Pens beat Rangers

(AP/Gene J. Puskar)

The Pens beat the Rangers yesterday 4-3 in an important game. The game helped keep the Pens ahead of the Rangers in the Eastern Conference as well as put them above Carolina.

We're sorry but we have an issue and can't finish the post at this time. Please read the recap and check out the PG. Please accept our apologies.

Britney Spears ruins ice

The Pens play the Rangers today at 1:00 in a big game. The Rangers are one point behind the Pens in the standings thanks to the Thrashers coming from behind and winning in a shootout the other night. The Pens need to win this game to stay ahead of the Rangers and in the playoff race.

Game preview

Britney Spears' comeback tour "Circus" was at Mellon Arena last night, which means that they won't have a whole lot of time to convert the arena back into hockey mode after the show. They spent a couple of days just setting up for it. Crosby expects the ice to not be in very good condition and choppy. Sounds like a fun time. Fleury was planning on going to the show "for a little bit to see what it's like." Other players were still trying to get tickets. Seriously? Whatever turns you on we suppose.

Penguins Notebook

Rangers, Penguins collide from different angles today

"Malkin The Dependable"

Go Pens!

Defensemen strike for Pens

(AP)

The Pens beat the Flames last night 2-0 with both goals coming from defensemen. You expect Kris Letang to score goals but not Hal Gill, who had his second goal of the season off of a drop pass from Evgeni Malkin. This was a physical, up and down game that was a lot of fun to watch. The man who really stole the show though was Marc-Andre Fleury who had his fourth shutout of the season turning away 31 shots.

The game started out with a Flames power play, not exactly the best way to start out a game but the Pens were up to the task and killed it. With over 13 minutes left in the first period the Pens would get their first power play out of only two chances and would cash in. Letang had the goal with assists from Crosby and Kunitz. Crosby used his skate to kick a loose puck to his stick to pass it across the crease to Letang who put it into the empty net. Good dirty power play goal for the Pens. The Flames would have two more power plays in the first but were denied.

The second period was full of big saves from Fleury who would keep the Pens in the lead and in the game. The Pens had a flurry of chances this period that was crazy to watch but nothing would go in. The Flames would get a four minute power play with 3:16 left to play in the second in which Dupuis had a shorthanded chance with his speed but he was denied. Fleury would make a big save and Jordan Staal had a good shorthanded chance with a pretty open net but he just couldn't put it home. The Pens would go to the third short-handed for another 30 seconds.

The Pens would kill the rest of the Flames' power play and get one of their own this period but would fail to cash in. With just over 13 minutes left in the game, Hal Gill would score the Pens' second goal, as well as his second goal of the season, to give the Pens a cushion. Geno made a nice play and left a drop pass for Gill who took full advantage of the opportunity and shot a really nice wrister into the net. He looked like he scored goals all the time. The Pens would end the game not being able to hit the empty net. They missed the net about four or five times, including Matt Cooke missing it twice. Even Fleury gave it a shot. Oh well, nothing to complain about, Pens win 2-0.

- We're a fan of Geno's celebrations. He looks like a kid in a candy store whether he scores or not, he's just happy for his team. After Letang's goal he grabbed Letang and a teammate in a huge hug. Classy Geno, classy.

- How many times was Fleury going to get interfered with by his own teammates? You usually don't see that but he got ran into at least twice. After losing his stick, Brooks Orpik gave him his to use and it was a good thing he did because Fleury made a play with it to keep a puck out of the net.

- Hal Gill wore a Snuggie before the game and then scored only his second goal of the season. He's obviously going to have to wear that before every game now. He said that Sid would probably be after him to wear it again since he's superstitious. We really wish we got a look at that.

- Quote of the day: Fleury's comments on his teammates missing the empty netter, "I think tomorrow we will have a little discussion about how to put the puck in the net with no goalies I guess." Good idea Fleury.

Game recap

Aftermath: Penguins 2, Flames 0

Notes & Quotes: The Fleury Factor

Fleury saves 31 in 4th shutout

Penguins Notebook

The Pens next game is a big one on Saturday at 1:00 against the Rangers.

Go Pens!

P.S. Pitt will play Xavier tonight at 7:27 for a chance to move on to the Elite Eight. Pitt hasn't made it past the Sweet Sixteen in the last several years after making it to the tournament. If you're not a basketball fan, you should tune in anyway, watching DeJuan Blair and Sam Young is more than worth it. Go Pitt!

Cooking with Geno

This Pens video is a must watch. Geno and Alyonka (Pens TV girl) make Russian pierogies. Not a whole lot of Geno English here but you get to see some more of his personality. We'd cook with Geno any day.

Pens - Flames

The Pens are back in action today against the Calgary Flames at 7:30. The Pens are now sitting in sixth place after being tied for fourth place before the game on Sunday. They have played so well and won so many games, but they still need to keep winning.

Game preview

Geno Comes Out of the Shadows - This article is a must read in our opinion. Maybe it's because it's after 2 a.m. or maybe it's because we were eating Oreo pie after 1 a.m. (highly recommended by the way) but this article should give you a laugh. It's obviously about Geno being in the shadows of both Alexander Ovechkin and teammate Sidney Crosby but it also discusses his English skills and his amazing text messaging abilities.

Penguins Notebook: Little margin for error in standings

Fleury Continues Late-Season Heroics

Four Penguins Make a Special Delivery

We apologize for the lack of any real good content here lately as we've been a little out of sorts. But we are thinking about sprucing up this place in the near future. Please feel free to leave any thoughts or ideas you may have about what you'd like to see here in the future in the comments or send us an e-mail to faceoffsandfirstdowns @ gmail.com. We welcome any and all ideas no matter how outrageous, we need a good shakeup around here. Also, if you'd like to share any photos you may have, please feel free to e-mail them to us at the above address. Thanks! :)

Go Pens!

