The Master of the Pan Flute:

Marc Andre Fleury remains perfection in Play-Off Overtime. Extending his record to 5-0 making 28 of 31 saves to lead the Pens to a 4-3 win Saturday night in Washington. The Tower of Flower Power held the fort during the Craps rush in the first until the Pens could use their first Power Play to get their feet under them. Da 'Burgh boys broke a trend in tonight's game, scoring the first goal and winning the game. Staal opened the scoring with a nice pass from Satan who has been all over the ice. The Craps score two and then Feds who has been a Play-Off beast scoring timely goals recently threw one in past Varlomov to tie it up.

But one of the heroes of the night was the Cookie Monster himself. With a crushing hit on O'Retchkin in the second and a (then) game leading goal in the third. But the big hero of the night was (no not Tom Poti, although we'd all like to thank him) Evgeni Malkin. Geno drew from some unimaginable source the energy to fly down the ice on a 2 on 1 with El Capitan, tried the cross-crease pass which Poti tried to break up but ended up banging it in his own net. I'm sure Craps fans would like to make Poti the goat, but if he misses the pass then Sid just bangs it in past Varlomov.

So it's back to the Mellon for game 6. The Pens have won 3 in a row and lead the series 3-2. And what does this mean? Nearly nothing. Sure the Pens have the advantage in games. The momentum has definitely shifted in their favor, and they return to one of the best home field (rink) advantages in the National Hockey League. But they're not playing last season's Play-Offs, where all they had to do (seemingly) was show up for 4 out of 5 games and then breeze to the next round. The Penguins are playing a team that can, it seems, get away with just about anything as long as they're not found standing over the body with the bloody knife (stick) in their hands. Unlike the old 'Broadstreet Bullies' that you hear about so much the Craps aren't making up for a lack of talent by bashing everything they see these guys have some talent. Of course some of that talent may be in stealing the ref's whistles and hiding them. Also they don't mind playing as dirty as they can get away with to show it off. Don't you think it's interesting that the one player that 'everyone' considers vital to the Pens success is the one that was 'accidentally' injured? The Pens are going to have to come out prepared to either weather the early storm the Craps bring, or match it. One of the good things about coming home is that they'll be able to park The Ever Dangerous Rob Scuderi in O'Venereal's back pocket for pretty much the whole game. Scuds has been even more awesomer than usual defending against the Grape Ape (Great Eight my ass) and deserves his own TFS award for his extra effort.

Sarge News: The news is.... no-one knows what the news is. TSN reported late Saturday that Gonch would be out for several weeks if not the rest of the season. (uh..... never mind) But Coach Dan was quoted early Sunday as saying that he was hoping that Gonch would be ready to skate either Sunday or Monday. Obviously you can't trust either Canadians or Play-Off coaches to give you the true story. You're probably going to have to treat Sarge like Bigfoot, until you actually see him, you can't believe the stories.

Ratt Rant: I'm tired of The Master of the Pan Flute taking the rap for the back to back games in this series. If NBC hadn't been such dicks to decide that the Craps needed the extra rest to give more time for advertising and the first game of the series needed to be on Saturday afternoon to boost their Market Share then there would have been no conflict with Yanni's concert and all of the games could have been spread out evenly. God knows why anyone wants to hear 3 hours of Pan Flute music, but while you can blame Yanni for bringing Auditory Hell to Earth, the back to back blame rests squarely on the heads of Bettman and NBC.

Party Penguins:

Phlyer fan after the final buzzer

There's something about the Pens and an afternoon game that makes me nervous. The guys just take some time to warm up when playing during their regularly scheduled nap-time.

The first period was exciting.... the way falling down a really long hill full of boulders is exciting. Three goals by Philthy in the first period did not look good. They were taking advantage with numbers for the most part, drawing the Flower out of position and then planting it in the empty net. I'm here to tell ya, I was all ready for a game 7 and the ensuing ulcer when Marc Andre Fleury and the Pens got a severe case of comeback-itis.

