© Doug MacRay for Pittsburgh Penguins - PenguinPoop Blog, 2013. | 7 comments |

We’ve put together an incredible group of writers to predict how the series will pan out and at the same time throw a little insight into what the Penguins will have to do to win. Six of the writers have followed the Penguins since the 1970′s, two of them have been season ticket holders since then.  The writers here at PenguinPoop have been to more Penguins games than any other group of writers on the internet.

First up:

 Horse - Season ticket holder since the 1970′s also a longtime PenguinPoop writer & radio host.

Hopefully the Penguins learned from all the mistakes they made in their series against the NY Islanders.  Face it —- they got past the Islanders even though they were far from their best. They will have to be much more consistent to advance to the Conference finals.  It’s hard to gauge just how good the Senators are, since they advanced by beating a decimated Montreal Canadians team.  We know the Senators will try to play a low-scoring defensive series behind their great goaltender, Craig Anderson.  I believe the Penguins should play a tight defensive game as well.  They have the talent to win the series with limited goal-scoring opportunities.

Fleury should start Game One because Vokoun is a better contingency plan.  Fleury will rebound from his shaky performance against the Islanders — remember he did have a shutout in Game One. The Penguins will win in six games simply because they always clinch on the road.

Phil Krundle   – Head cheese at PenguinPoop – Pens fan since 1976.

There is one thing that concerns me.  The Senators just got finished laying a whooping on Penguins coach Dan Bylsma’s mentor.  Other than that I’m expecting the Penguins to win games they get the lead early by scores like 6-1 and lose games they get behind by scores like 2-1.

The Penguins need to start Tomas Vokoun the first game Tuesday night.  If Fleury comes in and flops it would crush his psyche.  Think about it.  Vokoun is playing great, and the team is confident in front of him.  Two thing could happen.  You ride Vokoun to the Stanley Cup.  I can live with that.  Or…(...)
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Last week, the museum was robbed.  No one was hurt or threatened and no artwork was stolen but the thieves did steal our director’s laptop, the store’s I-Pad and all of the cash from our register.  These guys will be eventually caught as we have descriptions of them and even have them on video trying to pawn the electronics and also from while trying to stash them in a locker at the Grey hound station.

Being that we are a museum that survives on donations and grants, it will take us a while to be able to purchase new electronics.  Here’s where you guys come in.  Over the Winter, one of our exhibits was the animation art of Kensington Falls Animation.  They are the folks that have done the scoreboard animation art for both the Penguins and the Pirates for years.  The Toonseum created a limited edition print of one of their Penguin pieces featuring the old Muscular Penguin.  During the exhibit, the piece was being offered for $39.99, but right now, it is being sold for $19.99 right here on the museum’s Etsy site.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/117463923/pittsburgh-scores-the-art-of-kensington

The piece is limited to run of 250, and at this price, I hope they will sell out fast.  I know there have to be a bunch of our wonderful followers who would love to have this piece hanging in their house or office, and you get to help out a good cause.

© Disco Stu for Pittsburgh Penguins - PenguinPoop Blog, 2013. | No comments |

This opening line of “A Tale of Two Cities” was quite possibly written for the 2012-13 Pittsburgh Penguins playoff team. At times the Penguins were the dominant team that everyone expected them to be, and other times they looked like they were overwhelmed and outmatched.

At times the Penguins looked like beings with intellect far superior to mere humans, and at other times it appeared that they forgot that they weren’t supposed to pass the puck to the opposing team.

In games 1 and 5 the Penguins tossed shutout hockey and operated like a well-oiled machine. The rest of the series they appeared at times to play confused and on their heels.

Let us recap.

Game 1

Result: Penguins 5 Islanders 0

The Penguins owned the Islanders in every facet of the game. The Islanders looked like a scared small town tourist in a big city. Evgeni Nabokov looked shaky, Tavares was invisible except when getting hit, and the rest of the club just looked like they didn’t belong.

