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.

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.

The rest of the prospects after the jump..

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More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

10 days ago: Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby (87) gets his third goal of the game when the puck slides under the pad of Montreal Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak of Slovakia, in the second period of an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009. The Penguins won 6-1. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

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Short answer:  at one time yes, no and maybe.

Jonathan Bombulie, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton beat writer, posted something interesting in his blog that has flown under the radar.  Remember last week when the Penguins called up Mark Letestu when they called up Chris Conner, right after it was released that Evgeni Malkin and Tyler Kennedy were hurt?  Letestu spent a short time with the NHL but then he was promptly (and unceremoniously) sent back to the AHL about one day after being officially recalled.

Here's how Bombulie answered the question of "why" to the whole series of events [emphasis mine]:

First, [Letestu] was scheduled to fly with Chris Conner out of Winnipeg on Thursday but there was only one seat left on the plane, so Letestu had to fly out Friday morning. Second, the reason for Letestu's call-up was an injury involving Sidney Crosby, whose availability Friday in Columbus was in question right up to pre-game warm-ups. Crosby was fine, so Letestu was scratched and eventually headed to Toronto to meet his WBS teammates on Sunday.

Playing less than 100% is nothing new to Crosby -- he went the stretch run of the 2006-07 season (including the playoffs) while playing on a broken foot that wasn't disclosed until the Ottawa Senators eliminated the Penguins.  In 2007-08 Crosby wasn't at full strength after a high ankle sprain in January bugged him throughout the course of that season.  Then last year in 2008-09, he battled through various minor groin and knee injuries early in the season.

After the Letestu call-up, Crosby got two assists in the game against Columbus.  However, if the Pens felt they needed Letestu due to Crosby's status on Thursday Oct 29th, he obviously didn't feel right before that point.

On Wednesday the 28th, Sid recorded a hat trick against the Montreal Canadiens, taking no unusual or memorable incidents that may have caused an injury.  The Columbus game, where he was in question, he got two assists. However, in the three games since that time, Sid has zero points.  Additionally, he has nine total shots on goal in the past four games, whereas he recorded a personal season high of nine shots in the Montreal game.

Much like Malkin didn't seem himself before the team pulled the plug on him, Crosby hasn't really "seemed himself" either these past few games.  While he still seems to have good speed and acceleration, aspects of his game -- such as just seven assists in 15 games this season -- is low.  Throw out that Montreal hat-trick and he only has two goals in the past ten games, also not usual production.

At the same time, the coaches and trainers advised Malkin to take a couple weeks off to get to 100%.  If Crosby were actually injured, it's hard not to imagine that they would do the exact same for the other face of the franchise in #87.  The timing would be terrible, there's no doubt Pittsburgh would struggle even more without Crosby and Malkin, but it's only October and now November.  Stanley Cups and long playoff runs aren't made this time of year.  Keeping your best players fresh and looking out for their long term best interests are more important.

If you were wondering, Crosby felt fine enough (or was so uptight about being taken into the boards awkardly) that he fought Minnesota's Marek Zidlicky on Saturday Oct 31, a couple days after his status was in question.

So is Sidney Crosby injured?  Maybe, but obviously not badly enough to miss time.  Crosby is a fierce competitor, and like Malkin he probably wouldn't voluntarily sit out for a minor nagging injury.  But there's no reason to play him this time of year, if he's uncapable.  One thing is for sure, Pittsburgh brass felt enough uncertainty to leave an option open with Mark Letestu.  Enough uncertainty to pull Letestu on a cross-continent flight away from a team that could have used him, too.

Where there's smoke, there's not always fire; but this is worth watching, especially given Crosby's recent drought from the scoresheet.  Perhaps this was an isolated incident that has long passed.  But at this point, you never know.  The only thing for sure is that Crosby is still in the lineup.  Also, Pittsburgh demoted Letestu and with Kennedy's problems, they only currently have 12 forwards (including Crosby), which would seem to indicate there's no question on Crosby's availability.

There's hasn't been much reported on this, and a guy like Sidney Crosby doesn't often avoid the media microscope, which leads one to believe any possible injury probably isn't as serious as this detective work.

More photos » by Gus Ruelas - AP

2 days ago: Los Angeles Kings center Anze Kopitar (11), of Slovenia, and Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick (32) keep Pittsburgh Penguins right wing Bill Guerin (13) from scoring during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Gus Ruelas)

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Penguins vs Kings coverage - Penguins vs Kings boxscore

Coming into the game, the Los Angeles Kings were a buzzsaw. 5-0-2 in their last seven; and after tonight they've scored 5+ goals in five of the last seven games. They showed why, with superior zone time, cycling, shots on goal.  Usually all the aspects the Penguins outmatch others, that's what LA did to them tonight, and they pulled away late in the third period to get a deserving result, a 5-2 victory.

