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Penguins Make First 12 Roster Cuts

The Pittsburgh Penguins made their first training camp cuts today, re-assigning 12 players and whittling their camp roster down to 43.  Over the next 2 weeks, the Penguins will need to skinny the roster down by another 20 players to arrive at the 23 players required by September 30th for the start of the regular season.  General Manager Ray Shero announced that 10 players would be heading to the AHL affiliate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.  This includes forwards Aaron Boogaard, Zack Sill, Joey Haddad, Casey Pierro-Zabotel, Nick Petersen and Keven Veilleux.  Also heading to the AHL are defensemen Lane Caffaro, Brian Strait and Alex Grant and goaltender Jordan Parise.  The Penguins also re-assigned Nathan Moon to the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey league and released defenseman Jamie Hunt.  The roster moves leave the Penguins with 26 forwards, 13 defensemen and four goaltenders.

The entire Penguins team will head to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Thursday night to participate in a Black and Gold intra-squad game at Wachovia Arena.  The Stanley Cup will be in attendance as a team of Penguins headed up by Sidney Crosby will take on another team of Penguins headed up by Evgeni Malkin.  The game is sold out and proceeds will be donated to charity.  The Penguins will then return home to face off against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday evening at Mellon Arena, before taking their pre-season on the road.

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Tangradi to Debut on Crosby’s Wing in Tonight’s Pre-Season Opener

Just a little over 3 months after winning the Stanley Cup in Detroit, the Pittsburgh Penguins return to the ice tonight for the pre-season opener against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Mellon Arena.  The game comes after just a couple days of training camp practice, being accelerated to accomodate the upcoming G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh.  This morning the Pittsburgh Penguins released the lineup for tonight’s game.  Despite expectations that the Penguins would rest its stars, the lineup will include players such as Sidney Crosby, Jordan Staal, Marc-Andre Fleury, Sergei Gonchar, and others.  Most notable, the Penguins will put their top prospect, 6′4″ 20-year old winger Eric Tangradi, out on the top line with Sidney Crosby.  While only a pre-season game, it will give the youngster a huge opportunity to show his skills and fight for a permanent spot  on the Penguins’ roster.

The Penguins have reported the following lineup and line combinations for tonight’s game:

Forwards:

• Chris Kunitz, Sidney Crosby, Eric Tangradi
• Pascal Dupuis, Jordan Staal, Ruslan Fedotenko
• Chris Connor, Dustin Jeffrey, Ryan Bayda
• Zack Sill, Joe Vitale, Eric Godard

Defensemen:

• Simon Despres, Sergei Gonchar
• Mark Eaton, Deryk Engelland
• Jay McKee, Robert Bortuzzo

Goaltenders:

• Marc-Andre Fleury
• Brad Thiessen

Game time is 7:30PM.  The game is not expected to be broadcast.

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Sharpen Your Skates, It’s Hockey Time!

It’s hard to believe, but hockey season is just a little over 3 weeks away!  Everything is about to shift back into high gear for the Penguins’ organization as 47 players and prospects report to training camp this Saturday, September 12th, when they will undergo physicals and fitness testing.  Practice starts on Sunday at Mellon Arena and is open to the public, free of charge.  Pre-season play kicks-off shortly thereafter with the Penguins hosting the Columbus Bluejackets on September 15th.  On September 17th, the Penguins travel to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for a “Black and Gold” intra-squad game.  Then, they return back to Mellon Arena to host the Toronto Maple Leafs on September 18th before heading out on a 4-game road trip to Montreal (Sept 21) , Toronto (Sept 22), Columbus (Sept 24), and Detroit (Sept 27).  The Penguins’ open the regular season on October 2nd by raising the 2009 Stanley Cup Championship banner to the rafters of historic Mellon Arena before dropping the puck against the New York Rangers.  It will be the last NHL home opener to be played in the long history of Mellon Arena. 

