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Penguins December Preview

The Pittsburgh Penguins play one more game in November before hitting a 14-game stretch in December, with 8 of the first 10 coming on the road.  They will likely be glad to put the tough month of November behind them after going 4-7-1 for 9 of 24 possible points, with one game remaining to play.  By comparison, the Penguins escaped November 2006 with a 5-5-4 record for 14 of 28 possible points last season.  So, what is in store for the Penguins as they head into December?

First, it is undeniable that the last two victories may have helped turn the corner on a less than acceptable season start.  Beating Ottawa, the league’s #1 team by a score to 6-5 in a double come from behind shootout on their own turf was certainly a shot-in-the-arm for the young, talented Penguins.  The subsequent 5-0 thrashing of Atlanta was also a momentum builder with a Fleury shutout and goals coming from snake-bitten supporting cast members Jordan Staal and Colby Armstrong.  The real test will be to see how they fare against the Dallas Stars on Friday night after a 5-day layoff.  Will they be able to maintain the momentum and synergy that developed in the last 2-games, or will they come out flat and plant the seed of doubt back in the minds? 

As far as the road ahead in December, here is the layout:

• 1 Dec:  @ Toronto Maple Leafs (8-11-5)
• 3 Dec:  Phoenix Coyotes (11-10-0)
• 5 Dec:  @ Edmonton Oilers (10-13-1)
• 6 Dec:  @ Calgary Flames (10-11-3)
• 8 Dec:  @ Vancouver Canucks (12-9-2)
• 11 Dec:  @ at Philadelphia Flyers (13-8-2)
• 13 Dec:  Ottawa Senators (16-5-1)
• 15 Dec:  @ New York Islanders (12-8-3)
• 18 Dec:  @ New York Rangers (13-9-2)
• 20 Dec:  @  Boston Bruins (12-8-2)
• 21 Dec:  New York Islanders (12-8-3)
• 23 Dec:  Boston Bruins (12-8-2)
• 27 Dec:  Washington Capitals (8-15-1)
• 29 Dec:  Buffalo Sabres (11-10-1)

December starts with 8 of the first 10 games on the road, with the first 5-games being played in a whirlwind span of just 8 days.  The Penguins play the 3 of the first 4 games against teams that are currently below 0.500 (Toronto, Edmonton and Calgary), and the 4th against Phoenix, which is just slightly above 0.500.  Hopefully the Penguins can play well against these teams to build some momentum as they prepare to face-off against 4 tough division rivals in the middle third of the month.  The mid-month battles include games against Philadelphia, Ottawa, the New York Islanders and the New York Rangers.  The 4 divisional games will be played over the course of 8-days, with all but the game against the Senators coming on the road.  With crucial division points on the line, the Penguins will need to be clicking when they hit that stretch in mid-December as they try to crawl up the points ladder and out of the Atlantic Division basement.  The last third of the month is no cakewalk with 3-games in a 4-day span from 20-23 Dec, against 2-teams well above 0.500 in the Boston Bruins and division rival Islanders.  Post Christmas, the Penguins take on the struggling Capitals and then the Buffalo Sabres in a preview to the outdoor Winter Classic which will be played a few days later on New Year’s Day. 

Last season, the Penguins endured a rough December going 5-7-2 before unleashing the beast and going 8-2-2 in January, 9-3-1 in February, 12-3-2 in March, and 2-1-0 in April.  I think it is unlikely that the Penguins will have similar success in the latter half of this season, so they need to be scratching for every point that they can get along the way to ensure that they can find their way into the playoffs.  I believe that if the Penguins can hit their stride in December, that they have the potential to pick up about 18 of 28 available points on the month.  This will require continued offensive output outside of Gonchar, Sykora, Crosby and Malkin.  It will also require a much more consistent level of play from Marc-Andre Fleury, as well as the defnsive corps playing in front of him.  The last two games offer some hope that this could be the case in December.  A confident Penguins team will be a dangerous team, as was evidenced in the second half of last year.  Let’s hope that the Penguins find and build on that confidence soon. 

Pittsburgh Thrashes Atlanta 5-0

After finding their confidence in a character win over the league leading Ottawa Senators on Thursday, the Pittsburgh Penguins put an exclamation point on their rekindled play by shutting out the Atlanta Thrashers 5-0 on Saturday night.  It was the second consecutive shutout for the Atlanta Thrashers, who were 11-5-0 coming into the game after losing the first 6-games of the season.  Marc-Andre Fleury was in net for the Penguins and bounced back to post his second shutout of the season after being pulled in the first period of Thursday’s game against Ottawa.  Despite the Penguins’ scoring melee, Evgeni Malkin’s 15-game point streak came to an end as he failed to notch a point in the game.  On the brite side, however, Jordan Staal finally notched a long overdue goal and played more like the rookie of last year putting 6 shots on goal and was named the 2nd star of the game.

The scoring was initiated at 3:38 of the first period by Jordan Staal as he maneuvered around an Atlanta defenseman in front of the net to poke a rebound past Thrashers rookie netminder Ondrej Pavelec.  The opportunity was created for Staal after Tyler Kennedy threw the puck to the back wall and Gary Roberts picked it up and was rejected on the wraparound attempt.  The goal, assisted by Kennedy and Roberts, was Staal’s 2nd on the season and 1st since October 20th.  The next goal came at 11:53 on the power play from the stick of Ryan Malone, his 3rd goal in 2 games.  Standing in front of the net, Malone collected the rebound from Sergei Gonchar’s point shot and turned to fire it into the open side of the net.  Sergei Gonchar and Kris Letang were credited with the assists.  The 3rd goal came at 15:09, as Colby Armstrong and Sidney Crosby rushed the net.  When the passing lane was closed off, Crosby was forced to shoot the puck.  Pavelec stopped Crosby’s attempt, but the rebound found its way to Armstrong who chipped the puck over the shoulder of Pavelec to put the Penguins up 3-0.  Sergei Gonchar and Sidney Crosby were credited with the assists on the goal, Armstrong’s 2nd of the season and 1st since the season’s home opener.  The Penguins outshot the Thrashers 15-10 in the first period and were 1 for 1 on the power play.  The Penguins killed the only penalty against them in the period, a holding call to Georges Laraque at 7:43. 

