SLBD

People who read SLBD with any form of regularity know that over the weekend of February 6th/7th 2010 there was no game call, pregame or post game analysis on SLBD.  This was done out of a personal need to feel what it was like to not have the pressing concerns of the blog, research, writing and setup going on surroudning a hockey game. I needed to remember what is was like just to plop down and watch a game.

It had a resounding positive impact in my personal/home life.  So to that end SLBD will be shutting its doors.  From the start my passion for the Penguins and hockey have driven me to be on top of information regarding my beloved team and to deliver it to a small porition of the Penguins fan base.  My desire to make sure people who were cut out of radio or television coverage drove me to call the games on Twitter.

What I wasn’t seeing is the negative impact that this was having on myself, my (actual) work, my wife, children and friends.  No offense to anyone who comes here to read but all of those things are more important that writing and maintaining SLBD.

The feedburner accounts and Y! Pipes that drive the hub of information around here will be purged.  There is no need to continue to draw on feeds that will no longer be in use.  This will occur throughout the day Monday February 8th.  The Twitter accounts associated with auto tweets will go dormant and be deleted over the next month.  The @SLBD2, @SLBD_InGame, and @SLBD_PensNews accounts will also be eliminated.  My primary Twitter account has already been changed to @Ozman_51

I just want to be a fan again, with my friends and family.  Writing and maintaining SLBD had become what some of the people around me deemed a “second job”.  I’m already busy enough with one.

If you have any questions or concerns, please get in touch with me using the contact form.

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As if the Atlantic needed more firepower: Ilya Kovalchuk traded to Devils

It was confirmed Thursday that the Devils have acquired the former Atlanta captain, an impending free agent. The Thrashers will receive defenseman Johnny Oduya, rookie forward Niclas Bergfors, junior [OHL season suspended] prospect Patrice Cormier and New Jersey’s first-round pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.

Defenseman Anssi Salmela, traded by the Devils to the Thrashers last March for Niclas Havelid, will return to New Jersey as part of the deal. The teams will also flip second-round picks.

What strikes out at me is that Atlanta in the end got decent long term value for what will be a rental for the Devils.  I still think any team willing to part with core assets and draft picks for 25 games plus the playoffs is insane.  Regardless the Atlantic just got a whole lot tougher for the Penguins who will now have to contend with the trap and a deal with the combination of Patrick Elias, Kovalchuk, and David Clarkson.

The only place this could have been worse for the Penguins was if he had gone to the Flyers or Capitals.  On the bright side at least it is over so we can talk about something else until the Devil’s are second guessed after not winning a cup on draft day.

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The Nation Weather Service is forecasting a major snow event for this weekend in the Washington D.C. area.  After Pittsburgh’s game at Montreal this Saturday the Penguins were scheduled to fly into D.C. for the early Sunday NBC matchup with the Capitals.  If the weather turns bad those plans may have to change.

@capsblog: The #Penguins might have 2 fly 2 #Philadelphia from #Montreal on Saturday PM due 2 #DC snowstorm. From thr they wld bus 2 DC.

This is already the shortest turn around on back to back game of the season for the Penguins.  A long bus ride from Philly to the Nation’s Capital would only further fatigue a team who will play two games in less than 24 hours.

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From Empty Netters:

According to Kevin Allen of USA Today, Ducks defenseman and former Penguin Ryan Whitney and Hurricanes defenseman Tim Gleason will replaced injured blueliners Mike Komisarek (shoulder) of Toronto and Paul Martin (arm) of New Jersey on the United States’ Olympic roster.

So that kills the rumors of Alex Goligoski taking one of those spots.  Also shafted?  Rob Scuderi.

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The Penguins held their off-day practice that saw every player on the ice except Eric Godard who is on IR until after the Olympic break.  Unfortunately Max Talbot left after 15 minutes.  Maybe its time to put Max on the IR and get him healed up for a playoff run.

Chris Kunitz took the full practice and in pseudo-confirmation of yesterday’s reports that we was cleared to play, Head Coach Dan Bylsma had the following to say:

“Kunitz is doing well. We keep pushing him and going forward. He’s getting close. We are hopeful that he could possibly play over the weekend. So we will see on that.”

The Penguins also confirmed in the practice report that Jay McKee was not a healthy scratch Monday night against Buffalo and he is dealing with a minor, yet undisclosed, injury.

The final piece of note is that Jordan Staal continued to practice as the 2nd line centerman with Evgeni Malkin on his left wing.  Various players rotated into the other wing position throughout practice.

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From The Insider On Pittsburgh Sports:

Pittsburgh Penguins winger Chris Kunitz (abdominal) has been cleared to return to the lineup Saturday night against Montreal.

Kunitz’s return is expected to along side Sidney Crosby.  Pascal Dupuis will slide back down in the depth chart and one of either Nick Johnson or Mark Letestu is probably not coming back Saturday after their reassignment to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton earlier Tuesday.

Unknown is what effect, if any, this will have on the recent pairing of Jordan Staal and Evgeni Malkin on the 2nd line.

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For completeness sake from the Rangers:

New York Rangers President and General Manager Glen Sather announced today that the Rangers have acquired forwards Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust from the Calgary Flames, in exchange for forwards Christopher Higgins and Ales Kotalik.

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As of this morning we are 29 days away from the NHL trade deadline which is March 3rd at 3pm EST.  The Penguins have 25 games left on the schedule.  In just under 2 weeks the NHL will close its doors so that its players can take part in the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.  During those two weeks there will be a roster freeze in the league beginning Feb 12th which will make the first of March a very interesting day.

Much of the next 4 weeks will depend on the contact talks with Sergei Gonchar

Don’t doubt it, NHL GMs are not going on vacation, neither are the coaching staffs.  They will be hard at work trying to force a buyer into a seller across a league that has 26 of 30 teams still in legitimate contention for a playoff spot.  Now over the next two weeks leading into the games it is possible that 2-4 more teams will fall off, but don’t count on it.  The only clubs that are for sure sellers (or should be) now are the Toronto Maple Leafs, Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Edmonton Oilers.  Two of those teams have players that the Penguins should have legitimate interest in.  From the Leafs Ray Shero should be giving a serious look to Alexi Ponikarovsky and from the Canes Ray Whitney should be getting at least mild consideration to go on either Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin’s wing.  Ponikarovsky makes more sense as a long term piece.  He speaks Russian and can fill that companion hole that could be left open by a failure to sign Sergei Gonchar, who is reportedly seeking a 3 year deal.

There have been rumors that the Penguins might also be looking at RJ Umberger out of Columbus.  He carries a $19,430 daily cap hit on his $3,750,000 salary. He’s under contract until the end of the 2011-12 season but I don’t think Shero makes that move and presses the Penguins nose up against the salary cap unless he can unload Mark Eaton’s $10,363/day in return.  Still after this season acquiring Umberger would leave us little room to resign Kris Letang who is a RFA after this year.

Ponikarovsky could be the answer on Malkin's wing, if he could be signed reasonably after this year.

Believe it or not the Penguins must go bargain shopping at winger because defense must be the focus at the end of the year.  Only Brooks Orpik and Alex Goligoski are on the blueline books for next year.  Right now the loss of Eaton, Gonchar, Letang, Jay McKee and Martin Skoula would only free up $9,210,000 in cap space to go with the $402,025 that exists now.  That a grand total of $9,612,025 free on defense.   The hope is that Sarge will sign for something more reasonable, but no one really knows where those talks are.  Also of note from The Confluence is that the Ducks put Dman Nick Boynton on waivers yesterday and assuming no one in front of Shero has interest Skoula may have played his last game in a Pens uniform Monday night.

