SB Nation - Pittsburgh Penguins

Thursday links: Goligoski back tonight? The Noted One on Crosby's line and shutouts everywhere

Hooks Orpik — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:19:45 -0000

First, word on the street is that Alex Goligoski might be back in the lineup tonight...

Be afraid, rest of the NHL, The Noted One is playing on Sidney Crosby's line now. [Post-Gazette]

Marc-Andre Fleury talks about bouncing back from adversity and bad bounces. [National Post]

Pascal Dupuis is a man of many talents. [Penguins.nhl.com]

Nick Johnson's return to the lineup netted him 2 goals and the Baby Pens defeated Syracuse 6-0 last night. [Citizens Voice]

It's been a low-scoring and shutout filled week. [NHL.com]

Speaking of shutouts, will anyone ever touch Martin Brodeur's 104 shutouts? [From the Rink]

The weather wasn't co-operating in getting the Penguins to Montreal. [Tribune Review]

The Oilers are trying online broadcasts. Given those always searching for internet feeds around Pensburgh, I'd say hopefully the Pens look into this sooner than later. [Puck the Media]

This is a little bizarre: The Habs called up a minor league player named Ryan White, but apparently they didn't go through the correct process in time, so officials made him leave the bench. Now the league is looking into a six-figure fine for Montreal. [TSN]

Jordan Staal's stock is up for Team Canada, but there's still a host of great players playing well in front of him. [CTV]　

John Tavares or Tyler Myers to build a franchise around? [TSN]

Sidney Crosby is #1 in the league in scoring important points. [The Hockey News]

Florida's radio guy Randy Moller is the pop culture Mike Lange, and he's back with more hits. [Puck Daddy]

Up next: Scott Gomez, Mike Cammalleri and the Montreal Canadiens

FrankD — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:00:19 -0000

[SBN Montreal Canadiens blog - Habs Eyes on the Prize]

The Penguins will look to bounce back from Monday's loss to the Hurricanes with a win tonight over Montreal. So far this season the Pens have a 2-0 series lead over the Habs, allowing only one goal in each of those meetings. Carey Price and Jaroslav Halak have each started in net against Pittsburgh this season but have yet to really stop Sid and Co. Pittsburgh is out-scoring Montreal 9-2 over two, the first of which brought Sidney Crosby a hat trick on October 28.

As of late it would seem the Canadiens are finding their stride. Winners in three straight, both Price and Halak continue to split duties between the pipes and have since started making some headway into the Top 8 in the Eastern Conference.

On Tuesday night the Habs skated out of Ottawa with a 4-1 win thanks to goals from Mike Cammalleri, Scott Gomez, Marc-Andre Bergeron and Andrei Kostitsyn. Halak tallied the win, putting him at 6-4 for the season but just 2-3 in his last five.

Who will the Pens go up against tonight? Hard to say. In the first meeting Halak didn't last very long, giving up four goals in two periods before replaced by Price who let in an additional two. In the last game on November 25, Price started (and finished!) the game, but allowed three goals on 30 shots. If I had to guess I'd say Price gets the nod tonight.

Other guys you want to keep an eye on: Tomas Plekanec (6g, 25a), Mike Cammalleri (17g, 10a) and Scott Gomez (4g, 11a). Brian Gionta remains out of the Montreal lineup since breaking a bone in his foot about a month ago.

Puck and thread drop at 7:30.

Are basement dwellers playing up to Pittsburgh, or is Pittsburgh playing down to basement dwellers?

FrankD — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:15:08 -0000

I don't like to speculate too much or draw ridiculous conclusions, but I'm starting to get really irritated when the Pens look like they make it harder than it should be to beat basement dwellers. Hence, a little rant of sorts.

As reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Penguins are the center of attention for a lot of hockey conversations. If a team finds themselves in the midst of a rebuilding phase, talks of Pittsburgh's recent history stands out as a success story (see also: Chicago). When a team drafts a big-time player in a struggling market, Pittsburgh's recent history stands as evidence to the success of such a game plan (see also: New York Islanders).

But with that same breath, any time a "bad team" beats a "good team" like Pittsburgh, they didn't just beat the Penguins, they beat the "reigning Stanley Cup champs." Come to think of it, you'll see this even when a team with a better record beats Pittsburgh. This is the price they pay for success, although I'm sure not a single guy in that locker room would have it any other way.