Pens lose to Flyers

The Pens lost to the Flyers yesterday 3-1. It would have been nice to get win and beat the Flyers but losing one game isn't the end of the world. It's just worse because it was the Flyers and the Pens weren't outplayed. The bounces went the Flyers' way and not the Pens' unfortunately. The Pens out-shot the Flyers and overall played good enough to win the game but Martin Biron decided he was going to play out of his mind yesterday. The Pens had some good chances but just couldn't capitalize, while the Flyers got some lucky bounces and an empty netter to seal the win.

The Pens' power play needs to be better but we and everyone else have been saying that basically all season long so it's really nothing new. The other issue we had with the Pens was the lack of discipline. Seven power play chances for the Flyers was not a good thing and they scored both of their goals on the power play. There were some sloppy moments and the Pens may not have been as aggressive as they have been lately but there was really nothing to be worried about in this game to think that anything was wrong. Besides, they can't win every game.

We don't really believe that those blue jerseys are the reason they lose but they definitely have a losing record. We kind of hate seeing them and wish it was over but we believe there is one more game where they will be wearing those blue jerseys. Plan for a loss now. Just kidding.

Game recap

Aftermath: Flyers 3, Pens 1

Notes & Quotes: Unlucky Bounces

Penguins Notebook: Malkin fined for hit against Kings

Stage all but set for playoff rematch - Gene Collier

Since we didn't have a post yesterday we didn't talk about Geno's fine and possible suspension. We don't think Geno did anything wrong other than accidentally hitting a guy in the head. He had the puck and a guy was coming at him, what was he supposed to do, get run over? No. It's unfortunate the guy was hit in the head but it wasn't like Malkin took a run at his head or anything. Hopefully this doesn't cast Geno as some sort of villain now because we're sure everyone would love to paint him that way just as his teammate Sidney Crosby is whenever possible.

We also have to mention that The Sidney Crosby Show had a couple things to say about Crosby and him being visor-less for a while during the Bruins game. We may be late on this but we hadn't seen it mentioned anywhere else and our guess was as stated here in that he took the visor off to fight. Obviously Marc Savard decided he wanted no piece of that as the fight didn't happen. Probably a good idea considering Sid is strong and when pissed off, probably quite the handful. Just had to mention it since we were right. After all, no one ever listens to us. ;)

What beasts, Pens beat Kings

(Getty)

We have to start this out by saying this is our 300th post. Woo for us! We're so proud.

Moving on, Sid and Geno are absolute beasts. How lucky are we as Pens fans to have both of them on our team? They're both ridiculous and pull off things on a nightly basis that most of us could only dream of. Geno has been playing at a ridiculously high level for a long time now while Sid has been a little off and on. By off and on we mean at that ridiculously high level because Sid is just plain good all the time, but as of late he's just been crazy good. After a steal in the offensive zone, Sid launched an awesome backhander past Kings' goalie Quick to start the scoring in the first period. Sid would also add an assist on a goal by Geno in which Crosby found his stick for the second goal of the period on a power play. Kennedy would add another goal, a backhander no less, and so would Billy Guerin with an assist from Geno. The Kings would get a goal in the third to make the game 4-1.

-The Pens are just plain playing good hockey. Who would have thought this is where they would be a month ago? With a 10-0-2 record in their last 12, they're being dominant and playing just as well, if not better, than anyone else. They also have four good lines to work with that could score on any shift. We have to say we think Staal has really improved since the coaching change and the more aggressive playing strategy. It seems to fit who he is and it only helps the Pens be a better team.

-The Pens had a few too many penalties tonight and hopefully they are more disciplined against the Flyers because if there is a team that can get under your skin, it's the Flyers. Sunday's game is huge because the Pens are right there with them in the playoff race and obviously just because it's the Flyers.

-We think Geno definitely deserves the Hart. We don't see another player quite on his level. The fans obviously also agree with multiple M.V.P. chants. The fans love Geno and Geno loves the fans. He even gave his stick away last night to some lucky fans. He also seems to like the media lately. We love that English. Welcome!

Game recap

Aftermath: Pens 4, Kings 1

Notes & Quotes: Playing With A Swagger

We're not going to bother to post the video because we're sure you've seen it enough already, but Ovie's little display for his 50th goal was rather...dumb. This isn't T.O. and the NFL and it definitely wasn't Chad Johnson, Chad is way more creative. We suppose it's okay to be different but you just don't see that in the NHL and to be honest, we don't want to see that. Jumping into the glass is great, hugs all around are great too, but that little premeditated routine was just so out of place and on top of that not even creative. Congrats on 50 goals on 12 million shots Ovie, way to go.

Go Pens!

Pens - Kings, Yinz Luv 'Da Guins

Once again we apologize for crappy posts as of late and hopefully this will be the last of those, after all our next post will be our 300th. Yay! The Pens will play the Los Angeles Kings at Mellon Arena at 7:30. Game preview.

The Pitt Panthers will also play today in the first round of the NCAA tournament at 2:55. A full day of sports for your enjoyment. How are your brackets looking so far? Good we hope.

Lastly, the latest episode of Yinz Luv 'Da Guins. Enjoy!

Go Pens!

Pens win!

The Pens beat the Thrashers yesterday 6-2 and Geno put on quite the show. A five point game with major potential to have a couple more. He's insane and he, in our humble opinion, deserves MVP honors.

And then this is where we admit that we're out of it and once again don't have a recap. It's just been a long couple of days and we'll be back to normal soon. May type up a recap tomorrow. For now, have an AP recap and a couple of Geno interviews. You know we can't resist and how good is that English?!

Game recap

Aftermath

Malkin playing with the "Hart" of an MVP

Notes and Quotes

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Woo, it's St. Patty's day. If you're of age, please feel free to go out and enjoy a green beer. If not, well, wear some green or something.

