The Bruins are for real, Pens fall 5-2
Bruins 5- Penguins 2
Penguins had only won 3 of last 15 home games against Boston going into Tuesday night’s game. Unfortunatly for Pittsburgh, they could not find a way to stop the red-hot Bruins.
With Hal Gill returning to the lineup, the Penguins played with seven defensemen against the Bruins, sending Paul Bissonnette back to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
1st Period:
Previewing Pens vs. Bruins, Dec. 30
Lack of effort shouldn’t be an issue tonight considering the hottest team in the Eastern Conference visits the Mellon Arena at 7:30 p.m.
Boston Bruins (27-5-4, 58 pts.) vs. Pittsburgh Penguins (19-13-4, 42 pts.)
The last two games have been the hardest working efforts we’ve seen in weeks. Though the Pens lost to Montreal on Saturday, they were a few small mistakes away from forcing overtime … or winning.
Hal Gill returns tonight and will aide the defensive corps — the unit that is struggling the most.
Power Play falters, Habs beat Pens
Another 0-5 effort on the power play led to another Penguins loss Saturday night, this time to Montreal by a score of 3-2.
Canadiens 3 — Penguins 2
Many will blame the soft goal given up by Marc-Andre Fleury early in the third period or the defense of he Pens. However, a power play unit with so much talent that is given so many chances should not go 0-5. Especially against a Montreal team with an average penalty kill.
Not to mention the fact that three of the five came in the third period while trailing. The final chance came with just over three minutes remaining — a gift for any team trying to tie a game late.
Pens beat Devils, take on Habs tonight
One goal was all Marc-Andre Fleury needed to ensure a Pittsburgh win last night in New Jersey as the Penguins won 1-0.
Penguins 1 – Devils 0
Ruslan Fedotenko was the recipient of a beautiful give-and-go pass from Evgeni Malkin and was left all alone to fire a wrist shot past New Jersey goaltender Scott Clemmensen at the 12:51 mark of the second period. Clemmensen got in front of the puck, but it squeezed between his arm and body and had just enough speed left to trickle past the goal line.
Fleury did the rest.
Previewing Pens @ Devils, Dec. 26
All I want for Christmas is a win.
Pittsburgh Penguins vs. New Jersey Devils
Actually, scratch that — a good win. A great win! … Now I’ve got it: All I want for Christmas is to see the Pens play a full 60 minutes of hockey.
As much as the Pens (18-12-4, 40 pts.) have underachieved lately, frustrating most of the fanbase, they are only one point behind the New Jersey Devils (19-10-3, 41 pts.) for third place in the Atlantic. And, they are just five points behind Philadelphia and seven behind the Rangers.
Jimerson returns, Pens still lose 2-0
Lightning 2- Penguins 0
Jeff Jimerson returned Tuesday night
After missing the first 14 home games of the season, Jeff Jimerson returned to sing the National Anthem before the Penguins took on the Tampa Bay Lightning Tuesday night. Unfortunatly, the familiar sounds of ‘Jimers’ could not produce anything for the Pens. Not even a goal.
Oh yeah…..Ryan Whitney returned too.
The last time the Penguins were shut out at home was in January of 2008. The opponent? The Tampa Bay Lightning. Tuesday marked the return of many familiar faces now bearing Lightning blue: Ryan Malone, Marc Recchi, and Adam Hall, none of which were welcomed back with open arms. Initial cheers of Ryan Malone in the starting lineup quickly lead to boos as the hometown boy got into it early with Evgeni Malkin. This would only be the start of a long night of physicality involving Malone. Read more »
Previewing Pens @ Sabres
Either the Sabres are creeping up on the Pens or the Pens are creeping down on the Sabres.
Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Buffalo Sabres
Likely it’s a little of both since both teams are going in opposite directions. In the last eight games, Buffalo is 5-2-1. Compare that to a 3-5-0 mark in the Penguins’ last eight games.