In the 2nd period, the Penguins picked up another goal on the power play to make it 4-0 as Sidney Crosby put a blistering shot past Pavelec and into the Thrashers’ net at 8:59.  The play was assisted by Sergei Gonchar and Erik Christensen.  It was Sergei Gonchar’s 3rd assist of the night and his 12th point in his last 8 games to further separate him from the rest of the pack as the NHL’s defense scoring leader.  Gonchar was named the 3rd star of the game.  The goal was also Sidney Crosby’s 2nd point of the night, elevating him to 33-points on the season.  Crosby is tied for 2nd in league scoring with Atlanta’s Ilya Kovalchuk who was kept off the score sheet tonight.  Tampa Bay’s Vinny Lecavalier leads the league in scoring with 37-points after picking up 2-more points tonight.  The Penguins were 1 for 1 on the power play in the 2nd period, and successfully killed off their only penalty.  The THrashers outshot the Penguins 9-7 in the 2nd period. 

In the 3rd period, Ryan Whitney scored the lone goal playing at even strength at 5:01.  The play was assisted by Gary Roberts and Tyler Kennedy, who each picked up 2 assists on the night.  The pair of assists were Kennedy’s first career assists.  Sergei Gonchar left the ice in the 3rd period with a sore groin, and didn’t return.  Hopefully it was just a precautionary measure with the game fully in hand.  You certainly could not tell that Gonchar was hurting as his skating and footwork was again impeccable.  The Penguins were 0 for 1 in the 3rd on the power play, and killed off the only call against them as well, making them perfect on the penalty kill for the game.  The Penguins outshot the Thrashers 12-9 in the 3rd.   

Marc-Andre Fleury’s 28 saves assured his 9th career shutout and earned him the 1st star of the game honors.  Fleury was solid, but was not forced to make many spectacular saves.  His best save came on a deflection by Todd White early in the the 3rd period to keep his shutout alive.  The story of the night, however, has to be Jordan Staal and Colby Armstrong both ending their goal scoring droughts.  Their contributions are critical to balancing the team’s scoring to enable them to post more wins on the season.  Unfortunately, Evgeni Malkin’s 15-game scoring streak came to an end.  Malkin had 22-points (7G, 15A) in his last 15-games, the longest scoring steak by a Russian player in NHL history.  Not only was Malkin held scoreless for just the 3rd time this season, he was also held without a shot on goal.  Fortunately for the Penguins, Malkin’s inability to get on the scoresheet was of no consequence to the game’s outcome. 

• VIDEO:  Click Here for the Pittsburgh Penguins Pre-Game Press Conference with Michel Therrien
• VIDEO:  Click Here for “Inside the Locker Room” Pre-Game with Joe Sager and Phil Bourque interviews with Colby Armstrong and Jarrko Ruutu
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• PHOTOS:  Click Here for the Pittsburgh Penguins Game Photo Gallery
• AUDIO:  Click Here for the Pittsburgh Penguins Mike Lange Highlights (1:41)
• AUDIO:  Click Here for the Pittsburgh Penguins Post-Game Rink Rat Report with Mike Lange (2:23) 
• AUDIO:  Click Here for the Pittsburgh Penguins Post-Game Hotline with Bob Grove (49:29)
• VIDEO:  Click Here for the Post-Game Press Conference with Michel Therrien (2:28)
• VIDEO:  Click Here for Post-Game Locker Room Interviews with Sidney Crosby, Jordan Staal, Colby Armstrong, Marc-Andre Fleury (5:27)

The Penguins enjoy a rare 5-nights off before they host the Dallas Stars on Friday, November 30th.  Whereas a team normally enjoys a break, the Penguins probably woud prefer to keep the momentum going and keep playing.  Hopefully they will be able to keep their current style of play alive when the return to the ice next Friday. 

 

Penguins Season Performance Comparison

The Pittsburgh Penguins (9-11-2) have played 22-games or just over 1/4 of the season so far and in many discussion forums, there is a lot of concern being generated over how they have played so far this season.  This is likely the result of unreasonably high expectations set by the various media outlets at the outset of the season that it would be the March of the Penguins to the Stanley Cup.  While this overly hyped prediction is still a possibility, there has been a great wringing of hands over how the Pens have fared so far this season.  In fact, many are downright distraught and talking as if the season is all but lost.  With that in mind, I thought it was important to provide some analysis and perspective to see how bad things really might be.

First, I ran a comparison to see how the team fared in the first 22 games last year versus this year.  The following table presents the data that I culled from the Pittsburgh Penguins website to include record (overall, home, away, and against divisional opponents), total points (overal and against divisional opponents), and goals for/against:

[TABLE=25]

Interestingly, the Penguins had just 1 more win at this point last year.  The 4-point difference between last season and this season was due to this 1 win and 2 more overtime losses in which the Pens picked up a point each.  They had 3 fewer regulation losses at this point last season.  As suspected, they were slightly more productive at this point last year with 68 goals scored (3.09 goals per game) compared to 63 so far this season (2.86 goals per game).  However, the Penguins had essentially given up the same quantity of goals at this point last season (68 goals, or 3.09 goals per game) as compared to this season (69 goals, or 3.14 goals per game). 

A glaring difference between this season and last is how the team has fared against its Atlantic Division opponents.  The team has only won 3 of 11 Division games this season versus 8 of 11 at this point last season, which represents a 10-point swing.  In a Division as tight as the Atlantic Division, the Penguins can ill afford this level of performance.  Last season, the Penguins owned the Philadelphia Flyers, going 4-0-0 against them in their first 22-games.  This season, the opposite has been true with the Penguins going 0-2-0 against the reborn Flyers.  The Penguins have also played and lost more games to the Devils so far this season going 1-3-0 versus last season’s record of 1-1-0.  Against the New York Rangers, the Penguins have lost 1 more game this season going 1-1-0, versus 2-0-1 last season.  Their performance against the New York Islanders has been equivalent going 1-1-0 during both seasons.  The data is tabulated below:

[TABLE=26]

I also took a look at scoring by Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Sergei Gonchar and Mark Recchi at this point in the season.  Overall, Sidney Crosby has scored 1-more point so far this season, but has played 3-more games at this point in the Penguins season due to injury last year.  Evgeni Malkin has 7 more points this season, but has also played 4-more games this season than at this point last season due to injury.  Mark Recchi had 19-points last season at this point versus 8 this season, and has played 3-fewer games this season as a result of being a healthy scratch.  Sergei Gonchar is 4-points ahead of his pace at this point last season. 

