Finally It's Friday

Hope everyone enjoyed the time off.
These next 10 days are going to be insane.

You know what they say.

Lets kick the tires and light the fires.

.......................................


Evgeni Malkin gives his first English interview. [ PG]

Asked how he is learning English, Malkin said, "I see movies. Gonch helps me translate." "Gonch" is defenseman, fellow Russian and landlord Sergei Gonchar, who encourages Malkin to speak English.

Jes Golbez gives us some more greatness.

Jordan Staal and his slump. [ Fanhouse ]

Some guy is swimming in this season's team media guides. [ The Hockey News ]
Crosby is one of three players in the league to be the only player on their respective team's media-guide cover.

More Crosby More Crosby [ Globe and Mail ]
* TSN reports the new schedule format is a done deal. [ TSN ]

Some dude listed some players who should go back in time and re-think who they signed with in the offseason. [ NHL.com ]
Darryl Sydor makes the list.

.........................................................................

Ross McKeon jumps into the NHL schedule discussion. [ Yahoo ]

A look at attendance and team-popularity trends around the NHL. Solid read. [ National Post ]

"While interest has increased in small markets, where teams now compete on an even economic plane, it seems people in the large markets preferred it when their team had the ability to outspend opponents."

Jeff Verzsyla, thoughts?


"Those are fair-weather fanbases.
And I eat dung."

Some guy with a face noticed that the Islanders are trapping big-time this season, and talks about how to remedy the NHL scoring draught. [ Ottawa Citizen ]

Widen the rinks! [ Globe and Mail ]
Is it a way to remedy the aforementioned draught?

Gary Bettman shut it down on his radio show,
saying widening would disrupt the sight-lines of fans. [ Kukla's Korner ]


Picture: Huge netting alters the sight-lines of almost 40% of fans.

Staying with Bettman blog, he says that the NHL players may not participate in the 2014 Olympic games. [ TSN ]

Yeah, that's a while from now. But that won't be pretty.



...................................................................


Tuomo Ruutu was chillin, joggin down the street.
Then got arrested because he matched the description of an armed robber. [ Daily Herald ]


Where does Jerome Iginla rank in the Calgary Flames all-time greats? [ TSN ]
TSN gives you a handful of players to rank Iginla with.
But one player is noticeably absent.


1990's Internet Alert: Pic courtesy of [ Calgary Flames Pictorium ]
2,900 Flames pics.


Steve Avery struck out Orlando Merced, then got that radio station in Toronto to retract that stuff about Jason Blake. [ Kukla's Korner ]


Speaking of Avery, he is undergoing wrist surgery. [ Yahoo ]
Now that Elisha Cuthbert dumped him, it looks like he has taken matters into his own hands.


Any reference to masturbating and hockey demands that a high five takes place somewhere.


The Flyers are offering prizes and shit for fans that vote Flyers into the All-Star Game. [ NHL Digest ]
Damn it, the Flyers blow.

..............................................

Going through the old Pens pages the other night was the highlight of our 2007 calendar year.

Then we realized there are 29 other teams to cover.

The first thing we did was go find Florida Panther pages,
looking for pics from the 1996 Eastern Conference Finals.


Ouch. Ouch. That hurts.


Replace Lindros with Lemieux or Jagr, and that was the 96 Conference Finals.




And this picture is just sickening, even with Rod Brind'Amour being stunned.



1990s: [ Days of our Laus ]
"The one and only award-winning Paul Laus web site."

...................................................................

Recchi blog

Tons of Mark Recchi info coming in.

Remember, the only thing we break is wind.

So we reccommend the following sites to get you any breaking news about a possible trade.
[ LGP ]
[ Empy Netters ]
[ Faceoff Factor ]

Recchi already started moaning. [PG]

"I'm not really sure," Recchi said. "We're kind of fighting an uphill battle here right now. I don't know where I fit in here."





[All by "Hillier"]



[ Mark Recchi Home Page ]
It's in French, but it doesn't matter.



Recchi's bobblehead night is Monday night.

Strangely enough, if he is dealt,
it will not be the first time a Pens player has been traded before his booblehead was released.

Alexi Kovalev didn't make it to his bobblehead night in 2003.

......................................................

Random Youtube

Avery gets douched.
Thanks to
Nick Z.


Mark Recchi even sucks on video games.



....................................................

Read John B went to the Hockey Hall of Fame and got some sweet pics. [ Flickr ]


Nice

....................................................
Go Pens

A Post A Day Keeps Mark Recchi Away

Geocities, Angelfire and Tripod....Oh My

Jes Golbez loves talkin' Pens.

This time, he wonders if Mark Recchi has come to the end. [ Fanhouse ]

Fanhouse also got another solid blogger this week:
[Kevin Schultz]
From one of our favorites, [Barry Melrose Rocks] joined the solid list of writers.

Fanhouse NHL is a big deal.


The Pens are 21st in McKeon's latest Power Rankings. [ Yahoo ]

.........................................................

For the second straight day, we bring a really insane story about kids and hockey.

This time, it's the big story coming out of Canada that a recent hockey game ended with a big melee between the teams.

No big deal, except these players were of the 8-year-old variety. [ Fanhouse ]

"They started chirping at each other, and before you knew it, players were leaving the benches as much as the coaches tried to stop them."

What do 8-year-olds say when they chirp at each other?
No banging your girlfriend quips, no balls quips.

And...a video from the stands that recorded the brawl is in the hands of police.
And rumor has it that it shows one of the coaches walking up to the other coach and spitting in his face.

....................................................................

The proposed NHL schedule change for next season:

Six games against each divisional opponent. ( 24 )
Four games against everyone else in your conference. ( 40 )
One game against everyone in the other conference. ( 15 )
Three jobber games that are gonna fill the holes. ( 3 )
[ Toronto Sun ]


The history of the goal judge. [ Kukla's Korner ]

This guy just looks like he's up to no good.

...............................................................


If we were professionals, we would be morally forced to talk about all the stuff coming out of Toronto regarding GMs and coaches.
Thank God we're not.


Scott Hartnell is out two for games for owning a Bruin. [ TSN ]


Bryzgalov comes back to Anaheim.
And wins 4-3.


Jagr may be an unrestricted free agent next year?
Yeah. [ NY Post ]

If Jagr doesn't score 40 goals or 84 points...
If Jagr doesn't win the Art Ross or the Hart...
While the Rangers don't win a playoff series...

...he will not hit the incentives in his contract that would trigger an option for next season.

...............................................

Weirdblog


Two minutes for absolving.


Gary Roberts' stick.

.....................................................

Our people, this is why I invented the internet.

PENSBLOG WARNING

IF YOU CONTINUE SCROLLING DOWN AND TAKE YOUR OWN PATH THROUGH THESE SITES AND THEIR LINK PAGES, YOU MAY NEVER ESCAPE.

And we must say in advance that most of these sites are Geocities and Tripod, so many people may get to the sites to see that we've exceeded their bandwidth, like we did with Ron Newcomer.

[ Pengman66 ]
Any site that blasts you in the mouth with "the Hey Song" in midi form means business.

[ Pens Multimedia Page ]
Hey Song midi again.

[ Thayne93's Page ]
"California Dreamin'" midi.
No clue what's going in.

[ Todd's Penguin Page ]
If someone puts their own name in the title, you know it's a solid site.

[ The old LetsGoPens.com ]
They thought they could get away with it, but here's their old Geocities site.

[ Andy's Pens Page ]


This page is dedicated to the gods of hockey: The Pittsburgh Penguins! And the best hockey foursome ever: Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Ron Francis, and Petr Nedved!

[ Tribute to John Leclair ]
The site is now defunct.
You gotta like how the person running the site thinks anyone cares.
That pic up top may be the first photoshop ever made.

[ Nemesis' Penguins Page ]
A Tripod site that is up-to-date. Unreal.
You have to admire the loyalty to Tripod.
We think he's on LetsGoPens.com.

[ The Penguin Zone ]
"Sorry for the lack of updates"
-- February 2005

[David Graffius' Universe-Mark Recchi]
Sigh
"...Lists People Magazine as his favorite magazine and Sex and the City as his favorite TV show to watch."


[Druidess' Home Page]
"As you can see, it is mainly 'bout the Pittsburgh Pens." If you don't like it, well then, tuff shit! I update this daily most of the time."
-- April 1998



This site was the original Photoshop Expo page.








[ NJ's Penguins Page ]
Folks, this is where it's at.

There's pictures on there that will make you pinch your balls.


The original "player = stunned" pic.









WE THOUGHT THAT WAS IT.
WE WERE SORELY MISTAKEN.

We bring you:

[ Yvan's Pens Page ]

On the surface, it reeks of 1995 internetblog using Netscape Navigator.

And he has some [ movie clips ] of Pens crap.
Unfortunately, only the first four movies work, since the guy hot-linked the rest from NHL.com pages that don't exist anymore.

[ Casey's Penguins Page ]
Are you ready for the start of the 1999-2000 season?


My girlfriend Erika Madden. She is the most wonderful girl i have ever met in my life. For the past 7 months we have talked on the net just about everyday.

Casey Kuntz

Wow

[ Dunfee's Pens Page ]
Warning: Do not enter unless you're a Pens fan.

His recap of a Montreal/Pens playoff game:
You ask yourself ..What did the third line of Robbie Brown, Alex Hicks and Sean Pronger do for the team to win this game.

[ Jim's Pens Page ]

The brightest point of the game is that the Pens finally held a team to 30 shots. If they can keep every team to thirty shots, the highly talented offense should be able to win 90% of the games.

[ Michelle's Kasparaitis Page ]
"Bad to the Bone"



[ Neeraj's Pens Shrine ]


A Jeff Beukeboom-free zone.

[ Ron Francis Fan Federation ]




[Where are they now ]

Dan Kesa

"..While he didn't put many pucks into the net, his solid 3rd and 4th line play and his penalty killing play has made him a important part of the Penguins team. After one season the Penguins and Kesa decided to part ways making him a free agent."

Hope your sitting down for this one.

[Jessica's Jean Sebsatian Aubin Page]

I am very sad to report that I won't be updating this page as much as I would like to. As all of you know, Aubin is out for the season because of a hurt ankle. Snow is now taking the spotlight as goalie. Yes, I am upset by this move, but there is not much we can do. But I know that Aubin would be doing his best in the net, just as Snow is trying to do as well. Anyways, if I find any more info on Number 30, I will relay it ASAP! GO PENS!

But wait Jessica lives on.

[Jessica's Jagr Fan Page ]

There have been some steamy rumors going around that Jagr is going to be traded over the summer...things are not looking good. I'm not sure how true they are, but I guess we will find out soon enough!

Mario is really impressed with their new goalie, Johan Henberg. He has been more than awesome in the net and showing the Pens he can take the pressure. I hate to be disloyal to Aubin...but come on. This guy is awesome! For a great story, go here!

Good to see she was still loyal to Aubin.

[ Brett's homepage ]

'The Bottom line is that when the Pens get hungry they are unstopable. "

............................

This site may be the winner.

[ Johnny's Penguin Page ]

The following picture may change you life.


Speechless
......................................

Random pic:


Robert Dome...
and that might be Newcomer's kid.

........................................

There are so many other places to go.
This is the kind of stuff that happens when the Pens don't play for a week.

Yep

If you didn't watch the Steeler game, it's easy to re-create the experience.

Pay some guy 5 bucks to watch him pee on a cat.


We'll poke fun of the Steelers.
But honestly it doesn't get much worse than Miami.
0-11.

That's embarrassing.
Almost as embarrassing as that thing they call a field out there.

....................................................

Well, this only seems appropriate:




pry
+


Stick
+

Mark Recchi's dead hands.

=

Almost. [ PG ]

Recchi's agent has the "talk" with King Shero.

"It's safe to say I've had some conversations with Ray regarding the current status," Curran said yesterday. "When any player finds himself not playing, you call and find out how things are, what's going on."


....................................

Mark Madden made a list of what he wants to see from the Pens. [ Times Online ]

[ Sports Illustrated ] has a column on the Pens.

[ NHL.com ] does their Atlantic Notebook:

The Pens have hit their stride with 10 goals in their last two wins and have won two in a row for the first time since Oct. 23.

Sidney Crosby is dominating All-Star voting. [ ESPN ]

[Empty Netters] with the link of the month.
The Wheeling Nailers signed Frankie Leroux. [Wheeling Nailers ]

If you aren't on board with a Frankie Leroux comeback, you don't know what's going on.

And lastly....

Relive the 4-OT classic in Washington. [Doubt about it ]
Sick.

...................................................



Some dude with a blog at the [ Denver Post ] has this to say:

A little birdie told me the Avs had scouts at the Penguins-Senators game the other night, so start your trade rumors from those locations.

Personally, I think the Avs might be considering getting Marc-Andre Fleury, the former first-round goalie pick who hasn’t been that great for the Pens. But that’s just a hunch, not based on big word of mouth. John-Michael Liles could be part of that mix, but again, just a hunch.

Yeah, we have a hunch John-Michael Liles is a joke.

.........................................................

There's some news that just has to be addressed.

This past Friday night, during post-game ceremonies at a Princeton Bruins hockey game,
some kid won a Nintendo Wii. [ Fanhouse ]

He was undoubtedly pumped and probably ran down from the stands with excitement to claim his prize.

On his way down, he apparently fell.
He was pronounced dead later on at a nearby hospital.

Wow.

...............................................................

[ New York Times ] did a nice piece on shot-blocking in the NHL.

...........................................................


No one knows what to make of the Flyers.
Last night was the first game against the Bruins since Bergeon got owned.
And there was even another controversial hit in the game last night. [ TSN ]

Stay classy


Guy Lafleur says this year's Canadiens team bring four 4th lines to the table. [ TSN ]

Saku Koivu: "...when a team is number one on the powerplay in the National Hockey League, I think you have more than four fourth lines."

Guy Lafleur = 5 rings.
Saku Koivu = Just watching.


Why was the release of Ilya Bryzgalov a big deal?
'Cause he's 4-0 since coming to Phoenix. [True Coyote Love ]


Look out for Dallas.
They've won six straight. [Stars blog ]

We hear of Eastern Conference teams going on West Coast trips.
And now we see the Dallas Stars, who are visiting all five Atlantic Division teams over the course of seven days.


Sabres have won 5 straight.[Die by the Blade ]


Toronto is burning.
[Toronto sun ]

Good times
..................................



Here's an excerpt from the new "Gretzky to Lemieux" book:

"Well, maybe he (Gretzky) wasn't in the best shape on this night (Game 2 of the finals). Midway through the first overtime, there's a stretch when Gretzky is noticeably absent. The problem, as the Great One would later relate, is he'd worked himself to the point of exhaustion, lost control of his bodily functions, and wet himself while he was sitting on the bench."



...........................................................


[ The Mario Lemieux Foundation ] has extended the online auction to December 5th.
No question, check it out.

..........................................

November 26, 1991

Badger Bob passed away 16 years ago yesterday. [Going Five Hole ]

If this doesn't give you goosebumps.
Nothing will:





It cannot be said enough:

It's a great day for hockey.


Go Pens.

That's All It Takes, Really -- Pressure...And Time.

Job Tour?

Wow.
We have almost a full week of no Penguins games.
We are staler than Rosie Odonnell's vagina.
Time to get back to the immaturity that makes life worth living.
Someone is going to get jobbed.

You know, it has been quite a while since we dialed the number 412-333-PCNC


...............

Everyone remembers when the NFL had ESPN take "Playmakers" off the air because it conveyed the NFL in a negative light.

Now we're gonna get a chance to see if Gary Bettman and the NHL has the same leverage.
CBC will be airing a show titled " MVP," a soap opera crap about life and time of players of a fictional professional hockey team.

[Edmonton Journal]



If anything, the NHL will take offense because they thought the CBC was their boy.

We don't know if it will somehow get transmitted to the United States, but it looks like it's gonna be a joke.

If Gary Roberts makes an appearance, it easily becomes Emmy city.
In fact, they should make it a point to have NHL players and ex-players guest star.

Imagine an episode where Mario battles Gretzky in three-bar like Gordon Bombay and the coach of Iceland in "D2."
The game would have nothing to do with the central plot of the episode.
But it would be awesome.


Who wouldn't watch that?

.......................................

Anyways...
speaking of Gary Roberts.

WWGRD wristbands will be shipped today at 3:45pm.
We'll try to compile the final list. But everyone who ordered some should get them.

........................................



The rumor mill is churning.


Mark Recchi and Daryl Sydor to Columbus?

This was all brought to you by Rob Rossi of the [ Trib ]

"The Columbus Blue Jackets continue to deploy scouts to Penguins games. Columbus is coached by Ken Hitchcock, who has ties to forward Mark Recchi and defenseman Darryl Sydor from previous stints in Philadelphia and Dallas."

No reason for Rossi to even put this in the paper.
Why would the Blue Jackets be scouting two players that have been sitting in the press box?
But hey, it gives us something to talk about.

[LGP] is all over this.
Some people bringing up good points.

Now, we say if you could just get a few thousand dollars, ten powerball tickets, and maybe a pound of gushers for Recchi, you're set.

Best snack there was. Best snack there is. Best snack there ever will be.


Obviously if Columbus would be dumb enough to make that trade, the Pens would have to deal someone else.
Recchi is making 2 million.
Sydor is making 2.5 million.

Some players of interest for Columbus:
Adam Foote--4.6 million. UFA in 08-09
Nikolai Zherdev-- 2.5 million. 2 years left.
David Vyborny-2.2 million. UFA in 08-09

Bottom line.
Nothing is going to happen.
Although you'd have to think...

if something were to happen, it would happen during this little vacation.

