Penguins vs. Blackhawks

Welcome Chris Kunitz! He and Jordan Staal were taking over the 1st period. I think the trade, as the GM said on the Mark Madden show, was worth it. I do not think a straight up trade would have been worth it, but to get a top-6 forward and a prospect (Tangradi) for Whitney set them up for the future. The penguins were already having trouble deciding which defensemen to play each night. This trade helped them make up their minds.

Evgeni Malkin came up huge once again. Did it seem like he knew he could score? He was absolutely dying for the puck at the end of the game. Thank goodness Gonchar sent the puck over to him, or we might be talking about another lost shootout.

The Penguins came out with a win, but they really get my blood boiling when they blow leads like this. Pens blew a 2-0 lead...and then a 4-2 lead. The special team were horrendous again.

Do you think the penguins are going to ever hold a lead? They allowed 20 shots in the 3rd period. Marc-Andre Fleury was left hanging...again. He faced an amazing 45 shots. The Penguins have got to play better defense. Getting rid of Whittney was not enough. They need to take care of the puck.

Congrats on the win. They are not playing great, but they are piling on some points. One point from a playoff spot, but I think they have a better shot of catching the Rangers.

Post your thoughts.

Capitals vs. Penguins (L 5-2)

I don't know if it was because they had just played a hard game the day before, or if the Capitals are that much better, but the Penguins looked flat against Washington on Sunday afternoon.

The power play was horrible (1 for 8) and they were lucky to get that one goal.

The Capitals made the Penguin special teams look like the baby pens.

Personally, I think it was a mistake to play Marc-Andre Fleury in back-to-back games, (.750 save percentage), but who could have known that he would be a wet paper bag. Hind sight is 20-20. To be fair, it was not completely Fleury's fault. The pens defense left Marc-Andre out to dry MULTIPLE times per period.

This game gave me flashbacks to the Maple Leafs game when they blew a 2-1 lead in the 3rd period to lose 6-2 on Feb. 14th.

Positives from the game (hard to find any): 1) Garon looked good in net after Pens had already blown the game. 2) Ovechkin didn't get a hat trick. Is that a positive? It looked like he might get one. He outplayed both Crosby & Malkin.

Penguins vs. Flyers

This afternoons game did not disappoint those who love a hard fought, physical battle. This game had grit, toughness, and lots of goals.

Heroes of the game: Sidney Crosby (2 goals, 2 assists) & Ruslan Fedotenko (2 goals, 1 assist). Pascal Dupuis gets an honorable mention for his hard work and 3 assists.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have been hot recently, getting 5 points in the last 3 games. It doesn't get any easier though as Pittsburgh takes the short trip to Washington to face Ovechkin and the Capitals.

Their new style of hockey may have worked (somewhat) against the Flyers and Canadians, but with the firepower Washington has they don't want to end up in a scoring spree with this team. Beware of the Capitals.

The game winner was one of the wierdest plays I have ever seen! Pascal Dupuis splits the defense on a beautiful breakout pass. Biron came out to challenge, got the puck in his glove but threw it behind himself. The puck seemed to get stuck in his glove. Dupuis just pushed it to the net. Crosby got to it before the defenseman and tapped it into the net.

Gonchar looks like he is going to be a spark that the Penguins needed, but only time will tell if it is going to be long term. Right now they are playing with an intensity that could mean the playoffs...but will they be tired if they get there? The definitely have the talent to be a contender.

Who am I keeping my eye on to fall and be overtaken by the Penguins? Montreal & New York. Both teams have only won 2 games in their last 10. Teams that come together in this part of the season make the playoffs...Teams that fall apart fall off the map. Keep an eye on those teams.

Penguin vs. Canadians

Penguins played a highly aggressive game to pull out two points on Montreal Thursday night.



The team looked very solid offensively, storming the net. It felt like they had some new fire. I believe it comes from the new coaching style of Dan Bylsma. Max Talbot spoke after the game about how they had worked hard in practice and it showed tonight.



Fluery was shaky late, but was able to hold on for the win. He came up big enough in some key situations...again.



Crosby & Malkin put on a show early in the 3rd period for the highlight reels. Fedetenko brings the puck in, taps it to Crosby and Sid makes another beautiful pass to the sliding Malkin to make it 3-2. What a beautiful play.



This was a huge game. The Pittsburgh Penguins needed to get the clean 2 points and made sure to get them.



Will this be the start to something great? I will be more convinced when they get some road wins. Remember, this was at the Igloo.

Still on their way to the playoffs?

The Pittsburgh Penguins are now 6 points outside of the playoffs looking in. They have 24 games to pull something together. I personally believe that they are going to have to string A BUNCH of wins together like they did in November (9-2-1) to even have a shot of getting to the NHL playoffs in April.

The longer the season goes on, the more evident it becomes that they need a solid winger for Sid's line. It is time for Ray Shero to step up, pick up the phone and make something happen. That is what he does best.

Here are my suggestions:

1) Satan needs to pick up the pace and skate like he doesn't have hemorrhoids

2) Give Thomas more ice time and call up Luca Caputi again.

3) Let go of a defenseman and get a decent forward.

4) Bring back the intensity that was shown during the Detroit & San Jose games. That type of play will beat most teams in the NHL.

Go get them!

Penguins grab a point from the Islanders

After a hard fought game on President's day, the penguins come away with one point from the worst team in the NHL (17-33-6, 40 pts.) The penguins lost in a shootout 3-2.

What I want to know is how Pittsburgh's defense can lapse so easily at times? They play well enough to beat San Jose, but lose to the New York Islanders.

A few positives:
1) The powerplay went 1 for 3
2) Gonchar is back and got a point.

Summary: They needed to find a way to get two points yesterday and came up short. That has happened too much this season.

Goodbye Michel!

After an underperforming season (27-25-5, 59 pts) Michel Therrien has been let go, to be replaced by the inexperienced Dan Bylsma from Wilkes-Barre Scranton.

This is quite a demotion after getting to the Stanley Cup finals last year. I guess that is what happens when the expectations are so high and with the fact that Malkin & Crosby have been playing well all season.

Do you think it is fair that Therrien takes the heat for this? Should the blame be put on injury? On the lack of confidence down the stretch?

They still have a chance of the playoffs, but not if they continually have a 3rd period like they had in Toronto. That was ugly.