[TABLE=27]

Lastly, I took a look at Marc-Andre Fleury’s record of last season in comparison to this year and as expected you can see that he has been struggling.  In comparison to last season, he has given up 0.75 more goals per game this season.  As a result, he has drawn the ire of many who believe that his inconsistency thus far this season portends a less than successful season than last year in which he finished with 40 wins and 5 shutouts.   

[TABLE=28]

So, in summary, the Penguins are clearly off the mark from last year in a few key areas.  While they only trail last year’s point total by 4-points, they have experienced serious shortcomings against divisional opponents and have seen a 10-point swing over last season in divisional play.  The biggest reversal of fortune has been against the much improved Philadelphia Flyers and the significantly demised New Jersey Devils.  Penguins key players have produced relatively on par with or better than last year with the key exception of Mark Recchi, whose play has demoted him to healthy scratch status of late.  The Penguins have also suffered from disappointing individual performance from the talented young goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury who has given up too many goals per game to be effective.  With Thursday’s spirited character win against the league-leading Ottawa Senators, we are hoping that the Penguins will close the chapter on a disappointing start and turn the corner into a much improved second quarter of the season.  They get their chance to build on that win on Saturday against the Atlanta Thrashers.  Here is hoping for some significant strides in the wins column before too much more of the season slips away.

Penguins Beat NHL’s #1 Senators in Shootout

The struggling Pittsburgh Penguins traveled to Ottawa on Thanksgiving and overcame adversity as they came from behind twice to beat the league leading Senators by a score of 6-5 after an extended shootout.  The game, played with a tremendous amount of intensity from both teams, could well signify a turning point for the Penguins who have struggled through the first 1/4 of the season.  The Penguins wiped out a 2-goal defecit late in the first period and again in the third to force the overtime and shootout where they beat the league’s winningest goaltender on his own ice.  In recent comments, Penguins GM Ray Shero welcomed the early season adversity that the Penguins have been struggling through and noted that it will help build character throughout the organization to include the players, the coach, and the GM.  In beating the Senators, the Penguins never gave up and displayed a ton of character.   Hopefully this self-injected dose of confidence will begin to pay dividends for the Penguins from this game forth.      

In the first period, the Penguins came out and played a physical game with a lot of jump and intensity.  However, it was the Senators who struck first on an even strength goal by Jason Spezza, from Luke Richardson and Daniel Alfredsson at 4:56.  Then at 9:01, Jarrko Ruutu was sent to the box for “diving” after being punched to the head and falling to the ice.  It was the 2nd diving call of the period for Ruutu, and should have been offset by a matching penalty to Ottawa for roughing.  Instead, the questionable call was assessed solely to Ruutu and the Senators were given the gift of the man-advantage.  At 10:55, they converted on the power-play with a goal by Chris Phillips and assists by Chris Kelly and Antoine Vermette.  The goal prompted Coach Therrien to pull Marc-Andre Fleury from the net in favor of goaltender Dany Sabourin.  The Penguins continued to battle strong throughout the first and were rewarded on a Senators turnover in the Penguins zone as Evgeni Malkin took the puck on a pass from Petr Sykora, poked it past an Ottawa defenseman and then beat Ottawa tender Martin Gerber on the stick side.  The goal extended Malkin’s point streak to 15-consecutive games.  Just 18 seconds later, the Penguins drove in another goal off from the stick of Ryan Malone to tie the game at 2-apiece.  Sidney Crosby and Colby Armstrong were credited with the assists.  The Penguins outshot the Senators 9-6 in the first, and were 0 for 3 on the power play. 

In the second, the Penguins got on the board first at 8:00 on a quick slapshot by Tyler Kennedy that surprised and eluded Martin Gerber to put the Penguins up 3-2.  The assist went to Jordan Staal who picked the pocket of the Senators in their own zone and dished the puck to Kennedy.  The Senators responded by putting up 2-unanswered goals to give them a 4-3 edge at the end of the 2nd.  The first came at 14:20 from Jason Spezza, his second of the night, and was assisted by Wayne Redden.  The second came at 16:15 on a power play marker from Dany Heatley as Evgeni Malkin sat for a tripping call.  Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza were credited with the assists.  The Senators outshot the Penguins 9-8 in the 2nd and were 1 for 2 on the power play.  The Penguins were o for 3 on their man-advantage chances. 

In the third, the Penguins gave up the first goal to face their second 2-goal defecit of the game.  At 1:04 Christoph Schubert beat Dany Sabourin to give the Senators the 5-3 advantage.  Andrej Meszaros and Chris Neil were credited with the assists.  The Penguins were able to battle back, however, with 2-quick unanswered to tie the game at 5-5.  At 5:56, Ryan Malone scored on the power play with assists by Sergei Gonchar and Kris Letang, who picked up his first point this season.  Just a little over a minute later, Sergei Gonchar tied the game by stepping up on the play and taking a pass from Colby Armstrong who had falled to his knees behind the net.  Ryan Malone was credited with the other assist, his third point (2G, 1A) of the game.  Despite being outshot 18-8 throughout the period, Dany Sabourin was able to hold on to the tie and force overtime.  The Penguins were held without a shot in the overtime period and Sabourin successfully turned away all 3 shots by the Senators to force the shootout.