With four defensemen to sign there is no way the Penguins take on Umberger’s salary.  Ponikarovsky poses an equally perplexing problem at $2,105,000 and is UFA at the end of the season.  Shero goes there if he senses Sarge will be gone. The reason Whitney makes more sense than Umberger is because he is UFA at the end of this year and the Penguins wouldn’t have to worry about dealing with a $3.335mil Cap hit next season.  Whitney would be a rental unless he was willing to stay put for a bargain price.

On the forward side only Bill Guerin, Ruslan Fedotenko, and Matt Cooke have no deal for next year.  Include their salaries and the Penguins have a grand total of $14,982,962 of cap space based on this year’s total.  The Salary Cap is expected to move slightly but not so much as to totally invalidate that figure.  The lynch pin in all of it is Gonchar.  If he signs before the deadline is sets things in one direction.  If he doesn’t Shero will have to make some moves assuming he won’t be here.

Umberger's contract is too much of a long term weight and he used to be a Flyer.

Also don’t forget that Brent Johnson is currently here on a 1 year flyer.  There is no backup signed for next year which is how Shero usually runs it.  I don’t think John Curry is ready.  It’s not the Vancouver collapse.  It’s how he responded to it back in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton after his return.  After being sent back down Curry was yanked two more times back to back as he admittedly had a hard time bouncing back.  Having a hard time bouncing back against AHL level competition is not what makes a NHL goalie.  Beej is making $525,000 this year.  That’s a steal.  He has played well enough to contend for a starting job elsewhere if he wants to.

Beyond potential Trade Deadline deals Pittsburgh still has those 25 regular season games.  12 of them are on back to back nights.  Thats the bad news.  The good news is that looking at the opponents 2009-10 performance its not that tough of a sled.  On the Forecheck did a great breakdown of Strength of Schedule based on oppositions point percentage yesterday (among other factors) and going into last night’s game against the Sabres Pittsburgh has the 8th easiest remaining schedule with rest of their opponents grabbing .553 of available points.

Pittsburgh has 13 home games and 12 road games left.  Their last great road trip is March 11th through the 18th when they will play 5 road games in 8 days.  All of those games are on the east coast but two are against New Jersey who the Penguins have failed to solve this year.  The Caps are there 3 more times but so is Carolina twice, The Rangers twice, The Islanders three times, Atlanta twice in April, and Toronto once.  That’s 13 of the 25 right there.

The Penguins are in good position for the end of this year.  The are now 1 point behind New Jersey for the Atlantic and tied at 71 points with the Northeast leading Sabres.  The Devils do have 3 games in hand on us so those games in March are going to be critical.  Pittsburgh is on pace to put up 102 points which easily puts them into the playoffs.

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After going down 3-1 Sidney Crosby’s 2nd Period Hattrick powers the Penguins back who hold on to the 5-4 win.  The Penguins move into a points tie with Buffalo for 3rd in the East at 71.  It was a great reversal of the 12/29 Buffalo comeback. Crosby now leads the league in goals at 37.

Jay McKee was a late scratch and as such Martin Skoula skated in his place.  Despite the pregame confirmation from the Penguins that Brent Johnson would go, Marc-Andre Fleury got the nod tonight which makes sense heading into this weekend playing 2 games in under 24 hours.  The Pens put the pedal down quickly 47 seconds in a Mark Letestu put home a pass from Tyler Kennedy on a 3 on 1 that developed on Pittsburgh’s second rush. Kris Letang with the secondary assist.

Nick Johnson would go to the box for holding on a Paul Gaustad dive.  Immediately off of that Jordan Staal would get a shorthanded 2 on 1 with Matt Cooke but fail to score.  Derek Roy would put in a Powerplay goal with 2 seconds left in that advantage from Drew Stafford and Steve Montador with 14:28 to play in the frame.  Sergei Gonchar was terribly out of position on the play and Flower made a bad read or lost the puck in feet.  Way to soft of a goal.

Buffalo would come right back 48 seconds later and get another one from Thomas Vanek.  It was a bad neutral ice turnover that Buffalo just transition really well off of.  Sloppy care of the puck from the Penguins burned them.  Roy and Henrik Tallinder with the assists.  2-1 Sabres.  The Penguins yet again score in the first five minutes ans seemed to exhale and the got stomped on quickly.

Pittsburgh would not find good defense the rest of the period.  They would have to kill an Interference call on Ruslan Fedotenko around the mid point when Stafford and Vanek broke on a 2 on 1.  The Penguins offensive transition continued to rely on the up pass to the center red line and invariably when it was not there Buffalo countered right back to offense.  Ryan Miller was vulnerable all period leaving big rebounds that Pittsburgh just could not get back on net.  TK and Staal both had strong periods.  Of note was that Staal for the second straight game was centering the 2nd line with Evgeni Malkin on his win and Letestu was in between TK and Cookie on the 3.  Geno also seemed to have trouble handling the puck.  Much of the team did and it showed in their inability to sustain offense.

The 2nd period would belong to Sidney Crosby who put in his 3rd hattie of the season

First of all there were Twitter problems to start the frame for the first 5 minutes, so my apologies for the delay in updates during the opening few.  Hope would sink quickly after Bill Guerin went to the box 5 minutes in.  The Pens would kill it but Tim Kennedy would score on a nice tic-tac-toe play from Mike Grier and Clarke MacArthur immediately following the kill. 3-1

Buffalo finally took their first call at the 10 minute mark and Sidney Crosby made them pay on a bad angle shot following an Alex Goligoski fake shoot to pass on the Powerplay.  Geno extended his points streak to 8 with the other assist and there was life 3-2 after looking lethargic for the first 8 minutes.

Miller would give up a very leaky goal four minutes later as Geno and Jordan drove the zone.  Staal got out of his slump on the goal, his first in 13 games, and made it 3-3 with about 6 minutes to go.  Pascal Dupuis would get the other assist.  The Penguins weren’t done.  With 2:30 to go on a bad play between Calder candidate Tyler Myers and Miller, Crosby put in a wacky goal to make it even.  It came off of Miller’s right side and Sid just slid it by Miller.  Pens up 4-3.  No assists on the play.

Crosby would complete the in-period bag hattrick on a wicked drive to the net to the net.  He had Letang with him but was shooting the whole way and blew it by Miller.  Yes it was yet another giveaway night at the igloo.  Miller would stay in net and the period would end with that score.  Crosby’s 3rd hattie on the season.  The Penguins just completed a comeback on the Sabres very similar to what they did to us up 3-0 on December 29th.  Pens go to the locker room up 2 with the 5-3 lead.    Four unanswered for the Penguins.

Staal got his 1st in 13 games. Good to see him off the schnied.

Ryan Miller would try to sneak in a trip on Sid right in the crease in the first two minutes and get nailed for it, but the Pens wouldn’t do anything with the PP.  Play would be back and forth for almost the entire period with the Penguins playing decent defensive hockey and the Sabres taking some chances trying to force the offense.  Things really wouldn’t pick back up until late.

Sergei Gonchar took an obvious trip with 3;33 to go.  Jason Pominville would score from Tim Connolly and Vanek when the Pens thought the had it cleared and were headed to the bench.  Vanek fed Pominville for the one timer and all of the sudden it got really interesting with 3 minutes to play.  In a classic case of the referees wanted to make it exciting they called a phantom holding call on Brooks Orpik just under a minute later.  There was NOTHING there.  Orpik was pushing off with his free hand but never held, it wasn’t even close.  It effectively put the Sabres on the PP for the rest of the game.

The Penguins would be up to it despite tremendous pressure from the Sabres.  Fleury stood tall and made 3 game savers in the final 90 seconds.  Pens win 5-4 in a comeback on Sid’s hattrick.

