SB Nation User Blog: FrankD

Official: Alex Goligoski returns tonight

FrankD — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:35:27 -0000

Official: Alex Goligoski returns tonight

Hopefully he's had enough time to heal up from whatever nagging injury put him back on the shelf the last time he tried returning.

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

FrankD — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 21:21:02 -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 — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:10:09 -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?

"We know talent isn't the problem. I think we just made it too complicated tonight. We tried...

FrankD — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:44:25 -0000

"We know talent isn't the problem. I think we just made it too complicated tonight. We tried making too many fancy plays. Sometimes, that just doesn't work."

Kris Letang
Trib-Review

Seems spot on to me. Sometimes it feels like the Pens do this every game. Perhaps the Pens should focus on just keeping it simple?

Sidney Crosby returns tonight against Hurricanes

FrankD — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:00:34 -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.

Up next: Erik Cole, Eric Staal and the Carolina Hurricanes

FrankD — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 15:55:15 -0000

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

Might as well get this out of the way now. Not like we won't hear it throughout the night regardless...

Browse more photos »

[SBN Carolina Hurricanes blog - Canes Country]

To put it gently, the Carolina Hurricanes are struggling this season. Posting records of 2-7-3 in October and 3-10-2 in November, the Canes find themselves with a league-worst 17 points that may already have the team sitting in a position that is far beyond repair. But hey, injuries can do that to a team, especially when sustained by a team's starting goaltender.

Carolina have been without Cam Ward since November 7th when the Team Canada hopeful met Columbus's Rick Nash in an awkward skate-through-pads collision. I know we covered it here as part of a links post, but if you haven't seen the injury yet here's the link to a clip on YouTube. I'm not 100% sure of his progress as of late. If I recall correctly the initial prognosis called for Ward to be out up to three weeks, so that timetable has already been extended. Obviously our friends over at Canes Country could fill ya in more on that.

In the meantime, Carolina will continue to rely on Manny Legace and Michael Leighton in net, more so the former than the latter. Legace is 3-4-2 since joining up with the Canes a little over a month ago, while Leighton is just 1-4.

The month of December has already kicked off on the right foot for Carolina, as the Canes took down the Canucks 5-3 on Saturday night. Erik Cole picked up a hat trick as part of his first multi-goal performance of the year that also, in one night, doubled his season total. He now has six goals, pinning him in a four-way tie for second most on the team.

Other names you want to keep an eye on: Ray Whitney (7g, 11a), Matt Cullen (7g, 9a) and Tuomo Ruutu (6g, 11a). You may also know of some sort of Staal brother who missed most of November with an injury. His 11 point total shouldn't be overlooked, especially since he's registered six of those 11 over the last five games.

Puck and thread drop at 7:30. Come by and chat it up as the Pens look to extend the point streak to nine.

Here's the pic from NHL.com's recap of last night's game. I think it thoroughly expresses, without...

FrankD — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 15:45:53 -0000

Here's the pic from NHL.com's recap of last night's game. I think it thoroughly expresses, without words, exactly what every Pens fan was feeling at that moment.

Thanks to Twitter user SkyStroll for the heads up.

Pens recall Mark Letestu

FrankD — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 20:14:39 -0000

Pens recall Mark Letestu

Just a reinforcement move since Sid is sitting out.

Sidney Crosby injured for tonight's game against Blackhawks

FrankD — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:58:48 -0000

Not really sure how to take this one since it sounds like something that's been bothering him for a while, but however you look at it the Pens will be without Sid tonight against Chicago.

Here's a quote from the official team release:

"My groin is bothering me a bit. I won't be playing tonight. It's something that's been bothering me for three or four days and I'm going to sit this one out. When it's getting worse each day, it's not a good sign. I've missed periods of time over the last few years with groin (injuries) and I kind of know when it's time to take a step back and make sure that I'm careful. I feel like I'm at that point."

Release

Precautionary or not, losing Sid for even a game isn't the best of things. Can't really find a replacement for a guy who's dished out 11 points in three games, but hopefully this is Malkin's cue to step it up a bit.

Up next: Marian Hossa, Patrick Kane and the Chicago Blackhawks

FrankD — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 04:49:38 -0000

[SBN Chicago Blackhawks blog - Second City Hockey]

If you thought the Blackhawks went crazy this offseason when the front office signed Marian Hossa to a 12-year deal worth $62.8 million then I don't know what to tell ya about the recent extension dished out to defenseman Duncan Keith. In a deal that will go down as the biggest in Blackhawks history, Keith signed a 13-year contract worth $72 million. And interestingly enough, the Hawks didn't stop there.

Earlier this week Chicago also announced extensions to both Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, each five-year deals worth $31.5 million. While the offseason will likely find the Chicago front office dumping salaries left and right, it's not a focal point at the moment. With Toews, Kane, Keith, Hossa and Brian Campbell playing together for the next five years, Chicago will look to make the first serious Cup run since losing to the Pens in 1992.

November was a pretty solid run for the Hawks. Although the month kicked off with two-straight losses (one was in OT), Chicago put together an impressive eight-game streak to close out the month at 8-2-2. Getting a healthy Hossa back didn't exactly hurt either. The team's 37 points is good enough to put them at the top of the Central division, tying them with Calgary for second in the conference behind only San Jose.

But last night wasn't the sort of performance a team would expect in the wake of all these extensions. Nashville came to town and smacked Chicago around 4-1. Christobal Huet stopped 19 of 23 shots, while Brent Seabrook and Hossa connected with Toews for the only Chicago goal on the night.

Many have already been mentioned, but here are the guys you want to keep your eye on: Patrick Kane (9g, 17a), Duncan Keith (5g, 18a), Patrick Sharp (8g, 14a) and Jonathan Toews (7g, 10a). Also worth mentioning is Marian Hossa, who in five games back has five points (2g, 3a).

Hard to say right now if Huet will get the start in the second half of the back to back, or if instead we'll see the likes of Antti Niemi, who's 4-1-1 on the season with two shutouts.

Last season in the only game between Pittsburgh and Chicago, the Pens held on to force OT and win 5-4 thanks to an Evgeni Malkin PP goal. Toews had a hat trick, with each goal coming on the power play. You may remember the collection of red Blackhawks helmets that came raining down on the ice. (Twice if I remember correctly, since I believe the first goal suspected of being his third was disallowed).

Puck and thread drop at 7:30. Come on by and chat it up.