Penguins beat Ducks

The Pens are off on a West Coast trip this week where the weather is warm and the beach is near. Their first stop was in Anaheim to play the Ducks and visit old teammate Ryan Whitney. The Pens obviously didn't take in too much sun because they were able to pull out a victory, beating the Ducks 4-3.

The Ducks got on the board early with a goal from Corey Perry only four minutes into the game but the Ducks would put themselves up against the wall for almost the rest of the first period. The Ducks committed four penalties in a row and gave the Pens four chances to even the score at one but the Pens failed on all four chances. Things weren't exactly looking great for the Pens after not being able to score on four power plays but the lack of scoring wouldn't last for long.

About three minutes into the second period the Pens would get a goal from Mike Rupp, his FOURTH of the season, to tie the game at one. Tyler Kennedy and Jay McKee would get the assists. The Ducks would get a power play but the Pens successfully killed it. Jordan Staal also had Fleury's back when he made a fantastic save on a sure goal into an empty net and it wouldn't be the only time someone saved Fleury in this game. With a little less than ten minutes left in the second Kris Letang would score a goal on a Ducks delayed penalty in which the Pens had six on the ice. That put the them up 2-1. But then with under four minutes to go in the period, Corey Perry would strike again to tie the score at two. The game would remain tied going into the third.

Things were pretty back and fourth to start the third period until Alex Goligoski would score on a slap shot with just over twelve minutes left in the third period. Tyler Kennedy would show several times in this game what the Pens were missing without him in lineup but not more than on Gogo's goal. TK dove to keep the puck in the Duck's zone to get it Gogo who then let go on a slap shot that beat Jonas Hiller and put the Pens ahead 3-2. The lead wouldn't last long though as the Ducks quickly scored to tie it up. But that wouldn't last long either. Pascal Dupuis would score about a minute later on a slap shot to put the Pens up for good 4-3.

The rest of the third period was not easy though as the Ducks had their chances to tie it up again. Fleury would make a big glove save on Koivu, who thought for sure he had a goal. The second person to save a goal would be none other than Sidney Crosby. The Ducks were swarming a bit in the Pens' zone and we would see Sid break his stick, have Kunitz give him his and then giving it all he had playing without a stick. Fleury got caught out too far so Sid would lay down in front of the net and keep the shot out of it and keep the Pens' lead. Fleury owes Staal and Sid a drink for those remarkable saves.

The Pens would keep the Ducks from scoring in the last, frantic couple minutes of the game to win 4-3.

Recap

Aftermath: Penguins 4, Ducks 3

- Tyler Kennedy sure showed why the Pens don't want to be without him. He brings energy to any line he's on and isn't afraid to get gritty along the boards. He also plays hard and doesn't give up, as evidenced by his diving save to keep the puck in the zone and give it to Alex Goligoski for a slap shot that beat Hiller. How many people predicted Kennedy would be a player the Pens would miss that much?

- Jordan Staal and Sidney Crosby would show they have some goalie skills when they prevented two sure goals from going into empty nets. Crosby sure showed some grit and dedication when he threw himself on the ice to block a shot.

- The Pens first line didn't score, which means more now without Geno and the second line intact, but they still won. This sure shows the depth of this team when a guy like Mike Rupp has his fourth goal of the season (one more than his total last year) and two defensemen are scoring goals, with Gogo making a habit of it. Scary to think how good they really are considering how well they've done when not playing to the best of their abilities.

- Overall a pretty good game for the Pens even though things weren't clicking 100%. And the power play needs some serious help but without Geno and Gonch we kind of doubt it'll get better.

Next game is Thursday at 10:30 against the L.A. Kings.

Go Pens!

Maybe it just means he likes to wear tights

Quick post this morning to give you a new episode of Yinz Luv 'Da Stillers, some links, and the quote of the month.

Sidney Crosby will be one of 12,000 people to carry the Olympic torch before the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

If you were to think of what some of the Pens would dress up as for Halloween, we doubt you'd come up with a Care Bear and Kermit the Frog. Eric Goddard wore his Care Bear head to practice on Monday and Marc-Andre Fleury decided to play goalie with his Kermit the Frog mask on. It didn't work out too well though because he said he couldn't see. You can see pictures if you click on the link above.

More on Halloween from the Trib here.

Quote of the month courtesy of Sidney Crosby:

"I am not surprised he did that. He talks about that a lot. I think he was pretty happy to be a frog. For some reason he is always wearing tights with his costumes. I don't know why that is. He was Cat Woman before and now he was a frog with leggings so maybe it just means he likes to wear tights. I don't know."

