Penguins fan blasphemy?

Admittedly, I probably should invest in a life sometime. When I am left with idle time outside of work and family, there seems to be nothing I think about other than hockey.  One of the most fun things a hockey addict can think about this time of year, how could their team be improved at the deadline to be more of a contender for the Stanley Cup run.  Some people dream of players coming in and going out with little regard for salary, contract term, etc.   I like to take the time personally to have some idea as to cap space, need etc.  I am not bad at it, calling Neal or Benn as targets at last year's deadline due to cap hit, Dallas being western conference, the Pens' need for scoring up front, and the Stars' need for a puck moving defenseman.  That does not mean anything in the grand scheme, but I wanted to give myself SOME credibility.  I am going to toss one out there today just for fun, though it has no chance whatsoever of happening given the rivalry between the teams, and the FIT and respect this players seems to have with his coach.  He is HATED by Penguins fans, but that is exactly the point.  Let me step back a minute.  When you hear people talk about what the Penguins need to be better, you hear that they need another scoring winger, along with size and grit.  They need to be "harder to play against."  They need bigger bodies with an edge.  There is one player who would give the Penguins more scoring up front, make them bigger, meaner, and much harder and more annoying to play against.  That player?  Scott Hartnell.  As my fellow Penguins fans knash their teeth and talk about the many moments Hartnell pissed them off due to his rough or "borderline" play, or yapping, you are making my point.  Penguins fans loved how Jarkko Ruutu was physical, and got under the skin of the other teams' better players.  It was/is the same with Matt Cooke, at least prior to his defanging at the hands of the NHL.  What would be wrong with having a guy who got under the opponents skin in the same manner, but had size at 6"2" and 210 pounds, along with a scoring touch.  And a force on the power play, which can change the course of a game?  Scott Hartnell, along with pissing off opponents all year long, has 25 goals thus far this season, and he is tied with James Neal at 13 power play goals.  For those who want to say that this is a fluke, Hartnell has 210 career goals, 451 points, 71 power play goals and 1214 PIMs.  He is a +18 this year, and has been a plus player, including +18 and +19 in six of his past seven seasons.  He is pacing for 35 plus goals this year, and has been over 20 goals in 5 of the past six, including a 30 goal season in 2008-09.  He has had as many as 8 game winning goals (05-06), and four to this point this season.  I know, he can't skate well.....in fact he skates so bad, there is a website at hartnelldown.com that tracks the number of times Hartnell falls in a game/season.  Before you use this as a way to dismiss the notion of Hartnell in Bylsma's system, remember that Peter Laviolette employs a very similar aggressive and uptempo system and Hartnell seems to be flourishing in it.  If you watched 24/7 you can see the passion and commitment expected by Laviolette, and you can see how often he seems to reference Hartsy's passionate play.  It is tough to watch that without getting the picture that Hartnell is a VERY well respected and admired part of the locker room in Philadelphia.  As you watch the Penguins play, and watch Michalek and Martin struggle to meet the high expectations the Penguins had for them and  watch opponents stand in front of the cage with hardly a nudge, is it so hard to think that the Penguins may be a tougher match up if you took the 4M cap hit of Michalek and moved it to bring in the 4.2M cap hit for Hartnell?  Hartnell is signed at that number through 2012-13.  Could you see them plugging that gap on the blue line with a veteran rental if they were not ready to hinge their cup run on Orpik, Letang, Martin, Engelland, Lovejoy, and Niskanen?  There are some solid rentals available at the deadline, and the Penguins have plenty of prospects to pull off even a longer term hockey trade if necessary.  You have to figure that Martin or Michalek will be off season trade bait to make room for Despres, and to create the cap space necessary to retain James Neal among others.  Listen, I don't see Philadelphia being a willing dance partner for many reasons, including the value they see in Scott Hartnell, but I can easily see him being a formidable addition to the Penguins group of forwards.  As I watch Hartnell this All-Star weekend, I see and hear how affable he is off the ice, and how well liked he seems to be, I began to think what many yinzers think would be blasphemy.  Fartsmell would look great in black and vegas gold!  I think adding him to the second line with Jordan Staal, and maybe Pascal Dupuis, or even Jeffrey or Sullivan on a wing would make the Penguins a lot tougher to play against, a lot tougher to push around, and a lot more dangerous and balanced both even strength and on the power play.  Though it will never happen, I know that the notion of that will create controversy given the hatred Hartnell has garnered here, but that only MAKES my point when combined with his ability to put the puck in the net and play a game "on the edge."  I am pretty confident that it would not take more than a handful games the way Hartnell has played the past two years in Philly for him to be a fan favorite here too.  Okay, Tuesday brings real NHL hockey back to the CEC, when Toronto, who trails the Penguins by only 5 points, comes to town for the first game of a home and home series.  Go Pens!

Behind The Scenes: Home Opener

Behind The Scenes: Pittsburgh Penguins Vs Detroit Red Wings: Game 7 HD...

Anatomy of a Pittsburgh Penguins Road Trip

Pretty cool to see the business end of a road trip

Pens TV Episode 3

Malkin-Iron Man

Pens win 7th straight

During the early January losing streak, I remember looking at the mid to end of January schedule, and realizing that this stretch of games would be crucial in terms of their playoff hopes.  Most of the games were against Eastern Conference playoff rivals, or in the case of tonight, a top western conference team.  There was also concern that the Penguins needed to start beat quality teams and quality divisional teams.  Well 7 games later, the Penguins have picked up all 14 available points, won 4 straight road games, including road wins against the #2 team in the NHL (Rangers), and #3 team in the NHL (Blues).  It is safe to say that the Pens answered the bell during that stretch, thanks largely to the top line, Fleury,better team defense.  An interesting statistic is that out of Geno's last 8 goals, 7 were in the 3rd period or in overtime.  The victory tonight gave the Penguins a 28-17-4 record, along with 60 points, and a fifth seed in the Eastern Conference.  As far as the game goes, it was an interesting and physical game from the outset.  The first period ended 0-0, with both teams playing a physical brand of hockey.  Early in the second period, Malkin drew a penalty and at 3:26 James Neal hammered home his 27th goal of the season, which also happened to be the 100th goal of his career, and 13th power play goal of the season, tying him for the league lead with Scott Fartsmell.  He was assisted by Chris Kunitz (18) and Paul Martin (15).  Penguins up 1-0.   At 12:16 of the period, Steve Sullivan nets his 9th goal of the year, knocking a Deryk Engelland shot out of mid air behind Elliott.  The assist was Engelland's 10th and Cooke got his 9th assist of the year on the play.  Berglund got the Blues on the board shortly after, and the period ended with the Penguins leading 2-1.  Then in the third, the Penguins surrender a short handed goal off of a botched play by Letang giving Berglund a breakaway that resulted in a penalty shot.  He buried it blocker side to tie the game.   Regulation ended with the score tied 2-2, marking the second straight 2-0 lead the Penguins have squandered in regulation.   It is important to note that Fleury made highlight reel save after highlight reel save in the third period and overtime, stealing at least one point for the Penguins.  In the shootout, Malkin scored his fifth shootout goal in 7 tries in the second round, but St. Louis with the game on the line tied the shootout 1-1.  In fitting fashion, Chris Kunitz playing in his 500th career game, wins it for the Penguins with a beautiful move.  It was great to see the underrated Chris Kunitz get on the board tonight.  The Penguins go into the All-Star break on a hot streak and squarely in the middle of the playoff race, only 3 points behind 4th place Philadelphia.  They will come off of the break with two games in a row against Toronto, a team only 5 points behind Pittsburgh.  It is a chance for the Penguins to put a lot of room between themselves and 9th place, or to have Toronto breathing down their neck.  Go Pens!!

