Unrelated Relative Facts:

Thought it was only fair to warn ya.

Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals will take place South of the Mason-Dixon line in the home of the Hurricanes. Unrelated fact: Danny (Bylsma, not Bi-elsma, Reaugh) is one of the 21 names chosen this year for hurricanes that may or may not hit Carolina. The Pens go into the game tonight up 2-0 in the Series and hope to keep the pressure on the 'Cranes and win one or two 'down there'. I could try to predict the game, scour the internet for the 'experts' opinion to back up my guessing. But you've only got to look back at the last two games to realize that I'm blowing smoke up your butt. No one knows or can predict what's going to happen. Just look at Thursday's game. Start with the score: 7-4. How unreal is that with these goalies? Cookie has a three point night, but no one notices because of all the other amazing shit that happened. How many people thought that we'd be talking about The Lord of the Infernal Realm dealing a beat-down on Eaves? Or the fact that Kris Le-tank's hair would burst loose not once, but twice? (I told you not to mess with the hat) Who pre-wrote the headline 'Kunitz Gets First Goal in 19 Games'? And let's not even talk about Geno's HT, or Pappa Geno getting busted by Mamma for kissing that blond that always sits in front of the Malkin Parental Units. (I'd like to take this opprotunity, once again, to thank them for having sex and the product thereof) Or what about Game 1? Let's all travel back to 7:00 Monday and put some money down on Boucher getting the GWG. Or the least likely thing of all. That VS would actually find an articulate commentator, and then hire him for the Penguins games. I'm no bumpkin, but I was shocked to hear words like 'corpulent' and 'sapient' from an announcer during a hockey game. Unrelated fact: Daryl Reaugh (pronounced 'ray') has a Stanley Cup ring with Edmonton in '88 but his name doesn't appear on the cup. So ask me for winning Lotto numbers, where lighning is going to strike, how many jelly beans would fit in the Igloo or something easy like that. But don't ask me to predict the outcome of Game 3.

Unrelated to just about anything:
Is it just me, or does Harold Priestly Gill III look like a parent that snuck into his kids Midget League game?

Something comes to mind when people criticize the Tower of Flower Power's efforts in the last two series. When you're in the Play-Offs losing is like being caught and mauled by a bear. (just wait, it'll sort of make sense in a minute) Now, when you're running from a bear, you don't have to be faster than the bear.... just faster than the guy you're running with. So far Ward's been the one with his laces untied. (see? that kinda makes sense... in a weird way)

Cookie Monsters and Flower Power:

Other than the fact that the Penguins should skate with 'Fragile' signs on them, tonight's game against he formerly 'Mighty' Ducks of Anaheim was good theater. Marc Andre Fleury stopped 21 of 22 shots as the Flightless Ones defeated the Quackers 3-1. The Tower of Flower Power looked pretty good in the net. I'm sure he was a lot more comfortable facing almost half as many shots as in the last couple of games. Biz-nasty and Orpik disappeared during the game, Nasty returned, Orpik didn't. The dreaded 'undisclosed' strikes again. I was about to explode on Error and Stogie for babbling during the game and missing what happened. Then they showed the replay when they finally realized that Brooks was gone, (about 20 minutes later) and I couldn't see what happened either. I don't know what happened to B-nasty either, except him putting McIver on is butt with about 4 sneaky shots with the hand he was holding the jersey with, but he returned and I let it slide. One thing I did see, and that was two things... Two goals by Matt Cooke. The Cookie monster was one Whitney brain fart or one bouncing puck away from a hat trick. Cooke scored with 21 left in the first and 22 into the second to notch his 7th two goal game in his career. Geno assisted with two goals and tried twice to get Cookie the puck for the empty net hat trick, one of which just bounced over Cookes stick. The Human Sequoia Hal Gill sniped his 1st goal of the year. He also knocked JS Jiggy's water bottle off the top of the net. If he continues he's on pace to get 2 goals this year. (I told you I was bad at math, it's game 46 already) Geno went psycho at the end of the game and attacked Corey Perry and then Gill galloped to the rescue and refused to let go of Perry as he was pinning Malkin to the ice. Naturally we didn't see the start of the fight and Error and Stogie were babbling about anything except the game (again and continuously throughout the game) We got to hear about some guy from Washington County's moustache, Error's moustache, a roasted pig, drinking out of the Stanley Cup, losing the SC in a parking lot, breaking the SC (C'mon guys, I'm trying to watch a game here!) and something about three other players legs but Sidney Crosby has huge legs and a big butt, (Thanks for the info Bob) But almost nothing about Brooks injury, where B-nasty was, and they almost missed Cookie's second goal. Here's something they Dynamic Duo didn't miss, and neither did Flower:

But we still have to hear about some guy on the ice 'looking good'. That's why Potash is the only FSN guy allowed in the locker rooms after the game, these two would be suspect around a half-naked team of young guys.