If you are looking for more rumors to quench your thirst,
we highly recommend one of our favorite rumor sites ever.
[Spector's hockey ]

The site has been around since the early days of Al Gore's Internet.
Good times.

It is kind of like Eklund's site.
But not a joke.


..................................................


It is useless to read everything about Toronto and the possibilities of coaching changes, GM changes, and trades. [ Kukla's Korner ]

So we'll let other people do it for us.


First off, do we hate Ovechkin because he plays for the Craps?
Or because he's somewhat of Sid's personal rival?

Hopefully, we'll get to find out. [ NY Post ]
Larry Brooks may be the worst writer in America.

Honestly, we would enjoy Ovechkin more if he played for the Blackhawks or the Kings or something.
Washington sucks.


Nikolai Khabibulin is a beast.
He's had to undergo a couple of extended intravenous treatments after a couple of games this season.
They said he's lost 12 pounds and 9 pounds, respectively, in a couple of games. [ Sun Times ]

.................................................

Heinz Field got re-sodded.[PG]

No word if [Mondesi's House] will be selling autographed pieces of it.

Picture: Four people wasting their weekend.

Big game for the Steelers.
Maybe the worst Monday night football game in the last 16 years.

......................................

Go Pens

Interesting. PENS WIN.

5 - 0

[ NHL.com RECAP ]

We're creatures of habit.

Ever since fat woman has been in Flashblog, the Pens are 2-0.
She's stayin'.

You have to love following an NHL team.
One week this is suicideblog, the next everything is looking better.
Good times.

............................................


Jason S.

...........................................................

FIRST PERIOD

Lord Therrien goes with MAF in net. Had to do it.
Good move.
Atlanta goes with Ondrej Pavelec. Moose played last night.
Bad move.

He also brings out Roberts-Staal-JFK line to start the game.
And just like the Ottawa game, they have some jump.

Overall you can just tell things are different.
The Pens cycle through the lines.
Pucks goes into the corner.
Some jobber D-man trys to clear it.
JFK throws his body in front of it. Puck bounces to Gary Roberts. He gets the puck in front.
Jordan Staal, welcome home.

1-0
Whatever this goal did we will never know.
Staal was a beast the rest of the game.

The Pens keep the pressure on.
Rutuu-Hall-BGL is everything a fourth line is about.
They hit everything that moved.
BGL, however got called for a suspect holding penalty.

We don't know much about the Thrashers.
But we do know Ilya Kovalchuk can score at any time.
The Pens do a nice job in front of Fleury.

The Thrashers really aren't that impressive.

Later on, AC Slater gets two minutes for trying to touch Zach Morris where he pees.
Pens on the powerplay.

yep

The Pens have a new look powerplay.
Gonch-Letang
EC-Bing-Malone.

Not sure if taking Malkin off the top unit is a good idea.
But we run a blog. So whatev
But if anything, the Pens now have two solid powerplay lines.

The new-look PowerPlay looks insane.
Gonch gets in on net.
Ryan Malone makes a surreal play to get the puck to himself, then spin and rock it home.
Ryan Malone is turning into a big-time hockey player.

2-0

2-0 lead is about as safe as your mom.
But the Pens keep coming.
Gonchar makes an underrated clearing pass to Bing.
Two-on-one blog.
Bing shoots.
Army cleans up the trash.

3-0.

Chris Thorburn shoves Army after the play.
Hack.

Great first period.
Maybe the best all year.

........................................

SECOND PERIOD

At the time, the second period might have been interesting.
But looking back on it, whatev.
Atlanta put forth the minimum effort.

Chris Thorburn forgets he is playing for ATL now.
He takes a dumb penalty.
The new-look powerplay jaunts out.
Gonchar to Sid.

4-0
peace

Atlanta tries to get something going after the goal.
But Fleury looks good.

Honestly the second period was a waste of time.
Some dude from ATL takes another penalty.
Awful.

The Pens don't convert on the powerplay.
The ice in the Mellon Arena looks a slushy machine.

We listened to the radio feed, but at one point FSN has a video footage of a 11/24/87 game: Pens vs. Sharks.

Uh, that's funny.
Because the Sharks didn't exist until the 90's.
Come on.
Couple that mistake with the wrong graphic to begin the game ( Stat bar said "Fleury career against the Devils"): tough night in the graphic department.

Other than that.
The second period was boring, but in a good kind of way.

We turned the radio off for one second.

Steigy: As they say on the street. It's all good. We'll be right back.

Wow.

......................................................

THIRD

More of the same boredom for the third.
Malone-Bing- Army line is incredible right now.
Ryan Malone is playing out of his mind.

Is Kovachuck even playing?

J-Schiff.

Gonchar sits out the rest of the game with a sore groin.
Gery Roberts gets hit with a slap shot.
He goes to the bench.
Next shift he is right back on.
That is toughness.

Mark Recchi, who was scratched, turns a jar of peanuts over in the press box. He was the only minus player in the organization tonight.

Atlanta simulates the rest of the third.
Whitney sends one home.
This one was easy.

5-0.

Game

Stats:

• Bing: 1G,1A
• Malkin: Point streak over. Still sick.
• Gonch: 3A
• JFK, Roberts: 2A
• Staal: 1 G

MISC

• The Thrashers blow
• Long break comes at the wrong time.
• Pens don't play till Friday night.
  

GameDay (23) -- Thrashers @ Pens

7:30


11-11-0

The Thashers were left for dead early on, after starting the season like poop.

But then they fired their head coach.
And now they're clearly in the playoff picture.

It may have been a matter of players disliking their coach and tanking games to encourage his firing.

But whatev.

We get to see (and worry about) Kovachoo tonight.

Ad nauseamblog

Friday Night

Ross McKeon has slowly become a go-to columnist at Yahoo NHL.

He handed out first-quarter awards. [ Yahoo ]

• Best team: Ottawa
• Worst team: Washington
• Best division: Atlantic
• Worst division: Pacific
• MVP East: Henrik Lundqvist
• MVP West: Henrik Zetterberg

Prediction: Winter Classic on January 1st will be snowed out.

..........................................................

And that brings us to the Pens first-quarter review.
( We're not gonna go in-depth, because if you're reading this, it means you're a fan and you know what's going on with the Pens. )

They're in the basement of the Atlantic Division.
Nothing exciting about that.

Biggest Surprise:

Ryan Malone?
He's averaged 20 goals per season in his career, and he's on pace for 20-25 this season.

But he's never gotten out of the gate as fast as he's done this season.

Honorable Jobber -- Dany Sabourin

Biggest Disappointment:

MAFer.

It's an argument that probably split family members on Thanksgiving, but it's true.

Honorable Jobber(s) -- Mark Recchi, Gary Roberts

Predictions:

We don't even know what time we're waking up tomorrow, so we sure as hell don't know what an entity that we have no control over will do over the next 4.5 months.

We think it's safe to say the Pens will go 60-0-0 the rest of the way.

And...

The Pens will sign The Haitian to play on Crosby's wing during the writer's strike.
....................................

Eric Politowski brings the noise with all of the Pens fights this season.


......................................................

In another Ross McKeon article, he asked who should be your first draft pick if you were starting an NHL team from scratch. McKeon picks Sid. [ Yahoo ]

The quote of the year is from that article:

"If I was to start a hockey franchise and I had the first pick overall, I'd take Vinny [ Lecavalier ]."
-- Former NHL coach Pat Burns

Keyword is "former."
Joke.

..................................................................

David Amber over at ESPN did another top-10 list. [ ESPN ]
This one was about which players are soaking up too much of their respective teams' salary cap.

No Pens on the list.

And number one went to Zdeno Chara.
Is he seriously making $7.5 mill a year? Wow.

=================

And that brings us to the Pens.
Salary numbers courtesy of [ NHLnumbers.com ]

Roberts and Recchi will most likely retire following this season.
If that's the case, that frees up $4.5 million.
Which is about roughly $15 mill under the cap.

The Pens will need that to sign some of these unrestricted free agents in the offseason:

Ryan Malone
Georges Laraque
Jarkko Ruutu
Adam Hall
Mark Eaton
Brooks Orpik
Kris Letang

And then they also have to worry about re-signing restricted free agent Marc-Andre Fleury.

Big names in the free-agent market following this season:

Marian Hossa
Jose Theodore
Pavol Demitra
Miro Satan
Henrik Lundqvist
Markus Naslund

If that website is accurate as balls, then the Pens are still paying off the residuals of these contracts during the 07-08 season:

Andre Roy -- $1.0 mill
Sebastien Caron -- $120,000
Shane Endicott (shudder) -- $9,200

The Pens currently have the 5th lowest payroll in the NHL.
Two years ago, they had the lowest payroll, and it was a reasonable excuse as to why the Pens were licking goat balls.

They have the 5th lowest this season, but that isn't brought up as an excuse as to why they are faltering this season.

.....................................................................

Other salary-cap anomalies:
(The cap is $50.3 million, but there's rules about bonuses and injured-reserve and crap that puts numbers over the cap. )

Edmonton has the 4th-highest payroll at $50 mill. [ Edmonton Payroll ]
But that's with Kevin (B)lowe at the helm, giving egregious contracts to Sheldon Souray, Ales Hemsky, Dustin Penner, Ethan Moreau, and the list goes on.

Anaheim goaltenders take up more space than any other team's goalies. [ Anaheim Payroll ]
Their backup goalie is hitting the cap for $2.2 mill this season.

Brad Richards is hitting Tampa Bay's payroll for $7.8 mill this season, tops in the league.
Freddy Meyer of the Islanders is making a lowly $263,000 this season.
[ League-wide salary rankings ]
.................................


Go Pens

Come On Up For The Rising. PENS WIN

6 - 5

SHOOTOUT

[ NHL.com RECAP ]

Is it the turning point?
No clue.

The Pens could lose every game the rest of the year.
But for the briefest of moments, they gave us all a reason to believe.


Tonight was about standing together.
It was about being thankful.
It was about overcoming.

Let's kick the tires and the light fires, baby.
Because this thing is only just beginning.

You better figure out if you can handle it.

.....................................................

Pregame

Steiggy stuns the world and opens the broadcast by asking "What would Gary Roberts do?"
Perhaps maybe breaking the current curse.

.........................................
Anthem

Solid voice.

But...

Jeff Jimmerson > Lyndon Slewidge

If this guy didnt dress like a Holiday Inn doorman, maybe he'd be cool.
Jimmerson wouldn't be caught dead in something like that.

...................................

FIRST

Even though we're still buying toilet paper to wipe off the huge dump the Sens took on us in the playoffs last season, this game started with the same playoff intensity that we saw in Games 1 through 4.

Not even two minutes in, shit was hitting the fan.
Ruutu lines up Wade Redden behind the Sens' net.

SLAM

Laraque got things going a little later when he dropped the gloves with McGrattan.

Ruutu makes his first appearance in the box score as he goes to the box with Shean Donovan.

Everything was even until Chris Neil went fishing and went to the box.
But the Pens didn't get the PP goin'.

As Neil's penalty expires, it feels like mid-April all over again.
Jason Spezza gets it past MAF on a goal that just mehhhhhed over the line. 1-0.

Bad times.

After some jobbin back and forth, one of the worst calls in NHL history transpired as Ruutu goes to the box for getting smacked in the mouth and falling.

Chris Phillips hands the ref 20 bucks then gets one past MAF from the point.

2-0.

Steigy and Errey were furious. First real emotion we have seen from them in a while.
And, boom, that was it for MAF.
Got to make that save.
You know what that means:

It was Sabu time.

The wheels had apparently fell off.
But hold the iPhone.

Just as the Pens were facing a first intermission that could have resulted in the locker room exploding, it happened.

Malkin maneuvers like a monkey through the neutral zone, turns a Senator into a chickenman, then beats Martin Gerber on his now-recognizable stick-side snapshot.

What a player.

2-1.

Pens Nation raises its fist in quiet jubilation.
But holy balls.

18 seconds later, it was Malone time.
On a great on-the-rush play from beginning to end, Bing feeds Malone on the tape, and out of nowhere, it was tied.

2-2.

Scotiabank was stunned as the first period ended.

...................................................................................

SECOND

The second period started with Sabu silently making some routine saves.

It seemed like the Pens were simply staving off the Senators for as long as they possibly could, but then Tyler Kennedy gets his second goal of the season on a quick shot that surprised the world.

3-2.

The Pens then got a 5-on-3 opportunity soon after that.
Sykora comes flying down the right side.

postblog.

The chance goes to waste.
You knew what was coming.

The 3-2 lead lasted for a while.
But Jason Spezza is just a beast.

He gets one past Sabu to tie it up. 3-3.

Not even two minutes after that, it was Heatley's turn.
He parks right in front of Sabu. 50-goal scorer, man.

4-3.

At the halfway point of the second period, it seemed like the Pens were in semi-control.
But not anymore.

Sykora headed to the box towards the end of the second period as the Pens were treading water.

...............................................................

THIRD

It was bad news bears early in the third when Orange Sherbert put the Sens up 5-3.

Last season, the Pens had that heroic comeback in the third period against the Sens.

That was pretty much the only solace we had after that Sherbert goal.
Stuff like that just isn't happening this year.
Might be time to pack it up.

Ryan Malone would give us a reason to fight on.

Chris Neil went off for hooking, and Therrien shocks the world by replacing Whitney for Letang on the top power-play unit.
It paid off big-time.

Malone dives to get a puck to Letang. Letang, the right handed shot, gets the pass and is able to make a quick pass to Gonch.

Malone goes to the crease and gets one past Gerber.

5-4.

About a minute later, Colby Armstrong and his bag of Lays gets the puck out to Gonchar screaming in from the blue line.
Army made a sick individual play.

5-5.
Unreal.

It was basically Sabublog for the rest of the third period.
The Pens get a nice chance again with Malone coming down the ice.
But he gets caught.
The pucks finds it way near the Pens bench.
Oh no.

Too many men.

Somehow Sabu and the boys keep it out of the net.

Staal almost scored on a sweet re-direct of a Kennedy pass.

The Pens were being outshot 17-5 at one point in the third, and it seemed like only a matter of time.
But it was a matter of Sabu and his balls.

Do it

He didn't have to stand on his head, but he preserved the Pens 5-5 tie as the game slipped to OT.

.................................................................

Both teams were playing not to lose, but the Sens finally got a decent odd-man break towards the end of the OT, but Mark Eaton auditions for Heroes by taking away all options.
Malkin hits the post towards the end of OT.

Shootout city.

..................................................................

Jason Spezza kicked things off with a goal. Beast.

Christensen does the move, and after another call to Toronto, the goal stands. 1-1.

Both teams then brought out their firepower, with Daniel Alfredsson noticeably absent after aggravating his groin in the third period.

Despite his best efforts, Body by Jake could not get Daniel Alfredsson's groin ready.

And as Dean McAmmond gets denied by Sabu, we wait on pins and needles for FSN to switch their camera to who was taking the next shot.

Jarkko Ruutu stands at center ice. All business.
The hopes and dreams of a battered Penguin nation on his stick.
We all know what move he is going make.

But wait.

Gerber vomits all over himself.

Looks like someone was too busy reading his own press clippings and not the scouting report.

Game.

STATS

• Bing: 1A
  
• Malkin: 1G
• Malone: 2G, 1 A
• Armstrong: 2A
• Gonchar: 1G, 1A
• Sabu: 29 saves
• Recchi minus 6
  

MISCELLANEOUS

• Marty the chicken has easily been bumped from Flashblog.
• Going toe-to-toe with the best team in the NHL is huge.
• Was Martin Gerber supposed to be good?
• Ryan Malone put himself on the map tonight. Whatever that means.
  
• People can say this is the turning point in the season, but the Pens could lay a huge egg on Saturday against Atlanta.
• Mark Recchi better go to Men's Warehouse and get a couple more suits to wear in the press box.
• Gary Roberts is returning to health. Wristband curse is lifting.
  
• Sad to see Daryl Sydor bumped, but Letang is providing an intangible that no one can really pinpoint yet.
  

The best part about games up in Ottawa is the unreal photography on display.
Phillip MacCullum is a photographer at ScotiaBank Place.
He brought us the offseason pic of Crosby, Malkin, and Staal stunned in the locker room after Game 5.
Best photographer in the game.


Go Pens

GameDay (22): Pens @ Senators

Scotiabank Place

7:30pm



(16-4)-32 points

No question when the Pilgrims and Ted Nolans grandparents got together for the first thanksgiving, they thought about huge games like this tonight.

Picture: The Pilgrims and Indians discuss the lines for the game tonight.

This game could be one of many things tonight.
It could be rock bottom with a 8-0 loss.
Or maybe it could serve as catalyst for the Pens to right the ship.
Or it will be another frustrating 4-2 loss that leaves us with nothing, but heartburn.

Whatever it is. We are just thankful to have a hockey team.

.....................................................

Michel Therrien hates your life. [ Press Conference ]

Wow.

...............................................

Thanksgivingblog

We would like to pass on some nice Thanksgiving day posts.

This one from Loser Chris over at [Taking One for the Team]

Paul Stanton - The kind of player every successful team needs a couple of. Stanton was pretty much the defensemen version of Bob Errey. Never flashy, he just went out and did his job game after game, and for that I am thankful.

Amen to that.

Also.

Tony from the [Confluence] goes on a nice little Thanksgiving day rant.

...........................
NHL


Happy Thanksgiving Glen Hanlon.

You're fired.
[ On The Frozenblog ]

Some joke was hired in the interim.
Go Redskins.

.......................................

Go Pens

"It's Still Early In The Season." PENS LOSE.

2 - 1

[ NHL.com Recap ]

Whoa.
Tonight's recap title was uttered by Michel Therrien in the post-game press conference, where he looked like he wanted to kill someone.
Whatever jackoff reporter he stared down may not sleep for days.
Wow. Hopefully video footage surfaces.