Ovagkin < Douche

Apparently, Alexander Ovechkin is proving his idiocy yet again. After today's game, he apparently made the comment that Malkin knows that the Penguins are a good team without Crosby, but not that good.  I know that many worse things have been said and done since that comment was made, and that I perhaps need a life to comment on it. Can't argue.  However, most players in general, particularly high profile hockey players are a lot more gracious and classy than that. After a loss in particular, most would say that their opponent was playing well without their leader and leave it at that.  If the Pens are not that good without Crosby, where does that leave your Craps son?  The Penguins despite the key man games lost are 5 points ahead of the Capitals, despite playing in a significantly tougher division.  Yo, Alex, remember last year's playoffs?  The Penguins played the last half of the year without Geno and Crosby among others, and still got 106 points.  Then, still minus those two players plus top penalty killer Matt Cooke, took the Tampa Bay Lightning to 7 games, before succumbing 1-0 in a seventh game.  That same Lightning team SWEPT your Caps in the next round. SWEPTTTTTTTTTT.  In fact, I am not sure what qualifies the Great 8 to speak on the subject of how good a team is at the NHL level.  Despite all of the hype and promise, Ovechkin has never seen a playoff game past the second round.  He was drafted 1st overall in the 2004 entry draft, and  played his first full season in the NHL during the 2005-06 campaign.  For those who don't know, Evgeni Malkin was selected with the pick right after Ovechkin.  The Capitals first year in the playoffs for the Capitals was 2007-08, and they were bounced out of those playoffs in the first round by the Flyers.  In 2008-09, the Capitals jumped out to a 2-0 series lead against the Pittsburgh Penguins.  The Penguins rebounded to eliminate the Capitals in seven games, including a decisive drubbing in Washington in Game 7 en route to a Stanley Cup Championship.  Going into the next season, the parade routes were planned during the summer, and the Caps on cue, ripped through the regular season, racking up 121 points and the President's Trophy as the league's top REGULAR SEASON team.  After all of that, the Capitals were bounced out of the playoffs in the first round by 8th seed Montreal!  Last year, after another dominating regular season run, the Capitals were SWEPT in round two of the playoffs, by the same Tampa team that need 7 games to get past the injury riddled Penguins in round one.  In one less season, Geno has been to two Stanley Cup Finals, won a Stanley Cup, and the Conn Smythe as playoff MVP.  This season, Ovechkin is playing in the upper middle of the pack in scoring, while Malkin has lifted an even more injury riddled Pens team on his back and back into the playoff picture.  Alex, time to STFU until you achieve something beyond your individual awards, and a world record for uncalled dirty plays.   By the way, you should be ashamed to accept James Neal's All-Star berth, but the NHL needed a circus monkey for its annual winter boredomfest, and you sir fit THAT bill quite well.

Pens win 6th in a row in OT v Caps 4-3

Another day, another hated rival at the Consol Energy Center.  The Penguins, sporting a 5 game winning streak defeated their hated rivals 4-3 in overtime today to run their winning streak to 6 games.  It was almost like watching 3 different games.  In the first period, it seemed as if the Penguins could run the Captards out of the building.   They gave up only four shots, while scoring two goals, including a power play goal to take a 2-0 lead.  At 4:51 of the first, on a power play, Kris Letang scored his 5th goal of the year on a nasty slapper from the point unassisted.  The Penguins went up 1-0.  A little more than a minute later, James Neal whipped a nasty wrist shot past Neuvirth directly off the faceoff from Evgeni Malkin(31) for his 25th goal of the year.  The release and velocity on the Neal shot off of Geno's draw led me to believe that Neuvirth never saw the puck until he was fishing out of the net.  The period ended with the Penguins leading 2-0.  The Penguins controlled play during the period, and it looked like it could be a yawner.  However, the ice tilted the other way during the second period of play, and the Capitals took advantage of soft play in front of the net to get their first goal from Brooks Laich, and three minutes later, Alexander Semin tied the game 2-2 due to poor defensive zone coverage.  Martin and Michalek were on the ice for both goals. Also, the "Great 8" drilled Michalek in the head with an elbow, while leaving his feet(as usual).   I will be curious to see what the new clown of discipline does with that one.  Anyway, the period came to an end with the score tied.  The beginning of the third took on an ominous and familiar regular season tone in a Caps/Penguins as Alexander Ovechkin scored off a two on one that developed when Brooks Orpik stepped up at the blue line, creating a 2 on 1.   The Capitals were up 3-2, and were firmly in control of the play. The time of the goal was 1:08.  Then at 7:06, the dynamic duo decided to change the course of the game.  Evgeni Malkin led a rush up the ice and into the Caps zone, splitting 3 players.  As he began to beat them, one of them tripped Geno, who regained his feet, chased the puck into the corner to take it off of Roman Hamrlik and out to Neal above the circle.  Neal, for his part, with no room to operate, flicked a wrist shot over the shoulder of Neuvirth who seemed surprised to tie the game!  Just an outstanding and passionate effort by Geno, and an unbelievable finish by Neal for his 26th goal of the year.  The assist was the 32nd of the year for Malkin, and Orpik earned his 8th assist on the play.  After some heart stopping moments late in the period, including a post from Brouwer, the game went into overtime.  Then, Malkamania ran wild again, as he tucked in a wrist shot from in close to win the game for Pittsburgh.  The goal was Malkin's 26th of the year, tying him with Neal for the team lead, and for third in the NHL.  It was also Malkin's 7th game winning goal of the year, which is 5 short of the team record held by Jaromir Jagr from the 1995-96 season.  And again, James Neal(20) and Paul Martin(14) collected assists on this play.   Malkin has now scored goals in 6 straight games, tying his personal best streak!  Geno, now has 58 points on the season, giving him a six point lead over several other players, including Steven Stamkos.  Further, at Malkin's current 1.41 points per game average, he would have 68 points if he were healthy all year, and would lead the league by 16 points!  Malkin almost seems as if he is just deciding to take over a game when the Penguins need it most, and the passion with which is playing is just flat out exciting to watch.  The chemistry he has with James Neal, whose rocket of a wrist shot is the perfect complement to Geno's creativity is something I have not seen in awhile. Finally, on that note, do not underestimate the contributions that Kunitz makes to this line that may not show up on the score sheet. His forecheck and corner work contribute mightily to the zone time this line gets, and his net front presence adds even more mayhem to the juggernaut that has become Malkin/Neal.  Malkin is clearly the leader of this team right now, and it is fun to watch. On another note, despite allowing three goals on 20 shots, a stat killer, do not overlook Fleury as a key ingredient today.  He made the stops he had to, and is third in the league in wins.  I am starting to grow a bit tired of waiting to see the value in our second "shutdown" pairing.  At 5M and 4M Martin and Michalek just have to do more period.  I am not sure which one is worse, but another bad day today, as both were -2, and Michalek was on the ice for all three Washington goals.  I am not sure what Shero has in mind, but don't be shocked if they don't take a run at someone like Hal Gill who is UFA after this year, and mentioned with Scuds as one of two players both Shero and Bylsma wished that had kept over the past several years.  He is not a good skater, but he is fast, hard to play against, blocks shots, and wears you out down low.   He is not a punishing hitter, but neither is he softer than a baby's ass in front of his net like Michalek and Martin have been.  Despite a stable of young puck moving talent, I don't think the Pens will go into the playoffs with that kind of youth on the blue line, but if they can grab a veteran like Tim Gleason or Hal Gill, I would not be shocked to see Shero shop either Martin or Michalek.  I am pretty sure that will happen over the summer as well.  I am stunned, as I literally almost danced around the beach two July 1sts ago when I heard we signed them both on day one of free agency.  Finally, as entertaining as the Malkin/Neal show has been, I would feel better if I saw Cooke, Dupuis, Tangradi, or Kennedy appear on the score sheet some.  At any rate, the Penguins now have 58 points, leaving them six points behind the conference leading New York Rangers, and seven ahead of ninth place Toronto.  They have a big test coming up Tuesday night in St. Louis.  Seven is better than six!  Go Pens!

