SB Nation - Ben Lovejoy

November grades and Player of the Month

Hooks Orpik — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:00:23 -0000

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

Alex Goligoski (getting mobbed here by teammates) was the overwhelming choice of Pensburgh voters to be named Pensburgh player of the month for October...Who will take the honor for November? Vote below!

Browse more photos »

To see the report card from October, click here. You voted Alex Goligoski the player of the month, garning 50% of the vote to easily out-pace the other finalists of Sidney Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury, Tyler Kennedy and Jay McKee.

While the training staff and doctors probably deserve MVP status for all their hard work, let's look at the players performances for the month of November.

Overall the Penguins were 8-6-0 on the month, but it was a month of stretches. They lost five of seven games from Nov. 5th to the 19th. Then they won five of seven from Nov 20th to month's end.

Goalies	Grade	Comments
Marc-Andre Fleury	C+	(7-5-0, .891 save percentage on the month) A rocky month for Fleury, who got pulled twice. Considering the makeshift defense in front of him, it was about holding on and winning games; which he did reasonably well by month's end. The bar is set high, so allowing three or more goals 6 out of 12 outings is not ideal.
Brent Johnson	B-	(1-1-0, .887 save %) Again Johnson's save % almost exactly matches the starter, and Johnny has done well to stay sharp, despite not getting into many games.

Defensemen
Mark Eaton	B+	(2 goals, 1 assist, -1, 6 penalty minutes) Who would have thought Mark Eaton would be the Penguins' defensive ironman? Eaton picked up a lot of slack in terms of ice-time, being the lone defensive constant.
Alex Goligoski	I	(1g, 3a, -1, 0 PIM in seven games) Battled illness and then eventually missed seven games. Continues to play well when he's been in the lineup, but gets an I for Incomplete since he missed half the games and is back on the shelf.
Sergei Gonchar	B	(1g, 4a, -3, 4 PIMs in seven games) Points in four straight games, fair to say he's rounding back into game shape. Now it's time to get those PP numbers up. We'll give him a grade, since he's been back for a while.
Kris Letang	I	(1g, 3a, +2, 0 PIM in five games) Barely played due to a shoulder injury, but played very well when he was in. His puck moving ability was sorely missed. We'll give Letang an Incomplete, since he missed so much of the month.
Jay McKee	B	(1g, 2a, -2, 21 PIM in eight games) Before the shot blocking master somehow got a finger infection, the highlight of his month may have been getting 19 PIMs in San Jose, or maybe that awesome deke against Boston resulting in a goal.
Brooks Orpik	B+	(0g, 6a, even, 2 PIM in ten games) Since his return from injury the Penguins have won four of five games and Orpik had his most proflific scoring month ever in the NHL even missing time.
Martin Skoula	B+	(3g, 3a, -1, 0 PIM) Skoula proved himself to be a viable NHL defensemen still with his fill in duty. The two goals he chipped in against Atlanta (Nov 20th) were critical in a 3-2 win.
Deryk Engelland	B+	(0g, 2a, -2, 17 PIMs) Engelland was protected (he only played 16:08 a night) but he was good and physical when he was out there. Plus three fights helped keep some sandpaper around.
Nate Guenin	B-	(0g, 0a, -2, 0 PIM) The Pittsburgh product appeared briefly in two games (13:32 per night). He didn't make any glaring mistakes, but wasn't put in many situations in where he could.
Ben Lovejoy	A-	(0g, 3a, +5, 2 PIM in eight games) Lovejoy got the most responsibility of the callups, in terms of minutes and PK time and also faired the best. He had a great plus/minus and generally didn't look out of place in the NHL.

