in the Eastern Conference. Tampa Bay has started off 5-3-1 for 11 points. The Pens are also 5-3-1. The Pens are 3-0-1 on the road while Tampa is 2-1-1 at home. Both teams have lost their last game. The Penguins are coming off a great played game however they lost to St Louis 1-0 in OT. The Lightning's last game was Sunday and they lost to Nashville 4-3.

Tampa Bay has several Penguins connections. Of course there is Ryan Malone. Malone has started the season pretty slow. He has 1 goal and 4 assists. Malone will not be wearing the number 12 we are used to. He switched to number 6 after Simon Gagne asked for the number 12 jersey. Other ex Pens on the team are...Dominic Moore and Adam Hall.
The Lightnings coach, Guy Boucher, was an assistant on Crosby's major junior team in Rimousk. 


Tampa has several injuries including Moore and Gagne who are both doubtful. Defenseman Mattias Ohlund (knee), Brett Clark (wrist) and Matt Smaby (illness) are all questionable.


For Pittsburgh, in addition to Staal and Michalek, Eric Godard has an illness and will not play tonight. 


Tampa features several very dangerous forwards to look out for. Steven Stamkos is the real deal. He shared the league leader in goals with Crosby last year. He leads the NHL in points this year. Martin St Louis is always a Penguin killer. Vincent Lacavalier also has had good success against the Pens.


The Pens have not announced a starting goalie for tonight. I have to believe its going to Marc Andre Fleury. For Tampa, most likely Mike Smith. Smith is 4-0 on the season but with a 3.12 GAA. Against the Pens alltime, Smith is 3-3 but has an impressive 1.68 GAA.


Here we go, tonights Pros and Cons....




PROS:

• The Penguins are 5-1 in their last 6 trips to Tampa Bay. 
• Health, Tonight the Pens will get another piece back when Asham makes his regular season debut. He practiced on a 4th line yesterday but will most likely be moved around as the game progresses.
• The Lightning are 26th in the league for Goals Against. 

CONS:

• While the Lightning have been giving up alot of goals, they score even more. They lead the league in goals per game with 3.38
• Whats interesting is that while they are 26th in the league in goals against, they are 5th overall in penalty kill. They also have a dangerous power play that is 4th in the league
• As mentioned above, Stamkos is a real threat. St Louis and Lecavelier also average almost a point per game against the Pens

Should be a great game tonight. I expect alot of wide open play and tons of scoring chances for both teams. 

My Penguins Blog

Hello everyone. I started this blog because I am a huge Penguins fan. I have fun writing about and following the team. With the help of PenguinPoop.com and other avenues, I am beginning to get a few more readers. One thing that I envisioned was having good conversations and views from other Penguin fans. I invite everyone who reads to leave comments, suggestions, criticism, or whatever it is you wanna leave. I am new to blogging and still need to tweak my site to make it more interactive. So please leave some comments, tell me what you think of my thoughts, give me some suggestions, let me know how I can make this site better, tell me what I'm doing good, tell me what I'm doing bad. Anything is appreciated and I will respond to everyone. Thanks

I also have a Twitter acount up and running. All my posts feed to Twitter. You can follow me on there at http://twitter.com/#!/pittspens1

Penguins roster numbers and clarification

Kind of slow day so far. We all know the news yesterday of Tangradi and Hutchinson being demoted. I did make a mistake in my numbers though. I said that when Staal returns, the Pens will have to make a roster move. That was incorrect. The Penguins currently have 23 players on the roster counting all of the injured. This is the maximum allowed by the NHL. There would be no need to make a move.

By NHL rules, teams can dress 20 players for each game, 18 skaters and 2 goalies. Teams have the option how they want to allot the skaters. Most go with either 11 forwards and 7 defensemen or 12 forwards and 6 defensemen.  If the Penguins decide to keep all 23 around, this would mean there would be 3 healthy scratches per game.

The Penguins currently have 21 healthy players on their roster. 2 goalies 6 defense and 13 forwards. Barring any moves before tomorrow, that will mean there will be 1 healthy scratch, most likely Eric Godard.

I hope this clears up any confusion. Sorry for my mistake yesterday.

Tangradi and Hutchinson sent down

Well, with a couple injured Pens getting ready to return, the Penguins have made 2 roster moves today. Eric Tangradi and defensemen Andrew Hutchinson have been sent to Wilkes Barre.

Neither of these moves are too surprising. I am disappointed Tangradi couldnt establish himself and make it impossible for the team to move him. It was obvious at times he needs some work. I think he is and will be a very good player but its just not his time yet. It also made it a little easier that he is on a two way contract and did not have to clear waivers.

Once Staal comes back, one more move will have to be made. This one will be a little trickier.

New Jersey Devils issues..hahaha!

Sorry to laugh at the Devils situation but it is just getting funnier and funnier by the day. 1st you have the whole signing issues with Kovalchuk. Then the resigning of Kovalchuk. Then the fines and punishment for the Kovalchuk signing. Then the cap issues because of the Kovalchuk signing. Then the roster issues because of the salary cap because of the Kovalchuk issues.

Now the latest...Kovalchuk was benched in favor of a 22 year old rookie. There hasnt been a good explanation from the Devils on why but this really makes you wonder whats going on over there. Here is an article from Yahoo sports that details this saga a little better

Ahh, back to normal...random Penguins news

After a pretty rough week of work and personal business, this week should be back to normal! Since my last in depth post, the Pens played 2 very good games, one an OT win and one an OT loss. Both games featured intense edge of your seat play. Unfortunately, I didnt get to see much of the Nashville game but caught most of the Blues game on DVR. I'll tell you what, for a 0-0 regulation game, that was very fun to watch. It's too bad we ended up losing and from Brent Johnsons reaction, he wishes he had that one back. So here are some random news bites.....