- Sidney Crosby on Marc-Andre Fleury

Marc-Andre Fleury gets our real man of the week award. Why? All we have to say is real men wear tights. Seriously. What do most guys say about things like that? "That's gay." (We don't condone the use of that word in that context). If you're comfortable with your sexuality you're not concerned with "looking gay" like so many other men are. So Marc-Andre Fleury, continue to wear your tights and leggings because, you Sir, are a real man.

Pens play the Montreal Canadiens tonight at 7:30. Preview.

We haven't gotten through our pictures yet but we will soon.

Go Pens!

Pens dominate Blues

The Pens made it look mighty easy last night in their 5-1 win over the St. Louis Blues. The Blues didn't really look like they cared whether they won or lost, mistakes and turnovers were everywhere and their discipline left something to be desired.

- Gonchar is hurt and it is believed it is upper body but that's all that's been said. Pensblog has mentioned that some people hear it was a broken wrist. We won't know until later this morning more than likely. Let's just hope it's nothing serious.

- Tyler Kennedy just keeps scoring. He had his fifth goal tonight on a nice slap shot that went high glove side. All that energy and speed plus his goal scoring as of late make him someone the Pens don't want to lose. The Pens third line is the best third line in the NHL. Did we mention he leads the league in game winning goals (three)?

- We saw over at the Post-Gazette that Geno was trying out new skates tonight, some kind of prototype that Gonchar wore last year. Geno believes he is the only other player to have worn these skates. He said if he scored last night he would continue wearing the skates. Well guess what, he scored, so those skates should become permanent. Also, if you have Versus we hoped you enjoyed Geno in the Versus commercial like Sid's we posted earlier. We looked for it on YouTube and didn't see it, we'll look again later at some point. He produced a fine performance.

- Fleury still looks good. 8-0 looks even better. We're anxious to see if he plays in both upcoming games considering they have another back-to-back. We're just hoping he plays Saturday when we're at the game.

That's all for now, we can't even see straight. More to come.

Pens beat Lightning

The Pens took on old teammate Ryan Malone and the Tampa Bay Lightning last night at Mellon Arena and came out with a 4-1 victory. The Pens are now 7-1 with 14 points and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury sitting pretty with a perfect 7-0 record. The game looked about like it should have, the Pens dominating a lesser team, even giving the Lightning seven power plays in which they could only score once. The Pens cannot continue, however to give teams this many chances because all teams are not like the Lightning. We can't figure out exactly what it is with the lack of discipline or why but it is an aspect of their game they need to cut down on.

Speaking of things the Pens need to work on, the power play could use some help. The Pens were not bad in terms of puck possession, but were doing a heck of a lot of passing at times last night during the power play and not enough shooting and scoring. The Pens even had over a minute and a half on a 5-on -3 in which they couldn't capitalize. The Pens did have one power play goal courtesy of Billy Guerin early in the first period to put the Pens up 1-0. Assists coming from Evgeni Malkin and Alex Goligoski. Before the first period was over the Pens would make the score 2-0 on a Sergei Gonchar goal assisted by Brooks Orpik and Sidney Crosby.

In the second period Pascal Dupuis would take a tripping penalty to put the Lightning on the power play. With 13:42 left in the second, Steven Stamkos would score the Lightning's first and only goal of the night. But it wouldn't take long for the Pens to answer that goal with one of their own to take back their two goal lead. With 11:45 left in the second, Sergei Gonchar would appear to have another slap shot goal but it would later be awarded to Dupuis with assists from Ruslan Fedotenko and Gonch. Score now 3-1. The Lightning would take a ridiculous amount of penalties at the end of the second period, even giving the Pens a lot of time on a 5-on-3 but the Pens could not convert. The period would end with the Pens up 3-1.

The Pens would still have over a minute of power play time to start the third period but no goal once again. The Pens would get even more power play time during the first half of the period but there was still nothing going on there. But the scoring wasn't quite over for the Pens. With 8:39 left in the third, Mike Rupp would get his second goal from a nice Sidney Crosby backhand pass that would put the Pens up 4-1. The Lightning would get plenty of chances to score thanks to some penalties by the Pens but would fail to score another goal, even after pulling their goalie. Pens win 4-1.

