We thought this game was gonna be like a classic episode of Home Improvement. Instead, it turned into an episode of Family Feud when Al Borland hosted it.
What a mistake.
It's like every home game now is an AFC Championship Game at Three Rivers.
The only difference is that we don't even know where we're going with this.
Cowher was a joke.
The Pens beat the Bruins 2-1 in a shootout back in the 7th game of the season.
We had this to say:
"As far as the Bruins are concerned, they are solid. They'll be in the playoffs. If we go any more in-depth than that, we'll shoot ourselves."
It still rings true.
Is there trouble brewing in Pittsburgh? Yes.
If there wasn't trouble, we'd be worried.
You want your team to be pissed, and the Pens look beyond pissed at this point.
The thing about all of this is that you get more spin than you can even handle.
"But in this case, even players speaking strictly for background information, with no possibility of their identities being revealed, absolved Therrien of responsibility for the Penguins' struggles."
Even notorious Therrien critics like Mark Madden and Rob Rossi
haven't really approached the subject.
And let's face it.
This has nothing to do with Therrien or Mike Yeo or even Andre Savard.
This is a slump. The players either come out of it or they don't.
If you don't realize that, you shouldn't be allowed to watch TV.
This is an NHL season.
This is adversity at its absolute finest. No one is happy.
But this isn't our first rodeo.
The season starts now. Hold onto your balls.
The Bruins and the Pens come out flying. Good hockey. Tim Thomas shows why he ain't no joke.
The Bruins are relentless. But Fleury matches Thomas save for save.
Mark Eaton gets called for a penalty, but the Pens kill it off.
Chara tells Malkin to go tell it on the mountain with a big check.
After more MAF saves, the man with two first names, Dustin Jeffrey, gets a harmless shot on net. Tim Thomas has no idea what's going on.
Petr Gunn.
1-0
Everything was going fine until the Pens got called for a penalty.
Chara goes to the backdoor.
Top shelf.
1-1
The Pens get sent to sinbin city again.
Bad call, whatever.
Marc Savard makes them pay, short side high. 2-1
Things were calm until the Bruins turned it over.
Crosby plays shortshop, gets it to Dupes.
Dupuis Play™.
Weirdest picture of all time:
2-2
The good times were short lived.
Phil Kessel buries a Savard pass. 3-2
Pens still improved the play through the second.
As usual, they were in the game going into the third.
There are moments in a game and ina season that make a difference.
After killing another penalty, Dupes and Staal roll down on a 2-1.
Staal's redirection at a wide-open net almost hit somebody in F.
That was bad.
This entire game pretty much hinged on him burying that.
As we all dreamed, the Pens finally get a powerplay, but the Bruins get a shorthanded goal.
Vomit city.
4-2
Bruins added another goal just to make you sick. 5-2.
If there's a Baby Pen who has left his impression on the big club, it's Tim Wallace.
He had seen enough in the third period and goes head-to-shoulders with Lucic.
Lucic needs some Tums 'cause he ate Wallace's lunch for him.
What a pic.
Game.
MISCELLANEOUS
Surprised Big Ben wasn't at the Arena.
Therrien's post-game presser = Intense.
Pens held a closed-door players meeting after the game.
Pens haven't won at home in forever. We're guessing that Islanders blowout. We don't care to look. And the Bruins always seem to give them a tough time.
The Bruins haven't played a real hockey team in a while... They're not as good as everyone thinks they are... Blah blah blah blah.
The Caps retired Mike Gartner or something. We could care less. But check out his banner:
Nice
Thanks to [Hooks]
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Some of the stuff we get in our e-mail.......
No idea. That bitch on the right is all kinds of messed up. Thanks [Nicholas]
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You have no idea what it's like to be stopped at a red light and checking your e-mail and you get the following e-mail with these picture attached:
Around my house, we use the word "Holmstrom" instead of "get the fuck outta my way". If one of the dogs is under my feet, if my wife is blocking the refrigerator, or if somebody is blocking a doorway, we call them "Holmstrom". Anybody else do that? Check out the pics I'm sending you of my awesome Satan Penguins mask. I wore it to the San Jose Sharks game this year, and with any luck, I will get to wear it again when the Pens meet the Sharks for the Stanley Cup Finals. It will not be the Wings this year. Hopefully. By the way, I live in Sacramento. So when that commercial with dude making his flat screen tv behind the glass in his garage while wearing a Crosby shirt comes on, I really get a kick out of it. That is exactly what the houses look like out here in suburbia.
Unless your whole life is a joke, you don't need to be walked through that statistical comparison.
But you should know that the '07-'08 stats are what the Pens had accumulated through 38 games last season. They've only played 36 games so far this season.
Malkin's 18-point increase is just ridiculous. Crosby's numbers are down across the board. Wow. 3 points.
As far as the power play goes, 2 more goals on the PP so far this season would have them sitting at a 19.6% right now. Yeah, better than last season.
And their PK has battled through injures this season and has improved upon last season's numbers.
Before we looked up these numbers, we were ready to attribute the Pens' woes to perhaps overworking Malkin and Crosby with their new occasional PK duties this season.
But there are no woes at all. Malkin is on fire. Crosby is doing whatev. And people just forget what an 82-game NHL season is.
This isn't to say that certain debates creeping up among Pens fans aren't reasonable. We need something to occupy our time.
Last year's team had an unforeseen hurdle to leap in mid-January last year. Let's not even think about that right now.
We didn't even know anyone was still talking about this, but NHL INSIDER still has some thoughts about the Crosby ball-punch.
But LARRY BROOKS at the NYP takes the cake and feeds it to his wife.
He starts off a column about Ovechkin threatening to break Phil Esposito's single-season shot record of 550. Ovechkin has 216 as we eek towards the halfway mark.
For people that are interested in this stat, Ovechkin's shooting percentage this year is 10.6%. That's 160th in the league.
In Brooks' eyes, Ovechkin challenging this record makes him the league's "greatest player." But hold the phone. Brooks follows up this claim with this group of words:
The gulf between Ovechkin and every other player in the league is growing wider by the day. Even if Ovechkin may not be the most talented, or the best skater, he is by the far the most compelling athlete in the league.
So, wait a minute. Ovechkin being compelling (which Ovechkin is and which Brooks based his entire column around) makes him the greatest player? Come on.
It's sad that these "sportswriters" let their annoyance of Crosby cloud their judgment in clearly seeing that Malkin is the best player in the league this season.
We know Ovechkin is nasty. He's as exciting as it gets in the NHL. We more than gladly acknowledge Ovechkin's dominance of the league when it's happening.
But that's not what's going on right now. Malkin's on pace for 135 points this season.
That would make him the first player to break 130 points since Lemieux in 1995-96. Malkin is a +22. Ovechkin is a +13.
Ovechkin-Malkin went 1-2 respectively in the 2004 draft. Has there ever been a better top-two picks?
A quick list of every draft since 1990:
1990: Two solid NHL players.
1991: Lindros was good until his head fell off. Pat Falloon. Ouch
1992: Yashin's turtlenecks were solid.
1993: Daigle= not so much. Pronger is a beast.
1994: Blah.
1995: Ottawa's drafting in the '90s was a comedy of errors. Redden sucks.
1996: Take Phillips. Zyuzin was a disaster.
1997: Yeah, that is a good draft.
1998: If Legwand would have panned out, this draft could have been something.
1999: Yea, Stefan sucks. Sedin is cash.
2000: Two franchise players. Two joke human beings.
2001: This one is a contender, possibly. But not really.
2002: Nash is wasting away. Lehtonen never shows up.
2003: Another challenger. Still coming up short. Fleury with only 5 assists?
Looking even further back, the 80's were whatev. The 1988 draft might currently be the best 1-2 combination of all time. Wow.
Just to vomit -- The Penguins had the fourth pick in the 1988, they drafted some dude named Darrin Shannon. Look who they could have had:
Jesus. Does anyone even know who Darrin Shannon is? Tony Esposito was the GM in 1988. We may have to look into his one-year reign a little closer. What a joke.
Last season, we were on top of everything related to the Winter Classic. Not so much this year.
But there's some good links floating around out there. You can find most of them at NHL.COM. The most intriguing is the time-lapse camera of Wrigley Field's transformation. HERE.
This passed us up, too. Winter Classic Lost Logo Challenge. LINK
Spot the player with the Reebok logo missing on his jersey, and you win whatever.
If the Bay City Rollers would have known what the Pens do on these Saturday nights at home, they would have killed themselves. That guy top-right probably killed himself anyway. What a haircut.
The story of this game was tits and Carey Price.
There comes a time when the pride has to be swallowed. We'd rather do it now than after Game 7 of a playoff series. If any of those Habs at lease deserve a starting position in the ASG, it's Price.
Carey Price won the game for the Canadiens. And the Pens defense lost it for them.
In a tight game like this, a couple defensive lapses seals your fate. And it's the only way Kosttyitsstsn gets a hat trick in the NHL.
Picture: All-Stars Kovalev, Koivu, Tanguay, Komisarek, and Markov making big plays.
The Pens should be in the zone here to start the g-- Goal. 1-0.
Next play, Malkin blatantly holds Markov's stick.
not a penalty where i come from
Dupuis had a chance on the Dupuis Play™ on the PK, but no dice. The Pens do a great job killing off Malkin's penalty.
This was probably the best first period of action we've seen all year. It was punctuated by Pascal Dupuis being everywhere on the ice.
He scores big goals. 1-1.
Easily the best game Dupuis has played in a Pens uniform.
Talbot hit somebody in there. Wooo
The Canadiens, no strangers to working behind other men, get their second goal of the game from behind the net with 1.6 seconds left in the first. 2-1. Stings.
Don't move. Its vision is based on movement.
That goal at the end of the first was brutal. The feeling was still lingering like a bad fart, when the second period started.
About 5 minutes into the second, Bing was able to wash it away. It just goes to show that he can score goals even when under the wheels of a bus.
2-2.
After that goal, both teams decided to not play the rest of the second.
The best scoring chance was on a play where the puck caromed off the boards and surprised MAF, but the puck innocently went wide. Period.
McCreary again? His mustache refuses to pixelate. Unreal.
The Habs suck the life out of the Mellon early in the third. Tits with the HT on a shot from Carson Street. 3-2.
The Pens get some help right after with a PP chance. They had some solid chances and then Lapierre had a shortie breakaway. Fleury with a flop save. There was still a minute left on the PP. Vomit.
Max Talbot and the youngsters had a solid shift after the power play. He gets stoned point-blank by Price.
Crosby got tripped up again, and the Pens were on the PP again. That power play lasted about an hour, it seems. In case you wondered what we were missing when Whitney was out, he displayed it on that man-advantage. Everything but a goal was scored, though, and that's all that matters.
5:00 left. Sykora getting chances left and right.
Dupuis took a high stick to the face. What a play. The beginning of the last gasp for the Pens.
Crosby has a wide open net. If you didn't jump out of your seat, you shouldn't be here.
It'll come. Until then.
Game.