As for the Pens, they will play the Atlanta Thrashers today at 7:00 at Mellon Arena. Gotta get two points out of this one. That's basically the case every game at this point, but the Thrashers are a weaker team. We really have nothing else left to say. Sorry for the shorty once again but it's been a busy couple days and we're all tired out.

Geno is sick, Marc-Andre Fleury threw his hat on the ice for the hat trick, and Coach Bylsma took a hat home.

Game preview

GO PENS!

Pens beat Bruins

What a game today. The Pens beat the Bruins, in regulation!, 6-4. Guerin didn't waste any time getting the scoring going by getting a goal 50 seconds into the game. Too bad that didn't last long. About 16 seconds later, the Bruins answered with a goal of their own. Both teams would add another goal before the period was over to have the score tied at 2-2.

There was only one goal in the second and it was scored by the Bruins. The Pens were on a power play and Geno and Gonchar made a terrible play in their own zone which led to a Bruins shorthanded goal. Not good. Score 3-2 Bruins to end the second.

The third period is where it really got interesting. Sergei Gonchar didn't waste any time tying the game at 3, scoring a goal 43 seconds into the period. But the Pens weren't done yet. About 18 seconds later Chris Kunitz scored on a breakaway off Guerin's pass that he scored by putting a backhander five hole. The Bruins obviously weren't going to make this easy and tied it up on a power play not long after with 17:06 left to play. Score 4-4. Sykora decided he didn't want another game to end in a tie so he scored a goal with 10:31 left in the game after having several chances all game. He finally put one in and the score is 5-4. The score would stay that way until there was only 56.2 seconds left when Jordan Staal made a nice move to get the puck and put it into the empty net to give the Pens a 6-4 lead and the win.

- The Pens made some mistakes today but overall played a really good game. They kept up with the Bruins who are the best team in the Eastern Conference. Looks like they realized they still have to play 60 minutes of hockey.

- Sidney Crosby usually wears a visor and was without one for a while during the first period. Obviously it's possible that it broke or for some reason he needed a new one and couldn't get one right away, although it is made by Oakley and Oakley basically rocks. If you haven't checked out what they have to offer, especially in the sunglasses department, do yourself a favor and check them out. But back to Crosby. Bob Errey stated during the game that Crosby had asked, and this is where we suck, a Bruin who we don't know his name, to fight and that Bruin said yes. As far as we can remember (yes, our memory sucks, we know) his visor was missing after that info from Bob and our thought was maybe he took it off purposely with intent to fight. Maybe we're insane, we don't know, but we thought it was possible. We've heard complaints about fighting with visors so...just a thought.

- The Crosby line is pretty intense. We especially like Kunitz. The Pens really needed that in front of the net presence and he brings that, along with Guerin. 

Game recap

Aftermath: Penguins 6, Bruins 4

We apologize for the fairly shitty recap but we have to head out. The Pens will play again Tuesday against the Thrashers.

Go Pens!

Pens blow lead, lose in SO to Sens

How many of the Pens' games are going to go to shootouts? We know quite a few people don't like them and we generally find them entertaining but we really don't want games to keep coming down to that. We look at it like the Pens got a point out of this game and the last game but eh. Having a 3-1 lead on an inferior Senators team and then blowing it is not okay. Not scoring on the power play is not acceptable and something needs to change there, but really, why would it? Us and everyone else has been saying that for what feels like forever and not much has really changed so what makes you think it would now?

Basically we're just gonna throw a few thoughts out there and call it good on this game. Plus it's just kind of sickening to watch the Pens have a 3-1 lead and then blow it. Have they forgotten you need to play 60 minutes of hockey and not sit back and get comfortable when you have a two goal lead? Was this not the same team that came back against Columbus a couple days ago? Rant over.

- The Pens got one point. Better than none. The Rangers lost, Buffalo gained a point, Florida gained a point, and Montreal lost. Two points just would have been better.

- Posts played a huge roll in this game. The Sens his two or three in the span of like 30 seconds. They were the Pens best friend and worst enemy all day.

- Mark Eaton's pass to Sidney Crosby for his goal was pretty intense. We think Eaton's played a lot better as of late defensively and made some good plays defensively and then he pulls this. Nice.

-Godard scored a goal? No way! We thought this game was in the bag after that(or not) because how often does Eric Godard score? Twice a year so far.

- Fleury got a snow job from a Senator so he decided to take it into his own hands and throw a punch. Didn't really think he had it in him and then we saw a video of him fighting back in the day and we were impressed. A Fleury! Fleury! Fleury! chant ensued after.

- Speaking of Fleury, he played really well today. He made a bunch of huge saves and you can't blame every goal on him.

- Why do the Pens play so bad in the powder blue? Or does it just seem like that?

Game recap

Aftermath: Senators 4, Penguins 3 SO

Penguins waste 3-1 lead to fall to Ottawa

Penguins Notebook: Eddie Johnston will be honored today

Dave Molinari on the Penguins: Point/Counterpoint

The Pens play the Boston Bruins today at 3:00 p.m. at Mellon Arena. Garon should start in net to give Fleury a break. Which Garon are we going to see? The 5-4 Toronto debacle Garon or the relief for Fleury in Washington solid? Let's hope the latter. Boston is the leading team in the east and the Pens need to bring it today unlike yesterday. Hopefully they can steal a couple of points. The only other team that plays tomorrow that we care about in terms of the playoffs are the Rangers who will play Philly at home. Technically we're only four points behind Philly but you get the point.

Game preview

GO PENS!

Pens - Sens

What a tacky title for a post. At least we can rhyme. The Pens will play the Sens today in their powder blues at 3:00 p.m. at home. This will be the first of eight straight games at home for the Pens. Perfect timing for a playoff push.

Marc-Andre Fleury will start in net and make his 18th straight start. There is a possibility that Mathieu Garon will start Sunday against the Bruins to give Fleury a rest.