So... the second period starts, and it's not looking much better. Until Maximus puts on his duking mitts and goes after the recently suspended Carcillo. It seemed like Mad Max lost the fight, but something about his willingness to drop the gloves and go after the Philthy bad-boy lit some kind of fire under Geno's butt, or maybe it was the 'Shhhh' that Max gave the crowd on the way to the box, I don't know, and I don't care. Malkin starts beating on the goal-door, and Feds is there to bang in the left-overs. More 'scrumming' (translation: tag-team wrestling) and more people get to sit in the box of shame.You could feel the change but weren't quite ready to put away the hara-kiri knives just yet. Then 2 minutes later Eats, of all people, scores on a 3 on 1 breakaway. 10 minutes after that Crosby whacks one out of the air at the goal mouth and it was a brand new game at the beginning of the third.

In the third, Sarge didn't wait too long to put in the game-winning goal and then it was REALLY Tums-time. Let's face it, the guys have had trouble sometimes holding a lead, and Flower had already been bitten for three. But The Tower of Flower Power really turned up the intensity a big notch in the third, making several great saves and one 'Oh my God how the hell can a human move/bend like that?' save on Lupul with just 5:39 left to go in the game.

That one will go into the scrap book.

For the cap-off goal El Capitan refused to give up on an empty netter that first bounced off the side of the cage. He corralled it back in, whipped around the net, and with Cookie making room, buried it (and the Phlyers) into the back of the net. Then there was the strange, almost speed-ball type of calm/hyper-tense waiting period until the final buzzer sounded and everyone could slump back into their couches and freak out their neighbors by screaming 'YES!!!!!!' Then there was the sweet picture of rubbing the Phlyer's fans faces in it by making their team walk the 'handshake line' right in front of them. Sure it'd be sweet to have that at home, but there's an evil thrill in having it done to them, in front of them. We wouldn't be human if we didn't feel it. For a brief second I almost felt sorry for the fans, but then I slapped myself. 'This is Philthy! Screw 'em!' We wouldn't be Yinzers if we didn't feel that.... By the way guys, you can keep the sign.



Get Ziggy With It: Even with the phenomenal face-off upswing of El Sid (63.5% and 99 FO wins, leading the Play-Offs) the Penguins miss the presence of Mike Zigomanis at the dots. Leading the League at the time of his injury Ziggy was a point of confidence for the Pens when facing a draw in the defensive zone. But now, instead of sitting at home on his injured butt, Mike visited the Children's Hospital's Oncology and Adolescent wing with the team around Christmas and was hooked. He's been back several time to visit with the kids, have his picture taken, sign autographs, and talk about both his own, and the kid's experiences in hospitals. No one knows what next season will bring. Free agency and salary-cap aside, I don't know if Ziggy is the kind of player the Pens can use next year, but I do know that he's the kind of man they can use on the team.

Connection:

Other than a Staal and a few Eastern European players (Geno, Sarge, and Feds) the home-town boys held the day. Luckily for us those 'homies' were Mad Maximus, Super Duper, Le-tank and the Tower of Flower Power, Marc Andre Fleury. The Pen's 'French Connection' all grew up somewhere around Montreal, but we don't hold that against them. Btw, Carey Price has been sentenced 5-10 years for the goals he robbed the Pens of during the game. MAF was really sharp for the most part during the game stopping 29 of 30 and made some jaw-dropping saves on the ever sneaky Alexei Kovalev. But he did his best work in the third period when the guys seemed a bit sluggish and had some trouble getting the puck out of their own end. Flower stopped about 15 shots in 2.3 seconds and kept the tie going so his buddies could score two amazing shorties a few minutes later. Here's the TFP showing everyone just how good a pointy-lipped Frenchman can play the game:
The only goal for the Great White North's actually bounced of the Sequoia and went in, so we won't count that one against him. Flower's got a good run going into the Play-offs and that only says good things about the Pens chances to advance into the later rounds. (We won't talk about that last round yet... superstitious? Moi? Not a chance!) Also I'd like to already nominate Jordan Staal for Tough Guy of the Play-Offs for taking a puck in the face and returning later in the period with his new stitching. I just hope his face doesn't end up as screwed up as Bugsy did last year. Wow! Did that guy end up 'Uglied Up' or what?