As bad as the Islanders looked, the Penguins looked that good. They dismantled the Islanders game and physically dominated. Pittsburgh owned every area of the ice and sent a message to the Islanders that they were the better team.

Game 2

Result: Penguins 3 Islanders 4

Despite the return of Sidney Crosby, the Islanders sent their own message to the Penguins that they could hang. While it did appear that the Penguins relaxed a bit after Crosby returned, the Islanders beat the Penguins to loose pucks, showed more effort, and showcased their speed against a slower opponent.

The Penguins thought that they were going to steamroll over the Islanders, and the young team from Long Island made a statement to the odds on Cup favorites that if they didn’t step up they would be working on their golf game sooner than later.

Game 3

Result: Penguins 5 Islanders 4

We can say here that the Penguins won, but it isn’t really clear that they deserved to. The Islanders put forth the same effort that they showed in game two, but the Penguins took advantage of some opportunities to win the game in overtime. The Isles could very easily have won this and the Pens were lucky to walk away with a win.

Game 4

Result: Penguins 4 Islanders 6

It was in this game that not only the Penguins play was concerning, but the coaching decisions by Dan Bylsma. Bylsma kept goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury in the game far longer than he should have. He was clearly being out-coached and wasn’t reacting. One of the most frustrating things was the absolute insistence on keeping Jarome Iginla at left wing on a line with Evgeni Malkin rather than playing his natural right wing position with Sidney Crosby. With this embarrassing loss it was clear that things needed to change, even though most people following the Penguins already knew this.

Game 5

Penguins 4 Islanders 0

Once again we have Penguins dominance. Bylsma finally made some changes and they proved valuable. Tomas Vokoun started in net while Jussi Jokinen, Tanner Glass, and Mark Eaton sat in favor of a speedier group in Joe Vitale, Tyler Kennedy, and Simon Despres.

The fresh faces injected speed into the lineup and gave a calming influenve and confident presence to the rest of the team. The Penguins of game 1 had returned.

Game 6

Result: Penguins 4 Islanders 3 (Penguins win series)

Here we go again. This could have easily ended up 10-0 in favor of the Islanders. The Islanders again worked harder, hit harder, and really dominated most of the game. The Pens penalty kill was soft and frankly scary, but somehow managed to survive.

While the Penguins mostly failed to take advantage of a shaky Nabokov, they made the most of the opportunities that they had and answered the Islanders goal for goal.

Was it overconfidence? Difficulty meshing with players returning from injury? Who knows, but important things did happen in this series.

If the Penguins are to make a cup run they will need both goalies to perform strong, and hopefully this was a wakeup call to Fleury. He will likely get another shot and needs to be the Flower of 2009. While he did allow some soft goals, the Pens struggles were put too heavily on MAF as his teammates admittedly hung him out to dry. Thankfully though, we have been shown that even if Fleury struggles, Vokoun can stand tall in high pressure games.

The Penguins “interchangeable pieces” can show up big. The insertion of Kennedy, Vitale, and Despres were viewed as a move just to shake things up, but each performed admirably and clearly were game changers. It could be said that the Penguins may have been headed to a game 7 were these moves not made. This is not to say that we have seen the last of Eaton, Jokinen, and Glass, but it is nice to know that the Penguins have the players to fill the need of the situation.

Finally Bylsma gave in to whatever stubborn attachment he had to playing Iginla with Malkin and put him on the right side of Sidney Crosby. The pair showed what magic could be performed while the two massive talents are combined.

Inconsistency, effort, coaching, overconfidence, any of these things could be blamed for the Penguins play in round one. How about blaming the Islanders for playing well?

While you can’t expect the Penguins to be dominant every moment of every game, the complete night and day gameplay that we have seen recently is concerning. The Ottawa Senators easily dispatched the Canadiens and they have an axe to grind with Matt Cooke and the Penguins, so should the Penguins wish to survive to round 3, they can’t afford to display the effort and poor decision making that they showed for much of the series.