Forwards
Craig Adams	C	(0g, 2a, -2, 10 PIMs) Hardly generating any offensive, and his faceoff percentage is still hovering around 45%. Adams is forechecking hard (lots of hits) and playing well positionally, but that's par for the course for him.
Chris Bourque	D	(0g, 2a, -3, 6 PIMs in 13 games) Has looked like a placeholder for the injured. And the injured are on the mend, so Bourque's time may be running short. November was a great chance for him to prove himself, and it wasn't a smashing success to say the least.
Chris Conner	D	(0g, 1a, -1, 0 PIMs in four games) Made two turnovers that resulted in goals against on Nov 12th, was shipped back to the minors on Nov. 13th.
Matt Cooke	B+	(3g, 4a, +2, 34 PIMs) The good: Cooke supplying some offense, hitting and penalty killing. The bad: Cooke crossing the line with hits on Shean Donovan and Artem Anisimov, drawing a two game suspension on the latter. Gotta take the good with the bad with Cooke.
Sidney Crosby	A-	(8g, 9a, -2, 12 PIMs) Much like the team, Crosby had a tough beginning of the month (only 1 point in first five games) but closed strong, highlighted by the eight points in two games the Rangers to end the month.
Pascal Dupuis	A-	(5g, 1a, -3, 0 PIM) Dupuis' perhaps the surprise player of the month with his offensive output. The Penguins were 4-0-0 when he scored a goal in November.
Ruslan Fedotenko	C-	(1g, 3a, -4, 0 PIM) Not much production for a guy getting top-six minutes, even worse he only recorded more than one more shot on goal in just three games. He needs to get the puck on the net more, so he can get the puck in the net.
Eric Godard	C-	(0g, 1a, even, 16 PIMs) The big guy is only playing 4:56 per game on the year, but he's really trying. He had 4 shots on goal on Nov 25th, his center drive created a goal on Nov 28th. He's lugging around out there with a purpose, even if many of us aren't sure just what it is.
BIll Guerin	B-	(3g, 5a, -2, 13 PIMs) Like Crosby, only one point in the first five games and then a better production in the final two weeks of the month. The goal with 0.4 seconds he scored against Boston on Nov 14th is the stuff of legends.
Tyler Kennedy	I	(1g, 2a, +2, 0 PIM in three games) Kennedy is having a great year and really making things happen with the puck when he's been healthy, which hopefully he is now. He earns an Incomplete this month, since he only got into a few games.
Chris Kunitz	I	(1g, 0a, -6, 4 PIMs) Thought to be nursing injury, Kunitz only played five games before leaving the lineup after Nov 12. Let's give him an Incomplete as well.
Evgeni Malkin	A	(4g, 7a, +8, 4 PIMs) It's probably no coincidence Pittsburgh's won seven of nine games since Malkin returned to the lineup on Nov 14th, and Malkin's registered at least a point in seven of those games. He didn't look himself in October, but he certainly is back to his dominant ways now that he's healthy and rested.
Mike Rupp	A-	(5g, 1a, +2, 10 PIMs) Some [noted] timely goal scoring, a physical presence and no mistakes have made Rupp a cult favorite here at Pensburgh. His hat trick on November 30th gave him a career high in goals, and he's on a 23 goal pace. Can the big guy keep it up?
Jordan Staal	B	(3g, 7a, +1, 19 PIMs) Staal found the scoresheet on 9 of 14 games this month, an important step towards his consistency in generating points.
Maxime Talbot	C	(1g, 1a, +1, 2 PIMs in seven games) Understandably, it's been a little rough for Talbot to shake off the rust and catch up to everyone else in mid-season form. He does have two points in his last three games and is getting his timing back.
Mark Letestu	C+	(0g, 0a, even, 0 PIMs in two games) Didn't look out of place in his brief first taste of NHL action, but didn't stand out either.

Again I think it's a fairly wide-open debate for player of the month: Crosby had the most points and was in all the games. He was also named the NHL's #1 star of the week last week. Malkin came back strong and is looking like he did last season when he won the scoring title. Pascal Dupuis and Mike Rupp are lighting the lamp like no one expected. Defensemen Mark Eaton and Martin Skoula literally held the fort down while the rest of the defensemen were dropping like flies. Jordan Staal shouldered more of the load, and played well.

I'll cast my vote for Crosby, but it's certainly understandable that there will be a lot of different opinions on this one. Feel free to cast your vote and share 'em!

Poll

Who should be the Pensburgh Player of the Month for November

The NHL's injury epidemic

James Mirtle — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:14:38 -0000

More photos » by Graham Hughes - AP

Browse more photos »

There is approximately $180 million worth of players injured right now. (I’m talking either LTI or just out for a few games. That’s more than 10 per cent of each team’s available cap space.)

— Elliotte Friedman, HNIC

It's a long list, there's no doubt, and you can't help but wonder if the condensed schedule is to blame. The quarter-way mark in this season is coming up on Friday, and there are an awful lot of bodies banged up.

Don't be surprised if more than one team ends up in extreme cap trouble by April as a result.

A great example of just how big the injury ward is this season is in Pittsburgh, where the Penguins are without their top four defencemen. They somehow pulled out a 5-2 win against the Ducks on Monday with this top six (ranked by ice time):

Mark Eaton: 27:09
Martin Skoula: 18:39
Deryk Engelland: 18:33
Ben Lovejoy: 18:30
Jay McKee: 16:39
Nate Guenin: 14:42

Had to look up a couple first names there... and that ain't good.

Teams like Edmonton, Vancouver and Detroit are just as beat up, and I've gotten more emails the past two weeks asking for man-games lost to injury figures than I can ever remember.

It's getting to the point that health, more than any other factor, is going to determine a lot of the playoff seedings this year.

Cooke, Staal, Guerin fuel a team effort; Pens take down Ducks 5-2

Hooks Orpik — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:26:06 -0000

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

25 days ago: Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, right, makes a second period save on a shot by Anaheim Ducks' Petteri Nokelainen (17) of Finland during an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh Monday, Nov. 16, 2009.(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Browse more photos »

Ducks vs Penguins coverage - Anaheim SB Nation team blog Anaheim Calling

Down seven regular players to injury, it has to be a team effort to get by. The Penguins found it tonight as they got contributions from everyone. Even the power-play kicked in with a goal, snapping a streak of weeks without one. Sure the Penguins gave up a short-handed goal, but hey, one step at a time.

Just a minute and a half into the game, Matt Cooke collected a turnover from the Ducks and deposited it past Jean-Sebastien Giguere for the first goal. Then a few minutes later, the power-play finally broke through when Sidney Crosby rifled the puck to Bill Guerin and the old man whipped it from the high slot for a 2-0 lead.

