New Official Pens Tidbits Thread

[Killer]

A 2 goal lead and they blow it so easily

I'm glad I'm not paying to watch this crap, Gogo is ****ing horrible, everyone making them little pissy passes that get picked off and everyone is standing around the whole 3rd period like the game was over.

phhthp

[Shea]

I think Gogo has been playing pretty well actually and isn't at all horrible, just had a bad moment tonight that led to a goal.

Flower will be in net next game due to tonight though.

I know he's in a rut and don't hold that against him, but read the other day that Bylsma is dissapointed with his work ethic during practice.

I'm not necessarily going to get pissed if he isn't getting it done in goal, but if he isn't putting in the work to correct the situation then that is a whole different situation. That ain't good and that will piss me off big time if true.

I know they've won some games, but it's starting to feel like they have lost every game this year.

It's beginning to become very frustrating.

[SCMom]

Originally Posted by Shea

I think Gogo has been playing pretty well actually and isn't at all horrible, just had a bad moment tonight that led to a goal.

Flower will be in net next game due to tonight though.

I know he's in a rut and don't hold that against him, but read the other day that Bylsma is dissapointed with his work ethic during practice.

I'm not necessarily going to get pissed if he isn't getting it done in goal, but if he isn't putting in the work to correct the situation then that is a whole different situation. That ain't good and that will piss me off big time if true.

I know they've won some games, but it's starting to feel like they have lost every game this year.

It's beginning to become very frustrating.

Yeah, it's frustrating as hell for sure.

Gogo had a shit game last night (in the 3rd). Once again he had a great October and is starting to play like crap again. I hope it's just a minor funk for him. He NEEDS to get better.

Now is the time to play Fleury for a long stretch. If Byslma doesn't and keeps switching back and forth trying to find the "hot goalie" in front of a defense that has lost its system and is lacking, then I'll have lost some confidence in him (Byslma) and his effect on this team.

Right now it doesn't matter who's in goal...the defense (and some of the forwards) are just not playing right. It doesn't make any sense that a team can score 4 on Tim Thomas in 2 periods and still lose. It's really sad.

And I read an article about this the other day...but in true Penguin fashion, I think things are going to get a lot worse before they start getting better. Not throwing in the towel for the whole season yet, but I think we're in for a long winter.

[SCMom]

Orpiks take on it...

Remember this Wednesday night, even if the Penguins defensemen probably couldn't wait to forget, because it generated this assessment from trusted voice Brooks Orpik.

"Which one do you want to talk about?" he said of four third-period goals that were scored within about 13 minutes. "Take your pick, and I'll tell you.

"It's not that (other teams) are doing anything. I mean, everything they get, we give them. It's just (our) guys got to be accountable. Part of the problem is we're not playing to the situation. I mean, why are defensemen playing like forwards when we've got a 4-2 lead — this is the problem to me.

"We've got enough good forwards here. We don't need our defensemen playing like forwards when we're up 4-2."

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt...rce=rss&feed=8

I love him for never mincing words. though I wish he was staring directly at Bylsma saying those words. That's just poor coaching right there.

[Killer]

It's a long way to go - but they better get their heads outta their asses. Coach too.

Blysma might not make it till Jan. He's got a team of soft goons who would rather fight than play? Where did this all come from?

[SCMom]

Pens and Lightning tonight @ 7. Gonna be another tough game (I think they all will be for a while), but I'll be watching as usual.

Fleury will be in goal tonight. Hope he does well, but even if he doesn't play perfect or if the defense leaves him out to hang, again, I still think now is the time to ride him. He's not going to get any better sitting on the bench IMO, and he's not going to get his confidence from practice.

It looks like Conner will be playing tonight as well, he was at practice today. These were the lines at practice today...he may get the nod in favor of Comrie.

Kunitz-Crosby-Dupuis
Cooke-Malkin-Asham
Rupp-Talbot-Adams
Conner-Letestu-Kennedy
The "fifth line" featured Comrie and Godard skating with various partners.

[SCMom]

It's been a great two games for the Pens. The whole team has played extremely well, including Fleury. He made 15 saves against Tampa (not a lot I know...but they were pretty much all HUGE saves) and the Pens won 5-1. He made 31 saves against Atlanta last night and his smart goaltending and Geno's hat trick led the Pens to a 4-2 win. Hope they keep up the good work!

Penguins Solid in All Facets Against Thrashers
Sunday, 11.14.2010 / 12:30 AM / Features
By Sam Kasan
http://penguins.nhl.com/club/news.ht...id=DL|PIT|home

ATLANTA – If you want to win hockey games in the National Hockey League, there’s a fairly simple method to follow: win the special teams battle, play sound in the defensive zone, get quality goaltending and let your star players carry you.

The Penguins received a little of all that Saturday night in their 4-2 win over the Atlanta Thrashers at Philips Arena.