Right off the bat in the first period, the Kings collected a puck in their zone and rushed it up the ice, Justin Williams crissed, Anze Kopitar crossed and Kris Letang was somewhere in the middle. That's not a good equation. Kopitar showed the skill that's why he's currently the league's leading scorer when he stepped up, smoothly went to the backhand and beat Marc-Andre Fleury cleanly for a goal.

The next shift the Penguins put Jordan Staal out with Chris Conner and Matt Cooke. On a breakout Jay McKee (of all people) ended up driving towards the net. Conner dropped the puck to Staal who slapped it to the net. It found paydirt 1-1.

The very fact a defensive defenseman like McKee finds himself in the position to be a little ahead of the play and ends up driving to the net just shows how much the entire team has bought into the system that Dan Bylsma wants them to play. When Jay McKee is your lead force center driving the net and a guy like Jordan Staal knows to pull up, everyone's clicking, everyone's on the same page. In a nutshell that's why Pittsburgh's had so much success since Bylsma took over.

In the second period Brooks Orpik took a shot that Chris Kunitz and Sidney Crosby waived their sticks at. Kunitz got a piece and it was enough to beat Jonathan Quick.  IT was 2-1 Pens after two, despite being out-shot and generally out-played they took a lead into the second intermission.  It wouldn't last though.

In the third Kopitar would tie it. He beat Crosby on a faceoff and found Williams for a shot. The shot found Kopitar behind the net (as the puck always seems to find the good ones) and he popped out for the easy stuff in to tie the game at 2.

Following a real sloppy power-play by the Pens (what else is new recently), Dustin Brown made a great pass to Jarret Stoll and he buried it. 3-2 Kings. The very next shift the Kings kept the pressure up, Craig Adams was no match for Alexander Frolov and he fired a pass out that bounced around and Michal Handzus got the goal, with Wayne Simmonds right there to get it too. 4-2 Kings just like that.

And in the "piling it on" folder, the Kings got zone time, they cycled well and drew a penalty. With the extra man they got some great passes, caught the Pens running around and Stoll made a great pass to Dustin Brown for an easy slam dunker. 5-2 Kings.

• The goalies really settled down after two goalies in the first 1:10 of gameplay, for a while at least. Fleury stopped the next 24 shots, and the only way the Pens beat Quick was a deflection out front.  MAF got victimized in a flurry in the 3rd, but let's absolve him because the Kings applied a lot of pressure and outworked a lot of Pittsburgh players to get their goals.
• It's not even that Kopitar scored his two goals: the way he did it was almost effortless and very skillful. If he played in the eastern time zone he'd be one of the most hyped players in the game. He's definitely one of those guys like a Rick Nash or Ilya Kovalchuk that is worth watching any chance you get. A supremely talented player and Kopitar put on one of the best performances tonight that I've seen all season.
• It should be noted that Kris Letang played 24:49, and though Kopitar made him look foolish twice, he escaped with an even plus/minus rating.  Fellow youngster Alex Goligoski logged 21:32 of ice-time and was a +1.
• Not to say the usually solid four more defensive defenseman (Jay McKee, Brooks Orpik, Martin Skoula and Mark Eaton) deserve all the blame; but that foursome combined to have a plus/minus rating of -7 (all were negatives except McKee).  Pittsburgh's not going to win many games under those circumstances, especially with the power-play not clicking.
• Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin combined for 10 of the Pens total of 23 shots on goal.  Guerin got a couple wonderful feeds but couldn't convert (including one that hit Quick's pad and then the post).  Can't knock those two for a lack of effort, but the results generally just haven't paid dividends.
• Matt Cooke, Pascal Dupuis and Ruslan Fedotenko -- three veteran wingers all relied on for contributions didn't fare as well.  That trio combined for almost 47 minutes of ice-time but only got one shot on goal (Fedotenko's) and weren't dangerous.  They were flat out overmatched by their counter-parts in guys like Stoll, Brown and Frolov.
• Tough night for Craig Adams too.  While he registered a game high 8 hits (including one on Matt Greene that dislodged the glass), Adams was a -3 and lost 9 of 12 faceoffs.
• As far as diminutive forwards with the first name of Chris go: Conner > Bourque. Maybe it's because Conner's two years older, maybe it's because he's got 54 more NHL games, but whatever the reason, Conner seems more poised, a better skater and makes better decisions with the puck.