Sweet goals v Habs

PK, Momma's lil Bitch!

There are many more videos of this guy playing a dangerous game with slewfoots and the blades of his skates.  I cannot locate the video of him actually kicking James Neal this season intentionally.  I am not sure why he not only does not get suspended, he rarely gets penalized for his transgressions.  Is the NHL afraid of the gay issue?  This guy cut Jordan Staal's tendon, and almost did the same thing to Cooke in the same playoff series. Accident?  One, maybe, two or more, no.  I could fill a page with shots of his constant slewfoot and kicking techniques.  The league turns a blind eye, and one day, another player will dole out justice on the ice, and I hope it is harsh and permanent.  The league if it had any guts, could stop this by giving PK the treatment it game Matt Cooke, but they won't.   So here is to hoping a peer puts an end to Subban before Subban ends a career.

OOOH OOOH THAT SMELL CANT YOU SMELL THAT SMELL?

As I walked up to the arena last night, there was a scent in the air that I could not describe.  It kind of smelled like a mixture of arrogance and cowardice, kind of wrapped in one, rotting in an old GARAGE attached to a beautiful home.  I then realized that the NHL's darlings were in town, the Montreal Canadiens.  That arrogance scent mixed with the cowardice of Pacioretty and Subban, rotting in that garage league that adminsters the beautiful game.  Ahhhhhhhh!  The Penguins came into this game on a four game winning streak, riding high off of an exciting road win against the top team in the NHL.  In comes a shitty, gutless team, and I was a bit concerned that the Pens might have left the A game and A intensity on the ice LAST night.  On a selfish note, I have come to hate the Canadiens, some of their players and most of their fans a GREAT DEAL.  Almost Capitals level hatred.  Subban and Pacioretty draw Capitals level hate from me, if not MORE.  I digress.........The game last night started out kind of as I feared, and remained that way for the first forty minutes.  At just 19:26 of the first period, Lars Eller put the Habs up 1-0, assited by that sack of shit Subban for a 1-0 Habs lead.  Ugggh!  Then at 15:58 Kris Letang reminded us all what we have been missing since the cheap shot by Pacioretty to the head cost 58 twenty games due to a concussion.  Tanger controlled a puck in the offensive zone, turn Plekanec into a flopping fish and tucked a back hand under the cross bar to tie the game at 1-1.  Not sure if the Habs are having the Montreal police investigate that or not?   Then at 14:19, Erik Cole put the Canadiens up 2-1 on a horrible play all around by the Pens.  Michalek turned the puck over creating a rush, Fleury leaves a bad rebound for Cole to tap in, Habs up 2-1.  The period ended that way.  Then more bad news to start the second period when Kostitsyn puts the Habs up 3-1 at just 18:51.   Then at 14:58, Dustin Jeffrey got his first goal of the season, short handed assisted by Michalek (5), and a turnover by Subban who was a turnover machine as usual.  3-2 Canadiens.  Just as you began to feel the game swinging back our way, Pacioretty makes it 4-2 off of a 2 on 1 created by a bad line change and an inside out Brooks Orpik.  I found myself thinking that I wished Chara weighed about 20 pounds more last year....anyway.  The period ended that way.  At this point, I impressed a friend with my prognostication abilities.  I just had a feeling that the Pens came out flat, due to the emotions of the Rangers game, and despite very sloppy play remained two goals behind an inferior team.  I did not think the leadership would let two easy points leave CEC, and called a 4-4 tie in regulation with the Pens winning in a shootout.  Called Letang, Malkin and Neal in the shootout, and that the Habs had nothing to fear in a shootout......anyway even the blind squirrel finds the nut sometimes.  At 16:28 of the period, Dustin Jeffrey gets his second goal of the game and season off of a nice wrist shot to get the Pens within one goal at 4-3.  He was assisted by Tyler Kennedy (15).  On the play, right before the goal Sullivan took an obvious high stick from Eller while the referee looked right at it, no call.  No surprise.  Then, just as in Novmber, justice reared its head again as red hot Evgeni Malkin leads a rush up ice, passes to Neal on the left wing, who gives it back on the right wing boards for Geno to blast a howitzer past Budaj at 2:43 to tie the game!  The place was rocking!!  Neal got his 19th assist on the play and his Letang his 18th!  Two games in a row against the Habs that we break their hearts late, and I am loving it.  The game ends in a 4-4 tie, and OT does not solve it.  Then, as predicted, in the shootout the Habs have much lead in their pencils as a two day old corpse, and Malkin beats Budaj to give the Pens the win in the shootout for their 5th in a row.

How about Kris Letang?  Highlight reel goal to tie it 1-1, blazing speed and hand eye coordination to track Plekanec down from behind to save a short handed goal, and an assist on the game tying goal in the third.  Great to see 58 back on the ice, and I will wait patiently for the Pens to take care of Pacioretty.  Dustin Jeffrey had 2 goals after being nonexistent offensively since his return.  That is key while Staal is out, as the Pens had essentially become a one line team offensively, and it would be great to see that second line start to chip in regularly. Congrats to DJ!  Statistically, Fleury's night was not good, and he was suspect, along with the defense on some of the early goals against.  However, Fleury stood tall and made key saves that kept this game within reach, and give him credit for that.  A big two points, stolen from a bunch of assclowns and their travelling circus.  Up next, the Caps in a Sunday matinee!  Go Pens!!