MISCELLANEOUS
Blah
Going with the Macho Man was the wrong move. We don't want to burn splinter out. Either way we still need a go to.
Where did the year go?
Habs fan are lame, but man do they travel well. We need to get connections at the border patrol.
Least the Flyers lost.
Price's stomach might hurt because he drank Milkshakes all night.
We have a 2-11 in progress.
Fleury is stealing the show.
Sometimes you're flush and sometimes you're bust, and when you're up, it's never as good as it seems, and when you're down, you never think you'll be up again, but life goes on.
A few years ago, we had to live by that quote. And it might be time to go back to it.
Quote aside, this is a big win for several reasons.
A.) Much-needed division points without giving points away.
B.) MAF flexed his balls big time. Goaltending performance of the season for the Pens.
C.) Doesn't make tonight a must-win.
Still an important game, but looking at going 1-2 this week is better than 0-3.
Tylenol blog.
laura k.
whistler
alex b.
609
Trying to draw three periods of exciting recap action out of this game is like trying to think of a funny joke to complete this phrase.
Nothing really happened.
MAF drank Jamie Langenbrunner's milkshake all night.
Bill McCreary's mustache was in All-Star form.
If Mark Eaton's kicksave was in Hollywood, it would be the new Steven Seagal.
Can't wait to see Gionta and Parise complain for the two and a half hours. Over/Under on Bobby Holik cheap shots is 13. Asshole.
:: Pens called up Biz Nasty and some dude with two first names, Dustin Jeffrey. If he breathes, he'll be an instant upgrade over Ryan Stone. [PP.com]
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Harsh words for Matt Cooke in Lightningville.
Some guy thinks Matt Cooke should have followed the code,and fought Vinny Lecavalier.
Anyway, I thought Matt Cooke showed a lot of disrespect for Vinny Lecavalier by not fighting him during Tuesday's game at Pittsburgh. By now, you know the back story, but for those late to the party: Cook, as a member of the Capitals last season, threw the check that separated Vinny's right shoulder that required arthroscopic surgery. Lecavalier did not have the puck at he time and Cooke was fined $2,500 by the league. [Whatev]
Really don't agree with all that. Just because Lecavalier can't move forward, why should Cooke even care?
Lightning Strikes is a solid blog, so we can't really say much.
I’ve never liked Matt Cooke and I know personally that a number of his Canucks’ teammates didn’t either. One of them, a friend of mine, wanted to beat him up.
He has been the ultimate hit and run agitator. Say what you will about Jarks and Avery, they will at least drop the gloves after they have crossed the line.
Not Cooke. He’s a coward.
Is there a less impressive way to start a post then acting like you're tight with a professional athlete and then threatening to beat a professional athlete up?
Get real.
Tell Lecavalier to worry about scoring, and then tell all your Canuck boys to blow us.
We missed the boat on the Penguins showing a plethora of unreal games on Christmas day.
There was a big-time game from the '80s between the Pens and Flyers. We didn't even catch this one. We're just guessing from what we saw in C-Blog.
Then we saw Game 6 of the 1991 ECF against Boston. What a huge goal by Gordie Roberts.
Then Game 5 of the 1991 SCF against Minnesota. Finally, it was Game 1 of the 1992 SCF against Chicago.
A common thread in the last three games was the enthusiasm of the Mellon Arena crowd. The Pens would give up a huge goal, there'd be a hushed silence, but the crowd would be chanting LET'S GO PENS before the puck dropped again.
We'd attribute this to the excitement of playoff hockey, but judging by some of the fashion decisions and hair seen in the crowd, coupled with it being the early '90s, it's obvious that everyone was on coke.
1:29 = Buries It
Somehow the same video manages to give you goosebumps over and over. Astounding.
Apparently, the NHL is keeping the Coyotes afloat by giving them advances on their league-wide revenue share. PUCK DADDY has every link you need.
Normally, we'd refrain from saying that Phoenix should be moved since we hated it when people were saying the same thing about the Penguins a few years back.
Then again, we're comparing Glendale, Arizona, against Pittsburgh, PA's hockey background. That's like comparing apples and assholes.
Patrice Bergeron placed on injured reserve. YAHOO. Ouch. Don't get us wrong, the NHL is always better off if Boston is doing well. But has there been a more inflated 25-5 hockey team ever?
Look at their December schedule:
That's a whopping two games against playoff teams. They finish off the month with games against Atlanta, Carolina, and then the Pens.
The thing about the NHL is that the schedule makers will end your life at some point. Let the Bruins be good now. That shit is going to burn up faster Apollo 1.
That's are pretty much the only NHL-related stuff we care about right now. The Junior World Championships start today, right?
Someone probably has that shit listed somewhere. It is on NHL Network.
Adding to the importance of this game is the fact that both teams' mascots are featured in one of the brand-new "This is SportsCenter" spots.
We can't get video of it since it premiered Thursday night. But basically Iceburgh and "The Devil" mess with the thermostat in the ESPN studio, adjusting it accordingly.
Big thanks to Randy L. for this sick pic. [Click to enlarge-desktop worthly]
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Of course we missed this, too. 12 Days of Mike Lange
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We need a big-time Gameday Character. So give us some ideas...
This guy will never be a Gameday. But this is the strangest music video you will ever watch.
This is the game we all had circled on the calender when the schedule came out.
No matter what the records we knew it was going to be a matchup up of a ton of ex-pens.
[Empty Netters] with the list:
Len Barrie, Owner; Adam Hall, RW; Jamie Heward, D; David Koci, LW; Greg Malone, Head Professional Scout; Ryan Malone (right), LW; Mark Recchi, RW; Gary Roberts, LW; Rick Tocchet, Head Coach. (Heward and Koci are actually former Penguins prospects and never played with the NHL team. We just wanted to make this list as long as possible.)
In a perfect world Orpik will destroy Mark Recchi at center ice.
Ryan Malone will most likely get booed, or not. There be some big post about it somewhere.
We could care less.
He has 13 points, So does Kris Letang.
What a disaster.
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Whitney is back, he replaces Letang who got hurt last night. [PENGUINS.COM]
That should be a huge boost for the Pens. That is about all the analysis we have.
The big analysis we do have is that the Eastern Conference is tighter than....
From spots 2-6 only six points separate all teams. Plus the Pens have like 25 games in hand with the Rangers because the Rangers played way to many games to start the season.
This was the definition of a seesaw game. You couldn't tell which team had the momentum from the second period on. As soon as one team scored, the other started mounting some pressure in the offensive zone. It was a great hockey game to watch.
It had a good ending, too.
As you can see, Crosby's stick was level with the crossbar.
Or maybe it wasn't. We'll never know.
The referee usually has a great view of a high stick when there's so little traffic in front.
But wait.
The ref was too busy ducking from Malkin's slapper. What a mistake.
If Versus had Matrix bullet-time, we could rotate around to a good angle.
Could have went either way. Pens win.
The over/under on Crosby-related conspiracy post on various message boards/blogs On Tuesday is 200.
The only post we care about is when the NHL posts the standings with the Pens getting two points.
Suck it.
Versus is a joke.
We don't have HD, but can't the camera zoom out when the puck is kept in at the blue line?
No, we don't even see where the puck goes when it's shot on net.
Either Versus sucks or HSBC is where hockey broadcasts go to die.
Black dude = not impressed.
Girl in front of him = a mannequin.
Yuppie woman on the right = a bitch. you can tell.
Red jersey = about to eat dude in front of him.
erica
Apparently this anonymous pic was taken inside of a bubble.
matt s.
Before the game, Crosby throws a grenade into the stands.
The NHL covers it up.
Before you can settle in, Buffalo gets lucky as usual. 1-0.
Shit, Sabres blow.
We were gonna put out an Amber Alert for Max Talbot, but then we found him in front of the Sabres net not ready for a centering pass from Matt Cooke.
Orpik took some penalty no one knows about.
Killed.
The NHL clearly fixes games against the Pens.
Period.
Per Versus, if you use Bod Spray, you will play a soccer game with your shirt off.
How many times can one station play the same commercial?
Second period was nothing until the Pens committed a big-time Ben at their own blue line.
Kotalik's girlfriend is on her period. 2-0.
stunned
Someone out there probably muttered to fire Therrien.
10 bucks to the first period who can prove they said "FIRE THERRIEN" during sex.
Pascal Dupuis said not in my house. All he does is score goals. 2-1.
Just a big goal. What a pass by Orpik. No joke.
In the second half of the period, it was GoGo's turn. 2-2.
Or maybe it was deflected. Only Jesus Christ knows. We get to see one replay so whatev.
The Pens were sustaining pressure on their next shift. But it was penalty city.
Godard had something to do with it. Even though Buffalo committed seven penalties on the same play.
Peters and Gods fight. Nothing to write home about.
General MacArthur puts one home on the ensuing powerplay as the Pens penalty kill leaves MAF out of dry. 3-2.
BULL'S EYE!
More items have been added to the event, including another pair of tickets.
For more details, go to the FACEBOOK INVITE or ask around in C-blog.
The Sabres started the third period with their fifth power play of the game.
The Pens had still not had one. Is that even a sentence.
The Pens killed that penalty, though.
Solid performance that was to be expected.
The game dwindled into the tail end of the third, and the Sabres finally get called for a penalty because some idiot punches someone in the face.
A commercial break comes next, so Malkin spends the next minute loading up on ammo.
But it was Goligoski's SMG that found its way to the twine.
You see the Pens bench standing during the PP on a replay. 3-3.
GOGO
Uh oh:
The momentum had swung until Boucher gets high-sticking for lifting his stick above his own waistline and hitting someone who is already on the ground because he can't skate. Get real. We thought Paul Stewart retired. What a horrible call.
Lindy Ruff calls a big timeout. What a move.
Did Joe Beninati say a player "went right to the cooker" when he drove to the net?
Killed. Send your wife to the cooker to bake us a pie.
Big third-period performance.
The overtime was shorter than Keith Jones' penis.
The MegaPowers jump over the boards. Go-go gets it to Malkin.
Knuckle puck time. Crosby is in front.
Goal city. You can see Malkin talkin' shit to Miller, which is awesome.
You'd think it was game. But hold your ovaries.
Might have been a high stick.
Lets go to the NHL rulebook.
Rule 39.4 VI
Please recall that all decisions must be completely and utterly conclusive.
The play was called a goal on the ice.
If A.O scored this goal, its the greatest OT goal ever scored.
Crosby scores it: It is a conspiracy.
Go to hell. Game.
MISCELLANEOUS
Ryan Miller after the game:
“I didn’t get a great look, but from my gut feel I thought it was a little high,” he said. “Let’s just hope they make the right call in Toronto.”
That's what she said.
WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Buffalo sucks. Get some more cameras in your rink if you don't think it's a goal. Idiots.
From [DieByTheBlade]:
"NHL Golden Boy Sidney Crosby scored the overtime winner on a shot that he clearly deflected with a high stick. Is there really any reason to have a war room in Toronto if they can't see anyway? Is that the same video room that looks at supplemental discipline? Anyway, I digress. Hopefully that will be the end of my venting and I'll talk about the game."