Really Good Stuff: How amazing is two short-handed goals for the Pens during the same PK? How often does that happen? The only thing better than that was the fact that our eyes weren't assaulted by the third jerseys the Habs obviously stole from some gay penitentiary somewhere. I mean, c'mon! The team's been around for 100 years and that's the best 'Old Tyme' jersey they could come up with? They look like some sort of strange 4th of July hockey candy.

Mrs. Malkin is going to have one more thing to dust when she visits her son's new house. The Art Ross Trophy Geno won tonight. Malkin scored a goal and that was too much ground for O'retchkin to make up. The Ugly One had a goal and an assist to climb to 110 but couldn't touch the 113 mark set by Geno. Evgeni joined Le Magnifique (6) Jammer Jags (5) and El Sid (1) to boost the Pens Scoring Title number to 13. That's just a sick number of ART'S in the last 20 years. As a side note, for 21 years (80-'01) if your name wasn't Lemieux, Jagr or Gretzky you just didn't get your name on the thing. That hardware's got to give him an inside track for the MVP for the Leage to go along with his Team MVP. Not to take anything away from O'retch, who scored an amazing 56 goals this season, but can you pass over a guy who leads the League in Points, Assists, and Take-aways? I think not. In my humble, yet all knowing opinion Mamma Geno should have another piece of bric-a-brac to dust off next year and that would be the hardware named after Dr. David Hart.

Play Off Preview, Sort of: Ok, show of hands... how many of you thought 2 months ago that we would be sitting here talking about who we were going to face in the Play-Offs? I gotta admit, my hand would not be among the elevated. HCMT had just been fired after a nightmare inducing loss to the Laffs, causing jaws to drop all over Pensland, and they bring in this guy with a name that sounds like a gastric disease, Bylsma. Now just about 2 full moons later and the talk isn't who do we want to face in the SCPO's it's how most teams don't want to face the Pens. Coach Dan comes in, does a little tweaking, and then the Easter Bunny brings them 2, 100+ point players, an Art Ross trophy, an 18-3-4 record, and at least a 5th place in the Play-Offs. (if the Phlyers lose in regulation the Pens will be in 4th and get home-ice for the first round) So Coach Dan gets the First Annual Kick-Ass Coach of the Year Award. I know he'll treasure it forever. I'm already casting my vote for Coach Dan to return next season to see what he can do with 82 games in his pocket. Also, I'd like to have every kid in Pensburgh go to Coach Dan's hockey camp. It's obvious this guy knows something about the game.

We of the Pensaddict persuasion would also like to take this opprotunity to thank Uncle Daddy and the Debbils for beating the Hurricanes and taking them completely out of contention for the 4/5th spot in the Eastern Conference. Even if the only reason you guys showed up to that game at all was because you didn't want to face the Pens in the Play Offs.

Flowers, Sore Groins, and Tanks: UPDATED-ISH

The Tower of Flower Power will get a chance to redeem himself Wed against the Ice T's (They're on Long Island, get it?). He'll be starting in net against the strangely resurgent Isles. They've actually been playing pretty good hockey recently, and I'm not sure why.... They're not the ones that got the new coach. The Raggers did. Yup, Tortorella has replaced old what's-his-name as head coach of the ever popular Rangers. I still have no idea why you replace a 6th place coach, but there it is. It's been done....


But enough of that stuff, let's delve into the ever fascinating world of the Flightless Winter Birds. It seems that El Capitan had to leave practice with some sort of crotch boo-boo. (not really sure about that one) But he's 'probable' to play Wed according to Coach Dan. Also in the 'pretty sure they'll be playing' category are Feds and Cookie. Evidently they were 'evaluated' on Monday, found to contain the sort of insanity that leads to sliding around on the ice with 11 other guys with sticks and a flying rubber biscuit, and therefore will be allowed to do just that.