Dominance or listlessness have been our choices. While we all prefer dominance, surly there is room for somewhere in between.

Greg is the editor in chief of www.hypeduphockey.com

Photo Dan4th flickr.com

© Thor for Pittsburgh Penguins - PenguinPoop Blog, 2013. | No comments |

I’ve been critical of the Pens’ skipper in the past for what I felt were questionable personnel moves. But last night he made the Dean’s List.

First and foremost, Bylsma had the courage to bench a wilting Marc-Andre Fleury in favor of backup goalie Tomas Vokoun. He also had the good sense to announce the switch well in advance so the team had time to mentally prepare.

Making his first playoff start since 2007, the 36-year-old Czech was terrific. Not only did Vokoun slam the door on the Islanders, but his steadiness and composure between the pipes rubbed off on the rest of the team.

That move alone would’ve earned Bylsma straight A’s. However, he made several other adjustments that reaped significant dividends. The Bowling Green grad shifted Jarome Iginla to right wing on a line with Sidney Crosby and Pascal Dupuis. “Iggy” seemed more comfortable manning his natural position and displayed good chemistry with Sid. They combined to freeze Isles goalie Evgeni Nabakov on No. 87’s back-breaking (and breathtaking) third goal.

Bylsma wasn’t finished. He plugged (...)
Read the rest of Penguins Update: Bylsma Pushes the Right Buttons

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© Doug MacRay for Pittsburgh Penguins - PenguinPoop Blog, 2013. | 4 comments |

Every team knows right now that they can throw Malkin off his game by getting in his face.  Crosby had these problems at the beginning of his career.  Crosby was a hot head for a year or two and eventually was able to battle it off verbally most of the time and eventually learned to use it to his advantage.  Seriously how hard is it to say “Ha that’s funny”, “I make 12 Million a year before endorsements and own just about every trophy the NHL has invented, what do you got”

For Malkin it’s a bit of a different story.  English being his second language, a battle of verbal linguistics is not his forte. He has no problem coming back physically and that’s what gets him in trouble.

Malkin is #2 in penalty minutes this post season among the top 50 scorers.  The Islanders have exploited him over and over.

While there are a few solutions to this, some are harder than others.  The easy solution would be for him to stop retaliating.  That’s most likely not going to happen.  It is extremely hard to be a fierce competitor to put away his emotion while being abused verbally & physically.

My solution comes with a problem created by (...)
Read the rest of Malkin Could Use Some Help

© Phil Krundle for Pittsburgh Penguins - PenguinPoop Blog, 2013. | 5 comments |

You can be sure nobody felt worse about the black and gold’s Game 4 collapse than “Flower.” You could see it in his posture as he stood helplessly on the bench after allowing the back-breaking sixth goal on a failed poke check. No one wants to cost his team a playoff game.

Yet that’s precisely what happened in Uniondale on Tuesday night. If Fleury didn’t turn in the worst performance of his checkered playoff career (six goals allowed on 24 shots), it certainly was in the bottom five. And that’s saying something considering some of his more recent efforts.

It truly was painful to watch Fleury struggle as another third-period lead slipped away. Whatever mojo he established during the fabulous Cup run of 2009 seems to have vanished into thin air.

It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly what’s wrong. Despite his impressive regular-season numbers, a lack of confidence seems to be an issue. Facing fast, skilled teams like last year’s Flyers and the Islanders certainly hasn’t helped his psyche. At times it’s like the Flower’s tending goal in a shooting gallery.

But I think the root of Fleury’s problems stem from his style. His biggest flaw—an inability to control rebounds—seems to work in his (...)
Read the rest of Penguins Replace Fading Flower for Game 5

© Rick Buker for Pittsburgh Penguins - PenguinPoop Blog, 2013. | 12 comments |

Penguins coach Dan Bylsma sat before reporters last night and was asked “.. is there any thought to putting Vokoun in for game five?”  After he him-hawed around for 5 minutes and proceeded to list every goal Fleury let in and mentioning how Fleury managed to let them in on so few amount of shots, Bylsma somehow avoided the question.  Or so he thought.