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
From [Sabre Chaser]:
"Once again the NHL got the picture perfect ending to a nationally televised hockey game, Sidney Crosby scoring the game winner in overtime. Does that remind anyone of a certain Ice Bowl where said golden boy scored a shootout goal successfully clinching the game for Pittsburgh also on national television?"
Yeah, no question the Ice Bowl was fixed, too.
Jesus.
"This isn’t sour grapes, I promise. If you look at the reviews, you can see that not only did Sidney tip the puck, but his stick was clearly above the crossbar. Even he knew that. If any other player had done that, you can bet your bobbleheads that it doesn’t count and they keep playing. It’s really unfortunate that this is a league where the rules are thrown out the window for one player."
"Sabres should have gotten two points tonight."
The fanatical fan lives up to his crazy name.
Would the Sabres have gotten two points if the goal was overturned? We're confused.
We could go on with post after post of complaining from Sabres fans,
but our computers keep crashing because they are flooding with tears.
If the Flyers, Caps, and Rangers weren't around, there wouldn't be a bigger waste of an organization and their fans than the Buffalo Sabres.
Is it just us or has Buffalo slowly moved up the chain of rivals for the Pens?
Ever since the Winter Classic, we have hated Buffalo fans almost as much as any other fan base.
Not to mention we cannot stand Lindy Ruff or any of the Sabres players.
A story we have not talked about enough is the Ryan Miller/F-YOU story.
The last time the Pens and Sabres played, goalie Ryan Miller said a ref told him to go F himself. [Buffalo News].
It was just about the referee last night, a brief conversation I had with the ref that was a little surprising to me," Miller said. "He told me to "go [bleep] myself' because I was just asking a question. I was just kind of joking around [to Ruff], saying, "Maybe that kind of started what got the bench minor going.'
"To be honest, I was respectful. I asked him a question and he told me maybe I should "go [bleep] myself."
Okay.
HCMT had the Pens take a bus to Buffalo for tonight's game.
We've heard it from numerous sources. There's a link somewhere.
And we can only hope:
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CORRECTIONBLOG
On Saturday we went along with an [Empty Netters]report that said Therrien said " It's Sidney's team," in response to a question.
Yeah, that never happened. It was a mistake in the AP print out.
We should have known better, Therrien never speaks in the pural tense.
Horrible mistake.
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A big farewell to our friends at [Doubt about it].
They hang it up after a solid year and a half of blogging.
Solid humans.
Good luck, boys.
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Blake Wheeler is nasty:
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Everyone is making a big deal about Bing throwing a cheap shot to some joke in Atlanta last week. [PUCK DADDY]
Yawn.
Crosby should have hit him with a steel chair then pooped in his mouth.
The best part of this is we could care less, so it makes anything anyone has to say meaningless.
Nothing is better than turning more blind eyes than Stevie Wonder.
Reading the comments over at Puck Daddy is like reading the who's who of whinny little bitches:
WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
What does this have to do with the new NHL?
Yeah you'd fight him we're sure.
Overreaction blog.
People are saying the NHL is favoring Crosby like they favored Lemieux.
Remember when Lemieux got bounced in that playoff game against the Caps?
3:04 minute mark.
That is a really stupid point we just made, we just wanted to show that video.
Nedved, FTW.
BOTTOM LINE
This might be the biggest non-story of all time. We're the only ones right, therefore we are wrong, apparently, as the rest of the hockey internet world wants Crosby to be punished. Basically, this is what happens when Crosby, who has been churning out cliches and run-of-the-mill quotes since he was 8 while being the face of Canadian hockey and essentially Reebok nowadays, goes a little bit off the beaten path.
Nobody's made a joke about that's as close Crosby will ever get to a Cup?
Nobody's made a joke about Puck Daddy being an expert at going after a man's balls?
If it wasn't for Puck Daddy, we wouldn't have even known about this thing turning into some kind of scandal.
To bring this all to a close, Crosby started that whole thing by throwing a Thrasher into Orpik's knee; a situation that had torn ACL written all over it.
We still have no clue why Bing punched the dude in the balls.
And if you don't like Daddy's closing sentence in his post about this, God help you.
Boston has been ridiculous this season. They have snuck up on everyone and currently hold a 23-5-4 record. That includes a 13-1-1 home record.
People want to know why they ain't a joke, and they point to their goals against total, which is tied with Minnesota for lowest in the league.
But Boston has combated that by scoring the second-most goals in the league. They got their playoff experience under their belt last season by taking Montreal to 7 games. Sentence you thought you'd never hear: They'll be in trouble if Tim Thomas goes down.
The Rangers have played 36 games this season, which is at least 4 more than 95% of the league. It makes their perch atop the Atlantic Division less exciting. Not to mention there's some ridiculous stat floating around out there about how many games they've won in shootouts. Shootouts don't exist in playoff hockey.
Finally the Southeast Division champ won't look like a bitch when they get one of the top three seeds. Washington has that invaluable playoff experience from last season. But as has been the case with the Caps the last few years, where they go this season depends solely on where and when they get hot.
Philly sucks. Nothing will ever change that.
New Jersey is peeing in the odds' mouth. They're more likely playing the underdog card in their locker room, not to mention any other games they play with each other during intermissions.
This is all setting the stage for Brodeur to come back to a top-flight contender in the East with Clemmensen holding down the fort. And Brodeur's ego will get in the way of New Jersey. Bank it.
Montreal thinks this is their year because of all the Centennial stuff. It isn't. Montreal newspapers are still waiting for Carey Price to show up in last year's playoffs.
An injury-laden team toiling in mediocrity is usually good news because, later in the year, it lets you creep on teams that forget what your team is capable of when you're fully healthy. But coaches don't let a team with Crosby and Malkin creep on them. The target's been on the Pens' backs since they decimated the Eastern Conference in the playoffs last year.
Buffalo doesn't need the Yellow Pages. They already have the Pens' number, for whatever reason. This may all go out the window Monday night. Or maybe not. There's a reason they're currently the 8th seed.
The battle of which of these teams should be contracted in a money-strapped hockey league. The Panthers aren't helping matters by still being able to sniff the top 8 spots.
One of the many things we didn't bother touching upon in the Maple Leaf game recap was how coach Ron Wilson called that timeout somewhere in the second period to gather his troops after a long shift and an icing call. Big-time move. And Nik Antropov is bigger on the ice than advertised.
Basement.
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Pens fans in the New York area:
The NYC Pittsburgh Penguins Meetup is holding a great event to raise money for the Mario Lemieux Foundation on Monday, December 22 at 7pm at Foley's located at 18 W 33rd St. between 5th and 6th in Manhattan. The Pens/Sabres game will be on tons of television screens with game sound and they have great beer specials for our group. Also all the money we raise at this fundraiser will be matched by Foley's!!! There is a $10 raffle for the Mario Lemieux signed puck, which was donated to us from the MFL ... so if you're in or around the NYC area and are interested in watching the game with some awesome Pens fan and a want a chance to win a signed puck then check out the site below for more information about our group and the event!-- Cara F
This was Toronto's last trip to Mellon Arena this year. Since the Pens won the first meeting in Pittsburgh, you knew what this game was gonna be. Every year, the Maple Leafs storm into the Mellon like little boys are on sale and take over the world.
You got to despise their fans, but they are a loyal bunch. Too bad the 8-dollar souvenir cup they bought in the Mellon is the only Cup they'll ever see.
This was taken by us after Malkin's goal. These dudes were three rows behind us. When the third period came around and the Arena start emptying out, they weren't friendly. We even had stunned pics taken of ourselves. Humbling experience.
We guess when you play the Leafs on Hockey Night In Canada, the refs don't call penalties on them.
But let's face it. The refs didn't have much to do with the beatdown that took place in this one.
And there is nothing worse than getting served with your own medicine as Leafs fans invade the Mellon Arena.
Tough night.
Malkin with more turnovers than Arby's. His juggling of the puck in the first period was about as necessary as a box of condoms at Acid Queen's house.
Santa better bring us a consistent hockey team. Ryan Whitney will do.
Somewhere during the third period, a Pensblog Jersey made its way onto the jumbotron in the form of a guy who was doing a KISS FM game. Identify yourself.
We were in attendance and were too busy dealing with Leaf homos to get a pic of it.
*Apologies to people who sent in anthem pics and photoshops. We're not in the mood. :(
::::::::::::::::::: UPDATE:
Therrien's presser after the game. "It's Sidney's team." [That quote is per Empty Netters]
Therrien is strangely calm.
:::::::::::::::::::::::: UPDATE II What is Crosby looking at?
As long as we run this blog, the date December 20th will always be a day we look back.
We'll look back on what was our rock bottom. It was the sum of all fears.
December 20th. The longest day of our lives.
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If you haven't figured it out by now, December 20, 2006 was the day PITG Gaming won the gaming license.
At that time, the Penguins backed the Isle Of Capri slot license application, which promised to build a free arena if it secured the license.
At 11:32 am, the shot heard' round the Pens nation was fired quickly, harshly, and without remorse. If you followed the situation, you remember exactly what you were doing.
We were at work, and at the time, our friend and early co-founder Chris, posted one of the shortest post in Pensblog history:
Jerome Bettis is dead to us. We are boycotting Giant Eagle.Did PITG gaming win the slots license because of Jerome Bettis? No. But did Bettis have to be a part of the PITG gaming? He knows the importance of sports in this town. To me (Derek), he is a sellout. My father pleaded with me not to think like that, but no way. He was a pawn in Barden's game, and it worked. But today, I lost all respect for Bettis.
Picture: Jerome Bettis running towards a $5 bill someone dropped in the end zone
I (Adam) personally felt that the most spirited comment that struck a chord with MY personal views on the subject was this one from Rico Fatastic:
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It all seems kind of strange. A lot of the blogs we ready today weren't even around. In fact the NHL blog community wasn't even close to what it is now. There was no Puck Daddy, and we really didn't get turned on to Mirtle until shortly after. It is hard to believe it was only two years ago.
If the the community was as big as it is now, you could imagine how this quote from Gary Bettman would have been everywhere:
The decision by the Gaming Commission was terrible news for the Penguins, their fans and the NHL. The future of this franchise in Pittsburgh is uncertain and the Penguins now will have to explore all other options, including possible relocation. The NHL will support the Penguins in their endeavors.
Jesus.
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By the glory of Gore, [LGP] has archived previous threads.
If you have time and want to see how low we were here is the link:
[LGP]
An actual post:
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There are so many other link and comments that could be brought up. But enough is enough you get the point.
An 82-game season is what is used to weed out jobber hockey fans; hockey fans who don't realize why the Pens were in a slump, hockey fans who don't care about the minor-league system, hockey fans who like hockey 'cause some girl does.
The Pens have had more injuries than Steve McNair, and they've been treading water. Even bringing one of those players back from injury (MAF) ignites the team. The Pens will be fine. We've survived a tough part of the schedule while being decimated with injuries.