In the shootout, Dany Sabourin gave up just 1 goal to Jason Spezza and stopped Antoine Vermettem, Dany Heatley, Mike Fisher, and Dean McAmmond.  “He won a shootout for us earlier this year, and even in the third period when Ottawa really started to pour it on a little bit, we got sloppy and he made some big saves for us,” said Ryan Malone.For the Penguins, Erik Christensen scored the Penguins goal to force extra shooters.  The goal was waved off by the refereee at first, as it appeared that Gerber had stopped the shot.  However, the goal was credited to Christensen when it was revealed by video review that the puck was deflected back into the goal from Gerber’s arm after the initial pad stop.  Gerber stopped Sykora, Crosby and Malkin but gave up the goal and the game on the Penguins’ 5th shooter, Jarkko Ruutu.  Ruutu made a nifty move to his backhand that got Gerber moving across the goal mouth and enabled him to slide the backhander through the tender’s pads to win the game 6-5.

“We’re resilient,” Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. “I don’t think we played our best third period.  We gave up some scoring chances that we don’t usually give up but we found a way to come back in the game. Our power play gave us a goal, finally, in the third and gave us a chance to come back. It’s nice to get a win.”  Ryan Malone had an outstanding game scoring 3-points (2G, 1A).  “Every time we play these guys it’s pretty exciting,” Malone said. “With the offense they have, their team is pretty much the best in the league right now. It was a great character win for us.”  Colby Armstrong (2A) and Sergei Gonchar (1G, 1A) both picked up 2-points.   Gonchar leads all league defensemen in scoring with 21 points (6G, 15A). 

• Click Here for the Official NHL Game Roster
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• Click Here for the Official NHL Boxscore
• Click Here for the Official NHL Play-by-Play
• AUDIO:  Click Here for Mike Lange’s Calls of the Game (2:39)
• AUDIO:  Click Here for the Penguins Post Game Rink Rat Report with Bob Grove (2:48)
• AUDIO:  Click Here for the Penguins Post Game Hotline with Bob Grove (38:09)
• PHOTOS:  Click Here for the Penguins Game Photo Gallery
• VIDEO:  Game Highlights

The Penguins play host to the Atlanta Thrashers on Saturday night at 7:30PM. 

Battle of the Basement, Devils Visit Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins (8-10-2) host the New Jersey Devils (8-10-2) Wednesday night in the Atlantic Division’s battle of basement.  The Atlantic’s 2-slowest starters this season have identical records of 8-10-2, but the Penguins have the advantage in goals scored to win the points tie for divisional placement.  But that won’t help the Penguins if they lose and give up the points tie to the Devils.  Who will be the cellar dweller come Thursday morning?  Our money is on the Devils to own that distinction. 

Much like the Penguins, the Devils have struggled both offensively and defensively.  Under 1st-year coach Brent Sutter, New Jersey has doffed the neutral-zone trap in favor of opening up the ice.  But the Devils have struggled to find the net, scoring 1/4 fewer goals per game this season than last.  To add to their woes, goaltender Martin Brodeur has not been playing to his historical capacity going just 6-10-1 with a 0.894 save percentage and a 2.70 GAA.  He has also failed to put up a shutout this season after adding 12 to his career total last season.  But Saturday night, the Devils may have turned the corner by beating the red hot Flyers by a whopping 6-2 in Philadelphia.  Six different Devils found the back of the net against the Flyers, the most distributed Devils scoring in one game since Feb. 7, 2006.  Martin Brodeur made 26 saves in the win to notch his 500th career victory and join Patrick Roy as the only NHL goaltenders to reach that mark.  Brodeur needs just 51 more victories to match Roy’s league record of 551 career wins.  With the milestone 500th win behind him, the Devils hope that Brodeur will return more to form to help the team dig their way out of their current standing in the Atlantic Division.  They also hope the output in Philadelphia will build their offensive confidence as they move forward.   

The Penguins are coming off from a disappointing 4-3 overtime loss to the Rangers on Saturday night, a game which they led 2-0 after the 1st period.  “We had our chances. It’s just taking advantage of our chances,” said Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, “I hit a post and we had a couple of 2-on-1s (and didn’t score).”  Crosby has repeatedly had to find reasons for the team’s extended struggle and winning drought as the team has lost 7 of its last 9 games, despite his personally consistent and stellar play.  Crosby had 2-points (1G, 1A) on Saturday to extend his career high point streak to 19 games, and is tied for 2nd in the league in points (30).  Sophomore phenom Evgeni Malkin extended his scoring streak to a personal best 13 games, and is tied for the league lead in assists (20) and for 5th in points (27).  However, when it comes to scoring distribution, the Penguins have really struggled.  Outside of the two young stars, the only Penguins who have been able to find consistent scoring are Petr Sykora and Sergei Gonchar.  While the Devils have 7 players with 10+ points, the Penguins have just 4 (Crosby, Malkin, Gonchar, Sykora).  A bright spot for the Penguins had been the power play, scoring at least a goal in their first 14 games.  But the man-advantage has fizzled of late posting just 4-for-30 in their last 6-games.  Marc-Andre Fleury (3.47 GAA) has gotten the call for the last 2-games, but Dany Sabourin may well get the start for this game.  Sabourin posted 20 saves in a 5-0 shutout of the Devils on November 5th.

Going head-to-head, the Penguins have the advantage in scoring and special teams, but the Devils have been stingier defensively in 5-on-5 play.  Offensively, the Penguins have netted 2.8 goals per game on average, while the Devils have mustered 2.4.  Defensively however, the Devils have allowed 2.8 goals per game while the Penguins have struggled and let in 3.1 goals on average.  In what could be the determining factor to the game, the Penguins power play (although cool of late) has been effective 21% of the time, while the Devils have only been able to convert on 12.5% of their chances.  Similarly, the Penguins have the advantage in killing penalties with an 82.5% effectiveness to the Devils’ 76.7%. 