Game recap

Aftermath: Penguins 4, Lightning 1

- We weren't sure about the Jay McKee signing but once again it's another example of just trust Ray Shero. McKee had SEVEN blocked shots last night and leads the league with 28 of them. He's not afraid to sacrifice his body to help the team, exactly as he was advertised.

- We've mentioned it before and we'll say it again, Alex Goligoski looks great. We thought he was good in his time with the team last year with Gonchar out but he's remarkably better this year. He made several great plays last night and even had a few tricks up his sleeves like his nifty backhand pass at the blue line during a power play. Looks like losing Scuds and Gill wasn't as painful as we thought.

- Fleury continues to look great. Not that he hasn't always been a loose and laid back kind of guy but he looks amazingly relaxed all the time. He has even more reason to stand in his crease and smile with a perfect 7-0 record this year and seeing pretty much anything that comes his way.

- How good do the Pens look in general? They are definitely not playing perfect hockey and taking way too many penalties and the power play could use a little help getting going but they're winning games and looking good doing it. If they can fix those faults, continue to get scoring from all lines, and Fleury keeps playing the way he has in the last seven games and it's kind of scary how good they could be.

Next game is Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. on Versus against the St. Louis Blues.

FSN has been airing segments called My Day With Stanley that chronicle what the players did on their day with the Cup. Last night was Geno and here's the video.

Let's Go Pens!

"I don't mind a little action in there"

Scott Hartnell will not be suspended or fined for biting Kris Letang. He had a phone hearing with the NHL yesterday. We would love to know what was said in this so-called hearing. With no video evidence to back it up, Hartnell was obviously not going to say that he bit him. Personally, we think that bite marks would be enough evidence of what obviously happened in that scrum but does this stuff ever really get solved logically? Nah.

Letang is fine and will have no problems playing today in Toronto. The only thing he had to say about the lack of discipline on Hartnell was "what happened, happened...I don't have to worry about it." Nice to see he chose to take the high road in all of this.

You're probably wondering what is with our choice of title for this post. It's a quote from Marc-Andre Fleury. Please get your mind out of the gutter now. Especially the ladies who fall for that amazing French-Canadian accent. Fleury was referring to the action in his crease in Thursday's game when Flyers Captain Mike Richards barreled into him in the final seconds of the game. He also decided to take the high road and say it's hard to know whether players run into the goalie on purpose and even felt bad for kicking him in the face, but said "I don't mind a little action in there." We're sure it was said with a smile.

Ever since we saw this commercial on Versus, we'd been looking for it on YouTube. Finally found it and here it is for you. Enjoy Sid in a more comical moment.

Filthy in Philly

You didn't really think that the Pens could get out of Philly without something shady going down did you? We didn't think so. The Flyers proved once again how dirty they are with a few displays, none bigger than Scott Hartnell's biting of Kris Letang's finger. In our opinion there aren't too many things that are worse, or more disgusting, to do to someone on the ice (or field) than biting someone. Especially when you break the skin. Kris Letang should be due for a tetanus shot.

Biting someone is extremely juvenile, but not surprising coming from Hartnell. He denies biting Letang, but a Philly blog claims he chucked as he said it. Sounds like he's telling the truth. Or not. We don't know how the league handles situations like this when replays are inconclusive but if he bit Letang, we'd have to think that Letang's finger would have marks consistent with a human bite. (That was horrible to type.) If the league decides that Hartnell did in fact bite Letang, we're assuming a suspension and fine would be in order. Last year, Jarkko Ruutu was suspended two games without pay for biting an opponent and this should render the same.

We'll have to wait and see how all of this plays out but it's definitely something the league needs to look into because biting is beyond disgusting and should not be tolerated in any form. This should also add fuel to the rivalry. As if it needed any more.

The video of the scrum:

Letang's comments after the game:

Thoughts on the game:

- Physical as usual but then, what else would you expect?

- Still too many penalties. Why are Sid and Geno going to the box so much? Geno was in there three times last night. That has to change.

- Fleury looked great. Yes, Fleury let in four goals but none of them were soft. Not to mention two were power play goals and one was on a 5-on-3.

- How weird was that goal by Goligoski? It was nice of Braydon Coburn to put it into his own net off of Ray Emery. Gogo can just consider it payback for his non-goal the night before.

- Will Philly fans ever stop the Crosby sucks chant? Dumb question, we know. It's bad enough when he's on the ice but is it really necessary all game long? What did Crosby ever do to you? Play well and average 2 points a game against your team? Yeah, that's what we thought.