Penguins run streak to 4 in a row beating NYR 4-1

Ok, at times I can be accused of being a little over the top when things are going either very well or very bad.  And at the risk of being accused of that again, I am going to say that tonight's win at the Garden might be one of their biggest regular season wins in a long time.  Yeah, it was important to get the two points that has the team in 6th place in the conference right now.  It also kept a nice win streak alive.  To me though, this was a signature win for a team that has had a LOT of difficulty beating the top teams in the conference such as New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Washington.  This win was BIG.  The Penguins came into a hostile environment, against the team leading the NHL in points, weathered a fired up and physical Rangers team who tried to get Malkin off his game by hitting him a lot after the whistle.  The Penguins did not take the bait.  They played a clean physical game in return, and then fed the Rangers their asses in a critical third period that started out 1-1.  It surely does not mean that the Penguins have "arrived" but it ain't a bad sign either folks!  The game started off well for the Penguins again with Chris Kunitz netting his 14th goal of the year to open the scoring at 3:16 of the first period.  The goal broke an 8 game goal scoring drought for Kunitz, and it came off of a rebound of a Paul Martin shot, Martin's 13th assist, and James Neal (17).  Penguins lead 1-0.  The period ended that way.  In the second period, Hagelin tied it at 10:06 and the period ended in a 1-1 tie.  The third period was owned by the Penguins.  At 2:23 of the period Richard Park put the Penguins ahead for good scoring his 4th goal of the season on a great rush assisted by Deryk Engelland (9) and Matt Cooke (8). Engo made a great feed to allow Park to blast a shot past Lundqvist.  The goal was Park's second in three games.  Penguins lead 2-1.  Then at the 7:10 mark, Malkin takes a puck off a misplay by Marc Staal and puts a wicked backhander past Lundqvist for his 23rd goal of the season!  Kris Letang collected his 20th assist on the play.  Welcome back Tanger!  The Penguins are now up 3-1.  The Penguins PK unit killed off a Rangers power play with about 8 minutes left, and Malkin got the empty netter his 24th goal of the year, assisted by James Neal (18) and Chris Kunitz (17).  The goal cemented the win for the Penguins, and put Malkin atop the NHL with 54 points, 2 ahead of Sedin. Malkin has now scored 6 of the last 8 Penguins goals!  He has 9 goals in his past six games, and is just playing lights out in all three zones.  Malkin is now tied with James Neal to lead the Penguins in goals at 24, and they are tied for fourth in the league overall behind Stamkos (31), Toews (26), and Kessel (25).  Tough to ask for more from 71, or the top line right now!  How about Kris Letang?  In his first action since suffering a broken nose and concussion on 11/26, and with only 3 practices since being cleared to practice, Tanger would ease back into action right?  Ah, no.  Letang led the Penguins in ice time at 24:17, he had an assist, 3 shots, 3 hits, and was a plus 2.  Tough to overstate what 58 means to this team.  When Orpik and Letang play together, they BOTH elevate their games, and complement each other.  With Michalek and Martin starting to play as a unit, the Penguins are starting to gel on the blue line despite all of their injuries.  The third pairing of Engelland and Niskanen are no joke either.  Niskanen, with 16 points is second on the team in points for a defenseman, and is playing to a plus 11.  He has been consistently solid all year.  Engelland, viewed last year as a physical player, but possible weak link has been much improved in every facet of his game. He still provides that nasty edge to the backend, but also has a career high 11 points in 40 games.  Not bad for a 6th Dman, known more for punching and hitting than for contributing on the score sheet.  And how about Marc Andre Fleury?  He has now appeared in 19 straight games, and collected 23 of the Penguins 25 wins!  He is 4th in that category in the league, and though his GAA of 2.20 is 9th in the league and his .915 save percentage is 25th, Fleury has been there for the Penguins when they need him, and right up there with Neal and Malkin as big reasons the Penguins are in the race right now.  Great job by Flower.  The Penguins are now 25-17-4, and have climbed to 6th place in the conference, only 4 points behind the Flyers for the 4th spot.  They have weathered a long losing streak, and came out of it guns blazing.  They are playing a more physical brand of hockey, and it seems to have energized the whole team.  One concern right now is the need for some secondary scoring from guys like Cooke, Jeffrey, and Dupuis.  I want to close with some commentary on Malkin.  I have at times been critical of Geno's attention to detail, focus, and leadership relative to his cap hit since the 2009 season.  I still think that at those times, those feelings were justified.  That said, I am equally blown away by his contributions this season, and most importantly, in the recent turn around of the team. His scoring streak is well documented, so I will focus on little things that seem to indicate he is becoming the leader of this team.  He is playing HARD and SMART in all three zones, he is blocking shots, he is NOT taking stupid retaliatory penalties that hurt the team, and he has been one of the main post game spokesmen for the team of late.  His English still makes those interviews an adventure in some ways, but Malkin's availability for them, and the content of those interviews show a much more mature Malkin who seems to be willing and able to carry the team on and off the ice.  When asked about his two points tonight making him the NHL scoring leader, Malkin said that the two points the TEAM got were more important than his two points.  Fucking eh Geno!!  Time to jump 2 opponents at the Consol who usually give us a tough time in Montreal and Washington.  Go Pens!!

Pens win third in a row in shootout 2-1

If you did not see the game, but see the score, you may think hmmmmm boring game right? You would be wrong.  In a very free flowing up and down skating game, both goaltenders stood on their head as Ward made 40 saves on 41shots, and Fleury made 25 of 26, many of which were quality chances in tight. The save on Staal to end the second period was BIG.  And the save at the end of regulation on Jokkinen who was supposed to be hurt was epic. Finally, his save on Eric Staal who beat Martin badly for a clean look in overtime was a thing of beauty. The game had two pretty entertaining tussles with Engelland getting the edge on Tim Gleason in a fight where both were throwing punches like crazy, and then late in the third Joe Vitale and Tim Brent had a good go as well.  The teams were hitting like crazy, with Kunitz crushing former Flyer Andreas Nodl against the boards, and Brooks Orpik knocking Jeff Skinner into next week with a great open ice hit.  Of course, the garage league referees reacted to the fact that Skinner lay prone on the ice to dish out a phantom interference call on Orpik. Even the Carolina announcers called a clean open ice hit.  By the way, Orpik has been a MONSTER since he called out the team several games ago. Good leadership by you Brooks, eh?  Deryk Engelland continued his solid, physical play as well.  Pascal Dupuis who has not scored a goal in 8 games had at least 5 great looks with shots on the net, and Paul Martin had several chances to put the puck in the net.  Joe Vitale was handing out checks like it was the first of the month.  The two leading shooters in the NHL Neal, and Malkin were getting great looks and rubber on the net all night.  And the Malkin goal was a thing of beauty.  Late in the first, down 1-0, Geno gets a good shot on Ward, who makes the save and the puck comes out to Eric Staal.  Malkin takes advantage of a Staal miscue to steal the puck and roof one on Ward in 0 space!  Great goal!  He was assisted on the goal by Matt Niskanen (14) and Paul Martin (12).  The next two periods did not have any scoring, but you saw two hungry, gritty teams trade chances and big hits up and down the ice all night long.  Then in the OT period both teams had chances to win it in OT, with Martin having a glorious chance late.  Then in the shootout Malkin beats Ward, Jokkinen beats Fleury, Neal rips a wicked wrister to give the Pens a 2-1 lead in the shootout, then Fleury stops Eric Staal to seal the victory!  Some other game notes.  Evgeni Malkin has now scored 7 of the last 13 Penguins goals, a pretty amazing Hartlike performance.  The Penguins have killed 11 of 12 Carolina power plays this season.  This was the first shootout for the Penguins in 29 games, the last, a 3-2 win on November 5th in Los Angeles.  In closing, this game was won for three reasons despite an insanely great game by Cam Ward.  The Penguins big guns Malkin especially delivered when necessary, Fleury was a wall himself, and the Penguins played gritty down n dirty hockey.  Malkin is playing at 2009 Geno level right now.  That is FUN to watch.  More importantly, the victory tonight put the Penguins in 7th place with 52 points.  Next up is three big conference games starting Thursday in New York, Friday at home against Montreal and a Sunday matinee against the Craps.   Go Pens!

Penguins v Canes

It's a hockey night in Pittsburgh!  I wanted to provide some interesting statistics heading into tonight's game agains the Hurricanes.  Tonight will mark the 300th NHL game for Tyler Kennedy! Kennedy!  Going into tonight's game, much maligned defenseman Paul Martin is +2 in his past 5 games, with 2 assists and 5 shots.  He does have 200 career points, so he can chip in some offense.  Evgeni Malkin's natural hat trick Sunday was the the 19th in Penguins history, with Mario Lemieux having done it 4 times and Jagr twice.

The Penguins are tied for second in the NHL for fewest shots ALLOWED with St. Louis at 26.3 per game;

Matt Niskanen leads all Pens defensemen in shots on goal with 82 this season;

Optimistic projections show a possibility that Kris Letang could return to the lineup as early as Sunday against the Crapitals;

Geno averages 1.16 points per game with Crosby in the lineup and 1.39 without him, or 19.8% better!

The Pens have scored a power play goal in 15 of the past 16 home games against Carolina going 17 for 80 or 21.2%;

Malkin has assisted on 14 of 18 of James Neal's goals and 8 of his 12 power play goals;

Brooks Orpik has points in each of his past two games(2 assists), though he has never scored in 3 straight;

Over the past two victories, the Malkin, Kunitz, Neal line has 7 goals, 5 assists, 12 points, and is a plus 12 with 37 shots on goal;

The Hurricanes have scored first in 7 of the past 9 games against the Penguins;

James Neal is only 3 goals shy of his career high (27),  and 3 goals shy of 100 for his career;

And the odd stat of the night is the fact that the Penguins have lost 4 of the past six home games in which they have scored FIRST, but they are 5-2-1 in the past 8 home games where they did not! 

