More photos » by Don Heupel - AP

Browse more photos »

[SBN Devils blog - In Lou We Trust]

Earlier this week Martin Brodeur reached a new milestone in his career, surpassing Patrick Roy for games played by a goaltender with 1,030.  No doubt an impressive feat, especially since he's recorded 579 wins in the process (and hey, 105 ties).  But I think the one record that is still looming overhead, posing as a bit of a motivator and perhaps storm cloud for Devils opponents is Terry Sawchuk's shutout record. 

Back on December 7th, Brodeur tired Sawchuk's shutout record (103) with a 3-0 win over the Sabres.  He, the Devils and NJ fans are still waiting for 104.  The rest of the league is waiting as well, and will happily continue to wait as long as necessary.  Brodeur currently leads all goaltenders with 22 wins, just one better than Marc-Andre Fleury.

As of right now the Devils and Penguinshave a firm holding in the Atlantic division, each tied with 51 points.  The first place tie carries over to conference standings as well, where Washington sits just one point behind the two in second.  In essence, tonight's game is a big one.  Especially when you consider how poorly the Penguins have played against NJ this year. 

October 24th: 4-1 loss
November 12th: 4-1 loss

It's not the end of the world by any means, but the opportunity to rebound in the season series presents itself tonight. On the calendar the Devils have put together 8-2 record for the month of December and skate into Pittsburgh as winners in four straight.

Offensively the Devils are - well, the Devils.  Zach Parise leads all skaters with 37 pts (15g, 22a), while Jamie Langenbrunner and Travis Zajac are both hovering around that same area with 29 and 27 points each, respectively. Although Parise is chipping in where he can (two assists against Atlanta the other night), he's yet to score a goal in the entire month of December (10 games).

Puck and thread drop at 7:30. 

And just for giggles, who do you think will score Pittsburgh's first goal?

More photos » by Don Heupel - AP

Browse more photos »

We've had a good share of discussions here on Pensburgh surrounding the concept of the shootout lately.  Since it came into effect after the lockout, experts, players and coaches have sided with it or against it.  For all that can be said of the shootout though, it's an element of the league that remains until the playoffs.  In other words, love it or hate it, you have to deal with it.

But for the Penguins, and especially us fans, we shouldn't have any problem dealing with it.  While most of us may be confident enough in this corp of players to think they could take it down in sudden death come playoff time, for the time being it's nice to know that whenever the Pens go up against anyone in the shootout they remain one of the toughest teams to beat.

Following last night's 2-1 shootout win over the Sabres, the Pens are now 6-0 in the shootout.  Guys like Kris Letang, Sidney Crosby and Marc-Andre Fleury just know how to step it up an extra notch and really shine in the one-on-one element. 

It may "just" be one extra point at the time, but as we look to close out the first three months of the season, the Penguins have six extra points in the standings because of how well they do after they take it past overtime.  It all adds up in the end, especially for a team that gives every indication of a playoff berth.

After the jump, we take a look at how each Penguin shooter (and goalie) is doing in the shootout.

Continue reading this post »

More photos » by Don Heupel - AP

Browse more photos »

[SBN Buffalo Sabres blog - Die by the Blade]

If you look check out the stats page on NHL.com, you'll see Buffalo's Ryan Miller owns three of the four top goaltender stats in the league right now - save percentage, goals against average and shutouts.  The Team USA netminder is having one hell of a year so far:

Last night Miller put together a solid game between the pipes, stopping 40 of Toronto's 42 shots en route to his MAF-tying 20th win on the year.  The Sabres were outshot dramatically by the margin of 42 to 27 but it didn't matter.  It would appear Lindy Ruff had his guys putting on a show of quality over quantity in the shots department.  One thing you can take from last night's game is this - Buffalo can provide plenty of threats in the offensive zone.  Five different guys registered goals and assists were scattered throughout the corps as well.  Hopefully MAF and the blue line are keeping tabs.

You won't see any member of the Sabres battling for a top spot in the league's scoring leaders department.  What you will see, as indicated earlier, is a healthy smattering of points across the roster.  Derek Roy (7g, 18a), Tom Connolly (6g, 17a), Jason Pominville (7g, 14a) and Thomas Vanek (9g, 11a) take up the top four spots in the points category for the Sabres.  Sure it's not all that overpowering, but whatever the Sabres are doing is good enough to put them first in the Northeast Division and third in the Eastern Conference.

Will Miller start tonight in the second part of Buffalo's back-to-back games?  I'm going to go out on a not-so-weak limb and say yes.  He's single-handily taking on the role of workhorse for the Sabres, starting between the pipes in 29 of Buff's 33 games.  However, in the event he doesn't start, then an old name from past Pens glory may make an appearance: Patrick Lalime.  

As a kid I didn't quite understand the Lalime situation, and to be honest felt somewhat let down by a guy who didn't want to stay with the Pens.  At least that was my perception at the time, before I knew anything about contracts, how they worked and the oh-so-dreaded sports agent.

Lalime still holds the NHL record for longest unbeaten streak for a rookie goaltender at 14-0-2, a milestone he set when he debuted with the Pens in 1996.  Then I guess the short-lived glory got to his head and he and Pittsburgh couldn't agree on a contract.  So, mainly because of that, he spent the next three years with three different teams in the now-defunct IHL before reappearing in the NHL with the Senators in 1999 after having his rights traded from Pittsburgh to Anaheim, then Anaheim to Ottawa. 