With training camp, pre-season, and regular season play nearly upon us, it is time to start looking at the challenges that face the Penguins in the coming season.  First and foremost in my mind, is the question of fatigue.  The Penguins have played a total of 208-games (164 regular season and 44 playoff games) in just the last 2 seasons.   That averages out to about one game every 3.5 days over the last 2 years.  The price to pay for a successful post-season is a short summer for mental and physical recuperation.  Fortunately for the Penguins, they are a young team and they finished the post season relatively healthy.  The mental recuperation, however, could be more challenging for both the players and the coaching staff as they need to quickly shift gears from the euphoria of being the league champions to being the team that everyone will raise their game against to beat.  Often referred to as the Stanley Cup hangover, the Penguins will have to quickly come to grip with the fact that, while they have climbed to the top of the tallest mountain, they are now back at base camp with everyone else.  It will take a lot of character (and a bit of luck) to battle their way back to the finals for a third straight year.

The next big challenge will be figuring out how to best fill the defensive roles vacated by Hal Gill and Rob Scuderi.  This will take time and evaluation by the coaching staff as training camp and pre-season play unfolds, and will probably continue to play out into the regular season.  Surely the Penguins will look to off-season acquisition Jay McKee, a veteran stay-at-home defenseman with ample shot-blocking prowess.  They will also likely depend on the services of Alex Goligoski on the blueline after the successful call-up role he played during Sergei Gonchar’s time on the injured reserve last season.  But a McKee/Goligoski pairing may not be the right combination, so look for some mixing and matching in the defensive pairings in the early going until the right mix of “shutdown” and “offensive” styles are found.  This challenge will primarily be one for the coaching staff to solve, but will require the defensemen to adapt to new roles and potentially new linemates.   

The third challenge will be figuring out how best address the loss of Petr Sykora and (to a lesser extent) how to bridge the anticipated 2-month gap until Max Talbot returns from off-season surgery.  The most pressing issue to sort out in training camp and pre-season is who to put on wing with Evgeni Malkin in place of Petr Sykora.  While Tyler Kennedy certainly could be an interesting mix with Malkin, I don’t expect the coaching staff to disrupt the exceptional 3rd line chemistry of Kennedy-Staal-Cooke.  Odds are that Pascal Dupuis will be called upon to step into Sykora’s spot, but don’t be surprised to see some different looks coming from the coaching staff through training camp and the pre-season.  I wouldn’t even be surprised to see rookie prospect Eric Tangradi getting a practice or pre-season look with Malkin, but I really don’t expect it to pan out….at least not yet.  A likely candidate to fill out the lower lines would be Luca Caputi, the 6′2″ winger that made the Penguins’ roster for 5-games last season.  The good news is that the Penguins have significant depth to draw upon to fill in the few vacancies at forward, and training camp will be where those fill-ins get sorted out. 

So, as hockey season bears down on us once again, it is time to get out your jersey and get ready for another great season from one of the NHL’s best and brightest young teams.  Be sure to check back with us as the season approaches and gets underway as we will continue blogging about the team we love to watch and cheer for, the Pittsburgh Penguins!

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Shortened Penguins Roster Arrives in Sweden

The Pittsburgh Penguins arrived in Stockholm, Sweden, at about 3:30 AM this morning (Pittsburgh time) after a tiring 10.5 hour flight (including a refueling layover in Ireland).  Despite the lengthy trip, the team got checked into their hotel, met for a team meal, and then hit the rink at Hovet Arena in Stockholm for practice.  The goal for today is for the team to get adjusted to the 6-hour time change by staying awake through the evening and getting a good night’s sleep tonight.  According to Max Talbot, most players managed to get some sleep on the plane so that fatigue was not much of a factor in this morning’s practice.  The Penguins’ schedule is part of a program put in place by the training staff to help the players adjust to the change. 

The 10-day trip to Sweden comes on the heels of Friday night’s 5-4 pre-season win against the Leafs in Toronto.  Despite playing from behind most of the night, the Penguins won the game late in the 3rd period on goals by Kris Letang and Matt Cooke.  Sidney Crosby, Mark Eaton and Janne Pesonen also scored in the win, advancing the Penguins pre-season record to 3-0-1.  Sidney Crosby picked up the game’s 1st star with 2-points (1G, 1A) and Ruslan Fedotenko got the game’s 3rd start with 3-points (3A).  The Penguins will officially complete their pre-season play on Thursday, October 2nd, playing against the Jokerit of the Finnish Elite League in Helsinki, Finland.