Overall, no excuses, the Kings worked very hard, played a superior game, got some solid goaltending and deserved the win.  They displayed all the usual tenets of Pittsburgh Penguins hockey, but did so with better skill and execution from top to bottom.  One can't help but wonder what the outcome would have been if Pittsburgh was fortunate enough to have their four key injured players (Malkin, Gonchar, Kennedy, Talbot) but let that take nothing away from the display LA put on.  Sure would be nice to see a seven game series between these two teams, but that is a long ways away.

Pittsburgh's franchise best of seven straight road wins to open a season is now history, but they still have a big chance to have a winning west coast road trip if they get the result in San Jose on Saturday.  The Sharks are no easy task, so time to put this one behind us and move north in California to see what can happen.

A couple weeks into the season, now's as good a time as any to check up on how the Penguins of tomorrow are doing.  This is a feature I like to do from time to time, so let's see how the young bucks are doing.  Today we'll look at the forwards, and tomorrow will be time for the defensemen and the goalies.

 
Andy Bathgate [5th round pick, 2009] - the famous namesake of his grandfather is in his second full year in the OHL, playing on a bottom dwelling Belleville team.  So far it's been rough.

Luca Caputi [4th round pick, 2007]- Caputi, a big time prospect for almost three seasons now, continues to grow in Wilkes-Barre.  He's second on the team in goals, and third in penalty minutes.  That's what you want out of a power forward, isn't it?

The rest of the young forwards after the jump..

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More photos » by Gus Ruelas - AP

Despite winning four out of the past six games without the power-play quarterback Sergei Gonchar, the Penguins haven't been doing much celebrating on the man advantage.

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Last season the Pittsburgh Penguins struggled without Sergei Gonchar.  The power-play didn't click and the Pens floated down to the pack of the Eastern Conference standings.  So far this season, in six games the Penguins have done a decent job pulling out wins (4-2 sans Sarge) but the power-play has struggled.

Let's take a look at just how brutal it's been.  If you have a weak stomach you might want to skip this out, especially at the part when Evgeni Malkin went down.  It's not for the feint of heart.  Consider yourself warned.

Alert readers will note that the PIttsburgh power-play has narrowly outscored Pittsburgh's penalty-killing unit by a mark of 3 to 2.  Also, though it hasn't been pretty, at least the Pens haven't given up any goals while they have the man advantage.  Sure, it may be a little much to say "at least the opponents aren't scoring when we have the power-play" but given how disjointed and frustrating the PP has been, perhaps it's important to remember that it could be worse.

Kudos to The Pensblog who pointed out that Evgeni Malkin has missed the past three games and then Pens have laid an 0 for 14 egg without Geno.  Malkin and Gonchar combine to lead roughly 90% of Pittsburgh's rushes in the crucial early stages of getting the puck in the zone and getting personnel setup.  Lose one and you can cover with the other, but when both are gone obviously it's going to be tough.

Dan Bylsma has so far been loyal to keeping Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin on the first power-play unit with Crosby and defensemen Alex Goligoski and Kris Letang.  That five-man unit probably has more turnovers and mis-plays than shots on goal and certainly scoring chances. 

Worth switching up?  Tyler Kennedy's shown his customary jump in his return to injury, and he's never afraid to shoot the puck.  Jordan Staal could use his size and frame down low to work the puck more effectively.  Heck, even a guy like Mike Rupp has shown his noted goal scoring ability and could stand in front of the net to help the defense's shots.

With Malkin on the shelf for at least 1-2 more weeks and Gonchar's return further out than that, Pittsburgh is going to have to find a way to convert on the power-play if they want to keep leading the league in points.

More photos » by Gus Ruelas - AP

3 days ago: Anaheim Ducks right wing Corey Perry, center, is stripped of the puck by Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Jay McKee, right, right wing Bill Guerin (13) during the second period of a NHL hockey game, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo/Gus Ruelas)

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Penguins vs Ducks coverage - SB Nation blog Anaheim Calling 

It was a matchup of two of the past three Stanley Cup champions, and it didn't disappoint.  Highlighted by a total of three total goals in 1:13 of game-play towards the middle of the third period, two of them scored by Pittsburgh, which proved to be enough to take a win away from Anaheim.