The Penguins have enough players on the injury roster to start their own wing at a small hospital. I'm not sure what can be done about this, but I think my original idea about packing the guys in foam between games should be extended to during games as well.
More to come on Saturday when I've got highlights of Geno's wrestling match with Perry and other goodies.

Update-ish: So far the only coverage of Malkin mugging Perry I can find is 2:30 into the highlight vid from PP.com. I'll keep searching though.

Quick Hit and Run:

My computer was attacked by Godzilla (no, really, I swear!) the other day, so now I'm stealing time on a lap-top, and I'm not having much fun with it. But mere discomfort isn't enough to keep me from babbling incessantly (Neither is a court order). So, as a prelude to tonight's action against the Beantown Bears I have this post for your reading and viewing pleasure.

Marc Andre Fleury is once again slated to start in net tonight for the Pens. And the Human Sequoia, Hal Gill is going to hit the ice (I hope not literally).

Ali asked me the other day who I thought would be scratched from tonight's game to make room for the Sequoia. I assumed that Eaton would sit and Gill would play, but nagging somewhere in the back of what passes for my mind was the memory of the Pens dressing 7 defensemen and playing Whitney as a sometime-forward. I should have listened to that particular dark corner of my mind (in my defense, it's not the only dark corner in there) , because the Penguins fooled all the guessers and actually are dressing 7 defensemen, and possibly running Whits at the forward spot, although Go-Go Gadget Goal is shown in the line-up as a forward and a defenseman. ( that's just a guess, Therrien's too sneaky for me) I also remember the beat-down Whits gave Wayne Redden last year when he was put back on the blue-line. It was like he was saying with every punch I...AM.... NOT... PLAYING.... FORWARD.... AGAIN!!.

Milestones and Other Rocks: Sidney Crosby will be playing in his 250th game and Jordan Staal will be playing in his 200th tonight. That's a lot of hockey in the short amount of time they've been playing. Staal will be the youngest player ever to reach the 200 mark and if El Capitan scores two points tonight he'll be 5th on the list for reaching his 250th game.
Paul Biz-nasty was sent back to WBS yet again, probably to make room for the Defense-shuffle.

Concussions are up and some players are blaming the 'safety' equipment the players are wearing. Evidently the new pads and the fact that today's players are bigger, stronger, faster (Where did that weird sound effect from the 6 Million Dollar Man go?) they're especially geared up for melon-squashing. Most players say some of the responsibility is on the player being hit to watch his squash whenever possible, knowing that it's going to take a beating. I'm not sure the guy doing the hitting is always going to warn you when he's coming... but what do I know?

Well, that's all for now, I'll try to sneak the laptop into the closet later and post some more.....

Good Work is Good to Find:

Diving save for a weird bounce:

There are things about the Canadiens game (they're from Canadia, remember?) that bother me. The effort and the heart of the team are not among them. Despite the 3-2 loss (my wall schedule is using entirely too much purple ink) and the fact that the Pens simply cannot win either two games in a row, or any game on a Saturday (check it yourself) there were very few times during the game where I was thinking 'What the hell are you guys doing?'. Such has not been the case in losses past. Shots were taken, most of the power plays you could see actual effort, there were some breakdowns but the defense looked like it was coming together, and despite allowing three goals Marc Andre Fleury looked pretty solid in the net. And how did Flower look at the loss? "It was not good, but I think we could see that tonight (sat) was different. We definitely played better than the last couple (of home games). We're close. We're close." I think he's right, but it's still going to drive me crazy until 'We're there. We're there'

So, what bothers me about the game, you might ask? Our stalwart FSN reporters are roaming ever so much further from the game actually being played on the ice every time they show up in my living room. Error seems to develop a new man-crush every game or so. Saturday Whitney was the target of his man-lust, describing his body as 'thick' before rambling into a series of unintelligible grunting sounds that I assume were complimentary. He also seems to be something of a man-slut as he hasn't yet given up his crush on Tim Wallace, of the polar bear eating the baby moose fame, mentioning him, his hockey-body and polar bear story several times during one period. Stogie gets my 'Class-less Son Award'.(trademark pending) While I understand his pride in having a mother who both didn't drown him at birth, and has reached a truly honorable age, it's kind of tacky to admit the extent of your mother's time on the planet to the entire viewing public while admiting she told you not to. (I hope she beats him with her cane). Hasn't this woman suffered enough just living with the shame of being Mama Stogie?