The Pens need to beat a Sens team that is below them in the standings and basically out of the playoff chase with 64 points. Playing at home should make that a lot easier. Is anyone else hoping Malkin's parents are at the game today?

We are just at a loss for words this morning and have no idea at all what else to say. We are just completely out of it lately. We need sleep. Maybe then we'll be able to put together more than a couple sentences.

Game preview

Penguins Report: Home Cookin'

Penguins: Dissecting faceoffs produces ris in Crosby's percentage

Penguins Notebook: Past wins bode well for homestand

Go Pens!

Pens lose in SO but gain a point

The Pens lost to the Blue Jackets last night 4-3 in a shootout. If you didn't see this game then you have no idea how good it was to get a point. The Pens were seemingly out of it with less than 12 minutes to play when they finally got a goal to start their comeback. They would end up getting three goals in a span of 3:25. Nuts. 

We were pretty pissed that the Pens and Pitt were on at the same time last night because we wanted to watch both. We're bigger hockey fans but it was the Big East tournament after all, and it's kind of a big deal. Nonetheless, we mostly watched hockey and we're glad we did. In case anyone cares to know, Pitt lost to West Virginia. UConn also lost to Syracuse after 6 OTs. Yay!

Back to hockey, this was a great game to watch. Those couple of Marc-Andre Fleury amazing saves were worth it alone. He could have made a couple more, and we think it's about time for him to get a rest this weekend with back to back games, but especially the save on Umberger was just ridiculous. Not on YouTube yet or we'd post it because we could probably watch that all night. Although we're sure it's included in the highlights to which there is a link on the aftermath page down below. Feel free to watch it again and again.

Dupuis finally broke his games without a goal streak by scoring on Malkin pass. You could see the relief on Dupuis' face after that one. You never know, he might get on a hot streak now.

Geno was also in on Max Talbot's goal when Malkin fed him a beautiful no-look backhand pass to him. We think Geno is pretty special and possibly a robot. How many times have we see him take hard hits or fall into the boards in an awkward position only to get back up and be fine? Last night he was hit hard and head first into the crossbar. OUCH! Right on the jaw. He was already bruising noticeably on his jaw after getting up from the hit. How does he do it? Could have had a broken jaw on that one but he was back out there a couple minutes later. What a player.

Game recap

Aftermath: Blue Jackets 4, Penguins 3 SO

Penguins letdown still nets a point

Penguins Notebook

Also, as listed in the Aftermath:

Team Notables:
Buffalo: Defeated Florida, 3-1
Carolina: Lost to Dallas, 3-1
Florida: Lost to Buffalo, 3-1
Montreal: Lost in overtime to NY Islanders, 3-2
NY Rangers: Defeated Nashville, 4-2
Philadelphia: Lost to Washington, 2-1

Someone was looking for this so we figured we'd post it again. The Sports Poster Warehouse has tons of cool posters and you can get a discount by using code 15-FandF-15 

Pens - Blue Jackets

Before we get to the Blue Jackets, guess who's back?! Yinz Luv 'Da Guins! We've missed it too.

The Pens play the Blue Jackets in Columbus today at 7:00 p.m. The Pens played them February 6th at Mellon Arena and won 4-1. It's late and the game preview can tell you all you need to know way better than we could.

Petr Sykora skated before practice yesterday with Philippe Boucher. Sykora is getting better according to Dan Bylsma and he will travel with the team to Columbus and a decision will be made this morning as to whether he will play tonight or not.

Miroslav Satan will report to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Penguins Notebook

Staal puts new edge on his game and prospers in Bylsma's system  Nice read on Staal

The Chicago Blackhawks helped out the Pens last night by beating the Carolina Hurricanes in a shootout 3-2. There are plenty of games to keep an eye on tomorrow night as well. We'll update then.

GO PENS!

Pens beat Panthers

(Matt Freed/Post-Gazette)

The Pens make it seven in a row and beat the Florida Panthers 4-3 in a shootout. The game was pretty entertaining to watch with the Pens recording 50 shots. Yes, you read right, 50 shots. You have to give credit to Panthers goalie Tomas Vokoun for facing that many shots and only allowing three goals. The Pens had a lot of chances but just weren't getting the puck in the net. Staal was robbed on a great diving save by Vokoun, who also made a few other great saves.

The Pens got the first goal late in the first period with less than two minutes to go when the two-headed monster struck again. Crosby got Geno the puck and he scored on a nice, not often seen from Geno, backhander to put the Pens up 1-0.

Not long into the second period the Panthers would strike back to tie the game. The Panthers would add two more goals that period to put them up 3-1, including a reviewed goal for a possible kick-in but it was ruled a goal. That whole distinct kicking motion thing is just bull. Either you allow goals like that or you don't. Whatever.

In the third the Pens would strike early. Staal got the goal and the Pens were only down by one with plenty of time left on the clock. But it didn't take long for the Pens to score again. Crosby got the tying goal to make it 3-3 as he re-directed a Guerin shot into the net by way of hitting the goal post and Vokoun before sliding across the goal line.

(Matt Freed/Post-Gazette)

Overtime produced no goals in more of a playing not to lose type atmosphere, especially from the Panthers. It was time for the shootout. Letang was up first and scored a nice goal to give the Pens the early lead. Zednik was next and Fleury made the save with his pad. Crosby would be next and was denied by Vokoun. Weiss for the Panthers had a chance to keep them in it but shot it high, no goal. Next, it was Malkin's turn and he got Vokoun to bite and attempt a poke-check while Geno calmly dragged the puck around a sprawled out Vokoun and into the net. Nice. Pens win 4-3.

A lot of guys looked really good last night. Tyler Kennedy was all over the place and so was his line-mate Jordan Staal. Staal was unreal, getting chances and creating chances all night. Staal even tracked down a rebound in mid-air to score a goal after TK made a sweet move to get the puck to Matt Cooke who shot the one-timer that Staal got the rebound on.