• VIDEO:  Click Here for the Penguins’ Post Practice Locker Room Interviews on 11/20/07 with Sidney Crosby, Ryan Whitney, Darryl Sydor, Petr Sykora, Ryan Malone and Brooks Orpik (12:36)
• VIDEO:  Click Here for the Penguins’ Post Practice Locker Room Interviews on 11/19/07 with  Maxime Talbot and Sidney Crosby (4:21)

NHLPens.com keys to the game:  The biggest key to the game will be special teams.  The Penguins need to keep their legs moving to draw the Devils into a penalty and enable the Pens’ man-advantage against one of the league’s most penalized teams on the road with one of the league’s least effective penalty killing units.  The Penguins need to put a lot of pucks on net and pressure Brodeur early to take away the momentum gained in his 500th win on Saturday.  If Brodeur finds his form early, it will be a tough night for the Penguins’ offense.  The Pens need to play the game with the same desperation they exhibited in the first period of play against the Rangers, put the puck on net early and often and hope for some lucky bounces.  I look for Dany Sabourin to get the call and stand tall against the Devils.

NHLPens.com Prediction:  Ever the eternal optimist, I am predicting a Penguins win by a score of 5-3 with 2-goals coming on the power play.  Crosby and Malkin will again score with each getting 2-points to keep their streaks alive.  The most likely goal scorers are Crosby, Malkin, Hall, Whitney and Talbot. 

Penguins Drop to Rangers 4-3 in O-T

Despite a great 1st period start, the Pittsburgh Penguins gave up a 2-goal lead in the 2nd and had to scratch their way back into a tie in the 3rd to send it into overtime where they lost to the New York Rangers on Saturday night.  The Penguins did manage to come away from the game with a point, but also added a point of separation between themselves and their division rival Rangers.

In the 1st, Sidney Crosby played like a man obsessed.  The Penguins jumped out of the gate and put a lot of pressure on the Rangers’ stingey defense and on league leading tender Henrik Lundqvist.  Were it not for Lundqvist, the score might well have been 4-0 at the end of one.  The first goal of the game was an emotional one.  With Ryan Malone in the box for tripping, Coach Therrien put Sidney Crosby out on the penalty kill with Maxime Talbot.  With less than 30 seconds to go on the kill, Talbot laid down and blocked a Rangers’ shot high in the slot which bounced to the side walls where Crosby picked it up and took off down the ice.  Talbot quickly recovered and raced down the center of the ice to the Rangers’ net where he was fed a beautiful cross-ice pass from Crosby that eluded 2 Rangers’ defensemen.  Talbot poked the puck into the net on the open side of Lundqvist for an outstanding short-handed goal.  The play at 5:51 extended Crosby’s point streak to 19 games, and ignited the team.  Exactly 3-minutes later, Ryan Malone drew a delayed tripping penalty on the Rangers’ as the Penguins drove hard into the offensive zone.  In the ensuing 6-on-5 with Fleury pulled from the net, the Penguins swarmed the Rangers’ zone.  A blocked shot deflected to the left of Lundqvist where Sidney Crosby quickly collected the puck and threw it into the net from the bad angle.  Sergei Gonchar and Petr Sykora were credited with the assists to give the Penguins a 2-0 advantage at the end of the 1st.  The Penguins outshot the Rangers 12-11.

In the 2nd, it was a completely different game.  The Rangers came out firing on all cylinders and the Penguins couldn’t seem to get it back in gear.  The Rangers got on the board quickly with an even strength tally at 0:49 from Michal Rozival on a shot that went high glove side past Fleury.  Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Hollweg picked up the assists.  At 4:05, the Rangers picked up a short-handed goal of their own off from the stick of Michal Rozival, this time assisted by Sean Avery and Marc Staal.  The Rangers finished their 2nd period romp with a power-play goal by Daniel Girardi to make it 3-2 while Rob Scuderi sat for 2 minutes on a hooking call.  Petr Prucha and Fedor Tyutin were credited with the assists.  The Penguins were afforded 1 power play opportunity early in the 2nd that they didn’t capitalize on, and were short-handed 3-times due to infractions by Christensen, Ruutu and Scuderi.  The Penguins were outshot 10-8 in the 2nd and were 0 for 1 on the power play.  The Rangers were 1-for-3 on the power play. 

The 3rd period was probably one of the tightest played periods I have seen this season, with neither team getting many chances.  The Penguins were finally able to tie the score on their 2nd shot of the period at 14:58.  With the Penguins buzzing, Eric Christensen fired a shot that deflected off the rear boards to Evgeni Malkin, who kicked the puck to Petr Sykora.  Sykora laced it past Lundqvist to force the overtime frame.  Christensen and Malkin picked up the assists, extending Malkin’s scoring streak to 13-games.  The shots were 4-3 Rangers in the 3rd with the Penguins successfully killing off the only penalty of the period (Malkin for hooking at 11:50).

At 1:40 of the overtime frame, Jason Strudwick beat Marc-Andre Fleury on a 2-on-1 breakout to give the Rangers the win and the extra point.  Strudwick, who managed to get behind defenseman Sergei Gonchar, took a cross-crease pass and put it inside the near post past Marc-Andre Fleury.  Paul Mara and Scott Gomez were credited with the assists on what was the only shot recorded between the 2-teams in overtime.  The goal gave the Rangers their 5th straight win.  “All I tried to do was get my stick on it and push it to the net,” said Strudwick, whose last goal came January 28, 2007 (also against Pittsburgh).

With the win, New York overtook the Flyers for the Atlantic Division lead.  All 4 Rangers’ goals came from defensemen as they completed a 4-game road sweep.  “When you have tight hockey like that, often times those defensemen are very much part of the offense,” Rangers coach Tom Renney said.  Regarding the Rangers’ defensive output, Marc-Andre Fleury said, “They have pretty good forwards. Usually if I can stop them, I’m in good shape.”  Referring to the Rangers finding 100% of their offense from the defensemen, Penguins coach Michel Therrien noted, “That’s a sign that things are going well for you , and things are going really well for the Rangers right now.  You’ve got to give a lot of credit to that team.”

The loss was a tough one for the Penguins who were fortunate to yield a point against the best defensive team in the league.  “We had a two-goal lead early and weren’t able to build on it,” Sidney Crosby said. “Lundqvist held them in the game. We get that third goal, we bury them.  We had our chances. It’s just taking advantage of our chances,” he continued.  “I hit a post and we had a couple of 2-on-1s (and didn’t score). They get that one 2-on-1 in overtime and capitalize.”  And so the Penguins woes continue.