MAF showed you what being a number one goalie is all about.
V.Flowers.
The first couple minutes was the Fleury show. Good to have him back. Making bigger saves than Dennis Eckersley.
The Pens caught a break, literally, when some joke broke their stick. Eaton smartly pushes it up the ice quickly as the Thrashers start peeing on themselves. Matt Cooke gets a step going into the zone and scores on an innocent shot.
1-0.
Big goal. The entire building erupts.
After some back and forth, the Pens threatened again. Malkin gets things going. Loose puck in front. Malkin's there, and totally out works some moron for the goal. 2-0.
"Nearly insurmountable lead for the Pens here" -- Bob Errey. Mistake.
The Pens had to kill a Tenk penalty towards the tail end, and it was harmony of movement. Killed.
The Thrashers are a chipping team. Some A hole flies through the crease and knocks Orpik's stick out of his hands.
Crosby pushes Marty Reasoner into Orpik. Reasoner gets his life destroyed.
You're watching that battle as you see the puck heads towards Orpik. Plinko Goal. 2-1.
Crosby and Orpik are in the box after an ensuing melee. Orpik got pissed that some Thrasher rolled his leg. Too bad Crosby was the engineer. Bing undercuts some dude.
Kovalchuck gets accolades for taking an 8-minute shift.
We've all been there. You get in bed with a girl and go to town. That's what the beginning of the second period was for the Pens. We're starting to realize that there is a 5-minute stretch of nearly every NHL game that pretty much defines said game.
The Pens came out and scored a couple quickies to start the second, and it was lights-out. Malkin with the boomer from the point. Staalsie. 3-1. Jeff Taffe gets some time on the PP and sets up Satan for a layup. 4-1.
You could really only describe the Atlanta goaltending as shitty.
After the Thrashers scored, Boucher put the cap on that 5-minute segment. 5-2.
If you even had a half-ass excuse for not watching the rest of the game, it's understandable. Because Hedberg was now in goal for Atlanta, meaning the Pens wouldn't score again.
Towards the end of the period the Thrashers start to mess with Malkin. Godard steps on the ice and takes care of business. He challenges some dude, but the guy chickens out.
As we go to commercial break for the intermission, Godard stalks down the bench like a watchmen. Big time moment for Godard.
Everyone remembers that girl we posted the pic of a few nights ago. From the people that emailed us, everyone called her an attention whore. Of course, she finally emailed us. But she didn't email us to ask us to take her pics down.
She sent us more pictures:
Weird times.
Opening up the third period, the talentless Chris Thorburn takes a run at Malkin and gets an elbow in the throat. We get back from a commercial and Thorburn is holding his throat/jaw. But not because of Malkin. He blew some dude in the stands. What an idiot.
Malkin got a penalty, but like Kenny Wu once said, "two minutes well worth it."
Nothing really happened in the third period.
Colby Armstrong scored late. 5-3.
Looked like an early Christmas present from MAF, eh?
MAF was still solid, and held the Thrashers at bay.
The Trash pulled their goalie. Sid and Geno team up.
6-3.
Game.
MISCELLANEOUS
We'll say it again. For the sake of hockey, get Kovalchuck out of Atlanta somehow.
Toronto let in 8 goals against Boston Thursday night. Saturday, here we come.
The Mario Lemieux Foundation has been kind enough to donate some things that will be raffled off at the Festivus Pledge Drive.
An autographed Mario Lemieux puck
An autographed Mario Lemieux Celebrity Invitational Hat
A Mario Lemieux Celebrity Invitational gift bag (with nifty gifties on the inside)
A Gary Roberts practice-used stick
Also, TWO tickets to the Penguins/Caps game on January 14th have been donated by the everfamous Lowell.
SERIOUSLY. Your chances of winning one of these items will never be better. The raffle will only involve those attend the event. SERIOUSLY. UNREAL.
We will be announcing the winners around 10:30pm. So make sure to stick around.
Besides the traditional Festivus activities, there will be beer pong and corn hole (just for you, Pensblog Charlie) set up throughout the night. After the Pens game, put on your dancin' shoes and shake it to the groovin' tunes provided by me and my lil bro.
Our drink specials for the entire evening include:
$3 Captain Morgan & Captain Morgan Tattoo $2 Domestic Drafts $2 Labatt Blues
This is not a 21-and-over-only event. Just please remember your ID if you'd like an adult beverage.
So, this Tuesday, December the 23rd, from 7pm-2am, come on down to Calico Jack's to celebrate a ridiculously awesome holiday and to support the incredible MARIO LEMIEUX FOUNDATION.
Many many thanks to Andrew over at MLF for his generosity, Lowell for being THE MAN, and to all the Pensblog boys for all of their help.
Don't forget to FACEBOOK INVITE yourself and others if you haven't done so already.
This is truly the beginning of a LEGENDARY tradition. 'Til Tuesday, folks.
We can talk about line combos, injuries, and trade rumors until we're blue in the balls.
Goaltending is where it's at and what gets it done.
MAF tonight in Atlanta.
Pens also called up Taffe and Oliver Stone from WBS.
No one can keep track anymore.
Stephen S. has been busy in STOREBLOG, so check it out.
One of the more recent additions is a take on Ryan Miller's claim that a ref told him to "F himself" when the Sabres played the Pens a few weeks ago.
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We don't know who runs the Chicago Blackhawks PR dept,
but whoever it is, they get it:
DEADSPIN posted this on Tuesday. It's a letter that a girl/woman sent to advice columnist MARGO HOWARD.
( This is not the girl who wrote the column. This is just a random girl. We searched "penguin fan hot" in Google Images. PAGE 3. She found out her picture was posted here within two hours and e-mailed us. Stunned.)
DEAR MARGO: I have been dating a guy for two years, and when we met, everything was perfection. We have had ups and downs, of course, but I feel there's one thing that is always putting a strain on our life: My boyfriend is totally obsessed with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Everything he does revolves around them, from the clothes he wears each day (always a Penguins hat and/or shirt) to the car he drives (his license plate boasts the name of his favorite player) to his room, which is covered floor to ceiling with 8 by 10 pictures, jerseys in cases, pucks, sticks, game-used skates and hockey cards. He needs to go to all the home games (42-plus over eight months), and he goes alone because he only has one ticket. His hockey mania takes a huge toll on our relationship because it involves a large chunk of time away from "us." We both work and go to school, so our time is limited, but the Penguin season in the mix makes it much worse. I end up feeling unimportant to him — almost as if he has a second girlfriend and he's cheating on me with "her." Please help me find a way to make him understand my feelings and to lessen the strain on our relationship. —- OFF-SEASON-ONLY GIRLFRIEND
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Thank God "and he runs some gay blog" wasn't in there somewhere.
If you are the guy she's talking about and you're reading this, it's time to end it. You don't want to date someone who turns to an advice columnist.
Thanks to MICHAEL J. for the link.
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Some dude guessed the Showcase at the end of Price is Right right on the dollar.
Drew Carey almost vomited. Apparently, it was a huge fix that originated at some TPIR message board. LINK
PUCK DADDY released the transcript of an interview Malkin gave in Russian which was translated to English.
Here is what everyone is making too much of a deal about: QUESTION: Sidney Crosby is following right behind you [in points]. Why is this player hated by a lot of fans?
MALKIN: "Maybe because of his behavior? But I think that Crosby is the best player. And those who are in the spotlight are always not liked."
OMG!!! Malkin called Crosby a diver!!!11 No. Idiots.
"Behavior" is such a loose term here. Unlike journalists and bloggers who only pay attention to Malkin and Crosby when they have to phone in an article or when they want to throw Malkin under the bus during the SCF, we've seen pretty much everything Malkin has ever said that's been put in print.
The "behavior" here is referring to the way Crosby holds himself off and on the ice. He's the face of the NHL. Fans don't like that being stuffed down their faces.
Back a few weeks ago, our good friends at [MELROSE ROCKS] came up with the idea to use some David Caruso one liners in a post. We loved the idea, but wanted to expand on it based on a great photoshop we got last year during the playoffs.
For those who have never heard of David Caruso's oneliners, they come from the show CSI-Miami. At the beginning of every show, the head of the Miami CSI, David Caruso gives a cheesy oneliner. The video of endless oneliners is one of the most viewed youtubes of all time:
So we asked all of you to give us your best submission using a template found by J.S. As usual, you did not disappoint. You'd think after reading over 40 or so they wouldn't be funny anymore. But that wasn't the case. It actually is addicting. We tried to get everyones in, and represent every team. But we have way more than we thought anyway. We said we were going to vote ourselves, but that is impossible. So we made a poll to vote below. The winners get $25 bucks in storeblog. And don't be alarmed, we are guest hosting [MELROSE ROCKS] , so these are getting posted over there.
Ron Howard over at THE POWER PLAY had some things to say about Malkin and Crosby slingshotting past the Habs in ASG voting.
At least Ron Howard knows how to pose for a picture: Look at the camera and smile. None of this depressed woe-is-me garbage. What the hell is he even looking at? Unless Saku Koivu is exposing himself.
So I'm just going to come out and say it. Is it alright if we start accusing Penguins fans of stuffing the ballot box now too. Because everybody in the hockey world, the media, the players, the ushers who clean up your popcorn after the game were outraged when the Canadiens were sweeping the voting. They went so far as to treat the ballot stuffing act by Habs fans as if it were a crime terrible enough to lock them away in a prison and throw away the key. Well if that's the case let's make some room in the jail for ballot stuffers, because there should be a whole shipment of Pens fans arriving any minute now.
A question to all of these idiots who are complaining about Crosby and Malkin getting the starting spots in the All-Star Game:
Don't you see that Pens fans did this because Crosby and Malkin were deserving of the spots??? We personally haven't pushed Fleury, Gonchar, and Whitney. We weren't gonna vote them in just for the hell of it, like Habs fans did.
What Habs fans did was crap on the sanctity of the game. Yeah, yeah, the All-Star Game is nothing. But Habs fans sure didn't act like it.
The delusional sense of entitlement in Montreal doesn't stop with the fans, though. Even Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau suggested the Pens' votes should be reduced. But he said it in a language nobody cares about. LINK
NYT blog SLAP SHOT did a nice piece on the ASG stuff. A lot of research put into the piece; better yet, a lot of correct research.
The basic point is that we, Penguin fans, have has success getting the Penguins into the game via text messages.
It only proves that Habs fans are to poor to afford cell phones, and they don't know how to read.
This ASG stuff is getting as worn-out as the Blogger/MSM wars. And we know it. Ovechkin has remarkably lost ground since the counter-offensive began. We're done with it.
The Flyers taking the Pens out to the woodshed on Saturday put a damper on the weekend. If Flyers fans think that win means anything, they are delusional.
The Pens have off until Thursday, which turns the internet into a wasteland until then.