Enjoy the game!!

Ray Shero - 105.9 The X

Ray Shero - 105.9 The X Great interview with Ray Shero by Madden

The Penguins are Fighting for Sidney Crosby’s Life - Pulling No Punches - January 2012 - Pittsburgh, PA

The Penguins are Fighting for Sidney Crosby’s Life - Pulling No Punches - January 2012 - Pittsburgh, PA

NHL Live crew discuss Lecavalier/Malkin incident - 12/15/2011

Douche One and Douche Two

A new streak begins! Pens win 6-3 in Tampa

As the Penguins celebrated the end of their six game losing streak Friday night, someone said that they had an easy one coming up today against a struggling Tampa team in the midst of their own six game slide, and a spot near the bottom of the Eastern conference.  But I found some interesting statistics pre-game that would give one some cause for pause, such as the following:

Including the 2011 playoffs, the Penguins had dropped four straight against Tampa Bay;
In our last 5 regular season games against Tampa our power play was just one for 26;
Malkin had just one goal in his past nine games against Tampa, and no goals in his past 6 in Tampa;
Geno averaged .73 points per game against Tampa, his lowest ppg against any Eastern conference team;
A stat that proved prophetic was when these two teams play, scoring first is key with the team doing so posting a 25-4-1 record when doing so;
Finally James Neal came into the game leading the league in shots on goal with 133 and Malkin was third with 118;

The game itself started very well for Pittsburgh, as Malkin drew a penalty early, and James Neal scored his 23rd of the year on the power play, with assists from Paul Martin (11) and Evgeni Malkin (29).  It was Neal's league leading 11th power play goal of the year, and came from a very bad angle almost behind the net.  Time of the goal was 2:43 of the first period.  1-0 Pittsburgh.  Then at 10:38 of the period, Richard Park nailed his third tally of the season unassisted to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead.   The period ended that way.  The Penguins dominated that period with a 17-5 advantage in shots on goal.  During the second period, the Lightning evened up play, and had a goal by Ryan Malone when Ian Walsh correctly called a high stick on the puck.  The period ended with Pittsburgh still in the lead at 2-0.  The third period saw a 7 goal outburst in what was one of the wildest periods of hockey I have seen in awhile.  It started out with a Penguins power play early, and at 3:34 of the period, James Neal buried his 24th goal and 12th power play goal of the year, assisted by Malkin (30), and Sullivan (14). What a rocket by Neal...pure goal scorer.  The Penguins were now ahead 3-0, and Root Sports color man Bob Errey declared the game all but over.  Somebody forgot to tell the Lightning though.  In a span of a little less than four minutes, the Lightning tied the game at 3-3 with goals from Gilroy, Malone (power play), and Purcell.  Things were looking a little tight for the flightless birds who needed these two points badly.   Enter Hart candidate Evgeni Malkin.  Less than two minutes after Teddy Purcell tied the game, Geno scored his 19th goal of the season at 7:38 to restore a lead for the Penguins at 4-3.  Malkin took a puck off the boards, and backhanded a goal past Garon.  And less than two minutes later AGAIN, Malkin took a turnover, in the neutral zone, and turned Garon inside out before tucking a backhand behind Garon while falling, to give the Penguins a 5-3 lead!  Brooks Orpik collected his 7th assist of the season on the goal.  Then at 19:06, Malkin(21) completed his natural hat trick with an empty net goal to cap the scoring at 6-3.  The goal gave Malkin his hat trick, and 5 total points to pull within one point of Henrik Sedin for the NHL scoring lead with 21goals, 30 assists and 51 points, while playing in 8 LESS games than Sedin.  Malkin in averaging 1.38 points per game this year to lead the NHL.   He should have had his second empty net goal, and 6th point which would have tied him with Sedin, but the referees let an obvious penalty with Geno bearing down on the empty net slide, which would have been an automatic fourth goal and sixth point.  Oh well.   So, Geno has roared back into 2nd in the scoring race, and James Neal is second in the Rocket Richard race for goal scoring with 24 goals.  Neal has 40 points with 24 goals and 16 assists.  As noted earlier, Neal leads the league in power play goals with 12, and in disallowed goals!  Seriously, the Penguins are now 7-0 in the last 7 games in which Neal has scored!  After scoring 6 goals in 6 games, the Penguins have now tallied ten goals in 2 games with the very same lineup.  Supposedly the Penguins are about 7-10 days away from Kris Letang getting back into the lineup.  That will be a big boost.  The most important by product of this two game winning streak on the road is that it puts the Penguins back in the top 8 spots in the conference.  All in all, a big win against a team that has given us fits on the road.  I did not like the 4 minute window in the third where Tampa got back in the game, but I did like the response to it.  The Pens were back to playing a physical game, and their top line was dominant again.   That top line has everything necessary to remain dominant.  Kunitz will win puck battles in the corners and create havoc in front of the goaltender, Neal is a pure shooter who knows how to find the open spaces and Malkin can be a  magician with the puck, shooting himself or distributing to either winger.  All three can play a physical game as well.  In the Pens' last 7 victories that line accounted for 17 goals, 23 assists and 40 points.  That is almost 6 points per game. The Penguins were 2 for 5 on the power play, but they did give up a power play goal as well.
The shots on goal were 44 to 20 Pittsburgh. Finally, the win was Fleury's 21st of the year, 4th in the league.  Let's keep it rolling it Tueday night at home against Carolina!  Go Pens!

Streak snapped as Pens beat Florida 4-1

The losing streak is FINALLY over and the Penguins finally get some offense as they defeat the Panthers 4-1 in Sunrise Florida.  The win marked the 136th victory for Coach Bylsma, putting him in sole possession of 2nd place all time in coaching victories for the Penguins, trailing first place Eddie Johnston by 96 wins and surpassing Michel Therrien.  The Penguins did what they have done plenty of times during the streak including outshooting the Panthers 41 to 26, and taking a 1-0 lead.  But they did a lot of things differently tonight too.  First, related to the shots, they were different shots tonight.  The shots taken in the past few games seemed to be perimeter shots that were akin to pitch and catch for a good goaltender.  Tonight the Penguins were skating well, attacking on the rush, and involving 3 or 4 players and often a trailer coming late.  They also played a much tighter brand of defense in front of Fleury, who posted his second stellar performance in a row, saving 25 of 26 shots.  Fleury was at his best late in the second, when it was still 1-0, making several stops during a furious late period shift by Florida's top line. Right after that, Malkin gets his 18th and for the first time in 2012 the Penguins had a two goal lead.  They played well in all three zones tonight, finished checks, had good gap control, and attacked consistently on the rush.  During a dominant first period, the Penguins had 18 shots on goal, hit four posts, and had two breakaways, but were unable to score.  Early in the second period, at 1:49 Steve Sullivan scored his 8th goal into an open net, as Matt Cooke notched his seventh assist digging a puck out from behind the net and finding Sullivan in the slot.  Penguins up 1-0.  Then the Penguins got a late goal from Malkin at 19:25  of the period, his 18th of the season.  Malkin got his rebound on a breakaway and put in the goal from behind Clemensen to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead.  Neal (16) and Kunitz (15) assisted on the goal.  Late period goals are often back breakers, as are goals to start a period.  And to start period three, Tyler Kennedy got the back breaker at :36 of the third period as he scored his 6th goal of the year on a beautiful tic tac toe play from Dupuis(15) to Orpik to Kennedy(6). What a play by all three players, but I loved seeing Orpik who has picked up his physical play of late, make such a nifty offensive play.  Penguins up 3-0.  Florida made it a little interesting as Repik made it 3-1 Penguins at 6:55 of the third.  But the Real Deal put the final nail in the coffin notching his 22nd goal of the year at 15:43 on a wicked wrist shot to put the Penguins up 4-1.  Chris Kunitz picked up his sixteenth assist of the season on the play.  The goal ended a seven game goal scoring drought by Neal, his longest of the season, and after waiting a second to see if somebody was going to wave it off due to contact by Kunitz, I could breathe again!   All in all,  a very solid effort by the Penguins to end their streak, and their second well played game in a row.  I liked the physical play of the Penguins tonight, with both Orpik and Engellend thumping Panthers all night long, and Asham and Tangradi dropping the mits.  Neal and Kunitz both played a physical game and each notched two points.  Malkin was a force all over the ice, and Fleury was strong in the cage.  They got secondary scoring from Sullivan and Kennedy as well. It is only one victory, but given all of the adversity and current controversy surrounding Crosby and his captaincy/injury, this could be the type of win that could galvanize a team and mark a turning point in a season.  Or it could be an anamoloy.  Time will tell. Tampa for a Sunday matinee up next for a badly needed two points!  GO PENS!