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• AUDIO:  Click Here for the Pittsburgh Penguins Post-Game Hotline (45:59)
• AUDIO:  Click Here for the Pittsburgh Penguins Post-Game Rink Rat Report with Bob Grove (1:37)
• AUDIO:  Click Here for Mike Lange Highlights (1:33)
• VIDEO:  Click Here for Post Game Press Conference with Michel Therrien (1:08)
• VIDEO:  Click Here for Post-Game Locker Room Interviews with Sidney Crosby, Maxime Talbot, Marc-Andre Fleury, Sergei Gonchar, Petr Sykora (7:38)

The Penguins hit the ice again on Wednesday night when they host the Devils in a Thanksgiving eve game.

Penguins Look For 3rd Win in November

The Pittsburgh Penguins (8-10-1) play host to the surging New York Rangers (11-7-1) tonight in another Atlantic Division battle.  The Rangers are looking for their 4th consecutive road win after beating the Leafs, Devils and Flyers all on the road over the last 7 days.  The Penguins will be looking to add a second consecutive win at home after stopping a 4-game winless streak on Thursday by beating the Islanders 3-2.   

After getting off to a slow start, the New York Rangers have been surging and are currently tied with the Flyers for 1st place in the Atlantic with 23 points.  The Rangers won just 4 of 11 games in October with 19 goals for and 22 goals against.  They have turned it around in November, however, having won 7 of 8 games (including 3 on the road), and have scored 23 goals while giving up just 13.  The Rangers were 0-5-1 on the road before last Saturday’s 3-2 shootout win over Toronto.  Since then, they have beaten the Devils and the Flyers on the road, ending the Flyers’ 6-0-0 home start.  Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist has played extremely well and is near the top of the league with a 1.71 GAA and 0.935 save percentage.  He has 4 shutouts in 18 games and has stopped 8 of 9 shots on goal in three shootout games.  Lundqvist has started all but 1 of the Rangers’ games, and has logged the most minutes in the Eastern Conference.  Lundqvist has had to be good as the Rangers offense didn’t really get their wheels rolling until their win against the Penguins on November 8th.  Brendan Shanahan leads the team with 6 goals, and Jaromir Jagr leads with 17 points (4G, 13A). 

Pittsburgh has struggled for consistency all season long and has had trouble keeping the puck out of their own net, giving up 58 goals in 19 games.  The Penguins have alternated between goaltenders Marc-Andre Fleury (3.43 GAA/12 games) and Dany Sabourin (2.18 GAA/7 games).  Fleury, who hadn’t started a home game in nearly three weeks, was in net for the win against the Islanders on Thursday.  “I was a little nervous at the beginning,” Fleury said. “I hadn’t been playing in Pittsburgh for a while, so I was a little excited. But things went well, the guys got some goals, we got the lead, so that worked to relax me.”  The Penguins have also had little offense outside of Evgeni Malkin (12-game point streak), Sidney Crosby (18-game point streak) and Sergei Gonchar.  “We want to contribute and it’s always nice to win, so if you can do that and win, it’s great,” Crosby said. “But for us, we have a job to produce.”  In the win against the Isles, big Georges Laraque got the unexpected game winning goal and helped boost the spirit of the young Penguins.  The Penguins need offensive contributions from their other forwards as well.  Veterans Mark Recchi and Darryl Sydor were healthy scratches against the Islanders, and that enabled Tyler Kennedy and Kris Letang to bring some needed energy to the team.  Although they didn’t score, the two young players energized the team and played well.

Going head-to-head,  the Penguins have the advantage in goals scored and on the power play.  Offensively, the Penguins have averaged 2.7 goals per game while the Rangers have mustered just 2.1 goals per game.  Defensively, however, the Rangers are 1st in the league giving up just 1.8 goals per game.  The Penguins defensive game has been much less effective giving up an average 3 goals per game.  The Penguins offense has cashed in on the power play with a 21.2% effectiveness while the Rangers have struggled at 15.3%.  On the penalty kill, the Rangers rank 4th in the league at 89.7% while the Penguins have been 82.4% effective.  Sidney Crosby has 22 points in 17 career games against the Rangers.  Jaromir Jagr has 30-points (15G, 15A) in 30 games against the Penguins.  The teams have split the 2 games played this season, with each winning on its home ice.  New York has lost 3-straight and 5 of its last 6 played in Pittsburgh.

• VIDEO:  Click Here for 11/17/07 Pre-Game Press Conference w/Michel Therrien 
• VIDEO:  Click Here for 11/17/07 Pre-Game Locker Room Interview w/Sidney Crosby
• VIDEO:  Click Here for 11/16/07 Post Practice Locker Room Interview w/Sidney Crosby
• VIDEO:  Click Here for 11/15/07 Post Game Press Conference w/Michel Therrien
• VIDEO:  Click Here for 11/15/07 Post Game Locker Room Interviews w/Sidney Crsoby, Georges Laraque, Marc-Andre Fleury and Kris Letang

NHLPens.com Keys to the Game:  The Penguins will have to springboard off from the momentum they gained in their 3-2 win over the Isles and come out on fire.  They will need to overload the Rangers defense and put a lot of pucks on Henrik Lundqvist to try and break the league’s leading defensive juggernaut.  The Penguins will need to use their speed in the offensive zone to create chances and draw penalties.  Defensively, the Penguins need a good night in goal by Marc-Andre Fleury, who should get the nod after his last performance.  Given the stingey defense of the Rangers, the Penguins will need a near perfect night in goal. 

NHLPens.com Prediction:  I predict a Penguins win against the Rangers by a score of 3-2.  Most likely goal scorers for the Penguins include Evgeni Malkin, Jarkko Ruutu and Sergei Gonchar.  I predict that Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin will keep their point streaks alive, with Crosby getting 2 assists. 