Anaheim would halve the lead when after some lackadaisical Pittsburgh power-play work resulted in Todd Marchant getting a step on the defense and he beat Marc-Andre Fleury to take the score at 2-1 into intermission.

Jordan Staal made a play short-handed that ended up being the game winner. Credit Deryk Engelland who got the puck, kept his head up and made a great pass up to Staal. As has become his habit, Staal beat the defensemen and used his reach to deke the goalie out. 3-1 Pens.

Early in the 3rd period, Martin Skoula scored his first career goal as a Penguin, shooting a puck from the point past the screen of Mike Rupp into the net. Teemu Selanne got a goal late in the game to bring the Ducks within two goals but Cooke put the icing on the cake with an empty netter for a 5-2

Down their top four defensemen (in terms of minutes played) the Penguins needed and got contributions from everyone. Engelland, as mentioned, made a great pass to make the game-winner possible and also played phyiscal with five hits. Nate Guenin looked confident and comfortable in his NHL season debut, also credited with five hits. Mark Eaton carried the load, playing a lot of the power-play in route to a game-high 27:09 of ice-time. Skoula, as mentioned above, got his first goal. Ben Lovejoy got an assist and generally played well.
Jay McKee, the final member of tonight's defensive corps, was his usual shot-blocking self; getting 5 on the night. The last one appeared to sting him, but he still took shifts deep into the 3rd period. Hopefully it wasn't enough to cause an injury,
Guenin and Engelland I think deserve a little more recognition for their efforts. Neither one of them tried to be a guy like Sergei Gonchar or Alex Goligoski -- they played within themselves. But they played very well. Several little plays showed they made good decisions and executed them well all night long.
Keeping on the theme of team contributions: every Penguin who took more than one faceoff was better than 50% in the circle; led by rookie Mark Letestu who won 75% of his eight draws.
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin absolutely unleashed some rockets on the power-play with slapshots. Judging from those, I'd say about all systems are go for those two. Again though, Crosby got the PP assist but Geno was point-less. This win wasn't about them.
It was about guys like Staal and Cooke. 2/3 of the third line went a combined 3 goals, 1 assist and +5, 5 shots on goal, 6 hits.
Several more "ohh man" moments by Chris Bourque, who didn't win anyone to his bandwagon tonight; including missing another wide-open net.
For Anaheim, they just don't look like they have it all together. Given the talent on their roster, and the fact they won the Cup just over 2 years ago, it's hard to believe they're in last place in the entire Western Conference. Then you see some of the turnovers they make in the game, the careless penalties they take and it sets in a little. They have some pieces, but it's not coming together correctly.

The biggest thing to take away from this game was the team effort. Marc-Andre Fleury got 23 of 25 shots, only eluded by a breakaway and late game goal. The patchwork, mainly minor-league level defense held up very well and they all played well to a man. Grinders showed up on the score sheet and skated hard all around.

More than that, they played a style Dan Bylsma had to like; a lot of puck possesion and controlling the pace of the game. Steelers coach Mike Tomlin has a saying that goes something like "the standard of expectation hasn't changed" when it comes to replacements pressed into duty due to injuries. That was the case tonight. Obviously it's impossible to replace the skill of guys like Gonchar, Goligoski and Kris Letang on the blueline, but everyone that got a jersey did his job, and did it well. That's all you can ask.

The Penguins now have a two day break before they embark on seven games in 11 days to close out the month of November, starting off with a three game roadie. The games are about to come but hopefully reinforcements will be trickling in. But the standards of expectation will not, and cannot change. Whoever plays has to produce, and they have to perform exactly like they did tonight.

Pens score 1, but one's not enough; Devils win 3-1

Hooks Orpik — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:39:09 -0000

Devils vs Penguins coverage - Devils vs Penguins boxscore - In Lou We Trust

The Pens were buzzing early and would finally snap their goal-less streak in the first period. Sidney Crosby (riding a personal high five game score-less streak) threw it to the net and Ruslan Fedotenko crashed in. The puck wasn't frozen and Fedotenko found it before Martin Brodeur did or the Jersey defense found his stick to slam it home. 1-0 Pens.

Sometimes even when you do the right thing, it's the wrong thing. A couple instances where Penguins did well, but still New Jersey got the goals to give them a 2-1 edge after the second period.
--Chris Conner drove the the net, stirred up the puck from Brodeur who wanted to freeze it. Usually a good thing, right? Except when NJ gets it right back, establishes zone time and traps Conner on a long shift, which lead to Niklas Bergfors goal. Bergfors is starting to be one of those notorious Penguin killers, now with two goals in two games against Pittsburgh.
-Then killing a penalty, Ben Lovejoy (making his season debut in the NHL) was in perfect position, but somehow the point shot from Andy Greene struck his skate at such an angle to re-direct in past a helpless Fleury.

Then, sloppy play gave the Devils another goal. Conner got back out on the ice, but after getting hemmed in their own end for a while, the line was ready for a change. Conner got the puck in the neutral zone, but hestitated -- seemingly not sure if he should skate the red line and dump, find someone else to pass the puck to, go to the bench himself. Whatever he did, he froze. Bergfors picked his pocket, and Travis Zajac found Zach Parise on a nice pass (and better finish).