Geno had a nice game to go along with his parents being in attendance once again. He made Mom and Dad very happy, even seeing Dad high-fiving some fans in front of them. Geno sure does look a lot like his Mom. In this interview he points out Mom and Dad while talking about his shootout goal:

We might be a little late on this but we said a while ago that Crosby got a new hat and that was unlike him since he's usually superstitious about things like that and since it didn't coincide with the new coach we thought it was rather weird. Well tonight we got a good look at it and saw it said Bryce on it and we think Make A Wish. We heard that since Crosby didn't make it to the "Pens and Pins" charity bowling night because of being sick, that a kid had had a hat made for him which he received and we just now realized that's what that hat is. He must have given up superstition for him and we think that's pretty cool since we all know how superstitious Sid is. Nice.

Game recap

Aftermath: Penguins 4, Panthers 3 SO

Penguins rally, with 7th game in a row

Penguins Notebook

The Pens also moved up in the standings and are sitting pretty in 6th place. Their next game is Thursday against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Go Pens!

Pens - Panthers

The Pens will play the Florida Panthers today at Mellon Arena for the second time in three games at 7:30. This is another one of those four point games the Pens need to win to keep themselves in the playoff picture. The Pens and Panthers are tied in points but Florida has played one less game. Also, the Rangers lost last night and are now below the Pens in the standings.

The Pens played arguably one of their best games of the season against Florida a few days ago - playing a full sixty minutes, something the Pens have struggled to do all season. This time though, this is the Pens first home game after a long road trip, just like it was Florida's first home game after a long road trip. It should be interesting to see if that affects the Pens tonight. They shouldn't have any problem getting ready for this game though considering this will help them a lot in the standings and in their race to make the playoffs.

Game preview

Penguins Report  Sykora missed practice yesterday and won't play against Florida. He is considered day-to-day by Dan Bylsma. Also included in there is some info on a breakaway contest and how Matt Cooke got punished for losing it. Also what Kunitz and Guerin had to say about getting to play their first game at Mellon Arena.

Penguins Notebook: Quality and quantity for Fleury

Penguins' road trip saves their season

LET'S GO PENS!

Steelers stuff

So we've been pretty bad at reporting anything Steelers related around here for a while. Granted there hasn't been a ton of news but it's still our job so-to-speak. But what can we say? We have hockey fever and watching the Pens go 5-0 on an 11 day road trip is way better than the fact that a 37 year old receiver visited the Steelers yesterday.

After losing Nate Washington to the Titans, the Steelers are looking for a number three receiver and so they brought in former Tampa Bay Buc Joey Galloway for a visit. Yes, he's 37 and we don't know about you but we find that rather old. Do we really need a 37 year old receiver? Geez. We have nothing more to say on this matter.

Bryant McFadden has now officially signed with the Arizona Cardinals for two years, $10 million, $5 million guaranteed. Oh boy, we lost another one. The Steelers do have options though when it comes to his replacement, although we didn't want to see him go and figured the Steelers would be sorry to see him go. Unfortunately, they weren't going to give him the money he could get elsewhere. Arizona already has enough former Steelers and now they add one more.

Oh, and T.O. to the Bills? Don't even get us started.

That's all from us. Don't blame us, we have hockey fever.

Pens beat Caps

(AP)

The Pens capped off their five-game road trip with a fifth win and two more points to give them ten total out of ten with a 4-3 shootout win over the Caps yesterday. Sidney Crosby earned the number one star after scoring a goal in regulation, scoring the winning goal in the shootout, and also gained an assist. So much for taunting Crosby, he did just as we thought he would, make the Caps pay on the scoreboard. And Crosby bashers were out in full force in Washington yesterday.

Crosby opened the scoring not long into the first period off of a nice pass from Kunitz to Guerin who was with Crosby on a 2-on-1 breakaway. Guerin slid the puck to Crosby who put the puck behind Theodore. Alexander Semin would tie it up before the first period was over after a mistake by Kris Letang.

Gonchar had a second period goal on a Pens power play with a slap shot from the point to put the Pens up 2-1. Guerin had parked himself in front of the net to shield Theodore who never saw the shot. Exactly what the Pens needed. Not long after that Guerin would be part of the scoring once again, only this time he was the one scoring the goal, and nice one it was. Pens up 3-1 going to the third period.

The Capitals had a power play to start off the third period and it didn't take long for them to take advantage. Ovechkin scored around 30 seconds into the period to make it 3-2. Less than a minute later the Caps would score again after a mistake by the Pens created a one-on-one by Laich to tie the game at three.

The game would end up tied despite a couple of power plays for the Pens after the third period and the game would go into overtime. The Pens had some good chances and so did the Caps, including a fleury of shots that Fleury would stop all of. Talk about a heart attack waiting to happen. OT was over and it was time for a shootout.

Alexander Semin was up first and he couldn't score on Fleury. Letang was up next and he couldn't get one past Theodore either. Kozlov was next for the Caps and Fleury stopped him as well. Crosby came to center ice to plenty of boos, but that didn't hinder Crosby who faked out Theodore with a backhand to forehand over the glove hand. Now it was Ovie's turn to try to save the game and Fleury said no. Pens win 4-3. Crosby was definitely the star in today's game.

(AP)

Game recap

Aftermath: Penguins 4, Capitals 3 SO

Penguins finish road trip 5-0

Penguins Notebook

No meltdown by Fleury; just blossoming at the right time

Obviously Caps fans will never learn that taunting Crosby will only make him play harder. But hey, that's good for us. Rob Rossi over at the Trib wrote a good article on the pressure put on Crosby. Most of you probably know we're not huge fans of the Trib but this is a good article. What has Crosby ever really done to deserve the treatment he gets from just about everywhere? Play good hockey and be a good person? What a crime!

The Pens next game is at home against Florida in another four point game on Tuesday.

Go Pens!