Fun fact about the 1998 midseason Pittsburgh-to-Anaheim trade - the Pens gained the rights to Chris Pronger's brother Sean.  (And in case you're wondering, he played seven games and scored a single goal).  Later that year they sent him off to New York in a trade that ultimately brought Alexei Kovalev to the black and gold.

Ok, enough about Lalime and my repressed memories.  We probably won't even see him.  And, if we do, hopefully it's because the Pens are lighting up Miller. 

UPDATE 9:20AM - Lalime is the confirmed starter for tonight.  (Thanks to SLBD on Twitter)

Puck and thread drop at 7.  Come on by and chill for the game.

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

Unofficial caption: "What have I gotten myself into?"

Browse more photos »

[SBN Philadelphia Flyers blog - Broad Street Hockey]

Given the day off in between games for travel purposes, not much is really going to change for the Penguins other than the sheet of ice they play on.  For the Flyers however, there could be a few changes in the works.

As our friends at Broad Street Hockey expressed Wednesday afternoon, confidence and morale of the Philly Faithful is anything but prime.  Travis, who runs the show over at BSH, suggested this isn't just a result of the demoralizing 6-1 loss to the Pens on Tuesday, but instead the end result of a long series of up and downs (mostly downs) over the past month or so.  I still find the timing of such a poll a bit suggestive.

Former Hurricane Michael Leighton is working out with the Flyers since the team picked him up off waivers Tuesday afternoon.  I don't know whether or not this means we'll see him tonight against the Pens, but it would appear he may be the Flyers' backup-to-the-backup option in the wake of Ray Emery's injury.  I just wonder if Peter Laviolette is ready to throw Brian Boucher out there against the wolves again.  But, according to the Flyers' web site, Leighton isn't exactly game-ready yet either.

Returning tonight for the Flyers is what I assume, only from his quotes, is a still-injured Blair Betts.  When saying something like, "I think I just have to be a little conscious of not using that arm to reach for pucks or anything like that," I think it's pretty obvious that he's not playing at 100%.  Let this also be an example as to why injuries to an arm/shoulder/chest are listed as inconspicuous lower-body injuries, and why injuries to the lower body are listed as upper-body injuries. 

After tonight's game the Pens won't be seeing the Flyers again until January 2010.  Let's see if the boys in black and gold can give them a little something more to remember them by in 2009.

Puck and thread drop at 7pm.  Come by and share in the fun.

by Matt Slocum - AP

View full size photo »

[SBN Flyers blog - Broad Street Hockey]

Any time the Flyers are having a bad year or struggling through some portion of the schedule the Pens' collective fan base can't help but crack a smile.  And why not?  Over the past month the Flyers have fired their head coach John Stevens and hired former Hurricanes coach Peter Lavoilette, lost goaltender Ray Emery for up to four weeks, posted a 3-7 record over the last 10 games and are currently dancing around the idea of recruiting a former KHL goaltender from his current position with a local rec league.  The last, according to Travis from BSH, doesn't seem all that likely.  Or at least he hopes that's the case.  Either way you look at it, the Flyers are struggling.

If this healthy Pens team isn't licking its chops right now then I don't know what to tell ya.

If there's one benefit that comes from playing a team like the Flyers it's that the Penguins will play them hard no matter what either team's record indicates.  As we've seen in many instances this season, the Pens have struggled against teams with weaker records from time to time as if the standings allow them to get away without a 100% effort.  That shouldn't be the case tonight or Thursday in this home-and-home series against the Flyers.  These two teams always show up to play.  Injuries or not, I expect the Flyers to come out of the gate flying.  How they maintain it may be another story all together.

Last night the Flyers and Bruins offered up a bit of a Winter Classic preview of sorts.  It didn't start out all that exciting for either party and it sure didn't end the way many of us would've liked.  By the time the third period hit with Boston holding a 1-0 lead it was easily the make or break point for my attention span.  James van Riemsdyk finally kicked off the Philly scoring less than three minutes into the period to tie the score at one.  Then Kimmo Timonen tagged on another goal, later adding the empty netter, to put the final at 3-1 in favor of the Flyers.  Brian Boucher, currently filling in while Emery is on the shelf, stopped 26 of 27 shots to pick up the win.  The Flyers made Tim Thomas work a bit more, peppering him with 37 total.  The win is only Philly's second of the month.

This week's two-game series begins on Mellon ice tonight at 7:05.  And just a reminder for those with cable provider technicalities - it's on Versus.

More photos » by Ross Franklin - AP

With Ray Emery injured, the Flyers may be focusing on some creative outlets to get them through the goaltender's down time.

Browse more photos »

This is a story I caught wind of last night on SBNation.com and just had to share.

As Pens fans have experienced first hand this season, injuries can really bring some unexpected occurrences to a team's roster.  What started as a seven-man defensive corp comprised of NHL-caliber blue liners quickly turned into a display of Pittsburgh minor league talent that may ultimately stand as a preview of next year's pairings.  However, through thick and thin, the Pens were able to rely on a healthy farm team to get them through.

Now Philadelphia is starting to experience a similar bout with injuries.  Just last week Ray Emery hit the IR for roughly four weeks with an abdominal tear.  This left Philly with a dilemma: Do they promote the inexperienced, unchallenged Johan Backlund from the AHL, or do they look elsewhere for a fill-in behind the temporary starter Brian Boucher.

Take the jump.  This is where it gets fun. 

Continue reading this post »