It would be Conner's final mistake, as it was his final shift in the game.

With a second left, David "Kelly" Clarkson tacked on an empty netter. Nice one.

Crosby had games where he didn't look like a force. Tonight was not one of those nights, he was all over the offensive zone, getting 5 shots on goal (with a total of 12 attempts) and several great passes. He played well.
Ruslan Fedotenko was good too, with six shots on goal, the only goal and what would have been a second goal if the nob of Brodeur's stick didn't somehow catch a piece of it.
That Nicklas Bergfors is playing like Forsberg against Pittsburgh -- in two games he's got 2 goals and 3 assists. He's got seven points in 15 games against the rest of the league.
Marc-Andre Fleury was only average to maybe a little above average on a night he needed to be great.
Congrats to New Jersey, who extended their road mark to 9-0-0 and are now the #1 team in the Eastern Conference when you look at the standings tomorrow morning. One more road win and they tie the 2006-07 Buffalo team for best road start.
It's been tough sledding lately for Conner and Chris Bourque, neither of whom are playing very well at the NHL level at the moment. Will Pittsburgh stick it out with them or will they think of swapping them out for farmhands who seem to be playing well in the AHL (Ryan Bayda, Dustin Jeffrey, Luca Caputi)? Hard to say, but you have to believe the possibility will at least be considered.

As frustrated as we all are, the Penguins are still the 3rd best team in the East. Considering what they've had to weather lately, that's not bad. With Evgeni Malkin's return on the horizon, there ought to be a shot in the arm coming soon. It's just about surviving until the reinforcements get back. Four straight losses have everyone on edge, but it's not for the lack of trying. It'll come around, just gotta keep at it

Devils Win 9th Consecutive Road Game, 7th Straight Overall, 4-1 Over Pittsburgh Penguins

Steve Lepore — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:24:52 -0000

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

29 days ago: Pittsburgh Penguins' Jordan Staal (11) cannot get a first-period shot past New Jersey Devils goalie Martin Brodeur in an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh, Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Browse more photos »

The New Jersey Devils, if anything, have proven themselves worthy of the term "comeback kids". This is their 6th win of the season in which they did not score the first goal. In almost a carbon copy of their win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, the Devils fell down fairly early and looked pretty terrible in the first half of the game, yet came back hard and ended up dominating the second half of the tilt. They went on to defeat the Penguins by a score of 4-1, the exact same score they beat the Stanley Cup Champions (who were decimated by injuries much like New Jersey) by on October 24th.

NHL.com has all the highlights, stats and recaps from a win that puts the Devils for a tie for first place in the conference (first overall by how many wins they have) with the Washington Capitals, whom they play on Saturday night and have beaten in come-from-behind fashion twice already this season. The Devils open up a two-point gap over Pittsburgh in the Atlantic Division standings, and have two games in hand on Pittsburgh this early in the season. So while we're not overreacting, but this has sure been fun to watch.

It wasn't fun to watch at the start of the game, however. The Devils were pretty terrible in the 1st period. Attribute it to flying after the 3-1 win over Anaheim last night to get to the Igloo, attribute it to whatever. The fact is, New Jersey had a bad first period, and it's only credited to Marty Brodeur, who had 25 saves tonight with 8 of them coming in the 1st, and many of them huge coming in the early second period as the Devils struggled to get going even then. The one chance he could not stop was a jam at the front of the net as Russlan Fedotenko kept punching away at Brodeur and finally tapped it in at 11:32.

The Devils continued to struggle until mid-way through the 2nd period. Then, something happened. A good shift from one line. Then another. And another. Then, the Parise-Zajac-Bergfors line showed up and got some flow going, and Travis Zajac dug down and got the puck to Zach Parise, who made a sweet pass across to Niclas Bergfors breaking into the shot who ripped it under the arm of Marc-Andre Fleury to make it 1-1 at 13:50.

The Devils got a massive goal later in the 2nd on the power play. Jersey's team has been very good with the man advantage lately, though they did go empty last night vs. the Ducks. However, the Devils got one on the power play when Zajac made a nifty pass to Andy Greene at the point. The breakout star on the blueline this season fired a shot that deflected perfectly of the skate of Penguin defender Ben Lovejoy (super) and the Devils, all of a sudden, after being outplayed most of the game, took a 2-1 lead headed into the 3rd.

The Penguins had a power play headed to the 3rd. They got some chances, and Sidney Crosby hit two consecutive posts, and then took a penalty to kill any more Pens momentum. The Devils didn't get anything on their half of the power play, but soon after, Parise had the favor for that great pass he made to Bergfors earlier, with an equally slick pass by Zajac. Travis made a brilliant play to break up a break out from the Penguins and drove in and make a terrific feed from a nearly impossible position to Parise who made no mistake in roofing it past Fleury to make it 3-1.

After that, the Devils kind of dominated, though were not rewarded. They had odd-man rush after odd-man rush, but failed to score. The Penguins pulled the goaltender Fleury towards the end of the game, to little avail. The Penguins got stopped dead in their tracks at some point. David Clarkson killed off the rest of the clock and put it in the back of the net on a bouncing backhander with just seconds left to make it 4-1. The Devils came on real strong tonight, they are no doubt resilient. They have now won 7 straight, 13 of 15 overall, and are now one win on the road away (Monday in Philadelphia) from tying a record for most road wins consecutively. But first, Washington on Saturday. See you then.

