Pens beat Philly 8-2...Perfect!

Congrats to Sidney Crosby on your first career hat trick. Croz got his third when he deftly picked the puck off of Darrien Hatcher's stick for an unassisted goal. Perfect!

The Pens have won 4 in a row and taken two in a row from Philly for the first time since 2000. While we're talking records Evgeni Malkin scored his fifth goal in five games tying the rookie record for consecutive goals in his first 5 games.

Also the Pens added to their short handed goal total courtesy of Maxime Talbot who had two (one short handed) on the night.

Fluery was solid in net, again.

Staal had a quiet night on the second line, but did assist on Marc Recchi's first goal of the season.

Thorburn got the better of Darrien Hatcher in a fight.

Did I mention the Pens beat Philly 8-2? In Philly?

The Philly fans booed Crosby everytime he touched the puck early. When I mentioned this to Ryan he had the perfect response. "Who cares, they have like two wins."

Perfect.

Geno Rolls, Pens beat Devils 4-2

The Pens took an early lead in the Atlantic Division thanks to goals by Ekman, Crosby, rookie Jordan Staal and most spectacularly Malkin.

The Malkin goal goes immediately to the highlight reel as accepted a long pass from Crosby, split two defenders and backhanded the puck past Pittsburgh nemisis Marty Brodeur, sending the 13K plus at Mellon Arena into a frenzy. It was Malkin's 4rth goal in 4 games.

I'll try and post video of this goal if I can find it.

The Pen's move to 5-3 on the season as they continue to get exceptional goaltending from Mark Andre Fluery (who only saw 22 shots tonight).

Recently called up Maxime Talbot, made his presence felt during a checking play when he knocked (edit: was knocked through) one of the glass panels into the people sitting in the front row . I guess that's a hazard of getting those good seats.

Pens call up Welch

The Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled defenseman Noah Welch from their American Hockey League affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins He ranks second among team defensemen in scoring.

Staal scores two shorties, Pens beat Columbus 5-3

Rookie Jordan Staal scored two short handed goals, one on a penalty shot, and Malikin, Ouellet and Gonchar scored to power the Pens above .500 on Saturday night.

The bad news from the game, other than another defensive lapse after going up 2-0, was Ryan "Bugsy" Malone breaking his wrist in a fight with Rostislav Klesla after he mistakenly believed that Klesla took a run at Crosby. I give him props for protecting the franchise though.

The powerplay goal by Malkin with a beautiful assist by Crosby goes on the 2006 highlight tape.

The Pens get another shot at the dread NJ Devils on Tuesday night.

Staal is making it difficult for Shero to send him back to the minors with his play. He's definitely one of the top 5 guys on the ice.

From Russia...With Love, Pens Beat Islanders in OT 4-3

Malkin scores the tying goal and then his comrade Sergei Gonchar scored the game winner in OT.

Along the way they overcame a terrible second half of the second period that saw the Islander score 3 straight goals in less than 3 minutes.

Malkin also assisted on the first goal. A PP goal from Ouellet. Ekman scored on an assist from Crosby about 4:30 later to make the score 2-0. Crosby played extremely hard in this game and seemed to will the Pens to come back from the 3-2 deficit

The Pens seemed to get extremely tired in the second, having played two games in consecutive nights and their discipline failed them as they took sloppy penalties and gave the Islanders scoring chances. Theirren must have given a heck of a speech in the second intermission because they came out much more settled in the third.

Is it Geno or Gino? Pens fall 2-1 to Brodeur and Devils

Two good things about tonight's game. First the Pens managed to outshoot someone. They peppered Martin Brodeur with 38 shots to NJs 34, and had several good scoring chances. Unfortunately, as he's done many times to the Pens, Brodeur stood on his head and only let in one cheesy goal on route to a 2-1 victory. I knew he would be tough tonight going for his 450th win.

