Pens rally to beat Jackets

The Blue Jackets must not know that you should never count the Pens out of any game because they let up a bit in the third and that came back to bite them. The first two periods of hockey weren't exactly good ones for the Pens but the third was a different story. The Pens were down by two with less than three minutes left in the game when Ruslan Fedotenko scored a goal to get the Pens within one. The Pens weren't done yet though. They'd been swarming in the Jackets' zone and didn't let up. Thirty-nine seconds later Alex Goligoski would score the tying goal on a nice wrist shot set up by Sidney Crosby. The score was tied 3-3 and the game was going into overtime.

The Pens had some good chances in overtime, still swarming in the Jackets' zone. A penalty was called with a mere 20 some seconds left in the game. The Pens had a couple good chances but unfortunately were unable to capitalize. But next time Pens, please SHOOT THE PUCK!

Sidney Crosby was the only player to score in the shootout to win the game for the Pens 4-3. Crosby is now 4-for-4 in shootout situations. Although he got a little help on this one. See for yourself:

The Pens got a couple of lucky bounces but this win just further proves the character this team has from top to bottom. And doing it all without Geno, Gonch, TK, and Superstar. Who would have thought? Not the Blue Jackets.

Recap

Aftermath: Penguins 4, Blue Jackets 3

- We still prefer Marc-Andre Fleury but Brent Johnson also knows how to make big saves. He even had a very Fleury-esque toe save. It's nice to know if Fleury needs to miss game or needs some rest that there is someone capable in goal.

- The Pens needed to be a bit more disciplined last night. It seemed like someone on the Pens was always getting called for a penalty and that can burn you badly. Although we will say that there was a call or two that were a bit questionable.

- The Pens looked a bit confused at times and it didn't seem like the new lines really clicked. That's probably to be expected and should get better.

- Kunitz is on fire and hopefully he stays that way. After a shorthanded breakaway in which he was tripped going to the goal, the Pens stayed with the play and Crosby got the puck back to Kunitz who then scored on a belly-flopped Mason. He also had an assist on the night.

- Alex Goligoski leads the Pens' defensemen in scoring and is third among all through yesterday with 12 points. He also has extended his points streak to seven games. He also leads the league in plus/minus rating with a plus-13. He has continued to be impressive and is a big part of the Pens' success so far this season.

- The Pens could top the list for the most wins in October tonight if they beat Minnesota at home. Several teams have had 11 wins, the Pens could reach 12 on Halloween night.

- Pens fans really invaded Columbus last night and other arenas across the country. Sporting News didn't name Pittsburgh the greatest sports town for nothing.

- You might have seen FSN mention an article in this week's Sports Illustrated on Wednesday night. When we got the magazine in the mail Thursday we made sure to read it and it is worth your time reading. Thanks to Jim Shearer for sending the link along, you can read it for yourself here.

- Speaking of Jim, last but not least, a new episode of Yinz Luv 'Da Guins for your viewing pleasure.

Happy Halloween Everyone! We hope you all get some free candy.

Three is a Magic Number

Three was a magic number for Sidney Crosby and the Pens last night as they beat the Habs 6-1. Sid had his third career hat trick three years to the day of his first ever. Number three Alex Goligoski remains hot as he had his fourth goal of the season after hitting a couple of posts early. Chris Kunitz had three assists and his first goal of the season after a slump that had fans calling for his removal from the top line. Is that enough threes for you?

Game recap

Aftermath: Penguins 6, Canadiens 1

- Shouldn't someone tell Sidney Crosby he's not a goal scorer? That's Ovie's job! Watch out NHL, Sidney Crosby is becoming quite the goal scorer. His spin-o-rama back hander last night was especially nice.

- Is it finally time to stop talking about how Chris Kunitz hasn't scored a goal in 5,000 games? He wasn't supposed to be a goal machine and sure has earned his keep in other ways. Kunitz had a nice steal last night that he passed to Billy Guerin who then passed it to Sid who got rid of it so fast Halak probably never saw it. Those seemingly little things mean a lot.

- The Pens are the first team to 10 wins.

- Tyler Kennedy was out and we said recently he's a guy the Pens don't want to be without because of his energy and goal scoring touch so far this year and we still believe that but the Pens did well last night in his absence although Staal and Cooke weren't as noticeable last night without him, coincidence or not.

- Gogo continues to impress us with his play both defensively and offensively. He hit a couple of posts early on in the game but he kept letting those shots go and in the third period he let a wrist shot go from the point that beat Price for his fourth goal of the season. He also has a six game scoring streak going.

- Geno had an assist last night which gave him 199. Billy Guerin will soon be playing in his 1,200th career game. He played his 1,197th last night.

- After this week the Pens will take a trip to the west coast the first week of November. They will visit Anaheim, LA, and San Jose on the third, fifth, and seventh. That means late games, the first two being at 10 and the third at 10:30.