Really, Really Big News That You Probably Already Know: Kris Le-tank will be on the ice and actually playing against the Isles. It seems that whatever Coach (Lieutenant) Dan was looking for, evidently Le-tank stopped asking silly questions long enough to show it to him, so CD said, 'Shut up and go play hockey' or something like that. Now the only question will be: 'Who sits?' Well, your guess is as good as mine, 'cause CD ain't sayin. He did say that he was 'a big fan of Kris' talent and skill and what he can bring to this team'. So you can stop freaking out, (Raine) Kris is definitely playing for the Penguins.

UPDATE-ITIS: Sidney Crosby will not play tonight against the Ice T's, his groin boo-boo is still .... well boo-hooing. He says that he was hoping to get less sore by game time from the soreness inflicted sometime Sunday but that didn't happen. He also didn't want to cut down the admittedly short time to practice with Coach Dan, but that probably didn't help either. Sid, rest your crotch, no more doing the Time Warp watching Rockey Horror (It's the pelvic thruuu-ust that really drives you ins-a-a-a-aaaane.. uh.... sorry about that), just get better and come back soon.

Ryan Whitney has bolted back to his homeland (Massachusetts) for personal family reasons for a few days and is planning to rejoin the team in Chicago, Friday. In a completely unrelated note: Janne Pesonen has been called back up from WBS. Vince, over at Pesonen and the Pens is so excited he's plagiarising Ronald Ray-gun. (I wonder if he does the voice too?) I think Coach Dan will give him more time on the ice that MT did, but I'm not convinced his impact will be any greater. Sorry Vince, he's a monster over in the Finnish League, but usually that translates to 'average or a little above' in the NHL. I'm not only willing, but hoping to be proved wrong, but it's going to take proof, not golden helmets and hype.

Other Goalie News: Martin Brodeur, or as we like to call him, Uncle Daddy, will probably be coming back to the ice sometime this week. UD says he'd like to be back Thursday, for the game against the Avs. Of course Sutter is saying that he won't be saying anything until Wed. At least he thinks he's saying that. But anyway, Uncle Daddy will be back sometime within the next week or 2 days, or maybe the second Tuesday of next week. So warm up the record books, he's only 7 wins shy of St. Patrick Roy's all time win mark.
Uncle Daddy Update: Brodeur will be returning to the Debbles net Thursday against the Av's. Clemmenson got the boot back to the minors. That's got to be a contract/waivers thing, because he was the one that was burning up the net while U-D was 'indisposed'. Oh well Scott, maybe he'll fall down the stairs or something.....

Brotherly Love, My A$$:

Today Philadelphia, tomorrow the world! Or Washington, anyway... We'll get to see how Coach Dan's new method of Pexecution (Penguin-execution) develops in his third and fourth game as HC. the Pens have a short road trip to a couple of not-nice places. I used to laugh at the 'rivalry' between Pittsburgh and Philly, but I'm now a confirmed Philly hater. There's just something about that city I just don't like. There's more than a little 'Broad Street Bullies' about the Flyers and they showed it once again right from the drop of the puck. Cheap shot artists and whiny bitches. Oh, and give Mike Richards a 9.95 for that dive on the 5 on 3. But I've just about run out of nasty things to say about Philly without repeating myself. They did do one nice thing though... They beat the Buffaslugs Thursday night allowing the Pens to drag themselves 2 points closer to that last play-off spot. So, thanks Philly, and you should write that down, because I'll probably never say it again.

Philthy did one more good thing... they lost to the Pens 5-4 in a wild psycho game. El Sid scored the game winning goal on a Marty Biron mistake and a Stretch Armstrong (old toy, really stretchy. Let it go) play to poke it in the net as just a part of a 4 point game for El Capitan. And someone relit the fire under Fed's ass and he has a 3 point, 2 goal night and was flying around the ice all afternoon. I was out aimlessly roaming the countryside, looking for the odd pillage opportunity, so I got to hear the incomparable Mike Lange call the game, and missed the annoyance that the FSN dynamic duo (?) can sometimes cause, but from what I heard, the guys had the same attitude that got them the Canadien win Thursday. Every time the Philthy Fryers scored the Penguins answered back. The defensive scheme seems to still need a bit of work, and two goals scored against due to broken sticks,(need stronger sticks guys) but as long as they keep winning while they're working on it, who cares? Oh, and on a side-note, I'd like to feel sorry for the Fryer that got hit in the face with a puck from his own guy I really tried to feel sorry for the dude.... for about three whole seconds, but then I heard it was Hartnel and said 'f#$k him'. He was a part of the 1st period mugging crew that wore the orange jerseys. Seriously guys, Rocky was a fictional character who happened to live in Philadelphia. I know Malkin is too good a player for you guys to actually play against, but that doesn't mean you get to actually punch him.