Pens drop 6th straight 1-0 to Caps

Not a lot to say.  The Penguins have dropped their sixth straight, a first since 2005.  If the playoffs were to start tomorrow, the Penguins would officially be golfing.  The playoffs don't start tomorrow.  I still hold out hope given the leadership of this organization that this UGLY patch in the 2011-12 season will be another hurdle overcome by my favorite team.  I am not going to jump on the bandwagon with the beat up statistics right now.  The Penguins have two big games coming up in Florida, a perennial problem spot for them, but they cannot afford to leave points on the table during this trip to the Sunshine State.  Not to sound like one of the women who seem to find Tanger so attractive, but seeing 58 back on the ice will be a sight for sore eyes.  Crosby is suddenly joining the team and skating on his own from what I hear.  I would like to be optimistic about that development, but the time frame from that step to on the ice at an 87 like level would seem to be pretty far off. This group of young men currently dressing have to fight through this stretch on their own.  January 13th is a new season. GO PENS!

Michel Therrien Tells It Like It Is

Sixth Anniversay of this gem.....still love it

Bylsma Must Go-Hell NO

I thought long and hard about what to post after this game, as I found myself as irritated as I have been while watching the Penguins in a long time.  At times, it even felt as if this might truly be the lost season some are saying it is.  I really thought the good news about James Neal and Craig Adams, along with NECESSITY would create a "turn the tide" kind of game from our Penguins.  I thought that getting what might be a last long look from the Penguins would get Eric Tangradi playing at least like a large third line winger with a nasty streak and net front presence.  I thought there was no way Johnson could get tattooed again in a start.  Well, I was wrong about everything pretty much.  Again, the Penguins could only muster one goal, Evgeni Malkin's 17th and again they suffered mental lapses that allowed the opposition the kind of scoring chances good teams do not miss on too many times far too often to have a chance at winning.  I have not had as bad a feeling about this team since right before they replaced Therrien with Dan Bylsma.  Much of Yinzer nation is using this streak, and tonight's less than impressive response to their situation to call for the head of Disco Dan.  I would agree that this team needs some sort of shake up or they might be on the verge of losing this year, but is that really the fault of the coach?  Yo, Yinzerzzzzz.......isn't Bylsma the "player's coach" that rescued a flat and floundering 10th place team and led it to the franchise's third Stanley Cup Championship barely two years ago?  Isn't Bylsma the same coach who took a team without either Malkin and Crosby for the entire second half of the season, Staal for the first half, Orpik, Cooke and others for long stretches, to a 106 point season and a 4th seed in the playoffs. The same guy who guided this depleted team to a 7 game series with Tampa who only lost to eventual Stanley Cup Champion Boston in the Eastern Conference Finals?  The same guy who won the Jack Adams Trophy as the NHL's Coach of the Year?  Is he the same guy who had the Penguins near the top of the league as recently as mid December despite having injury issues that made last year look like a day at the beach?   So, after having everything  but locusts fly out of his ass, he has a tough month or so, and we need to fire the COACH??  Are you fucking kidding me?  I bet there are plenty of young coaches we can pluck off the street to do what Dan did in 2009 and just take this team to the Finals...........IDIOTS!  I am not saying that the injuries may not have caught up to us....I am not saying that this 5 game losing streak hasn't been brutal to watch.  But remember this from recent history.  The 2007-08 Flyers had losing streaks of 6 and 10 games, and still landed in the Eastern Conference Finals before your Pens spanked them and sent them home.  The 2010-11 Capitals, led by BBQ Bruce no less, had an 8 game losing streak so gloriously documented on 24/7 and still won the top seed in the Eastern Conference, before doing their annual choke job at the hands of the aforementioned Tampa Bay Lightning.  Hell, the 2009-10 Chicago Blackhawks lost 8 games in a row the year they won the cup?  Remember BBQ using that as motivation during the Caps struggles last season?  These recent examples should confirm that a 5 game losing streak in January is not the kiss of death by any means.  That said, neither of those teams faced anywhere near the amount of injuries to upper echelon players that the Penguins have withstood since the beginning of the 2010 season.  To be sure, coach Disco is faced with the toughest challenge by far of his young coaching career, but he is not the problem.  I am quite confident that in the end, you will find that again, he, along with Ray Shero are a part of the solution.  I BELIEVE that these guys will find a way to bring post season hockey to Pittsburgh this season, but if not, I am going down with the ship.  Who is going with me?

James Neal's Double Overtime Game Winning Goal!

Penguins Pregame-Good injury news for Pens?

Tonight marks the 41st game of the season, exactly the midway point after tonight's game.  Last year the Penguins had 55 points at the midway point, and this year the Penguins have 46 points with only tonights game left.  The Penguins did get some good news for once on the injury front when they heard that the "broken foot" of James Neal was simply a bone bruise, and that Neal could play dependent upon his pain tolerance.  Being the REAL DEAL, 18 will play tonight, good news for the Pens.  He is 1 of only 6 Penguins to have played in all 40 games this year.  Also, it was feared that Craig Adams was lost for the long term with an injured knee from practice on Sunday, but he made a quick recovery and will be in the lineup for Pittsburgh tonight.  Great for the penalty kill!  Brent Johnson gets the nod in goal tonight, his first start in nine games.  He was pulled from his last start, also against Ottawa after giving up 5 goals on only 19 shots.  The Pens need the Johnson of the past two seasons to show up, so we can send this year's version on a long vacation!   Paul Martin is out due to illness, so the Penguins have recalled Simon Despres to take his spot in the lineup. If Bylsma wins tonight, it will be his 136th win, making him second all time with the Penguins. The Penguins have scored first in each of their past three games.....all losses.  Some other notes to consider include the following:

During the current four game losing streak the Penguins have outshot their opponents 136-92, but they were outscored 13-5 in those games.  How critical is the power play?  During the Penguins' last five home losses their power play was 0-18, and gave up a shorthanded goal in EACH of the past two losses at home.  Conversely, in the last 13 home games where the Penguins scored a power play goal they are 11-0-2.  Also, in their last 21 home games the Penguins are 12-0 when they score three or more goals and an ugly 0-7-2 when they score 2 or less!  Also, the Penguins come into tonight's game having lost 3 straight at the CEC, and they have never lost 4 in a row there.  Fleury is resting for tomorrow night's game having lost 4 straight starts, if he would lose tomorrow, it would be the first time since January of 2006 that this has occurred.  Ben Lovejoy has only been a minus player once in his past 13 games  and is a +5 during that span.  Another defenseman with limited expectations, Matt Niskanen is tied with Pascal Dupuis to lead the Penguins in +/- with a plus 8.  Paul Martin and Zybnek Michalek are minus 9 and minus 7 respectively.  The most depressing number of the night is the following.  Since the start of LAST season, including the playoffs, the Penguins have played 129 games, and 87, 71, and 11 were on the ice together for just 10 of those.  Consistent with this "luck" the Penguins currently lead the NHL with 210 man games lost, 27 more than second place Winnipeg.  And when you think of who makes up many of those man games, they are critical "men."   Tonight will mark the 230th straight sell out for the Penguins, a streak that started on Valentine's Day 2007.  Anyway, here is to hoping that the better than expected injury news is the beginning of a better stretch for our Pens!