Early in the season?
21 games into an 82-game season.

If you die at the age of 82:

You just turned 21.
You're expected to be married and become a man by the time you're at least 30.
That's nine games from now.

........................................................


Bottom line.
Tonight is why Marty Brodeur is a big deal.
He made two life-changing saves.

It is no one's fault.
It is just not happening right now.

God help us all.

...................


(Thanks Sgq1)

Donnie Iris brings the noise.

.......................................

FIRST

The game started out like a hockey game.
Ryan Malone had seen enough of Kelly Clarkson's boobs and decided to drop the gloves.

What a start.

MAF was being tested early on, but he was standing tall.

But then the Pens started getting their hands caught on the Devils balls.

Guilty as charged

Christensen holds.
Mark Eaton holds.

5-on-3.
Always scary when you're down 5-on-3, even if two of their players don't even have a face.
Jamie Langenbrunner makes the Devils a whole different team.

The Pens kill Christo's penalty off in time for Zach Parise to punch MAF in the throat.
1-0.


And that was it.
Not much to write home about.

Fact: These kids got closer to the net in the first period than any Penguin did.

................................................

Dan Potash introduced a segment during the first intermission on WWGRE

................................................

The second period started with the Pens flying around.
They were everywhere.
The Devils had an occasional transition game, trying to catch the Pens over-pursuing.
But there wasn't anything too threatening.

Colby Armstrong was a force to be reckoned with.
He was everywhere in the first and continued to dominate in the second.

He seemed weighted down, though, playing with an entire bag of chips on his shoulder.
FritoWillwhat

Staal gets one of his first excellent scoring chances of the season, but Brodeur stops shots like that in his sleep.

And finally, the Pens go on the power play after Oduya goes to the box.

They get a chance up close, as the garbage man tries to put it home.
But Brodeur was there again.
He was a brick wall tonight.

Bob Errey calls John Madden a pain in the ass on the air, which unfortunately was the highlight of the second period, maybe the game, maybe the season.

Armstrong holds a Devil, and the Pens go on the PK.

Sidney Crosby shows he belongs on the PK when he generates another opportunity, this time with a breakaway.
The ice at Mellon Arena was as consistent as Bob Barker's stool, and Sid couldn't get a handle on the puck.

Brodeur should be on Heroes.

The Pens kill that penalty, but Sykora blatantly hooks some Devil.
Just not good times.

The Pens head into the second intermission down 1-0, with Crosby's and Malkin's point streaks hanging on by a thread.

..............................................



..............................................


THIRD PERIOD

The Pens kill the penalty to start off the third.

But Sid tries to job.
And that trip is the definition of a job. Another PK.

Sid does in fact continue his scoring streak, as he assists on the Devils second goal.

2-0.

And apparently, Sid says something about the ref's mom, a turkey, and a spoon.
Sid goes back to the box.

On the ensuing PK, Mark Eaton goes down.
And you actually have to give it up to the Devils player on that play for not lifting his elbow up.

The Pens kill the Sid penalty.

Just as a riot was about to break out in Mellon Arena, Malkin takes advantage of a Devils mistake and burns Brodeur.

2-1

And the next play, the Devils head to the box.

It had all the makings of a momentum swing, as the Pens set up the power play.
But no dice.

As Father Time flies to Mellon Arena, the Pens get another power play.

On the power play, Sid gets tripped up.
Two-man advantage for 29 seconds. Do it.

The Pens had it set up with a Gonchar slapper, but it was cleared.
The Pens buzzed some more, but it wasn't happening.

Their best chance came later when Letang put on his best Mario act, but he couldn't bring down the house.

Martin Brodeur shuts it down.

If that was Crosby being stoned, then you could've said that was game right there.

But the Pens pulled MAF, whatev.

Game.

STATS

• Malkin: G
• Your mom
  

MISCELLANEOUS

• Thursday night in Ottawa could possibly be one of the scariest games in Pens history.
• Mark Recchi didn't play. He was still a minus 3.
• Not much you can do.
• Thanksgiving night in Ottawa is going to be the sum of all fears.

.....................................

Everyone have a Happy Thanksgiving.

We'll see you tomorrow night.

And for the record,
We will be shipping the rest of the WWGRD wristbands orders this weekend.

GameDay (21): Devils @ Pens

We search long and hard for pictures of Mellon Arena like it's our job.
This one takes the cake and then smashes you in the mouth with it.



The Battle of the Basement Dwellers

The Pens have navigated through the Atlantic waters with the deftness of the Titanic.

But it has finally come to an end.
For now.

Go Pens.
Damn it.

Don't Worry, We'll Find A Way

A few days off, and there is still more civil unrest in Pens Nation than some jobber third world country.
Things still aren't desperate, but they're about to be.

Huge week for the Pens.
We need points.

Wednesday's game is the final of 3,000 straight games against the Atlantic.
Looking back on this little run, is like looking back on the ugly people you've hooked up with.


Ouch.
(If Wanda can't spark a winning streak, who can?)


On Thanksgiving, we get to see our old friends.



What a disastrous Thanksgiving this could be.
At least we'll have some good food to vomit up.

..............................................

Max Talbot is hurt. [ PG]
He will miss at least three games.

So, what are the lines going to be?
Therrien's latest mixture. [ Trib ]

Ryan Malone-Sidney Crosby-Petr Sykora

Erik Christensen-Evgeni Malkin-Colby Armstrong/Mark Recchi

Gary Roberts-Jordan Staal-Tyler Kennedy

Jarkko Ruutu-Adam Hall-Georges Laraque

It is between Recchi and Army.

[J-Schiff]


Is Mark Recchi unhappy? [ Brochuishockey ]
The rumor is from P. J. Stock, who's about as reliable as shriveled balls.


[K-Low]



Whoever it is, just score a goal, man.


Hopefully good Karma will float in the Pens direction...after this. [ PG]
Solid humans.

Big ups to [Empty Netters] for finding that.

..................................

NHL


Ryan Getzlaf got some cash money. [ TSN ]
5 yr/26mil.
Well worth it.

The Ducks are still awaiting word on Scott Niedermayer.
He still has not said if he will be back or not.


Artwork from Earl Sleek of [Battle of California] via [Fanhouse]


Speaking of Anahiem

Brian Burke's comments about bloggers was interesting. [ Mirtle ]

"With a journalist, I know they’ve had some training. I know there will be a fact checker and an editor to keep them accountable. I will know what to expect from [journalists] because if they take a bribe or report false information, they’ll get fired. With bloggers, there’s no safeguard and no guarantees. That will change when one of them gets hit with a libel lawsuit, because one blogger is going to be careless with the fact and they’re going to get nailed. A lot of people will cite the first amendment and call blogging “freedom of speech,” but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a responsibility to be factually correct.”


That looks smart, but is actually the stupidest thing someone has said in a long time.
Burke obviously doesn't read Dave Molinari's work.

And since we've said numerous times not to listen to us, and that this site is 100% satire,
SNORE.





Capitals suck [ Japers Rink ]
No real reason for that link.
It just makes us feel better.




There is a new Kings blog in town.
[ Queen among Kings ]


...................................

[Barry Melrose Rocks ] is tracking suspensions in a way only he can.


......................................................

Jobber of the week

From a while ago--- Don Barden on the new casino's appearance.

People will "see something much more attractive than Heinz Field," he said.

Another acceptable recipient:

Well, Cowher doesn't coach over there anymore, so maybe they will actually show up AFC championships game now. Maybe more people will stay.

..............................................

Go Pens

And Thats The Way It Is

8-10-2
18 points

What else can even be said.
The Pens are at the point where they can climb back up the mountain. Or the wheels can fall off and everyone will die along the Oregon Trail like they almost did last year.
Ryan Whitney was sold for cattle


The Colby Armstrong Saga [ PG ]

The Pens have to go 44-18 the rest of the season to attain the 105 points of last season. [ PG ]
Then again, a 15-game winning streak of last season's variety turns that into the achievable record 29-18.
Those winning streaks don't come around often.

Mark Madden wrote a piece about the veterans on the Pens. [ Beaver Times ]

Now we no question agree with Mark Madden on this.
Something has to be done.

And it goes without saying we totally did not mean to imply we hope Mark Recchi gets hurt like the last post would make it seems.

But perhaps good friend Captain Byron Hadley could be called in.


Step back this Moth#$^% is about to have an accident.

Bottom line:

Someone is going to have to do something.

In case you missed any.
Here are all the Penguins goals in games 1-20 so far.
Huge thanks go to Eric Politowski.



......................................

The Pens and Sens are now playing in Stockholm to kick off 08-09. [ Kukla's Korner ]

Again, Power Rankings are as relevant as the last 4 minutes of "Chuck" every Monday.
Pens are 21st. [ TSN ]

Where does Sidney Crosby rank in terms of pop-culture recognition?
TSN finds out. [ TSN ]

We are late on this. But USA Today's Kevin Allen chimes in on the Pens goalies situation.
[USA Today]
(thanks to Greg N for the link)

[K-low]
..............................................

Change the NHLblog

Bettman may have settled on a scheduling changes that pleases all. [ Ottawa Sun ]

Here is a solid piece about whether or not the game at the NHL level is too fast. [ Globe and Mail ]

Jason Kay takes a look at making the nets bigger to increase scoring. [ The Hockey News ]

...............................................................................

The East dominates the West in terms of scoring.
Does that mean the West dominates the East in goaltending? [ ESPN Terry Frei ]

..............................................................................

Marty Brodeur finally got his 500th career win. [ Fanhouse ]
Looks like this picture was taken in some basement, which is where the Devils currently are.


Mattias Ohlund has been suspended 4 games for the slash.


Simon Gagne is having concussion problems. [ NHL.com ]

"...Gagne came through that OK, but didn’t look like himself on the ice. Two nights later, he was hit by Pittsburgh’s Gary Roberts and the symptoms came back."


Vinny Lecavalier jumps to the top of the scoring race.



............................................

WWGRD

We sent a bunch of wristbands out last week.
We feel badly it has taken so long.

We're trying.

.........................................

Ron Francis' Hall of Fame Goalie Mask [ Kukla's Korner ]



............................................................

Some unreal goalie cards





..........................................................
Jeff Jimmerson is sick.

Thanks to fritowill for the recording job.
And thanks to Amanda H. for hosting it.
[ National Anthem ]
(Fixed)


Jesse White sent this in:


............................................................


The best episode of the season thus far.
Best actor on TV.
Unreal.
...........................................

Go Pens

Mattias Ohlund = Dick

What an ass.
Why can't someone do that to Mark Recchi?

Observer Reporter Can Feel Free To Eat Me

The best thing about running a blog is that you can talk about shit.

We've never made this personal blog, because people care about the Penguins (not us and what we ate for breakfast, or that someone flipped us off in traffic today.)

So, this is the rare occurrence that we make this personal blog.

There was a house fire Friday night in Canonsburg -- a suburb of Pittsburgh.





My uncle lived in the house.
There he is, bottom-left, looking for his truck keys, which somehow survived the fire.
Uncle = Stunned

His thoughts and the thoughts of our entire family are with the elderly couple who lived on the second floor.

The fire started when he lit a lighter near a chair for a split-second when he was looking for one of his cats (something he's done literally hundreds of times.)
That tidbit should've been in the article, but instead the article makes it look like it was some jobber who doesn't know fire is a big deal. Damn it.

All humans survived.

There were four cats in the house.
Three of the bodies were found.

The house was being boarded up Saturday, when the fourth missing-in-action cat ran out of the house at 100 MPH.
Talk about having a heart attack.

Don's mother (my grandmother) passed away Saturday night at 10:45 PM.

People die every day. It happens.

But you don't expect a local newspaper to be a piece of shit about it.
But they were.

Not only do they quote him in the article (while never even speaking to him or any relatives), they use quotes that he didn't even say.

Here is the link to the Observer-Joke's article about the fire. [ Here ]


" Police do not believe Caldwell's cat survived. "

Yeah, too bad there were four cats, not one. Assholes

" It was another blow for Caldwell, whose mother died earlier this week. "

Yeah, too bad this sentence caused an uproar among the elderly community in Canonsburg, since his mother did not pass away until the night after the fire. Assholes

What shitty journalism.
The article ran on the front page of the Observer Saturday morning.

This has all led to shitty posts and empty recaps of the past few games.

Unreal.
And then the Pens lost Saturday night.

-- Adam

We contacted the Pooping Penguin.
He said that his services weren't needed, since the Observer Reporter is already shit.

We're back on the Pensblog train Sunday night.
We have the quarter-pole season recap coming, as well as other things that have been buried in our mail over the past week.

Breaking Point. PENS LOSE

4-3 (OT)

[Yahoo Recap]


The Pens got a point.
In end, we suppose that is all that matters.

.............................
Pregame

Fox Sports takes us down memory lane.

A look at the Jagr years in Pittsburgh.
Just a solid time. This is why Stan Savarn is a big deal.

It is still hard to believe.
From Jagr's haircut to his unreal performance against the Devils in game six of the 1999 playoffs, Jags was a god in this town.
One could only wish blogs were around back then.




...........................


Jeff Jimmerson
(Thanks to "Pens guy")

Also does anyone know how to share audio files?

Long time Fritowill recorded Jimerson signing the anthem and we want to get it out there so everyone can listen to Jimmerson's angelic voice.

............................................
First Period

As awful as the Pens sometimes start games, tonight they came out flying.
Right off the bat, Scuds get the puck on net.
Crosby hits the post.

Meanwhile the Rangers come flying down the ice.
It was a frantic first five minutes because Fox Sports cameras were jacked up.
The zoom was way too close, and it was a nightmare.
It was like watching the game on home video, taped by Uncle Idiot.

We stopped by the LGP game thread to ask if anyone else noticed that, and then we got flamed by some dick.
We like LGP, so we won't judge one the board by one person.
But whatev.

During the camera issues, the Rangers get a shot by Fleury.
But Mark Eaton saves the day.

Ryan Malone jobs some dude.
Pentaly-kill time.

Crosby comes out, being that Malone is in the box.
For some reason, people think this is a big deal.

Bing does come through, though. He steals the puck and takes off on a 2-on-1 with Max Talbot.
He feeds it over to Max.

Goal 1-0.
Scott Gomez = Stunned

Right after that, the Pens were everywhere. Malkin got a chance, but the puck jumped on him.
He tried to bat it down, but instead it looked like he threw it into the net.
It should've counted because he money.

Every line the Pens threw out there was working.
The puck was following Crosby.

In a rush up the ice, Bing gets it to Malone.
Malone makes a nice move and draws a penalty.
Rangers have to touch it, but can't.

The puck winds up getting to Bing.

2-0.

The rest of the period, Henrik Lundqvist kept the Rangers in it.
Without him, people are sleeping well tonight.

The Pens do kill a penalty, but the Rangers stole back some momentum.
You could feel it.

.........................
Second Period brought to you by:

Chernobyl power

The Penguins being up 2-0 is about as safe as sex with Pensblog Charlie's disease invested balls.

..............................

That's below the belt guys.
I like it.

..............

And wouldn't you know. Less than a minute in Michael Rosvial blows a shot past MAF

2-1.

Not good.

But never fear, the ten seconds that anyone actually knew Chris Drury playing, resulted in him taking a delay of game penalty.

The Pens set up shop, but the Pink Ranger steals the puck.

The Pink ranger morphs a pass to Roszival.

WTF 2-2.
It is never easy when a former Pen scores.
But Rozsival? Twice?
Unreal.

Rutuu gets a penalty for boarding. Bad call. Some jobber tries to fight him. Rutuu gets a good punch.

Meanwhile, the Pens look bad. Mark Recchi is just :(

The Wheels continue to fall off. Rob Scuderi looks lost.
Hook city.
Everything comes full circle as Joe Giradi knocks an easy rebound home.

3-2.

The Period finally comes to an end.

Wow.

..........................................

Third Period brought to you by:

The first ten minutes of this period was about as exciting as Light-up night in downtown Pittsburgh.
If you disagree with that statement, should you even be here?

Awful times.
Mark Recchi looked like he didn't even know there was a game.
Not to pick on him, but watching Scott Gomez blow past him was sad.

The Pens defense was actually OK. The Rangers really could not generate much.
But compared to the Penguins, whatev.

The Pens tried to get something going, so they put Bing-Malkin- Sykora out.

However, Malkin gets called for a hooking call, that may be one of the worst calls in the last 6 years.

The Pens kill it off.

Erik Christensen tries to get a shot on net, but it hits off the glass.
Then it hits a Ranger.
Then it hits Henrik Lundqvist
Malkin makes a sick pass with his skate.

The girls face in the front row is what life is about.

3-3

After that goal, the Pens seemed a little more loose.
Evgeni Malkin made a move on Marc Staal that can't be explained. But it was all for naught.

After a few frantic seconds, overtime we go.

.....................................

Overtime

It is a right of the NHL season for the Rangers to devaste the Pens in OT at home.
Tonight was no different.

Both teams were back and forth.
Gonch carried the puck in deep, throws it in front. ( bad move )
Crusher fans on it.

No one gets back for Gonchar, who uses his X button to get back.
Unreal skating.

But it wasn't enough.
The talentless Paul Mara makes a brillant pass to some minor league scumbag

Game.

STATS

• Bing: 1G,1A
• Sykora: 1G, 1A
• Malkin: 1G
• Pens: 12 shots in the first period. 11 the rest of the game.
  

MISCELLANEOUS

• Even though a lot of bad times are going on, Ryan Malone has turned into a good hockey player.
• Where would the Pens be without Petr Sykora?
• Strange decision to have Recchi in the lineup.
• Marc Staal is a solid player
• Jordan Staal is running slumpblog.
• Henrik Lundqvist is a big deal. He won the game in the first.
• 4 goals by defenseman for NYR.
  