Pens Turn the Tide, Beat Isles

The Pittsburgh Penguins notched their first win in 5-games on Thursday night against the New York Islanders by a score of 3-2.  The long overdue win came with an altered lineup as veterans Mark Recchi and Darryl Sydor were healthy scratches.  In their place on the ice for the Penguins (and looking good) were Tyler Kennedy and Kris Letang.  Colby Armstrong was also a healthy scratch.  Marc-Andre Fleury had a very good night in net for the Penguins with 26 saves on 28 shots.

In an all too common occurrence, the opposition got on the board first with an even strength goal at 14:17 of the first period by the Islanders’ red hot Mike Comrie.   Standing in front of the net, Comrie picked up his 6th goal of the season by deflecting a Brendan Witt shot from the point past Fleury.  Trent Hunter was also credited with an assist.  Four minutes later, Sergei Gonchar scored on a blast from the point while the Jordan Staal put up a screen by tussling with two Islanders’ players in front of goaltender Rick Dipietro.  Evgeni Malkin and Marc-Andre Fleury were credited with the assists, but Staal gets our honorary assist for his work in front of the net to keep Dipietro in the blind.  Malkin’s assist extended his point streak to 12 consecutive games.  The goal tied the game at 1 at the end of the first, with the Penguins outshooting the Isles 10-6.   

In the second, the Penguins quickly scored a 5-on-3 powerplay that carried over from the first period.  Sergei Gonchar threw the puck against the wall to Dipietro’s right and it bounced toward the net and onto the stick of Evgeni Malkin who tried to jam it into the net.  Dipietro was able to stop Malkin’s attempt on the goal line, but was unable to prevent Petr Sykora from poking the puck the rest of the way across the line on the follow-up.  The goal came at 0:58 while Satan and Hilbert sat for holding and hooking.  The goal was Sykora’s 8th of the season from Malkin and Gonchar.  At 8:51, the Islanders responded with an even strength backhand goal by Josef Vasicek as Fleury was caught laying across the goal mouth.  Bruno Gervais and Sean Bergenheim were credited with the assists.  At 16:45, however, Georges Laraque chipped the game winning goal over Dipietro’s shoulder on a superb pass by  Sidney Crosby.  The goal was Laraque’s first goal in 40-games and his first as a Penguin, and was celebrated by jumping against the glass and then lifting a jubilant Crosby into the air.  With the assist, Sidney Crosby extended his point streak to 18-games and advanced to 2nd place in league scoring with 28-points, just 1-point behind the current leader Vincent Lecavalier.  Shots were tied at 12 apiece in the second.

The Penguins held onto the lead in the third despite being outshot by the Islanders 10-5, and killed off a late hooking penalty to Tyler Kennedy.  Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury stood tall in net and kept out some excellent chances by the Islanders to maintain the advantage and the win.  The Penguins had two excellent chances on the empty net insurance goal, but failed to connect.  The first was at the expiration of Tyler Kennedy’s penalty as he came out of the box, but tried to make a passing play instead of shooting on the empty net as it appeared he did not notice Dipietro had left the ice.  The second came on an attempt by Sidney Crosby that just missed the net and bounced off the left post.  Sergei Gonchar had a great game, possibly inspired by the attendance of newly inducted Hall of Fame defenseman Paul Coffey.  He picked up the game’s 1st star with a goal and an assist.  Georges Laraque picked up the game’s 2nd star with his inspired play and his game winning goal.  Marc-Andre Fleury picked up the game’s 3rd star with his play in the third period to keep the game in the win column for the Penguins.  Evgeni Malkin, who didn’t like quite as dominating as he has in recent games, still played a very good game and came away with 2-assists.  The Malkin-Crosby 12-game concurrent scoring streak is the longest in team history.  Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr never had a concurrent streak longer than 11-games. 

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• AUDIO:  Click Here for Paul Coffey’s Hall of Fame Induction Speech 

The Pittsburgh Penguins will look to get back in a groove and extend their winning play as they host the New York Rangers at the Mellon Arena on Saturday night.

Penguins Callup Letang, Host Islanders

The Pittsburgh Penguins (7-10-1) host division rival New York Islanders (9-5-0) on Thursday night at the Mellon Arena.  The struggling Penguins, who have dropped to last place in the Atlantic Division, have lost 4 straight games and 8 of their last 10.  The slide has left many fans and some sports writers questioning the coach’s wisdom in constantly juggling line combinations and poor selection of healthy scratches.  In a Pittsburgh Tribune Review article today, columnist Joe Starkey questioned whether benching goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and Colby Armstrong has further contributed to their confidence issues.  He suggests that benching low producing veterans Recchi and/or Roberts for a game would make more sense than making scapegoats out of the younger players who need experience and opportunity to play through adversity.  I tend to agree with this sentiment.  Nothing undermines a team quicker than a coach showing preferential treatment of selected players.  The players need consistency of linemates, and consistency of treatment by their coach when players underperform. 

The New York Islanders have been playing well of late, having won 6 of 7 before losing 3-2 at Philadelphia on Monday.  With some key additions in the off-season, the Islanders appear to be thriving under 2nd year coach Ted Nolan.  Perhaps the best off-season acquisition was Mike Comrie who signed as an unrestricted free agent and currently leads the team in scoring with 15 points, 7 coming on the power play.  Other key players and point-getters include Miroslav Satan, Bill Guerin and Ruslan Fedetenko.  Rick Dipietro (8-4) has played okay in goal for the Isles with a 2.49 GAA and 0.904% save percentage. 

The Penguins will try to avoid matching their longest losing streak from all of last season by avoiding a 5th consecutive loss.  The Penguins have suffered from inconsistent goaltending and lackluster defense, resulting in just 1 win in 7 games so far in November.  They have also failed to get balanced scoring from their offensive lines, with 37% of the points scored so far this season coming from just two players, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.  Add in Sergei Gonchar and Petr Sykora, and the 4 players combined account for 57% of the team’s points.  Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are both in the middle of career-high point streaks at 17 and 11 games, respectively.  But that hasn’t been enough offense to win games.  The Penguins need contributions from other youngsters and veterans alike.  Mark Recchi and Gary Roberts each have 2-points in their last 10 games, and Roberts has 10-penalty minutes in his last 3-games. 