Defenseman Ben Lovejoy re-called by Pittsburgh

Hooks Orpik — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:06:09 -0000

It looks like Brooks Orpik may be missing some time, as the Penguins have (or will soon) call up defenseman Ben Lovejoy from Wilkes-Barre. Jonthan Bombulie reported just earlier tonight on his twitter account:

Ben Lovejoy is not on the ice for warm-ups. Safe to assume he's going up.

For salary cap reasons the move may not be official until tomorrow, but Pittsburgh wouldn't hold Lovejoy out if they didn't need him in the NHL.

Brooks Orpik's undisclosed injury was being looked at today, no official word on what the prognosis was, but without Orpik the Pens would only have five defenseman, making another minor league call-up a necessity for tomorrow night's game against the New Jersey Devils.

Lovejoy recorded a plus/minus of +42 last season in the AHL, top in the league. He was limited in training camp by a shoulder injury that shelved him early in the regular season. However he has played the last seven games in Wilkes-Barre, posting 2 goals, 1 assist and a +2 rating. Lovejoy has two career NHL games (both last season).

If Orpik is knocked out of the lineup, your starting six Penguin defenseman tomorrow night will only include one member of the Stanley Cup winning team from just five months ago (Mark Eaton). The other five will be Lovejoy, 1 game NHL veteran Deryk Engelland, Alex Goligoski, Martin Skoula and Jay McKee.

Checking up on the kiddos: Part 2 (Defensemen and Goalies)

Hooks Orpik — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:13:56 -0000

Yesterday we took a look at the forward prospects of the Pittsburgh Penguins and how they're fairing in far flung placs and leagues from colleges to junior teams to lower level professional leagues. Today it's time to turn our attention to the goalie and defensemen and how the early part of their season is going in their quest to make it to the NHL.

Goaltenders

John Curry [undrafted] - Curry is now in his third season with the Baby Pens and so far he's putting up personal highs in save percentage and goals against. While it must have been disappointing to see Pittsburgh go out and sign a veteran in Brent Johnson, Curry's been nothing but solid and reliable whenever he's been called on. Johnson only has a contract for this season, so perhaps this season will be Curry's last at the AHL level.

John Curry	Lge	GP	MIN	W	L	OTL	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton	AHL	8	490	5	2	1	18	2.20	242	224	.926	1

Patrick Killeen [6th round pick, 2008] - Killeen has been the workhorse for Brampton (playing in 15 of the 16 games so far). The team is in last place in their division, but that's probably because they are last in the entire OHL in goals scored. Killeen's not getting much support, but it seems he's doing a decent job keeping them in games.

Patrick Killeen	Lge	GP	MIN	W	L	T/OTL	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
Brampton Battalion	OHL	15	913	6	7	2	44	2.89	431	387	.898	0

The rest of the prospects after the jump..

Alexander Pechurski [5th round pick, 2008] - All the stat lines I've seen have suprisingly shown Pechurski appearing in 0 games for the KHL leading team, Magnitogorsk Metallurg (Evgeni Malkin's old team). However he is just 19 playing in a top league like the KHL (where Sergei Fedorov is among his teammates) so he has to at least be practicing with the team, right?

Alexander Pechurski	Lge	GP	MIN	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
Magnitogorsk Metallurg	KHL	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-

Brad Thiessen [undrafted] - Thiessen has been brought along slowly as he transitions to the professional game. He's appeared in just two games this season with Wilkes-Barre, in part due to how well Curry's played.

Brad Thiessen	Lge	GP	MIN	W	L	T	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton	AHL	2	121	0	2	0	5	2.48	56	51	.911	0

Defensemen

Robert Bortuzzo [3rd round pick, 2007] - One of the surprising stories from training camp was the strong play of Bortuzzo. By all accounts he's continued to play well in his rookie season, highlighted by getting sucker-punched by AHL tough guy Trevor Gillies. Welcome to the pros, kid.

Robert Botuzzo	Lge	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	SOG	PCT
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton	AHL	9	0	1	1	-1	19	0	0	0	11	0.0

Simon Despres [1st round pick, 2009] - St. John is currently the top team in "the Q", riding a current nine game winning streak. Despres' been a big part of that. Despres told Pensburgh at the draft he wanted to shoot more and become more of an offensive force and he's got 5 goals this young season already. Compare that to the three goals he scored in his first 130 games in the Q and the strides are noticable.

Simon Despres	Lge	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	SOG	PCT
Saint John Sea Dogs	QMJHL	17	5	6	11	4	30	4	1	2	46	10.86

Alex Grant [4th round pick, 2007] - Grant, along with Joey Haddad was a recent healthy scratch in order to get his mind right for the professional game. The Penguins organization is fairly deep defensively so Grant is going to need to get it together, and quickly, if he wants to be a part of it for the future.