On Tuesday night, a "bad team" beat a "good team." This isn't necessarily a dig toward Carolina, but instead just the realization of what each team's record indicated prior to the puck drop. Carolina, at 6-17-5, seemed no match (on paper) to Pittsburgh's 20-9-1. We all wanted to believe it. Some of us had our doubts and concerns, but there was still a degree of confidence. A hint of, dare I say, cockiness? Can't say what the Pens were thinking, but the end result was not a positive one as the Pens fell short of a comeback and lost 3-2. The fact they even had to make a comeback is kinda the point I'm trying to make here.

As we all know, this isn't the first time Pittsburgh has lost to a team that, as indicated by overall record (I'll keep stressing this), qualifies as a bad team. Take the jump as we look back on a few other games up to this point that have not exactly ended the way we expected.

October 7, 3-0 loss to Phoenix

At the time we all laughed, shrugged, joked that Phoenix was coming to town. A few called it a trap game, indicating that Pittsburgh might have the night spoiled by last year's dismal Phoenix club. But Phoenix's current spot in the West (6th) and the 3-0 win proved to everyone that this year's team isn't last year's team. I suspect the so-called playing down was a factor here. The Pens rebounded the following night with a 5-4 win over the Flyers.

October 31, 2-1 loss to Minnesota

Minnesota, currently ranked 14th in the West, also hit Pittsburgh with a loss on Halloween night. Nicklas Backstrom made 34 saves on 35 shots. Sounds more like an example of one team unable to crack another team's netminder.

November 27, 3-2 loss to New York Islanders

Just one of those games where you say the Pens showed up to play only 40 minutes of hockey. Pittsburgh headed into the third period up 2-1, before losing 3-2 in regulation.

The season is still young and as we all know injuries have done a job on this team. The one benefit we can take from this is that, come playoff time, the Penguins won't have bad teams to play down to. Or at least, "bad" as defined by teams that didn't make the playoffs. But I still can't help but feel as if the Pens are letting two points slip away every time they play a team that they should beat.

As I said Tuesday night in Hooks' post-game story, this isn't about Pittsburgh going out there and toying with their opponents. I want to see 60 minutes of nonstop, run-the-score-up, drive-to-the-net-and-make-something-happen hockey. Or better put, as Kris Letang said yesterday, " I think we just made it too complicated [Tuesday]. We tried making too many fancy plays. Sometimes, that just doesn't work."

No kiddin.

So help me out here - are other teams playing up against the Pens, or are the Pens playing down to other teams?

Tales of the Tape: Bill Guerin vs. Tim Gleason

JDunman — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:00:35 -0000

Yeah, it sucks to lose a game, and it sucks worse when the one fight isn't a shining victory to help ease the pain a bit. But this one is fast and furious, so hopefully it will be somewhat entertaining.

(kudos to hockeyfights.com)

What is there really to say on this one? Bill Guerin drops his gloves as soon as the puck is dropped and goes after Tim Gleason. After a shove, Gleason answers him and starts pounding away on Guerin's helmet. Guerin gets a bit of leverage and lifts Gleason up, pounding away when he hits the ice. Though the takedown was pretty, I have to give Gleason the win here for the onslaught of hits. It's a hollow victory though, as his hand simply cannot be feeling good after hitting helmet so many times. Ouch - just check out his knuckles when the camera zooms in.

I've heard a bit of whisperings that Guerin should have gotten an instigator call for this. What do you think?

Up next will be the Habs, and old Penguins goon Big Georges Laraque is back from his suspension that kept him out last game. Will we have a repeat of the craptastic 'fight' he and Eric Godard had last season?

Poll

Who won the fight?

Tuesday afternoon links: Letestu back to AHL, Hit kings and Witt gets hit by a car

Hooks Orpik — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:29:39 -0000

Mark Letestu did well in his recent NHL cameo, but now he's back to Wilkes-Barre. [Post-Gazette]

Wheeling Nailer defenseman Cliff Loya checks in on how the season is going down there. [Faceoff Factor]

The Penguins are racking up the hits [Penguins.nhl.com]

Ode to Noted. [Pens Universe]

Edzo's Mellon memories. [Empty Netters]

Hurricanes captain Rod "The Bod" Brind'Amour was a healthy scratch last night, is he about at the end of his rope? The once solid defensive center has a combined plus/minus of-42 since the beginning of the 2008-09 season. [WRAL Sports]

Florida Panthers just can't stop nailing each other. [Kuklas Korner]

The top 10 goon moments of the decade. Some ugly moments here [Puck Daddy]

Islanders' defenseman Brendan Witt gets hit by a car, dusts himself off saying "I'm okay, no big deal". Witt's expected to play tonght. [TSN]

Did Larry Brooks make up a story just to stick it to Glen Sather?