The Penguins goaltending and defensive corps have had a very rough start.  Marc-Andre Fleury, who had 40 wins last season, has gone more than 3-weeks without a win and is 0-4 with a 4.42 goals-against average in his last 5-starts.  Coach Therrien has cast a vote of low confidence in Fleury by starting backup netminder Dany Sabourin in 4 of their 7 November outings (3 of which were loses).  The Penguins made a move to shore up the defensive ranks by calling up 20-year-old defenseman Kris Letang from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Wednesday.  It is hoped that the young defenseman will bring some energy and consistency to bolster the defensive lines.  Many had predicted that Letang would make the team cut coming out of training camp, but he ended up being sent down.  He played 7 games in his debut with the Penguins last season. 

As the team Captain, Sidney Crosby has been looking for a silver lining.  “It’s easy to look at the way things have gone the last few games and be critical and be negative, but we probably played our best game in the last few,” said Crosby, ”We deserved to win (against New Jersey), but it didn’t happen.”  While their effort against New Jersey on Monday was better, the Penguins will have to find more consistency in their defensive game and more balanced scoring from their offensive lines before they will truly be deserving of a win.  Hopefully having a few days off will help as they take on the Isles on Thursday. 

Going head-to-head, the Islanders have the slight advantage.  The Isles have scored 2.9 goals per game versus the Penguins 2.7, and have given up 2.9 goals per game to the Penguins 3.1.  The Islanders special teams have been slightly more effective than the Penguins going 22.2% on the man advantage to the Pens 21.5%.  The Isles have an 85.2% effectiveness on the kill to the Penguins 82%. 

NHLPens.com Prediction:  The Penguins are due for a breakout game and I am predicting that this one will be it.  Buoyed by the addition of Letang, the Penguins defense will be more active at blocking shots and clearing the crease.  I think the offense will gain momentum off from an improved defensive effort and result in scoring contributions from more than just the usual suspects.  I am predicting a 4-1 Penguins win after a slow first period start.  Most likely goal scorers include Maxime Talbot, Jordan Staal, Ryan Malone and Sidney Crosby.  I think Crosby and Malkin will both extend their point streaks. 

 Note:  The Penguins will induct Paul Coffey into the Pittsburgh Penguins Hall of Fame in a pre-game ceremony. 

Pens Fall to Devils, Drop to Last in Division

The Pittsburgh Penguins dropped their fourth straight game as they lost to the New Jersey Devils at home by a score of 3-2 on Monday night, and moved into last place in the Atlantic division with just over 20% of their season played.  The Penguins continued their downward spiral despite battling back from a 2-0 defecit to tie the game midway through the third period.  It was a breakout 3-on-2 play late in the 3rd period on a blind pass by Georges Laraque from behind the Devils net that gave New Jersey the break they needed to break the tie and win the game.  

The Devils scored twice on the Penguins in the first period to quickly go ahead 2-0.  The first goal was an even strength, bad-angle 5-hole shot by Travis Zajak that slipped through the pads of Penguins netminder Dany Sabourin at 4:40.  Zach Parisi and Dainus Zubrus were credited with assists.  Less than 6 minutes later, it was Zach Parise who put up a power play marker while Erik Christensen sat for hooking.  Brian Gionta and Patrick Elias picked up the assists.  The first 2-goals came on the first three Devils’ shots of the game.  The Penguins outshot the Devils 7-5 in the first and were 0 for 1 on the power play.  The Devils converted on 1 of their 2 man advantages.

In the second, the Penguins quickly got on the board at 0:26, just after the expiration of a power play that had extended into the second from the first period.  Sidney Crosby kept his scoring streak alive at 17-games by making a beautiful move in front of the goaltender and putting the puck past Kevin Weekes.  Ryan Malone and Ryan Whitney were credited with the assists on the goal.  The Penguins successfully navigated 3 subsequent, sequential penalties to Laraque (slashing), Gonchar (hooking) and Orpik (hooking), that included a brief 5-on-3 opportunity for the Devils.  The Penguins penalty killing unit performed very well in battling through this lengthy kill.  The Devils outshot the Penguins 10-7 in the second and were 0 for 3 on the power play, while the Penguins had no man advantages.

In the third, the Penguins battled back with a rocket of a shot from Evgeni Malkin on the power play that stoned Kevin weekes and knotted the score at 2.  The goal, assisted by Sidney Crosby and Sergei Gonchar, extended Malkin’s current point streak to 11-games.  About 4 minutes later, however, the Devils capitalized on a Penguins mistake to score the game winner on a 3 on 2 breakout.  Controlling the puck behind the Devils net, Georges Laraque threw a pass out in front of the net where nobody was home except the Devils players.  Jarkko Ruutu had briefly left Elias undefended in the Devils’ end, allowing Elias to take the lead out of his zone on a 3-on-2 break.  Elias skated in and beat goalie Dany Sabourin cleanly off a cross ice pass from Brian Gionta as Sergei Brylin cut down the middle, forcing Sabourin to defend against two potential shooters.  The Penguins weren’t able to respond after the Elias goal, despite outshooting the Devils 11-6 in the final frame. 

Aside from letting in a soft first goal, the Penguins played a better game with a lot of intensity coming from the 1st, 2nd and 4th lines.  ”It’s easy to look at the way things have gone the last few games and be critical and be negative, but we probably played our best game in the last few,” Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said. “We deserved to win it, but it didn’t happen.”  As has been the problem of late, the Penguins were held to goals by Malkin and Crosby only.  “We had our chances. We pressed in the third and made a mistake and they put it in our net,” Crosby said. “I know you have to work for your breaks, but sometimes that happens and it’s tough. … I thought we deserved a few calls in the third but we didn’t get them.” Goaltender Dany Sabourin noted, “It’s just too bad that one turnover cost us the game at the end.”  Coach Therrien agreed, saying, “One scoring chance. It’s tough to win in this league if you are giving up bad goals. That’s happening to us right now.”

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The Penguins have a couple of days off before hosting the New York Islanders on Thursday night. 

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