GameDay (20) -- Rangers @ Pens

7:30pm

(thanks Pat Jackson)
Rangers
(11-7-1)

Somehow the Rangers actually turned into beasts since the last time we saw them.

Henrik Lundqvist is sick

And you know who esle is coming to town.

Double J time

Prelimary reports out of Penguin land have Mark Recchi back in the lineup.[ PSI ]
He will play with Malkin and Staal.
So that means Evgeni Malkin's back will be hurting big time tonight.


(Anthony Costa)


[Game Day Chat ]
(we always forget to link it)

.............................................

Not a whole lot going on.
Chances are if you needed to know something, you would of heard about it.
It can be said enough.
If you come here for breaking news, you love angel dust.

One thing out there right now is
Ilya Bryzgalov was on waivers and he is now a Coyote. [ TSN ]

Whatev
........................................

Some house cleaning


Got an email from "Doc Steel."

He informed us that our sidebar of links is a joke.
After further review he is correct.

So here's what changed:

[Faceoff-Factor] has been changed to its correct address.
[Nothing but Balls] has been updated as well.

Pens rink rat is done
Bucco Wire is done.
Guinsblog is gone
Black and Gold pride is gone as well.

A newcomer [Sweater Ted] has been added.

We aim to link anyone.
So just let us know.

..............................
The boys from Dbout About It have a new game [doubt about it]
good stuff.
......................
Some extra photoshops were laying around our inbox.


(Rag33)


(Dobber from Dormont)


(Will Smith)

(Will Smith, again)

(Steve Gibbs)


And if you want to see this very graphic photoshop of A.O.
[Click here ]
Thanks to the sick mind of J Schiff.


"Stunned"
..............

And finally this picture is surreal.

Thanks to Pat Jackson again.

.....................................

Go Pens

Whew. PENS WIN.

3 - 2

The goal of watching 82 games as a fan is trying to keep yourself grounded.
Don't get too low after losses.
Don't get too high after wins.

But you know what, we all needed this one.
Nothing is better than beating the Islanders. Especially when you have to.

Good times waking up Friday.

We were at the game, so this recap will be as in-depth as an MTV reality show.

.....................................................

Pregame

The Doctor pays a visit.

Paul Coffey, just a class act.

His video tribute was unreal.
You really have to question the goaltending in the late 80's.
Paul Coffey could streak in and get off a wristshot and it would go in.
Nonethless, someone should've started a newsletter about his skating. Digusting.

In the pregame, we learn Recchi and Sydor are both scratches.
Recchi didn't even bother to take the pre-game skate.

.......................................

National Anthem:

Thanks to "Go_Pens 2000"
Jeff Jimerson is god.

.....................................................

As the game started, you could tell the Pens were a lot more focused.
No penalties or mental breakdowns in the first 5 minutes.
Well actually the first 4: 30.
Orpik gets a hooking penalty.

Penalty kill does its job.

But that can only last so long.
After some good shifts back and forth, the Isles struck.

Brendan Witt got the puck to the net.
Mike Comrie gets a stick on it.

1-0

Hillary Duff celebrates the goal.

Things started to get a little testy after that.
The BGL-Talbot-Rutuu line unleashed the pain.
BGL blasted someone into the Pens runway.
Rutuu pissed everyone off for two minutes.
It got things going.

The play picked up, with Fleury and Ricky D. making some big saves.

Late in the period, some jobber from the Isles runs Fleury.
But Brooks Orpik picks up a penalty in the scrum afterwards. Bad call by the refs.
Roberts and Crosby flip out on the officals to no avail.

4-on-4 blog.
Crosby comes out and runs Ricky D's shit.
He was met with a crosscheck from Bill Guerin on his way back to the bench.

Next trip down the ice, Malkin gets the puck to Gonch.
Jordan Staal with a nice screen.

1-1.
MAF with the assist, putting him one point behind Jordan Staal.

Everyone has their feelings about Gonch, but he was a big deal tonight.

The Pens were given a 5-on-3 late in the first that transferred into the second.

Less than a minute into the second, Sykora picks up the trash. 2-1.

The first time the Pens have had the lead in a game since 1946.

8 minutes later, Vasicek banged home a rebound to tie it up at 2-2.

Job, job, job.

We fast-forward to 5 minutes left in the second.
The Pens were buzzin, and then it happened.

3-2.
The Hollister kid celebrated by scoring a goal in deck hockey.

The Pens headed into the third period with the lead.
They were playing cautiously, and rightfully so.

They survived a scare when a shot rang off the pipe behind MAF.

Father Time becomes a top 8 friend on the Pens MySpace.

The refs decided to make it interesting late, when the Tyler Kennedy Experiment heads to the box.
It had all the makings for another meltdown.

But the PK dropped acid before the kill, and the Isles barely sniffed the net.

Nolan pulls DiPietro, and the Pens smelled blood.
And Tyler Kennedy is probably the biggest wuss shark in the history of life.

Every Pens fan collectively said, "Bury that shit," as Kennedy came into the zone.
But he looks for Sid. What a mistake.
Sid saves his balls and eventually draws a penalty when Guerin has to take him down.

Game. Win.

STATS

• Malkin: 2A
• Crosby: 1 A
• Gonchar: 1G, 1A
• BGL: 1G
• MAF: 26 saves

MISCELLANEOUS

• Almost forgot Letang even played tonight, which when you're talking about defensemen, is a good thing. He had a giveaway or two, but he made some breakout passes that defensemen are supposed to make.
• Jordan Staal is one of the most frustrated people alive.
• Judging by Therrien's personnel moves in the past, Recchi and Sydor will be sitting until the Pens lose a game.
  
• Sidney Crosby is fast.
• HUGE win for MAFer.

Pointstreakblog

• Malkin extends his point streak to 12 games.
• As long as he keeps it going, the mullet will undoubtedly stay.
• Crosby extended his point streak to 18.

The longest amount of games that Jagr and Lemieux both had point streaks going on at the same time was 11 games, back in 1995.

Recap Coming later

We're still stuck in traffic leaving the arena.
Yea thats right, it is 9:30am.

But really

Recap is delayed.
Poweroutageblog

Huge win.

In the meantime.

Get ready to bid on something from the [Mario Lemieux Foundation] to pass the time.




BGL lives


Go pens

GameDay (19) -- Islanders @ Pens

7:30

It won't be pretty if there isn't a W tonight.

There's nothing else to be said.

Do it.

'Cause Nothin' Lasts Forever

Tlutsy, you got some 'splainin to do.

Actually, no, you don't. At all. [ National Post ]
If you guys want to know the scoop on this story, honestly, find it yourselves.
[ Fanhouse ] has all the links for you in a neat little post.

We just know there's a Jobber of the Week award to be given out.



This one goes to Zack Taylor, the idiot who posted the pictures online on his blog [ Is This Happening ]
One look at this dude's blog, and you can see he's in love with himself.

We are not going any further into this than we have to, but apparently this moron posted the naked pictures of Tlusty online on his blog...and then questioned Tlusty's sexual orientation.

Repeat...

Zack Taylor posted naked pictures of another man on his blog and questioned said man's sexual orientation.

Can you picture this Zack Taylor turd grinning ear to ear while uploading the pics onto his blog?
Very disturbing.

He's getting his 15 minutes of fame because he posted naked pictures of another man on his blog.
What a feather in your cap.


Anyone who posts pictures of other peoples' personal lives to get hits on their stupid blog is an idiot.

Expect pictures of Mike Comrie and Hillary Duff.

Which, by the way, if we don't get a mean-spirited photoshop of Hillary Duff by 4pm Thursday........we'll do nothing.
But needless to say.
Wake up people.

..................................................................

ESPN's David Amber has been doing interesting top-10 lists this season.
He counted down the top-10 U.S.-born hockey players of all time. [ ESPN Amber ]

10. Barrasso
4. Joey Mullen (somehow behind Brian Leetch at no. 3)

Number 1:


He was a beast.
Averaged 48 goals per season from 1987-1993.

If he would have beat the Lemieux in 1992-1993 scoring race, then we would have reason to dislike the man.
But what a player.

..................................................


The Red Wings had a scare when their plane slid off the runway after their game Tuesday night. [ Fanhouse ]


It reminded Chris Chelios of the time back in the 1800's when the team's horse-and-buggy crashed on its way to Kalamazoo.

......................................................................

Besides Tlusty, news in the NHL is slower than John Leclair.

So, we decided to find the NHL arenas that still do not have a sponsor.

Madison Square Garden



Joe Louis Arena


And lastly
Nassau Coliseum



...........................................

Speaking of trash and the Nassau Coliseum.
The Islanders are in town tonight. Huge game.

The Pens are retiring Paul Coffey's stuff.
Solid human.

Letang's first game up since last year...on a night when the Pens retire one of the best offensive defensive man ever?

It has the makings. Even though we just jinxed it.

We'll be lucky enough to be in attendance.

Nothing else is going on.

Guns 'N' Roses, take us home.



Go Pens

A Shot At The NHL

Amidst all the Penguin woes,

we get a reminder of the life that exists past the recent poopfest. [ PG ]

Isaac Mendez came up big-time with a painting.

do it

And, yes, everything is connected:
The arena design was made by HOK Sports, a company from Kansas City.

[ Gallery at Pens website ]


Here is a Google-maps layout submitted by an anonymous human in c-blog.
Click to enlarge.

.......................................................................

If you have the internet and a mouse, you know Kris Letang has been called up by King Shero.
Nasreddine will go back to WBS and dominate silently.
JFK is also going back to WBS. [ PG ]

You need to know anything about Letang?
Bet your balls the good people at [ Faceoff Factor] will be able to tell you.

Message boards everywhere rejoiced over the news today.
And now it's just a matter of time before those people say "Letang doesn't fit."

Hopefully, he does fit. Hopefully he dominates on the power play.
Hopefully he takes the Jan Brady slot from Marty the chicken in flashblog.

You'll know he has made it when a picture of his car gets posted on Pittsburgh's number-one sports blog/auction site :
[Mondesi's House]


D-men:

Gonchar-Eaton
Sydor-Whitney
Orpik-Scuderi
Letang


Gonch, Eaton, Sydor, Whitney are as constant as gravity.
Then again, Sydor is bringing up the rear of the defensive corps with a -7 in plus/minus.

Sacrificing Scuderi's (even in plus/minus) no-name, solid defensive play for a wide-eyed 20-year-old would fall in line with most of Therrien's decisions as of late.

Orpik hasn't given anyone a reason to hate him.

..........................................................

Speaking of plus/minus, Jordan Staal is the equivalent of ball sweat and cheese.
He is -8.

The recent tribulations prompted us to call on the services of Pensblog detective Cleaver McLean.



"Yo, it's Cleaver.
After some tits detecting, the Penguins tribulations this year are easily explainable.

Jordan Staal had 29 goals last season.
A fair assessment in the preseason would have been to forecast him scoring 20 goals this year, which factors into 5 goals per every 20 games.
The Pens have played 18 games thus far. Staal has one goal.
He is roughly 4 goals behind the 20-goal pace.

The Pens have lost more than a few one-goal games this season, so there you have it.
A couple of Staal goals would have helped the Pens steal a point or two this year, possibly, giving them 17 points on the season.

And the Pens were given 16 cake points last season by beating up on the Flyers 8 times.
Now that the Flyers resemble a professional sports team again, the Pens have already missed out on 4 points.

That would bring the Pens to 21 points, sitting atop the Atlantic.

Now that that is all squared away and the reasons for the Pens woes are out in the open,
people can stop complaining about everything and realize that this is an 82-game season."

...................................................................



Bob Smizik says the pressure's on for MT and Shero. [PG]

Ron Cook's eyes turn all-white as he bangs out a balls-out column about MAF. [ PG ]
It's really as solid as a newspaper article gets.

• MAF isn't a newbie in the NHL anymore.
• He should be showing signs of learning from mistakes.
• Sabu's a beast, but this is MAF's team.
• Therrien is handling the situation questionably.

To the chagrin of Pens fans internet-wide, Jes dominated a blogpost three weeks ago regarding Marc-Andre Fleury and whether or not he was a big deal.
Jes discusses it again, in the wake of Ron Cook's article. [ Fanhouse ]
.....................

Rumors are circulating...

...In the best shape of his life

----------

Guess what. Ottawa has two topnotch goalies.
It's only a matter of time before the Sens start entertaining offers for one of them. [ Yahoo ]

Ken Campbell of The Hockey News ponders over whether or not the Pens should send Staal back to juniors. [ Hockey News ]

The Pens are 19th in TSN Power Rankings [ TSN ranks ]


A DVD of Captain Ron is 15th.

...............................................


The All-Star jerseys, courtesy of [ Tournament of Logos ]


The Stars fired their GM.
Brett Hull is now co-general-manager of the Dallas Stars. [ NHL.com ]


The Sens have been on fire.
And Jason Spezza hasn't even been around for a couple games. But he's back. [ Yahoo ]


"I'll give you one guess where he's been. It rhymes with Ty Gainis."


Following a seven-week voting contest, games between LA and Anaheim will be known as Free Way Faceoffs. [ Kukla's Korner ]
For us in the Eastern Conference, the matchups are also known as meaningless.

If you want to get any scoop on those teams,
as always, we recommend one of our favorites.
[Battle of California ]

Best blog on earth.
Cartoons are money.




Sean Avery has made the swift transition from solid hockey player to complete joke.

For the second time in a week, he was involved in an incident during warm-ups before a game.
This time, it was with Darcy Tucker and the Maple Leafs.
Fines were handed out.



A Toronto radio station claiming that Sean Avery made derogatory comments about Jason Blake and cancer has not helped matters.
Sean Avery denies making any such comments. [ TSN ]

........................................

Bob McKenzie was eating breakfast and decided to take up internet space with a meaningless post about how to stop pre-game incidents. [ TSN ]



[ The Guins Blog ] has failed to meet our 30-day requirement of making a post.
So long.

........................................

WTFIMWWGRDW BLOG

For some reason, this order is taking longer to ship than the last order.
Early indications are we'll have enough to fill all the orders we've gotten.

................................................
Multimedia blog

A solid anti-smoking ad.



Good friend Bob B sent this in.
If you get a chance give it a look and give him a vote.

Storyteller

Add to My Profile | More Videos



A guy we don't link nearly enough.
Jon Bombulie, beat writer for the baby pens, has a nice Max Talbot "fu manchu" trivia game
[ Penguins Insider ]

And finally:
TV recommendation, to pass the slow time during off days.

If you like drama...
"A Shot at Love"


What a reality show.
8 dudes and 8 girls vying for the love of bisexual Tila Tequila.
It already has had two unreal meltdowns.


It is good times
...................................................
Don't forget your blanket tonight.
It is cold in the basement.

Go Pens

Only One Way To Go Now. PENS LOSE

3 - 2

[Yahoo recap]

..................................

First off, let's assess the situation.

The Penguins are eating bugs off the basement floor in the Atlantic Division.
All we need is Zigmund Palffy and Lasse Pirjeta on the power play.

It's been fun to debate what's wrong with the Penguins.

After another loss, and it's now become obvious that all the blogging and message-board posting is futile.

Just gotta go along for the ride.
That's why there is a frickin chicken in the flash bar.

...................................................

FIRST PERIOD

Imagine sitting down to dinner after a hard day of work.
Your next-door neighbor runs into your house, unzips his fly, and urinates on your face.
That's a recap of the first three minutes tonight.

Pens fall apart early.
Mark Recchi takes a penalty.

Here we go.
The Pens kill it. Small steps after Saturday's nightmare.
Devils still coming strong though.
Pens can't get it out.

Pat Sajak finds it.

1-0 Devils

The Pens aren't shaken.
New lines tonight.
Sykora-Crosby- Malone get things going big time, with perhaps the best shift of the season.
A lot of hard work in the corners.
Mark Eaton gets a shot on net that would've changed peoples lives if it would've went in.

Surprise starter Kevin Weekes says no dice.
A Devil tackles someone. Crowd goes nuts.
So you know what that means.
Devils get the puck.
Storm down the ice.

Penalty on the Pens.

EC is your guilty party.
And the Penguins pay the price.
Devils set up shop.
Rob Scuderi blows a tire.
Brian Gionta walks out of the corner, makes a sick pass. 2-0

The placement of this picture makes as much sense as the Devils being up 2-0.

Pens get a chance.
Recchi makes a half-decent play to Malkin.
Malkin to Staal.

Sad.

The Pens are stunned.
Everyone is.

But then someone let the Jarko Rutuu-BGL-Talbot line loose.
What a shift.
Rutuu going nuts, BGL is posting up people. Talbot is jobbing.
Good times.
The work pays off in the form of some energy generated.
Rutuu goes all NHL 95 on some jobber and throws him over the boards.

Pens get a powerplay after some more work.
Better.

But scoring on New Jersey when you absolutely need to isn't a good business.
Weekes says no.
The second unit comes on.

That about sums it up.
(Thanks John T)

.......................................................

SECOND PERIOD

If you want to skip forward, this is the only thing you need to know about the second period

Things actually started out OK for the Pens.
Bing came out flying.
Stormed down the wing.
Nice move man.

2-1

Picture: Crosby and Malkin talk about how much better they are than everyone.

Things settle down for a little bit.
Both teams get some chances.
Then an unplanned parade to the penalty box begins.

BGL
Slashing


Bad Call

Gonch
Hooking


Whatev

Orpik
Breathing


Guess you can't hit this year

Gary Roberts
Being strong


Awful call


Pensblog Charlie
Touching a man

Only guilty man in the penalty box.