Jim Schmiedeberg — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:00:22 -0000

by Paul Sancya - AP

View full size photo »

Greg over at Metro Hockey has a fantastic story about some investigative reporting done by Adrian Szkolar, a Ranger fan and student at Stony Brook University.

Last week Larry Brooks ran this story about the Rangers failure to offer Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik a contract when he was a free agent. You can click the link for the full Brooks' article, here is an excerpt:

Snubbed apparently because the GM was too busy angling to sign the not-even one-and-done Dimitri Kalinin after previously investing $11.5M annually in free agent defensemen Wade Redden and Michal Rozsival, Orpik re-upped with Pittsburgh for six years at an annual $3.75M cap hit.

As usual, tough words from Brooks on Sather. Larry has been on Glen's case for a long time, that's no secret to anyone who follows the Rangers on a daily basis. But with the evidence presented, it looks like Larry may have made this one up.

When Orpik re-upped with Pittsburgh, it was reported that Orpik turned down more money from the Rangers to stay with PIttsburgh, this was reported by Rossi.

The offers Orpik, 27, could have accepted from two other teams -- one of which was the Atlantic Division rival New York Rangers - would have paid him a higher annual salary.

So, Adrian went digging, first going to Brooks to ask him to clarify the situation, then to Rossi, who had reported directly from Orpik that the Rangers had an offer on the table for him.

Brooks naturally did not like being questioned, and the email exchange between him and Adrian is pretty interesting, because even though Adrian is presenting Brooks with pretty overwhelming evidence, Larry refuses to budge on the story he wrote.

You can read the whole story here, including the various emails between Adrian, Brooks, and Rossi.

I think the main question that sticks out for me is: Hasn't Glen Sather made enough mistakes that the media doesn't need to make any up?

Full props to Greg and Adrian at Metro Hockey, they did a great job with this.

Carolina Earns First Road Win: Hurricanes 3, Penguins 2

Bob Harwood — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:09:05 -0000

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

Pittsburgh Penguins' Pascal Dupuis (9) collides with Carolina Hurricanes' Matt Cullen (8) in the first period of an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh Monday, Dec. 7, 2009. Cullen was lucky on this play. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

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The Carolina Hurricanes jumped out to a 3-0 lead, allowed two goals in the second period just 49 seconds apart, and then held on to beat last year's Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2 Monday night at Mellon Arena. The win was the first road victory, (1-10-3), for the Hurricanes in 14 tries this season.

Andrew Alberts scored his first goal as a Cane as he opened things up with a goal just 4:45 into the contest. The defenseman out-waited Marc-Andre Fleury and zipped a backhander by the unsuspecting goalie as he skated down low. Erik Cole had cleared the crease and was banging bodies in front of the net.

About seven minutes later, Joni Pitkanen found friend, Jussi Jokinen skating through the neutral zone with a head of steam up the middle of the ice. The tandem had combined for previous scores like this, but this time Jokinen used his strength to out-muscle the defense for the puck, then lifted a shot over Fleury to make the score 2-0.

It was the second powerplay goal for the Canes in the past two games. They finished the game 1-5 with the man advantage.

The second period started out well as Ray Whitney found an open spot and made the score 3-0, just two minutes and change into it. But the Pens would gather steam and scored two goals in just 49 seconds, the 13th time the Canes have allowed two goals inside of a minute this season.

Sidney Crosby out-muscled Brandon Sutter in front of the net for the first goal and Michael Rupp got a cheap one by Manny Legace to make the score 3-2. While Legace might want to have one or both of those goals back, the goalie played a solid overall game and finished with 30 saves out of 32 shots. The goalie earned his fourth win of the season. He is doing something right.