Kris Letang with a rough series leading up to the game's opening goal....First a bad clearing attempt from behind his net around the wall (where he had no friendly jerseys in sight) led to a turnover. Then as the puck got to the front of the net; Letang froze hand-cuffed, unable to make a split second decision on whether to help a teammate try to neutralize Corey Perry.

Look at these absurd totals for the Penguins top power-play unit for total ice-time in the first period: 9:22 Crosby, 7:55 Guerin, 7:54 Kunitz, 9:13 Goligoski, 9:17 Letang. But when you spend 40% of the period on the PP that happens....On the other hand, 2:39 Selanne, 3:58 Getzlaf -- those guys don't kill penalties so they barely got to get in the rythym of the game with those first period minutes.

Mike Rupp got the Pens even when he ripped a nice shot by Jonas Hiller. Credit Tyler Kennedy for rushing the puck up and the nice dish for the goal.

Letang would make up for his gaffe in the second period. He took a stick to the choppers but stayed in the game. Later, on a delayed penalty against Anaheim, Letang cut to the middle of the rink and put a hard shot on goal that "had eyes" to avoid the bodies in front and hit the back of the net.

It was nice to see Letang show some authority. Perhaps he too was tired of seeing Goligoski and Crosby pass the puck to one another?

Corey Perry would strike again pounding home a rebound to make it 2-2 by the end of the 2nd period.

Then the flurry of three goals in 1:13 of gameplay:

• First a total team effort by Pittsburgh; Dan Bylsma re-united "the third line" of Matt Cooke - Jordan Staal - Kennedy and they cycled well on this shift.  Credit Jay McKee with a nice hold in before Staal found a diving TK who poked the puck back to Goligoski.  With Cooke right in Hiller's field of vision Goose made no mistakes driving the puck to the back of the net.
• Anaheim bounced back on the next shift with some zone time of their own.  In my recollection, this was truly the first "soft" goal of the season allowed by Marc-Andre Fleury, he wasn't tight enough to the post and Saku Koivu popped out from behind the net and squeezed a shot by him.  Tie game 3-3.
• Undeterred, Pittsburgh left the same exact five man unit on the ice (Pascal Dupuis - Craig Adams - Mike Rupp with Letang and Brooks Orpik) while Anaheim elected to change.  The Pens got in the zone and moved the puck all around the blueline.  Eventually the defense found Dupuis who ripped a hard slapper for the game winner.

That would be the last goal, but certainly not the last of the action.  Both teams continued to press but nothing went in.  Sidney Crosby, who didn't factor into the offense, made a terrific defensive play by DIVING into an abandoned net (Fleury was out of the crease, lunging for the puck).  The shot came but Crosby went all Rob Scuderi on the Ducks, saving the goal.

• Hate to say it but overall it was a tough night for the runaway winner for Pensburgh player of the month Alex Goligoski. Goose, who's been sensational this season, had his first "off" night. In addition to not converting much on the PP early, he had a wide open net in the 2nd (just prior to Rupp's goal) and misfired.  Goligoski also couldn't tie up or stop Perry from scoring Anaheim's second goal. Everyone's entitled to a bad day now and then, hopefully Gogo brushes it off and moves forward. 
• Still, Goligoski did score an important goal and no defenseman in the league has more, so perhaps that's a little rough on his performance.  More experience for him to draw on and be a better player in the long-run, that's for sure.
• On a night where neither Jordan Staal nor Sidney Crosby were forces offensively, both saved sure goals at point blank range.  When your best offensive players are your best defensive players that's a good sign.  Those two also won 54.8 of their combined faceoffs.
• Thumbs down to the official Anaheim scorer who only awarded Brooks Orpik one hit (in the last minute of the game).  No way #44 didn't record a hit when he plastered Koivu and Joffrey Lupul in plays that stand out in my mind.  Overall hits were officially 26-21 in favor of Anaheim, which may have been about right, but come on man.
• Power-play was power-less tonight going a dreadful 0 for 7.  The last PP was only 1 second at the end of the game, so it was really a true 0 for 6.  But still it was bad.  Guys like Guerin and Kunitz racked up PP minutes and didn't do much to justify it.  Will there be a change in philosophy to get guys like Kennedy and Staal more time?  The question deserves to be asked.
• Guerin, in particular, didn't have a game to remember in number 1200 of his NHL career.  He was -2, nicked with 4 giveaways and didn't have any real scoring chances, despite piling up the time on the man advantage early.
• Tyler Kennedy, on the other hand, was my player of the game.  In his first game back from injury he only got 13:18 of playing time but still had a tied for team high three shots (and a team high seven attempted shots), he got 2 assists, was a game high +3 and had 3 blocked shots.  He's a whirling blur of activity and was excellent tonight, providing a badly needed spark for his team.
• In case you were wondering, our old friend Ryan Whitney played a game high 28:37, though it wasn't very eventful.  Whitney's among the league leaders in ice-time this season, so it's nice to see he has seemingly recovered from his feet problems enough to play a lot.