CHARLIE SIGHTING
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Failblog:
Matt Cooke is a Flyer according to NHL.com
Thanks to everyone who sent it in.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: CALL TO ARMS
This has always been one of our favorite videos on the internet:
And, of course, leave it to [Melrose Rocks] to come up with a great idea. They've come up with some great one-liners about the Panthers season:
There isn't much fire for the Panthers. They need to find something to...make them purr
So here is the deal. On Tuesday, we are guest-hosting the aforementioned MELROSE ROCKS, so we decided to have a little fun.
We are looking for one-liners about all 30 NHL team that we can post over there and on here.
The catch is you have to use this template like the photoshop we received last year from superstar J.S.:
If a speech bubble is too small, work your magic.
Don't forget to add your watermark.
The funniest submission, voted by us, gets $25 bucks to buy shit in storeblog.
1:30 A.M. on Monday night/Tuesday morning is the deadline.
This game didn't matter. It was the Pens eighth game in like three days. The Pens are in a mini-rebuilding phase currently. Everyone in WB/S may got a shot in Pittsburgh before the end of December.
And Ovechkin has seriously lost ground since the counter-offensive was announced. It may soon be aborted to preserve Malkin and Crosby. We have officially lost all respect for Habs fans. Hartnell is a joke, too. Turtleblog
This year, in honor of one of the greatest fake holidays ever created, lets get together and do something right! It's a Festivus for the rest of us!
Come to Calico Jack's on the North Shore and help benefit The Mario Lemieux Foundation.
I will be accepting donations throughout the night. You can officially "bury it" yourself in my donation box. (that's what she said) Also, my dear friend Randy the magical bartender will be generously giving 25% of all his tips to the foundation. He's a beast. You'll see.
All donations will be given to the pledge drive started by a great man and friend, Matthew Craven aka your c-blog fan favorite, blackngold66:
The goal is to reach $660 before January 15th. We are only a few hundred short and I believe that in one night, we can easily knock out the rest and then some.
There will be great drink specials all night. And for those that haven't reached that magical age of 21 yet, don't you worry, it's an all ages event! Plus, come watch the Pens skate all over Tampa Bay up at the bar.
ALSO, my brother and I will be spinning great tunez all evening. (yep, i'm sure you'll hear that Janne Pesonen theme song)
So please come on down for some Festivus fun and a great chance to give to a fantastic Foundation. It'll be a great night for wooooooooooooooo.
For more information about what The Mario Lemieux Foundation does, please check out THEIR SITE
If you can't make our little shindig but still want to donate, please click your way over HERE.
And remember, cancer didn't bury 66, 66 buried cancer.
woooooooooooooo.
Lets Go Pens,
-annie lawry (or better known as the one and only, coffeytalk)
A.O. isn't really making progress in the voting. Habs fans have actually built a bigger lead.
Maybe everyone if sick of voting, can't blame you if you are. You're probably sick of us asking you to do shit.
It may be too late, but whatev.
We emailed some of our favorite Flames blog. They are going to spread the word out west. And try to help out.
In turn we vote for Jerome Iginlia to overtake Hossa.
So at 9pm tonight we are asking all our readers to vote at least 10 times for A.O. Tell everyone you know, if someone could post this on mesage boards too that would be great. Just so it is known Caps fans are watching our backs, so don't start with "well caps fans should vote for MAF." Lets focus on this giant task.
Throw a few votes Iginlia's way as well and Flame fans will watch our backs as well.
If we don't make some big time ground this weekend, it ain't happening.
It was Sykora's night. Case closed. In case you aren't aware, Sykora had scored two goals in a game 38 (44?) times and never got a hatty. This game changed all that.
But the Mega Powers were working behind the scenes. If this was your late '80s NHL, we would see at least 10 games like this a season with Bing and Geno.
There were more tricks being turned than on Penn Ave.
The powerplay gets going. The Islanders get pulverized.
Hard to assess the defense and/or John Curry here. When it's a runaway, game plans go out the window. The Islanders just started getting frustrated and abandoning positional play.
But this game should serve notice as a big F-U to message-board trolls, doubters, and bandwagoners.
For every 4-1 loss or blown lead, games like this make statements. This is why you have to get through the tough games. Because games like this are fun, in some ways poetic.
Especially when it is against the Islanders.
Philly on Saturday.
Well, gentlemen, that hill is steep. It's rocky. It's bare. To come straight up it is impossible. No. The Philly army is going to swing around. It's gonna come up through that notch right over there. It'll move under the cover of trees, try to get 'round the flank. And gentlemen... *we* are the flank. Gentlemen....God go with you.
-Missy G-
-BNG-
Nothing was going on early. Actually, a lot was going on. Whistles were about as rare as a straight man at Town Tavern.
Pascal Dupuis ended a marathon stretch of the game after taking a nice feed from Satan. He skates in, has an hour to line it up, and he rips it. McDonald was out to lunch. 1-0.
A potential snowball had a chance to start rolling afterwards when the Pens got a powerplay. And then they got another PP. And then another one. They pooped on the first PP. But they were set up with a one-minute 5-on-3 with the last two. And then Witt took a penalty. Which resulted in the Pens essentially getting two full minutes on a 5-on-3. Malkin will score one of the biggest goals of the year on that ad nauseam one-timer. But not this time.
Satan
2-0.
Sigh of relief.
They still had a week on the power play remaining. No dice on that. What happened after the Islanders killed that penalty speaks volumes of Curry. He was cold as ice and had to stop Guerin point-blank. Big save.
In the grand scheme of things, giving up a goal by the end of the period would be disastrous. And it had the potential to be. Mark Streit just dominates Curry with a slapper. 2-1
Oh, no.
Oh, yeah. Petr Gunn puts Old MacDonald in the Sharpshooter. 3-1.
And then Boucher from way downtown.
4-1.
Pens blow this lead, meet us at the Smithfield bridge.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Some french guy comes out to play goal for the Islanders. Malkin drives the Pens to the bank for some insurance. 5-1.
The teams traded penalties halfway through the period.
The Pens jumped on their back end of the power play, and Petr Gunn was there again.
[Top-5 PS ever--thanks to JB] 6-1. Hat Trick watch was on.
Two minutes later, we reached the HALFWAY POINT OF THE GAME. And wait. Sykora got the hatty!!!!!!!! Horrible whistle. Poor Petr. Seriously. He looked like a kid again thinking he had finally gotten it.
Never fear. The Pens got a PP at the back end of the second, and HCMT sends out Sykora. Crosby just waits and waits and waits for Sykora to get open. If you followed Sykora that whole shift, you are not alone.
7-1. Jesus
-The Skank--
Andy Sutton goes headhunting for Satan after that. Seriously. A blatant attempt at an elbow to the head. No dice on the PP.
At the end of the second, Dupuis puts in a sweet pass from Staal. 8-1.
The horn blows, and no one knows if the Islanders will even come out for the third.
Vomit. Kill yourselfblog
A lot of fanbases would have left to beat the traffic. A lot of people would have stopped watching.
Not us, man. The way this season has gone, watching the third period was a dream come true. Not to mention Dupuis needed another goal for the HT.
The Islanders actually give up. What a gutless performance. Andy Hilbert tries to be a dick, but whatev. Pens are just toying with the Isles.
Dupuis is getting set up on every play, but no dice. Pens even get a power play thanks to the hapless Doug Weight. Was he in the penalty box all night?
Richard Park doesn't want to lay down like his teammates and kills the penalty. Looks like no hat trick for Dupes.
After Andy Sutton scores somehow, the Isles gets a powerplay. Cookie Monster breaks out on a 2-on-1.
What a pass to Dupes.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 9-2
--Daver--
Bill Guerin starts crying and leaves.
Chants of "We want 10" fill the arena. No dice.
MISCELLANEOUS
This one's for Volek.
Lack of game pictures = the animated .GIF of Sykora scoring eats bandwidth. Worth it.
Seriously. Close this tab if you start going other places.
You never know what is going to happen when you go to the Mellon. What a night.
What was with Steigerwald throwing Mystery Alaska under the bus? Conflict of interest. Should have won an Oscar for Sudden Death.
You don't want to go to bed after games like this.
The Islanders blow.
Why does it feel like we are forgetting about something?
At this point, whenever you see Bill McCreary getting ready to ref your game,
be prepared to slam your head off something.
This was a really strange game.
In the grand scheme of things, no way it should have been a 4-1 game.
First, Bing misses a wide open net. Then the Devils are clearly offside and score.
Take away that goal, and it's 0-0 going into the third.
Remember that Staal hit a post in the first, too, and the Pens could have even had the lead.
If this is two weeks ago, Pens win.
But the breaks aren't going their way right now.
Devils won the game, and the Pens are a loss away from inducing panic into everyone who just started watching hockey last May.
[Sam's Dog]
[no name]
After some poop to start off their game, the Devils decided to send a message to the Pens, which resulted on a 4-on-4. Both teams were in chance city for those two minutes. Staal hit a pipe.
In what world does Bobby Holik actually belong in the NHL? If you wanted to know what 1995 felt like, every shift Holik took was a clear reminder.
The Pens got a powerplay late in the period thanks to some typical Devils crap.
Scoring a goal at the end of an even period like that wins hockey games. Pens kept the puck in the zone for an hour, but just couldn't get the knockout punch.
Vomit.
At the end of the Period, Eaton gets pushed into the net, knocks it off.
That's apparently a penalty this year.
Unreal.
Lightning-quick period.
Tim Wallace. First NHL game.
Relentless forecheck and not a lot of a mistakes.
Sabu was top-notch in the second. Good action again.
Matt Cooke was answering the Devils physical bullshit all game.
Bobby Holik is the dumbest player in the game. He runs someone again and gets a penalty.
Making him pay would have been great, but nothing doing on the powerplay.
Later on, Sid gets a nice feed from Dupuis. Wide open net...
Don't even have to say it.
The second was cruising until the Pens got another break. Rogers Clemens freezes the puck, but he isn't in his crease. Pens set up for a huge powerplay, but before anything can get started, Tenk gets called for a high stick.
It may have been the turning point, because here came the Devils.
They enter the zone on a harmless 2-on-2, puck bounces of the backboards.
Pat Zajac puts it home.
1-0
But wait. Let's go to the videotape.
That's offside everyday of the week. Easiest call ever.
But as you can see, there is no linesman present.
Fast-forward to the third period. Here is how it should have looked:
That is almost stunning that TWO officials are in position on this play.
There had to be a huge miscommunication between them. Even refs makes mistakes.
In the course of the season, you're going to get some calls, and not get some calls.
But still, the Devils are 9-0-5 going into the third period when leading.
Bad times.
It became clearly obvious that the whistles were put away to start the third.
Vintage McCreary.
At one point, Bobby Holik was tackling people.
The Devils would make it 2-0 on some shot from the point.
Father Time made his entrance, and it was all downhill from there.
Another goal by the Devils made it 3-0, and frustrationblog set in.
There was more clutching and grabbing the rest of the way than we care to get into.
Malkin and Cookie teamed up to give you some false hope with a little under 5 to play. 3-1
Letang should file charges for the mugging he took in the last two minutes.
