New Official Pens Tidbits Thread

[SCMom]

News & Notes

-- With the injuries, the Penguins dressed veteran minor-leaguer Andrew Hutchinson, who wore No. 8. Hutchinson played 13:55 including 1:45 on the power play.

-- Former Penguins F Bill Guerin, who helped the team to the Stanley Cup in 2009, received a standing ovation as he was shown watching the game from Mario Lemieux's private box.

-- In addition to his two assists, Matt Cooke threw a game-high seven hits.

-- C Sidney Crosby won six of 10 faceoffs (63 percent).

-- The Penguins were without the services of F Mike Comrie, who was scratched with what is believed to be an illness. Comrie, who shined in the preseason on the second line with Evgeni Malkin and Eric Tangradi, has zero points and is minus-1 with a team-high nine penalty minutes in three games.

-- Even though he went without a point, D Paul Martin still leads the Penguins with four, good enough for the league lead among all blueliners.

-- Saturday night's game against the Flyers at the Wells Fargo Center was moved up an hour earlier to 6 p.m. to alleviate parking and traffic concerns in the Philadelphia Sports Complex. The Phillies will host San Francisco in Game 1 of the NLCS at 8 p.m. In addition, Temple is playing football against Bowling Green at 1 p.m. across the parking lot at Lincoln Financial Field.

-- The Maple Leafs, who haven't won the Stanley Cup in 43 years, are off to a 3-0 start for the first time since 1999.

The good: Sidney Crosby scored his first goal of the season, giving him half as many as rookie teammate Mark Letestu … or half as many as Toronto’s Clarke McArthur scored Wednesday alone.

The bad: Evgeni Malkin didn’t just fail to convert a second-period penalty shot, he missed the net entirely.

And the ugly: Marc-Andre Fleury stopped just 10 of the 14 shots he faced.

http://www.timesonline.com/sports/sp...s-at-home.html

[SCMom]

Orpik is day-to-day with a groin injury that has bothered him since the final week of training camp. It forced him to miss the final two exhibition games and a regular-season game Monday at New Jersey.

Michalek was scheduled to be re-evaluated yesterday afternoon by team doctors. He was injured in the Penguins' win at New Jersey and seen favoring his right shoulder after a clean hit by Devils forward Rod Pelley.

Neither Orpik nor Michalek were available for comment. Bylsma did not suggest a timetable for Michalek's diagnosis.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pitt.../s_704218.html

[SCMom]

Fleury needs some (goal)tender loving care
By: Chris Bradford Beaver County Times
Thursday October 14, 2010 12:04 AM
http://www.timesonline.com/sports/sp...ving-care.html

There is a growing sentiment around the NHL that it’s not necessary to receive great goaltending to win the Stanley Cup.

To be sure it’s a radical idea, heretofore thought to be blasphemy, but its proponents quickly point out the names of the masked men to reach the Cup finals since the 2005 lockout. Antti Niemi, Michael Leighton, Chris Osgood, Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Ray Emery, Cam Ward, Dwayne Roloson and yes, one Marc-Andre Fleury, they argue aren’t exactly Terry Sawchuk or Ken Dryden.

The Penguins, at least publicly, aren’t big proponents of said theory. To a man, they still believe they have a good — and at times elite — goaltender in Fleury.

However, nights like Wednesday make you wonder if Fleury will ever get back to the level that he displayed in the magical springs of 2008 and ’09.

Six months after their second-round ouster at the hands of Montreal, a vocal minority of Penguins fans still pin it all on Fleury. Conveniently, they forget about the dysfunctional power play or the lack of muscle on defense on which Montreal capitalized. That diving stop on Detroit’s Nick Lidstrom in the waning seconds of Game 7? Ancient history as far as they are concerned.

Unfortunately for Fleury, he gave his critics plenty more to moan about Wednesday night during the Penguins’ 4-3 loss to the Maple Leafs, when Fleury surrendered three goals on five shots in the second period, four on 14 for the game.

Of those 14 shots, Fleury faced only “eight” quality scoring chances, according to his coach. “There’s a couple there has to come up with the save,” Dan Bylsma said.

Not that Fleury, who fell to 0-3 on the season needed reminded.

“Too may goals against for sure,” said Fleury, who’s goals-against average was already a bloated 3.08 entering the game. “We didn’t give up that many shots, just disappointing for me to lose that one.”

In fact, Fleury wasn’t all to blame for the loss. It certainly didn’t help Fleury that he didn’t have his top defensive pair in Brooks Oprik and Zbynek Michalek, or that he had to endure the mock cheers when he made even the most remedial of saves.

The goalie position is regarded as one of the toughest in sports — they don’t make pitcher’s retrieve the ball after they’ve given up a home run — and it’s made even more demanding when you’re confidence is shattered.

A little tender loving care might be in order here.

