More photos » by Jay LaPrete - AP

21 days ago: Columbus Blue Jackets' Jakub Voracek, center, of the Czech Republic, passes the puck between Pittsburgh Penguins' Jordan Staal, right, and Jay McKee during the second period of an NHL hockey game Friday, Oct. 30, 2009, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)

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Just when it looked like the Penguins could make it a game without an injury, Jay McKee wasn't at practice this morning and coach Dan Bylsma has to announce the news that he's had to do so many times.  McKee will be out the next 2-4 weeks with what's described as a "finger infection".


McKee's had issue with broken fingers before, and hey it's pretty hard to play hockey if you can't wrap your fingers around a stick.  McKee appeared to be stung and in pain on the bench after blocking one of his five shots on the night.

However the news wasn't all bad, as defensemen Kris Letang and Brooks Orpik were back in practice.  Letang was sporting the fimiliar red jersey (meaning no contact), but Orpik had on the regular black jersey.  Sergei Gonchar has been wearing the black jersey and practicing regularly for a couple days now as well.

Mark Eaton is now the only Penguins defensemen still in the lineup from opening night.  That's not entirely rare in the NHL, but the fact that it's only mid November, and that there's five injuries at the same time is.

No word if the Penguins will have to re-call yet another player from Wilkes-Barre, or if an injured defenseman --likely Gonchar or Orpik, given their practice statuses -- will be able to be in the lineup tomorrow night in Ottawa.

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

Another feather in the cap of Dan Bylsma: organizational transparency.

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Wonder why the Penguins could import three minor league defensemen and hardly miss a beat?  Quotes from today's PG shed some light on it.  Ben Lovejoy said:

"When I first got here, I had a meeting with Dan [Bylsma]. He told me there's one faceoff play where there's a bit of a nuance from what we do down in Wilkes-Barre. It's one faceoff play, and that's it." 

Nate Guenin added:

"Everything is the same, it's awesome because when you get called up and you're put in that situation, you feel comfortable because all the terminology's the same, and it makes the transition that much easier.

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

4 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)

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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.

With the news that Alex Goligoski is out 2-3 weeks with a groin injury, things are starting to get ridiculous for the Pittsburgh Penguins.  Four of their top six defensemen are injured - which include their best (read: only) three puck moving defensemen, and three of the top nine forwards are out - aided only by the recent return of superstar Evgeni Malkin.

Things simply can't get any worse, right?  Well, they probably can't get any more comical, which has inspired this list....The next 9 injuries the Penguins' training staff may have to worry about, after the jump.

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More photos » by Jay LaPrete - AP

21 days ago: Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby, left to right, Bill Guerin, Chris Kunitz, Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski celebrate Goligoski's game-tying goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets during the third period of an NHL hockey game Friday, Oct. 30, 2009, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)

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Yesterday Alex Goligoski missed practice, suspicions were raised that his status for tonight's game against Anaheim may be in question.  Dan Bylsma said Goligoski was "banged up", and other reports said he might have suffered an upper leg injury against Boston.

In light of this, Pittsburgh has re-called defenseman Nate Guenin from Wilkes-Barre.

After signing with the Penguins in the offseason, Guenin became the third Pittsburgh native to join the Penguins organization in the last three seasons (Bill Thomas, 2008-09; Ryan Malone, 2003-08). Guenin, 26, is a Hopewell High School graduate and played one season (1999-00) with the Pittsburgh Hornets.

In his first 15 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this year, Guenin has posted a plus-1 rating to go with his 22 penalty minutes.

You'll notice the press release didn't mention any points in the minors this season.  That is not a mistake or omission, Guenin has no points and isn't considered a puck moving defenseman.  Guenin has appeared in 12 NHL games over the course of the past few seasons, so at least he has a small bit of experience to draw from, if he's pressed into duty.

The Penguins will have to rely on guys like Mark Eaton and Martin Skoula to move the puck from the blueline, not their strong points.  Still the best options of guys who will be in the lineup.