Pens - Caps

(Peter Diana/Post-Gazette)

They're back. The Pens will play the Capitals today at 3:00 p.m. We all remember the 5-2 beat down that was the last game against the Caps. The Pens are playing well now and have won their last five games, the last four coming on the road. We doubt after the last match-up that the Pens won't come to play. The Caps however, have lost their last three home games and four out of five since beating the Pens at home February 22nd. If the Pens win, it would be the first 5-0 road trip in franchise history.

It should be interesting to see how the Ovie vs. Sid/Geno show goes down today. Ovie missed the Caps' last game because of a bruised heel that was hurt in practice when he was hit with a puck. He says he's 100%, but like he would really say anything else? He seems to get a high off of games against the Pens and getting to hit Sid and Geno. Should be interesting to see how the new additions to the team deal with Ovie and his antics, especially Kunitz and Guerin when Ovie undoubtedly will take a run or two at Crosby. Maybe this time he'll learn that it's not such a good idea to do so.

Speaking of bad ideas, a couple of Caps fans have bought 500 pacifiers that they are going to distribute to fans in seats near the ice level in an attempt to taunt Crosby. How creative, huh? Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau was asked about it and said "I have no idea, and I don't want to know. Oh, geezus, no, please, no. What a waste of money." He obviously knows what Flyers and Caps fans don't seem to. When you taunt Sidney Crosby, Sidney Crosby will make you pay. You can yell Crosby sucks all day and he won't bat an eyelash in your direction. But he will elevate his game and kill you on the ice all day. He's done it to the Flyers for how long now? And they still don't get it. Obviously Caps fans are right there in intelligence because they obviously think it's a good idea to boo Crosby, and now, suck on pacifiers. Genius. The only people who are going to be crying and looking stupid are those sucking on pacifiers when Crosby lights the ice on fire.

Game preview

Penguins Notebook

Penguins' rivalry with Capitals remains on front burner

On the Penguins: What will Shero's thought process be when he hires Therrien's replacement?

Seth from Empty Netters is going to be at the Caps game today so be sure to check out his blog over at the PG.

LET'S GO PENS!

Links

Taste good TK?

We couldn't resist starting out the post with this great picture of Tyler Kennedy. Why he is licking his hockey stick we have no idea, but it obviously tastes very good. No word on whether that helped his game at all. We're also going to give credit of that picture to Seth over at Empty Netters and the person on LetsGoPens.com who spotted it. We just borrowed it for this post.

Geno continues to dominate everyone else in the NHL but he's still reluctant to talk about himself. He should get to 100 points soon but he doesn't like to talk about it. He agreed to answer one question about it for PG's Shelley Anderson and he said, "I try because it's good for me, good for [the] team, I play with good guys." When asked if reaching 100 points a season or leading the NHL was something he aimed for he playfully said "one question!" before saying "I'm not thinking about 100 points or trophies." What a humble guy.

You probably heard last week that recently acquired Eric Tangradi's favorite team was the Flyers because he is from Philly. Over at the PG they have a nice article on him and his Philly roots. Should be exciting to see how he turns out.

Remember John Curry? He has tied Sebastien Caron for the top spot on the WBS franchise's all-time wins list with 48, surpassing Marc-Andre Fleury, Dany Sabourin, Andy Chiodo, and Rich Parent. That's definitely something to be proud of and at this rate he'll be a great backup to Fleury in the near future. We definitely liked what we saw when he played for the Pens earlier this season.

Analysis: Penguins' Deadline Moves

Let's Go Pens!

Pens win fifth straight

(AP)

The Pens beat the Florida Panthers 4-1 last night to win their fifth in a row. It's been a very long time since the Pens have won like this and if you're not excited, you're nuts. The Pens are getting everything together when it matters. Last night's game was huge since they were chasing Florida in the Eastern Conference standings. Gaining two points put them in a tie with Florida in points, although Florida has one game on the Pens.

Crosby returned to the lineup after missing the team's last four wins because of a sore groin. He sure looked good on his second period goal while splitting the Florida defense, an almost exact repeat of a goal he scored against Florida in January.

Game highlights:

The Pens did have to go without someone else though. Sergei Gonchar had to fly home yesterday morning after being notified his wife was in labor with their second daughter. She was supposed to be induced today on the Pens' day off but obviously his daughter had other plans. He made it home just before a successful delivery of his new daughter, Victoria. Congratulations Sergei! He should be meeting the team in Washington for their game against the Capitals on Sunday. Alex Goligoski was recalled from WBS to take Gonchar's place.

The first period was fairly aggressive but there was no score going into the first intermission. Each team had a power play and both teams failed to score. Fleury made some huge saves in the first period when the Panthers had some good chances. The Pens' defense was also playing well and Fleury sure backed that up.

The Pens had a couple of power plays in the second but they couldn't capitalize on either. A Florida player was penalized for charging after a rough head shot on Kris Letang, but thankfully he was okay. With around 5:45 left on the clock in the second period, the Panthers had a one on one chance with a tired Geno following. No problem though because Fleury said no and made a big save. The Pens counter but just can't put it into the net.

With 2:11 left in the second, Florida scored the first goal of the game on a somewhat strange shot that bounced behind Fleury. The Panthers had that important first goal. Somewhat deflating after all of the scoreless action. But Sidney Crosby wouldn't have that. Soon after that with just over a minute left in the period, he scored a beautiful goal to put the Pens on the board and take the Panthers' lead away just like that.

Not long into the third with 17:36 left on the clock, Tyler Kennedy put one home to give the Pens the lead 2-1. Not long after, the Panthers thankfully hit a post to keep the score the same. About a minute after that, Letang didn't hit the post and scored a goal to put the Pens up 3-1.

