PenguinPoop - Pittsburgh Penguins Blog

There is a Giant Canadian Microscope Pointed at Sidney Crosby

Phil Krundle — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:49:41 PST

Every single thing that Sidney Crosby has done since scoring what the Canadians have dubbed the “Golden Goal” has been diagnosed, analyzed, investigated, re-diagnosed and interpreted by writers, bloggers, commentators, farmers, the girls that want to marry Crosby and every single person who is old enough to have an opinion North of the Border.

Hey Sidney Crosby’s luggage was lost. Hey Crosby turned down David Letterman. Hey the fans in Pittsburgh booed Crosby when he returned. Most likely some of this stuff has merit as a big story, for example most likely his gloves and stick would be headed to or would already be in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.

This is not the first time that Crosby turned down David Letterman and it probably won’t be the last. This is not hurting the NHL, the NHL is doing a good enough job of that without any help, Crosby not being on Lettermen is getting the NHL more press than they would have got had he gone on.

The fans in Pittsburgh did not boo Sidney Crosby, we did not cheer real loud, but our soft cheering or non cheering combined with the booing of a couple of hundred or so Buffalo Sabres fans who made the 3 hour drive to the game in hopes of cheering on Silver Medal winning Ryan Miller made it sound like we were booing. I assure you that Pittsburgh hockey fans did not boo Sidney Crosby.

My favorite articles and posts to read are the ones that say Crosby has no personality or that he is boring. Yes, it is true that he doesn’t(...)
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I’m sorry but Cooke has to be suspended

Jean Pronovost — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 08:35:53 PST

I’m sure after reading the headline, many of you were hoping I was referring to Ron Cook of the Post-Gazette, and while I feel he should never be allowed to write about hockey again, I’ll have to leave that rant for another column.

Today I’m here to rant about Matt Cooke’s blatant blow to the head o Marc Savard in yesterday’s 2 -1 win over the Bruins. With about 5 1/2 minutes left in the 3rd period of a tight contest, the Bruins were heading into the Penguins’ zone and Savard let fly a wrister so he was still leaning forward and in a bit of a vulnerable position when Matt Coke comes in from the right side. It appeared as though Cooke was attempting to use his shoulder to lay one into Savard’s shoulder, and in all fairness, Cooke did keep his arm in tight. Instead of connecting with Savard’s shoulder, Cookes shoulder landed square into Savard’s head instantly knocking him to the ice leaving him unconscious for a few seconds. After being checked out by doctor’s from both the Bruins and the Penguins and having a neck brace put on, Savard was wheeled out on a stretcher and taken to a local hospital where it has been determined that he had suffered a concussion. Per NHL rules, he will miss a minimum of one week, but in all likelihood, it will be 2 – 3 weeks before he is back on the ice.

Now before anyone gets in an uproar and decides to start defending Cooke, first think to yourself, what would you be saying if Shawn Thornton or Milan Lucic had put the exact same hit on Sidney Crosby? There is no room in this great game of hockey for shots to the head especially now that players are wearing equipment that looks like it was originally designed for the movie Rollerball. Unfortunately, the NHL has no set policy on head shots as evidenced by the fact that some hits receive suspensions and others, like Mike Richards hit on David Booth do not.

The General Managers meeting is taking place in Florida today and high on their list of topics to discuss is(...)
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Gameday Poop: Penguins vs Bruins: Recchi’s Last Game in Pittsburgh?

Phil Krundle — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 07:43:51 PST

The Penguins take on the Boston Bruins at 3PM this afternoon in a black and gold battle that pits the number one Atlantic division Penguins against a Boston team that is struggling to hold onto a playoff spot. The Penguins have won 3 games in a row and have had to come from behind in the last two to win. Hopefully today they’ll make it a little easier on themselves and come out firing on all cylinders.

Mark Recchi said that he is retiring after this year, if the Penguins do not meet the Bruins in the playoffs, this will be his last time playing in Pittsburgh.

It’s funny how this stuff works. Malkin finally gets a quality winger that can score on his line, that wingers scores, yet Malkin’s 15 game scoring streak ends because Malkin didn’t score. Let’s hope he starts another streak today.

With his two goals yesterday Sidney Crosby is now the leagues #1 goal scorer, I don’t believe he’s ever led the league in goal scoring this late in the season.

Sorry this is a short Gameday Poop for me, I have a hockey game this morning then I’m off to the Igloo – Go Pens!

Gametime is 3PM and can be seen in HD at the igloo or on FSN Pittsburgh.

Pens 5 Unanswered Goals to Top Stars

Reg Dunlop — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 15:19:04 PST

Fleury looked liked he may still have a thick coating of rust on his game in the early stages of this afternoon’s matchup with the Dallas Stars. Fleury, however, seemed to shake off the rust and go on to have a nice game. Hopefully, the rust is all gone as we will need Fleury’s best game as the playoffs draw closer.

The Pens dug themselves an early hole, going down 3-1 early in the second period. As it was the other night, though, our boys just would not be defeated. The Pens reach down deep and scored 5 unanswered goals to go on and defeat the Dallas Stars.

Notes:

Malkin’s scoring streak came to end at 15 games.
Crosby had two goals to take over the league’s goal scoring race.
Ponikarovsky scored a power play goal in his Penguin debut. It seems like he might be able to add something to this team.