Penguins update

The Penguins have the Ottawa Sentors coming to town tomorrow night, and need to get on the winning track.  The Penguins are 4 points behind Ottawa (5th in conference) with 3 games in hand, but are only in front of 9th place Winnipeg by a single point.  I wish I could tell that any one of the Crosby, Letang, Neal, Staal gang was coming back tomorrow, but I can't.   That said, there was some decent news for the Penguins today. First off, though there was no official update, word is that there was no major damage to Craig Adams' knee.  He will miss some time, but not the season as some had feared.  In addition, the word is that 4th liner Arron Asham will be in the lineup tomorrow night, providing some necessary jam to the Penguins game.  Also, Dustin Jeffrey is likely to play tomorrow as well.  Though Jeffrey is not like getting Staal back, he did show some scoring ability in his time with the Penguins last season.  I would look for Jeffrey to center the second or third line, and he will add a little more offense to the Penguins. In a 25 game stay with Pittsburgh last year, the 6'1" Jeffrey scored 7 goals and added five assists while playing to a plus 5.   The Penguins have also called the Big Dog, Eric Tangradi up from Wilkes Barre Scranton in what will likely be his best audition ever to show he belongs in the show.  In the AHL this year, Tangradi leads the WBS Penguins in goals with 14 of them in 30 games, while adding 11 assists.  The Big Dog adds size and grit at 6'4" and 221 pounds.  He has shown a knack for creating traffic while he has been here, but not much in the way of skating or hands. He should get some power play and top six minutes and if I am Tangradi I play in straight lines, I crash the net, dig out pucks from the corner, and hit everything that moves.  I am beginning to wonder if Eric has the hands and wheels to be a true top six winger, but nobody would be hurt if he was a down and dirty, physical third line player that took the body, crashed the net, and chipped in some dirty goals when they are needed most.  Somebody needs to tell the Big Dog to play the same way he does in WBS, with some snarl.  The Penguins are not going to outgun anybody right now, but they can win enough games by out hitting and outworking opponents, while winning individual puck battles to stay in the hunt until the big boyz are back.

Steelers lose in disappointing fashion in OT

 All week I heard many local media members and much of Steeler Nation talk about today's game as if it were the equivalent of a bye week.  We heard that Tim Tebow was no threat, and the loss of Ryan Clark would not matter due to the lack of threat through the air. Hell, the Steelers were 12-4 and had the #1 rated defense relative to points allowed and passing yards.  I am much more of a Pens guy, and write little about the Steelers, though I watch them all the time.  I had many conversations at the gym this week with friends that I told that this was the most suspect 12-4 team I can recall seeing, and that their defense was way overrated.  The key stat for most championship teams is usually turnovers and turnover ratio, an area that the Steelers greatly underahieved in this season.  They were also a very bad road team, and struggled mightily against very poor teams, making suspect quarterbacks look good all year.  The Steelers defense was not nearly as stout against the run this season as they usually were either.  So, I took a road game, against a team with a very good defense, and a strong rushing attack as potentially trouble for a Steelers team that tends to play down to its competition.  I was hoping to be wrong, but the Steelers played to their recent script.  With an opportunity to go up quickly on the Broncos with two great first quarter drives, the Steelers fizzled in the red zone as they did quite often this year, and despite total domination, left the first quarter with only a 6-0 lead.  Then, Tebow began to dissect the suspect Steelers defense, building a 20-6 lead late in the first half, making several passing plays along the way.  Wait, wasn't this the guy who couldn't throw??  At any rate, the Steelers had something going late in the half, driving into at least field goal range, and possibly had time to challenge for a play into to the end zone.  As has been typical, they then make a mistake that costs them a chance to get points to close the half when Doug Legursky snapped a ball over Big Ben's head to end the drive out of range of even a late long FG attempt.  The Steelers then battle back valiantly to tie the game, stop the Broncos late, and have a chance to drive for a game winning field goal.  Then, three other season long Steeler issues arise.  Poor clock management by Tomlin, letting 22 seconds tick off the clock instead of stopping it to give Ben more chances to manuever the team into position for a late FG attempt.  Then from the 45 yard line, Ben takes an 11 yard loss and fumbled the ball while being sacked, eliminating any options for last second heroics.  Finally, Big Ben was sacked 5 times during the game, three of them during the last drive.  Then in OT, the paper curtain gets burned again on the first play with an 80 yard TD play.  End of game, end of season, end of the Ward era in Pittsburgh.  This team was beaten up for sure, but they had more than enough firepower on both sides of the ball to beat this team.  I thought Lebeau was horrible today, as was Tomlin.  The Steelers never adjusted to what the Broncos were doing, and allowed a really bad QB to torch them for 316 yards, including several splash plays.  I thought Timmons was invisible, Harrison was invisible, Polamalu was invisible, Wallace made another big drop, Ben threw a pick, and took a really bad sack.....Ike Taylor played maybe the worst game I have ever seen a quality corner play in my life.......The Steelers got no sacks, and no turnovers out of Tebow, who had been a turnover machine of late.  Mundy did create a fumble in the fourth quarter that could have and should have led to a big Steelers victory.  Instead, the Steelers left the game on the table and the Broncos took full advantage.  Congratulations to them.  The Steelers are getting a bit long in the tooth on defense, and you may have seen the end of Aaron Smith, James Farrior, Casey Hampton, and/or Chris Hoke. You most likely saw the last of 86 as a Steeler.   The Steelers may want to get out from under Kemo's contract as well. If the Steelers can sign Cotchery again, they will still have one of the best and deepest WR corps in the league.  They will also have the youngest offensive team in the NFL, with many players still reaching for their upside.  They will need to look at guard, running back, linebacker and corner in the offseason through the draft and free agency.  With a few tweeks, and some better fortune healthwise, the Steelers should be as good as anybody in the AFC next year.  For this year, they will have to look in the mirror and analyze how they let a VERY mediocre team, with a limited QB beat them.  The Steelers of old would have made a QB like Tebow pray for his life instead of humiliate them in a big game.  Next week sets up two mismatches with New England v Denver and Baltimore v Houston, a very wide open tournament that the Steelers should still be a part of, but frankly they did what they did all year on the road, and today paid the ultimate price, at least in terms of their dreams for a Stairway to Seven.