Around the nine minute mark Fleury made a big save for the Pens and not give Florida any life. Sykora took a penalty and it was time for the Pens to kill this off and not give Florida any chance of a comeback. Then with 4:26 left, Tyler Kennedy had his second goal of the game with an assist by Malkin to put the nail in the Panthers' coffin. The Pens win their fifth straight and get two more huge points. The Pens have now taken all eight out of a possible eight points in their four road games. Hopefully they can make it five out of five and beat the Caps on Sunday.

Game recap

Aftermath: Penguins 4, Panthers 1

Penguins extend streak with key win vs. Florida

Penguins Notebook: Staal considered one of team's 'untouchables'

- Alex Goligoski now wears the number 3 after new Penguin Bill Guerin wears number 13.

- What was with Florida playing a Miley Cyrus song during the game? Not exactly what we'd expect to hear at a hockey game. We also noticed an advertisement along the boards for the Jonas Brothers movie. Disney World is in Florida so is there some sort of connection there? Just not what we really associate with hockey...

- FSN has been a little disappointing lately with their "let's go to commercial in the middle of the game" tricks. Several times tonight either there was commentary going on or the actual game and it would cut to a commercial. An entire minute of a Pens power play was lost because of this.  C'mon FSN!

We apologize for our lack of info and thoughts on the new Pens acquired at the trade deadline and our lack of a game preview.

Pens get more new faces

The Pens added a couple more new faces to their roster today when they acquired right winger Bill Guerin from the Islanders and right winger Craig Adams from Chicago. Guerin was acquired from the Islanders for a conditional draft pick and Adams was claimed off of waivers.

Be back later with more.

Pens win again

The Pens won their fourth, yes FOURTH, in a row last night beating Tampa Bay 3-1. Chris Kunitz had two goals and Matt Cooke the other in the Pens win. How good does Kunitz look? Exactly what the Pens needed, someone to go to the net and score those dirty goals. He's making Ray Shero look pretty darn good right now. Now we just have to wait and see what else Shero has up his sleeve before the trade deadline today at 3:00 p.m. Miroslav Satan was put on waivers yesterday but still played last night. It should be interesting to see what happens tomorrow. We could sit here and speculate all morning but we'd rather not. We're extremely tired so we're going to head to bed and hopefully make it up to get in on the madness that is the trade deadline. We'll see you later today with, hopefully, good news.

Game recap

Aftermath: Penguins 3, Lightning 1

Emtpy Netters' Live Blog  Seth does a great job if you don't know that already and we have nothing to recap ourselves since we couldn't watch the game

Penguins Notebook

Penguin newcomer Kunitz scores two goals to pave way to 4th victory in a row

Hang on tight, it could be a wild 12 hours.

SPORTS POSTERS!

Do you like sports posters? We do! Do you like sports posters with a discount? We do! We don't know about you but we don't have that many options for buying sports posters around here (yes we live in the middle of nowhere). We have a link to a site today where you can find all kinds of sports posters and a discount code you can use to take 15% off your order. The site is Sports Poster Warehouse. You are definitely going to want to go and check out their selection of posters. We personally like several of the Super Bowl XLIII Champs ones and even found a few old posters we haven't seen available for purchase in a long time.

We really like this one:

And this one even more:

We personally own a print of this and it's beautiful. Great for framing.

Couple other good ones we like, a picture of Mellon Arena on a game night. Great for remembering it after the Pens get their new arena. The Winter Classic. You can even get Kordell Stewart!

Go ahead and check out what they have to offer and use the following code exclusive to us to get 15% off of your order:

15-FandF-15

http://www.sportsposterwarehouse.com/

Saying goodbye

We haven't kept up with the football free agency because, to be quite honest, we hate it. From losing players to seeing those ridiculous contracts (yes, that would be you Albert Haynesworth) it just makes us sick. We know that's bad on our part because that's what we do here and the Steelers have made some moves, but we hate the business aspect of sports in general. Say what you want but we'll never accept the greediness and large sums of money throw at players. Many people will never see a million dollars in their entire lives, but yet several million a year is never enough. Which means we don't buy the whole football careers are so short and I have to take care of my family stuff. Everyone has to take care of their families and they do so without making that kind of money. And like we said, many people will never see a million dollars in their ENTIRE lives, but these players need more and more a year. You could take care of yourself and others on several million dollars, you don't need that Louis Vuitton.

The Steelers signed Chris Kemoeatu for five years, $20 millon and Sean McHugh for three years, $2.57 million. They also released guard Kendall Simmons. A few others were issued contract tenders as restricted free agents.

For us, there were two players this year we interested in and hoped they would re-sign even though it didn't look good. One of those players left today. Nate Washington has signed with the Tennessee Titans for six years, $27 million, and $9 million guaranteed. We thought Nate was really coming into his own and was a real deep threat with a lot of speed. We'll also admit we've like Nate since his early days here, yes, even when he was still dropping balls. So now it's time to say goodbye to Nate, unfortunately. We're really going to miss that mohawk and high-top fade.

The other player we didn't want to see go was Bryant McFadden, although we figured he was one that was sure to go. He has yet to sign elsewhere but he met today with none other than, you guessed it, ARIZONA! Go figure. We thought he was a good player and a good part of the defense but we figured he would go elsewhere because the Steelers wouldn't pay him what he could get somewhere else. We won't even get into that.

The Steelers also kept another one of their players by putting the franchise tag on him for the second year in a row. Max Starks and the Steelers reached an agreement for the franchise tender of $8.451 million for the 2009 season. The Steelers want a long-term deal and have until mid-July to do so or he will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

We also have a link here to an interview with Max Starks on topics such as:

1.Max Starks talks About Free Agency and his Long Term Plans
2.Max talks about what makes Big Ben so Special?
3.Max gives his thought son Albert Haynesworthss Deal
4.Max speaks on the media’s focus on contracts?
5.Max gives his thoughts on Demarcus Ware
6.Max gives his thoughts on the differences between Tomlin and Cowher

The website is http://www.whatchatalkinbout.com and the direct link to listen to the interview is at http://media.libsyn.com/media/wtcb/SCR_4.mp3. Enjoy.

