Pittsburgh Penguins 08-09

[caldakid 0]

easily crosby, brings a lot more leadership imo.

get patty quinn in there he can turn things around

[interpathway 9]

Put a line of Crosby with Talbot and Staal together (not sure what positions they play, just for illustrative purposes) and then a line where you replace Crosby with Geno. The Crosby line will produce much more.

[BMcDonald19 0]

i think what makes or breaks any team is the break out pass. that first pass outta their zone isnt there this year. look at the wings, they are soo skilled up front and fly outta their own zone. maybe with #55 is back it will help

[Fire0nIce228 1]

I agree with that..Offense starts with your D men alot of the times and the Penguins just rarely break out of the zone clean..Gonchar can help with that big time.. Also something is missing from the locker room and the bench.. After a big win over Philly the Penguins had a huge let down against the Caps..granted it was in the third and maybe they just got fatigued late in the game, but at the start of the third the Capitals found another gear and the Penguins didnt rise up and match the Caps for the entire period. I thought I saw flashes of resiliency when Philly scored a fluke goal and the Penguins came back to score and win. I thought I saw it when the Caps went ahead and then Whitney came back and tied it, and I thought for awhile that they were looking more like last season, then they crapped out. I don't know if it is coaching, companionship and playing for your teammates, injuries, fatigue w/e but its no good.

Scuderi is out the next few games with an eye issue after being hit in the head with the puck.

Talbot has an undisclosed injury.

Crosby left the ice but told the media he doesnt believe his leg injury to be serious.

MAF is day to day with shattered confidence.

[MLSman 22]

In all honesty, it's pretty obvious this is a top 5 team in the league that has been dismantled by injuries. Every year, there is that one team that seems to be cursed with it. This is the Pens year.

Just look at the leaderboard on defense....take the Wings for instance. Rafalski and Lidstrom are in the top 10. Imagine what DET would look like if those two were out for the first half of the season? SJ too with Blake and Boyle.

Interesting stats: Halfway through the year, the top 20 in D scoring tops out at 25 pts. SJ - 65 pts, Det - 62 pts, ANA - 55 pts, CHI -55 pts, BOS - 54 pts ...and those are points of just the D in the top 20. ANY of those teams losing their two top defensemen would find themselves in the same situation.

The fact is that the forwards have less time and space because teams are not afraid of the offensive power of their D right now.

[camhockey16 5]

i agree i think alot of it goes back to missing gonchar - i bet the goals per game stat would probably back that up as well - gonchar is money on the powerplay and currently the defenseman on the PP dont even like to shoot. i bet with gonchar in the line up the penguins would at least average 1 more goal per game (assuming they are getting power play chances)

[JoeyJ0506 192]

Crosby, Dupuis, Talbot, Letang, and Scuderi are all out tonight. Add that to Fedotenko, Zigomanis, and Gonchar... this team looks like a M*A*S*H unit.

[kosydar 0]

If I'm Pitts management team and I plan on making some big moves at the deadline (which I think they should), I would do it now. Give my team another month to get their shit together. If they plan on waiting until the deadline and then finishing their roster, they could find themselves in a hole thats too deep to get out of.

[hockeysc23 0]

If I'm Pitts management team and I plan on making some big moves at the deadline (which I think they should), I would do it now. Give my team another month to get their shit together. If they plan on waiting until the deadline and then finishing their roster, they could find themselves in a hole thats too deep to get out of.

But they already gave up a ton last year to get Hossa and while it helped push them to the next level they are suffering from the lack of depth now.

There comes a time when you have to stop mortgaging the future for band-aid fixes. Now whether the management or fans will maybe accept a non-playoff team right after their stanley cup year is debatable.

[kosydar 0]

I didn't think they gave up a whole lot to get Hossa last year. The problem with Pitts is that they need to worry about now, not the future. They have all their big pieces under contract right now- Crosby, Malkin, Whitney, Staal, Gonchar, Fleury, etc. They are in the same boat as Ottawa- they have all their stars in place now, and they need to get the fillers in while they still can. There can't be dynasties in the new cap, and if Pittsburgh is serious about a Cup, now is the time. There are simply too many other teams with good prospects that will be good within five years. I truthfully can't think of a single team that doesn't have the ability to contend in five years, and that includes NYI and Atlanta. In the cap era teams need a clear plan of rebuilding or challenging, its really difficult to do both. I think it would be damn near impossible for Pittsburgh to ice a team with as much talent as they have now in a few years.