Fucking speechless......Fucking speechless

Wow, I never thought that the 2011 season could be surpassed in its seemingly infinite suckiness, but looks like 2012 will do just that, unfortunately.  First, the game, another 3-1 loss to a division rival. This game had the same sound as the last one.  The Pens jump out to a 1-0 lead after a strong first period, outshoot the opposition, give up a short handed goal, fizzle on the power play, and lose 3-1.  It is the Penguins' 4th straight loss, dropping their record to  21-15-4 for 46 points and are now clinging to the eighth and final playoff spot in the conference.  The Penguins did again outshoot the opposition, but most of the shots were perimeter shots, and not really strong scoring chances. It appeared as if the Penguins have lost their confidence, and don't react like we are used to when faced with adversity in a game.  It might be finally too much for this team to overcome an endless stream of adversity relative to injuries.  Crosby has missed 32 of 40 games this year, Kris Letang has missed nearly a quarter of the season, and is nowhere near a return.  Every member of their defense corps has missed games this year, and now they learn that have lost Jordan Staal for 4-6 weeks with a knee injury, and leading goal scorer James Neal for a similar amount of time.  Finally, there was news that Craig Adams left practice today with what looked like a significant knee injury.  This means the Pens will face at least the month of January without their two of their three top centers (Staal and Crosby), their top goal scorer(James Neal), two of their top penalty killers (Adams and Staal), their top defensman and Norris candidate (Kris Letang), and strong fourth line grinder and enforcer (Arron Asham).  That is a span of 15-20 games, many against Eastern Conference playoff contenders.  Scary scenario to add to the already ugly trend that was brewing.  As of 11/26 the Pens led the NHL with 32 points and were 6-3-1 in their last ten games.  Since then, the Penguins are 7-9, and have lost 4 straight. Now they lose Staal, Neal, Adams and Asham.  More alarming numbers include their montly record against playoff caliber teams.  In October they were 4-1, November, 3-4, and in December they were 1-6 against playoff caliber teams.  They have now started January 0-2 against those teams.  Many fans are now calling this the lost season, giving up on playoff chances, talking of the need to retool the team, and selling their tickets.  Brooks Orpik called the team out for sloppy, soft play, and Malkin for dumb penalties.  I can't argue with Brooks, and I do respect his willingness to speak out, but despite his status as a favorite of mine, 44 needs to look in the mirror as well.  His play has been soft as well this season, and he has been on the ice for some really bad goals.  He is probably suffering a bit from the loss of his D partner Letang,  but Orpik is supposed to be the conscience of this team, and he needs to step up as such.  I know that he will.  Evgeni Malkin conversely says that the team can play like it did last night and win.  I hope that something was lost in the translation there.  The Penguins had 42 shots last night, but they were mostly softballs that a goalie like Brodeur will eat up every time.  They did not get much traffic to the net, they gave up a short handed goal, and their power play was less than useless.  So, Geno, the first step in fixing a problem is acknowledging it.  Offensively, your team has a PROBLEM.  The person with BY FAR the MOST ability to fix it is YOU.  Time to take on the role of team leader, put them on your back and help them keep the playoffs in sight until the cavalry arrives off of the injury list.  If you think the offensive effort the past few games is enough to get this team to the post season then we are in big trouble.  The next person who can make a HUGE impact on the fate of this team is Marc Andre Fleury. He was a Hart candidate from last year's effort and started the season in a similar fashion this season.  His game has cooled a bit of late. He is 12th in the league at 2.31 GAA, and 26th in the league with .912 save percentage.  Despite recent woes, he remains third in the league in wins.  My issues with Fleury is not that is playing poorly, but he is not playing well enough to steal games right now.  His gaffe Friday night on the Stepan goal killed any realistic chance of the Pens coming back and tying that game, and it was one of the uglier plays I have seen from an NHL level goaltender.  Again, MAF made many stellar saves that night, and 5M man Martin's inability to corral a pass to the point from Kunitz led to the puck being in play as it was, but Fleury's play was as inexcusable as Martin's.   Fleury, like Malkin, has the ability to carry this team, and like last year, I believe MAF will answer that bell.  I think that the three above referenced leaders on this team have the ABILITY and RESPONSIBILITY to keep this team afloat during the next 4 to 6 weeks while the team HOPEFULLY gets healthy for the first time in a year and a half.  I will put my money on those guys to dig deep and find a way to keep the Pens relevant during this rough patch.  Everyone has to do a little more in turn to help out, but a few players in particular have been a let down thus far and need to really improve in the Pens time of need.  The first two in my opinion are Zybnek Michalek and Paul Martin.  I sat up in our condo on vacation in the Outer Banks on July 1, 2010 eager to hear what the Pens were going to do to improve their team.  I could not have been happier to hear that they signed both Martin (5M) and Michalek (4M) to four year deals.  I believed that these signings gave the Pens the best top two pairings in the NHL.  After a slow start last year, they played just like that in the second half of the year, helping to keep the Pens in a top 4 seed in the conference.  This year, they have both been at least disappointing, and in Martin's case, at times just downright brutal!  For 9M combined, these two players HAVE to play like the players we know they are to help the Penguins overcome this adversity.  If they don't, King Ray has to consider moving at least one of them for help upfront, or a more physical netfront presence.  Another player who has to step it up like last season is Tyler Kennedy.  The Penguins made Kennedy a priority over Jagr (and I agree with that call), but Kennedy was paid with the understanding that his 21 goal season last year was indicative of his abilities as a consistent offensive producer.  He did that by getting to the blue paint instead of his wrister from the circle at the goalies pads.  He needs to find that blue paint again, and create some dirty goals for the Penguins. His 7 power play goals last year were a factor down the stretch as well.  You could get SOME help from Dustin Jeffrey whose return seems imminent, and he may in fact be centering the second line for a spell.  He showed some ability to score in a stint with the big club last year, and for a team with a shortage of scoring, ANY extra punch would be welcome.  Also, Eric Tangradi may finally get an extended look in a top 6 role, and if he can go hard to the net, play a physical game, and chip in some dirty goals, the Pens will be far better for it.  Finally, in my opinion, the Penguins need to decide what Crosby's status is going to be this year.  If the chance of 87 coming back this year as a force is slim, it might be best both short and long term to shut him down for this year, and get some help up front.   It might make him more viable over the long run, and allow the Pens to react with some help that could make them competitive in the East again.  I am certain there are some UGLY times ahead for our flightless birds, but I trust in the leadership of the organization and the team to navigate through it successfully again.  I am totally sober by the way............

Pens drop third in a row to the Rangers 3-1

I am not going to go through a full recap tonight....too irritated. The Penguins are now 0-4 against their top 2 divisional rivals, the Rangers and Flyers this season.  They are also 0-12-2 against top conference rivals Washington, Boston, Philadelphia and New York in the Consol Energy Center the past season and a half.  To be fair, they have never had hardly had anything close to their full complement of players during that time, but it is a trend that needs to change.  The Penguins badly outshot the Rangers tonight, but King Henry stood on his head and kept the Rangers in the game during the first part of the first period.  The Penguins took a 1-0 lead on Ben Lovejoy's first goal of the season.  Lundqvuist kept the Rangers within one goal until 18:17 of the first period when Brad Richards tapped in a fat rebound left by Marc Andre Fleury to even the score.  Seconds later Marian Gaborik rang one of the crossbar, but the period ended in a 1-1 tie.  Things took a turn for the worse when Brandon Dubinsky scored on a 3 on 2 shorthanded to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead, which is how the period ended.  A one goal deficit is not that tough to deal with, despite the fact that the 2nd goal came shorthanded.  Just over a minute into the third, Paul Martin misplayed a puck at the Rangers blue line, then kind of watched as Marian Gaborik raced up the wing after it.  Fleury attempted to play the puck, and botched it......badly, and ultimately Stepan put it home to give the Rags a 3-1 lead.  Just when it seemed impossible to catch the Rangers James Neal buried one to make it 3-2 Rangers.  Of course the goal was waved off (5th or 6th time this year?) as Kunitz made incidental contact with King Henry.  To me the contact was made due to the Rangers defenseman's stick between Kunitz's legs.   Thought it was a CHEAP call, and to me likely ended the Pens chances.  Things got worse when Staal left the game late with what appeared to be a serious knee injury.  Losing Staal for any length of time would be devestating for an already injury riddled team, but that is what it appears we have to look forward to.  It is now every game and some practices that at least one player gets hurt.  I have truly NEVER seen anything like it, and it is hard to watch!  Post game we wound up in the elevator with James Neal himself, who seemed a bit frustrated, understandably so.  We also had a chance to meet Scary Gary Roberts, who is a pretty intimidating figure, and Tie Domi who is as ugly as a human gets!  It is a rough patch right now for the Penguins, and they need to find a way out of it, and soon.  I am betting that James Neal has something to do with a big win tomorrow  night against New Jersey.