It remains to be seen how long Goligoski may be on the shelf or what exactly his injury is.  If Goose can't go tonight, it'll mean four of the top six defensemen in the organization will be out with injuries.

However, reinforcements could be back soon:

• Sergei Gonchar has had his cast removed, is practicing regularly with contact now.  He could be back in the lineup in less than two weeks.
• Kris Letang was said to be out for about two weeks with a bruised shoulder, and that was over a week ago.  If he follows the rehab schedule of similiar injuries, he ought to be back on the ice soon, slowly progressing back towards the lineup.
• Brooks Orpik was injured almost a week ago and said to be out for about two weeks as well.  In a few days one would have to believe he'll be back on skates too, getting back into gear to return, if he's responding well.

So help is on the horizon.  It's not unreasonable to think in about two weeks time the Penguins could almost be at full strength defensively.  You know, assuming no one else gets hurt.

Finally how cruelly ironic is it that the only two Penguin defensemen not to suffer injuries this season (Jay McKee and Mark Eaton) are the two rugged stay-at-home defensemen that were considered the most prone to being injured?  Sometimes you just never know how things will shake out.

UPDATED:  Goligoski did not take the morning skate, further questioning his status for tonight.  Seems safe to assume he probably won't be able to go.  Now the question is becoming "how much longer?".

Without Goligoski, here's how the defensive pairings will probably look like tonight.  One NHL veteran on each pairing with one inexperienced callup.

Skoula-Lovejoy
Eaton-Engelland
Guenin-McKee

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

With six key pieces of the Stanley Cup champions on the shelf, here's a look at their various paths back to the lineup.  Unfortunately, lately more have been adding to this list quicker than have been coming off of it, but hopefully that is about to change.

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.

Sports Illustrated reporter Michael Farber was looking for "seven stealth impact hockey people" and spotlighted a couple guys with Pittsburgh connections...

Usually fans reflexively vaunt the hometown telecast crew. Unfortunately, these two guys don't even get the proper amount of love in their own city of champions.

In the case of Steigerwald, the problem is that his predecessor, Mike Lange, winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame's Foster Hewitt Award for excellence in broadcasting, is only one booth down, working with Phil Bourque on the Penguins radio broadcasts. Lange, renowned for his beat-the-goalie-like-a-rented-mule-isms -- Randy Moeller is now working the same side of the street in Florida -- is an incredibly tough act to follow, but Steigerwald follows his own muse, keeping his calls shtick-free and refreshingly conversational.

Errey, a goal-scorer on the Penguins' fabulous Stanley Cup teams of 1991 and 1992, is also low-key although insightful. Former Hockey Night in Canada executive producer and ex-NHL director of broadcasting John Shannon thinks Errey has the goods to fill a national role as a color man.

There are many deservedly high-profile tandems working now - Jim Hughson and Craig Simpson on Hockey Night, Gord Miller and Pierre McGuire on TSN, Doc Emrick working with anybody anywhere -- but Pittsburgh's telecasts are direct and informative, what On The Fly likes to call hockey for adults.

#1, congrats to Steigy and Errey; it's always nice to hear nice things about yourself.  We all may have our thoughts about Mike Lange getting replaced and some of the idiosyncrasies of the new crew, but Pittsburgh fans probably have it better than we think.

#2, a shoutout to Steigy and Errey but no mention for Dan Potash?  Booo!

After the jump, just for fun, one of Bob Errey's biggest (recent) hits.  A math formula, if you will.

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More photos » by Winslow Townson - AP

10 days ago: Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Jay McKee, left, looks at the puck after it came out of the goal on a score by Boston Bruins' Matt Hunwick (not shown) as Pittsburgh Penguins center Jordan Staal and Boston Bruins left wing Shawn Thornton look on during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Boston Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)

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Penguins vs Bruins coverage - Penguins vs Bruins boxscore - Stanley Cup of Chowder

The injury list has piled up for Pittsburgh, but to lose their improvised alternate captain Brooks Orpik to injury early in the first period is just insult to injury. It's difficult enough to play without 3 of arguably your top 4 defensemen, but to be down to just five defensemen for the balance of the game -- one of which making his NHL debut, another who had the flu/minor injury last week is just cruel.