- If you have Dish Network there is a preview of Versus going on right now until November 30th.

Just another day at the office

Care to take a trip down memory lane with us?

Go Pens!

Greetings from training camp

We headed down to Pens training camp last Sunday and took a ton of pictures, some of which were not worth looking at unfortunately. Below are a few of them with a story or two while we're at it. Enjoy.

Consol Energy Center from the Mellon Arena side.

Jordan Staal walking in just before the start looking a tad sleepy.

GENO!

Eric Goddard

Tyler Kennedy with Dan Bylsma practicing a little shooting.

Marc-Andre Fleury

Jordan Staal on the "faceoff."

Doing a little planning on the white board.

Brooks Orpik

Sergei Gonchar

Fleury and Dupuis having a strategy session.

Brooks Orpik

An end of session puckfest on Fleury.

Billy Guerin and Chris Kunitz chatting it up.

Sidney Crosby!

Sid is even intense in practice.

Fleury

John Curry

Sid

After session stretching.

After practice shots of the guys leaving.

Sergei Gonchar

Could it be Sidney Crosby?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! *screaming*

Nope. But everyone sure thought it was, yelling his name and demanding autographs. He finally had to say "I'm not Sid." We have to give it to them, it does look like Sid from that point of view, but Sid has bigger calves! C'mon people!

Billy Guerin showing the cooking staff his goodies. Someone asked him what it was and he responded "booze!" Laughing ensued and he proceeded to say that it was "the special kind" and that "he wouldn't drink it." He threw it in his car and then went to sign autographs. When he came back to his car he told everyone to take it easy and waved. Very likable guy with a great personality. He was taking the guys you'll see below over to the Marriott near Mellon Arena.

Alex Goligoski

Gogo and Billy's friends whose names we can't tell you. Sorry!

The real Sidney Crosby. He dropped off his "booze" and proceeded to go over to a group of people waiting for autographs just down from his Range Rover. The people were polite when asking for autographs from the lesser known guys but once Sid started walking over there it was total chaos. People didn't care about barriers or anything for that matter and basically mobbed him. He was being surrounded and quite frankly we have no idea how he deals with it. The picture below shows the crowd, just before he became completely engulfed.

Sid's Range Rover and Fleury's Lamborghini

Marc-Andre Fleury

Fans above were asking him questions to which he said he didn't know. He then was telling the guy beside him to help Sidney because he was going to get mobbed. They weren't fast enough. A woman who came out took charge and told the mob he was leaving and basically dragged him out of there and forced him into his RR. Kind of amusing really. (See below)

Fleury hiding from the mob.

Chris Kunitz

That's it! It was a good day and an enjoyable experience. We mentioned it before but Chris Conner stood out to us the most. He has good speed and was scoring left and right. Eric Tangradi looked good as well. Dan Bylsma also has this child-like love of the game that really shows. He was out skating laps and shooting pucks with the rest of the guys and enjoying every second of it. Kids along the glass were taking pictures and he would skate by and make faces at their cameras. Just an all around good guy. We can't wait for the season to start.

The Pens had their annual Black and Gold game with the Black team winning 3-2. Alex Goligoski had a hat trick to win the game for the Black team. Details here.

The Pens play the Maple Leafs Friday in their last home preseason game.

The Pens will receive their Stanley Cup rings on September 29th.

Pens win first preseason game

The Pens won their first preseason game last night 5-4 against the Blue Jackets in overtime. Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz each had two goals with Chris Conner having the other. Besides all the goals, the game included a couple of fights. What a way to start off the season. For all the info on the game head over to Empty Netters where Seth live blogged the game. Remember that three games will be aired by NHL Network this preseason. September 21st at 7:30, September 22nd at 7:00, and September 27th at 5:00.

We did make our trip to training camp and will get some pictures up soon hopefully. Didn't get as many good ones as we would have liked but we've got a few worth a look. We hope some of you got a chance to go, it was a good time. Chris Conner had a goal last night and we're not surprised. He was one of the guys who stuck out to us in training camp because one, he's not very big, think the Stefan Logan of the Pens. And two, he was scoring left and right on the drills (Fleury was the goalie if that makes a difference to anyone). He seems to be making a good name for himself. Eric Tangradi seems to be looking good as well.

Lastly, a nice little article on Geno for your reading pleasure.

Pens take Game 2, up 2-0

(AP)

Whew! What a game. It was hard to settle down in this one, but what else is new? Crosby starting the scoring less than two minutes in felt good. But that didn't last long. It was back and forth goals until about half-way through the third period and then Geno decided that enough was enough and the Pens were going to win this game to take a 2-0 lead on this series. Who would have thought a 7-4 Pens win?

