Debbils, Brothers, Barenaked Ladies, and Hat Tricks:

Sidney Crosby (now tied for second in points with 30) did his best to give Marc Andre Fleury a win for a birthday present with two goals last night in Buffaslugville, including one sick goal where he contributed his own redirection. But such was not to be. Pens lose 4-3 after giving up two goals in the third. John Curry made 28 saves and looked fantastic at times with several quick-reaction saves in the third period to keep the game even and then close, but the Pens couldn't keep the puck in the offensive zone or control their own zone with the 'Slugs buzzing around. (I didn't know slugs could do that are they slugs or mosquitoes?) Pesonen didn't get much ice time, but was solid while still needing more familiarity with the speed and style of the big League to show more of his offensive capabilities, if he has any, (sorry Vince) Phillipe Boucher left the game early with the dreaded 'undisclosed' (I still hate that) and did not return, mixing up the FPL and causing some problems with the power play which ended up a dismal 0-7 on the night.

The Flightless Ones will be facing long time nemesis New Jersey tonight without the services, once again of the Flower, whose still 'undisclosed' injury is now classed as week-to-week instead of day to day. (... and there was much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth) According to PP.com Dany Sabourin is slated to play in net tonight and Janne Pesonen will remain with the Big Club and play on Malkin's left wing. They go on to say that the Pens have struggled a bit with teams that play the trap (Debbils, Red Rags, Minnesota Tame to name a few) Frank, at Pennsburgh.com (who has been cleared of all collaboration charges) lists the bookload of injuries that the Debbils have suffered recently including center and all around bad guy, John Madden, who injured his foot and did not make the trip to the Igloo today. John Mattau will return from his latest two game suspension for tonight's game and Scott Clemmenson who's been hot will probably sit in net. The Hockey News notes that the 4 of the teams that NJ has beaten in their 5 game winning streak all.... well... suck.

Game Stuff Update: The Penguins do not suck, therefore the Debbils could not beat them. Finally we see an entire 60 minutes of hockey. Sidney Crosby has woken up from whatever goal scoring coma he's been in for the first quarter of the season. Scoring the Hat Trick(I got so excited I threw my Harley Davidson hat at the TV) tonight to score his fifth goal in two games. El Capitan is now solidly in second place in scoring with 34 points with 3 goals and an assist tonight. He even makes empty net goals look exciting. Geno stretches his lead on everyone but the Kid to 37 points with his two assists. Syko scored the other goal off a nifty saucer pass from El Sid right in front of the net. And no further disrespect to Stogie, but I don't care how 'not fair' it is that the Pens have Sidney. Sabu looked very solid in net, steering everything that he didn't glove off to the corner. Other than a rash of Penguins landing on their butts for no apparent reason the Flightless Crew looked pretty damn good.

Flower Sighting: FSN showed a brief glimpse of the Tower of Flower Power working with the conditioning coach and to my untrained eye he looked pretty good. He seemed pretty sharp in the movement drill they showed and it just took me to an even higher happy place than the game alone could have.

Other Stuff: Did you know that Brooks 'the Hammer' Orpik has a brother? And that Andrew (the bro's name) plays forward for Brook's Alma Mater, Boston College? Well, if you knew all that, then the news that he's equalled his big bro's season goal total (2) in one game against Harvard won't come as much of a surprise. Nobody tell Stogie or Error about this, they've got enough hockey brothers to babble about.

The Barenaked Ladies (no comment) have re-tooled the Hockey Theme for TSN, but it won't be released for another month. Tyler Stewart, the 'Ladies' drummer said it was also a thrill for the band because, "It means so much to so many people across the country" I assume this country is Canadia, because I couldn't tell you what the 'Theme' sounds like and I've been watching hockey for a while now.