Photo by PensAreYourDaddy

   To individually view every single one of the 20,200 images that make up the Mario Mosaic--it is surely a task that only a fool would conceive and only a madman would attempt.  I finished on Tuesday.  After having viewed the whole thing in every detail, I simply cannot say enough good things about it.  To see so many fellow Pens (and other) fans coming together for a good cause like this inspired a tremendous feeling of community that caught me a bit off guard.  As I went along, I collected some overall impressions and made note of some of the more interesting images that can be found within.  After the jump: my full report and a selection of favourite pics.

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On behalf of myself and all the folks at PensBurgh, I would like to thank those of you who came over to our game thread for Sunday's Caps vs. Pens game to help support the disaster victims in Haiti.  It was a pleasure having you, and together we raised a grand total of over $112 for the Red Cross disaster relief efforts.  Thank you all for helping make a difference for those in need.

Although Sunday's game against the Capitals might not have gone quite as we would all have liked, we did succeed in raising a good deal of money to support disaster victims in Haiti.  We accumulated a total of 1,129 comments throughout the game; at five cents each that makes $56.45.  Hooks Orpik generously offered to match this amount making for a total of $112.90 raised to help the Red Cross relief efforts!  A big thanks to all of you here at PensBurgh who turned out in support of this effort and also to those folks from over at Japers' Rink who stopped by to pump up the noise and/or share their favourite types of cheese and/or dinosaurs.  You've all helped make a difference for those in need!

Greetings fellow hockey fans! I know I'm treading on hostile ground here, but it's for the best of causes: namely, to invite you all to come on over to PensBurgh for Sunday's Caps/Pens game to help raise money for the Red Cross disaster relief efforts in Haiti. For every comment in Sunday's open game thread (up to 2000,) I will be donating five cents to the Red Cross. Fellow PensBurgher Hooks Orpik has pledged to match this amount, so each post will be worth ten cents to help the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. Sure, we may be on opposite sides of what is arguably hockey's hottest rivalry, but helping ease the suffering of so many is something we can all agree on, so come on over to PensBurgh and, just for one day, let's tolerate each other for a good cause!

Inspired by (and not to be outdone by) the generous folks over at Winging It In Motown I have decided to sponsor our very own Haiti disaster relief fundraiser right here on PensBurgh!  For next Sunday's game against the Capitals, I will donate five cents of my own money to the Red Cross for every post (up to 2000) in the game thread here on PensBurgh, win, lose, or OTL.  Futher, if the Pens win, I will add a penny per post for each goal in the margin of victory (up to five.)  So, spread the word and tell all your friends and let's all make some noise for a good cause!

Over the past couple of months I have heard some persistent criticism from certain members of the Pensburgh community to the effect that Fleury is no good in goal.  I feel the desire to address this as I was once a Flower doubter myself and remained so up until around 19:58.8 of the third period of game seven of last year's cup final.  While I did not reverse my position based solely on that one save, it does typify the kind of play that changed my mind.  Allow me to elaborate.

I am the first to admit that Fleury can be maddeningly inconsistent at times.  He will make a seemingly impossible save one minute and let in a soft one the next.  A look at his stats doesn't seem to reveal anything all that impressive either.  His save percentage last year was a fairly average .912 with a 2.67 GAA which was also quite average.  These stats remained virtually unchanged through the post-season.  This year looks worse with a .904 Sv%, however I would credit that to the many golden chances we keep giving our opponents through defensive lapses.  Flower is facing way more breakaways, two-on-ones, and three-on-twos than he should be.  That, I think, has a lot to do with the multitude of injuries and the endlessly changing defensive corps that has resulted.  The many unfamiliar defensemen he's playing with certainally won't help MAF either.  And, it's worth noting, even this year, his numbers are substantially better than those of Tom Barrasso the two previous years we went all the way.  Still, I admit that he's putting up numbers that are no better than average for the league.

Why, then, am I advocating for him as our franchise netminder?  That's harder to quantify.  Resilience has something to do with it.  Flower was like a sieve in game 5 of the cup final, yet he came back as if nothing happened and allowed only one goal in each of the last two games.  That is not the only time I've seen him come back from a bad performance either.  He never (or at least very rarely) seems to carry a bad day into a bad series.  His slumps tend to be one-and-done and that is an important trait.  Listening to the team talk about him, I also get the idea that they really like Flower and want to play well for his sake which is worth something as well. He also seems to thrive in high-pressure situations.  When not just the game but the whole season is on the line, he keeps his cool and comes up solid.  The end of game seven was a perfect example.  If he had given up on the play he wouldn't have made it over in time; if he had panicked, he would have overshot his mark.  Instead he kept his head, timed his movement perfectly and made what I thought a half-second before to be an impossible save.  He showed that same sort of poise in the series against Washington.  He let in some bad ones occasionally, but when he had to make a save, he did. 

In short, he's a winner.  Which brings me to one very quantifiable factor he has on his side--the one stat he owned last year: only one goalie each year can post sixteen wins in the post-season, and last year that goalie was Marc-Andre Fleury.  The bottom line is that we win with Fleury in the pipes.  As far as I'm concerned, Tim Thomas can keep his Vezina; Flower brought home the ultimate prize.