The third period went back and forth but each team only had an official six shots on goal as defense dominated for both sides. Credit must be given to the shot-blocking as the Canes blocked 17 shots to just 4 for Pittsburgh.

Game Notes:

Joni Pitkanen led both teams with over 30 minutes of ice time. The defenseman chipped in with two assists and had three blocked shots, tied for most on the Canes.
Stephane Yelle and Brett Carson also had three blocked shots each. Carson and Jay Harrison played solid games in their own ends. Harrison also showed good jump on offense and Carson played well on the powerplay.
The team only had a total of 21 shots on goal as Ray Whitney had four and Eric Staal had three. The Canes were out-shot 15-4 in the second period as the Pens gained a lot of momentum.
Carolina was given credit for 27 hits. Tim Gleason led the way with five.
Eric Staal picked up another two assists tonight.
Gleason dropped the gloves with Bill Guerin and might have had the best of it before Guerin took him down and was still punching away as Gleason lay on his back.
Legace is now 4-0 lifetime against the Penguins. It might be worth keeping him for the stat alone.

It was a hard fought win for the last place team in the league and they know they have a long way to go before they can move up. But the Hurricanes now have two wins in a row and they are feeling a bit better about themselves.

The team played very hard in their own zone, perhaps the hardest they played all season. Did that have anything to do with their captain sitting in the pressbox with a league worst -19?

Next up will be New Jersey with Martin Brodeur in net at "The Rock". Brodeur just tied Terry Sawchuk tonight with 103 career shutouts.

Will Cam Ward return as planned?

Pens comeback falls short, lose to Carolina 3-2

Hooks Orpik — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 03:22:34 -0000

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

Did you know these guys are.......both sponsored by Bauer?

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Hurricanes vs Penguins coverage - Canes Country

For the opening goal, Andrew Alberts (he of 2 goals in his 291 NHL game career before tonight) walked in and had a lot of room when BFF's Erik Cole and Brooks Orpik were tied up right out in front. The Canes would extend the lead to 2-0 when Jussi Jokinen took a great pass by Joni Pitkanen and drove right past Jay McKee and Mark Eaton. Carolina would take a three goal lead when notorious Penguin-killer Ray Whitney dangled around in the offensive zone while no fewer than three Penguins (Ruslan Fedotenko, Kris Letang and Max Talbot) remained stationary.

The tide would turn though, Letang made an excellent pass up to Bill Guerin, who flipped it over for Sidney Crosby. Crosby made one of those unique plays where he kinda chopped at the puck and it winded up in the net. The next shift the Noted One buried it to make the deficit just one.

And just like that, there would be no more scoring. The Penguins pressed and pressed but Carolina goalie Manny Legace was up to the task and wouldn't allow any more. Almost unbelievably, two months into the season this is the Hurricanes first win away from the RBC Center.

Guerin did a good job waking the Pens up with a fight against Gleason. Gleason's hands must be sore after ringing a lot of punches of Guerin's helmet.
The difference of the game turned out to be the power-plays. The Pens anemic PP went another "0 fer" night, this time 0 for 3. Carolina was 1-5. Also the fact that the Canes were able to earn two more PP's by their hard work and puck possession helps too.
Marc-Andre Fleury had an odd night. Didn't seem like he was seeing the puck too well. His defense wasn't helping him out much either in the early going. The whole team was in something of a funk or haze for a while there, it was strange.
If you didn't know Sidney Crosby missed last game with a sore groin, you'd never know based on his play. A solid 26:32 of icetime, he fired 4 shots on goal, a hit, a blocked shot, a takeaway, a giveaway and a 55% winner on 22 faceoffs.
In fact, every member of the Pens (except Jay McKee) was credited with at least a shot on goal. It wasn't for a lack of throwing rubber at Legace that Pittsburgh didn't win.
Credit Carolina for blocking shots; 17 in all. They knocked down six of Letang's efforts. They may be in last place, but they certainly didn't roll over and die.
Not many signs of life (again) from guys like Max Talbot and Ruslan Fedotenko. The wingers have to come through and these guys aren't having much luck.
0-1-1 since waiving Chris Bourque, is the glue of the team gone? (Kidding, kidding).

Being the defending Stanley Cup champs means you catch efforts like this. Doesn't matter if the team across the ice is in first place or last, they're looking to take down the Pens. Luckily for Pittsburgh they have a few days to figure things out and get ready to go to Montreal; where guys like Crosby, Letang and Pascal Dupuis always love to play. Hopefully that shot in the arm can carry through.