Elias hit the open net.
Game
MISCELLANEOUS
Pens have lost 4 of their last 5. Let's face it. Injuries are catching up. It's why 3-game and 7-game winning streaks are so important. Pens still looking good.
Curry. Have to.
Ron Jeremy = Limp
If this frustrating game was against the Caps, the Ovechkin ASG thing would be aborted.
December and January are tough. The interest piqued from the season beginning has started to dwindle. The playoffs aren't on the horizon. Casual fans are too weak to survive these two months.
That means you might not be here reading this. So you are a douche.
He is no stranger to surviving swamps. If he's the go-to guy this season, he proves it tonight and tomorrow night.
In the coming month, Penguins fans and Caps fans from around the world will form the most unholy alliance to date. And we will be launching the largest internet battle in the history of the NHL.
NHL -- Those letters should have new meaning for all of us today. We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore, like the fact the Pens own the Caps in the postseason.
We will be united in our common interest of jobbing Montreal Canadien fans and getting Alex Ovechkin into the starting lineup for the All-Star Game. Perhaps it's fate that bitter rivals have decided to join forces, not to fight tyranny, oppression, or persecution, but to cause humiliation to smug Canadien fans. We are fighting for our right to see the best three players in the world play on the same line, to enjoy it.
And should we win the vote, the All Star Game will no longer be known as a celebration of 100 years of Montreal Canadien fanboyness, but as the day the hockey world declared in one voice:
"We will not go quietly into the night. We will not let fans who have a unrealistic sense of entitlement have their way. We're going to live on. We're going to watch the Malkin-Crosby-Ovechkin line."
12.10.08 -- 3:52 P.M. Typing OVECHKIN on your phone will make the T9 typing on your phone spell out DOUCHEBAG, so you can actually just type OVIE to 81812. TEXT "OVIE" TO 81812
Press Conference will be held at 3:57pm by President Whitmore. Little is known about what will speak about. Sources say the speech will involve what is being called "The Ovechkin Initiative."
It's a Cinderella story for Wallace. He arrived at camp as an undrafted tryout in 2006, played a year on an AHL contract, spent some time in Wheeling, slowly and steadily working his way up the ladder to where he is now. For those in Pittsburgh unfamiliar with his game, he plays a simple, physical style. Get pucks deep and punish defensemen. Nothing more complicated than that.
Wallace's reaction to the news? "Chills," he said. "It’s definitely what I’ve been trying to do since I was a little kid. To hear it, it’s a great feeling."
Good stuff.
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:: The dreams of Habs fans have been put on hold. [NHL.com]
As you know, we have deep roots in wrestling. So we have had some talks with some Washington Caps fans about entering an Unholy Alliance, or as our friend J.R. used to say. A THREE WAY DANCE.
This one time only pact would bring Pens/Caps fans together to try and stun the world and get A.O. into the top three of the All Star voting. Yes, A.O. is a jackoff, but a Sid-Malkin-A.O line in the All Star game would be a lot of fun on almost every level. Not to mention it would completely humiliate Habs fans. A.O. is trailing big time, so this would take one of the biggest efforts since President Whitmore brought the nations together in Indenpence Day. Whitmore is standing by.
But we are calling for an emergency Pensblog readers vote.
Ryan Miller is still a hack, but he stole the game in the second period. One bounce here or there, and it's a different story.
Every fan of every team goes through it, but it is a little more annoying for us when the game goes straight to the Versus studio and someone is telling Eddie Olczyk he's right about something.
steimes
joey l
abizz
whistler
Whatev City. The teams feel each other out early on. Buffalo takes a too many men on the ice penalty.
Nothing really goes down, then Free Candy gets called for the hook.
The Pens kill it. Home crowd. Momentum from the kill. Malkin gets the puck in the Sabres zone, performs the Malkin Bomb, and gets it out to Tenk. Tenk with the best redirect since our third-grade crossing guard.
1-0.
The lead wasn't long-lived, though. The Sabres get a 2-on-1 off a turnover. Goal. 1-1. Ooof.
Rev. Lovejoy had to make an unreal play in the tail end of the first to save a goal. Best defenseman in the nhl.
That play eventually triggers Malkin in the Sabres zone. It's good to be a Pens fan. Tenk with his second.
2-1.
The Pens got a powerplay at the end of the period because Jason Pominville didn't know Malkin was at the end of his shift and lazily jobs him. Apparently, Therrien didn't know either, because Malkin was manning the point to start the PP.
Thomas Vanek makes a totally retarded play in the Pens zone, trying to freeze the puck. What an idiot. 5-on-3 city. The Pens had a good chance to close out the first. Some D-man made a big save.
We missed all the Jersey Boys commercials tonight.
What a stupid musical. If they really want to get people to go to the shows, they should replace the lead with some washed-up C -list actor. Who wouldn't go see this show if Bill Paxton was the lead? We'd buy tickets every night.
The Sabres were short to start the second, and they didn't make things any better. Some dude trips GoGo. 5-on-3. Crosby does some Christmas shopping, gets the puck to Letang.
3-1
Letang's first goal in forever. Things were looking up, but then Kotalik picks up some trash in front of Sabu. 3-2.
The Sabres were flying around until Vanek takes another dumb penalty. Lindy Ruff gets caught with some product, and it is another penalty.
5-on-3 blog for two full minutes. Ryan Miller shows up.
Your mama plays with more balls than the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Rev. gets his life changed by some tall French guy. Malkin flips out and sticks up for him. He gives someone the cross-faced chicken wing, and the period ends.
Vanek scored 6 minutes into the third, and well, you knew it. Pens still played their balls off, but Miller wasn't going to get beat.
Father Time settles in, as Matt Cooke destroys Gustaud. Payback for his earlier hit on Rev.
A few power plays go by the wayside, and it's under a minute to go. Then it's under 10 seconds.
Letang gets the puck on net. It floats out to GoGo. No dice.
The puck goes in the net 10 minutes after the whistle blows. If you celebrated, you are an idiot.
Got the heads up from readers Brando and Maria on this, and saw its been mentioned in C-blog as well.
The Pens Wives/Girlfriends made Christmas baskets for a Charity Auction for the Children's Institute.
[PENS]
Brando broke some baskets down for us:
Brooks Orpik’s basket has the highest number of bids so far. I’m not sure if that stuffed Penguin has a blue beak, or a Hannibal Lecter mask:
The next highest in terms of bid numbers is....Boucher. Boucher??? Has he even unpacked yet???
MAF loves Rocky.
Talbot’s includes a Superbad DVD. Starring soon in an A&L Motors Commercial...McLovin.
Apparently Danny Sabourin needs to attend some AA meetings.
Kris Letang’s includes the board game “Cranium”. (Shocker...he’s the guy on the bus who wants to play board games)....and what appears to be a Matellica CD??? Can’t tell for sure.
How perfectly placed is Charlie's hockey stick. Thanks to SNYPER for coming up with the idea.
9-10-4
Ain't no party like a Scotiabank party.
There is nothing like getting the hate juices flowing early on a Saturday. The Sens have been a joke this year, but we knew that was coming for a long time.
But let's not forget how one game can change a season. Over a year ago, the Pens were in the Sens shoes, except none of them fled the country after committing a crime.
The Pens were a similar 8-11-2. The Sens were an astounding 16-4-1. They were cruising.
Then, the Sens pooped themselves in 6-5 shootout loss and went 27-27-1 the rest of the way. There is no reason to think something like that will happen, but it is amazing how fast things change.
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Joko Ruutu will be up to some old tricks. He had some interesting thoughts on the Avery thing. [SLAM]
"It wasn't a surprise," said Senators winger Jarkko Ruutu. "If you want people to respect you off the ice, you better behave off the ice. Stuff that happens on the ice, stays on the ice. I think that's been the code forever. You've got to be smart with what you say. No one can dispute (he crossed the line)" :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
TK is out 4-6 weeks. We're in a hurry doing this post. There's a link somewhere.
Interesting article about Malkin and Crosby having a good competition going. [TRIB]
"Call them the "Dynamic Duo," though keep in mind that neither Malkin nor Crosby digs that tag."
"No matter their nickname -- "Mega Powers" has gained steam recently on the Internet -- there is reason to believe this season could be remembered as the point in hockey history when two transcendent talents firmly asserted themselves as a center tandem for the ages."
"Mega Powers" gaining steam on the internet? Wonder where that came from?
We did a double take when Sabu said something about it last game. The photoshop is from reader Justin Falce. Just another example of how a photoshop can change your life.
We fully expect this photoshop to be hanging in Section F of the Mellon by the end of the season.
Finally. The power play explodes. And this is what happens.
A lot has to be said about the Pens making sure that 3-goal lead didn't evaporate. It sounds crazy, but it's true. We've seen that fish too many times this year already.
Brind'Amour might as well retire. You got to know when your days are done. Even as a big-time faceoff man, he was non-existent in this game.
And when Eric Staal's name is called maybe twice the whole game, you know things aren't right in Carolina.
Give Paul Maurice until the new year, and we'll see if the Canes can do something.
It is hard to say your goaltender was the best player in a 5-2 win, but Sabu was money. Solid choice by Therrien to go with him
First win in Carolina in what seems like forever. Pens fans everywhere.
jos a. bank
thegreek
jared t.
ace wilde
katie
Early into the game, we hear that some Hurricane jackass fan brought in a horn to prompt LET'S GO CANES chants. What an idiot.
Both teams were getting good chances even strength to start things off. The Canes sustained some big-time pressure, causing Bing to job somebody. PP for the Canes. No dice. Solid PK. Dupuis and Talbot again.
After some crap, Tuomo Ruutu rams Goligoski from behind.
I'll allow it
Taking dumbass penalties must run in the Ruutu family.
Pens go on the PP. Jordan had an unreal chance early in the PP, but Leighton stops him stone cold. The Canes kill it. Just as they kill, the Canes go back in.
Talk about a golden opportunity. And the Pens do get on the board. Who started the business? Goligoski. He beautifully enters the zone and makes a drop pass. Then Bing gets it, who gets it Sykora. Wrist shot.
1-0.
It takes the RBC Center announcer 8 years to announce the goal. We remember that was the case last year.
Around the time they finally announce the first one, Melichar makes an egregious turnover with Crosby lurking. Crosby delivers it on a platter to Dupuis.
2-0
The Pens swarmed for the rest of the period but came up short of a third goal.
Free Candy in Raleigh.
During an extended stoppage at the beginning of the second, FSN gives the 4-1-1 on stick tape. Always good stuff to know.
Tuomo Ruutu took his second bad penalty of the game when he put the stick up. PP for the Pens. And they connect. Sykora. 3-0.
smelling his first career hat trick. shame.
Steigy calls Sykora "Petr Gun." Not bad. Is there any player that seems more excited to score a goal?
Give it up for the Canes, though. They come right back and get one to cancel it out. 3-1. The Canes were the ones swarming now. The Pens D keeps them to the perimeter, and they don't even get a good shot on. The puck gets cleared. That shift could have flipped this game around on its head.
