Not too much going on for the Pens on the first day of free agency, but they do have a new face. The Pens signed former Devils forward Mike Rupp who once played for the Erie Otters. He signed a two-year deal worth $800,000 next season and $850,000 in 2010-11. He's a physical player who isn't afraid to drop the gloves, as shown in the picture above. He's even taken up boxing lessons in the offseason to improve his skills.
We find this signing a little surprising but the cap hit isn't bad and we trust Ray Shero knows what he's doing.
The Pens lost a couple of faces yesterday as well. Hal Gill signed with the Montreal Canadiens for two years, $4.5 million. Mathieu Garon signed a two-year deal with Columbus averaging $1.2 million.
These aren't surprising losses, although we'll miss Hal Gill, he was a good player and a good guy. Hopefully now the Pens can find a way to keep Scuderi who still says he will give the Pens the last chance at an offer.
The Pens beat the Islanders 6-1 last night. The game started out pretty slow and with the Islanders getting the first goal about five minutes into the game. The Pens didn't let themselves stay down for too long though. With a little less than six minutes left in the the first, Phillippe Boucher scored the Pens' first goal with assists going to Malkin and Fedotenko. You wouldn't think Boucher was out for so long seeing him in this game.
The second saw two more Pens goals in the first half of the second period. Dupuis had a goal around four minutes into the second to put the Pens up 2-1. About five minutes later, Matt Cooke would make the score 3-1. Kennedy and Staal received the assists on this goal and Staal made a beautiful pass to Cooke for the score. After the goal, Cooke could be seen telling Staal he made a great pass. The Islanders would get a 5-on-3 power play that was killed by the Pens. Garon made some really great saves at the end of the period to keep the score 3-1.
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Four minutes into the third period, the Islanders would get yet another 5-on-3 power play that would once again be killed by the Pens. With 8:52 left in the period Bill Guerin would score a goal against his former team to make the score 4-1. Sidney Crosby would get the only assist. Not long after that the Pens would get a power play in which Gonchar would score. malkin and Crosby got the assists to make the game 5-1. With 3:02 left in the game, kennedy would add on another goal to make the game 6-1. Kennedy's goal was awesome and he made a nice move. Game over, Pens win.
After the game the Pens did their annual "shirts off our backs" promotion. For those who may not know what this is, fans are randomly chosen to receive the jersey off the back of one of the Pens, which they then sign. We definitely wish we could have been in on that, it's a great gesture by the team to reward their loyal fans.
Here is Geno, Sid, and Letang:
Last night was also the annual awards ceremony, including the "Good Guy" award and MVP. You can watch all of it here:
Geno's interview with Dan Potash:
His English is great and he looks great after a haircut. On Alexander Ovechkin not getting any points tonight and him having a four point lead on him in points, "it's great news." Said with a smile. We couldn't have said it any better ourselves. How can you not love the guy?
Something else you can get in on would be the Penguins Beard-a-thon where you are encouraged to "grow one for the team." It is intended to raise money for the Mario Lemieux Foundation. You can participate by growing a beard, pledging someone you know, or pledging one of the participating Pens players. We find this to be a great idea for some fun and helping out a charity. If any guys or guys you know are going to participate in this and you want us to call attention to you or them, let us know, we'd love to help and view all the great beards. Go here to check out the website.
The Pens' last game of the regular season will be Saturday against the Canadiens in Montreal. Could be a game that really matters when it comes to the playoff seeding. We can't believe the regular season only has one game left. Where did it go?