We can breakdown those points as well:
The Penguins penalty killers successfully killed off all five shorthanded situations, including two in the third period. Pittsburgh’s power play netted the eventual game-winning goal in the third period.
Pittsburgh eliminated a lot of rebound opportunities and kept most of the shots to the outside perimeter and the points.
Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was there to help out his teammates with some key saves when called upon. He stopped 31 pucks in the contest to pick up his second win in two nights.
The stars shined for Pittsburgh. Evgeni Malkin recorded his sixth career hat trick, to go with four points, in the contest. Sidney Crosby recorded a goal and three points.

“All the way around, across the board I think it’s fair to say,” said captain Sidney Crosby on the team’s effort. “It’s a 1-1 game and we had some big penalty kills. (Marc-Andre) Fleury made some big saves. We got a power-play goal in the third. If we keep putting games together like this, we should keep gaining confidence and getting better.”

“We played great tonight, Fleury, PK, the power play and I scored a few goals,” Malkin said.

Pittsburgh improved to 6-2 in back-to-back contests on the year, including a perfect 4-0 on the second night. The Penguins are starting to string together some quality games.

“We want to keep building,” Crosby said. “The last four or five games we’ve been playing good hockey, even if we haven’t won them all. We want to stick with things here. With the team winning and everyone gaining confidence, we’ll only get better. That’s a good sign.”

The Penguins are 6-3-1 on the road this season. They are 36-21-7 away from home since Dan Bylsma was named head coach on Feb. 15, 2009. And to win on the road, you have to play a solid game in all facets.

“Special teams was big tonight,” head coach Dan Bylsma said. “Our PK came up real big and we had the power-play goal. On back-to-back nights, traveling and on the road, that was a big effort from our team.”

Now the Penguins head home for three straight contests at CONSOL Energy Center. Bylsma is hoping to carry their momentum back to Pittsburgh.

“We’re going home this next week focused on getting some wins for us,” he said.

[SCMom]

Cooke, son share sweet scene
By Rob Rossi, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, November 14, 2010
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt...rce=rss&feed=8

Rob Rossi, in his fourth season covering the Penguins, shares some of the scenes unique to a traveling beat reporter.

If the NHL collective bargaining agreement allowed for it, the Penguins would be wise to sign Jackson Cooke to a letter of intent. The little guy has the look of a future NHL regular.

Of course, it helps that Cooke has a great teacher in dear old (by Penguins standards, anyway) dad - Matt Cooke.

The elder Cooke owns a reputation as a fierce competitor, a player willing to toe (and sometimes cross) the line for the benefit of his team. He isn't loved in 29 NHL cities, but the Penguins appreciate him so much that last summer general manager Ray Shero made Cooke one of the rare players in his 30s to receive a multi-year contract.

Cooke will be 34 when his current three-year deal expires, and he might call it a career at that point. The next phase of his life is probably as a hockey dad, and he's already prepping for it.

A familiar sight at Consol Energy Center before practices is Cooke and son on the ice, dad observing carefully as son works on the basics. For about 30 minutes Cooke schools his boy on the art of making and receiving passes, points out spots on the ice where forwards should go to score goals, and urges him to dig harder while bending his knees during the skating stride.

This is the side of Cooke his detractors -- those who consider him one of the NHL's dirtiest players -- might not believe, perhaps a side they could not fathom.

Cooke's critics should know the only job at which he's better at than stirring the pot and killing penalties is parenting.

A few months into his first season with the Penguins, Cooke showed the side of himself that to that point was seldom seen by local media. Walking from a Starbucks to Joe Louis Arena before a game in November 2008, he discussed the difference between public education in Canada and the United States, reasoning that he needed to educate himself more on the pros and cons of potential schools for his children before deciding whether his family should move to Pittsburgh.

After signing his contract in late June, he shared that they would finally make that move. Surely that move will help Jackson Cooke grow into a fine NHL prospect.

He can count on dad seeing to that little by little every day.

[SCMom]

Well...moving on from the horrible Steelers loss last night. Pens and Rangers play tonight at 7. Should be a good physical game. Lundqvist should be back in net as well (he's missed 2 games with an illness...would have been nice to abuse Biron though lol). Kennedy is out with an illness. Most likely expect Fleury back in net as well.

Rangers aim for third straight at Pittsburgh
Sunday, 11.14.2010 / 8:01 PM
Brian Compton - NHL.com Staff Writer
http://www.nhl.com/ice/preview.htm?i...vid=sb:preview

RANGERS (9-7-1) at PENGUINS (9-8-1)

TV: MSG, Fox Sports-Pittsburgh.

Last 10: New York 5-5-0; Pittsburgh 4-5-1.

Season Series: This is the first of six meetings between the Atlantic Division rivals. Pittsburgh went 5-0-1 against the Rangers last season and outscored them by a margin of 27-16.

Big Story: The Rangers got superstar Marian Gaborik back in the lineup Thursday night and have outscored their opponents 11-4 in two victories. After earning a 3-2 overtime win against Buffalo on Thursday, New York trounced the Edmonton Oilers by an 8-2 score at Madison Square Garden on Sunday afternoon. Gaborik had a hat trick in the victory.