On a side-note, Tim Wallace should just never unpack when he's sent back to WBS. He's just getting there when he's called back to da'Burgh because of Godard's bruised leg, or Maximum's hurt tootsies, or Therrien's hangnail or something. Ok, enough of my ranting, let's get on to some news-type stuff.

News Type Stuff: Hal Gill, the human Sequoia, is projecting his return to the line-up for Tues. night's game against the Beantown Bears. I'm not sure as I can believe this, as none of the current line-up as come down with an 'undisclosed' or the Black Plague, or anything. Isn't there some rule this year that there can't be an extra blue liner on the bench?

Scoring Race: El Capitan hasn't quite surrendered the scoring title to Geno yet (after all there are 46 games left in the season) but I don't think it would bother him much if Malkin did beat him out for the title. When asked about The Malk's chances to win Crosby chuckled and said, "They're looking pretty good right now." I would just like someone with a Skating Bird on his chest to win. Selfish of me, I know, but.... so what?

Snow Game?: While I agree that last year's Winter Classic was an absolutely wonderful game, I find myself wondering why someone (Joe Starkey of the Trib) is starting speculation that a Pittsburgh Winter Classic is even a possibility this soon. Don't get me wrong, it's a cool idea. And if the Hockey Gods would smile with the correct weather (cold, but not too cold, and a bit of snow, but never in the eyes), it would be a game to make for Pensaddict stories for ages to come. The NHL (Bettman) hasn't finished riding the wave of last year's WC. It seems highly unlikely that they would even consider giving another outdoor game to Pittsburgh with 26 other teams still looking for their first sniff of the action. But it's still a cool idea, right?

Just Shut Up: Hopefully soon to be mute Cheap Wallpaper Poster-child, Don Cherry, who knows so much about what it takes to win hockey games that he can't get a job actually coaching a team, once again has the perfect answer to any hockey question. The 'Walking Tacky Couch' has deemed that the only thing Sidney Crosby needs to get out of his scoring slump is to quit doing anything else. Evidently he should just give up all his media and fan commitments and that will fix everything. I'm sure Bettman wanted to reach through the screen and strangle him. I know he must be right, because just after he finished speaking El Sid scored a goal and an assist and racked up shot after shot against the Canadiens. I think all that bad dye is going to his brain.

Until next time....

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.

Rusty Flowers and Putting on the Foil:

Sometimes it's easy to forget that Marc Andre Fleury is not your usual run of the mill type of goaltender. When MAF came back from his most recent 'undisclosed' injury he was playing like about 70% of the goalies out there. Playing decent hockey. The mind wants to think 'Ah, everything's ok, Flower's back on his game." Then Saturday comes along and you wonder 'What the hell is going on? 5 goals in two periods?' What to nearly any other player would be game shape is actually rust on the Flower. (Steel cities can have steel Flowers, right?) The Tower of Flower Power started showing the shine under the rust last night in Sluggalo. I know he was scored on three times, (two of which I've got to blame on the FPL, sorry guys but you can't leave scorers unchallenged at the top of the crease even on the power play) but quite a few of the saves were vintage Flower Power. Quick lateral movement and a blindingly fast glove. (The follow-up save on Ellis blazes to mind) Don't let the Thrasher's game fool you into thinking that Flower's on his game, he's still raising his play level to its former mind-wobbling height. Flower will be in net tonight against the Tampa Bay Sparks and we'll get to see if he 'gives Malone a shot to the knees or the nuts' , like he said he would in a pre-season interview he did on 105.9 the X, in September. (third one from the bottom on the page, about 35 seconds in)

Other Pens Stuff: Yet another in a series of 'undisclosed' has struck the FPL (Flower Protection League) Kris Le-tank has succumbed to the dreaded 'undisclosed' after stopping a shot in Monday nights game. The only bright spot in this is we don't have to guess who'll be scratched to allow Ryan Whitney to play in tonight's game against the Sparklers. Yes, that's right folks, Whits is playing tonight for the first time this season. This morning's skate was optional so there's no way to say who he'll partner up with but he'll be out there with tens of thousands of Pensaddicts wanting to see if it was worth the wait. (no pressure Rye, just play your game)

Speaking of this morning's skate, the Human Sequoia, Hal Gill was skating for the first time since injuring his shoulder (too many people saw it, they couldn't 'undisclose' it afterwards). In an interview Hal said that he felt better, but would know more when he actually had someone on the ice to bump into. He then proceeded to ask for volunteers from the media, but there were no takers. That would be kind of like skating against your dad when you were 10, I'm not surprised no one took him up on it.