[SCMom]

Penguins Report: Practice 10/14/10


Thursday, 10.14.2010 / 11:37 AM / Penguins Report
By Sam Kasan
http://penguins.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=540528&navid=DL|PIT|home



Michalek, Orpik and Asham injury updates at 1:09 PM entry...

__________________________________________________ _________________________

1:28 PM:
Coach Bylsma also said that goaltender Brent Johnson will get the start in net for Pittsburgh Friday night against the Islanders.
__________________________________________________ _________________________

1:27 PM:
Coachspeak with Dan Bylsma...

On Michalek’s injury:
I was hoping for him to play last game, but that’s a situation where you have to wait to even have your muscles calm down to get evaluated. It could be anywhere, so it’s relatively good news, in terms of the length of time of what he’s dealing with.

On Deryk Engelland:
You have to bring your game to the table. Everyone has to do that, and Deryk has proved what he can be. He’s been physical in the games he played against other teams’ skill guys. He was hitting Kovalchuk and Parise in New Jersey. And he added that aspect to our game last night, in a game where, as a first year guy, he took it upon himself to give our team a spark. He did it with a guy who’s a pretty tough customer. You have to wonder why he fighting him a little bit. I’ve seen Deryk and he’s really tough, and that definitely added a spark to our bench and it got the crowd back into it.

On what he wants to see different from his team:
You have to go with the process and figure out how you’re going to be a good team, and you have to have different aspects of a good team. Those aren’t secrets, having good special teams, good goaltending, good defense. A team that makes plays has to play a certain way and have players on the same page. You have to have players playing certain roles and doing certain things. We were very good in the preseason and we saw those things, but the regular season is a different story and we know that. But we can’t add those things up. We’re a good team. We could have won some of those games, for sure. We’re trying to win hockey games, but we’re trying to put elements of being a good team together. Some of that may be special teams and some of that may be goaltending. We have to get better in those areas and have desperation to get those things.

On why Mike Comrie was scratched:
Mike is a guy who adds offensive ability and can play in different spots. And he did do that to some degree, he could have three points right now if we hit an open net or it doesn’t clang off the post to a guy he passed to. Just puck battles on both ends of the rink and being hard on the puck and being able to make those plays, everyone looks differently. Mike Comrie is not going to be Matt Cooke, but he has to be able to do that and be those things for the power play and for his line and do all those things on the rink both offensively and defensively. He got scratched in last night’s game, but he will get another opportunity.

On if he dressed Eric Godard in Wednesday’ game because the Maple Leafs have an enforcer-type:
That certainly was a part of it.

__________________________________________________ _________________________

1:23 PM:
The Penguins announced the rest of their blue third jersey schedule.
__________________________________________________ _________________________

1:20 PM:
Sidney Crosby was given the day off by the coaching staff. We caught up with the Penguins captain in the locker room following practice.

On taking the day off to rest:
It’s just a maintenance day.

On how he feels about wearing the blue uniforms:
Well, the record is usually the reason for how we feel about (the blue uniforms). Hopefully we start off right. But it’s always the case that if you win, then you don’t mind wearing them.

On being frustrated:
Nobody likes to lose, but I think through the first four games, we’ve done some pretty good things and had some pretty good chances to score. We still have things to improve on, but there have been a lot of good things, too. We can always look at other situations and scenarios. I look back to last year, we were 9-1, but we didn’t really play that well. You still want to win obviously, but that’s hockey sometimes. It doesn’t always seem fair, but that’s the way it works.

On his scoring chances:
I feel good. There’s frustration that comes with not creating chances, and there’s frustration that comes when they seem not to go in. When you’re creating them, that’s a big part of it. As long as you keep doing that, they’re going to go in, and you’re going to get your bounces. But I feel good and I feel like I’m creating things out there. We’ve all done a pretty good job of creating chances, it’s just a matter of having it go in.

On streaks like this, where chances just don’t seem to go in the net:
That’s the way it works: There’s not a lot that I would change on certain plays. You just hit posts, or the puck bounces the other way. Other times you get one shot and it ends up in the net. That’s the game of hockey and that’s why you work to create as many as you can every game and give yourself the best chance.

Assist T-Bone
__________________________________________________ _________________________

1:09 PM:
Dan Bylsma had a couple of updates on some injured Penguins:

• Zbynek Michalek is out 2 to 4 weeks with an upper-body injury
• Forward Arron Asham (upper body) skated for the first time Thursday; as did Jordan Staal
• Brooks Orpik is still day-to-day with a groin strain

"(Michalek) has an upper-body injury," Bylsma said. "It's tough to estimate, but 2 to 4 weeks on Z. Brooks is day-to-day. Arron Asham skated today. He was out indefinitely, now it's around two weeks." Bylsma also noted that he gave forwards Sidney Crosby and Maxime Talbot the practice off for maintenance days. __________________________________________________ _________________________

11:46 AM:


Marc-Andre Fleury with the new pads with light blue lines (left); Brent Johnson (right)


Mark Letestu (left); Kris Letang and coach Bylsma (right)


Eric Tangradi (right)
__________________________________________________ _________________________

11: 36 AM:
The Penguins are on the ice for their Thursday afternoon practice at Southpointe. The team is rockin' their blue uniforms, as they will wear the alternate blue jersey against the Islanders Friday night.

