Pens play better D..still struggle on Power Play lose 3-2 to Sabres

MAF gave up a couple of softies. But overall the Pens played better defense surrendering only 27 shots to Buffalo. Still it was a loss on the night.

The Pens were 1-9 on the powerplay. With the one goal coming off Leclair (remember him) in the third. Nice to see Matt Murley score a goal to get the Pens on the board in the first.

Crosby had a quiet night. I think his foot is bothering him.

So this is where MAF's $3M could come from

Penguins place Jocelyn Thibault on waivers.

The waivers took effect at noon today; if Thibault is not claimed by another team by noon tomorrow, the Penguins can assign him to Wilkes-Barre.

If Thibault would decline to report to the Baby Penguins the Penguins could suspend him and not be obliged to honor the two-year contract worth about $3 million.

Fleury is scheduled to play tonight.

And presumably the Jocelyn Thibault era in Pittsburgh is coming to an end.

Update: interestingly Sportsnet.ca is reporting Thibault refused a two-week conditioning stint in the American Hockey League with Wilkes-Barre, forcing Pens general manager Craig Patrick to make the move.

He's Back Again...

The Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury from
their American Hockey League affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton
Penguins, it was announced Monday by General Manager Craig Patrick.

Fleury, 20, is 10-0-2-0 this season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, posting
a 1.57 goals against average and a .939 save percentage. Fleury leads
all AHL goaltenders that have played at least 10 games this season in
goals against average and save percentage.

Fleury has appeared in four games this season with Pittsburgh, posting
a 1-1-1 record with a 3.40 goals against average and .913 save
percentage.

The 6-2 and 176 pound native of Sorel, Quebec was drafted by the
Penguins in the first round (1st overall) of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.

Crosby vs Ovechkin: Round 1 goes to Crosby

The Pens took a 4-0 lead in the first. Including goals from Ziggy, Lasse, Jac Rickman and an evil backhand waterbottle shot from Crosby.

Of course, the Pens are never happy with success. In the second they gave up two quick goals which can only be attributed to poor goaltending.

Later in the second the Pens got another highlight goal when Crosby made a pinpoint pass from his knee to Ziggy who deflected the 5th goal home.

The Caps got two more goals, one shothanded. And the Pens held on to win in a game that should have been a blowout.

But the Pens will never have a blowout as long as they have terrible goaltending and poor defensive play. And after outshooting the Caps 12-10 in the first the Pens went on to be outshot 28-45. So your making average (at best) goaltenders face the firing squad game after game.

And the frustrating thing is that their best goalie isn't playing because they don't want to pay him a $3M bonus yet they are getting nothing but turnovers from a defenseman (Gonchar) that they are paying an average of $5M a year.

It was stupid to structure Fluery's contract that way. But what's done is done. I guess they'll just try and hold down the fort until they can bring MAF up and not have to pay him his bonus. But if I'm Fluery I'm not gonna be that motivated to perform for a club that went to such lengths not to pay me my money.

I thought the call ups played pretty well, although not spectacularly.

Rumor: 3 Pens Waived

According to TSN Rico Fata, Konstantin Koltzov and Rob Scuderi have all been waived. If not claimed they can be sent down to WBS.

Which tells me fresh meat is coming up. Although the big call up, MAF, probably not.

Article Here

Bad News...Good News

The Bad News:

- No Mario, No Gonchar, Thibault gets hit in the throat with a puck in pregame warm ups.

The Good News:

- The Pens had Sidney Crosby and Darrian Hatcher pissed him off.

After taking a shot in the mush from Hatcher resulting in 87 having chipped teeth and stitches in his lip. Crosby came back and scored a goal and an assist to give the Pens a 2-0 lead.

Never satisfied with success the Pens promptly took a couple of penalties and gave up two goals as Philly tied it at 2-2. Eventually the game went to OT.

Marc-Andre Fluery, in relief of Thibault, was under fire for most of the overtime but with about a minute left Ryan Malone hit a long outlet pass to Crosby who had a clean breakaway and shot 5 hole to win the game.

So far this season the Pens either stink on ice or win dramatic games. How about a nice 2 goal or 3 goal victory for a change.

MAF looked solid in goal and the whole team played pretty good defense considering that Philly dominated the play for much of the game.

WHAT A GAME!!!!!

WOW!

Crosby is the Man.

Thibault gets the #1 star. Pens win 3-2 in a shootout.

The Pens played solid for the first two periods taking a 2-0 lead,but the fatigue of a 5 game road trip and playing on back to back nights showed in the third.

When Montreal scored late in the third to tie it 2-2, the Pens literally survived the end of the period and overtime mostly thanks to Thibault.

Then it was time for a shootout. I have to admit I thought Kovey would get the winning goal but when Thibault stopped him I felt like either Mario or Crosby would get the game winning goal. Mario was stopped but Crosby back hand roofed a shot that popped the water bottle and sent the Igloo into hysterics.

Dr Jeckel Game...Atlanta shuts out Pens 5-0

I'm past the "just glad hockey's back" phase. I'm now in the "frustrated by the inconsistent effort of the Pens" phase.

Last night's 'thrashing' by the Thrashers was a chore to watch. Pittsburgh played decently in first period and then essentially hung up their skates for the night and slogged through a 3 goal second period.

Caron suffered some sort of injury and was replaced by Thibault who promptly surrendered a 5th goal in all of 8 seconds.

There is a game at Pittsburgh vs the Habs tonight. I wonder if the Pens will show up?

Jagr not that impressed with Crosby

From the NY Times:

""He's had a good start, that's for sure," Jagr said of Crosby, who has 19 points in his first 15 games, with 5 goals and 14 assists, to lead N.H.L. rookies.

"But you cannot compare him to Mario or Gretzky. We have to wait a little bit. It's not fair to those guys to compare Crosby to Lemieux or Gretzky. You have to respect the players who did everything for hockey."

When asked what he thought of Crosby's performance last night, Jagr, who was on the ice when Crosby scored at 18 minutes 3 seconds of the second period, said: "I didn't really pay attention to him. I was just concentrating on myself. Of course, he scored a goal and he had some good plays"

Full Article

Coming together?

The Pens played their best game of the year, beating their division mates, the Islanders, 5-1. Some brief observations:

- Recchi plays great on the penalty kill
- Multi-point nights for the call ups Whitney and Christensen. They have really been a great addition
- Caron solid again in net
- Crosby is the dominate player with 2 goals and an assist.

There was a brief defensive lapse in the 2nd when the Isles made it 2-1. After that they settled back down.

You can kinda see the chemistry coming together w/ this team a little bit. This game was what we all envisioned in the off season. 3 wins in the last 4 and heading to Boston.

Gonchar shows signs

It's no secret that Gonchar has been underwhelming in his first 10 games as a Pen. But the goal he scored in OT really showed you why they signed him to that big contract.

He made at least 4 moves and then shot the goal through the 5 hole to give the Pens a crucial win in OT, beating the Devils 4-3. Caron was mostly solid in net.

Talbot, Lasse and Recchi also scored in the game. The two call ups Christensen and Whitney had 10 shots, and the team played better defense for the most part. But a bad defensive lapse in the third gave the Devils life and allowed them to tie it up.

Hopefully they'll use the victory to build some much needed confidence.