- We're going to assume that you saw the mother and son behind the Pens bench with Pens stuff on and then a "no" sign over it. Who in the world buys a Stanley Cup Champs t-shirt for a rival team and does that? And your kid a jersey?! That alone speaks volumes. Nice of them to contribute to the sales of more Pens stuff.

Go Pens!

Pens spoil Tavares' debut

The Pens went to New York and spoiled the Islanders' home opener as well as last year's first round draft pick, John Tavares' first NHL game. The big story line was John Tavares' first game in the NHL and he didn't do half bad, scoring his first NHL goal and assist, but Sidney Crosby decided not to let him have a perfect night by scoring the game-winning shootout goal. It wasn't easy and the Pens didn't look nearly as sharp but they came back from two one-goal deficits to beat the Islanders 4-3 in a shootout.

After each team had had a failed power play, Sidney Crosby would score the first goal of the game with 11:10 left in the first period. Taking a nice off-the-wall pass from Ruslan Fedotenko, Crosby was off to the races on a breakaway in which the defense was no match as he snuck the puck past Roloson five-hole for his second goal in two games to make the score 1-0.

We would see our second fight of the season not long after Crosby's goal between Mike Rupp and Tim Jackman. Feel free to ignore the NY commentators.

Not long after that you would see another fight between Jay McKee and Brendan Witt after Witt had a big hit on Fedotenko.

After all the penalties were doled out, the Islanders ended up with a two-minute 5-on-3 that they would cash-in on. With 7:20 left in the first period, Mark Streit scored a power play goal to tie the game at one. The Pens would successfully kill the rest of that penalty and we would go into the second period still tied at one.

John Tavares would score his first goal in the NHL on a power play with 12:51 left in the second period to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead after they got Mark Eaton for hooking. The Pens would get a power play in the second period as well but could not cash in. With around ten minutes left in the period, John Tavares would get a chance at his second NHL goal on a breakaway, but Fleury said no and made a great save on him one-on-one. The Pens didn't really turn it on until the last five or so minutes of the second period but we would still go into the third with the Islanders winning 2-1.

The Pens would get a power play less than a minute into the third period but could not find a way to cash-in, although they did get their chances. Eventually Mark Eaton would score with 12:41 left in the third to tie the game at two. That lead wouldn't last long though as the Islanders would score less than twenty seconds later to take the lead again 3-2. The Pens were having some pretty good chances and they finally found the net when Feds was at the net with a lot of traffic and bounced the puck off of an Islanders skate and into the net. Talk about lucky bounces. Score tied 3-3. Despite a late penalty called on Billy Guerin for slashing with 2:39 left in the third period, the Pens would kill it off and send the game into overtime.

In overtime the Pens would have a few chances but could not cash-in. Letang also made a huge play to prevent the Islanders from setting up a potential goal on a 2-on-1 by diving to the ice and blocking the pass. Five minutes were up and it was time for a shootout.

The Islanders decided they would shoot first and sent out Jeff Tambellini who hit the crossbar. The Pens would send Kris Letang out first who got the puck past Roloson to give the Pens the lead. John Tavares was next but he couldn't get the puck past Fleury, Pens still up 1-0. Sidney Crosby was the Pens' second shooter with the chance to win the game. He decided to go five-hole again and it worked, Pens win 4-3.

Game recap

Boxscore

- Overall we thought this wasn't the Pens' best effort but they still found a way to come from behind and win, something they were great at last season.

- Both teams appeared very sloppy at times we thought but overall it was still an entertaining game.

- Sidney Crosby looks great in these first two games, scoring two goals and winning the shootout. That stick also seems to look pretty good as well. We're sure most of you know by now, but in case you don't, Crosby used to use two-piece sticks. The blade being wood and the shaft of the stick being composite but getting those blades made was starting to get difficult. This summer Crosby decided to try a one-piece composite stick on his own at home and in training camp. He obviously liked what he saw because he has stuck with it. The stick has a slightly bigger curve than his wood stick but not by much. It was also noted tonight that Sid weighted his stick down with sand in the shaft of the stick to make it heavier and work on his shot. You probably won't find too many stars with a work ethic like his.

- Sidney Crosby also recorded his 400th career point tonight with his goal and assist. He is the sixth fastest player to reach 400 points, taking him 292 games.

- We think Tyler Kennedy looks good this season. He's the fastest one to the puck a majority of the time. He's willing to get in the corners and grind it out with anyone. He'll chip-in a puck and blow by the defense to get it first. He's made more than one person look bad so far. Jordan Staal also looks good to us.