Sidney Crosby and Maxime Talbot are not on the ice right now. We'll get an update from coach Bylsma for you.

[SCMom]

And just a little heads up to everyone who thinks Gonchar was the savior of the PP...guess how well Ottawa is doing right now on their PP. 14 PP opportunities and ZERO PP goals. Good for 29th in the league.

Pens have had 20 PP opportunities and have scored 3 times (good for 15% and 16th in the league), but keep in mind that one PP goal was taken back since the PP had just expired. Had that goal come one second earlier, the PP would be operating at 20% right now (something that was extremely rare even with Gonchar QBing the PP).

Loved Gonch on this team, but he was certainly NOT the answer for our PP woes.

Just my

[SCMom]

Will be posting game day updates here and trying to keep in-game conversations here as well.

Other articles will still go in the Tidbits section.

[SCMom]

Islanders-Penguins Preview
Associated Press
http://www.nhl.com/ice/preview.htm?i...vid=sb:preview

The Pittsburgh Penguins are getting anxious about when they'll pick up their first win in their new arena. Facing a team they beat eight consecutive times in their old one should provide an excellent opportunity.

The Penguins have dropped their first three games at Consol Energy Center, but they haven't lost to the New York Islanders in Pittsburgh in nearly three years heading into Friday night's meeting.

There hasn't been any sort of home-ice advantage thus far for the Penguins (1-3-0) in their new building, which is across the street from the now-defunct Mellon Arena.

Pittsburgh has lost all three games in the NHL's newest venue by one goal. It led 2-1 after one period Wednesday against Toronto, but allowing three straight goals in the second proved to be too much to overcome in a 4-3 loss.

"Each game that goes by, especially when you expect to win each one, it starts to get discouraging," defenseman Paul Martin said. "That's something we can't concentrate on."

The Penguins went 26-1-1 last season when they scored four goals, something they've yet to do. They're also getting minimal contributions from their two biggest stars - Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have each been held to a goal and an assist apiece, hardly numbers befitting a duo that combined for 186 points last season.

"There's frustration that comes with not creating chances, and there's frustration that comes when they seem not to go in," Crosby said. "... We've all done a pretty good job of creating chances, it's just a matter of having it go in."

Also of concern is goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, whose .853 save percentage is the league's worst. He's been in net for all three losses, while backup Brent Johnson notched the lone victory.

Though Fleury is 6-0-1 with a 1.68 goals-against average in his last seven games against the Islanders (1-1-1), coach Dan Bylsma said Thursday he'll start Johnson, who's 4-7-0 with a 4.04 GAA versus New York.

Pittsburgh is 15-3-1 in the series' last 19 games and especially dominant at home. The Penguins outscored New York 39-15 in winning the last eight meetings at Mellon Arena. Malkin had seven goals and eight assists in those victories, while Crosby has recorded four goals and 11 assists in his last five home games against the Islanders.

New York looked like it would be in for some high-scoring games after its first two contests, a 5-4 shootout loss against Dallas on Saturday and a 6-4 win over the Rangers on Monday.

Things settled down Wednesday against one of the league's premier offensive teams. Though the Islanders were even with Washington through 56 minutes, Nicklas Backstrom's late power-play goal was enough to lift the Capitals to a 2-1 win.

"The end result wasn't too good, but I think as a team we did a great job," rookie Nino Niederreiter, who scored his first NHL goal, told the Islanders' official website. "We had a good effort."

Both teams have injury issues heading into this game. New York center John Tavares has missed the past two games with a concussion and could be held out again Friday, while defenseman James Wisniewski will serve the back end of a two-game suspension.

Pittsburgh's Brooks Orpik (groin) is day to day, but fellow defenseman Zbynek Michalek will miss two to four weeks with a right shoulder injury.

[Shea]

Mom, Max was backed on the ice for the third period of yesterdays game.

I'm taking that as a sign that he's fine.

[Shea]

They'll be wearing the baby blues.

Maybe that will give them some mojo.

[SCMom]

Originally Posted by Shea

Mom, Max was backed on the ice for the third period of yesterdays game.

I'm taking that as a sign that he's fine.

Yeah, I must have missed him being back out...he did take the day off of practice today though for "maintenance day". So, it must not have been too serious.

I was just like, FML, when he went into the dressing room though lol.