Amazingly enough, the Pens kill 400 penalties in a row.
Sabu makes some big-time saves.
BGL and Rutuu bring some more energy.
Hall and Roberts playing hard.
So was your Mom.

.......................

THIRD PERIOD

These aren't your uncle's Devils, so you know the Pens had a chance.
Before the third, Steigy says something about Crosby and records.
No one cares. Get over it.

Just before the third period, Pens officials pass out milk cartons to help find Jordan Staal.

(Lloyd Jones)

No such luck.

But the Pens do get a Powerplay.
So close, but yet so far away.
But that didn't stop them for working their balls off.

BGL and Talbot almost hook up for a sweet goal.
No dice.

But then it happens.
Pens draw another penalty.
Malkin from the top circle.

Lights out.

2-2

What a player.
(Rachel F)

Teams go back and forth.
Kevin Weekes looks rattled.
But he remains calm.

Tick-tock-tick-tock.

Under six minutes to play, a point would be just fine.

BGL comes on, and starts dominating.
Behind the net.
Centers a pass.

No one home

Here come the Devils. Oh boy.
Gionta just makes a better play.
Pass right on Elias's stick.

3-2
Backbreakblog.
Sabu still hasn't gone post to post.

The look on Elias's face said it all.
It looked like he finally got laid or something.
After that, it was all a matter of time.

Before you know it, there was under a minute to play.
Sabu has no clue what's going on.

Pens have nothing left.

Game

It is cold in the basement.

STATS

• Bing: 1G, 1A
  
• Malkin: 1G

MISCELLANEOUS

• BGL played his heart out, tough break at the end of the game.
• Rough times
• The last minute was bad, real bad.
• Rutuu was sick
• Someone else has to score. Anyone.
• Breaks just aren't there.
• Kevin Weekes was just 4-16 in his career on Mondays. Solid stat find by Phil Borque. Not.
  

Gameday (18)- - Devils @Pens

7:30pm



Whatev

Win a game.

The NHL Runs Through It

Executive Decision



......................................................



Pens are running struggleblog right now.
No question about that.

And, as expected, a lot of people aren't happy.
From LGP to commentorblog and back, frustration has set in.


Hey man, that's just the internet.

Imagine if someone ran a blog that focused on what you do for a living.
You wake up late for work one morning and then make a typo in a big-time memo.
All of a sudden, your followers want your girlfriend to break up with you
and want your boss to fire you.

Everyone is up in arms about everything that has been going down.
No one feels worse about this than the Pens themselves.

People want to take a dump on the Pens, as if the Pens aren't trying their hardest to win.

Bottom line, huge next couple of games for the Pens.
Nothing in November should be classified must-win.
But it is pretty important.

A lot of people think Michel Therrien should get whacked.
Who knows. That is for King Shero to decide.

Everyone needs to start stepping up.
And that includes all of us.

Make some changes. Try to wear a lucky shirt. Rearrange some furniture.
Switch WWGRD wristbands.
We all need to spark something.
Because, in the end, we're all we got.

......................................

AFTERMATHBLOG



The reason we started this blog was because we were really fed up with the negative spin that local sports writers and broadcasters were putting on the Pens.

Writers didn't really have a chance last season to put negative spins on everything since the Pens were exceeding all expectations.

But this season...oh man.
It's open season on everything Penguins.

How can we, as fans, take a writer seriously when he goes from praising a team after one game to kicking them when they're down after another game?

Dave Molinari
[ Post Gazette Recap ]

Now that the Penguins are 17 games into their season, including a 5-2 loss to Philadelphia at the Wachovia Center last night, it might be a good time for a quiz.

OK, here we go: Which of the following is the lowest:

1. Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury's save percentage.
2. Fleury's confidence level.
3. The number of pucks Fleury stops, then controls, in an average game.

Who the hell starts a game recap like that?

We can start off our game recaps with a picture of a man and his huge junk because we're not professional journalists, aren't getting paid, and don't take ourselves seriously.

If writers didn't continuously contradict themselves on a day-to-day basis,
there would be no need for us to go off like this.

Joke.

...................................................................

Potash interviewed this dude last week during a game when he visited Pittsburgh in his 30 cities in 30 nights NHL tour.
It merits mentioning. [ 30 Games in 30 Nights ]

....................................................

Off-The-Ice Newsblog

In news that isn't surprising to Pens fans, the Penguins ranked 20th in a recent survey that looked at the local popularity of major sports franchises. [ PG ]

Buffalo was obviously higher than Pittsburgh.
And Detroit somehow managed to place above the Pens.

The Pittsburgh Penguins franchise is worth $155 million [ Forbes ]
That ranks 22nd in the league.

A lot of people say that is actually incorrect; that the Pens are worth more.
We'd do the research, but really if this statistic has any meaning to you, we probably hate you.

Toronto is the most valuable...at $413 million. What a juggernaut.

It is worth a lot for a franchise that chokes on everything else.
We didn't see who was last, but Washington is most likely close.

.......................................................


Tawm

We would go Around the Atlantic, but it's safe to say everyone is sick of these teams already.
Until we actually show up against them, there's nothing to say.


Everyone hates the Rangers and their balls.
But you can't argue with ESPN's Burnside who says goalie Henrik Lundqvist is the early favorite for league MVP. [ ESPN ]


Comrie, Fedotenko, and Guerin signing with the Islanders is the third best move of the offseason.


Daniel Briere's signing is number two. [ ESPN ]

And the Devils blow.

................................................................


Maple Leafs are done.
Kubina out with an MCL injury. [ NHL.com ]


Saturday night, the Kings were down 4-0 with 10 minutes left in the third.
No problem. [ Yahoo Recap ]

Jeremy Roenick joined the 500-goal club with the worst goal in history.


The Coyotes are terrible.

........................................





Ron Francis is going into the Hall of Fame on Monday.

Scott Burnside went down the list, updating people on what Messier, Francis, MacInnis and Scott Stevens have been up to. Solid stuff. [ ESPN ]

But scratch your head at this sentence:

Francis was among the first of his generation to chart this path. Last season, he ran into Yzerman on the road. They chatted a bit, old Central Division foes whose teams often went toe to toe in the playoffs, whose careers crisscrossed a hundred times, maybe more.

a) Francis never played in a Central Division.
b) Francis never played in the Western Conference/Campbell Conference.
c) Francis never played in the Red Wings' division.

No clue what's going on.

...................................................................................

How did this picture just make it to the internet now?

If you had a chance to wear your hair like Mario did in the mid-1990's, you would.
Wow.

................................................................

Secondaryblog

We got into the whole secondary-assist debate earlier.

But you want to talk about a more important debate?
How about secondary actors.

We picked our winner after watching the riveting "Richie Rich" this week.

Side note: If you want to watch confident acting, watch Macaulay Culkin in that.

Sick


Anyway.
One of the best secondary actor in the business:

Chelcie Ross

Someone should start a blog on his acting career. [ IMDB ]
He is such a dick in all of his movies.
He owns credits in three of finest sports movies of all time.

He is that pissed off guy in town in [Hoosiers.]
He plays the unforgettable role of Eddie Harris in [Major League]
And to cap that off, he plays Dan Devine in [Rudy.]

And just to compliment all of those.
He actually appeared in an episode of "Early Edition."


Bring this show back.
Replace the main character with Steven Seagal, and it becomes bigger than Hereos.
Guranteed.

................................................

Steelersblog

Cleveland is mud.

Romeo Crennel doesn't even know whats going on.


Super Steeler fan, and newest member of the Mondesi House commentorblog, Pensblog Charlie was at the game.
He was pleased with the defense.

"Best Man on Man coverage in the League "

...................................

Go Pens

Secondary Sid

It was brought up in the comments this past week that Sid has adopted the moniker of "Secondary Sid" from some factions out there on the internet.

The nickname alludes to the growing school of thought that Crosby isn't all what he's cracked up to be because a number of his assists are "secondary" (and there's a groundswell of opinion that the NHL has given Crosby assists on goals that he wasn't even on the ice for).

A secondary assist is just that: a secondary assist.

Crosby has the puck, passes it Malkin.
Malkin passes it Gonchar.
Gonchar scores.

Gonchar -- assisted by Malkin and Crosby (not by Crosby and Malkin).

************

When hearing about this mess, we went to Google to find out its origin.
Once we clicked SEARCH, we were now dung beetles, totally engulfed by shit.

This whole Secondary Sid thing came out of Washington.


************

The first topic brought up was Sidney being given the distinction of being the youngest captain in the history of the NHL.

It's not true, since Brian Bellows was 8 months younger when he was captain of the North Stars.

That's pretty much a slam-dunk. End of discussion.
There are some Pens fans who argue about Bellows' reign as captain, which was quite short.
But that doesn't matter.

Seth from [ Empty Netters ] shut it down.

Japers' Rink shut the door on it, too. [ Japers' Rink ]
Hooks Orpik and The Seeker were in the comment thread there.

A great quote came from callinectes on boards.WashingtonCaps.com:

" There is alot more to leadership than putting up points. You can live in your bubble enjoying Mario, Jaromir and Sid as your team's Captain, but they don't compare in leadership to Langway, Hunter and Clark. "

Leadership usually helps in bringing a Stanley Cup or two to the home town.

________________

And then we get to the thick of it.
The Secondary Sid.

We'll hit the internet bacteria breeding ground first.
Also knows as message boards.

[ This thread ] at boards.WashingtonCaps.com debates the "C" and Secondary Sid.

We'll tackle the most insane part about it first, which is the notion that Sid has been awarded phantom assists by NHL scorekeepers who are assigned by Gary Bettman.

nuftjedl: "my issue with the secondary assists isn't so much that he has them. it is the fact of there are a few times, more than a few, that he received when he shouldn't have. this is more of the "Bettman Touch" than just getting them."

FlyersSuck: "How else can you explain the 7 times last year in which Crosby got an assist at a home game when he wasn't even on the ice?"

And this was from a Sabres message board [ Thread ] :

brettkickeditin: "...I'm not even sure he deserves to have as many points as he has. I've seen him "earn" some pretty sketchy secondary assists. I think the league's marketing department is in cahoots with the refs. I swear, one of these days he's going to get an assist when he wasn't even on the ice for the goal."

We can honestly, truthfully say that Crosby has had no such treatment from the NHL or official game scorers over the past year or so.

We've never had a man-crush on Sid, and we've been quick to point out every time he makes a mistake or takes a stupid penalty.

And, since we've updated our own stats on this site manually after each game since the beginning of the '06-'07 season, we would be the first to wonder why Sid got a phantom assist, let alone the accused number of 7 unwarranted assists.
We don't care if Sid wins the Art Ross Trophy.

It's a ridiculous statement. Case closed.

*************************************

And then there's the prevailing "Secondary Sid" theory. ( SST )
It basically means Sid's stats are stacked because roughly 40% of his assists are secondary.

We're not gonna argue about secondary assists and primary assists.
They've been around for a while.

The first instance of the SST popping up on the internet was after the Philly game last season, when Sid had 6 points.

[ 3 Grumpy Caps Fans ] had a post about it.

" So Bing Crosby had a goal and 5 assists, only three of which were secondary.

I think it's time the league reviewed the whole secondary assist thing. It's getting to be like Gretzky's farewell tour, when the guy would get an assist any time he was on the ice and a goal was scored. I know the player's union would never go for it, but this is getting ridiculous. "

The blog came back about a month later and used their blog as a toilet. [ Post ]

"Let's face it folks, Alexander Ovechkin has more charisma in his right pinkie than Crosby has in his whole body. He also has more scoring ability than Crosby will ever dream of. Disagree? Compare The Goal to The Imitation. One is a goal for all-time, something I'll be telling my brother's kids I saw years from now. The other? Someone laying out to make a deflection. And yet every hack with a keyboard in Bristol seems to think that they belong in the same conversation. They don't, and time will show that they won't.

You want to talk about being a complete player? How about putting a shoulder into someone. I've never, EVER seen Sid put a solid lick on any player, much less a physically imposing one. Alexander Ovechkin plays a monster physical game against every team he plays. He doesn't just beat up on the small guys, the grind guys, the lesser players of the NHL. Don't believe me? Ask Forsberg how his head feels. Or search youtube for Crosby and hits. Find anything? Thought not. Now do the same for Ovechkin. I'll see you in half an hour when you're done with the first few pages of highlights.

But yeah, E.J., you're right. Crosby is a complete player. Completely soft.
The guy has more diving minors than hits.

Oh, there's also that little thing called the Calder trophy, given to the best rookie in the NHL. Last year, Ovechkin "edged" Crosby in the voting, winning by a margin of only 119 first place votes (there were 129 cast). That after "experts" like Hradek and Suck Burnside predicted one of the closest votes of all time. Now I'm not saying Crosby is not a good player. He most certainly is. In time he may become one of the all-time greats. What I am saying is this: Putting the Secondary One on a pedestal above the Russian Machine (see, he's even got better nicknames) is more than just lazy journalism. It's downright offensive, and it makes a mockery of what a "complete" player, and hockey in general, should be all about. And Caps fans should be LIVID about it. I know I am."

And that's exactly why we don't write in paragraphs.
It's too hard to read paragraphs on a computer screen without losing your place.
It gets frustrating.

And that post is exactly why we never compare Ovechkin and Crosby.
It's a never-ending joke.

Picking apart what someone writes and finding things to criticize about it
is one of the easiest thing to do in the world.
And we are not below that.
But we don't care enough to do it.

--------------------

This is the initial post in the message-board thread that we linked above.

imau2fan: "Thornton 92 assists (54 primary, 38 secondary), 58.7% primary
Crosby 84 assists (48 primary, 36 secondary), 57.1% primary
Savard 74 assists (39 primary, 35 secondary), 52.7% primary."

-- These are stats from '06-'07. --

Solid breakdown of the stats.
We're puzzled that there's no Secondary Thornton theory going around.

A rather convincing and noteworthy article came from boltsfan's blog on [ Fox Sports ].

It was in March of '07, where he compared the stats of Crosby and Lecavalier with secondary assists removed.

"Crosby isnt half the player Lecavalier is. Vinny is a force every night for his team, logging over 22 mins a game on the ice, playing power play, penalty kill and even strength. His even rating may turn some people off, but when you're on the penalty kill nearly the entire 2 minutes, it will affect your +/-. "

Ouch, too bad (+/-) isn't calculated during special teams.
Other than that, the blog raises some points that any Crosby-hater/NHL fan will have to look at twice.

In closing, these arguments are all ridiculous.

Pens fans would hate Crosby if he was in Washington.

On the flip side, Caps fans wouldn't complain if they had Sid.
Pens fans wouldn't complain if they had Ovechkin.

Lightning fans wouldn't complain if they had Crosby.
Pens fans wouldn't complain if they had Lecavalier.

Broad Street Bullies. PENS LOSE

5 - 2

[ Yahoo Recap ]


Tough times right now.
No one feels worse than the Penguins, though.
It's November 11.

A lot of people need to take the next day
to think about if they can handle an 82-game season or not.

We don't really speak out much on shit, but what is going on right now via message boards,
[newspaper recaps] and c-blog is a complete joke.

................................................

Welcome to 2003-2004.

So, 4 seconds in, the Pens get a too-many-men penalty.
Not a good way to start off.
Mike Knubleblog in front of the net.
Goal.
1-0. Unreal.

"Best penalty. ever."

If anyone listened to Mike Lange, he was livid about the Flyers being in the crease.
And when Mike Lange is mad early, you know it could be a long night.

Some stupid orange light was fixed of MAF's crease.
No clue what that was about.
Philadelphia is a joke.

Later on, Sid's line jumps on the ice and is manhandled.
Sid got owned.

WWGRD?
Get sent to the box.
Guess it is illegal to check someone.
In his typical uber-negative recap, Dave Molinari called it "ill-conceived."
Unfortunately, because Fox Sports doesn't have the technology available for showing replays, we will never know.

What would the Flyers do?

Score a power play goal. Knuble. 2-0.

If you have a letter that needs to be sent to Mike Knuble:

Mike Knuble
22 Fleury's Crease
Wachovia Center, Philadelphia

Finally, the Pens caught a break.
Malone took a high stick to the face from Dorothy Briere.
And then the Flyers captain, Jason Smith fights Malone.
Jason Smith is an A-Hole.

Malone's bleeding after the fight, and that's 4 minutes.

The first two minutes were beyond garbage.

Just as the entire four minutes was going down the toilet, that Jones moron gives Crosby a high stick to the face.

The Pens had a two-man advantage for about 30 seconds.
And they don't get a shot off.

The rest of Jones' penalty is killed.
5:30 of power-play time -- nothing at all.

In the last quarter of the first period, Orpik goes to the box for a hook.

The Pens killed that off, thankfully.

And that was it.
In a period where you thought the Pens would show up, they didn't.

"They aren't making the playoffs."

...............................................................

So, the second period starts off.
Bad times.

Ruzicka gets into a fight with Daryl Sydor.
Too bad Ruzicka didn't think he was gonna get ice time tonight, let alone get into a fight.

His jersey wasn't tied down, so he was gone for the game.

The second period refused to get into a rhythm.

Gonchar went to the box for some phantom call.
7 seconds into the power play, Palindrome deflects in a shot from the point.

3-0. Emoblog.

Dan Potash settles into a zone and asks Steiggy and Errey who were the five Penguins to participate in the 1992 All-Star Game.

bam.
Bryan Trottier was the only one who wasn't a starter.

The Pens finally got something going.
Crosby settles things down and gets it to Whitney.

Whitney has more patience than UPMC Presby and gets it to Malkin. 3-1.
Biron immediately thinks of going to the ref to complain about something but realizes that he got beat.

Next thing you know, the Pens were going back to the box.
Sydor for knocking the puck over the glass.