• Stall breaks 13 goal drought
• Malkin on 8 game point streak
• Crosby’s 3rd hattie of the season but still looking for assist 300
• Geno or Sid have figured in on 21 of last 22 Pens goals.
• Stars:  3.) Vanek 2.) Letang 1.) Crosby
• Pens now tied with Buffalo at 71 points but the Sabres have 3 games in hand.
• Crosby now has the NHL lead in goals with 37, tied with Patrick Marleau

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To their credit, WBRE 28 Scranton, just responded to me regarding a phone call I had placed to them about the premption of the Penguins/Red Wings game yesterday.  Randy Williams, the Station Manager took the time to get back in touch with me personally which was very surprising.

The conversation entailed a few core speficics:

1. WBRE was contractually obligated to show 3 hours of the 700 Club’s Telethon per their agreement with CBN.
2. That Telethon always takes place the Sunday before the Superbowl.
3. WBRE chose to show it during the game instead of at 3pm EST out of concern that the Penguins Game would go to OT, which it did.
4. WBRE was able to show the final 12 minutes of the game including the shootout which in Mr. Williams opinion was the correct decision instead of starting Telethon coverage at 3pm.
5. If given the same set of circumstances, WBRE would make the same call.
6. WBRE was not happy about having to preempt the hockey game, it was an unfortunate set of circumstances.

Its not often that a station manager takes the time to get back to everyone who asked.  Mr. Williams said that he had received over 100 phone calls and 40+ emails on the matter.  I give him a lot of credit for having the courage to call me back and to make sure he contacts every single fan who was not happy with the station’s decision.  He could have easily heard my out of Pennsylvania area code and ignored me.

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Pittsburgh hosts the Buffalo Sabres for the first time this season tonight at Mellon Arena at 7p EST  in the last game this week until Saturday afternoon.  The Penguins are coming off of a 2-1 shootout win over west rival Detroit in Sunday’s NBC Game of the Week.

The Pens will have to solve Miller quickly again and avoid a collapse similar to December 29th.

Buffalo has maintained its lead in the Eastern Conference over Pittsburgh for the better part of a month and sits 32-14-7 and 14-9-2 on the road.  However a win tonight could knot it up at 71 points a piece. They have won their last two games and 2 straight.  Buffalo can be seen as the catalyst for the past 6 weeks of up and down play by the Penguins who stumbled on December 29th and lost a 3-0 lead to the Sabres after lighting up Ryan Miller early.  What followed was a losing streak that had many people question the team’s long term ability to win.  The Penguins are still struggling to put together strings of consecutive wins since that collapse.

Tim Connolly (13G 36A) leads a balanced offensive that includes Jason Pominville (14G 23A) Derek Roy (11G 26A), Thomas Vanek (16G 17A) and rookie phenom Tyler Myers (7G 24A).  The Sabres are surprisingly 11th in the NHL with 2.76 goals scored per game and are even better with a 2.30 team GAA.  Their special teams are also very good with a 13th ranked Powerplay at 18.3% and the league’s second best Penalty Kill at 87.2%.  It shouldn’t struggle much against the sputtering 27th ranked pens PP.  Connolly had a 16 game point streak broken in the Sabres last game.  Vanek has 10 points in his last 11 games.

Despite his prior yanking and Patrick Lalime’s two solid performances against the Penguins this year, Ryan Miller is the probable starter for Buffalo.  Miller is rolling into the Olympics as the Team USA #1 with a 2.03 GAA and .935 Sv%.  Miller has stopped 69 of 71 in his last two wins.   Buffalo has no one on the IR.  The Sabres are also well rested.  Their last game was Friday, January 29th against Boston.

Sid and Geno have the team on their backs right now. Time to give them some support.

Pittsburgh will presumably be without the services of Max Talbot who continues to struggle with what is now being called a groin injury.  Mark Letestu and Nick Johnson are up from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to cover for Max, Eric Godard and Chris Kunitz who is described to be 1-2 weeks away after abdominal surgery.

Sidney Crosby has 19 points in his last 12 games and Evgeni Malkin is on a seven game point streak.  The worrisome thing is that either Sid or Geno has figured in on the last 17 Penguins goals.  We need to get some support without having one of those two on the ice.  Jordan Staal, while continuing his great defensive play, has gone goalless in 11. Maybe that is why Dan Bylsma moved him to center the 2nd line with Geno on his wing while Letestu was on Sesame Street all day yesterday with Matt Cooke and Tyler Kennedy.  Jordan also struggled in the FO Circle yesterday winning only 3 of 17 draws.  As a team Pittsburgh won only 33%.

Marc-Andre Fleury got the nod yesterday against Detroit and is listed as a probable starter in a few places but I think that Brent Johnson goes in the pipes for the Pens for the 2nd of back to back games.  The only thing that might make me wrong is the fact that Pittsburgh doesn’t play again until Saturday which would give Flower plenty of rest if he does go tonight.

Brent Johnson is the confirmed starter tonight.  Additionally the Penguins practice today was indeed optional.  Forwards Craig Adams, Mike Rupp, Chris Kunitz, Mark Letestu, Tyler Kennedy and Nick Johnson, defensemen Jay McKee, Alex Goligoski, Martin Skoula and Kris Letang and goaltender Brent Johnson all participated.  The Pens wear the blue death tonight.

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In case you missed NBC’s 20 seconds on it the Toronto Maple Leafs made two different moves today.

The Maple Leafs have obtained defenceman Dion Phaneuf, forward Fredrik Sjostrom, and defenceman Keith Aulie from Calgary in exchange for forwards Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman, Jamal Mayers and defenceman Ian White.

The Maple Leafs have also acquired goaltender J.S. Giguere from the Anaheim Ducks in return for goaltender Vesa Toskala and forward Jason Blake.

Nice to see cluetard Jason Blake head west.  Obviously Phaneuf and Giguere are the biggest pieces.  Everyone knew Giggy was going someplace when Jonas Hiller signed a 4 year deal with the Ducks yesterday.  Stunned anyone willingly traded for Toskala.  Apparently Brian Burke still thinks the Leafs are a contender.  Hagman has been a nemesis for Pittsburgh this year so good riddance.  I’m surprised Stajan is gone.

Nobody expected a ton of moves before the Olympics, more like right after the gold medals were awarded.  Burke says he is done making moves for now but there are rumors that Pittsburgh may be in discussion for Alexi Ponikarovsky.  That’s all rumor but it is a move a lot of people advocate.  More on it if anything develops.

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Jimmy Howard would steal a game for the Wings for 65 minutes but ultimately was bested in the Shootout as the Pens beat the Wings 2-1.  A fine defensive effort from Pittsburgh required all the extra time available to beat Howard and the Wings for the bonus point.

To begin this is not the only meeting between the two teams as I had stated in the pregame.  The Pens go to Detroit in March.  Mark Letestu, Nick Johnson, and Tyler Kennedy would play for Pittsburgh.  Max Talbot who was doubt did not lace them up.  Alex Goligoski was also back in action after missing a few in a row.

Staal still solid just struggled on scoring chances all day. Howard was on fire to his credit.

It was an fairly uneventful first frame with the Penguins getting two Powerplays and then failing to capitalize on either.  The first one 4 minutes in was atrocious.  Evgeni Malkin was playing on Jordan Staal’s wing for a good part of the first period.  Dan Bylsma said hetrying to give Geno a bigger body down low to open him up.  As the period closed Staal was playing with his more traditional linemates.

The Pens would have to kill a tripping call on Sergei Gonchar late and in the last minute of the stanza got a good really going around Jimmy Howard who was the only reason the Pens didn’t hit the locker room with the lead.  Marc-Andre Fleury was playing very aggressively all period stopping shots from 10-15 feet out in front of the net at times.  Scored tied at 0’s after one and the Pens had a huge shot advantage 16-6.  Defense played responsible but Pittsburgh struggled to generate a consistent forecheck.  Just felt like a playoff game with two teams feeling each other out for a good part of the period. 