Ratt-note: I am a man secure in my heterosexuality, but as I was listening on 105.9 the X, I heard their commercial with Marc Andre Fleury, and he's one damned sexy sounding, pointy lipped man. Now I know why those girls over at Puck Huffers think he can impregnate women with a great save..... or a quick glance, or when they think about him while... uh..... I think I'll stop right there.

Take Off, eh?:

The New Toronto game announcers

Saturday the Pens take off to the Great White North to face the Toronto Maple Buds (not Leafs, buds. Get it? ok that was pretty lame, but it was still better than PensChick's 'Aunt Jemimas') This year, for some reason the Laffs have had the Pens number. Kind of like the kid in school that everyone pushes around and he just takes it, until you mess with him (or her) and he goes postal. Maybe they're still stinging over us getting Scary Gary and haven't noticed that he's not playing for us anymore.... don't know. Don't care, the guys need 2 points and the Laffers are sitting on them sticking their toungues out at us. Here's their new mascot





Several good things could start happening Saturday night for the Pens. Firstly, there's a decent chance of either Sergei Gonchar or Ruslan Fedotenko or both making back into the line-up. Sarge ain't saying one way or the other, and neither is Therrien. Feds, on the other hand, says he's ready and wants to play Sat., and is just waiting for whenever HCMT gives him the go-word. This brings up an interesting dilemma and a possible solution already in the works. Luca Caputi has been returned to the Baby Pens (I wonder if they got their deposit back?) clearing an offensive spot should Feds be back in the line up. But who sits or is moved to make room for Sarge? That's a tough one. Phillipe Boucher won't be back for an indefinite period after going through surgery on his foot today in Plano Texas (wonder if he got a tackle box with that?) , Go-Go is back with the Little Pens, but that still leaves 7 guys and 6 spots. This is the dilemma they've been waiting to have since the beginning of the season, but how do they handle it now that it's here? Inquiring minds want to know...





Flower Report: I think I may have shown this once already, but I'm waaaaaay too damn lazy to check my back posts to find out, and it's just too cute not to re-run it anyway. It's the tape of 'Take a Flower to School Day' when MAF went to Franklin Elementary in Murraysville Pa.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY:

Depressed Road Penguins:

Qick Note; I wrestled my computer out of the clutches of Godzilla (reality translation: I fixed my 'puter) and now that I have all my links and pics back and no longer have to arm-wrestle for computer time, (she's stronger than she looks) I hope to bring you a much more psychotically varied form of posting than I've been able to for the last week or so.
Dejected Penguin on the Road:

Wake Up!: There's a show I watch called NCIS, (relax, it's pertinent) the lead character, Jethro Gibbs, is played by an actor named Mark Harmon. When any of his team get out of kilter, or unfocused, he swats them on the back of the head. Kind of a 'wake up, center, and get back into the game' kind of a thing. That's what the Penguins seem to need, a swat in the back of the skull to wake them up. They've got the talent to play with any team in the League, they just don't seem to remember that they do. There are only 4 actual rookies on the roster at any one time, but so very often it seems like 6 of them are on the ice. (I was never very good at math) Something good happens (goal, good save, player returning to the ice) and everyone just seems to relax like 'everything's cool now, this was what we needed' and then look befuddled when the other team puts the puck behind the goaltender. It's like watching the beginning of last season all over again. Waiting and waiting for the team to jell or wake the hell up..... and waiting and waiting... I'm not sure my nerves can take a landslide season like the second half of last year's season, but I'm willing to find out.

Kris Le-Tank has been chosen for the Young Stars Game which is a slightly speeder version of the All-Star game and played the same weekend. Kris will be amoung the other 'sophamores' to play against the rookies. Tanger will not be facing Alex Go-Go Gadget Goal, despite the fact that he leads all rookie defensemen in points.