Alex Grant	Lge	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	SOG	PCT
Wheeling	ECHL	8	2	1	3	+1	6	-	-	-	-	-

Ben Lovejoy [undrafted] - Lovejoy had a rough training camp, possibly because he had a shoulder injury that knocked him out of about the first month of the season. Now he's back and back in the AHL, probably waiting for an injury before he gets a chance back in the NHL.

Ben Lovejoy	Lge	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	SOG	PCT
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton	AHL	5	1	1	2	1	4	0	0	0	19	5.6

Philip Samuelsson [2nd round pick, 2009] - Samuelsson is of course the son of former Penguin bad boy (and fan favorite) Ulf Samuelsson. Young Philip is playing at Boston College and has jumped right onto their blueline.

Philip Samuelsson	Lge	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	SOG	PCT
Boston College	HE	4	0	1	1	+1	2	-	-	-	1	0.00

Carl Sneep [2nd round pick, 2006] - Sneep is now a senior at BC, a teammate to Samuelsson and a leader of that team. Though he's got a lot of college experience, Sneep is only now about to turn 22, which means he will join the professional ranks as a seasoned but still somewhat young player.

Carl Sneep	Lge	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	SOG	PCT
Boston College	HE	4	1	2	3	+2	2	-	-	-	9	11.11

Brian Strait [3rd round pick, 2006] - Strait was set to be the captain of the defending national champion BU Terriers before he jumped to the pros by signing with Pittsburgh. Strait's role is the steady partner, and by all accounts he's had a geat start to his rookie year, leading WB/S defensemen in plus/minus.

Brian Strait	Lge	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	SOG	PCT
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton	AHL	10	0	2	2	4	6	-	-	-	5	0.00

Alex Velischek [5th round pick, 2009] - Velischek has hit the ground running for the Friars, he's second on the team in assists and plus/minus.

Alex Velischek	Lge	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	SOG	PCT
Providence College	HE	7	0	4	4	+5	14	-	-	-	7	0.00

Pens sign defenseman Martin Skoula to a one year contract

Hooks Orpik — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:24:49 -0000

More photos » by Jimmy Jeong - AP

8 months ago: Minnesota Wild defenseman Martin Skoula (41), from Czech Republic, center, celebrates his goal against the Edmonton Oilers with teammates Owen Nolan and Antti Miettinen, from Finland, in the first period of an NHL hockey game in Edmonton, Alberta, on Sunday, March 29, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jimmy Jeong)

Browse more photos »

Martin Skoula

Minnesota Wild

Height: 6-3

Weight: 226

Born: Oct 28, 1979

After watching Deryk Engelland and Nate Guenin fail to impress during training camp and seeing Ben Lovejoy go down with a shoulder injury, the Penguins management obviously wanted an upgrade. They added what they hope will do the trick with Martin Skoula and his 724 games of NHL experience. Martin "Puck poise" Skoula also is another former first round pick and has a Stanley Cup ring, like almost all of his teammates.

Skoula's had an interesting September: he started training camp on a tryout contract with the Florida Panthers where he didn't make it and went to Columbus last week. I guess that didn't work either, or else the Penguins offered him a better situation to stay in the NHL, who knows.

Also Skoula is a native of the Czech Repiblic, which keeps the Penguins trivial streak of continuous years with a Czech player alive.

After the jump we get a take from Wale4Ever, the editor of SB Nation's excellent Florida Panther blog Litter Box Cats...

The way I see it is that his name carried more prominence than his play; he was the proverbial "solid if unspectacular", but got outplayed by Backman, rookie Dmitry Kulikov, and second-year pro (AHL) Jason Garrison. The squeeze was on from the start.

Other than that, I can't really comment on his play, though being cut obviously tells us something was up: too expensive? Inconsistent? Make room for the kids?

Should be a good depth pickup for the Pens, if nothing else.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement, we'll see how it pans out. As we know, Skoula couldn't have signed with a Pittsburgh team near the salary cap for $$ being a deciding factor, as the Pens are right at the upper salary limit.

Fight Night? Pens announce lineup for tonight's game v. Toronto

Hooks Orpik — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 15:50:44 -0000

Kudos again to Seth for the lineup the Pens will use tonight in Toronto. Last night in Montreal we saw some examples of the Pens skill, with players like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Gonchar in the lineup. Tonight we will see a decidely different Pittsburgh lineup.

Take the jump to see the lines or you might get beaten up...

FORWARDS

Matt Cooke-Jordan Staal-Tyler Kennedy
Chris Conner-Dustin Jeffrey-Ruslan Fedotenko
Nick Johnson-Mike Rupp-Konstantin Pushkarev/Ryan Bayda
Paul Bissonnette-Wyatt Smith-Wade Brookbank

It's no secret that since Brian Burke has taken over the Maple Leafs, they've become more "truculent", I believe is the prefered word. To counter that the Pens are dressing Mike Rupp, Paul "Biz Nasty" Bissonnette and Wade Brookbank, basically three enforcers. Add the abrasive Matt Cooke and players who can get feisty like Tyler Kennedy and Ryan Bayda and you can see where this is headed.