Malkin started the period on Staal’s wing as the Penguins continued to get a lot of time on the Wings zone.  Just over six minutes in Staal was highsticked by Nicklas Lidstrom and has his nose cut back open along his scar line (and no call) and right after Brian Rafalski put on a diving clinic as he skated by Geno and drew a trip.  The Pens would kill it.    Mike Babcock was interviewed after the kill and told Pierre McGuire that his team was just getting dusted by the Pens speed and their D was getting exhausted.

Mark Eaton would get called for a hold with five and a half to go at the same time Kris Draper slewfooted Nick Johnson. Pittsburgh would kill it again and right after HCBD would load up and put Sid out with Geno.  A sweet tic-tac pass and then a wicked move from Sid crossing in front of Johnson off the post and in.  1-0 good guys.  Gogo with a bullet pass to Sid and Geno with the other assist.

Pierre McGuire would call all of the Penguins Wingers “mediocre” at intermission. The names of non-mediocre wingers:  Bill Guerin, Ruslan Fedotenko, Chris Kunitz.   Pittsburgh continued to dominate the shot department leading 29-11 after 2.  Flower played really well and the defense continued its responsible play.  1-0 going to the third period.

Pascal Dupuis started a tic-tac-toe play to Geno and across to Staal a minute in that would be a sign of frustration for Jordan in the remaining part of the game.  Staal would get a ton of good chances and hit cross bar of just miss.  90 seconds later Matt Cooke was rode into Howard and the Wings went to the Powerplay. Terrible call on Cooke.  Valtteri Filppula would have most of the net to look on the ensuing PP from a bad angle and shot it between the net and behind Fluery.  He’ll see that one in his sleep.

Jimmy Howard deserved his 2nd Star. He was the only reason Detriot got a point out of this game.

With 8:50 to go Brad Stuart would even it up on the first big defensive breakdown of the game.  Pittsburgh left him all alone at the point.  The goal was unassisted.  Staal would get another golden opportunity low on the left side of Howard and clang it off the crossbar.

The the officials took a powder.  As the Penguins started mounting pressure and totally outplaying the Wings, keeping the puck in the offensive zone for over two minutes the refs let an obvious boarding call, hook, and interference go by the boards.  It was glaringly obvious that they did not intend to flag the teams for anything the rest of the game.  Staal would get yet another great chance as the Pens just swarmed Howard.  In the end the Wings would send it to OT and get a point.  Jimmy Howard was the only reason.

Ninety seconds in Staal had a chance to put home another chance on a rebound from Kris Letang’s point shot.   Two minutes after that Pavel Datsyuk would get speed and take it to the neutral zone where Sergei Gonchar was the only man back.  Datsyuk would step past Sarge on the left side leaving him little choice but to get the blade up.  Gonchar would get nailed for hooking.  Was it a hook?  Definitely.  Given the lack of calls in the 3rd on Detroit is was ridiculous to see that get called with 1:21 in OT to play.  I’m not saying it wasn’t a valid penalty against Sarge.  I am just saying the referees were absolutely inconsistent if that is a call and the three big misses in the 3rd were not.    Pittsburgh would kill 1:12 of Red Wing PP time and send it to the shootout.

• Letang up 1st, over handled the puck and put it into Howard’s right pad.
• Datsyuk drives fast and puts it wide
• Sid handles quickly down to Howard’s left and roofs it 1-0
• Drew Miller tried to go to Flowers left and was stoned
• Geno very slowly brings it wide right then to the slot and waits for Howard to make a move.  He does and Geno softly works it around him in for the SO winner.

Pens win 2-1 in the Shootout.

• NBC affiliates preempted this game in several markets.  What a tragedy.  It had playoff level excitement
• Geno played as a winger a good amount of the Game for Staal.  It looked ok but I hope it is not a trend that continues
• Pens PP still inconsistent and went 0-3
• Penguins also let the Red Wings get to their game in the 3rd.  After only allowing 11 shots in the first two period Detroit got 10 in the 3rd.  need to close better.
• Big extra point for the Pens who are now 3 in front of the Senators for 4th in the East.
• 3 Stars: 1.) Crosby 2.) Howard 3.) Fleury
• Pens remain perfect in shootouts this year
• No report if Sid shook Lidstrom’s hand after the game.

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First big stick tap to Tony over at The Confluence for this find:

You’re gonna be out of luck if you were looking forward to watching the Stanley Cup Finals rematch between the Penguins and Red Wings and unlucky enough to live in one of several local television markets.  NBC will be pre-empting programming on Sunday afternoon in the following markets in order to broadcast Pat Robertson’s “700 Club Telethon”.  The markets are:

WAVY 10 Norfolk  – WBRE 28 Scranton – WDTN 2 Dayton – WVVA 6 Beckley-Bluefield – WSMV 4 Nashville – WVTM 13 Birmingham – KKCO 11 Grand Junction

Epic Fail NBC, this guy is a Grade-A douchebag. How much silver in your pockets?

Ok, so let me get this straight.  NBC or its affiliates have decided not to show the only rematch game of last year’s Cup finalists this year in order to show Pat Robertson.  The same pat Robertson who said this about Haiti:

“Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it…  They were under the heel of the French…and they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, ‘We will serve you if you’ll get us free from the French.’…  True story. And so the devil said, ‘OK, it’s a deal.’ They kicked the French out. The Haitians revolted and got themselves free. Ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other.”

Tribtron, Conan, and now taking hockey off so that guy can speak further idiocy.  What else can NBC do to be sure the only thing I ever watch on their network is televised  Penguins and Stanley Cup playoff games?   Yeah I’m already on a full boycott of the network from last year.

What is even more astonishing is some of the markets that are being pre-empted.  WBRE-28 is Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, home of the Penguins minor league affiliate.  WSMV-4 is the major NBC affiliate in the Predators market who are a division rival of the Red Wings.  It really makes no sense for those two markets to be on the list, at all.

Want to voice your opinion to NBC on this?

NBC: comment line 212-664-2333
NBC: 1-818-840-4444

Jeff Zucker 212-664-4444
jeff.zucker@nbcuni.com
President NBC Entertainment
c/o NBC-TV
3000 West Alameda Ave.
Burbank., CA 91523

Dick Ebersol
212-664-2014
dick.ebersol@nbcuni.com

Ken Schanzer
212-664-2014
ken.schanzer@nbcuni.com

WBRE 28 – Scranton:  (570) 961-2222

Station Manager
Gina Schreiber gschreiber@pahomepage.com

Program Director
Sue Kalinowski skalinowski@pahomepage.com

Operations/Production Director
Randy Williams rwilliams@pahomepage.com

WSMV 4 – Nashville:  (615) 353-4444‎ – Online Contact Form

Programming – programming@wsmv.com

WAVY 10 – Norfolk: (757) 393-1010-  Online Contact Form

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During Friday Nights Capitals/Panthers game Caps Dman and Team Canada reject Mike Green laid what might be the most viscous and blatant elbow this year on the Panther’s Michael Frolik.  Quickly today Green has been handed a 3-game suspension by the NHL and will forfeit $81,606.21 in pay.  Here is the elbow:

Caps head coach Bruce Boudreau had the following to say on the sanction for Green:

“I don’t know how to react anymore,” Washington coach Bruce Boudreau answered. “I’m very upset about it. But what can you do?… I better say nothing. I’m just livid about the whole thing.”

Anyone who wants to take the no prior offender route on this one is an idiot.  Its a blatant elbow.  There is no gray area here. No question on if this were a “hockey play“  3 Games is perfectly fine for this.  It wasn’t a hockey play of any kind.  Put a donut in your pie hole and shut it Bruce.  This is a hit where Green leads with the elbow intentionally.  There is no attempt to get it down and make contact with the shoulder.  None.

Patrice Comier did something similar to this in juniors recently and he won’t see a game the rest of the year in the OHL.