Before boarding the 5PM flight to Stockholm, the Penguins skinnied their roster down to 25-players through assignments to the AHL and injured reserve.  Forward Connor James and defenseman Danny Richmond were both assigned to the Penguins’ AHL-affiliate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Saturday.  Injured defensemen Sergei Gonchar (dislocated shoulder) and Ryan Whitney (foot surgery) have been assigned to the injured reserve and will not make the trip.  The Penguins will have to make one more roster cut by Friday, October 3rd, to get down to a 24-man roster before the season-opener in Sweden on October 4th.  The Penguins will ultimately need to make an additional cut after October 5th to get down to the 23-player roster required by the league for the rest of the regular season.  The league made an exception and allowed 24-players to be on the roster for the games in Sweden, so that the team would have an extra player in-country in case of injury. 

The Penguins remaining 25-man roster for the Sweden trip is comprised of 15 forwards, 7 defensemen and 3 goaltenders.  This includes forwards Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Petr Sykora, Miroslav Satan, Ruslan Fedotenko, Matt Cooke, Max Talbot, Tyler Kennedy, Pascal Dupuis, Eric Godardm Jeff Taffe, Janne Pesonen, Bill Thomas, and Paul Bisssonnette.  The defensive corps consists of Brooks Orpik, Rob Scuderi, Hal Gill, Mark Eaton, Darryl Sydor, Kris Letang, and Alex Goligoski.  The goaltenders are Marc-Andre Fleury, Dany Sabourin, and John Curry.

After arriving in Stockholm early this morning, the Penguins went to Hovet Arena for practice at about 8AM Pittsburgh time.  The Hovet Arena is located alongside the Globe Arena where the Penguins will practice for the rest of the week, and where the Penguins will face off against the Ottawa Senators next weekend.  After practice, Sidney Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury and Max Talbot spoke to the press.  The following videos of practice and those interviews are courtesy of PittsburghPenguins.com:

• VIDEO:  Team Practice’s at Hovet Arena
• VIDEO:  Sidney Crosby Post-Practice Interview
• VIDEO:  Marc-Andre Fleury Post-Practice Interview
• VIDEO:  Max Talbot Post-Practice Interview

 

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Penguins Hold Off the Leafs Late Comeback

The Pittsburgh Penguins held off a third period comeback to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 in their 3rd pre-season game on Wednesday night at Mellon Arena.  The Penguins played without the services of Sidney Crosby who sat out as a precaution with a sore groin.  Marc-Andre Fleury also took the night off as Dany Sabourin got the nod to backstop the team.  It was a night for Pittsburgh’s special teams as the Penguins picked up 2 powerplay goals and a shorthander.  But a lopsided 3rd period comeback put Pittsburgh on their heels as the Leafs outshot the Penguins 17-3, and scored 2 late goals.  Dany Sabourin maintained his composure, however, and allowed the Penguins to hang on for the win. 

The Penguins struck early in the first as Petr Sykora notched his 3rd pre-season goal at 2:05 on the powerplay.  Assists went to Miroslav Satan and Evgeni Malkin.  Then at 7:52, just as the clock had passed the halfway point on a roughing double-minor to Kris Newbury, Ruslan Fedotenko said hello to Pittsburgh with an unassisted powerplay goal.  Late in the period, Paul Bissonnette and Jamal Mayers went for a short dance with nothing much resulting from it.  The Penguins converted on 2-of-3 powerplay opportunities in the period and went 1-for-1 on the penalty kill as they outshot the Leafs 9-5.

Just 14-seconds into the 2nd period, Ruslan Fedotenko took a trip to the box for elbowing and set up a Leafs power play.  However, at 1:10 Evgeni Malkin playing on the penalty kill spoiled the Leafs chance by dogging the defense and causing a turnover as a Leafs’ player fell to the ice.  With Jordan Staal close at hand, the two played a little give-and-go with the biscuit in front of the crease before Malkin tapped it home on the empty side.  Malkin’s shorthanded goal, with the assist by Staal, put the Penguins up 3-0.  The Penguins went on to outshoot the Leafs 9-7 in the period, were 0-for-3 on the powerplay, and killed off 3 of their own penalties, including 15-seconds of 5-on-3.