The other good thing was that the aforementioned cheesy goal was scored by none other than #71 Evgeni Malkin. He stuffed home a loose rebound of a Mark Recchi shot that Brodeur appeared to have covered late in the second period. Elsewhere Malkin showed the skills that the Penguins faithful have been waiting to see for two years. He made deft passes, used his long Mario like reach to steal pucks and smashed a pane of glass behind the goal.

We only got to see the Malkin Crosby lead power play one time and it looked good. Martin had some amazing saves to keep the Pens off the boards.

Overall a good debut for Geno (Gino), he was clearly the best Penguin on the ice.

Other notes: the PK continued to look solid and Fluery played pretty well again. Unfortunately the Pens fall to 2-3. The good news is they get a chance to make up for it tomorrow night against the Islanders.

It's 1991 All Over Again

In a game that reminded me so much of the old school Pens I was looking for Tom Barrasso in net, the Pens survived a back and forth affair 6-5, when Sidney Crosby (the Next One) scored a Power Play goal after Jaromir (I'm Dying Alive) Jagr took a hooking call w a minute and thirty seconds left in the game.

The two teams traded scoring through out the second or third periods after being shut out in the first. The first goal of the game and the first goal of his career came for the Pens short handed breakaway by none other than your number one draft pick Jordan Staal. Other goals were scored by fellow rookie, Letang, Ouellett and two from Ryan Whitney (one short handed).

The bad news is the Pens were badly outshot again in this game. But you have to admire their resilience

Staal played a ton on the Penalty Kill. Let the debate begin as to whether he should be sent to juniors. After three games the only compelling reason to send him anywhere is to delay his free agent year.

Taking the "Punch" out of Counter-punching, Pens lose 2-0 to Wings

There was a lot of things to like about this game. Unfortunately a goal for the Penguins wasn't included among them.

The plan for the Penguins seemed to be to sit back and wait for the Red Wings to get over agressive and then capitalize when they made a mistake. The problem was, once Detroit scored late in the first they seemed content to follow the same game plan. The result was a game where two teams tried to counter punch when neither team was actually punching.

Still the Pens played better D and gave up fewer shots, MAF was again solid, special teams looked good. So except for losing the game and that pesky trying to score a goal thing. They looked pretty good.

The PPG has the details.

MAF and Penalty Killers Come up Huge, Shut Out Philly

What a difference a year makes.

In a night that saw the #66 risen to the rafters once again, the new breed Penguin showed up at Mellon Arena to meet their new boss and show off some grit and toughness on their way to an opening night shut out of the dreaded Flyers.

With organization on special teams and a total team effort on defense, they blocked 20 shots, the Pens looked like a completely different team from last years heartless and confused mess.

MAF was superb looking much more confident and less floppy in net thanks, in part, to his new goaltender coach. He stopped all 40 shots that reached his net.

The bad news is the Pens took way too many penalties, giving the Flyers 10 powerplays including two 5 on 3s. But role players like Jarrko Rutuu and rookie Jordan Staal proved themselves up to the task killing all of them.

The Pens got off to an early lead with 3rd liners Michelle Ouellet and the aforementioned Rutuu contributing first period goals. Later Sid the Kid and Joe Melinchar added two goals to take the advantage to 4-0.

While it is only the first game, I'm encouraged by what I saw tonight.

Orpik Injured, Sabo claimed by Canucks

PPG Reports that Orpik hurt his hand in a scrimmage and is being evaluated to see if he needs surgery. Dany Sabourin got claimed by Vancouver when the team cut their roster to get to the league roster limit.

They haven't even played yet and already it's not looking good for the Pens.

Your Opening Night Lines

Lines:

Ekman-Crosby-Armstrong
Leclair-Malone-Recchi
Ruutu-Moore-Ouellet
Stewart-Staal-Roy

Defensive Pairings:
Eaton - Gonchar
Orpik - Whitney
Melichar-Letang

GT
Fluery
Thibalt

Fluery to Start, Jordan Staal gets a contract

KDKA Reports that Fluery will get the start at goal for the Pens in their opener against the Flyers and the Staal got a contract.