Dangerous and intentional hit deserving of the consequences.  You can see Green decide to bring the elbow up as he saw to opportunity to land it.  I have zero sympathy for players who intentionally lead with the elbow.  None.

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The last time these two met the Penguins raised their third Stanley Cup on Joe Louis Arena ice.  Max Talbot had two goals.  Things have changed for both teams in some big ways since then.  The Penguins host the Red Wings in their only regular season matchup.  Barring a threepeat of the finals we won’t see them again any time soon. The game is on (vom) NBC at 12:30 EST Sunday.

Another Afternoon of being treated like a hockey new comer by people who cover 12 games a year.

Detroit has had a roller coaster year that has seen them lose as many as nine starters to injury at the same time.  Their injury problems were/are worse than ours were in November and they are finally beginning to get some of their regular skaters back.  Couple that with a flat out goalie controversy in Motown.  Chris Osgood has struggled all year. He is 7-8-4 in 21 games played and has a 2.94 GAA to go with a .891 Sv%.  Jimmy Howard has stepped in for the Red Wings and is the bona fide starter on a nightly basis.  Howard is 19-11-5 with a 2.30 GAA and .925 Sv%.  Howard is the probable starter.

As for the remaining Red Wings many people have said Pavel Datsyuk has had a disappointing year with only 14G and 29 A.  That puts him out of the top 30 league wide.  The Red Wings are struggling to score goals across the board as many thought they would after losing Marian Hossa and Mikael Sameulsson and Jiri Hudler in the offseason.  Combine that with the injuries that have have hit team and you can see why they are struggling.  Henrik Zetterberg (46GP 13G 28A) is behind Datsyuk in team scoring and Captain Nicklas Lidstrom (54GP 6G 26A) had only scored one goal this year at the beginning of January.  Next on the scoresheet for Detroit are Todd Bertuzzi (15G 15A) and Dan Cleary (10G 14A).

The Wings are battling for the final playoff spot in a tough Western Conference with 61 points.  They are 3-4-3 in their last 10 and beat the Predators 4-2 on Thursday Night.  Johan Franzen, Tomas Holmstrom and Andreas Lilja are all on Injured Reserve for Detroit.    They are 24th in Goals allowed per game at 2.54 but have a team GAA of 2.59, good for 10th overall.  Detroit sit in 18th on the Powerplay (18.0%) and 17th on the PK at 80.8%.  With special teams struggling at both end the Wings cannot afford to play a lot of hockey that is not even strength.

Look for Sid to rebound after a typical poor showing against the Senators. Remember to shake hands.

For Pittsburgh I would tell you that Sidney Crosby tends to break out in games after playing the Senators who tend to stymie him.  Evgeni Malkin has kept his roll going and Ruslan Fedotenko is turning into an assist man.  The demotion of Chris Conner and Nick Johnson back to Wilke-Barre/Scranton either means they will be recalled later today in a salary cap move, or that both Tyler Kennedy and Bill Guerin’s problems are behind them.    Unknown is the status of Alex Goligoski who has missed two games with Martin Skoula replacing him .

Saturday’s practice revealed a few things.  Both Goligoski and Kennedy along with Guerin took part, but Talbot did not.   Head Coach Dan Bylsma said that

“We’re still day-to-day with a couple of players but they’re looking better…There’s a chance we could see a couple of guys tomorrow. Max was not out on the ice. We’re still evaluating where he’s at. This was our last skate before tomorrow’s game. He didn’t skate today and is questionable for tomorrow”

So given the news from practice I’d call Dad, TK, and GoGo probable and Talbot questionable.  It’s in the cards to see a late callup if things don’t go well this afternoon as there will be no further opportunity to evaluate anyone going into Sunday’s early morning faceoff.   Marc-Andre Fleury is the probable starter for the Penguins though there will likely be no confirmation on that until he takes the pipes Sunday.  Flower is still wearing that modified trapper due to his fractured ring finger.  In the loss to Ottawa you could see some chances to his style and tentativeness affecting his play.  lets hope those problems are resolved.  Lets also hope the defense decides to come and play more than the first 7 minutes.

Well there is at least one forward in doubt, likely Talbot, and possibly two.  The Penguins have recalled Nick Johnson and Mark Letestu from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.  Also NBC is pre-empting the game for the 700 Club in some markets.  Check that link for ways to contact NBC

Also of note is that Tenks lost the shootout competition at practice and this was mustache day.    More information as it becomes available.  Penguins news releases are now auto publishing on the main page to make SLBD more of a one stop shop.  Oh and Sid, make sure you go across, shake hands with Nick Lidstrom and show him your Stanley Cup ring.

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Malkin scored first but the the defense made travel plans and Pittsburgh drops one to the Senators 4-1.  Brian Elliott along with great defensive support bolstered an Ottawa attack that took advantage of the lethargic Penguins defense.

Jordan Staal would start his 300th NHL game along side Chris Conner and Nick Johnson who have been called up to replace Tyler Kennedy and Eric Godard (4-6 wks IR).  Bill Guerin, despite early concerns did play.  Evgeni Malkin would not waste much time driving to the net on a pass from Johnson to make it 1-0 on a shot he put over Brian Elliott’s shoulder less than 2 minutes in.  Ruslan Fedotenko fed the pass up the seam to Johnson to keep the play alive and got the other assist.  For the first five minutes the Pens were on their puck possession game, limiting the chances for the Sens and playing most of the time in their zone.

After the quick goal from Geno, Elliott shut the door.

The Senators would get their first chance 8 minutes in when Jason Spezza put the puck softly between Marc-Andre Fleury’s legs.  It trickled across the goal line and then hit the post and bounced away.  About 90 seconds later Mike Fisher put another puck off of the post and then plugged the puck home to tie is as the defense was obviously out looking for other work on the play.  Zero support for Flower in front and Fisher just came right back down to the doorstep.  Nick Foligno and Matt Carkner with the assists.

Matt Cooke went to the box later in the frame and after a tentative kill from the Pens that saw the 30th ranked Powerplay in the NHL set up extended possession with the man advantage they got it back to even strength. Too bad another lazy defensive play in front of the net right after let Chris Kelly put home a soft rebound on a Jarkko Ruutu shot and it was 2-1.  Chris Neil with the other assist.

After the first five minutes the period was forgettable for Pittsburgh, especially on defense as old habits looked like they were coming back to the surface to hurt the Pens.

The teams would trade PPs in the first 7 minutes and with Sid in the box for Slashing Pascal Dupuis and Matt Cooke would get a shorthanded 2 on 1.  Dupers fed it up to Cookie at center ice and then instead of trying to make Elliott make a move Cooke slapped it at him.  Elliott had all day to look at it and a great chance went by the boards to a rushed shot and zero thought of pass from Cooke.

After going up 1-0 the defense abandoned Fleury.

Neil went down with 11:45 to play in the 2nd after a boarding attempt on Sergei Gonchar failed.  He would need to be helped of the ice but took a seat on the bench.  Play picked up a little bit approaching the mid point with some end to end play.  The Defense started to make me nervous again around that part of the frame as communication was lacking on a few plays where Senators skated free to the corner without anyone on them. It was either that or Spezza was just making the entire defensive philosophy look stupid.

Pens started to get some juice twelve and a half in, Tenks hit the post and the crowd woke up. With under 6 left Pittsburgh would spring on a 3on1 and Cooke would not be able to handle it at the blue line an threw the play offsides. Matt Cooke was not having a memorable first two periods.

Fleury showed in the second a few times that the finger and glove are making him adapt.  There were a few time when you would normally cover when he instead used the paddle of the stick along with the back of the new glove to stop play.  There was talk that the Kelly goal could have been possibly stopped by Flower in the first had he covered and why was evidenced by a few plays in the second.  He took a shot off the mask at the 18 min mark of the second as well. Bob Errey also noted that the glove was affecting the velocity of Flower’s passes off of the boards.