It's a good chance for guys like Chris Conner, Nick Johnson and Dustin Jeffrey, who have a reasonable chance to get some power-play time, which can be a rare thing in Pittsburgh when guys like Crosby and Malkin eat up almost the whole shift sometimes. The blessing for those individual players could be a curse for the team, the Pens don't have much in the way of offensive skill and firepower. But "ugly" goals go up on the scoreboard just the same as "pretty" ones.

DEFENSEMEN

Jay McKee-Alex Goligoski
Mark Eaton-Robert Bortuzzo
Ben Lovejoy-Nate Guenin

Jay McKee said he's always played the left side of the ice, so watch how Alex Goligoski handles playing the right portion of the ice. Could be a lot for a young player, but Goligoski has had a wonderful camp so far.

Robert Bortuzzo is another youngster that has impressed and he's been rewarded with the opportunity to play with an NHL caliber defense partner tonight. Given the lack of elite skill players, this could be a "crash the net" mentality game, so a big shot by Bortuzzo or Goligoski could be a big part of the Penguins offense tonight.

Finally on the 3rd pair it looks like Ben Lovejoy gets a chance for redemption from last night's tough outing. Nate Guenin will get in the action too and look to establish himself, but given the Pens went back to Lovejoy (who's been in the organization for a while), you'd have to think he's still a leading candidate for an NHL roster spot.

GOALTENDERS

Brent Johnson, John Curry

While I don't have official word of a starter, Curry played all 60 minutes last night and I see no reason to play him back-to-back nights. Brent Johnson, who gave up 3 goals on 7 shots in his first outing with the Pens, ought to get a chance to get back in the net and get some more playing time behind his new team.

Also, kind of cool the Penguins brought a Quebec flavored lineup (Caputi, Dupuis, Despres, Letang, Fleury, Crosby played in the Q etc) to Montreal last night and tonight they're letting a lot of their guys with Ontario ties get in a game against Toronto. Not a coincidence, to be sure, but something to keep it interesting and a nice treat for the players none the less. Little touches like that matter big time to the players, so I think the Pens organization was wise to set their rosters up the way they did.

We'll wait to see what roster Toronto comes with, but something tells me that tonight's game will have much more snarl (and a lot more penalties) than last night's relatively clean game against Montreal....Call it a hunch.

Pens drop pre-season game 4-3 in Montreal

Hooks Orpik — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 02:24:40 -0000

More photos » by Ryan Remiorz - AP

2 months ago: Montreal Canadiens' goaltender Carey Price makes a pad save against Pittsburgh Penguins' Ryan Bayda during the first period of an NHL preseason hockey game Monday, Sept. 21, 2009, in Montreal. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Ryan Remiorz)

Browse more photos »

Since this game was on the relatively obscure NHL Network, I tried to take some notes for you guys to follow along in case you couldn't or didn't catch the game with your own eyes.

1st period observations

--Kris Letang has always been a smooth player but now he's developing into a supremely confident smooth operator. He was covering for his partner, the young Simon Despres; communicating with Despres and generally running the ice, in control at all times.

--Back to Despres, he made an interesting play that demonstrated how far he's still got to go. In one instance, Despres got the puck by his own net, stepped around a guy and skated it all the way up. But once he got in the zone he dumped the puck in an area where none of his wingers were in position to fish it out. Despres is good enough to skate it that far but still needs to think about what to do when he gets there. It's the mental adjustment to the speed of the game and what play to make at this level. He's young, it'll come, just an example of an instance to learn from.

--Ben Lovejoy got victimized by Brian Gionta about halfway through the first that almost lead to a goal against. Lovejoy was shaky early and this is a trend that would continue.

--His partner Deryk Engelland didn't fare any better. Engelland couldn't quite get to Mini Me, err Gionta, quickly enough on the game's first goal. Gionta had time to take a few swipes at the puck and eventually bury it. Engelland's gotta be in position and then put the opponent on the ground. Especially when he's not tall enough to ride most rollercoasters at the amusement park. 1-0 Habs

--I'm no pro scout, but it seemed like on rushes up the ice Luca Caputi wasn't keeping up with Sidney Crosby and Bill Guerin very well.

After the jump, check out thoughts from the 2nd and 3rd periods as well as the "good, bad and interesting" events and players from the game...

2nd period ponderances

--Brooks Orpik of all people pinches down and the Penguins 4th line gets a good shift of zone time, capped by Sergei Gonchar taking a shot that Eric Godard and Ryan Bayda got traffic in front (one may have gotten a small piece) and the puck ends up in the net.

--Turning into a rough night for Lovejoy when he spins around awkwardly on his backhand with the puck and lifts the puck out of the rink for a delay of game.

--Penalty killed and Lovejoy makes amends by rushing the puck up the ice, slamming on the breaks and finding Evgeni Malkin wide open across the ice. Geno makes no mistakes and buries it for a 2-1 lead for Pittsburgh.

--Malkin was out there killing the penalty for a minute...Sid and Geno haven't killed many penalties in the past, mainly for fear of injury risk (see Datsyuk, Pavel and a broken foot). But good to see them use the pre-season to let him tune up that aspect of his game, in case they want to go there.

--It seems like every shift the Lovejoy/Engelland take, the puck ends up in Pittsburgh's end and one notices a defensive miscue or two.