At day's end, a tremendous team effort lead Kennedy and Letang.  As they've done for quite some while, the Pens found a way to get offense with unlikely players in Rupp and Dupuis coming through with goals.  Fleury didn't have his best night, but he flashed his glove late to make a game saving effort.  When you're on the road, it's about finding a way to win.  Pittsburgh did tonight, and now are among the best in the history of the league (also with the New Jersey Devils) by extending their mark to 7-0-0 on the road.

Four regular Penguins are on the shelf: the #1 defenseman, last year's leading scorer, the Game 7 Stanley Cup champion hero and the leading goal scorer in 2009-10 when he was hurt.  With such significant contributors down, the thirst for knowledge in their path back to the lineup.  Here's an update on the injured players, since there's been some developments lately. 

(Undisclosed injury, has missed last three games)
--Kennedy is the closest of anyone on the injury path to returning, possibly as soon as tonight.  The team has been pretty good about disclosing specific injuries but has used the vague "day-to-day" and "undisclosed" terms for TK.  But he's skated the past couple of days in practice, including a good skate yesterday, and head coach Dan Bylsma said the chances were "pretty good" that Kennedy will be back as soon as tonight against Anaheim.

(Shoulder strain, has missed last two games, said to be out another 2 weeks, give or take)
--Malkin, who's absence from the lineup was the team's choice and stressed as protective, is on the California road-trip with the team.  He's taken to the ice without skates, and seems to be in good spirits.  Malkin was announced as out for 2-3 weeks almost one week ago, so you do the math.  He ought to be back soon, but it's not in the immediate future.

(broken bone in wrist on October 20th, has missed last five games)
--Gonchar has been able to keep skating to maintain his cardiovascular shape, and his wrist is improving as his involvement in practice has now advanced to "holding his stick with both hands and taking a few light shots".  The original prognosis was 4-6 weeks, and you can't rush a bone healing, so Gonchar's return is still a few weeks out.

Maxime Talbot

#25 / Center / Pittsburgh Penguins

Height: 5-11

Weight: 190

Born: Feb 11, 1984

(off-season shoulder surgery, has missed entire season)
--Talbot took steps to return from his shoulder surgery before suffering an "unrelated" foot injury last week and has not resumed skating.  However, Talbot is travelling with the team and may begin skating again soon on the trip.  He's still probably the furthest away from any of the injured players.  The window for Talbot's return has always been late-November or early December and that still seems to be the case.

More photos » by Keith Srakocic - AP

7 days ago: Pittsburgh Penguins' Jordan Staal, left, and Minnesota Wild's Shane Hnidy battle along the boards in the third period of an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh, Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009. The Wild won 2-1. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

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When the Penguins announced last week that scoring champion Evgeni Malkin would be out of the lineup for 2-3 weeks with a shoulder strain, it was seen in part as an opportunity for Jordan Staal to step into a larger role.  And that's been true: Staal's averaged 23 and a half minutes in the two games that Malkin's been out.  So far though zero points and a combined five shots on goal.  The Penguins are going to need Staal to take the most of this opportunity to produce points.

Production hasn't always been a priority for the 21 year old.  Behind Malkin and Sidney Crosby on the depth chart, the Penguins haven't always asked Staal for that big of a scoring role, as you can tell from some of his linemates.  A shift in philosophy may have begun: last year Staal was playing 3:38 short-handed time (and was the only regular forward that played more than 2:40 per game in SH time).  This young season Staal is averaging 3:05 SH ice-time on a regular unit, but other forwards have more than him (Matt Cooke - 3:17, Craig Adams - 3:11).  It seems like the Pens are trying to shift Staal's minutes away from more of a shutdown to give him a chance to create more offense. 

That coach Dan Bylsma was shifting Staal on occasion up to Malkin's line showed the Pens were willing to be flexible and catch some opponents in tough spots by shading Staal up and down the lines at any given time.

Slow starts, it should be pointed out, have been nothing new for Staal: in 2008-09 he had zero goals and three assists in October.  The year prior Staal registered just one goal and one assist in October.  Perhaps the road-swing will do Staal some good too, for whatever reason he's scored 43 of his career 66 goals (65%) away from Pittsburgh.