A second later he was asked again. “Any thought to a change of goalie?”

“Certainly you know a Thomas Vokoun’s a guy that can step in and play and has had success..” Bylsma proceeded with his spiel “and won hockey games against this team (Islanders) and has been successful this year..“  He continued to avoid the question again, but everyone had heard what they needed to hear.

I have heard Bylsma’s “spiels” for years now.  Barring injury, Thomas Vokoun will be in net on Thursday night in Pittsburgh.  Thomas Vokoun has had an incredible record against the Islanders this season only allowing 3 goals on 101 shots.  That’s .970 save percentage.  It wouldn’t be out of the question to ask why he wasn’t in net to begin with.

Changing the goaltender is only a stop gap measure for a laundry list of problems the Penguins are having. If it’s all right with you I’m going to rattle them off.

The Penguins defense is playing way too soft.  It’s not that they’re(...)
Read the rest of Benching Fleury Solves Only One of Penguins Many Problems

© Phil Krundle for Pittsburgh Penguins - PenguinPoop Blog, 2013. | 17 comments |

But was I really wrong?  As far as I can tell, the Penguins are still up one game to none in this series.  Who the guys are that have showed up wearing black and gold uniforms for games two, three and four are, I have no idea.  The uniforms looked like ours, the names on the back looked vaguely familiar, but the hockey being played by those guys looked more akin to the Harlem Globetrotters than anything I had seen in the six games I attended this year(All Penguin victories).  I’m really starting to wonder if the two worst things that could have happened to this team were winning Game 1 by a score of 5-0 and the return of Sidney Crosby in Game 2.

Winning the series’ first game in such easy fashion may have gotten it into the team’s heads that they really were that much better than the eighth seeded Islanders, and that all they had to do for the next three games was just show up, and the Isles would fold like a cheap suit at the sheer awesomeness of talent that Ray Shero had assembled for this year’s charge to Lord Stanley’s cup.  That feeling was was exacerbated by the return of Sidney Crosby in Game 2 after a month’s absence with a broken jaw.  The Pens scored two goals, one by Crosby, in the game’s first 3:19, and Crosby went on to add a second one in the first period four minutes later to give the team a 3-1 lead.  At that point, the only question on anyone’s mind was whether Sid could get a hat trick in his first period back after being out so long.

The collective mindset of the team at that point had to be, “If the Islanders didn’t fold after Game 1, then surely after seeing what was just done to them in the first period of Game 2, they will”.  It was at this point, that I seriously believe someone replaced all of our beloved Penguin players with the (...)
Read the rest of Who are these guys wearing Black and Gold and what have they done with the Penguins?

© Disco Stu for Pittsburgh Penguins - PenguinPoop Blog, 2013. | 11 comments |

“I always laugh when I see historical statistics that don’t really mean anything,” Adams said.

However, as Winston Churchill once said, “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”

And so it was during the Penguins’ shocking Game 2 loss to the Islanders Friday night. Following an all-too-familiar postseason script, the Pens came out smoking and snatched a 3-1 lead, forcing Islanders coach Jack Capuano to burn an early timeout. Like a Kentucky Derby thoroughbred that blew out of the starting gate too fast, the Pens faded and allowed the Isles to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Echoing the disastrous first-round loss to the Flyers last spring, our boys spent too much time chasing. They chased the points while shorthanded, leading to glorious scoring chances by the Islanders down low.  They chased the speedy New Yorkers—and the puck—all over the ice, to little or no avail.

They may well have been chasing ghosts, too. The last time the two teams met in the playoffs in 1993, a hungry young Islanders team that bore more than a passing resemblance to the current crop upset Mario Lemieux and a star-studded Penguins team with a relentless, determined attack.

