Starving Penguins and Holiday Cheer:

Penguins starved for a goal:

We all know what the holidays are about.... getting presents and stuffing ourselves full of heavy food. Or, maybe that's just my family. Most people use this time of year to reconnect with their families and review the year for things to be thankful that they have. (kind of a 'it could be worse' review) After losing to the TB Sparks the only 2 things Pensaddicts have to be thankful for are that Marc Andre Fleury had a good game and continues to improve, and no one else got hurt. That's about it. The only reason I'm not ranting about the bad officiating in the last couple of games is because the PP isn't all that effective anyway. Even the ever ebullient Tower of Flower Power was really down after the game:

Oh well, holidays are supposed to be a happy time, so let's move on to other things.

Other Things: The Pens have posted on PP.com a new Holiday Greeting with Sid, Geno, MAF, Maximum, Sarge, and others. Other than the 'Happy Holidays from the Penguins' interruptions between each player, it's kind of nice. ( time to tone down the cynicism, a little too much 'Bah! Humbug! in this post) Vid spoiler: Malkin is his adorably goofy self, Maximus tries to be serious but grins at the end of his spot, and Flower gently mangles the English language (it's not actually his language, so he can do that) about 1:43 in.

There, that should get some Holiday Cheer going.
Ex Penguin Stuff: I know that Ryan Malone was a big deal for this team, and this town last year. (no cynicism here) First Burgh born Penguin, home town boy makes good kind of a thing. I know it must be weird for him to play as an opponent in the Arena that he basically grew up watching his dad and Mario and Jags play in. But I think like the absent-minded farmer we've plowed this field before. It should be no surprise that feelings about his return would be mixed, they were. Of course they got a little less mixed when he got into a shoving match with Geno. Two different papers thought we wanted to know more about it (and hey, what do I know? Maybe we do) The Trib, and PPG.com both have stories about Bugsy's return to the Igloo. Tocchet must feel old, hardly anyone mentioned his being a former Penguin at all during the game.
Scrooge News: In the spirit of Christmas giving (cynicism again) Jeff Taffe and Tim Wallace were given plane tickets back to WBS. Unless this is a Waiver avoidance thing, I'm not sure I understand. Wallace has been playing well, and Taffe, while not spectacular, has been filling in some 4th line time adequately. Well, if Ray Scrooge... uh Shero, has any explination he hasn't let it out of his Christmas bag.
Personal Note: I hope everyone has a Happy Holiday, and that includes: Stuffing yourselves, getting good presents and not getting too annoyed by family members you won't see again until next year. Take Care Yinz Guys.