In a weird play that the Flyers got hosed on, Knuble knocked the puck off the top of the net by hitting the netting near the puck, and not the puck itself. Should've been a goal.

The Pens kill that penalty.

And they started picking things up a bit.
Sid's line dominated.
Then Recchi set up Christensen with a sweet pass.
Have to bury that. No questions asked.

Sid's line comes on and dominates again.
Some dude holds Sid. Another power play.

The ensuing power play was another exhibition of fecal matter.

Towards the end of the period, the Flyers go to the box for something.

17 seconds left, the Flyers block their 80th shot of the game and clear the puck.
Steiggy: "That'll do it for the second period."

Whoops, Gonchar shoots it from the point.
And the goal goes into the books at the 19:59 mark. 3-2.

"They are the best team in hockey."


"Make up your mind, assbag. Haven't you ever watched an NHL season before?"

................................................

Daniel Briere is not worth the money.
He elbows Scuderi in the mouth, then laughs at the referee for giving him an elbowing penalty.
Are you serious?

That lasts for about a minute.
Malone goes to the box for hooking.

The Pens kill the penalty off, and things start jobbing for a while.

The Pens go to the box again when Orpik makes up for giving the puck away by taking a penalty.

FSN officially announced the throwback jerseys for the Winter Classic.


APM -- ouch.
( Matthew N. )

Dan Potash alludes to the fact that Bob Errey once had a Buffalo Sabres uni.

Bob Errey says, meh, I wore the bright yellow helmets, not the powder blues.
Bob Errey obviously forgets that he played for the Sabres.


Potash - 1
Errey - 0

By the way, the Flyers capitalized on that power play.
Dorothy was there to put one past MAF. 4-2.

Later, Staal gets taken down with a blatant hook.
Power play again.

The Pens needed to show some character on the ensuing power play.
They proceeded to show less character than an episode of Becker.

Mistake

As Father Time did his thing (thing = little boys), Crosby gets slashed by Jason Smith.
And honestly, it looked like the slash got all stick.

Flyers fans started chanting Crosby, Crosby.
They relentlessly booed their team last season, and now they love them.
Flyers fans shouldn't be taken seriously.

Malkin sticks up for Bing, decks Jason Smith.
The Flyers take offense, and things got scrummy.

The Pens pulled MAF, and the Flyers score into the empty net 4 seconds later.

At least it's a rivalry again.

Game.

(Thanks to Lis for the pics)

STATS

• Malkin: 2A
• Whitney: 2A
• Gonch: 1G
• MAF: 25 saves
  
• Timonen: 1G, 3A
  

MISCELLANEOUS

• Definitely did not see Talbot or Laraque enough.
• Jason Smith didn't make any friends tonight
• How did the Flyers even get Jason Smith? Is Kevin Lowe on acid?
• Kerry Fraser and Don Koharski worked the game. The fact that was made public was a warning people were going to get pissed off.
• The Flyers head coach, John Stevens, is a scumbag.
• Fox Sports needs to wake up.
• Lost three in a row for the first time since last December.
• The Flyers are the better team right now.
• Whatev
  

GameDay (17) -- Pens @ Flyers

7:00



This should be interesting.
Biggest game of the season.

.............................................................

Ray Shero says Therrien isn't going anywhere. [ PG ]

-- Does anyone remember reading a Pittsburgh newspaper column regarding Therrien's firing?
The fact that piece was even written can be attributed
to the growing fan presence on LGP and here.
The fans have a voice.

Then again, if some Pens fans out there were GMs,
we'd have traded Staal for Hasek by now.

Malkin missed practice with a knee, but is expected to play.
Whitney will be playing. [ PG ]




Nothing else needs to be said.

All Fall Down. PENS LOSE.

4 - 2

[ Yahoo Recap ]

The next two days are going to be amongst the longest of our lives.
Pens are under .500.
It is cold.
Your girlfriend might be on her period.
Your boyfriend might be a joke.

Things look bleak.
Everyone is getting blamed.

People taking shots at every player.
Everyone wants a change.
Everyone becomes a coach.

Get your mind right, man.
Get your mind right.
...........................................


Thanks to Ross S.
(Streak of national-anthem pics on the road is going strong. Who is keeping it alive in Philly?)

.....................................................................

FIRST

We get word early that MAF is getting the start.
And Colby finally squeezes into the lineup.

Sydor blatantly owned someone in front of the net when MAF was trying to get the puck away from the net.

After a faceoff, Big Ben struck one big-time. What a sound.

Sean Avery apparently ran Gary Roberts at the tail end of a play.
What a moron.

(Steve G)

The Pens turned the puck over in their own zone, but MAF was there.
There was a lot of extra shenanigans going on early.

Michal Rozsival is allowed to check from behind, as he douches the Roberts.

Sean Avery being a terrible hockey player finally paid off for the Rangers.
He missed the net egregiously on a wrist shot, but the rebound off the boards went right to Ranchero Gomez.

1-0.

20 seconds later, Sid gets hauled down. He's only 20 years old.
The ensuing powerplay was comparable to someone taking a dump on your car.

The Rangers were beating the Pens to every loose puck insane.

The Pens tied it on a pretty sweet play all the way around.
Sid got it to Gonch at the point.
Gonch lifted it over a sprawling Ranger.
Ryan Malone was screening in front, doing some kind of Karate Kid kick. 1-1.

Colby trips someone up, and the Rangers go on the power play.
That lasted about 4 seconds because the Rangers headed to the box to even everything up.

No reason for this picture.
Kurt Russell just doesn't mess around.

Everything evened up, and then it was go time.
Avery ran Gary Roberts, and Roberts put his stick up.
Avery goes down like a little girl while barely getting hit.
And Roberts tried to get Avery to even it up, but that bought Roberts another 2 minutes.
Four minutes well worth it. And we're not just saying that.
Well, actually, If that was Mark Recchi we might have shut the blog down.

Uh-oh. Michal Rozsival bangs it in on the powerplay.

2-1.

With that goal, Rozsival instantly did more in 30 seconds as a Ranger than he ever did as a Pen.
Somewhere Josef Melichar raises his fist in defiance.

It was almost 3-1, but MAF made a big-time save.

And yeah, the second penalty was killed, and so was the first period.

..............................................................

Solid, solid piece between the period by Bob Errey regarding line changes.

...............................................................

The Rangers coming out for the 2nd period looked like the beginning of a big game on Blades of Steel.

Alain Nasreddine settled the puck behind the net early in the second.
He's played the last few games, and no one has said a word about him.
The Rob Scuderi school of being a steady defenseman.

The second period just couldn't seem to get goin'.

Christensen scrummed it up, the Pens got a powerplay.
Paul Mara couldn't play in a local dek hockey league.
He is a joke.

The powerplay is mud.
No dice. Again.

Job. Job. Job.

Maxime Talbot went to the box on a slashing call.
7 seconds later, Avery shows up again. Top shelf.

3-1.

Gary Roberts, in a play similar to when he got blitzed earlier in the game behind the net, decks some dude and gets a penalty.

Who cares.

It was PK blog for pretty much the rest of the period.
Malone and Gonch paraded to the box.

The Pens offense made a little noise that period, but it's just not good times.

Shot Total After Two Periods:

NYR -- 32
PENS -- 14

....................................................................

After the second period, Chicken Little holds another press conference.


"Season is over. Pack it up."


Shut up, dick.

Marty the Chicken and Chicken Little have to be separated in the runway
for the second consecutive night.

..................................................


THIRD

Cue up the broken record: The Pens are never out of a game.

MAF played the puck early in the third.
Confusion ensued, but the Pens escaped.

Malkin and Sid forget who's playing center, which leads to a giveaway.
Brandon Dubinsky puts it home.

4-1.

Brandon Dubinsky celebrates by going to the box.
My Two Dads go nuts.
Recchi scores for the first time since [ Insert your own funny joke here ]
4-2.
It looked for a moment that it was Roberts.

After that goal, the Pens start playing for the first time in the game.
Furious action.

Unfortunately, out of nowhere, there was only 6:00 left for the Pens to do something.

Malone draws a penalty, and it was time for the Pens to go to work.
And they do. But you don't get a raise every time you go to work.

Bing and Malkin work some magic.
Here we go.
Malkin to Sykora . Yessss...........Just about to jump out of your seat......

bam

Sykora got robbed by King Henrik.
And you know that is it.

Thanks for playing.

Game.

STATS

• Bing: 1 A
• Gonch: 1 G
• Lundqvist: Sick.
  

MISCELLANEOUS

• Jagr has always been a beast. This is the first game since the mid-90's that he wasn't even a presence.
• Roberts had a chance at the end of the game, but his stick breaks. WTF.
• Ranger fans singing "Sweet Caroline" is like listening to your parents bang.
• Avery = Sylar
• Marc > Jordan
  
• Whatev.

GameDay (16) -- Pens @ Rangers

7:00
7:00
7:00


7 - 7 - 1

We've spent all season defecating on the Rangers.
But here they are with the same record as the Pens.

The Pens beat the Rangers earlier this season
in the most boring game of the year.

All Pens fans can agree that tonight's game won't resemble that one at all.
There's something in the air.

.......................................................

MAF is expected to start.

Any word on scratches for tonight?

15 down, 67 to go. PENS LOSE.

3 - 1

[Yahoo Recap]



demondg1 --- Adam Vacancy

yeah, it was a 7:00 start, not 7:30.
All apologies.

Lesson:
Don't ever trust us with anything.

Before the game we find out:

The Homicidal...Suicidal...Genocidal...
SABUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

But wait.

Flyers coach John Stevens hits Sabu with a steel chair.

Crosby gives the puck away (a primary giveaway), and the Flyers jump out to a 1-0 lead 28 seconds in as Loophole jobs one in off of Sabu.
We have said it before. And we will say it again. Besides a male performance in the bedroom, anytime you do something in under a minute, you're gold.


No one even knew what was going on.

After a couple minutes, Upshall shoots a puck at Sabu well after the whistle.
Idiots.

Uh, 2-0.
Jeff Carter is all alone in the slot and bangs in a pass from behind the net.

Suck it

Ryan Malone hit some dude late.
Confusionblog ensued.

But the Pens came out of it with a power play.

The Pens got some solid chances on the power play, but no dice.

FSN shows a clip of Lemieux blasting a one-timer on the power play.
What a player. What a moustache.

Another solid shift by Georges Laraque.

Seriously.
Props to him and Talbot for delivering pizza to the student rusher.

Lupul hooks Sid on his way to the net.
Another power play on the horizon.

The second line starts the show and make some noise.

Orpik is the trigger man for the power play all of a sudden.
Pens go an early o-for-2 on the power play.

Bob Errey mentions that Lupul is spelled the same way backwards and forwards.
What followed was 5 seconds of WTF silence.

Just when you thought we'd be going into the first intermission down by a goal,
Sid does what he does.

He grabs the puck from Malkin who got owned.
A sweet pass to Malone, and it's 2-1. Primaryassistblog.

Flyers fan = Stunned.
Thanks to Mike C. for the pic.

But uh-oh, the War Room gets a call.

It takes 14 seconds to verify the goal.

And that was it.

..............................................................................


Danny P dominates during intermission.

........................................................

The second period started out with Orpik and Umberger going at it.
Umberger leaves with blood all over his boobs.

A little later, the Pens had a solid odd-man rush brewing.
Sid to Malkin to Sid to Malkin to Sid to Malkin = no scoring chance.

And then they were buzzing again a few minutes later, but it just wasn't happenin.

Towards the end of that shift, Crosby gets primarily owned, and it sparks the Flyers on a 2-on-1.

Mike Richards buries it. 3-1.

Before the toilet water could settle after that flush, Daniel Briere almost ended the game, but he missed the net.
Didn't he do a commercial where he was knocking out panes of glass in a window?
Yeah, miss the 6x4, joke.

$7 million a year.

Briere was officially the 14th Flyer during the game that the Pens left all alone in front.

With less than half of the second period remaining, the Flyers finally get a power play.
Mike Knuble fixes that with a penalty of his own.

Scottie Upshall had another sweet chance point-blank, but Sabu was holding strong.

Scuderi bolts out of the box and to the bench.
The Pens set things up, and Mark Eaton almost brings down the house with a goal.

The power play ended, and the ensuing play ended with Sykora's stick being held and Crosby getting tripped.
Hand pass or something.

The Flyers have a player named Lasse Poopcan.

Picture: Lasse's wife, Meredith Poopcan, devastated by her last name.

Sid drew a penalty on his next shift.
The power play was buzzing all game, but the red light wanted no part of it.

And then it was the Flyers turn on the power play.
No dice as the second period ended.

..................................................................

A couple of Ben Roethlisberger mentions, and there was already 13:00 left.
Not good times.
Mario looks like he is in the best shape of his life.

Malkin drives to the net and draws a penalty.
The biggest PP of the season.

The power play was pretty much over with when Recchi faceplanted Jones into the boards and got a boarding call.

nice hit.

During the PK, Jordan Staal finally makes an appearance.
Sophomore slump blog.

Sid and Malkin morph into Lecavalier and St. Louis during the last 10 minutes,
trying to tie it up.

The Flyers were shutting everything down.

Lord Therrien knows he has nothing to lose and pull Sabu late.
And, bam, Sid gets knocked down. We got a 6-on-4.

Powerplay streak. Game.
Chicken Little and Marty the Chicken exchanged heated words in the tunnel after the game.

STATS

• Biron: Solid.
• Malk, Bing: 1 A
• Sabu: 52 good minutes.

MISCELLANEOUS

• Yet another whatev game.
• Roberts needs to score a goal.
• So does Staal.
• So does everyone.
• Flyers are a threat again.
• Really tough game in MSG Thursday night. Meltdownblog might be coming.

Double J time tomorrow.

Things are about to get interesting.

GameDay (15) -- Flyers @ Pens

7:30
FSN

Stop #3 on the Atlantic tour.
The long-awaited matchup is upon us.

With a regulation win, the Pens can leapfrog into first place in the Atlantic.

With a loss, the Pens will get a second crack at Philly on Saturday.

The atmosphere tonight should be the shit with the rivals in town,
along with the Pens coming home after a four-game road trip.

Rumor has it that Sabu is getting the nod tonight.

The Hockey For Heels event is also taking place tonight.



Go Pens.

You Just Did Just What I Thought You Were Gonna Do

We stay on the beaten path and never venture from talking anything that has something to do with hockey.

But this Hollywood writers' strike will affect us all. [ Ain't It Cool News ]

Apparently, The Office has already shut down.

And....

" Reportedly, Tim Kring wouldn't comply with a weekend rewrite that would tack a season ending onto the last script written and is now off Heroes. "

God help us all.

............................................................

PENS

--- Yahoo's Ross McKeon listed the underrated player of each team. [ Yahoo ]
You don't have to read it to know that he picked Maxime Talbot.



Sid's on pace for 128.8 points.
Unprecedented if he would get .8 of a point somewhere, but it's Sid.

Malkin's on pace to get 111.

--- The Pens PK has been silently balls-out as of late.
They've crept into the 8th spot with an 86.4%.

The PP has scored a goal every game this season.
They're third with 24.3%

..............................................................

Speaking of power plays and sweet segues, Fanhouse found an interview with Lou Lamoriello from a while back, where he promoted the return of the "two-minute major." [ Fanhouse ]

Apparently, teams used to be able to score as many times as they could
during a two-minute penalty.
But the Canadiens power plays back in the '50s were insane,
so the NHL changed the rule to what we know it as today.

Fanhouse has some nice commentary regarding the subject.

...................................................................


Currently, Montreal is clicking at 30% on the PP. [ Yahoo Stats ]


Wade Redden may be taking a paycut in the coming years to stay in Ottawa. [ TSN ]

"It's definitely more than the money that's involved", Redden said.
"The group of guys that are here are incentive enough."

We aren't in hockey circles, so we hope we aren't too brash when we say that this may be happening a lot in the salary-cap era.
A dude won't go and make an extra mill per year in a growing franchise when he could stay put, take a paycut, and watch reruns of "Step by Step" while polishing 4 Stanley Cup rings.

** By the way, the Sens won again.
They are off to the best start in NHL history. [ TSN ] **


Atlanta was the anus of the NHL at the start of the season.
But they've won 5 of their last 7, and Kovalchuk is starting to show up. [ TSN ]

............................................................................

AFTERMATH


Damien Cox did a nice piece about how the meeting between defensive Minnesota and offensive Pittsburgh is a sign of where the NHL is. [ ESPN ]


The collapse of the Devils. [ Fanhouse ]

....................................................

Steigy and Errey were talking about Hobey Baker the other night. [ Wiki]
Thanks to commentor Joshua for the tip.

"In 1910 he enrolled in Princeton University. During his time there, he was elected to the Ivy Club, while also playing baseball, football and hockey. Because Princeton's athletic rules limited athletes to participation in only two varsity sports, Baker gave up baseball after his freshman year, concentrating solely on football and hockey. By the time he graduated, he had led Princeton to a national championship in football (1911) and two national championships in hockey (1912 and 1914). Baker was also famous for his refusal to wear headgear in football and for the fact that he was penalized only once during his entire hockey career at Princeton."

Whatev.
More like ****


Sorry guys this has been edited.
It is unacceptable to call Hobey Baker "Homo Baker"
-PC
.........................................

Everything is Connectedblog

Eric Lindros is hanging it up. [ Globe and Mail]
When he was actually healthy, he was a beast.
Unfortunately he just couldn't keep his head up:



This isn't Scott Stevensblog, but that hit changed peoples' lives forever.

And....

The man who he was traded for, Petr Forsberg, might be hanging them up as well. [ TSN ]
His ankle isn't cooperating.

And then to tie it all up...