Fortunately, the Pens can right the ship by taking a page from history—recent history. After all, the black and gold rolled up a 15-game winning streak in March by embracing playoff-style hockey. They were smart and responsible with the puck, taking care of their defensive chores first and trusting that the goals would come.

The fact that the venue is shifting to Long Island may help. Playing on the road has a way of forcing a team to regain its focus and purpose, which the Pens clearly need to do. Even though they’ve sprouted a few warts, they’re still an exceptionally talented bunch. If they tighten things up in Game 3, I’m confident the Pens can add a new chapter to their playoff history—one with a happier ending.

© Rick Buker for Pittsburgh Penguins - PenguinPoop Blog, 2013. | 14 comments |

Neal has scored more goals than any other Penguins player over the last two seasons.

© Doug MacRay for Pittsburgh Penguins - PenguinPoop Blog, 2013. | 11 comments |

There was so much that went right last night for the Penguins that this post could focus on just about anything, but it feels good to be on the giving end of a seek-and-destroy strategy. The Pens registered 36 hits. I lost track of how many of those were on John Tavares, but it was enough to be a constant physical presence that prevented him from even getting a shot on goal last night. As Tavares’ success goes, so goes the success of the Islanders. There is the fact that Fleury played very well last night, but the vast majority of the Islanders’ 25 shots on goal weren’t exactly quality chances coming from the disheveled Islanders offense. His rebound control continues to impress me, but I digress…

The “make a dent” part of the Pens’ strategy forces the Islanders to shift their focus from scoring to protecting. Protecting often means retaliating. Retaliating often means power plays. Power plays often mean Penguin goals – 2/4 last night. So this leaves the Islanders in a tough position: Continue to protect and retaliate or leave their golden goose to fend for himself against Brenden Morrow, (eventually?) Brooks Orpik, and a guy nicknamed Crankshaft.

Let’s open this up to the IslesTalk.com team. You’re the experts on the Islanders. What resources do the Islanders have to take care of this issue, because I don’t see the Pens letting up on Tavares any time soon.

15. Let’s Go Pens!

© Joey Wales for Pittsburgh Penguins - PenguinPoop Blog, 2013. | 15 comments |

While it is up in the air whether he will be in the lineup for the first game of the Penguins 2013 playoff run tonight.  If Crosby does return, the Penguins roster possibilities are endless.

Imagine your Penguins Head Coach Dan Bylsma and you just got handed a bonanza of players at trade deadline. All the sudden you have the easiest coaching job in the NHL. Wrong. All of the sudden it is the hardest. Every single action you take has another equally possibly devastating re-action.

Adding Jussi Jokinen, Brenden Morrow and Jarome Iginla to an already full offensive roster for the Penguins means players will have to sit. Possibly players that have played for the Penguins for a long time, players that have worked hard all season and have earned roster spots or players that sitting them to play one of the new guys means they could try to sign with other teams next year because they were shunned.

Here’s how the roster breaks down:

There are six players that will play no matter what unless they are injured. Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Pascal Dupuis, James Neal, Chris Kunitz and Jarome Iginla.

There are five guys that would have to have some seriously bad games in order to get benched, Brenden Morrow, Matt Cooke, Brandon Sutter, Jussi Jokinen & Craig Adams.

That means there is one roster position open for (...)
Read the rest of Pittsburgh Penguins: Too Many Players, So Little Time

© Phil Krundle for Pittsburgh Penguins - PenguinPoop Blog, 2013. | 3 comments |

The Penguins have never won a playoff series against the Islanders.

Ever. We’ve put together an incredible group of writers to predict how the series will pan out and at the same time throw a little insight into what the Penguins will have to do to win. Six of the writers have followed the Penguins since the 1970′s, two of them have been season ticket holders since then.

First up:

Disco Stu  – Followed the Penguins since 1971.  Frequent PenguinPoop writer & radio host.