In the 3rd, the Penguins stopped skating and the Leafs managed to awake from their earlier slumber.  The Penguins ended up shorthanded 3 times, and failed to convert on 2 man advantages.  The Leafs’ Alexei Ponikarovsky took advantage of the Penguins last penalty, a 2-minute interference call on Brooks Orpik, to get on the board at 15:22.  Assists were given to Josef Boumedienne and Mike Van Ryn.  Then with 11-seconds left in the game and goaltender Justin Pogge at the bench for the extra attacker, Mikhail Grabovski managed to get another one by Dany Sabourin.  The goal was assisted by Nikolai Kulemin and Jason Blake.  However, despite outshooting the Penguins 17-3 in the final frame, the Leafs were unable to get the tying goal. 

Evgeni Malkin was named the game’s first star with 2-points (1G, 1A) and Jordan Staal was the second star with 1-point (1A).  Dany Sabourin stopped 27-of-29 shots on goal.  The Penguins meet up with the Leafs again on Friday night for a rematch in Toronto.  It will be the last pre-season game for the Penguins before they make the trip to Europe on Saturday night to prepare for the season opener in Sweden on October 4th.     

• NHL Official Game Rosters
• NHL Official Game Summary
• NHL Official Play-by-Play
• PODCAST:  Phil Bourque 1st Intermission Report
• PODCAST:  Phil Bourque 2nd Intermission Report
• PODCAST:  Phil Bourque Post-Game Wrap Up

In other news, it was announced today that Sergei Gonchar will be out indefinitely with a dislocated shoulder.  This will likely open the door for prospects Alex Goligioski and/or Danny Richmond to step up as the Penguins head into the beginning of the season.

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Penguins Send 13 Players to AHL, Trim Roster to 29

As anticipated, Pittsburgh Penguins’ General Manager Ray Shero announced the next round of training camp cuts today, sending 13 players to the AHL affiliate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.  The 13 players sent to Wilkes-Barre includes forwards Kris Beech, Ryan Stone, Adam Henrich, Aaron Boogaard, Tim Wallace, Jonathan Filewich, David Gove and Christopher Minard.  It also includes defensemen Deryk Engelland, T.J. Kemp, Ben Lovejoy and Joey Mormina, as well as goaltender David Brown.  The cuts trimmed the Penguins’ training camp roster to 29 players

Of the 29 remaining players, the Penguins have retained 16 forwards, 10 defensemen and 3 goaltenders.  That list includes propsects Janne Pesonen, Connor James, Paul Bissonnette, Bill Thomas, Alex Goligoski, Danny Richmond, and John Curry.  With surgery/injuries affecting the normal Penguins’ defensive lineup, Defensemen Alex Goligoski and/or Danny Richmond could find themselves on the roster as the season starts.  There is potential for one or two positions on wing being open for competition, as well, as training camp and pre-season hockey winds down. 

The current roster includes the following players (by natural position,  not necessarily the position they are being played)

• Left Wing
  • Ruslan Fedotenko
  • Jeff Taffe
  • Matt Cooke
  • Janne Pesonen
  • Paul Bissonnette (Converted from D)
  • Connor James
  • David Gove
• Center
  • Sidney Crosby
  • Evgeni Malkin
  • Jordan Staal
  • Tyler Kennedy
  • Max Talbot
• Right Wing
  • Miroslav Satan
  • Petr Sykora
  • Pascal Dupuis
  • Eric Godard
  • William Thomas
• Defense
  • Sergei Gonchar
  • Ryan Whitney
  • Mark Eaton
  • Hal Gill
  • Kris Letang
  • Brooks Orpik
  • Darryl Sydor
  • Rob Scuderi 
  • Alex Goligoski
  • Danny Richmond
• Goal
  • Marc-Andre Fleury
  • Dany Sabourin
  • John Curry

The Penguins’ prospects will have two more opportunities to impress the hockey staff before the team leaves for Sweden on Saturday night.  It is uncertain whether the Penguins will make the final roster cuts before they leave.  While I wouldn’t be surprised by a few cuts, I don’t expect they will cut to the final roster since they will still have several more days of practice in Sweden and a final pre-season game in Finland on October 2nd before the season starts in Stockholm on October 4th.  I expect that the Penguins coaching staff will keep their options open and guard against any late injuries while on the road overseas.  Therefore, I expect at least 1 or 2 extra forwards and defensemen to make the trip to Sweden.

The Penguins return to Mellon Arena on Wednesday night to host the Toronto Maple Leafs.  The roster for the game has not yet been released.  The game will be aired nationally on TSN.