Game recap

Aftermath: Penguins 7, Hurricanes 4

- What a night for Geno. He was playing unbelievably awesome (Geno's word) hockey last night and scored a hat trick. The first goal he scored after jumping on the ice was a little nuts in our opinion. He made it look so easy. Jumps on the ice, goes hard to the net, shovels a puck past Ward and celebrates. Easy as pie. Right. And then if you thought he was done, you were so wrong. The crowd started a GENO! chant just before his second goal. Talk about perfect timing. Then right before his third goal we were like, okay Geno, time for a hattie! Oh yeaaaaah! What a shot! A no-look backhander? That's a Sidney Crosby move! We have to say it again, what a shot! The Versus announcer's call was pretty amusing, OH MY WORD! Lol. That was actually a play called "the Geno." Dan Bylsma said it isn't called the Geno for nothing. Talbot also said Geno told him what he was going to do and he did it. Lucky? No.

- How cool are Geno's parents? They get cooler every game. Geno's Dad was practically in tears after Geno's third goal and gave Mom a big kiss on the side of her head. What down to earth people. It's so nice to see something like this. Could  they fit in any better in Pittsburgh? We hope they never have to go back to Russia. Geno plays out of his mind when they're around. We couldn't find the Versus interview after the game with him but he was asked about his parents being here for this and he cited his Mom's good food. What a guy. He also said that his backhander goal was lucky. Yeah, okay Geno. His parents need to take the trip down to Carolina for sure.

- "My parents are superstars now." - Geno  Quote of the night for sure.

- Sidney Crosby: what a player. His drive is unmatched. Except maybe sometimes by Geno. He was out there doing everything and taking a beating doing it. He opened the scoring for the sixth, yes sixth, time in the playoffs. That's insane. We may be biased, but we're also not stupid. We'd take Crosby (or Malkin) over Ovechkin any day.

- Chris Kunitz finally had a goal! A nice one at that. His goal with 7.4 seconds left in the second period broke the tie and put the Pens up 4-3. We thought he had played well in the playoffs although putting in a goal or two is always good too. Now he finally gets off of people's bad list. At least for now.

- We don't know what it is with Max Talbot, but he scores big goals in big games. Geno got him the puck on a breakaway and Max decides to take a page out of Geno's book and blast a slap shot by Cam Ward. Nice.

- The Pens went 3-for-3 in killing penalties, including some 4-on-3 time. We liked how aggressive they were and they even got a couple chances to score shorthanded, including a Jordan Staal breakaway chance. Speaking of which...

- Are we the only ones that think Jordan Staal needs some confidence or something? His defensive play is great but his offense? Not so much. We're not saying he needs to bury that chance 100% of the time but geez. He's had quite a few chances to score in these first two games and the shots either haven't been good ones, he fans on it, or he decides to pass when he really should just shoot. Our answer is confidence and maybe he needs some but who knows.

- What happened to Miroslav Satan? He's looked really good in the playoffs. That one-on-one chance against Ward that he buries after some sick moves and now he's fighting?! Seriously, what's going on? He definitely deserves his spot in the lineup. We thought he always shied away from hits or fights. Not anymore obviously.

- Marc-Andre Fleury wasn't as sharp as he could have been, but he made the stops he needed to make. That big toe save early in the game was awesome. His love of his posts also obviously comes in handy at critical times. After a good shot hit the crossbar, Fleury could be seen giving it a nice pat down for it's fine work in saving that goal. You treat it well, it will treat you well back.

- Tyler Kennedy may not be scoring goals every night, but he continues to amaze us night in and night out. His energy is nuts. We have no idea where he gets it but it's pretty awesome. If he's racing to the puck, there's a good chance he's going to get possession of it. His work along the boards is great and he's not afraid to hit someone. He also had a heck of a shot on that empty netter. ;)

- Lastly, what is with the crowd? This is the Eastern Conference Finals, you need to be louder. There were plenty of times where we were like, WTF?! You're supposed to be jacked the entire game and you had plenty of goals to be jacked about. They were good at times but overall it was pretty unimpressive. Kind of embarrassing.

Geno's hat trick:

Geno's post-game comments:

Penguins at Post-Gazette

Go Pens!

Game 3

The Pens are back home for Game 3 in what we consider a must-win. There is no excuse for not stepping up at home in front of a crazy, whiteout crowd against a growing rival. The Pens cannot go down three games to none and it's time to play desperate. Despite their sub par play, they could have won either of the first two games. It's time to wake up, go to the net, and get as many shots as possible on Varlamov. It worked for Crosby, it can work for others. We like the Pens chances if they can do this. Although the defense needs to play better and not allow Ovechkin to be wide open time after time because he will burn you time and time again.

Time to get desperate. Time to step-up. Let's go.