- Marc-Andre Fleury looks pretty spot on, making some more great saves again last night.

- Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski look good as well.

Pens' next game is Wednesday against the Phoenix Coyotes at 7:30 p.m.

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.

One more game

(Getty)

Pens win 2-1 to force a game 7 back in Detroit for the Stanley Cup. One more game. Friday can't come soon enough.

Wow, what a game. We're sure we weren't the only ones with our hearts pounding, sitting on the edge of our seats. This game was obviously huge for both teams, but especially the Pens. Marc-Andre Fleury needed to play a spectacular game and he did. His defense also helped him out by blocking a lot of shots and Rob Scuderi even decided to play goalie with just seconds on the clock with Detroit knocking on the door. And no, he didn't use his hand to cover the puck.

Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were held scoreless, which means the Pens needed secondary scoring. And they got it. The third line last night was great, even scoring both of the Pens' goals. Jordan Staal scored first early on in the second period, while Tyler Kennedy scored the game-winner a little over five minutes into the third period. Kennedy also had an assist on the Staal goal for a great night.

One more game. A winner takes all game 7 for the Stanley Cup. Wow. Who would have thought after all the Pens went through? It's time to raise the Cup on their ice this time. If they play anything like they did last night, dominate most of the time, they have a great chance of doing just that.

Game recap

Aftermath: Penguins 2, Red Wings 1

Penguins coverage at the Post-Gazette

- Fleury was the first star of the game and deservedly so. What a game after such a disappointment in game 5. We didn't think that was all his fault at all, but getting five goals scored against you isn't exactly a good time. That save with less than two minutes left in the period on Cleary on a breakaway was huge. Who knows what would have happened had this game been tied.

- The Pens came out with the win and that's all that matters but what frustration when it comes to all the chances! After the first period we were in disbelief that none of those chances went in. They were dominating all the way around but had nothing to show for it at the end of one. Obviously it didn't get them down because sooner rather than later they got that first goal. They're going to need to play just like that in Detroit if they want to win the Stanley Cup on Friday night.

- The third line was spectacular. They were doing everything last night. Tyler Kennedy and Jordan Staal more than deserved what they got. Staal was great both offensively and defensively and TK was working hard. A third line like that is exactly what the Pens need, especially when you're top two aren't able to cash-in.

- Rob Scuderi is absolutely insane. What a beast. He was blocking shots, playing goalie, and just playing an all around awesome defensive game. He was a plus 2 with four blocked shots and a couple of saves in the crease. He cleared at least two pucks from the crease earlier in the game off of rebounds and then his three or four saves in the last seconds of the game were just insane. He was obviously giving 110% out there and that makes us feel good going into game 7.

- We have to say it. The announcers, especially Pierre McGuire, are horrible. It was a Detroit love fest all night, especially Chris Osgood. OMG, he's so amazing! Yeah, okay. But the worst of the night in our opinion was the talk of Rob Scuderi covering the puck with his hand in the final seconds. OMG because we haven't seen that before in this series! WTF?! Give Zetterberg a pass and criticize Scuds up and down for it. And the best part was that he didn't even touch it with his hand! Even after they showed it from above and it was obvious he never touched it, they were still like "oh, I don't know!" Are you blind? Ridiculous. NBC definitely sucks.

- The crowd seemed nice and loud last night all game. Exactly what the Pens needed. The Fleury chant before the game was extra awesome in our opinion. We're sure Fleury felt a little taller hearing that. Nice to see the entire city of Pittsburgh isn't on the Fleury bashing bandwagon.

- We also have to give credit to Brooks Orpik for a nice game with six blocked shots and obviously a ton of hits. Petr Sykora also deserves mention for getting in there and blocking a shot early. He might not have played much or had a huge impact on the game, but it's nice to see he's willing to do whatever he can for the team.

Friday really can't get here soon enough.

Go Pens!

Pens down 2-0

(AP)

So the Pens are down two games to none in the Stanley Cup Final. Everyone is blaming Marc-Andre Fleury. Forget the rest of the team, it's all MAF's fault. We might as well give up now because Chris Osgood just can't be beat. We've got two of the best players in the NHL and they just can't score against Chris Osgood, the best goalie to ever play the game. So let's give up, blame Fleury, and hand the cup to Osgood and the Wings. You with us?