"It wasn't easy," goalie Martin Biron said. "We had a four-game homestand and lost the first two. This could have easily gone south really quickly, but we were able to salvage it with two big wins at the end. Now it's for us to take that momentum and apply it to our road game, which has been really good."

Team Scope:

Rangers: Gaborik -- who had four points -- wasn't the only major contributor for the Rangers on Sunday. Alex Frolov had two goals and two assists, while Erik Christensen had three assists for the Blueshirts, who won their second straight despite the absence of Henrik Lundqvist, who was battling an illness.

"You hope it gives him some confidence," coach John Tortorella said of Frolov, who entered the game with just two goals and four assists. "You hope he scores in bunches now. I thought Erik made some good plays. We are trying to get that line in a situation where there is some chemistry."

Penguins: It took some time, but it appears Marc-Andre Fleury has finally re-claimed his job as Pittsburgh's starting goaltender.

Fleury, who got off to a sluggish start, won his second straight game on Saturday night as the Pens earned a 4-2 victory against the Atlanta Thrashers at Philips Arena. With the win, Fleury improved to just 3-6-0 on the season.

"He was extremely good early on in the game for us," Pens coach Dan Bylsma said of his goaltender. "He made a couple of real big saves when they had a couple of great chances. Coming back after (Friday) night's game and playing the way he did … I sensed we were going to get a great game from Marc."

Who's Hot: Rangers forward Brian Boyle scored again on Sunday. Boyle, who had four goals last season, has eight in 17 games. … Pens captain Sidney Crosby has 12 points (6 goals, 6 assists) in his last five games.

Injury Report: Chris Drury (broken finger), Vinny Prospal (knee) and Michal Rozsival (shoulder) are out for the Rangers. … Pens center Jordan Staal (hand) is out indefinitely.

Stat Pack: Gaborik's hat trick against the Oilers was his second with New York. He had nine with the Minnesota Wild. … Rugged forward Arron Asham notched his 100th career assist in Pittsburgh's win at Atlanta on Saturday night.

Puck Drop: "You want to go out there, work hard and be on top of your game. It is definitely good to go out there, score and get one under your belt." -- Rangers forward Marian Gaborik

[SCMom]

Sidney Crosby Ranks Among League's Best
Tuesday, 11.16.2010 / 1:05 PM / Features
http://penguins.nhl.com/club/news.ht...id=DL|PIT|home

The Penguins are a quarter into the 2009-10 campaign and to the surprise of no one, captain Sidney Crosby once again finds himself ranking among the NHL’s elite players.

Crosby is currently tied for the lead in the NHL scoring race with 28 points, while ranking third (tied) in goals with 12. The following are Crosby’s NHL rankings as of Tuesday:

28 points – tied for first
12 goals – tied for third
16 assists – second
5 power-play goals – tied for third
72 shots – fifth
253 faceoff wins – second

Crosby is heating up right now for the Penguins. He has scored a goal in five of the last six games, with multiple-point games in six of his past eight contests. Over the last eight games Crosby has 15 points (6G-9A).

“The main thing is to remain consistent,” Crosby said. “As a line I think we’ve done a pretty good job at it in the last five or six (games), as the whole team has. We need to keep going. We’re playing good hockey, but we need to get results too.”

And Crosby has also improved immensely in the fundamentals. He set a new career high with faceoff wins (27) Monday night against the New York Rangers. At one point during the game, Crosby had won 19 of 20 faceoffs, a ridiculously silly equation.

“(Against the Rangers) I felt pretty good,” he said. “I thought it was one of my better games as far as creating things, faceoffs and things like that. That’s the way it goes. Sometimes you create more and they don’t go in.”

“He’s been good on the faceoffs and has been proficient there for a while now,” head coach Dan Bylsma said. “But he has had a few nights where he goes off like that. When he’s like that, he’s going to be the guy who goes out and takes the faceoffs in every type of situation.”

Dominating the NHL is nothing new to Crosby – who has a Stanley Cup, Olympic gold medal, Hart Trophy (MVP), Art Ross (scoring championship), “Rocket” Richard (goal-scoring champion) and Lester B. Pearson Award (outstanding player as voted by peers).

Over the past few seasons Crosby has used the offseason to improve parts of his game. Heading into last season, the 23-year-old captain worked on his faceoffs and shooting technique.

The result? Crosby won the NHL’s goal-scoring title with 51 goals (shared with Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos) and led the league with 1,001 faceoff wins.

Crosby had some extra time this past summer to hone his game. But the most important thing was to get some much needed rest after playing in 275 games (211 regular season, 57 playoffs, 7 Olympics) over the past three seasons.

“Off the ice you have to make most of the summer,” Crosby said. “You put in a lot of work off the ice to get stronger and gain any chance you can. You don’t always get a long summer, hopefully we don’t have many of them. But when you get them you want to make sure you’re rested and in good shape, and ready to have a good season.”

Crosby’s season is shaping up to be good. And as the year draws to a close, you can expect to see Crosby’s name near the top of the chards among the NHL’s elite.