The Penguins would get a few chances from the two headed monster in the last minute after the Senators dominated puck possession late.  As play expired Kris Letang would slap one in but there was zero debate that is was no goal.

Elliott weathered an early flurry from the Pens that saw them with momentum to start the frame.  About 3 minutes in Neil rocked Marc Eaton on the Penguins end boards.  It was a clean hit, Eaton had his head down and Neil certainly didnt let up.  It’s the kind of play we praise Matt Cooke for.  We just hate to see the douchetastic Neil do it especially after his run on Gonch in the 2nd.

Spezza made it 3-1  with 15 to play on a shot over Fleury’s shoulder on the wide side.  I don’t know it Flower ever saw it as he might have been screened.  It felt like a nail in the coffin when it went in.  Daniel Alfredsson and Milan Michalek with the assist on a play that saw the Pens fumble the puck and let the Sens get the chance.

At the midpoint the Pens would get a slew of good chances first from Dupers and then from Cooke who had his stick slashed out of his hands.  There was no call.  Its the point of the game when a PP goal could have turned things if we had been able to capitalize. Elliott has been off the chart regardless. The Penguins continued to bring good pressure moving into the latter stages of the period but Elliott had answers when his defense wasn’t there. Not a whole lot of second chances on Elliott at all as his defense was actually supporting him.  Penguins tried to get the spark going in the waning munites  but ended up making bad passes trying to get a quick one instead of getting to their offensive style. Foligno would add the ENG with 1:28 to go.  Erik Karlsson with the gift assist.  Paul Steigerwald was so disinterested at that point he didn’t even let the viewing audience know the net had been emptied.  Pens lose 4-1.

• Penguins should be able score more than 1 goal at home against Ottawa
• Evidently is was a union mandated lazy day for the D-Corps who were unimpressive with their total lack of support for Fleury
• Mark Eaton’s 500th Game
• Really feels like when we get that early goal quick like we did tonight the defense just exhales.  They’ve done it the last four times we’ve opened scoring in the first five minutes.

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From The Pittsburgh Penguins news feed :

The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed forward Joe Vitale to a two-year contract extension, it was announced today by executive vice president and general manager Ray Shero. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Vitale, originally selected by Pittsburgh in the seventh round (195th overall) of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, is in the midst of his first full year with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. In 41 games this season for WBS, Vitale has four goals and 19 points. His 19 points lead all WBS rookies.

Vitale, 24, joined WBS at the tail end of last season. He posted four points (2G-2A) in the team’s final five regular-season games, and saw action in all 12 postseason games.

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The Penguins finally shed some light on the situation with Eric Godard.  He will be out 4-6 weeks with a groin injury which puts his return after the Olympic break.

Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma announced that forward Eric Godard will miss the next 4-6 weeks with a groin injury.  “Eric Godard is 4-6 weeks with a groin injury,” Bylsma said. “He is still be evaluated with where he is at with that. It will be long term.”

Godard sustained the injury in the first period of Mondays victory over the Rangers

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The Penguins host the Ottawa Senators this evening for the final meetup of the regular season between the two teams.  Pittsburgh has won two of the previous three encounters.  Now the Senators have Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza back in their lineup and are riding the play of goaltender Brian Elliott.

Alfredsson and Elliott have been a big part of the win streak. So has playing some weaker teams.

The Sens are 29-21-4 overall good for 5th in the East, 5 points back of Pittsburgh.  They are 10-13-1 away from Scotiabank Place this season and are riding a 7 game winning streak tonight.  A win tonight will be a club record eighth for them.  Alfredsson is their overall leading scorer with 14G and 27 assists and has 10 points in his last 6 games but it is Milan Michalek who was acquired in the trade for Dany Heatley that flat leads the team in goals with 18.  Ottawa has only four goal scorers in double digits.   Mike Fisher is having a career year with 17G 22A and Carrie Underwood while former Penguin Alexi Kovalev (13G 24A) would likely be in the league scoring discussion if he would show up every night.

With Pascal LeClaire out of the lineup (concussion) again the Senators turned to Elliott (2.57 GAA .906 Sv%) who has won them 6 games in this stretch.  Backup callup Mike Brodeur has a victory in that streak as well.  Elliott is the likely starter.  He was named the NHL’s #1 Star for last week as he gave up only 5 goals on 115 shots.  Those shots came from 5 teams who are in the bottom ten of the league in goal scoring, so its a combination of good play and soft schedule making Elliott shine.  The Senators have taken over the Penguins former  position as the league’s worst Powerplay at 15.1% are 8th in Penalty Killing (83.8%)  and score 2.29 goals per game on the road this year.  Apart from LeClaire the Senators will also be without Jesse Winchester.  (IR/Knee)

For Pittsburgh the injury bug is in the air again with both Alex Goligoski, Tyler Kennedy, and Eric Godard missing practice yesterday.  Gogo has already been ruled out for tonight by Head Coach Dan Bylsma.  Kennedy and Bill Guerin, who was “no contact” at practice yesterday, are day-to-day so expect more after practice or at the warmup.  There has been zero official word on Godard since he left in the 1st period against the Rangers with an apparent knee problem. The only news period is from Empty Netters says that Godard is also out tonight.  The Penguins have now officially announced that Godard has a groin injury and will not return until after the Olympic break (4-6 weeks)    To fill at least some of the gap Chris Conner was again recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton late yesterday afternoon.  Also on the good news page is Max Talbot’s return to the lineup tonight.

Fleury looked fine in his new glove and should be good to go for the Senators.

Marc-Andre Fleury is the presumptive starter for Pittsburgh having played his first game against the Rangers Monday night wearing a custom made glove designed to protect his fractured left ring finger.  Flower looks fine in the new trapper.  The Penguins will be in the blue death tonight for the 9th time in this their final season as the alternate sweater.  Evgeni Malkin has quietly found a gear again scoring 5 goals and 5 assists in his last five games.  3 of those goals did occur in one game but his point totals are on the rise and looking consistent for the first time in a long time.   Sidney Crosby has 3 goals and 7 assists in four games, again with 6 of those points coming against the Islanders.  Supposed goal scorer Ruslan Fedotenko has 4 assists in four games and Pascal Dupuis has 3 goals and 5 assists in his last 8 contests.

Looking at it right now the Penguins don’t have enough players to play the game.  Talbot will take Godard’s spot so Conner fills for TK or Dad.  To fill the opening the Penguins have recalled Nick Johnson from WBS.  Kennedy did not take the ice at practice along with Godard and Goligoski being out.  Chris Kunitz took part in full drills and filled a forward spot but is obviously still out recovering from abdominal surgery.  Dad was on the ice but it leaves the Penguins a forward short.

Dupuis-Crosby-Guerin
Conner-Malkin-Fedotenko
Cooke-Staal-Adams
Rupp-Talbot-Kunitz

• Bill Guerin is IN tonight per HCDB
• Again Godard out 4-6 weeks with a groin problem
• TK ruled out for tonight. Martin Skoula in for Gogo
• N. Johnson will play with Malkin and Feds
• Kunitz now in the 1-2 week range for a return

This is a big game between the 4th and 5th placed teams in the East and a four point swing in the standings on the line potentially.  The Senators are not as strong as their 7 game streak suggests but cannot be looked past either.  Look for an update after practice or if any movement occurs from WBS.

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One Day after sending him to the AHL the Penguins have recalled Chris Conner back to the NHL club according to Chris Johnston of the Canadian Press.

#penguins recall Chris Conner one day after sending him back to the AHL.

You will remember that Conner scored both the opening and game winning goals against the Rangers on Monday.  Given the questionable status of forwards Bill Guerin and Tyler Kennedy for Thursday night’s game against Ottawa at Mellon Arena this is a move that surprised no one.   Ray Shero and the Penguins are confirming the move.

