Put Me In Coach! :

The Tower of Flower Power was interviewed for ESPN.com's Peirre LeBrun's blog. It's a small interview, and MAF basically says being injured is frustrating and he's glad to be back in his goalie-suit and the Team's goal: "We came close last season. We got a taste of it. Our goal this year is to finish it." I like the way this guy thinks....

Well, we all know that Marc Andre Fleury didn't play against the Philthy Phlyers on Saturday. Strangely enough quite a few of the Pens that did skate didn't much play either. Let's face it, when Eric Godard is part of your offensive juggernaut you've got some problems. No smackdown on God-ish, that's just not what he does. He's out there to mash apposing players into teeny-tiny little bits, if he scores the occasional goal, all to the good. But let's not dwell on the past (unless it's a win) On with the Shop.

Jeff Taffe and Connor James have been Yo-Yo'ed back to the Baby Pens. (James was only up for two whole days, talk about yo-yo) That says good things about Ziggy and Maximus and leaves Tim Wallace as the lone WBS representative on the offensive front.

Geno remains the League leader in points (49) and is on pace to put up Lemieux-like numbers by the end of the season. El Capitan is right behind his sometimes linemate (44) but still leads him in the All Star Game standings.

Other Penguin Stuff: The Cookie Monster has been embarrassingly nailed by NHL.com and forced to answer silly questions from Dan Rosen on their 'Chillin With.... ' segment. The most interesting things? His favorite movie is The Shawshank Redemption and he loves to cook, like from scratch. (so do I) The side-bar story has some recycled comments about how he's one of three players to have played with Crosby and Ovechkin.

Put Me In Coach: I'm sure you've seen the goofy movie reference. There's a guy up in the stands, or selling popcorn, or whatever. A player goes down, and the coach points to him and says, " Suit up." Hokey Hollywood reference? Strange Seinfeld excerpt? No. Brett Leonhardt, website producer for the Washington Crapitals, signed a try-out contract to back up Brent Johnson when Jose' Theodor went down with a hip-flexor injury. Simeon Varlamov was called up from Hershey but since the Bears were on the road, and the plane wouldn't land until game-time, they used Brett as an emergency back-up. (Psst, Therrien! I've got my goalie-gear in my bag if you guys ever need a hand. At the very least I'd have a good seat for the game.) In another strange note: At 6'7" (Sequoia height) if Leonhardt had played he would have tied for the tallest goalie ever to play in the NHL.