When Colby Armstrong lets you hit him in the head, don't fall for it, it's a part of his Master Plan. Take a tip from Feds, just don't do it. Ruslan Fedotenko will miss 4-6 weeks after breaking his hand on Army's melon. Now I've been called hard-headed, but I've never broken anyones hand proving it. Watch out Army, or I'll get Flower to hide in your bag again. I suppose it could be worse... things could be so bad that Jagr would offer to come back and play.

Jaromir Jagr, former Star Penguin, has said that if Mario asked him, he would come back and play to help him out. Actually it seemed to be more of a tribute to his friend, as he said, "I owe Mario so much because he taught me how to play hockey. If he would want me to, I would come back for the minimum, and try to help him out. But he doesn't need me. He has good players there." Where was this kinder, gentler media approach when Jags was here? Or even with Washington or when he started in NY? With stuff like that, he'd still be playing here, or at least in the States. He did play in KHL's version of the Outdoor Classic/All-Star Game in Moscow's Red Square. He and the Foreign squad beat the Russian team 7-6. So he's got that going for him, I guess.

In the spirit of the NHL's new policy of 'Hire the Age'd' (Chelios, Sundin, C. Lemieux, Roberts, etc) Brendan Shanahan will rejoin the team that he started out with 20 years ago. Shanny has 'agreed in principle' to join the NJ Debbils at a date to be determined later..... how much more later does a 40 year old hockey player have?

The US Women's Under-18 team edged out Canadia 3-2 to win the gold in the women's hockey final in Germany, even though the Canadians out-shot the US team 40-32.

Party Penguins:

The Tower of Flower Power, Marc Andre Fleury, was just that tonight, making 27 saves on 28 shots as the Penguins (finally) win against the Thrashed tonight at the Igloo 3-1. On the face of it, you might think it was a 'gimme' game. Atlanta has the worst defense in the League and the Pens are loaded with offensive talent. Until you consider this, the Pens have lost the last 5 games, haven't won in the Igloo in a month (Dec 11th was the last win at home) haven't had a PP goal in some ungodly number of chances, they'd only scored one goal in the last two games and they're in the middle of a slump that has seen them slide from 4th to 9th in the Conference. There was nothing 'gimme' about this game. The Pens finally saw some reward for all their hard work and the Flower was making some awesome saves, denying every rebound chance that Atlanta could come up with. Every time you caught your breath, Fleury caught the puck. A solid performance from a team that had little expectation of a win at the beginning of the game.

Good Stuff: Two Power Play goals, including a re-direct by El Capitan, Sidney Crosby. Malkin gets a bit back on track with 3 points and Syko with another 2 goal game. (I hope it's not another 42 before he gets another hat-trick) TK and Crosby had a couple of flashes at what is possible if they actually click, Ruslan Fedotenko decking Colby, and Geno absolutely leveling Army in front of the Penguin net (sorry Raine, but it was a good play)

Bad Stuff: Pascal Dupuis disappeared mysteriously from the Igloo ( I suspect aliens). The mysterious part is not only did I not notice him leaving, but no footage exists of what happened to cause him to leave (you know aliens control the media, right?) even with the multitude of cameras at the event. Plenty of footage exists of what caused Feds to leave the ice. A one-punch drop of semi-tough Colby Armstrong in the first period. Ryan Whitney suspects that Feds cut his hand on Colby's sharpened schnoz, "That nose could hurt a hand."

The Zombie Voodoo Witch Doctor was stopped at the airport for some reason (go figure) and couldn't make it to New York. But did make it to the Igloo and performed some sort of anti-curse ceremony, I don't know the details, and I'm pretty sure that's a good thing. I'm certain the security guards will recover sometime soon. Modesty forbids me from taking any credit for the win, but doesn't relieve me of the responsibility of bailing my Zombie Witch Doctor out of jail (it was in the contract. Damn small print!). Oh well, it's the results that matter, I guess.

More to follow, when interviews and such are posted.