John Leclair = Stunned

Picture: John Leclair not scoring a goal.

He has been charged with driving drunk. [ WCAX ]
(Thanks to Matt N. for sending this in )

It is safe to say John Leclair now sucks at everything, and not just hockey.




.....................................

All-Star Balloting


Whitney, Malkin, and Bing get the nod for the Pens.
Gonchar = Stunned.
MAF = Stunned.



We regret to inform everyone that, yes, we have the engine necessary to run a Vote for Gary campaign, but we just can't bring ourselves to do it.

The Vote for Rory [ Fitzpatrick ] campaign of last season was a brilliant idea.


The NHL jobbed it at the last second, doctoring voting results as the All-Star game drew nearer so that Fitzpatrick didn't get in.
[ Slate.com ] has the entire story from start to finish. Solid investigating.

Regardless, you can bet your balls and ovaries we will be voting for Roberts.
Pass it on.

If someone else does start an entire campaign, we will support it 100%.

All someone has to do is start a Gary blog, and the rest will take care of itself.
We would link to it and do all that we can.

............................................

Pens DVD


10 Greatest Games has hit the shelves.

Now, before an intense intimate session with your sex of choice,
you will able to watch the 4-OT thriller to get pumped up.

Chris Tamer's play, even though it resulted in a penalty shot that Joe Juneau botched because some dude threw a beer on the ice earlier in the game, is one of the more underrated plays in Pens history.

It's the game that Lemieux jobbed Todd Krygier, too.

............................................................

Barry Melrose is in more hot water than the lobster you just ordered.
He jobbed the new arena in Newark and has since apologized. There's a video at [ Fanhouse ]


NHL.com gave Ron Francis some love. [ NHL.com ]

..................................................................

Julia W. sent this along.
The text of the rumored Hockey News article.

"A sign at the Mellon Arena reads simply "WWGRD?" as if to suggest all Penguins players should ask themselves "What would Gary Roberts do?" when faced with adversity. And they do. Captain Sidney Crosby is the heart of the Penguins, but Roberts is their soul. After all, how many other 41-year olds would be the first player to join a scrum in the defense of Crosby, as Roberts did in a recent game against Montreal? Roberts is a man of few words; the still-rambunctious left winger prefers to let his actions speak for him. And they do on the ice with his rugged, in-your-face play; and off the ice, with a grueling condiginton regimen. "Gary is a warrior," said center Jordan Staal. "That is the only way you can describe him."

Written by Joe Starkey.

....................................................................

How has the WWGRD wristband changed your life?

Everyone wants to know.

Leave a comment at [ WWGRD Testimonials ]

........................................................

Go Pens

S For Shutout. PENS WIN

This post is brought to you by the letter "S."

.......................................................................

5 - 0

[Yahoo Recap]

We always harp on the tough games.
Talk about the tough losses and gut-wrenching nights.
But you know what...

How enjoyable was it with 5:00 minutes left in the third?
On the verge of a shutout...
Brodeur chased...
Watching the Pens shut down the Devils.

Good times.

........................................

PREGAME

Chicken Little makes a few post on local message boards and in commentorblog:
"The Pens are done."
"Fire MT."
"Trade Fleury."
"Season is over"
"Wake up, RS."
"The sky is falling."

Marty the Pensblog chicken:
"Chicken Little is a homo."


Pensblog Charlie:
Two chickens can call each other homos. I'll allow it.

............................................
National Anthem


Ross S. --- Andrew P.


....................................

FIRST PERIOD

We get the word.
Starting in the net for Penguins...

The Homicidal...Suicidal...Genocidal...
SABUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

The Devils were buzzing like a bunch of monkeys early on.

Then the Pens had to go to the box again.
Gonchar for intereference. Oh man.

The Pens kill like their 80th penalty in a row.
Gonchar came out of the box and joined an awkward odd-man rush.
Hall goes into the boards behind the net at Mach-3 speed.

Adam Hall is dangerous.

The sound echoes because there is no one in the building. So sad.

Great crowd on hand.
(Thanks to Andrew P.)

Oh, man. Roberts was a boob hair away from dominating a big goal early on.
It's nice to see Therrien putting My Two Dads on the same line there.

Tyler Kennedy had a sweet breakout pass to Staal.

The top line buzzes and almost gets a goal.
But every Devil was in the crease to thwart the chance.
Malkin dropped the f-bomb there, bringing his unofficial f-bomb count to two this season.

George Laraques celebrates not being scratched by heading to the box.

The Pens PK was a big deal again.
If two solid PKs aren't a momentum booster on the road, nothing is.

The Devils get a penalty. Three people boo.
Power play blog.

Gonch humps it towards the net, rebound, Sid.

1-0.

A little later, Orpik does another wrist toward the net
Adam Hall deflects it like a beast. 2-0.
That play doesn't exist if BGL doesn't dominate.

That's the Devils season in about 8,000 square pixels.
Pack it up. Nemacolin Woodlands Golf Course opens in early April.

A 2-0 lead means as much as a high-school relationship.

Towards the end of the period, Aaron Asham makes more moves than a hoebag.
But he doesn't know what's going on when he gets to Sabu.

............................................................

SECOND PERIOD

For the rest of the season, a 2-0 lead will mean poop.
This second period was gonna be big.
We were one wrister from the point away from it being a one-goal game.

Sabourin had to play the puck behind the net under some pressure.
No one was worried.

We see that Petr Sykora scored his first career goal on Tom Barrasso.
There's a joke here, and we just can't come up with it.

Then Malkin turns everyone into a woman with some sweet hockey playing.
He keeps the puck in the zone, gets dragged down, makes a blind pass from his knees to Sykora.
Syko buries it. 3-0.

We'd grab a pic of Sykora, but Malkin made this goal...and he knows it.

The Devils spent the first half of the second period taking lazy shots from outside the faceoff circles.

Recchi gets owned with a stick to the face, and the Pens go on another power play.
He can't even bleed right.
Sykora had a golden opportunity coming down the slot. No dice.

So, the Devils killed the penalty, but it didn't matter.

The Pens got a 2-on-1 right after the kill.
Talbot and Christensen do each other, and Christo bangs it home. 4-0.

Thanks to Brett for this pic.
He has a crapload more at [ Flickr ]

Towards the end of the period, Orpik jobs Parise, and Parise ends up going to the box.
Another Pens power play was on the way.

Roberts almost buried one early on the power play.

The look on his face is why people wear WWGRD wristbands

The Pens don't score on the power play.
And the boo birds were out as the players went to the locker room.

...........................................................................

THIRD PERIOD

Barring a meltdown that can only happen at a home AFC Championship game coached by Bill Cowher , the Pens were gonna escape with a big W.

Orpik made a pass to Crosby that made Brooks look like Larry Bird.
Crosby goal. 5-0.

What a game for Orpik. He was a +4.

The rest of the game consisted of watching the Devils foolishly try to break Sabu's shutout.
It wasn't gonna happen.

The third period spoke for itself.
It was a great 20 minutes.
Beating the Devils with their own system.

It looks staged, but this pic is the real deal.
That kid is gonna meet the business end of Sutter's left hand.

With the game being blowout-esque, consciences were clear if anyone wanted to flip to Heroes or watch Ben turn the Ravens into bird feces.

Game.
( Ross S. with the pic. )

STATS

• Bing: 2G
• Malkin: 1A
• Syko: 1G, 1A
• Talbot: 2A
• Sabu: Shutoutblog, 20 saves.

MISCELLANEOUS

• We run the straight and narrow line in terms of the goalie situation. We take it as it comes. But as someone in Cblog mentioned, instead of waiting for MAF to get his chance, maybe it is time to give Sabu the chance he has earned by mulling around in the minors and jumping around the NHL.
• Max Talbot is insane
  
• We get production from secondary lines, and we put up 5.
• Just a solid performance all the way around in a gotta-win game.
• And finally, how embarrassing is it to look at the stands during the game tonight? Even Crosby can't draw more than half-capacity.
• Huge night for the Pens/Steelers.
• Pens should sign James Harrison.
  

GameDay (14) -- Pens @ Devils

7:00



The Atlantic Tour is pulling into its second stop.

Last time the Pens played the Devils,
it was refereegate, with mouse pads douching people in their mouths.

Hopefully the Devils will grow some and give out rocks in honor of Prudential.

The Pens have lost 4 of their last 5.
It's not a must-win, but it's a gotta-win.

[ GameDay Chat ]

No word on line combos or starting goalie that we could find.
We didn't look very hard.

Some Like It Luke Warm

Monday nightblog

One of the biggest Monday nights in a long time.

We all have four choices:


7:00 PM

9:00 PM


8:30 or something

Afterwards, you may wish to engage in intimate sessions with a heterosexual partner.
If you're homosexual and are offended by us not thinking you engage in intimate sessions, we apologize.

After the Isles game, some Islanders fans got all worked up, one thing led to another, and we were being flamed from our overuse of the word "Homo."

Honestly we really don't care. Never will.

But....
In interest of making Pensblog more accessible to all sexual orientations,
we have turned to an old friend:

We are proud to introduce Pensblog Charlie, resident homo advisor.


Here's Charlie, all business after a big post.

Charlie is a good friend of the staff, and he has volunteered to make sure we are not overusing "homophobic" slang.

Charlie will be around commentorblog if he isn't making out with his boyfriend.

.............................................................

Sheroblog

This is a report from [ Newsday.com ]

Pittsburgh reps have been following the Stars from city-to-city.
The hunch: Assessing Dallas G Marty Turco and/or defensemen.

Whoever wrote that is a hetero.

...........................................................................

PENS

Whitney wants back on the ice Wednesday.
Malkin and Crosby staying together. [ PG Notebook ]

Christensen and the shootout. [ PG Molinari ]

......................................

AFTERMATH



DiPietro did not suffer any injury that adversely affected his eye. [ TSN ]
Which is good. Eyes are kind of a big deal for a goalie...or a human, for that matter.

Our game recap didn't go over so well with the Islanders fans.
Commentorblog was on fire.

And there was some thread on some message board talking about it.
We'd copy and paste the stuff, but we've been Melvined from the message boards.
Mission: Accomplished.

There are 7 games left.
It may get ugly.

......................................................................

It is Sunday night.

You know what that means:

Across the Atlantic


8 - 4 - 0

The Flyers lost the Canadiens then beat the Capitals.

There's nothing to say about the Flyers except that they're coming here on Wednesday
and we go there on Saturday.

7 - 4 - 0

They've won four of their last five.
With those five games occurring over the span of 4 months.

During the Pens current nine-game Atlantic tour, they only play the Pens once, on the 15th.

No word on whether or not they'll bring Billy Smith out of retirement for a game.


6 - 6 - 1

They've also won four of their last five.
Wins over Tampa, Washington, and the Devils.

We see them twice during the tour.


5 - 6 - 2

It's bitter-sweet seeing the Devils licking the basement floor.
In a way, it's nice to see them suffer.
But you also know they can still trap and squeeze out some wins against the Pens.

We see them three times during the tour.

.........................................


6 - 6 - 1

A whole week went by, and not much has changed.
Things started out pretty well, with a big win up in Minnesota.

But then the wheels fell off.

Two straight games.
Two straight 2-0 leads.
Two straight losses.
People want Ray Shero to push the Panic Button.
Not gonna happen...yet.

Last year after 13 games, the Pens were 7-4-2 [ Schedule ]
So, really, they are only two games off that pace.
Perhaps it's the way they have looked during some games that has people worried.

And while we aren't deeming anything in November as critical,
the Pens have a huge set of 8 straight games against the Atlantic Division.

If they go in the tank over those eight games, then we will have cause for concern.
Until then, whatev.

Four games this week:

Mon. -- @ NJ
Wed. -- vs. PHI
Thurs. -- @ NYR
Sat. -- @ PHI

.....................................................

There's a mouthguard on the market now that should be on Heroes. [ Truro Daily News ]


Apparently, Brian Bellows was perturbed that one of his kids didn't make some hockey team.
Fanhouse also brings us the Trottier/Stevens/Bellows video. [ Fanhouse ]


Goalie Pascal Leclaire got his fifth shutout of the season. [ NHL.com ]


The Sens beat the Bruins in a shootout. [ TSN ]

Two Sens fans celebrate the big win.




Special delivery for Jaromir Jagr.

Reebok doesn't make his favorite stick model anymore. [ Kukla's Korner ]




.......................................................


It appears that the Pens and Sabres will be wearing these uniforms for the Winter Classic.

NHL.com Shop has links to the jerseys. [ NHL.com ]

[ Going Five Hole ] was clutch in finding this.
Thanks to JSchiff.
.............................................

Dan G. sent this older article in about the mystery of Jim Carey, former Caps goalie. [ Tripod ]

Best part of the article:

"Jim made $800,000 or $900,000 the year he won the Vezina and then he signed a four-year, $11 million contract. And Jim has done so well with his investments that he doesn't have to work. He's working on his business degree at the University of Tampa and looking to get involved in the financial world. It's disappointing that Jim didn't persevere because he still had a lot to give to the sport. Despite everything that had happened, 24 was too young to leave hockey.''

Befitting his loner mentality during his playing days, Carey hasn't spoken to Howard or Sauer in months. None of his former teams knew his exact whereabouts. And despite encouragement from Lawton, Carey declined to be interviewed for this story.

......................................


Go Pens.

The Things We Lost In The Fire. PENS LOSE

3 - 2

Yahoo Recap

We use this way of thinking far too much:

But it cannot be said enough -- Games like these wear down your soul.

It is part of the grind, but that does not make it any less annoying.
The last few games in Long Island can be compared to getting teabagged by Shaq.

But hey man. This is the life we live.
Can't take the heat? Kill yourself.

...............................................

We couldn't catch the first period, and if we could give the blogger password to everyone, we would.

So a wizard of photoshop, Canaan, stepped in and helped us out.

...........................................

What do these pictures have in common?
They both will be dead before you know it.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Pregame:

[Note: Being in Philthadelphia, Canaan gets the Isles feed on Center Ice.]

Deb Kaufman is a minor league Trenni...anywho, she made the comment "...and the penguin faithful are acting like the sky is falling because of their high expectations and slow start."

skank.

Anyways...

Ted Nolan still in search of Lt. John J. Dunbar

Dances With Wolves is money.

Did anyone hear that Al Homo was coaching his 1,500th game?

Drop the puck:
(Thanks to Jeff M for the picture)

First Period

All Islanders early on. Good excitement and energy from the Islanders. Bad penalty by Malkin 30 seconds in. Andy Hilbert :cough: former penguin :cough: draws it.



Strong PK with some quality chances by the Isles.

The first half of the period belonged to the Islanders.

It was like watching season three of Sliders.

Seasons 1 and 2 were awesome.

Whatevs

Second half of the period was a different story.
Gervais gets outworked by Mark Wretched and gets a penalty.

Penguins PP = Vicious.

Crosby beasts a pass to Malkin. Malone does his best Dennis Rodman impression and rebounds for an easy bucket (er...goal).

1-0
( Check out the Penguin fan top left)

We blow.

Nice.

14 Minutes in...
"hey, check it out. Nasreddine is playing. ...and going to the box"



Another solid kill.

Pens get another PP late when Witt interferes with Malkin.
Gotta wait for Malkin to touch that puck homo.

.....................................................

SECOND PERIOD

The Pens went into the second period remembering what happened in Colorado.
2-goal lead. Time to preserve it.

Out of nowhere, JFK gets a shot off.
Looks like it went in. Confusion ensues.
Roberts put his hands up, therefore you know it's a goal.
The play continues for a few minutes and then the whistle finally blows.

The refs call the Warren Commission in Toronto.

Goalblog. 2-0.

Goal counts, so Hiro takes everyone back to 18:08 remaining.

Do it

Later, Ryan Malone gets called for interference.
Usually he's interfering with Crosby trying to play hockey, but this time he interfered with an opponent.

Mark Eaton was there again to thwart a near-goal.
The Pens kill it off. Huge.

What wasn't so huge was Crosby's pass taking a bad bounce and finding Trent Hunter's balls.
Bam. 2-1.
No idea why Crosby is on the first line.

After some jobbing, the stick heard 'round the world was fired.
Some homo lifted Crosby's stick up near DiPietro.
Crosby's stick finds its way up into DiPietro's mask.
DiPietro pulls his best Clint Malarchuk and skates around aimlessly.
He goes directly to the locker room.

What happened next was interesting.
The refs had originally called it goalie interference, but one of the refs realized it was a high stick, so they summoned DiPietro from the locker room.

It took DiPietro a second or two to come out, since he was probably giving himself a papercut and wiping the blood near his eye.
Guess players can go to the locker room now before being checked for blood.
Joke.

Sid goes to the box for 4 minutes.

It was here among 4,000 screaming Nassau Coliseum fanatics that the Pittsburgh Penguins discovered who they were.
They challenged the power-play unit at the blue line.
Time and again, the play broke down in the neutral zone.
New York was being smothered, by of all things, defense.
It was a beautiful harmony of movement.
It was the dance of champions.

Gonchar may have blocked a shot with his genitalia.
That looked like it was a brutal shot-block.

In the waning moments of the PK, the Islanders get a golden chance in the slot.
Unfortunately for NYI, it was Brendan Witt.
MAF makes the easiest save of his career.

Following that penalty, Crosby started getting booed every time he touched the puck.
And he had to keep his head up for the rest of the game.
Big third period on the way.

Ryan Whitney jumped into the broadcast booth for the second half of the period, and it was pretty cool.
You could hear his immediate reaction to things without worrying about a journalist's code of conduct.

Dan Potash brought us the David Volek goal from 1993.
Always tough to see.

...................................................