The first goal was in and out so quick the refs couldn't call it. Matt Hunwick lifted a shot top shelf that popped out real quick. Bruins were hugging and celebrating only one problem: no whistle. The Pens kept playing and no one was quite sure what was going on. The play was eventually reviewed and the correct call was made: it was in fact a goal. 1-0 Bruins.

Boston dominated Pittsburgh early, jumping out to a 10-2 shot advantage early in the game that the Pens whittled down to just a 16-15 Boston edge by the beginning of the 3rd period. The Pens had some great territorial time and cycled hard to create chances. Chances aren't goals, but the effort was appreciated.

The second goal of the game happened seconds after it appeared the Penguins might score. The revised top line was about to make a tic-tac-toe play of cross-ice passes for a slam dunk goal for Sidney Crosby. But Matt Cooke couldn't make the play and Patrice Bergeron nudged the puck up to Mark Recchi who found a streaking Daniel Paille for a breakaway. Paille buries it

-Lady luck just hasn't smiled on the Pens lately. On a PK, a Bruins defender trips and the Pens get a 2 on 1. No dice. Then with about 5:45 in the game remaining, the Pens shot a puck in, Thomas went back behind the net to wait for it but it took a weird bounce off the glass and somehow kicked out right to the open net. It crossed the creased and then hit squarely off the far-post and didn't go in. When you don't get the bounces, geez, you really don't get them.

At the end of the game Patrice Bergeron would tack on an empty netter, fittingly getting a fortunate bounce on a puck that was dipping and diving all over the ice. Bergeron earned his luck though, as he got an assist earlier, 2 hits, 2 takeaways and won 73% of his 24 faceoffs.

• Deryk Engelland played like, well, it was his first career NHL game. He was pressed into a tough situation: joining a battered team and then losing a defensive leader like Orpik, so he acquitted himself well. But he made a couple of sloppy plays and was a little out of position at times, but hey let's cut the guy a break. He didn't make any critical errors and generally did what was asked of him.
• Not sure what Jay McKee was thinking on the lead up to the Paille breakaway. He got caught moving slow in no-man's zone and let Paille get behind him. Then again he's having a great season and I just sit on a couch so it's easier to point things like that out than it is to do something about it.
• No word on what Orpik's injury could be. He got bodychecked cleanly behind the boards while digging out a puck, a routine play. He was instantly hobbled over though and wouldn't return, the team says he'll be re-evaluated tomorrow.
• Alex Goligoski would pull marathon duty in Orpik's absence. Good logged a game-high 28:25 and played well, even though he was a -2 (one was the empty netter). Martin Skoula was also pressed into a bigger role, getting a season high of 24:27 of ice-time. Skoula played very well in his increased duty.
• Hard to blame Marc-Andre Fleury for anything.  He made 26 saves on 28 shots including more than a few excellent ones.  He held his team in the game for as long as possible, but with no goal support, hard to imagine any goalie escaping with a win tonight.

No goals for two-and-a-half games right now. It's been tough treading. It's definitely not time for the panic button or to proclaim the sky is falling. A record of 12-6-0 translates to a 109 point pace over an entire season, which would surely bring playoffs, it's more points than the Penguins have had in a while.

This is hardly the end of the world.  One gets the sense a lot of fans will be restless, but the truth is Pittsburgh didn't play too poorly tonight, regardless of current circumstances.  They weren't good enough to win, but they hardly got laughed out of the rink like in the past couple of games.  Hey, you gotta start somewhere.  Hopefully now things can stabilize now that the Pens return to Mellon at last.