His role has gradually been changing, and now is the time the Penguins are leaning on Staal.  It'll be interesting to see how he can respond to this opportunity to fill in some of the gaps with Malkin out of the lineup. 

The Pens close the book on October 2009 with an Eastern Conference high 22 points in the standings and boasting an impressive 11-3-0 record.  They're a perfect 6-0-0 away from Mellon Arena.  If you want a bittersweet moment think of this: there'll never be October hockey in Mellon again.  Kind of staggering to think of it like that, isn't it?

We turn the calendar to November, the players keep trudging on, no real big deal for them.  But it makes a nice, clean break to grade them.  All grades are given based off of player expectations relatively to their role.  So, hypothetically, if a guy like Mike Rupp gets a better grade than a Sidney Crosby it doesn't mean Rupp is necessarily better, just better based off of what he's supposed to do.

The Honor roll (finalists for player of the month) is pretty big, given the great month the team had.  Make your choice for Pensburgh player of the month and feel free to lobby for a different grade if you see something that doesn't quite look right.

More photos » by Keith Srakocic - AP

Crosby's not taking any grief. Plant him into the boards and have the audacity to return a slash and he just might have to beat you up.

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[Wild vs Penguins coverage - SB Nation blog Hockey Wilderness]

You win some, you lose some in an 82 game season.  A lot of crazy things tend to happen when the year's that long.  You know, like out-shooting a road team by a margain of almost 3-1, playing almost the entire game in their zone, out-hit them, but come up emptyhanded.  That's the Penguins story tonight, just couldn't catch a lucky bounce or get a small break to result in a win.

• For Minnesota not to have been laughed out of town Nicklas Backstrom (no not THAT one) had to be terrific.  He was, recording 34 saves on 35 shots.  Backstrom looked very poised, very confident in his crease and proved too tough for Pittsburgh to crack.
• The Pens defense actually blocked the same number of shots (15) that the Wild players got through to Marc-Andre Fleury.  Several of those shots were at the blueline or behind it.  Fleury must have great costume ideas, he surely had a lot of time to not worry about stopping pucks tonight.  He deserved a better fate in terms of taking the loss, but his counter-part put on a show at the other end and Fleury didn't even get the chance really to do his part, since the Pens controlled so much of the action.
• Sidney Crosby's string of not taking crap has carried over.  After Marek Zidlicky planted Crosby awkwardly into the boards, Sid gave him a little slash.  Zidlicky returned the stickwork, tensions were high and gloves were dropped.  Nice fight win by Crosby landing a few rights and pulling the jersey over Zidlicky's head.
• At the same time, the Pens were of course without the services of the injured Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Gonchar.  With Crosby in the box, the not so dreaded power-play unit was Bill Guerin-Jordan Staal-Chris Kunitz.  That hurt not having #87 out there, give him one more chance with the man advantage and that's possibly a couple of chances for him to make a play.  But it's impossible to make a play when you're penalized, as was the case.
• 8 hits by Brooks Orpik; he was handed out even more free candy to Wild players than you probably did to neighborhood children tonight.
• The Penguins have been able to run a couple of set-plays off of faceoff wins (thanks to more wins in the circles) and they got their only goal on it.  Credit Craig Adams on the win and a nice pass made by Martin Skoula to Pascal Dupuis who ripped it home.
• Dupuis, by the way, had a game high five shots on goal and played pretty well against his old team.  Pens fans have no problem piling on the guy, so I'll use this space to give him some props.
• Petr Sykora had a very quiet night in his Pittsburgh return.  He was credited with one shot on goal in just 13:59 played and the only time he stood out was when Kris Letang shouldered him post-whistle.
• Seen enough of Chris Bourque?  Dan Bylsma may have, he only gave Ray's kid two shifts in the third period.  That was a team low (except for Eric Godard, who didn't get any ice-time at all).
• I watch hockey almost every night with Center Ice, I play in a couple pools, I follow a wide variety of people on twitter, I consider myself realtively plugged in.  But these Western Conference teams always seem to have one guy I've never heard of and one guy I didn't think was still in the league.  Tonight's winners were John Scott and Owen Nolan, respectively.

This was the last of 3 games in 4 nights, but neither focus nor effort was the issue.  Backstrom was.  He was outstanding and the Pens couldn't find a way to scratch and claw enough to beat him more than once.  Now we have a few days to re-charge the batteries before a game against each California team on the west coast next week (starting with old friend Ryan Whitney and Anaheim on Tuesday).