Hurricanes at Penguins: Game Day Preview - Brind'Amour to be Scratched?

Bob Harwood — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:01:11 -0000

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

The Staal brothers, Jordan and Eric, go head to head again tonight at Mellon Arena.

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The Carolina Hurricanes, (6-17-5) bring their much heralded 0-10-3 road record to Pittsburgh as they take on the Penguins at Mellon Arena tonight. The Hurricanes are the only team in the NHL yet to win on the road. Coach Paul Maurice thinks they have played well, but just have not gotten the victories.

Much of the game time news has already been reported. Jay Harrison and Brett Carson have both been recalled to help out on the blueline. Bryan Rodney was sent back to Albany.

Harrison started out the season with the big club, with less than sterling results. Although, his numbers do not look bad compared to some of the other blueliner's at the present time.

This will be the first recall of the year for Carson, who recovered from a broken wrist earlier this season. Both defensemen had excellent numbers for the Rats.

Carson 14GP 3G 8A 11 points +4
Harrison 15GP 1G 7A 8 points +4

Niclas Wallin was injured in the Vancouver game and ~~is questionable for~~ will not play tonight. If Wallin can not play, look for Harrison and Carson to be paired up. Talk about "trial by fire".

In other news, Jussi Jokinen has been cleared to play and will return to the lineup. T~~here is no word on who will be the healthy scratch. Chad LaRose? Stephane Yelle? Perhaps we should open another poll? The coach will make his mind up at game time.~~

UPDATE: According to John Forslund on 99.9 The Fan at 2:45, Rod Brind`Amour will be scratched.

Could this be the proverbial shot across the bow?

Manny Legace will get the nod in goal while Michael Leighton will be backup, even though he was placed on waivers today. Jim Rutherford said this afternoon in an interview with Paul Branecky that the final decision regarding the goalies has not been made, but Legace holds the edge in play so far.

They expect to activate Cam Ward for Wednesday's game in New Jersey.

The Pens have many of the familiar characters which routed the Canes in last year's playoffs. Sidney Crosby has been nursing an injury of his own, but will play tonight.

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Sidney Crosby	29	19	17	36	10	39	5	1	3	0	103	18.4

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Evgeni Malkin	23	8	21	29	11	26	4	0	2	0	90	8.9

Of course Eric Staal missed 10 games due to injury, but brother Jordan has better numbers.

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Eric Staal	18	3	8	11	-6	38	2	0	0	0	80	3.8

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Jordan Staal	30	8	10	18	6	25	0	1	1	0	74	10.8

The Canes are led by Ray Whitney and Tuomo Ruutu, although Matt Cullen has a five game scoring streak.

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Ray Whitney	26	7	11	18	-7	6	1	0	0	0	48	14.6

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Tuomo Ruutu	24	6	11	17	-1	25	2	0	0	0	58	10.3

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Matt Cullen	28	7	9	16	-3	12	1	1	0	0	65	10.8

Marc-Andre Fleury should be in net for the Pens, although that is unofficial.

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Marc-Andre Fleury	25	1459	17	7			59	2.43	632	573	.907	0

	GP	MIN	W	L	T	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Manny Legace	9	525	3	4			28	3.20	263	235	.894	0

The game will start at 7:30 and will be televised locally by FS Carolinas. We will have the open thread up and running at 7.

For the latest about the Penguins, check out Pensburgh. Frank D and company do an excellent job.

Sidney Crosby returns tonight against Hurricanes

FrankD — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:07:23 -0000

"I'm in. I've had a good couple days of rest and got it worked on. There's no more pain. That's all I really wanted to get rid of. I can deal with it right now."

Sidney Crosby
Official Penguins

"There's no more pain," and "I can deal with it right now," strike me as a bit condescending in a way. If there's no more pain, shouldn't it be easy to deal with? If anything it's probably more a concern of reinjuring than anything else. If Sid's taking time off to let it heal then he'd know better than anyone when he's ready to return.

Good to hear. And on a similarly good note, that same link announces that Chris Kunitz and Alex Goligoski skated this morning as well. Still no set return on those two, but as Dan Bylsma would say, they're progressing.