Game preview

Penguins Confident Heading Into Game 3

Today is Black & Gold day, rally outside Mellon Arena, and a whiteout

Penguins Notebook  Kris Letang is questionable for the game although the injury isn't as bad as initially thought

Capitals Notebook  The Caps aren't happy about Chris Kunitz's cross-check on Varlamov in game 2. Kunitz was not suspended but was fined by the league. We do understand why the Caps would be upset, it was pretty blatant, but this coming from a team with a player suspended for just that is a little hypocritical. Ovie also had plenty to say that you can read in the link above and we have to say the same thing. It's not like it's never been said that Ovie takes cheap shots. He threatened revenge. Maybe he'll be too busy head hunting to score. Bring it Ovie.

There is also talk of Ovie's stick having an illegal curve. That may be true and it wouldn't surprise us, but we're not really going to comment on this one. Unless the Pens are going to ask for it to be checked there's no point in even talking about it. If you don't know, a Captain or Alternate has to ask for the stick to be checked. Can you imagine the backlash on Crosby if he asked for Ovie's stick to be measured? If the stick is in fact illegal that player's team will be assessed a minor penalty and be fined $200 and obviously said player cannot use that stick. If the accusing team is wrong, they will get the minor penalty and be fined $100.

The rest of the Post-Gazette's coverage

The crowd in Mellon Arena tonight better be loud and behind their team 100%. It's time to show Washington how hard it can be to play in Pittsburgh. We also hope Mom and Dad Malkin are there to give Geno a boost. If Geno plays well, the Pens have an awesome chance of making this series 2-1 with the next game still in Pittsburgh. Who knows what happens then.

Go Pens!

P.S. We've been watching hockey all night between Versus and NHL Network. We are now the proud owners of both channels. Ah, it's wonderful. Go Ducks.

Remember:

We have some Versus hockey stuff to give away! We'll randomly select a few winners to receive a Versus hockey merchandise pack. If you're interested in entering please send us an e-mail at faceoffsandfirstdowns @ gmail.com with GIVEAWAY as the subject. Please include your full name and address where it can be sent. We'll pick the winners Wednesday at NOON so please send your e-mail before then. Thanks!

EDIT: We will take entries until THURSDAY at NOON. Also, if you don't want to send your full address to enter, send us an e-mail and if you are chosen we will contact you to get your address.

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!

Ryan Whitney traded to Ducks

Ryan Whitney was traded to the Anaheim Ducks for forward Chris Kunitz and prospect Eric Tangradi. We're sure there are plenty of Pens fans who were happy to see Whitney go since he's been the target of a lot of people's complaints as of late. Personally, we're not exactly unhappy over this because we weren't huge fans, but we weren't exactly on the bash Whitney bandwagon either. If Chris Kunitz turns out to be a compliment to Sidney Crosby, we'll be more than happy with this trade. With Kris Letang being young and a good defenseman and having Alex Goligoski available, it seems like a good deal.

Chris Kunitz sounds like he could be good for Crosby. We can't say we've watched him personally, but we've heard he's got speed and he's willing to go to the net and be the gritty player the Pens could use, as well as willing to stick up for teammates and drop the gloves. He has 148 hits. He's averaged around 20 goals a season and has decent numbers. Crosby has the ability to make players around him better with his play-making skills. Some have argued he's had wingers in the past and hasn't done that. One thing to keep in mind is that not everyone can keep up with Crosby and maybe Kunitz will be able to do that.

Eric Tangradi is a prospect that seems to have a really good upside. Shero said their scouts really liked him his draft year and he's doing well in the OHL where he is the captain of his team, the Belleville Bulls. Tangradi is a 20 year old forward who stands at 6 feet - 4 inches tall, and weighs in at 221 pounds. He was drafted in the second round in 2007. Shero says he will be ready to turn pro next year.

Some reading material:

Penguins Pick Up Speedy, Gritty Winger

Kunitz Eager To Help Pens Playoff Push

Kunitz adds grit to lineup (Molinari - PG)

Penguins fans will miss Whitney soon (PG, none other than Ron Cook)

Ducks Acquire Whitney from Pittsburgh (Ducks perspective including a conference call with Whitney)

The Pens have recalled Tim Wallace from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and re-assigned Janne Pesonen back to WBS as well as placed Chris Minard on waivers. If Minard clears waivers he too will go back to WBS.

Sidney Crosby missed practice again on Thursday and says he is still day-to-day and will see how he feels on Friday.

Penguins Notebook: Crosby's status for tonight unclear

The Penguins will play the Chicago Blackhawks tonight at 8:30 p.m. in Chicago. This is the first game of a five game road trip. The Pens need to get points on this trip and that won't be easy. They need to play better than they did against the Islanders or this could be one really long road trip. We hope Crosby is ready to go so we can see him and new winger Kunitz and what they can do.

Game preview

It's time to buckle up. Let's Go Pens!