If you are asking why the bounce back and forth its because Conner carries a $2,591/day cap hit. For a team that is projected to have cap space of $767,841 every single day they do not take 2K away from it counts as we move towards trying to squeeze a potential traded salary in at the deadline.

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Honestly too many different things going on to put up an authoritative title for this entry.  Here is the Wednesday offday practice notebook.  Look for some things to be updated on this as there is more from the team.  No mention of any callups but some of the things below make me think there will be.

• Eric Godard, Tyler Kennedy and Alex Goligoski did not practice.  This was not an optional practice as the team had yesterday off
• Bill Guerin did take practice, but in a no-contact jersey
• Max Talbot took the full practice
• Chris Kunitz skated prior to practice with Mike Kadar.

The surprise in there is TK.  I have no clue as to an injury affecting him.

Just some additional info after the skate was over:

• Max is expected to be back on the ice tomorrow for Ottawa
• Gogo is a nogo for Thursday barrign a miracle per Dan Byslma
• Both Dad and TK are officially day-to-day with no real details from HCDB. They will be re-evaluated Thursday Morning.
• Absolutley no update on Godzilla.  odd since it occured Monday for them to still be totally silent

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Brian Elliott is playing just about as well as any goalie in hockey right now is the talk.  He was named first star of the week in the NHL on Monday and last night rung the Devils up in a 3-0 shutout, his 4th career.  Last week he went 4-0 and only allowed 5 goals on 115 shots.  Thats a .956 Sv% that improved to .964 over his last five with the win over New Jersey last night. Impressive on face value.

Elliot has benefited from weak opponents as well as good play.

Elliott’s play has allowed the Sens to rattle off 7 straight wins as they have broken from the pack fighting for the bottom 4 Eastern Conference Playoff spots.  Ottawa is only 5 points behind the 4th place Penguins and now 7 points in front of Philadelphia, the Rangers, Florida, and Montreal who are all tied with 55 points in 6th through 9th place respectively.

4th place or better is where you want to be as you get home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.  Ask the Flyers how critical it was last year that on the last day of the season they swapped spots and home ice advantage with us for the 1st round.  It played a part in sending them home.  Needless to say that Thursday night’s game represents a four point swing between the 4th and 5th place clubs in the east.

The only thing that may hamper Elliott is fatigue.  His matchup with the Penguins will be his 7th start in 15 days. Mike Brodeur did get the nod of the 16th against Montreal.  That’s where most of the normal analysis ends.

The Senators current streak is comprised of NYR, MON, BOS x2, CHI, STL, NJD.  The Bruins, Canadiens and Rangers are bottom five in the league in Goals Scored per Game.  St. Louis is not much better at 22nd.  The Devils, they are 20th.  So on this seven game hot streak Elliott/OTT has faced one team that is a night to night scoring machine – Chicago.  He did win that game 4-1.  Chicago is scoring close to a full goal per game more than any of the other teams in the streak.

If Elliott playing well?  Definitely, but he (and the one win from Brodeur) is also benefiting from a very soft spot in the Sens schedule.  I’m not trying to take anything away from his play.  I’m just saying that he hasn’t rattled these wins off against the Caps, Pens, Sharks, or Canucks.

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Eric Godard hobbled off the ice during the first period of the Penguins 4-2 win over the Rangers Monday night.  Many of us have been patiently waiting for the Penguins to say something on his status.  Thus far they have been tight lipped which is their standard operating procedure this year.  You can see Godzilla’s knee buckle starting at around the :30 second mark of the Monday highlights.

Godard's knee looks like it hurt, but who know's what goes on in a knee and the Pens aren't tellin.

Bill Guerin and Max Talbot are day to day questions right now for Pittsburgh, Maxie more so as he has missed several contests in a row.  The demotions of Chris Conner and Nick Johnson yesterday may have been nothing more than a salary cap move and it is not out of the question for us to see one or both of them recalled Thursday morning in advance of practice for the Ottawa game.  It is also possible that Pittsburgh might call up other personnel from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton if any combination of Dad, Max, or Godard cannot go.  I’d say the odds of all three playing are slim so look for soem action on the wire Thursday morning.

I’ve heard about one advocate for the callup of Eric Tangradi (9G 9A 36GP AHL) even though his numbers this year are less than what you would expect in WBS.  Tangradi might be the kind of guy that flourishes at the NHL versus the AHL.  He is a power forward and as we all have seen this year sometimes it is just a change of the dance card that makes all the difference for players like that, ask Mike Rupp.

If Godard is out for any lengthy period of time I do not see the Penguins making a move in a very tight cap situation for another enforcer.  It would be a great opportunity to give someone line Tangradi a longer chance to find a gear with the Penguins fourth line.  You won’t see Conner, Luca Caputi, or Nick Johnson called up from the Baby Pens to get limited minutes along side Craig Adams and Rupp for 30 games.  Tangradi might be the fit on that line long term if needed.

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In case you haven’t noticed when I’m not dealing with something at work, doing something with my kids, wife, or friends I tend to eat, sleep, and breath hockey.  One of the things I have heard five times in two days in the idea of handing the coach of an NHL team the ability to challenge a call during a game in the same manner that an NFL coach would. The latest was on Hockey This Morning on XM Home Ice which means it is near the NHL mainstream at this point.

Its a terrible idea.  The reason for the discussion in the first place has been a string of bad/missed goal calls by the Toronto War room or the on ice officials in the past few weeks.  One such miss sparked a controversy over inappropriate conduct at FSN-Pittsburgh during the December 7th home loss to the Flyers.  You will remember that Simone Gagne had a goal disallowed and then as soon as play resumed the television audience was shown an angle that proved it to be a goal.  Thankfully that goal did not alter the final score but it did underline a problem in the NHL’s replay and review system.  FSN was ultimately forced to indefinitely suspend producer Lowell MacDonald over the matter.

Let me say this loud and clear.  This answer is not to put a yellow flag in the coach’s pocket or a yellow flashing light with a switch at the bench so that the coach can second guess the officials.  If there is any room for a challenge it is in one place:  goal calls.  Before this insanity gains much momentum the conversation needs to be limited to challenges to determine if the puck fully crossed the red line and should be counted as an official goal, nothing else.

If it isn’t you will find a pack of people advocating that the coach should be able to request review of a 2 minute high stick for blood and turn it into a four minute penalty.  You will see challenges on hooks, slashes, highsticks and roughing.  It could get as ridiculous as challenges to faceoff positions, delay of game and even offsides calls.  We do not need the game of hockey to get bogged down in the ridiculousness that is the NFL replay process.  Wasting 2-5 minutes for an official to go under the booth to determine if the ball should be moved 6 inches forwards was demonstrated to be a crowd killer in the NFC Championship.  Doing it to hockey would be even worse.  Drama is built on speed and the fluid nature of play in the game.

3 Low and a High Goal cam per end. NHL needs to pony up.

The NHL is a league trying to capitalize on the speed of the game.  Its frenetic pace has been made more exciting and yes dangerous since the removal of the two-line offside pass after the lockout.  Allowing coaches to challenge anything other than a goal call would be a reversal on the league’s desire to keep the game up tempo.  So lets consider the only thing that even remotely comes close to making sense, goal calls.

How many does the coach get per game, One?  If so, what the penalty if he challenges wrongly?  He loses the only team timeout he gets?  The real solution lay somewhere else.  The once lauded War Room in Toronto needs to remove it’s dependency on the local network feeds (or NBC/Vs).  The Achilles heel exposed in the Gagne goal was that one tech booth for FSN-Pittsburgh made the determination not to send a video to Toronto either actively or passively and that decision or omission resulted in a goal not being credited properly.  If the NHL would put its own cameras in the arenas for the overhead of each goal plus the rear low and front low angles (8 feeds) there would be no discussion occurring on challenges. If they got fancy they could do it with 3 cameras.