Pens cruise past Stars

(AP)

The Pens played the Stars today in Dallas and had no problem putting the Stars away 4-1. How good did the Pens look? We don't care how many injuries Dallas had or that they played the day before, this was a big two points for the Pens that put them into the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference. You know what that means, the Pens have a playoff spot as of now. Granted the playoffs do not start today, but it's been a while since the Pens have been in that spot and it's nice to be there. If they keep up the pace they're on now, they won't have any problems getting into the playoffs. Especially if those teams ahead of them keep falling.

Florida played the Caps today and gave Ovie and his team a whooping 6-2. Thanks for the help Ovie. No more score watching until Tuesday with only one game being played tonight, Colorado vs. NY Islanders. The Pens will play Tuesday against Tampa Bay. We will not get that game since we don't have Versus. Figures we just had a preview on Dish of that channel. *%$#@&

Getting back to the game, Staal had another goal with 15:52 left in the first period by putting a rebound from a Geno shot past Stars' goalie Tobias Stephan. The Pens and Stars both had a power play that period that didn't capitalize. Letang also had a beautiful backhand goal that we missed live because FSN was having problems. We got excited when something came back on and it turned out it was women's basketball. Ick. Definitely not hockey. Thanks FSN. Although we were thankful we weren't getting a snowstorm. Thanks Atlanta.

With the Pens up 2-0 going into the second period we were feeling good and so was FSN because they brought the game back to us. Thank goodness for that because we had had enough women's basketball. Miroslav Satan scored a nice goal with 11:42 left in the second period by getting Stars' goalie Stephan to bite so he could drag it around him and score. Nice. Even nicer was how the one-on-one came about. Stars' defensemen Trevor Daley decided to play an old Ryan Whitney play and make a D-to-D pass and Satan picked it off to create the one-on-one.

A little later in the period Geno took advantage of a weird bounce to put home a power play goal to put the Pens up 4-0. Yeah! But not long before that, Geno also did a little hitting. He put a hard hit on old teammate Daryl Sydor. Nice job Geno. Maybe save one of those for Ovie on Sunday. ;-)

Like the last couple of games, the Pens weren't as dominate in the third period. In this game, that didn't matter though as the Pens and Fleury only allowed one goal on the power play with 13:58 left in the third. The rest of the game was littered with penalties but no scoring. Pens win 4-1. 2 points.

Game recap

Aftermath: Penguins 4, Stars 1

What's up with Jordan Staal as of late? Hearing those trade rumors and not want to go somewhere else? Whatever it is, we don't care, he needs to step up. He is probably benefiting in terms of ice time with Crosby being out, but this was definitely a time when he needed to elevate his game and he has. Two goals in two games? Nice. Staal joined another rather invisible at times player in Satan who has also scored a goal in the last two games. Is he afraid he's going to be traded too? We did see their names listed as two of the most likely to be moved...

Geno being huge is nothing new but he just continues to play so well. He's a very healthy 10 points ahead of Ovie in the scoring race and also leads in assists. Crosby needs to hurry up and come back and get some points to get ahead of Ovie. Having the top two scorers in the league would be pretty special. We say Geno for MVP.

Another player who has elevated his game lately is Marc-Andre Fleury. He may not have been invisible like some players, but he's made huge saves to give the Pens a chance to win games. He had his 100th career win yesterday with his win over Dallas and he said he didn't even know it. He was playing very well last year at this time and that is exactly what the Pens need in their final games to get them into the playoffs.

How about Dan Bylsma? He's 5-1-1 since he took over for Michel Therrien. That's pretty darn good. We like him. His attitude is good and it looks like he's got this team believing in what he wants to do and the more aggressive hockey they're playing is something we like.

Penguins step over (playoff) line at last

Penguins Notebook: Crosby might return tomorrow

VIDEOS! YAY! Grizelda71 always has us covered when it comes to Geno.

Geno's second intermission interview:

Check out that stick handling. Amazing.

And last but not least...GIVE ME BACK THAT FILET O' FISH, GIVE ME THAT FISH!

So dumb it's hilarious.

No one wants to room with Crosby

We have a sad story to report today. Crosby's teammates don't want him back in the lineup and they don't want to room with him either. Poor Sid.

To elaborate, the team has won their last two games without Sid and one earlier in the season when he had a knee injury. Sid figures "they probably want to keep me away right now." We know plenty of players are superstitious, Sid included, but we doubt they'd want to Sid to sit if he's healthy. We want to see what he and new winger Chris Kunitz can do. The sooner the better.

As for the roommate issue, Sid has lost another one. Last year he lost roommate and friend Colby Armstrong and now he's lost Ryan Whitney. Is Sid causing a roommate curse? No one is going to want to room with him for the fear that they'll get traded. Sid said, "I don't think anybody wants to room with me anymore." Poor Sid. :(

The guys also got to see and old friend in Dallas. Ryan Whitney and the Ducks were staying at the same hotel as the Pens Friday night. Long time no see huh?

Kunitz makes racket in Penguin debut  We didn't realize just how good of a game that newcomer Chris Kunitz had. He had a goal, an assist, led the team with four hits, tied for the team lead with three blocked shots, and was a plus-2. If he keeps this up he'll make Ray Shero look extremely smart.

On the Penguins: The trade deadline...good, bad & ugly

The Pens will play the Dallas Stars today at 3:00 p.m. in Dallas. Dallas is 29-25-7 with 65 points and have lost the last four games. They are also fighting for a playoff spot. The Pens need to win this game, like every game, to move up in the standings. Florida, Buffalo, and Carolina, the three teams directly ahead of them in the standings, all lost yesterday. Florida will play the Caps tomorrow, also at 3:00 p.m. Things are falling into place for the Pens if they can continue to win.

Game preview

LET'S GO PENS!