A little later, another great play by a young Pens defenseman leads to a goal. This time, it was Letang, who stops the Canes' efforts in trying to gain the Pens zone, and he starts the transition game the other way.
He gets the puck up to Satan who leads an odd-man rush. He exhibits more patience than a Mumbai hospital and Leighton goes out to lunch. Nobody knows who scored it. We see the overhead camera. Could it be...
Satan? 4-1
Soon after, Mark Eaton goes to the box. Just what Carolina needed. But the Canes are a mess.
The Pens were on another PK soon again when Godard hooked someone. Just what Carolina needed. No disarray there. Staal puts it home for the Canes.
4-2.
Yet again, the Canes had the momentum and a chance to really get back into it. But the Pens hold the fort.
With less than 2 minutes to go in the second, Malkin grabs the puck off another Canes turnover. Snapshot. Rebound. Fedotenko barrels into the net. 5-2.
An okay record, is it not? Not okay enough for Carolina management.
They fired Peter Laviolette recently and brought in Paul Maurice. YAHOO "Thanks for the Cup, but we're too impatient now." -- Carolina management.
And Ronny Franchise has been moved behind the bench. Francis is a heartbeat away from being head coach. Oh man.
We'd start up the rivalry again with Acid Queen, but she may actually eat us one day. We're going with CAROLINA ON ICE tonight, who provides this chop:
Kennedy out tonight. Ziggy probable. Pesonen and Minard called up. PENS
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO An unreal rally by Pens fans has given Crosby the top spot in the ASG voting. The 55,000 votes separating Malkin from starting? Please.
The defensive starters look like they're gonna be Komisarek and Markov. Even voting up Gonchar and Whitney won't stop that. Don't waste your time. Gonchar will still be out, and the Pens will shut down Whitney playing in the ASG after coming back from surgery.
Voting ends January 2nd. This is totally within reason. But is MAF, in fact, the best goalie in the East this year?
Crosby and Malkin are hands-down the best in the East. No complaint from the hockey gods if they start.
Larry Brooks of the NY POST had some choice words about Bing.
The Rangers sure played with Pittsburgh. There wasn't a player who turned away from the opportunity to get a piece of Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, with Colton Orr, Marc Staal, Blair Betts, Paul Mara and Ryan Callahan most notable. Crosby whined on the ice after Orr caught him legally in the first, then whined in the locker room.
We don't understand where and when he whined. When he gave Orr a shot back after Orr leveled him? Isn't that hockey? Get real. We didn't see anything even resembling whining.
CHRIS was at the game Wednesday night and took this pic of the questionable zamboni protocol utilized by MSG before a shootout. Definitely a nice patch of choppy ice leading to Lundqvist.
CHRIS stated that Rangers fans said that is done every game. Home-ice advantage, we suppose.
Over the last few years, what we've learned from watching Rangers/Pens games is that very rarely will one of the teams run away with a game.
The Pens were up 2-0. Lundqvist wouldn't let it get worse. The Pens were up 2-1. The Rangers played their game to a T and eventually tied it. These are always great hockey games.
Thankfully for the Rangers, the shootout was there to bail them out again. In April, they won't be so lucky.
But let's not be like Ranger fans here. The game was extremely even.
If this were Rangerblog, we'd be making a early case for Nikolai Zherdev for MVP. No joke -- take him off the Rangers, and they are mud city.
The guy is solid, and they got him for shit.
On a side note: Did Markus Naslund or Chris Drury even play last night?
NICK C.
JOSE LIND
Early on, Colton Orr tries to get out of a fight with Godard but ends up throwing down with him. Godard had a rough start, but you have to give him props. He is a tough SOB. A minute later, Tommy Callahan goes off for slamming Sykora. Cheap hit.
The Pens do nothing on the ensuing power play. Just bad times.
Later on, Zigomanis puts his face down among the skate blades to keep a puck out of the net.
Both teams were looking for a jump. The Pens kept pelting Lundqvist with shots. And then Orr ends up taking a faceoff against Sid, the hottest player in the NHL right now. He gives him a little crosscheck after the faceoff. As the Rangers would soon learn, don't piss off Crosby.
They mess with each other for a while, and Orpik skates over, breathes on Orr, and gets a penalty. Then Orr starts more shit at center ice, and Orpik drops him again. Amazingly, the Pens end up on a 4-minute penalty kill. This was all Tom Renney's doing.
Chants of CROSBY SUCKS rain down from the most-fairweather fans in sports.
Therrien goes nuts, starts yelling at Tom Renney. As a fan watching at home, there is nothing better.
Not even a minute into that big PP, the Rangers get called for Charlie's fave.
too many men
What happened next is something that's been in the works for 2+ years. Crosby goes into the Rangers zone all business. He waits, waits, waits for a trailer coming from the bench. A flash of white flies into the screen. No one knows who scored.
Best goal of all time? 1-0.
Mark Eaton's offensive prowess aside, it was a huge goal on the road in MSG. The Rangers eventually get their power play back. They suck. Boo birds come out.
One hit Fabio in the face. Never gets old.
Not much dancing for the rest of the period. Scott Gomez goes to the box for tripping Malkin on a penalty that would extend to the second period.
The issues with flashblog are rectified. Finally. ballsac.swf lives on.
This weekend, we will be adding the Best Of section. It will include links to every game recap, every box score, and every YouTube highlight of every game since the 2006-07 season. Every.
The Pens get nothing on the rest of that power play.
After yet another PP went to the wayside, it slowly became Dany Sabourin's world. His execution in taking away the angles would have given Pythagoras an erection. The Rangers were relentless.
The Pens wanted that second goal, and they finally got it. Scuderi shoots one from the point. PING. 2-0. You look out your window expecting to see locusts coming to eat your balls.
nm it was Staal.
But the Rangers were still poised to score. Pedro Gomez was flying. He got one on net.
Nikolai Zherdev city. 2-1.
The rest of the second period was pretty pedestrian. Talbot took some jobber penalty. The Pens had the best chance in the following two minutes when Staal got stopped on a one-timer. Killed.
hmmmmmmmmmm
Thanks to Joe for the heads-up.
The third period was Survivor all the way. The Rangers kept getting more and more aggressive. Nothing to say about the third period. Pens lost Zigo and TK to undisclosed injuries.
The Pens had their best chances in a huge flurry with about 8 or so minutes left. Bing goes nut, gets it to Satan. Satan makes a sick move.
He couldn't put it home. And it hurt. You knew that was going to haunt you like an episode of Unsolved Mysteries.
Father time couldn't get to MSG soon enough. Too late. Petr Prucha puts in some bullshit.
2-2.
But it doesn't alter your faith in Sabu. He's as solid as it gets on a depth chart.
Fittingly, Zherdev had a beautiful chance on Sabu with time winding down. Deja vu. Sabu comes out and makes the big stop.
You want to know who HCMT has faith in? Max Talbot and Pascal Dupuis were put out there on the 4-on-4 casket match. What a shift.
Crosby got douched by Marc Staal when he tried to gain the Rangers zone. Next time up the ice, Malkin makes a move we didn't even see and drives to the net. The puck lays in the crease like Britney Spears at her dad's house.
87 doesn't bury it.
But never fear.
Possibly the best photoshop we have ever received lets us know that Lemieux is training Crosby in the ways of Buries It.
SHOOTOUT
It was over before it really began. Legame puts one home to tease us. Sabu gets hit with a steel chair three times.
Game.
MISCELLANEOUS
FSN stuns the world with a photoshop. Solid.
Tough game tonight in Carolina. Could be bad. RBC Center hasn't been kind.
Ranger fans are pathetic.
Colton Orr is a douche
Whatev. Vote for Crosby and Malkin for the All-Star Game.
The Rangers have played every night of the regular season it seems like. Some Pens fans circles hate the Rangers more than the Caps or the Flyers. And we're okay with that.
We can't stand Ranger fans. So if you want a fanboy perspective for tonight, be sure to visit the BULLSHIT BULLETIN.
In fact, sans some of our fellow Pens fans, we can't stand New York:
Pens fans are working overtime to make up for the idiocy from the Montreal fanbase. Two weeks ago, it was an insurmountable lead. Now it's totally within reason.
Other inspiring news about a potential ASG comeback. PUCK DADDY. Jarome Iginla has jumped into the top 3 in the West, knocking down Zetterberg. Phaneuf has moved up to second place.
MARK OUR WORDS. THIS IS GUARANTEE CITY.
CROSBY AND MALKIN WILL BE STARTERS IN THE ALL-STAR GAME.
Sean Avery has been suspended indefinitely by the NHL. PUCK DADDY Why? The YouTube below has the comments he made that brought the punishment.
The background of the story is that Avery used to date Elisha Cuthbert. Since breaking up with Avery, she has dated Canadien Mike Komisarek and currently Calgary's Dion Phaneuf.
He called an impromptu press conference in the locker room in Calgary after the morning skate. Hell, even TMZ is all over it.
Former captain Mike Modano, who recently suggested he might be better suited for a front office job if Avery's on-ice antics continued, was also visibly disgusted by the completely uncalled for shot at both Phaneuf and his girlfriend.EDMONTON SUN
We're still visibly disgusted over Mike Modano's acting in The Mighty Ducks.
We think the NHL suspended Avery to protect him from being murdered. Mirtle likes the move. FROM THE RINK. And so do we. In fact, we love it.
The Flames/Stars game would have turned into a bloodbath last night, and it would have put the Dallas Stars in a bad situation. Bettman and the NHL acted swiftly. And that had to be done. Who cares if this gives him attention?
None of Avery's teammates even stood up for him. Marty Turco, Brad Richards, and many other Stars players were sick about it. Coach Dave Tippett was stunned. Even owner Tom Hicks said the Stars would have suspended Avery.
So could you imagine something happening in the game?
Bottom line, this does give Avery attention, and he loves it. It is going to be funny when he has to hold a press conference to say he is sorry. What a douche.
:: The assistant captains for the month of December: Matt Cooke and Jordan Staal. PENS
:: Late as balls on this, but Bing and Geno took home some honors this week. Crosby gets NHL player of the week. Malkin gets second-best player of the month. PG
:: THE CONFLUENCE goes to town on the Pens inability to keep a scoring winger for Sid long-term.
Sabu is sticking with the old mask. And MAF is skating.
There's more secrecy surrounding the MAF injury than a Bilderberg meeting. No clue what's going on.
NHL.com recognizes Ziggy's faceoff percentage leading the league. NHL The Penguins brand is ranked 8th out of 122 teams. PENS Na-na-na is a low-risk investment. TRIB
Alyssa Milano selling Pens stuff. NHL H/T JASON M.
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The next YouTube is actually the dumbest thing you will ever see in your entire life. Ryan Malone is on a breakaway with 16.5 seconds left in a 3-3 game. Scott Hartnell throws his glove at him. You do that in your local Dek Hockey league, and you might get suspended. This play should have its own blog, one of the dumbest things of all time.