No time to sit back and enjoy this victory as the boys must get ready for another afternoon match with the Boston Bruins tomorrow. Let’s go Pens!

Gameday Poop: Pittsburgh Penguins vs Dallas Stars – March 6

Phil Krundle — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 06:07:34 PST

I’m very excited about this afternoons game, I haven’t been this excited since the fifth grade picnic. It seems like forever since the Penguins last instilled new talent into the lineup. I’m not talking about call-ups from the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, I’m talking about a good old fashioned trade. Evgeni Malkin has been down in the dumps, relative to his skill, all season and I can’t wait to see him back with a winger that can twittle the twine.

If you don’t know, Alexei Ponikarovsky is his name and he’s supposedly knows what to do in the offensive end. He’s spent his entire career on a Toronto team that is as skilled as Reg Dunlop singing karaoke. He will be Wearing #23 and playing his first game in a Penguins uniform today at the Igloo at 1PM, and as I said, I can’t wait. I’d bet the farm that Mike Lange and Paul Steigerwald spent all day yesterday practicing Ponikarovsky to Fedotenko back to Ponikarovsky, that would be fun to listen to.

By the way were playing the Dallas Stars who haven’t been at the Igloo since who knows when.

Puckdaddy over at yahoo had a Sidney Crosby photoshop contest, where people take the picture of Sidney Crosby right after he scored the overtime goal for canada and photoshop it into anything and everything you can imagine, there is a great one of him behind ovechkin showing off his Stanley Cup and Gold Medal you should check it out, it’s pretty funny! Check it out here: “PuckDaddy”

Billy Guerin is still having back spasms and missed yesterday’s practice. He not expected to play today. Jay Mckee is penciled in as the defenseman who will be in the press box.

If you haven’t heard, there was a great article in a Washington Post blog Michael Wilbon that has the Capitals fans up in arms. It was written by the posts version of(...)
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Which Penguin Forward Will Be First in the Pressbox?

STH35 — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:38:10 PST

With the trade deadline acquisitions, Ray Shero has given Dan Bylsma and staff a good problem — 7 NHL defensemen and 13 NHL forwards. Beyond the obvious increase in talent level, there are other advantages. First, it gives the bottom forwards a little extra motivation to stay on top of their game so they can remain in the lineup. It also gives the team an added flexibility that can be used game by game and also within a game. Depending on the type of team or type of game that the Penguins want to play, this group of players gives Bylsma tremendous leverage and strategic possibilities. How to deal with the problem. It appears as though McKee will be the odd man out on defense – a decision that I don’t think anyone could argue with. It is nice to know that if someone gets banged up, has a bad stretch, or just needs a rest, that McKee will be available. Should the Penguins have to dig any deeper, Lovejoy and Engelland are a short drive away.

(...)
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Ponikarovsky’s in. Who is the Odd Penguin Out?

Phil Krundle — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:00:30 PST

Alexei Ponikarovsky had his first practice with the Pens this morning. Any other team in the NHL bringing in one player too many would cause locker room turmoil, players would turn on players, maybe even deterioration of friendships.

Not on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Every Winger and every defenseman on the Penguins is aware that their job is in jeopardy. They didn’t start complaining to the media, they didn’t start fighting amongst themselves. The group that Ray Shero has put together went out last night and tried to earn their job. The Penguins as a team yesterday out shot the New York Rangers 55-16, granted Marc-Andre Fleury didn’t have a stellar performance, but I do not recall seeing such lopsided numbers before, especially against a Rangers team who’s fighting for a playoff spot. Pascal Dupuis had 10 shots on net himself.

With the Penguins picking up winger Alexei Ponikarovsky and defenseman Jordan Leopold right before the trade deadline, the Penguins currently have one extra defenseman and one extra winger on their roster. I realize that the Penguins have gone all season with Martin Skoula on the bench as one extra defenseman, but every defenseman on the team knew(...)
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Why Ponikarovsky will get a point tomorrow

Jean Pronovost — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 10:52:13 PST

There’s every reason to believe that Alexei Ponikarovsky will get no less than an assist in tomorrow’s game vs. Dallas, but in more likelihood, he should get a goal. If you look at the stats from Wednesday and Thursday night’s games and see the plethora of folks who were traded scoring in their first game for their new team, the odds seem to be in his favor. No less than 7 players scored goals for their new squads (Including a couple against the team that traded them), and 3 more notched assists.

I like the odds as much as I like the acquisition

Pens Outlast Rangers

Reg Dunlop — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:15:21 PST

Wow, have you ever witnessed such a lopsided game that took overtime to decide? The Pens outshot the Rangers 55-16 (That’s right, I said 55), but had to come from behind to win this game in overtime. First, I must give props to Lundqvist. Though he let 5 pucks past, he made 50 saves…..50 saves! Unfortunately, Fleury made just 8 saves on 12 shots. Maybe there is still some rust having not played in a game since before the Olympics. Brent Johnson had a tough night. He had to stop all 4 shots that were fired his way.

Notes:

Lots of physical play in this game. It was fun to watch.
Again, the Pens show a strong effort for the entire game. Maybe the Pens are motivated to use the last 20 games to get their “A” game together for the playoff run.
Malkin extended his scoring streak to 15 games with an assist on the overtime goal by Staal.

Looking forward to Saturday’s game with Ponikarovsky in the lineup.