The only obstacle is cost.  Personally I think they can use the money they didn’t donate to Hatian Relief efforts to at least get the ball rolling.  Quips aside the NHL needs direct control over their own video and not an agreement with biased local coverage providers to ensure the integrity of the game.  Once they have that the call for a coach’s challenge will go away.

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Not even 12 hours after spurring the Penguins to a 2-1 victory over the Rangers forward Chris Conner has been reassigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.  Conner was called up as a late substitute for Bill Guerin, who missed Monday night’s contest, and filled in nicely putting in 2 including the game winner.

The Penguins announced the demotion along with Nick Johnson, who had been playing for an injured Max Talbot.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have re-assigned forwards Chris Conner and Nick Johnson to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, it was announced by executive vice president and general manager Ray Shero.

Conner, who was recalled Monday and played that night in the Penguins’ 4-2 victory over the New York Rangers, recorded his first career two-goal game, including the game-winning tally.

Johnson saw action in three games with Pittsburgh. He made his NHL debut, and scored his first career goal, against Washington Jan. 21.

Johnson was demoted last week as well only to be recalled again on Saturday in time for Sunday’s game with the Flyers. 

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Callup Chris Conner sparks the Penguins with 2 goals including the 3 period answer winner. Pittsburgh battled through 6 minutes of penalties to open the 3rd only to fall behind shortly after.  Geno and Conner lead the way back as the Penguins dropped the Rangers 4-2 for their second straight win at MSG

Bill Guerin and Alex Goligoski were afternoon scratches that saw the callup of Chris Conner from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.  Nick Johnson was already up to cover for Max Talbot who continues to miss games.   The good news is that Marc-Andre Fleury returned to the lineup against the goal barren Rangers.  The bad news is the game was on Versus .  Martin Skoula, apparently out of the doghouse would play for Goose.  What was really nice was watching fired Flyers coach John Stevens have to praise the Penguins at Versus’ bidding during the pregame.

Flower = solid. .933 Sv% 2GA on 30 shots. His hand looked fine in the custom mitt.

Right out of the gate the Madison Square Garden lighting was terrible.  I mean the shadows in the ends of the zones were really bad.  I’m amazed the goalies were able to pick the puck out.  The lowlight conditions would not hurt Conner’s vision just under 3 minutes in as he put home a feed from Sidney Crosby.  Flower would initially be given the assist but it would be changed to Kris Letang midway through the period.  Fleury looked good throughout the stanza in the custom glove for his broken left ring finger making at least 5 solid glove saves.

The Penguins really bottled up the Rangers for most of the frame and it looked like New York was just playing for line changes.  Phil Bourque commented on the radio near the end of the 1st that the play had been in the Rangers zone 70% of the time.  Sadly the SOG were even at 7 and the Penguins couldn’t capitalize on good chanced from Johnson and Ruslan Fedotenko.  Evgeni Malkin had a shot that confounded Henrik Lundqvist during a Powerplay earned off of a Brandon Dubinsky slash with 3 to go but Pittsburgh failed to cash in with the man advantage.

Of note was that Eric Godard limped off of the ice midway through the period.  Twitter also took a dump for about 7 minutes of play so it was hard to get any information on it.  1-0 good guys after one.

Eric Godard did not come out for the start of the 2nd and the Penguins tweeted his return was questionable.  More like doubtful.  The Rangers started to slowly pick up their play as the period moved along.  King Henry also look noticeably sharper.  Tyler Kennedy and the 3rd line continued to work hard and the Penguins we getting shot attempts off, but they were wild. As the period wore on they went from wild to weak.

Geno went to the box about 9 in and as he came out after the kill he was fed on a breakaway on which he barely stick handled and let the defense catch him.  Poor shoot attempts and the best scoring opportunity of the game to that point went bye bye for Pittsburgh.  Malkin was visibly jawing with himself after the shot.  He’s not all the way back yet.  NHL.com also went down around that time and made it really hard to give accurate time stamps to people following on Twitter.

Artem Anisimov with a little help from a weak defensive play on the part of  Mark Eaton would tie it up with just under seven to play in the period.  Enver Lisin and Christopher Higgins with the assists.  The goalies would lock it down after that for the remainder of the period.  Malkin and Johnson would get a 2 on 1 with 4 to go but a lazy pass from Geno would ruin the chance.  Flower robbed Dubinsky with a flash glove late that proved that’ he’s fine in that custom trapper.

All even at the end of 2.  NHL.com was still being stupid so putting up current stats at the end of 40 negated by IT failure.  Shots were 16-14 Rangers (thanks to CBS Sportsline).  The Rangers are 4-5-3 this year when tied after 2.  The Penguins are a league best 8-1

Pittsburgh opened the 3rd the same way they did yesterday, killing penalties.  Jordan Staal took a 4 minute highstick for putting the blade to the face of Vinny Prospal.  The Penguins would get it just about killed and Matt Cooke would spring on a breakaway.  A stellar play from Ryan Callahan lifting Cooke’s stick stopped even a shot attempt and Cooke went after Callahan stupidly.  Another two minute minor for roughing.  The Penguins wouldn’t get back to even strength until over 6 minutes had gone by in the period.  Staal would get his own SH breakaway but from a bad angle and would miss near the end of the Cooke minor.

Unheralded, TK out hustled the Rangers all night

A sequence like that usually invigorates the team after a successful kill but the Penguins looked tired.  The PK was the thing of legend but there we some skates not moving much afterward and the Rangers swarmed.  Anisimov scored his second 9:15 in from Dan Girardi on a puck that Flower just could not pin to the left post.  It actually looked like the pressure applied worked the puck around the pipe and then the back edge of his skate kicked it across the line.  It was quickly reviewed and correctly counted as a goal.  I initially thought there should have been a whistle but looking at the tape it is obvious the referee behind the net saw it the whole way.  Refs have been taking a beating lately, that was a good call.

Marian Gaborik would take a slashing call almost right after and the lead would only last :34 seconds for New York after Geno smashed one past King Henry.  It was a beauty shot that looked like it put spring in Malkin’s step after his forgettable second.  Sergei Gonchar and Letang with the assists.  Less than a minute later Conner put in his second of the night to give the Pens the lead right back.  Crosby, Pascal Dupuis and his 37 stitches with the assists.  It was a sweet rebound goal from a low angle on Lundqvist’s blocker side.  Pittsburgh had the lead for good.

There was a furious pace over the final minutes leading to the point that the Rangers had to pull Hank.  Dupers put in the ENG with 40 seconds to go, game.  4-2 Winner.

Highlights:

• Pens Improve to 9-1 when tied after 2, best in the NHL
• Zero word on Godzilla’s status
• First Average game from Jordan Staal since Christmas
• Solid bounce back from Geno in the 3rd.  First time I’ve seen him have a bad period but not let it ruing his night in a while.
• Pittsburgh now 2 pts back of the Devils in the Atlantic and hold 4th in the East by 7 points.
• Big game against Ottawa (5th in the East/60pts) and a four point swing on the line Thursday.

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Yes, you are reading that right.  A 7 year old bike riding English boy has raised and donated more money to Hatian relief efforts than the NHL.

He’s no Wyclef Jean or George Clooney, but that hasn’t stopped seven-year-old Charlie Simpson from raising more than £100,000 ($161,000) for the Haiti earthquake.

The NHL has donated just $100,000 to UNICEF which pales in comparison to the NFL, NBA, and MLB who as leagues each gave $1,000,000 a piece.  That doesn’t take into account individual team contribution.  The Penguins raised $34,000 at last week’s Capitals home game.

The NHL should be ashamed of itself and I am going to keep barking  until they do something about it.  I am an avid hockey fan and this one thing is a black mark on the League right now.  Do the right thing and pony up Bettman & Players Association.

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