Aw Mom, Can't I Play Inside?: Something I stumbled across (no comment) that might be found interesting (in a land of complete boredom, maybe?) If he plays on New Years, Ty Conklin, former season saver for the Pens, will be in his third outdoor game in a row. That's right, folks, there have only been three and if he plays next Thursday Ty Conklin will have played in them all. "Either I follow it around, or it follows me. I don't know which is which." Ty said. It evidently didn't occur to him when he went to the Red Rags that they were playing in the Winter Classic this year. He does say (and I agree) that the equipment guys are going to have the roughest time at the game, not knowing what the conditions are going to be like, or if they'll change suddenly.

Old Time Hockey: The movie even hockey fans can understand, Slap Shot, is back out in a new 35 mm print being shown Jan 1-4 at Pittsburgh Filmmaker's Regent Square Theater. Also in the same article is a mention of Dave Hanson's recent book Slapshot Original: The Man, the Foil, the Legend. It not only talks about some behind the scenes stuff, making the movie, but also has stories in it about the actors and players involved. I guess the Statute of Limitations is up on most of the stuff they did back then. ( I wish I could say the same, but my attorney won't let me comment)

As usual on game-days more to come as the random numbers sort themselves out in my head.

Mad Maximus and His Entourage:

Mad Maximus has a new jumbotron sponsor video. My favorite part is where he almost takes Senator Chris Neil's head off for disrespecting the Flower. (0:48 in) Call me vindictive if you want.
There's only three things I want to say about Monday's game, FPL member Kris Le-Tank scored his first goal in 36 games, Geno got hacked-off at MacArthur last night and smacked him with a right cross, and I can't remember the third thing. Doesn't happen too often but Malkin is a big guy and, if pushed, he's got a temper. .
General Penguin Type Stuff: Marc Andre Fleury practiced with the team again today, but Therrien says he won't be playing this week. Boucher is still listed as week-to-week, Ziggy is still day-to-day and Janne the Yo-yo (up and down, up and down) was sent back to WBS again. Hal Gill's injury is nearly 'disclosed'! The Sequoia will be out for 2 weeks with a shoulder injury that's not a bruise. (hey it's still better than 'undisclosed') At the bottom of that article is a tiny snippet that says, and I quote: "Whitney is hopeful to play next week for the first time this season." The Trib does not say who is hopeful. The Trib? The Penguins? Ryan Whitney? the Cotton Candy Guy? anyway, someone is hoping that Ryan plays sometime (undisclosed?) next week.
Ben Lovejoy (how about McLovin for a nickname or Benlovin? The mind wobbles!) is glad to have his first NHL game out of the way, and I have to tell ya, other than a couple of bobbles during a time when the whole team seemed to be doing the same thing, I was fairly impressed. He showed more poise in his first game than Go-Go did, and look how good Goligoski is doing now.
Also, this just in: 8100 midgets invade the Igloo! Well ok, it was kids day at the Mellon they showed up from 63 schools on 250 buses to watch practice. The under-height stampede evidently had a blast and the players got a kick out of it too. Whitney said," It was fun. You could tell that the kids enjoyed it, and it's something I wish I could have done when I was a kid." (What's he talking about? He's just a big kid and he gets to it every day.)

A Great Day for Flowers:

The Tower of Flower Power (aka Marc Andre Fleury) started skating with the team in practices today. So that definitely makes it a Great Day for Hockey! HC Michel Therrien said, "He's getting closer, and closer. That's good. Hopefully pretty soon, he'll get back." Yeah coach, hopefully you're right. I've posted his interview, but I'll save you some suspense, he's got to check with the trainers and see what they have to say. I think the reporters asked that question about 4 different times in different ways, as if by speaking the secret combination Flower would suddenly be able to tell them what they (and we) wanted to know.