Shut-Outs and Flower-Plays:

37 saves, 12th career shutout, 1 tripping penalty, First Star of the Night for all his sick saves, what else can you say? Marc Andre Fleury was definitely the Tower of Flower Power tonight in against the Jersey Debbils. "I'm feeling better, timing wise." Flower said. "It's the foot movement. I'm in the right place at the right time now." (this is true) "It's pretty cool. I want to do my part to help out. I tried to make the saves to keep the game close." (this is also true) The only highlights online at the moment are at NHL.com. Also I've got to give an Honorary Goalie Award to FPL member Mark Eaton, for kicking out the scramble puck 1/16th of an inch before it became a Debbils goal. Jamie Langenbrunner couldn't buy a goal tonight with a Brinks truck in his back pocket. Fed's goal in the second period was all the Pens got, but it was all they needed. (and with only 18 shots on goal they're lucky they got that) The face-off wins seemed a bit better this game although I don't have stats at my fingertips. (I don't really like stats anyway) No highlights are currently available, but I'll probably stir some up for y'all sooner or later.

The Pens take on the Canadiens (they're from Canadia) Sat. night and that's going to be another tough game. Is it just me, or does anyone else think the Pens should have asked Santa for a better Christmas schedule? One Thrashed game in the middle doesn't make make the other 4 games (NJ, Montreal, and Boston twice) any easier. One good thing about playing the Canadiens (did I tell you they're from Canadia?) is that Alexei Kovalev has been gone from the Penguins long enough that Stogie and Error will only mention him being an ex-Penguin 486 times.

Other Stuff: In case you missed them on the ice, Dustin Jeffery and Paul Biz-nasty were called up from WBS for tonight's game. Jeffrey was up for most of the pre-season and I saw him on the ice during a scrimmage; He's fast, generally good with the puck, and he can win face-offs. Tonight he was two out of three so his ice time was cut a bit when he had trouble winning face-offs. Biz-nasty was pretty memorable with the Pens in the beginning of the season, but didn't get much of a chance to nasty anyone up tonight, playing on the fourth line with Jeffrey and Goddard.

No Work-Out Woes: Petr Sykora substituted the lack of scheduled work-out with running around after his son for two days during the Holiday break. He figured that and mental preparation were all he would need to make up for the ice time he missed over Christmas. "It doesn't really bother me." Syko said," I can prepare for every game without skating. If you can prepare yourself mentally and going into the game without thinking,'Oh God, I didn't skate for two days, what's going to happen?', You just have to mentally prepare yourself." Flower has a different take on the situation: "I don't like having two days off, without skating, and then playing right away" Flower said, "I have to break a sweat somehow, probably a run." Whatever MAF did on his break must have worked, because he got a shut-out. I think Syko's work out was more strenuous though, I've tried chasing kids. They're quick and low to the ground, so they corner well and they're hard to catch.

Red Cross Award: Hal Gill gave a couple of his Pens-buddies a call and toured the Pittsburgh Children's Hospital earlier this month. It evidently wasn't difficult to persuade El Capitan, Sarge, Maximum, Flower and the rest to cruise the hospital and give gifts and cheer to the kids trapped there over the Holiday. (I think Max agreed just so he could play with the toys) The Flightless Troupe ponied up more than 6 grand worth of toys and their time at the drop of a hat. Gill wasn't surprised they would do that, and frankly neither am I. Even the most cynical among us (I think I'm in the top 10%, or was that top 10? I can't remember) have to admit that the players give a lot to the community, and, being just a bunch of big kids themselves, they go out of their way to do things for kids. Still, it's got to make you feel all warm and un-Scrooge-like, especially when you consider this wasn't a team event. Just the Sequoia phoning up some hockey-buddies to cheer up some kids. Marc Andre is setting up some long-term charities in Sorel-Tracy, Montreal and Pittsburgh after his long-term deal with the Pens was signed. "My job as a player is to help the Penguins win hockey games," Fleury said, "but I think our job as people is to help each other through these times. Hockey players have a lot to give, not just money. We should. Look at what's happening to people everywhere, and it's Christmas--this is when we should give back." Good job guys.