Both are separated by two points and desperately need two more tonight to keep pace with the leaders in the Eastern Conference.
Weekly Rant: A December to forget
My Rant
I think that fans think the Penguins are in better shape than they really are.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are in fourth place in the Atlantic Division and seventh place in the Eastern Conference. They can’t win at home and are in the midst of their worst streak of hockey since last season.
This all came to its climax on Saturday night when the Pens lost to Toronto — a team that is rebuilding and is struggling to hover around .500 on the season.
Sidney Crosby cant find the net, the two best defensemen are out and the Pens are relying on Wilkes-Barre to fill a multitude of roster spots.
Somehow this team finds itself with mid-season injury woes seemingly every year. And, somehow, this team finds a way to get around it and continue to win games.
That trend is in jeopardy.
Games of Importance, Dec. 21
Philadelphia and New Jersey got together Sunday afternoon and, unfortunately for the Pens, both teams earned points in the outcome.
Flyers 2 – Devils 3 F SOT
The first period went scoreless, but in the second period the Devils jumped out to a 2-0 lead. First Patrick Elias scored on the power play and then Brian Rolston scored, putting New Jersey up just 8:38 in to the second. Philly put one on the board before the end of the period from Jeff Carter and the score was 2-1 after two.
In the third, Joffrey Lupul scored with under five minutes to play to send the game in to overtime. After five minutes of four on four it went to a shootout — five rounds worth. In the fifth round, Lupul was stopped by Scott Clemmensen. That led to the game-winner by Travis Zajac.
The Flyers earned one point and the Devils got two, pushing both a little farther ahead of the Penguins in the Atlantic Division standings. Pittsburgh is now three points out of third, five points out of second and a whole eight points behind the Rangers for first place.
While the Pens have played one more game than the Devils, they have one game in hand on the Flyers and four on teh Rangers.
–
Chris | PPT
Penguins Roundtable, Question #4
Tony Ferrante oragnized a roundtable of Pens bloggers over the summer to discuss the Penguins and he’s at it again. This is the second installment and Tony was gracious enough to allow us to participate once again, one-third of the way in to the season. Below are the list of bloggers that are participating in the second installment:
Sean Leahy (SL) – Going Five Hole, Chris Wassel (CW) – The Program, FrankD (FD) – Pensburgh, Stephanie (ST) – The Steel City Sports Fan (Penguins Edition), Hooks Orpik (HO) – The Sweater Ted, Greg Wyshynski (GW) – Puck Daddy, Yahoo! Sports Blogs, Chris Gates (CG) – Pittsburgh Puck Talk, Seth Rorabaugh (SR) – Pittsburgh Post Gazette’s Empty Netters, Matt Bodenschatz (MB) – Faceoff Factor, Brian Metzer (BM) – Hockeybuzz.com, Jesse Marshall (JM) – Faceoff Factor, Pensblog Staff (PB) – The Pensblog, Tony Ferrante (TF) – Kukla’s Korner/The Confluence.
4. OK, the unavoidable question. What the hell do you attribute the problems on the Penguins’ powerplay to ?? Injuries ?? Scheme/coaching ?? Personnel assignments ?? Execution ?? Let’s hear it.
Read more »
Team Info
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Regular Season Stats:
Points: Sidney Crosby — 43 pts. (22 goals, 21 assists)
Goals: Sidney Crosby — 22
Assists: Evgeni Malkin — 24
PIM: Matt Cooke/Mike Rupp — 54
+/-: Sidney Crosby — plus-14
GAA: Marc-Andre Fleury — 2.31
SV%: Marc-Andre Fleury — .911
Atlantic Division Standings:
1. New Jersey Devils: 25-8-1 (51 pts.)
2. Pittsburgh Penguins: 25-10-1 (51 pts.)
3. New York Rangers: 16-16-3 (35 pts.)
4. New York Islanders: 13-16-7 (33 pts.)
5. Philadelphia Flyers: 15-17-2 (32 pts.)