Trust me, as a Leafs fan I know all about mortgaging the future for quick fixes. The difference? Pittsburgh has far more talent than Toronto had, and they really can be contenders.

[camhockey16 5]

go figure - tonight with all AHL players they were able to beat anaheim...

oh and now orpik is hurt

[zrez 0]

In response to people picking crosby over malkin, doesnt it seem the pens do better when crosby isnt in the line up? For example most of last year and last night. I did a quick search to see if i could compare records but couldnt find anything.

[Chadd 916]

In response to people picking crosby over malkin, doesnt it seem the pens do better when crosby isnt in the line up? For example most of last year and last night. I did a quick search to see if i could compare records but couldnt find anything.

Malkin disappeared at times in the playoffs last year. If it wasn't for that, I would take Malkin in a heartbeat. I guess you have to compare Sids lingering groin issues with Malkins disappearing act and roll the dice one way or the other.

[interpathway 9]

Great win for the Pens today, and I love seeing NHL on NBC.

[camhockey16 5]

yeah - but i hate listening to pierre ladouche

[camhockey16 5]

this was funny though..

[JoeyJ0506 192]

All the sudden I' beginning to think that the Allstar break might really hurt this team. Granted, it might allow some people to get healthy, but if they win against Carolina this week shutting everything down for eight days might be very detrimental to the momentum they might have otherwise gained. That being said, it was very nice to finally see some secondary scoring during the game yesterday, and with that, getting a win without Crosby or Malkin showing up on the score sheet.

[Invert 13]

Fleury looked like he was waiting for the short bus in that Steelers helmet.

[JoeyJ0506 192]

[Fire0nIce228 1]

LMAO...Great to see the Penguins get on a little bit of a roll.. The ASG break may hurt, but I'll take it considering we have so many guys that are hurt. Ive been saying it all year, the Pens have been hurt all year and noone recognized. FINALLY, the analyists on TV are starting to recognize how badly hurt we've been hurting all year. I would say at any one time the least amout of starting roster NHL caliber players we were missing was 5. Penguins have already missed over 180 man games to injury.. Ill take the break to heal..

[phunky_monkey 6]

Personally, I think MT has done a good job with this team. He got them to the Stanley Cup finals last season, and off to a decent start this season before injuries derailed the team. Leave him be, he knows what he's doing.

Hopefully they can get Gonchar back, as a lack of puck moving defenseman is killing them. If you can get it out of your zone then you can't score goals, simple.

[dalebert 8]

Matt Cooke replaced for a day.

http://penguins.nhl.com/team/app/?service=...rticleid=405538

I'm not a penguins fan and not a fan of Crosby but this kind of stuff always makes me smile. Especially the effort they put into this.

[hockeysc23 0]

Matt Cooke replaced for a day.

http://penguins.nhl.com/team/app/?service=...rticleid=405538

I'm not a penguins fan and not a fan of Crosby but this kind of stuff always makes me smile. Especially the effort they put into this.

Wow. Thats a great story and classy move by Cooke and the rest of the Pens.

(on a side note I really wish the Caps had kept Cooke .. what a stand up guy that really seems to understand he gets paid a King's ransom to play a kid's game)

[hockeytim18 0]

I went to the game that night and while I was out to dinner with my family I saw something about this on the news. Shero was joking saying that as soon as he heard he was a winger he signed him right away.

Once I got there, there was a family in the penalty box and my girlfriend says that the kid. I didn't realize it until he was announced later but sure enough.

That's pretty awesome that players do these things and give some lucky kids possibly one of their best memories.

[Fire0nIce228 1]

Apparantly Sykora has some concerns, but it appears would like to stay in Pittsburgh overall..

http://community.post-gazette.com/blogs/em...gs-1-27-09.aspx

At any rate, big game tonight against the Rangers..anyone heard if sid is in or out?