As Yogi Berra so infamously said, “It’s deja vu all over again”  The last time there was a Penguins team that was this loaded with talent, they faced the Islanders in the playoffs.  It was the infamous 92/93 season, a season in which the Penguins set an NHL record by winning 17 consecutive games. That Penguin team was probably even a (...)
Read the rest of Pittsburgh Penguins vs New York Islanders 2013 Playoff Predictions

© PenguinPoop for Pittsburgh Penguins - PenguinPoop Blog, 2013. | 10 comments |

Call me old school, but ever since “Scary” Gary Roberts left the ‘Burgh during the summer of 2008 I’ve felt the Pens have lacked a certain element. Call it “functional snarl,” if you will. I knew the 34-year-old Morrow might be just the guy to supply it.

One look at the 6’0”, 205-pounder’s battle-scarred mug tells you all you need to know about his game. Morrow’s a human buzz-saw who seems to go out of his way to get up close and personal with the enemy. In front of the opposing net he’s a virtual Tasmanian Devil on skates—whacking and hacking for every inch of available space.

Given his age and abrasive style of play—not to mention his declining numbers over the past couple of seasons—I wasn’t sure how much juice the native of Carlyle, Saskatchewan had left. When he was held without a point in his first four games wearing the black and gold I began to sweat. After all, the Pens gave up highly touted prospect Joe Morrow to acquire the hard-nosed winger.

I needn’t have worried. After picking up an (...)
Read the rest of Penguins Update: No To-Morrow for Brenden

© Rick Buker for Pittsburgh Penguins - PenguinPoop Blog, 2013. | 4 comments |

Shelley Anderson at the Post-Gazette tweeted “Heard Sidney Crosby feeling pretty good but there just might not be enough healing in broken jaw for him to play before playoffs“.  Sometimes things have a way of healing faster when they get in the way of something someone wants. Crosby has admitted several times that he is an extremely competitive person, believe me, he wants the Art Ross Trophy.

Is it selfish to want to win the Art Ross Trophy?  Probably. I had a good laugh when I read that (...)
Read the rest of Sidney Crosby Should Return for Art Ross Scoring Trophy

© Phil Krundle for Pittsburgh Penguins - PenguinPoop Blog, 2013. | 4 comments |

Today in Ottawa the fans, their owner & media are rallying around destroying an incorrectly accused Matt Cooke.  Ottawa is claiming that Cooke came down with his skate on their star defenseman Erik Karlsson’s ankle and sliced his Achilles tendon on purpose.

Ottawa itself has a Red Scarf Union, which forgive me for not being familiar with Canada’s Ottawallian culture, but I’m just going to have to assume is similar to the Red Hat Society members that meet weekday afternoons at restaurants here in the states.  Anyway, this “Red Scarf Union” has made wanted posters and are holding hate rallies all because of this incident that the NHL ruled was 100% an accident.

Two months ago Ottawa’s eccentric owner Eugene Melnyk was so sure Cooke had done this on purpose he has brought in forensic doctors to try and prove it ”You have to come back with professional evidence by forensic doctors that can do it. That’s actually being done right in Toronto,” said Eugene.  It’s been two months and we haven’t seen any of this amazing evidence.  There is a good chance Eugene’s money may be better spent checking himself to see if he is a few tacos short of a combo platter.

Even Ottawa’s media consortium has gotten into the act suggesting now that the Penguins sit Matt Cooke for tonight’s game because the Penguins have already secured first place.  This is very ironic because Ottawa themselves are the ones that created this problem and are exasperating the problem even more by bringing back Erik Karlsson tonight for his first game since the injury.

That all being said, Matt Cooke is not the one that created this mess. How Matt Cooke has changed his game has been revered by hockey analysts all over and even some of his former haters.  He will stand up face what has happened as he has done many times before, though this time being on the correct side of valor.

© Phil Krundle for Pittsburgh Penguins - PenguinPoop Blog, 2013. | 9 comments |