Seriously, let's calm the heck down here and at least play the next two games in this series. Are we really the only ones who are flashing back to Washington? The goalie was good and on the Pens' best chances, they just couldn't get that favorable bounce. The Caps took the first two games at home and everyone was worried. What happened after that? The Pens won three in a row and were right back in the series. The Wings are a different monster than the Caps were, but if there is any team that can come back from a 2-0 deficit, it's the Pens. Right? It's not time to stand around like idiots and freak out. It's time to get behind the Pens and believe.

First off, let's admit that the Pens have looked like the better team pretty often in these first two losses. The Pens have definitely had the better scoring chances and just can't get them to go. And before everyone starts saying how awesome Chris Osgood is, we have other things to say. How many posts have the Pens hit? What about Crosby's nice chance last night where Osgood was obviously beat but it hit his skate. Osgood himself thought he was beat. And how about Crosby's other chance where Henrik Zetterberg thought it would be a good idea to once again get his ass in the crease and do something illegal. You couldn't see the puck on that play, but anyone with a brain can plainly see what he did. He knew where that puck was and he used his hand to cover it. Twice in two games. Probably should have been two penalty shots. Bullshit. It's time to call a penalty now and then.

Now let's get to number two, the refs. This is the last thing we ever wanted to discuss because it always gets labeled as whining. And in a lot of cases, it is whining. But we have to take a stand on this series. The lack of penalties being called in this series is nothing short of atrocious. Hossa's slash on Pascal Dupuis just before the Wings scored? Hello! How about Jordan Staal's bloody face on two occasions? Or the infamous Zetterberg puck cover ups. Not to mention the other grabbing, holding, elbowing etc. in this series. This isn't even hockey anymore. It's a joke. The Pens might just have to start lowering themselves to the Wings standards in order to get a win. That and a few favorable bounces. And few less favorable bounces for the Wings.

Other things about game 2:

- Dupuis was put in the lineup last night instead of seven defensemen. We kind of liked the idea at first because Dupuis is a good penalty killer and has a lot of speed. We don't know if we can really say he played well or not. We're kind of eh on this subject.

- We could talk about the penalties some more but, nah.

- We mentioned it above but the Pens have had plenty of chances. Enough chances to beat the Wings. Those go in and we're in a totally different situation. Hopefully being at home will give the Pens the chances they need. And deserve.

- Marc-Andre Fleury was not his best, that was obvious, but the only goal we really had a problem with was the last one by Mr. Applicator (applicator of what? Sorry, we couldn't resist) which he should have had. The D could have been better as well.

- Speaking of goalies, we said above how we feel about Osgood. Some talent obviously, but also very lucky. He's definitely not unbeatable. But last night's dive after Talbot poked him with his stick was awesome. Who the heck does that?! It's the end of the game first of all, what did he think he was going to get out of that? And then the idiot proceeds to toss the puck in his own net. Obviously the whistle had blown and that was not a goal, but aren't goalies superstitious about pucks going into their net? Karma is a bitch. Maybe between Talbot's hit and Osgood throwing a puck into his own net, the Pens will have some good luck at home.

- Sidney Crosby obviously isn't playing quite up to his ability but you can thank Zetterberg and his shitty tactics for that one. Even so, he's played really well and had some great chances last night. We give him a lot of credit for his attitude in talking to the media after games. It's got to get really old talking to the media after every game, practice, skate, whatever day after day. And then when you lose even after you've played well and you're a little frustrated...well, we'd probably be pretty bitchy. He believes in himself and his team. As he should.

- Wah, wah, wah. So Geno isn't suspended for game 3. Like he really should have been? Or like you thought he would or should after the Ovechkin lack of suspension? No. He was frustrated and was trying to do something for his team. Good way to set a tone for game 3. The Pens aren't going to lay down and give up without a fight. Osgood's flop after the Talbot poke would have been enough for us to punch a Wing or two. Let alone Zetterberg and his antics. *Gag*

- How did we not complain about this after game 1? Probably because it was late and we're out of our mind at that time. We might just have to do this later after every game. Anyway, NBC sucks. Not that it's anything new, but for heaven's sakes, WTF?! Do these guys smoke a little something before games or what? We like Darren Pang and Doc but Pierre and Mike? OMG. And that whole you're the coach and what are you telling your players BS and fight between the two was ridiculous. We want someone who actually knows what they're talking about and can make comments we never could. You know, something other than "the puck is on the ice." Geez.

Game recap

Aftermath

Penguins Remain Confident, Unshaken

Penguins coverage at the Post-Gazette
Yinz Luv 'Da Guins game 2:

It's time to believe. You in or you out?

Go Pens!