Tag Archive: Sergei Gonchar

The First Baker’s Dozen

The first thirteen games reveal the Pittsburgh Penguins sitting on top of the Eastern Conference and the League (8-3-2, 18 points) after a grueling opening schedule without Sidney Crosby and a still somewhat fragile Evgeni Malkin, but there is no panic in this team. They’ve been down this road many times before, and if anything can…

“March” of the Penguins

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Diligent, focused, tenacious, unrelenting, undaunted, inexplicable…such are the words among many more that describe this season’s Pittsburgh Penguins. If anyone had told anyone at the beginning of this season that Jordan Staal would miss nearly all the first half of it, that Sidney Crosby would be out of it after Christmas and that Evgeni Malkin…

Penguins Conquer Challenge of Losing Gonchar

The biggest question for the Pittsburgh Penguins coming into the 2010/11 season was how the changes in their defensive ranks would affect the team.  Most notably, how would the team recover from the loss of Sergei Gonchar?  Not just a scoring threat on the blueline for the Penguins, the veteran Gonchar was the team’s smooth skating…

Pens Beat Habs in Game 1, but Lose Staal to Lacerated Tendon

The Pittsburgh Penguins showed no fear of Montreal’s red hot goaltender Jaroslav Halak, as they put 5-goals past him in a 6-3 win in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals.  The Penguins’ success in Game 1 was due to their explosive power play that went a perfect four-for-four on goals by Sergei Gonchar, Jordan…

Man “Dis-”advantage?

  During the holiday season, how could anyone look little Virginia in the eye and say, “Yes, there is a Santa Claus” when all we really, really, really wanted for Christmas was a power play, and he didn’t deliver? I don’t know about anyone else, but I wanted it just as badly as that bespectacled…

New Year’s Retrospective

With the Olympics-altered 2009/10 season already half over, I thought it would be interesting to take a look back and see where the Penguins stand on this New Year’s Day as compared to last.  Just like the stock market, past performance is no gaurantee of future returns…but it still helps provide some context on how…

Turn the Page

Nearly halfway into the season, the Pittsburgh Penguins have managed to do what has historically been difficult for a team coming off from a Stanley Cup win…turn the page.  With the summer parade and hometown Cup celebrations with friends, families, and mentors behind them, the Penguins have quickly regrouped to start the new season focused…

Keys to Losing

At a time when the Pittsburgh Penguins were off to a red hot start, hovering at the top of the league with only three losses in their first 14 games, some might wonder critically why the focus here would be on losing. The answer is no more evident than in the back-to-back losses over the…

Fleury of Wins Continue Against Lightning

The Pittsburgh Penguins improved their record to 7-1-0 on Saturday night as they beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 at Mellon Arena.  The early season  success of the Penguins has been bolstered by the excellent play of Marc-Andre Fleury, who remains unbeaten at 7-0 in what is his career best start to date.  Fleury’s league…

Opening Salvos

The Pittsburgh Penguins opened their 2009-10 season with their first back-to-back set of games, and their double-dose of New York opponents were chomping at the bit to get at the Kings of the Hill. A home-opener of cosmic proportions ensued with the raising of the Stanley Cup banner for the last time in the Igloo. It…