Mike Emrick with the call. At least "the game wasn't on his stick." Of course Malone blows the breakaway, then takes a bad penalty in O.T and the Lightning lose.
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Speaking of gay hockey players, Pensblog Charlie made his debut on NHL 09 Tuesday night:
We spent way too much time working with face combinations. This is the best we could do.
The best of the NHL in November. KYLE K. with the YouTube.
If you were watching Sports Soup on Versus Tuesday night, you may have seen the host making fun of Talbot's acting skills in the current A&L spot. Anxiously awaiting a YouTube.
We're not so far removed from being the Tampa Bay Lightning of the NHL.
Actually, three years ago, we would have killed to have Tampa's potential. But at the time we post this, the Lightning's record indicates they are the worst team in National Hockey League.
It was a long road from the 2001 Eastern Conference Finals to the Pens next playoff berth in 2006-2007 and the eventual SCF appearance last season.
It is what we look back on as the Dark Ages. 2001-2006 The Pens combined record during that time was 100-178. Consider that during the previous four years, the team's record was 157-113 and that the previous 11 years the Pens were in the playoffs, and you know why we consider it the Dark Ages.
Casual fans abandoned the team. Diehard fans were happy to see a scoreless first period. Running a blog would have been a lesson in Cynicism 101.
Blogging wasn't even in the picture for anyone. If you didn't do message boards, there was no online community.
Searching the internet, most people used a combo of Geocities/Tripod to get Pens news out there. By 2003, everyone killed themselves.
Everyone has their favorite Penguins story, whether it be a game you were at or the time you hooked up with someone from the Pens Patrol.
Our favorite story comes from a jobber game on March 8, 2003. The Penguins (25-34-4-5), clearly out of the playoffs, hosted the Senators, then the NHL's top team.
The game brought us one of the last of Lemieux's highlight-reel goals:
2:00 mark.
With 5 minutes left, and the Penguins losing 5-1, Mellon Arena was nearly empty. Roughly 3,500-4,000 fans remained.
We start up a LET'S GO PENS chant that, within moments, entices the remaining fans with us to join in. It was a surreal experience. The old Mellon booming with the voices of 3,500 fans chanting. It went on for a good 30 seconds or so, and then Rico Fata probably went offsides, which dissipated the chant.
We thought nothing of it when we left the arena that night. We weren't thinking about it when we picked up the Post-Gazette the next morning. But we experienced one of our very first STUNNED moments towards the end of the game recap article:
Alfredsson closed out the scoring at 14:42, leaving the Penguins with nothing but a surprising level of support from the crowd.
"The fans were great," Lemieux said. "It's nice to see that they're being patient. From what I saw, our fans, our real fans, were here and supported us." -- PG
It gave us a swell of pride that no one really understood when we told them. No one cared.
Nowadays, when the Pens drop 3 of 4 and rumors of Michel Therrien being fired are ridiculously being circulated, we think back to that moment in time.
Most fans of other teams despise us as a fanbase because they think we don't realize how spoiled we have been. In the past 25 years, we have seen Lemieux, Jagr, Francis, Coffey, Barrasso, et cetera, and we currently get to watch a couple players on their way to claiming their sure spots in the Hall of Fame on a nightly basis. Throw in a couple Cups in there, too.
We realize how blessed we have been. Most hockey cities can only dream of what the past 25 years have brought us.
Nevertheless, the past 10 to 12 years have been marred with discussions about the Penguins leaving town. Hell, we're not even two years removed from there being a D-Day in early March 2007.
Maybe you're new to the Penguin fanbase with the emergence of Crosby and Malkin. Maybe you have no clue who Ramzi Abid is. There's nothing wrong with that.
If people admit to that instead of walking around like pompous idiots who say they know everything about hockey, the world would be a better place.
But every sportsfan lives to tell the tale that we're about to unravel; the tale of fans who crawled through a river of shit and came out clean on the other side.
What was all that preamble for? It's a cheap attempt to get you into the frame of mind of what being a Penguin fan was like between 2001-2006, when your dedication to the Penguins was tested every night like it was a Game 7.
It's time to look back at the times and players of the Dark Ages.
COACHES: IVAN HLINKA: FIRED LIKE 3 GAMES INTO THE SEASON.
Picture: New coach Rick Kehoe all business. What a headset.
Wednesday, October 3, 2001. The season gets underway, Jagr-less, against the Avalanche.
Lemieux gets injured opening night. Season.
The Pens start the season 0-4. They have a 6-game winning streak in late January.
Dan LaCouture was the only Penguin to play all 82 games that season. Robert Lang led the team in plus/minus with a +9.
The ultimate model of ineptitude, Milan Kraft (left), saw his first real chunk of ice time in a season, playing 68 games. That's Randy Robitaille on the right. We had to look it up. Kovalev is contemplating opening an account on Justin.TV.
Look at Kris Beech dominating. That -25 made Alka Seltzer go out of business.
Kovy led the team across the board with 32 goals, 44 assists, 76 points. So you knew he was gonna be traded soon.
If we ran a blog back then, our self-regulated "don't job Gonchar" policy would have been a Don't Job Jan Hrdina policy. 24 goals, 33 assists, 57 points. Probably won some big face-offs.
Every game wasn't against the Devils. Morozov joke. 20g-29a-49p
Krzystztyfftof Oliwa led the team with 150 penalty minutes.
Friggen Kevin Stevens played 32 games that year. 1 goal. 4 assists.
What is Hans Jonsson even doing. On any other team, Johan Hedberg's 2.75 GAA and .904 SV% would have mattered. The Pens went winless in their last 10 games of the season. They finish the season 28-41-8-5, last in the Atlantic. This was only the beginning.
Kehoe would be fired at the end of this season. You will see why.
After suffering the first playoff-less season in 10+ seasons, we were all still naive about where things were headed. Craig Patrick was asleep at the wheel. It was reality-check time in the 2002-03 season opener at home against the Leafs. The Pens get clobbered 6-0. It's bank to guess that Sundin had two goals at least.
P.S. -- Home opener wasn't a sellout.
A big-time tilt early in the season against the Wings in Detroit: BOX SCORE
During a stretch in November and December, the Pens went 4-16-1. The Pens ended the season on a 2-17-2 tear.
That season-ending debacle was aided by the Pens trading away Kovalev. Who did we get in return? Rico Fata, Joel Bouchard, Richard Lintner, and Mikael Samuelsson.
There was not even a fort left standing for Pens goalies to hold.
During some stretches of the season, the only reason you'd watch was to see Johan Hedberg flip out after a goal.
Lmeieux was beast city that year. Such an underrated season.
Marty's days were numbered. He popped in 18 goals that year.
Steve McKenna led the team in penalty minutes. Oh, and his 9 goals were tied for 4th-most on the team.
Alexandre Daigle scored a goal in three consecutive games in early November, a highlight of the season. The Pens lost all three games. Then he disappeared. See, it's coming back to you now.
Kent Manderville played all 82 games that season. How did we even survive this? He was a center. Scored 2 goals and 5 assists.
Jamie Pushor brought up the rear with a -28 on the blue line.
How bad was this season? Some dude named Dan Focht played 12 games and was a -3.
But that was enough to earn him a Geocities fanpage. DAN FOCHT Jesus.
Here is a preview of the season from some Pens Geocities page called HITTING THE TWINE:
Speaking of the playoffs, the Pens will be in them. Not only is everyone picking them last in the conference, many do not give them a chance to even compete. Although they have a "young" lineup, the Pens have tons of leadership that is invaluable. They have no pressure, and if they do make the playoffs, Eddie Olcyzk should win the Jack Adams award as Coach of the Year.
Opening night of the 2003-04 season was when the light at the end of the tunnel wasn't a train coming for your balls. It was actually a beacon of hope:
Pens get outshot 49-11. They lose 3-0. One was an empty-netter. Regardless of what the rest of that first season for MAF was like, this game showed he was a big-time performer.
IT'S A SHAME THAT A MONTAGE OF THIS PERFORMANCE ISN'T ON THE INTERNET SOMEWHERE. HINT. HINT.
Once MAF was sent down due to money issues, it wasn't pretty. Hope was lost.
Going into their December 18th tilt in Carolina, the Pens were 8-16-4-2. What was to follow probably changed your outlook on life.
From December 18, 2003, to February 22, 2004, the Pens record was: 3-28-1-0
Read that again, for every Pens fan's sake. The back end of that remarkable run saw an 18-game losing streak. If you've been with us so far in this look back at the Dark Ages, chuckling deliriously, then you no doubt remember where you were during the wee hours of Wednesday, February 25, 2004, when Rick Jackman ended the losing streak in Phoenix with an OT goal.
But there was reason for hope to end the season. Somehow. The Pens used the win in Phoenix to spark a season-ending 12-5-3-0 record. It saved Edzo's job.
Lemieux played 10 games.
Team-leading 52 points. -37. Can't knock Tarnstrom. He was doing what he could. If he plays with Lemieux in his prime, 65 PP goals easy.
Lasse Pirjeta led the team with a dazzling +3 in 13 games played.
Koltsov played all 82 games that year: 9g-20a-29p. We've thrown him under the bus too many times already. If he walked into your house, you wouldn't know who he was.
Brooks played in 79 games that year. Free Candy: not so much. -36
Ryan Malone played in 81 games: 21g-22a-43p.
Scuds played 13 games, +2 city. What a player.
Folkhero Dan Focht played 52 games and was -23. But that didn't stop someone from buying his shirt.
And finally, we go to a number that still sends chills up our spine. RICO FATA'S -46
The record is -82 set by someone who we don't care to go to the other tab and find his name again.
The year ended at home, and Edzo went on some rant about how the Pens were making the playoffs next year.
Coming out of the lockout, things started to happen. It all started when the Penguins won the rights to Bing. It is kind of hard to believe that if thE lottery ball wouldn't have come out for the Pens, we might not be writing this.
Edzo was given to the keys to the Pens future, but the bad times weren't over yet.
The Pens got off to a horrible start, and Edzo was fired after going 8-17-6. He was replaced by Lord Therrien.
Mario played his last game by the time 2006 rolled around.
The vaunted duo of Mark Recchi and John Leclair were awful.
Recchi was traded to Carolina for mud. LeClair -- no one knows why he was even signed.
Zigmund Palffy added his name to Penguin lore by signing a huge free-agent contract then retiring in the middle of the season because he said his shoulder hurt.
Another huge free agent signing didn't get off to a good start either: But he took his lumps like a man and stuck it out. What a human/player. Remember that coast-to-coast goal against the Devils in OT?
The defense was a disaster. And that led to one of the greater meltdowns ever midway through the season:
Jocelyn Thibault.
Looking at the roster, it is hard to fathom what was even going on. On one hand, Craig Patrick was trying to rebuild. On the other, he was signing all these clowns. What a lack of direction.
But don't blame Lasse Pirjeta.Another 25 games played and a solid +4. Not going to lie: we still wish he played here, because all the "Lassie" photoshops would have been a good time.
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