THIRD PERIOD

Early in the third, there was an egregious interference penalty that would have given the Pens a power play.
But no dice.
It truly is Al Arbour night because the we have gone back to 1975 officiating.
Good times.

Every time you go to Long Island, it always feels like the Islanders can crush you, even if they're awful that season.

That feeling was palpable as Miro Satan stared Fleury down with the puck.

2-2.

Does Sabourin make that save? Does your mom?

As an answer to that goal, Sid gets a golden chance but rings it off the pipe.

And yet again, it's a tied game as we head down the stretch.

Then it starts getting serious.
Malkin falls/dives/whatevers and knocks some Islander down.
Biggest PK of the year coming.

MAF doing what he has to do.
The Pens kill it.

Everything goes back and forth. We just want a point.
Listening to the radio, Mike Lange tell us to watch out for Satan. He is nuts.
Roughly one minute later...

Oh, No.
A MAF rebound.

Satan again. 3-2.
The look on Scuds face speaks for everyone.

Out of nowhere, it was time to pull MAF.
Uh, game. Are you serious?

STATS

• Malkin: 1A
• Bing: 1A
• Malone: 1G
• JFK: 1G

MISCELLANEOUS

• Let's just forget this game ever happened.
• Not real good times right now
• The only good to come out of this, is at least we get to set our clocks back.
• MAF faced somewhere in the vicinity of 40 shots. A good performance.
• Kennedy with a big goal. What a shot.
  

GameDay (13)-- Penguins @ Islanders

@Nassau Coliseum

7:00PM

6-4

As much as this week was about the Pens playing some teams from the west.
As they say.

Now it is personal.

With the start of a huge run against division opponents, get ready for that old friendly hate feeling that has been doormat for a while to strike tonight.
The Wild and the AV's really weren't that easy to hate.

You can fully expect to be in a pissed off mood about three minutes after the faceoff tonight.
We all know Brendan Witt is going to do something dumb.

Tonight is actually a big night in New York as well.
It is Al Arbour day. [ Yahoo ]


He signed a one day contract to coach his 1,500 game.
We don't remember much about this guy because in the 80's we were more concerned about the "Land Before Time" than hockey.

Emotional times.

But yea read this:

"Arbour joined the club in 1973 and left in 1986, only to return three seasons later for another six-season stint. He replaced Terry Simpson, the only other coach in Islanders history to win a playoff series."

"The highlight of Arbour's return was the Islanders' stunning upset of the two-time defending champion Penguins in the 1993 Patrick Division finals. New York trailed the series 3-2 before coming back and winning Game 7 on David Volek's overtime goal."

It is save to say. From the bottom of all our hearts. We hope he gets hit by a puck.
Dick.

................................................
Multi-Mediablog

Lines for tonight. [PSI]
Whitney is out.
EC scratched.
Colby scratched.

[Gameday Chat ]

[LGP gameday thread ]

.............................................


Go Pens

Fall Behind

Warning: This post drives home the fact that everything is connected.

............................................

PENS

Paul Coffey is going into the Penguins Hall of Fame. [ PG ]


If you preach defense in your life, Paul Coffey would be your god.
He only played four seasons for the Pens, but looking at his numbers, it is hard to even comprehend:




It is only fitting we mention Coffey.
Because among the topics in a spirited commentorblog has been the powerplay.
The Pens have scored a powerplay goal in every game this season.
(12-12)
The NHL record:
Bet your ball sack.
1988-89 Penguins wih 14 straight.
Who anchored that powerplay?

Paul Coffey.


........................................

Another huge topic going on is goal production. [PG ]
It will come.
Still way to much gloom and doom.
The Pens are 6-5-1.
They are here for the next 30 years.

Thats better than having sex in a pile of Stove Top Stuffing.
....................................................

Links

Don F has put together some sick audio clips for the Pens season thus far. [ Audio Clips ]

Ross McKeon over at Yahoo is banging out consistent, solid articles.
He wonders where Red Wings fans are at. [ Yahoo Wings ]
And he crowns a new HockeyTown USA (Minnesota). [ Yahoo HockeyTown ]

[ Taking One For The Team ] is baffled at the similarities to a recent HockeyTown post of theirs.

...............................................................


The Sens cemented another piece of their future.
Spezza = 7 years, $49 mill. [ Senators.NHL.com ]

As you can imagine.
Sens fans are pumped.

"Loose" Lauren Tubbs belts a song in celebration..

While.....

Ben Stevens and Marty McCoy take time to pose from a really gay picture.

Do it.

Speaking of homos.


Montreal has not forgotten how Daniel Briere snubbed them in the offseason. [ Fanhouse ]


Big news from NHL offices.
Rick Tocchet will be reinstated in February. [ Fanhouse ]
We will get the answer to Game 7 from the horse's mouth.

During the offseason, a heated debate transpired in Commentoblor.
Who actually scored the tying goal in the 1993 Game 7 against the Islanders?

We thought for a long time that it was Ron Francis.
After a couple claims from Loser Chris and EN Seth that Tocchet scored the goal,
we went to the videotape.
And we were dead wrong. It was Tocchet's goal.

We broke it down frame by frame, sorta. [ Tocchet Post ]


With Whitney hurt, Pens Nation started wondering about the blue line.
Nolan Pratt's name came up, who could've been claimed off waivers.
Not anymore. Sabres got him. [ Fanhouse ]


To further that up, the Sharks snatched up Sandis Ozolinsh. [ TSN ]


Patrick Kane was rookie of the month. [ NHL.com ]

.........................................................


Al Arbour will be getting behind the bench for one game to coach his 1,500th career game.
That game is tonight.

Al Arbour was the Islanders coach in the 1993 Game 7.

.............................................

And finally, a look at what Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Jokus does to the Mellon.



We're not PETAblog, but the animals in the circus are the most depressed creatures on Earth.

......................................................

Should be a good game on Long Island.

We are cutting back on the Ten Nolan indian jokes.

Go Pens
.................................................

Just Kidding

(Costa)

A Tale of Two Periods. PENS LOSE.

3 - 2

[Yahoo Recap]

Without researching.
Name the last Penguin forward other than Bing, Malkin, or Sykora to score a goal.
That is really all you need know about life right now.

Solid effort tonight.
Can't win them all.
The Amss are the real deal.

.............................................

FIRST

(Thanks to Steve in Denver )

Malone gets a chance early.
Pens come out hopping.

Mark Eaton looked like he had to pull down Smyth early.
That's not a good sign.

The Avs trying banging one in, and there's a phantom roughing call on Sid.
Huge PK coming up.
Another penalty out of nowhere.

It was Sabu's time to be a big deal.

The Pens kill the entire 5-on-3.
And you can hear the Pens fans in the building cheer the kill.

It was 0-0 after 10 minutes were gone in the first period.
What a solid first period, all things considered.

Out of nowhere, Crosby flies in, puck hits something. Count it. 1-0.

Following that, Sabourin was miraculous.

Errey asks why the players can't put pictures on their helmets.
Very good question.

On a shift later on, Roberts gets a couple chances in his neighborhood.
If he would've scored tonight, we may have shut down the blog.

As the first period pressed on, everyone settled in after a furious beginning.

Finally, after getting jobbed with a 5-on-3 PK early, the Pens got a powerplay late in the period.

The Pens gained the zone, and the Avs let Bing curl into the slot.

Mistake.
One-knee, back of the net. 2-0.

The rest of the period wilted away.
Strong road performance up to that point.

....................................................................

Oh, man. What a Penguins commercial during the intermission.

And a solid piece by Bob Errey on hockey sticks.
You have to love it when announcers pretend to be "live," when we can see a empty arena.
Good stuff though.

Rob King may have gotten a haircut. Looking sharp.

..............................................................

SECOND

The second period brought to you by the Chernobyl Power Company:

Sid's line starts the second, and Sid gets jobbed.
Another powerplay for the Pens.

Malkin takes a bad penalty during the PP.
So we go to some 4-on-4.

The puck bounced around in the Pens zone, and an Av set up for a solid shot from above the circle.
If you watched Sabu, he jumped out on top of the crease and looked confident. What a goalie.

As Malkin's penalty was expiring, Sakic tried to job in a backhand on the doorstep.
Sabu is there.

Things get going again. Pens still in minor control.
And then:

...a too-much-man penalty.
(C. Keith)

Pens get through the first minute of the PP kill.
Scuds lays his life on the line, but it's all for naught.
The roof started falling on the world.
Rebound. 2-1.

Papelbon doesn't play for the pens, so Colorado fans knew they at least had a chance.

The next 10 minutes were the worst since Donny Jeffcoat announced his retirement on "Wild and Crazy Kids."

What an athlete

Crosby took a penalty, but the AVS pushed forward. Woojoe Wodjwiwia something pooped a shot past Sabu.

2-2

Flood gates opened.

It got worse.

Generally when a team scores on a delayed penalty, that penalty is wiped out.
But Bing probably dropped an F-bomb.
He sits for two more minutes.

The Pens kill off Sid's penalty, and Sid comes out of the box like a monkey.
He doesn't get anything going.
The puck goes back to the Pens zone.
John Elway sneaks it over the goaline. No idea how it got in.

3-2.

Pens = Stunned.

Then there was another PK on the way.

PK does its job.
Talbot takes one in the kisser.
Malone drove the net, crossed in front.
Sid had a gift laying in front of the net for him.
It bounces over the net.

Towards the end of the period, Sid draws another penalty.
Big PP coming as the second intermission loomed.
No dice the rest of the second.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
A tale of two periods as we settled in for an emotional third.

...........................................................

A special news bulletin rocked television during the intermission.
A mail truck spontaneously combusted near the Dunningsville exit on I-70.


Investigators puzzled.

................................................................

THIRD

The third period begins. Tense times.

Sakic throws it over the glass.
Yet another PP on the way.

The Pens throw in a new wrinkle on the PP.
4 forwards, with Sykora at the point.
They had him set up with a one-timer, but he didn't know what was going on.
And then you stopped and wondered where Whitney was.
He left the game with a groin injury.

In the weirdest play of the season, some Avs d-man decides to make love to the puck at the blue line.
Unreal.

The Pens come out of that with another powerplay.
It was time for the hockey gods to smile on Pittsburgh.

Instead, the gods pulled down their trousers and crapped on everyone.
Everyone looks tired.

As a hockey fan, sometimes you just know your team isn't going to score.
But of course, that feeling is helped when you see Mark Recchi taking faceoffs in the third period.
Honestly, what is even going on?

Tick tock tick tock.
Father time started to work against the Pens...

....and for the little boys.

Talbot was possessed during the entire third period. Warrior.

Time flies. Sabu ninja flops to the bench.
Roberts jumps on as the extra attacker.
Visions of a tying goal dance in everyone's head.

But instead Crosby gets jobbed relentlessly behind the net, and the Avs ice it.

Lord Therrien rounds up the troops during a timeout.

Well, the Pens had it all set up with 10 seconds left.
Gonchar was there to rip it and pray.

Some Avalanche player with the biggest testicles in the world lays his body out.
Blocked, cleared.

Game.

STATS

• Crosby: 2G
• Gonch: 2A
  
• Malkin: 1A
• Eaton: 1A
• Sabu: 30 saves

MISCELLANEOUS

• Another solid game from Sabourin. Got beat on close shots and skirmishes, as opposed to wristers coming down the wing.
• Tyler Kennedy's name was mentioned maybe once or twice.
• Whitney hurt is groin. No word on how long he will be out.
• The defense played as well as we have seen it in the first period...and then as bad as we have seen it in the second.
• Someone else has to score.
• Joe Sakic is sick.

GameDay (12) -- Pens @ Avalanche

9:00

FSN


7 - 4 - 0

No one knew what to make of the Avs going into the season.

We get out first look at Paul Stastny.
And our billionth look at Joe Sakic.

..................................

Sabu's starting for the Pens.
Any building Crosby goes into will be electric.

Tonight belongs to commentor Steve in Denver.

The Long Halloween

It will be a late night tonight.
Get a cup of hot chocolate, a blanket, and a prayer.

Huge test against the Avs.

....................................................

A look back at the first month of the season. [ Canadian Press ]
Pens are mentioned once: CP placed Michel Therrien on the hot seat.

More Power Rankings.
In a stunning move, Yahoo places the Pens 6th. [ Yahoo ]

Guess who is starting tonight in goal. [ PG ]


Sabuuuuuuuuuuuuu
We are a 35-save shutout away from a massive goalie issue.

Rob Rossi does a Q &A [ Trib ]


Darryl Sydor is not impressed.
THANKS TO John B. and Dan G.

..............................

WWGRD?
Job Tim Benz.

Stop what you are doing.
Go here. [ WXDX ]

The X's website is about as user-friendly as your balls.
But click on the video with this screen front.



Fast-forward to the 1:57 mark.
And listen to Tim Benz get owned by GR.

Good times.
..................................

AFTERMATH


Thanks to someone in Commentorblog
Jacques Lemaire on Sidney Crosby. [ Star-Tribune ]

“I’d love to have one on our club,” he said of Crosby, “if they make any more.”


I'll make one with your wife Jack




Guy Carbonneau is crying again. [ Fanhouse ]

This time, it's in regards to the injury Francois Bouillon suffered when Gonchar decked him with 1.7 seconds left in OT and in effect going to the penalty box.

In the shootout, Gonchar wasn't in the box and was able to take a shot.

Should the shootout rules be changed?
Should Carbonneau be urinated on?

We agree that Gonchar shouldn't have been allowed to take a shot.
It's an anomaly that the NHL didn't consider.
But we just don't care for Montreal.

......................................................................................

On "PTI" (by all accounts, a decent show to put on in the background when you're doing something else), Michael Wilbon dressed up as a Vancouver Canuck for Halloween. [ Kukla's Korner ]



-- Ten most overrated players in the NHL. [ USA Today ]
Hasek, McCabe, Khabibulin, Weight, Havlat, Souray,
Robert Lang, Trent Hunter, Gomez, Bill Guerin.

....................................

New blog in the neighborhood



Say hello to [ Pierogi'sN'at ]

.................................


Oh, baby. Oh, baby. Oh, baby.
The Washington Times did a piece on how welcoming the Capitals are to bloggers.
[ On Frozen Blog ] via [ PopJocks ]

The growing number of bloggers has captured the attention of NHL officials,
who are exploring whether a league-wide policy toward bloggers is needed.

"The NHL is looking closely at it," said Caps chief communications officer Kurt Kehl, who served on a special committee to address the issue at a recent league meeting. "There is some fear of the unknown."

“McErlain worked with [ Caps owner ] Leonsis and the Caps’ public relations staff on crafting a “Bloggers Bill of Rights” that would grant access to the most active bloggers while outlining rules of etiquette and professionalism.”

Hopefully professionalism means we can still have a cartoon of a Penguin defecating on the Red Wings logo.
Because that's what we're about.

We consider ourselves active bloggers.
It would be a shame not to let us cover the Pens at the Verizon Center.
We probably wouldn't make it out alive.


Sens Nation is touching themselves over their 9-1-0 start to the season.
[ The Ottawa Citizen ]

So much so, in fact, that The Ottawa Citizen is actually comparing the 07-08 Sens to the 76-77 Canadiens, who only lost 8 games the entire season.
The Sens are roughly on pace for that, and The Ottawa Citizen is toying with the notion
of making this a big deal with game-by-game comparisons of the two teams.

And in a story made for us, Jason Spezza is out with a sore groin. [ CBC ]
24 men in the locker room jump at the chance to massage it.


Confirmation that Derian Hatcher is still in the NHL: He's hurt. A month. [ Yahoo ]

That November 7th game when Philly comes to the Mellon will be more intense
than the third stanza of Billy Joel's We Didn't Start The Fire.


The importance of faceoffs. [ Columbus Dispatch ]

Ron Francis makes an appearance:

“I don’t think the average fan understands them,” said Hockey Hall of Famer Ron Francis, a center who played 23 NHL seasons. “They aren’t glamorous, but people inside the game know how important they are.”


Predators. Franchise. Staying. Moving. Blah blah blah. [ Yahoo ]
We would talk about it, but we were distracted by this picture:


Could you imagine a Macy's Day Parade-esque balloon of Gary Roberts
outside of Gate 1 at Mellon Arena?
It would probably take an inflatable dump.

Speaking of Macy's, a shout-out to the boys at The Pittsburgh Mills Macy's.



The Coyotes have released a list of what some of their players listen to and are selling it on iTunes.
"Coyote Trax" are now available. [ Coyotes.com ]

Hopefully Wayne will be listening to "Win A Game" by the artist Yourajoke.

...................................................................

Happy Birthday to the Goalie Mask.
It turns 48. [ NHL ]

That NHL story is a must-read.

I rushed down to the dressing room and there was Plante, looking in the mirror and separating the cut and looking at it. ‘Pretty ugly,’ he said to me. I said ‘Yeah, well you had a good start Jacques.’ “Then he laid down on the table and was stitched by the doctor.” After a 21-minute delay, Plante returned to the Canadiens’ bench. Hall of Fame center Jean Beliveau recalled the players’ reaction when Plante spoke to Coach Toe Blake. "Jacques came back to the bench and told Toe, 'I'm ready to go back in but I have to wear my mask,' " Beliveau said. "He (Plante) had worn it in practice but Toe never liked the mask until this incident in New York." “When he came out with the mask, you could feel and hear the buzz of the crowd,” Fisher recalled. The Canadiens went on to win, 3-1. “Before the next game,” Fisher said, “Toe Blake said to me ‘he’s not going to wear the mask’ and Plante said to me, ‘If I don’t wear the mask, I’m not playing.’ That was Jacques Plante.”


Tough human

Speaking of masks...
We are still trying to find the story behind Sabu's mask [on the right ].



If anyone knows anything, let us all know.

........................................................

Go Pens