--Penguins tried a shift with Caputi/Malkin/Tangradi. Malkin created a great scoring chance for Tangradi who got a hard shot but Carey Price was there for the save.

--Bill Guerin gets a good look at the goal but tries to drop it back to Crosby. Jaroslav Spacek pops his stick up and smacks Crosby in the face and Sid slides into the net...There's a little blood under his nose but he's OK and back out there for the power-play.

3rd period

--Bill Guerin says all the right things in an interview, saying the Pens biggest challenge is their focus and there will be no nights off for them with the bullseye of being Stanley Cup champions on their backs. Guerin's leadership and natural outgoing personality is going to be a huge force for the team off of the ice this year. Crosby, Malkin and Gonchar (the guys with letters on their chests) are all somewhat reserved guys, not outspoken by any means. Which is fine, you don't need those characteristics to be a leader....But you also don't need a letter on your chest to be a leader either and Guerin's gonna be crucial to this team

--Sloppy play by the Penguins on the power-play....Crosby wins an offensive zone faceoff but Gonchar bumbles the puck (might have taken a little of a weird bounce). The Habs pounce on it and quickly transition and Brian Gionta finds Scott Gomez who beat Gonchar to the back post for an easy, pretty looking goal. 2-2.

--Crosby almost whiffed a pass down low on the PP and then while looking for Malkin he put it off a defenseman's skates...Just uncharacteristic flubs or is he still working out his "touch" with using the new one-piece stick?

--John Curry twice used his stick to pokecheck the puck away from danger. Nice touches.

--Pens looked a little sloppy giving Montreal a lot of room to skate up the ice. On another tough shift for Lovejoy-Engelland the Canadiens move the puck around, Curry battles valiantly -- including a sprawling save with his head but Latendresse gets some time and deposits it.

--Next shift out for Lovejoy-Engelland, the puck again ends up in the net after some fancy passing and a lot of play right in front. They aren't playing the puck or the body and it's not been pretty. This D pairing has been on the ice for all three even strength goals against to this point.

--Power play for the Pens and they strike quick. Letang grabs the puck and he creeps down the blueline opening up space for Bill Guerin. Guerin gets the puck and throws at the net. A weird, unconventional shot through traffic but it winds up in the net. 4-3 Habs.

THE GOOD
-Kris Letang: Impressive skating...He compensated for playing with an 18 year old by bailing the young buck out on many occasions deep in his zone. Made good decisions and was always in great position to cover for his partner. A nice play on the late power-play goal. To these eyes Letang had the best and most impressive night amongst all Pittsburgh players.
-Sidney Crosby: 22:07 minutes of work, he didn't score but got some chances, battled down low, was willing to shoot (3 registered shots on goal, 2 more were blocked). Also won 15 of 25 faceoffs, good for 60%.
-Craig Adams: 5 hits on the night, was notably physical and doing what a good lower line player does.
-Bill Guerin: 4 shots on goal (one finding twine), 2 takeaways (0 giveaways). The old looks like he's in fine form and ready to go for the season.

THE BAD
-Deryk Engelland/Ben Lovejoy pairing: Out for all three goals against at even strength....Lovejoy took a delay of game penalty (but atoned by setting up Geno for a goal just after getting out). Still a brutal night for these two guys who are fighting for a roster spot in Pittsburgh. Neither earned much trust with their shaky outing tonight, you'd have to think Nate Guenin will get a chance to prove his worth tomorrow night in what could now be a very open race for that roster spot.
-Not necessarily bad in it's own right, but Pascal Dupuis, Dustin Jeffrey, Tim Wallace, Eric Godard and Ryan Bayda all with very quiet nights. You don't want to stand out for the wrong reasons, but those guys are fighting for roster spots and places in the lineup, it would have been nice to see more forceful performances out of them. They weren't impressive collectively, no standout performances by any individuals who are looking to prove why they ought to be regulars in the lineup this season.

THE INTERESTING
-Evgeni Malkin only took 3 faceoffs all night. Though he would slide back to his position of center, the Penguins used Eric Tangradi to take many of the draws for that line....For the night Malkin scored a goal but seemed to be a little lackadaisical and a "going through the motions" performance. It is September though.
-The Bell Centre crowd. Never a dull moment going into Montreal and if this was a pre-season game someone ought to tell the fans who are in fine mid-season form themselves. Still their new guys, especially Gionta and Gomez, gave the home crowd a lot to cheer about, giving them a reason to be excited on this night.

TOUGH LUCK AWARD
John Curry: he was hung out to dry on every goal against. It wouldn't have been reasonable to think he could have made any of those saves, but did he have a chance to stop the puck before Montreal was getting second and third opportunities at it? Perhaps, but that's easy to type on a keyboard and harder to do in game action. Curry wasn't bad, but he didn't steal the game, either. Curry showed he can be somewhat reliable but if he sees significant NHL action soon he's not gonna be an elite netminder, which isn't breaking news.

So that's the game, the Pens don't get the result they were looking for but a pre-season game where everyone escapes without a major injury is always a welcome sight. While it's never nice to see three third period goals against to lose a game, it is pre-season and half the expected defense and #3 goalie are out there, sometimes it happens. Onward to Toronto tomorrow night.