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Penguins Beat Lightning 3-2 in Penalty Filled Matchup

Despite being outshot 39-24, the Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender duo of Dany Sabourin and John Curry stopped all but 2-shots to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-2 on Monday night.  In what could have been billed as a battle of mostly third-line players, there were 5-fighting majors, a boarding major, 3-game misconducts for a total of 101-minutes in penalties.  The Penguins beat the Lightning on goals by Kris Letang, Max Talbot and Tyler Kennedy.  Kris Letang contirbuted with 2-points (1G, 1A), as did Alex Goligoski (2A).  Letang and Goligoski played very well with good chemistry together. 

The Lightning struck early as Jussi Jokinen scored the first goal of the game on their first shot just 46 seconds in on a feed by Evgeny Artyukhin, beating Dany Sabourin.  The early goal spurred some much anticipated emotion amongst the largely rookie lineups and ultimately resulted in a fight between Zenon Konopka and Aaron Boogard at 2:06.  The Penguins subsequently failed to convert on two power play opportunities as Evgeny Artyukhin took back-to-back penalties at 4:16 and 7:09.  However, as they say, the third time is a charm.  At 14:36, with Paul Szczechura in the box for tripping, Kris Letang tipped in a shot by Alex Goligoski to tie it up 1-1.  The Penguins failed to convert on another power play opportunity late in the 1st as Ryan Malone sat for a high stick.  But at 18:!9, Max Talbot put the Penguins ahead 2-1 on a nifty even-strength backhander that beat the Lightning’s Olie Kolzig.  Ruslan Fedotenko and William Thomas picked up the assists.  Less than a minute later, Zenon Konopka continued his quest for a fighting hat trick by taking on Danny Richmond.  A total of 30-minutes in penalty time was called in the period, including 20-minutes in fighting majors.  The Penguins were 1-for-3 on the power play, and 1-for-1 on the penalty kill.  Despite the extra man advantage opportunities, the Penguins were outshot 15-9. 

In the 2nd period, the Lightning found the back of the net at 2:56 as former Penguins Michel Ouellet let a wrister go that beat Dany Sabourin.  Dana Tyrell and Ty Wishart got the assists.  With 10:15 left to go in the period, Coach Therrien swapped goalies and put John Curry in net.  At 14:32, David Koci and Paul Bissonnette squared off and each picked up a fighting major.  At 16:59, Ruslan Fedotenko was given a 5-minute major for boarding Janne Niskala.  The Penguins went 0-for-1 on the power play and were 2-for-2 on the penalty kill, including the 5-minute major to Fedotenko.  The Penguins were again seriously outshot by 17-6.   

At 4:12 of the 3rd period, the referees got to doll out the penalties as David Koci slashed Paul Bissonnette and all hell broke lose.  Koci and Bissonnette quickly squared off, while Zenon Konopka was eager to get his fighting hat trick by squaring off with Adam Henrich.  When the dust settled, all four players picked up 5-minute majors for fighting.  Additionally Koci and Bissonnette each got a 10-minute game misconduct.  Zenon Konopka also picked up a mandatory game misconduct for his third fighting major of the game.  In all, 52-minutes in penalties were handed out at this stoppage in play to 4-players.  When play finally resumed, it only took the Penguins 42 seconds to convert the emotion into a goal as Tyler Kennedy beat Kolzig with a wrister from Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski.  The teams finished the period with 5-shots aside. 

• NHL Official Game Summary
• NHL Official Rosters
• NHL Official Event Summary
• NHL Official Play-by-Play
• HockeyFights.com Fight Log
• PENS PODCAST:  Phil Bourque Interviews Ryan Malone
• PENS PODCAST:  Phil Bourque 1st Intermission Report
• PENS PODCAST:  Phil Bourque 2nd Intermission Report
• PENS PODCAST:  Phil Bourque Post-Game Wrap

The Penguins return home to Pittsburgh where they will face off against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night.  It was reported by Phil Bourque that there will likely be a big cut in the Penguins’ training camp roster announced sometime on Tuesday.  In other news, Sergei Gonchar is expected to get an MRI this week to further evaluate the shoulder injury he received in Saturday night’s pre-season opener.