In further FPL news, the human sequoia, Hal Gill is out with his 'undisclosed' hurting. (I STILL hate that) Evidently he injured his 'undisclosed' on his last shift against the Sens. I don't know when that was, so I don't know if his 'undisclosed' is the reason it became his last shift, or not, but he's going to see the doctor about it sometime today. Ben Lovejoy will be protecting Sabu-tage against the Buffaslugs tonight. Ben's 6'2"-215, and has been playing in WB for a while now. But the only thing I know about him is that he's big, he's right handed, and he's got a cool last name. Ben and Go-Go will be paired up and it's Therrien's advice that Ben, "keep it simple, he's got some poise with the puck. For him, the challenge is to play really solid defensively." Ben is just hoping he's here long enough that Go-Go can give him a tour of Pittsburgh.
Other Pensaddict Stuff: El Capitan, Sidney Crosby is at the top of the voting for the All-Star Game. Evidently some people really like this guy. Geno is also climbing up the charts for a starting position in the game (I guess people think he can kinda play this game too).
Nutrition seems to be important to NHL athletes (ya think?), but difficult to maintain on the road. I know when I was on the road (non sports or felony related, I have to say) it was so easy to hit McD's drive through and get the food thing over with quickly. The problem is, when you do that you can't figure out later why you're tired, cranky or buzzing like a bee on meth. I could deal with a bit of inconsistency, these guys can't. (If you need a hint about me being on the road, check out the nickname, it'll come to ya)
Other Stuff: It seems that IFSA is going to find out if he just put his foot in his mouth, or the entire skate. Tom Hicks, the Stars owner is meeting with the rest of the brass to figure out what to do with the worm. Not only did Hicks fully support the League's suspension, but he's left the door open to sweeping Avery completely out Dallas's door. He's taking serious consideration to Dave Tippet's recommendation. Dave recommends that Avery hit the bricks. "I'm trying to build a team where the players care about each other, that has continuity." Tippet said. "I find it hard to believe that Sean could come back in the room and we would have that continuity. My job is to build the best team possible. I don't know if we can build the best team possible with Sean in the room." Translation: Sean, pack up your barbies and hit the road, your fashion show in Dallas is over.

Hungry Penguins are Dangerous:

These guys are still pissed about that last Oiler spill
Marc Andre Fleury and the Pens will crank it back up tonight after a 4 day lay-off after a decent win in St. Louis. The only things the same about the line-ups tonight are the Crosby line, Flower in net, and the logos on the sweaters.
Offense:
Talbot-Crosby-Satan
Dupuis-Malkin-Sykora
Kennedy-Staal-Cooke
Bissonette-Zigomanis-Goddard
Defense:
Orpik-Letang
Scuderi-Gill
Sydor-Goligoski
Goaltender: The Tower of Flower Power
You'll notice that Dupuis is back from that dreaded undisclosed injury, (I looked it up in a medical book, and I can't find an 'undisclosed' anywhere on the human body) and will play tonight, you'll also notice that Eaton is a healthy scratch for the second game in a row. He and the staff have had conversations. But Eaton, who acknowledges that he's not quite up to par, is keeping mum about the whole thing. Methinks someone is being spanked.
Flower Vid Alert: Post morning skate vid from today:
Contrary to popular pre-season belief, no one on the defensive squad is panicking. Other than a moderate lack of scoring, everyone thinks the defense is doing a (I can't help but say it) bang up job. Even though they're 25th in the League in shots allowed (32.4 per game) they're 7th in goals allowed (2.33) (hmmm might there be some stellar goaltending going on there?) "These guys are doing well at keeping the shots to long range shots. As a goalie, you like that." says Fleury.
Orpik thinks it has a lot to do with not feeling sorry for themselves about what they're missing. And the Human Sequoia that is Hal Gill? He says, "It doesn't surprise me. This is a proud group."
Michel Therrien finally responded to the disjointed ramblings of Alexander Semin made about El Sid today. He laughed when he answered, but he was giving the reporter Canadian Death Eyes while the dude was asking the question.

More to come as the random numbers in my head jell into semi-coherent thought.......