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Penguins Announce Monday Night Lineup

The Pittsburgh Penguins continue their pre-season play on Monday night as they play Game #2 against the Lightning in Tampa Bay.  While the Pens played most of their A-List talent in Saturday night’s loss to the Lightning, they will field a much different team for Monday night’s game.  Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Miroslav Satan, Jordan Staal, Petr Sykora, Brooks Orpik, Darryl Sydor, and Marc-Andre Fleury will all get the night off while more Penguins’ prospects will get an opportunity to impress the hockey staff.

Winger Ruslan Fedotenko will make his debut as a Penguin on Monday night.  Joining him on the ice will be forwards Janne Pesonen, Ryan Stone, Paul Bissonnette, Max Talbot, Jeff Taffe, Kris Beech, Adam Heinrich, Bill Thomas, Tyler Kennedy, Eric Godard, and Aaron Boogard.  On defense, the Penguins will bring Mark Eaton, Hal Gill, Danny Richmond, Kris Letang, Deryk Engelland and Alex Goligoski.  Dany Sabourin and John Curry will be the goaltending duo.

The lines have not been announced and one hardly knows what Michel Therrien might do, but based on skill sets and training camp pairings I would expect something like the following:

1. Fedotenko – Talbot – Kennedy
2. Stone – Taffe – Pesonen
3. Heinrich – Beech – Godard
4. Bissonnette – Thomas – Boogard

With the defensive pairings possibly as follows:

1. Eaton – Letang
2. Richmond – Goligoski
3. Engelland – Gill

The Lightning Insider is reporting Tampa Bay’s planned roster for Monday night’s game.  It includes forwards Ryan Malone, Steven Stamkos, Radim Vrbata, Vaclav Prospal, Jussi Jokinen, Evgeny Artyukhin. David Koci, Zenon Konopka, Jason Ward, Dana Tyrell, Paul Szczechura and Michel Ouellet.  On defense, the Lightning will play Shane O’Brien, Mike Lundin, Adrej Meszaros, Ty Wishart, Janne Niskala, and Matt Carle.  Coach Melrose plans to play Olaf Kolzig in net with Riku Helenius as backup, as he rotates each of his goalies through 2 full pre-season games. 

After Monday night’s game against the Lightning, the Penguins will return to Mellon Arena to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night.

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Penguins Lose Pre-Season Opener in Shootout

The Pittsburgh Penguins battled back from a 3-1 defecit, but ultimately lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in a shootout when #1 draft pick Steven Stamkos scored the deciding goal on Saturday night.  The Lightning, under new head coach and former ESPN color analyst Barry Melrose, sat many of its veterans for the pre-season opener, including Vinny Lecavalier and Martin St Louis.  Also missing from the lineup were former Penguins’ Ryan Malone, Gary Roberts, Mark Recchi, and Adam Hall.   Pittsburgh played many of its young stars, to include Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal and Marc-Andre Fleury.  They also played newcomer Miroslav Satan, but sat Ruslan Fedotenko in favor of Janne Pesonen who picked up an assist.

The game started with Jordan Staal netting a quick goal just 51 seconds into the first period.  Staal’s goal was assisted by Evgeni Malkin and rookie defesneman Ben Lovejoy.  It was the only goal of the first period as Marc-Andre Fleury turned aside all 10 of the Lightning shots.  The Penguins put up 9-shots.  Defensemen Sergei Gonchar left the game in the first and didn’t return after being hit by 6′6″ heavyweight David Koci.  Gonchar will be evaluated today, but reportedly suffered a shoulder injury.  In response, Eric Godard took Koci’s number and squared off with him in the games’ first fight of the night at 11:54, sending both to the box for 5-minutes (Georges Laraque take note, wherever you are). 

In the second, Marc-Andre Fleury and the Penguins gave up 3-straight goals to the Lightning as Janne Niskala, Wyatt Smith, and Brandon Bochenski all converted at even strength in a span of just under 5-minutes.  The Penguins finally hit back late in the second as Petr Sykora notched a 5-on-3 power play goal at 15:18 to draw within 1.  Miroslav Satan and Jordan Staal picked up the assists.  Ryan Stone stepped into a fight early in the period, but was outmatched against the heavier Zenon Konopka.  After a slow start to the period, the Penguins finished by outscoring the Lightning 12-9. 