Of Flowers and Scoring Frenchmen:

Marc Andre Fleury stopped 28 of 30 (current .929 sp, 2.37 ga), allowing only 1 redirection and 1 weird bounce off the Sequoia (hey, if that dude in Mystery Alaska was a 'Tree' Gill is a Sequoia), in the second. The Pens didn't let the goals get to them as they kept up the tempo they somehow found in the second period. The first period was a horrific repeat of the last 5 periods of play by the Flightless, but Ziggy scoring off Cooke's pass and FPL member Orpik's goals were a direct result of the team finding their energy and playing Penguin's hockey. Glad to finally see some.
Penguins win in overtime on a loooong Orpik pass and a Pascal Dupuis rocket from the top of the right circle. Cue the Highlight Reel:


FPL Report: It's all Brooksie, baby. 1 assist, 1 goal and 1 interview. Brooks is not taking the whole scoring thing too seriously, but likes the lift in team attitude from what it's been the last couple of days. I think the fan attitude has improved a bit as well. The sound is a bit soft in the beginning, but it gets better so be careful turning it up in the beginning.


PPG has a different edit of the Brooksie interview with a few comments by El Sid.
Oh, Empty Netters is running another of their, 'Jersey pictures of players you barely remember' series along with their running highlight blog.

How Swede it is:

Ok, I know it's cheesy, and overused and I'm not apologizing for the title! I'm not a play-by-play guy, or really a reporter, but in the spirit and excitement of the new season, I just can't keep my mouth shut.

Pens take the first game right out of the gate 4-3 with a pair of bookend goals by Tyler Kennedy, 40 seconds in to the game, and 25 seconds left in overtime. Kennedy was everywhere filling in for Syko who's out with a 'groin'. TK appears to be on track to a 164 goal season if he keeps up this pace. Yeah, and the Pens are on pace for an 82 game win streak.

Stats at this time of the season are kind of amusing as they're only a small percentage of the whole, but a small percentage is all we have at the moment, so I'll trot some out. Fleury stopped 32 of 35 shots, at times his puck handling looked a bit shaky, but a couple of saves were vintage, full split-flash the glove Flower that's a beautiful thing to see. He seemed to see the puck well with only one of the three goals actually beating him. Let's face it, Heatley at 15 feet alone in the slot will lower anyone's save percentage. The other two, a redirect by Donovan and a smart position by Ruuutuuu (I know he's gone to the enemy, but I just can't help it), pulled MAF too deep in the crease to have a good chance to stop Spezza's over-the-shoulder flip, were just due to good offense.

Speaking of lowering save percentage, Malkin on a break-away for his first short handed goal is an effective method as well. Malk picked up a busted pass at his own blue line, streaked down the ice and slid it under Gerber's leg, skating him in the chest for good measure. The idea of using some offensive threat on the penalty kill is a good one, if used sparingly, and definitely brought some dividends here. Crosby crawled one point closer to three hundred (295 now) with a sweet cross-ice pass to FPL member Scuderi who, with a heavy wrist shot, has already equalled his highest NHL goal total for a year. Crosby swiped the puck for Scuds since it's been 120 games since the last one, and who knows how many until the next. TK's first goal was just his favorite skate away from the goal spin-around sniper shot (gotta find a shorter name for that), and Gerber bit and moved off the post to show a bit of daylight. The game winner was all Kennedy when he swiped the puck from a red-shirt and whipped a shot through a defenseman's legs and Gerber's arm to win the game.

Humble, yet all knowing opinion: Diamond in the rough, the whole team at times looked a bit lost but showed some definite promise, at times jelling into an unstoppable unit. Crosby's line started well, but had some bone-head moments that seemed to frustrate El Sid at times. The power-play gets pretty much the same report. Kennedy? Like a terrier, too quick to kick him, but every time you turn around, there he is. The penalty kill looked more than solid, with Malkin's goal being the highlight, allowing one PP goal, but killing off a 5 on 3 to start the third period.

Flower Protection League Report: Still a bit lost, and groping for the handle a bit. Seems as though no one is secure enough in his partner's role to relax and play his own game. Gill, the big sequoia, looked solid and stepped up to challenge Chris Niel, when Niel gave Cookie a bit of a cheap shot at the end of a period. Letang played a pretty solid game, jumping on the rush and pinching with his usual good timing. LeTank took quite a bit of ice time, and looked pretty sharp but took a penalty that had me wanting to hand the white cane and glasses to the ref. Orpik was handing out the (not going to say it) hits and had a solid performance. Eaton still looked a bit off his game but had flashes. And Scuds? A bit out of position at times, but not enough that the goal didn't wipe any complaint out of my head.

All in all, a decent outing for a team and a goalie that are notorious for slow starts. We'll see what tomorrow will bring. Literally.... see ya tomorrow.