In the 3rd period, it was Petr Sykora striking on the power play again as he notched his 2nd of the night at 10:11 during 5-on-4 play.  Janne Pesonen and Alex Goligoski were credited with the assists on the play.  At 12:51, Kris Beach was given a 5-minute major and a game misconduct penalty for boarding, setting up an extended short-handed situation for the Penguins.  However at 17:07, Sidney Crosby notched the go-ahead goal with an unassisted, short-hander.  Unfortunately, with just over a minute to go, Brandon Bochenski scored his second of the night to tie it back up.  Shots were 9-8 Tampa. 

After a scoreless overtime period, the game went to the shootout.  Jussi Jokinen and  Steven Stamkos both converted on the shootout, while Miroslave Satan and Evgeni Malkin were thwarted to give the Lightning the win. 

 

• NHL Official Game Summary
• NHL Official Game Rosters 
• VIDEO:  Janne Pesonen Interview
• VIDEO:  Sidney Crosby Interview
• VIDEO:  Coach Therrien 

The Penguins match up against the Lightning again on Monday night in Tampa Bay.

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Training Camp Opens Next Week!

Let’s Go Penguins!  The long and winding road to the 2009 Stanley Cup begins on 16 September as the Pittsburgh Penguins assemble for Training Camp and then head into the pre-season.  In their first official meeting of the new season, the players will spend next Tuesday going through a spate of physicals, testing and meetings at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) facility on the South Side.  On Wednesday, 17 September, the players will assemble at Mellon Arena at 9AM for their first on-ice practice session.  They will continue to meet daily at Mellon Arena from 9AM-1PM through Friday, 19 September, before heading into 5 pre-season games.  All practice sessions will be open to the public and free of charge, with entry through Gate #1 opening at 8:45 AM.                

The Penguins will play their first preseason game at Mellon Arena against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, 20 September, before traveling to Tampa Bay on 22 September for their second game.  The Penguins then return to host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday, 24 September, before traveling to Toronto on Friday, 26 September.  The final preseason game will be an exhibition game against Finnish Club Jokerit on 2 October in Helsinki, Finland.  The overseas trip sets up their first two games of the season against the Ottawa Senators which will be played in Stockholm, Sweden, on 4 and 5 October.  The Penguins then return back to Mellon Arena for their home opener on Saturday, 11 October, against the New Jersey Devils.

Penguins 2008-09 Training Camp Schedule

Tuesday, Sept. 16

• 8-11am medicals, testing & photos
• 1:30-3:30pm ice available @ Mellon Arena (optional)

Wednesday, Sept. 17

• 9:00-10:00am practice group A
• 10:15-11:15am scrimmage – A vs. B
• 11:30am off-ice training – group A
• 11:30-12:30pm practice group B
• 12:45pm off-ice training – group B

Thursday, Sept. 18

• 9:00-10:00am practice group B
• 10:15-11:15am scrimmage – A vs. B
• 11:30am off-ice training – group B
• 11:30-12:30pm practice group A
• 12:45pm off-ice training – group A

Friday, Sept. 19

• 9:00-10:00am practice group A
• 10:15-11:15am scrimmage – A vs. B
• 11:30am off-ice training – group A
• 11:30-12:45pm practice group B
• 12:45pm off-ice training – group B

Saturday, Sept. 20

• 9:00-10:00am practice extras
• 10:30-11:15am practice game group
• 10:30am extras off ice workout
• 7:30pm vs. TAMPA BAY

Sunday, Sept. 21

• 9:00-10:00am group A practice
• 11:00am group B practice

Monday, Sept. 22

• 11:30am Practice (at Tampa)
• 7:00pm game @ TAMPA BAY
• 10:30am Practice (at Mellon Arena)

Tuesday, Sept. 23

• 12:00pm Practice

Wednesday, Sept. 24

• 10:30am practice
• 7:30pm game vs. TORONTO

Thursday, Sept. 25

• 12:00pm practice

Friday, Sept. 26

• 10:30am practice (@ Southpointe)
• 7:30pm game @ TORONTO

Saturday, Sept. 27

• 12:00pm practice

Penguins 2008-09 Pre-Season Schedule

• Saturday, Sept. 20th vs. Tampa Bay 7:30 PM
• Monday, Sept. 22nd at Tampa Bay 7:00 PM
• Wednesday, Sept. 24th vs. Toronto 7:30 PM
• Friday, Sept. 26th at Toronto 7:30 PM
• Thursday, Oct. 2nd at Jokerit (Finland) 6:30 PM

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