Bad Pittsburgh Sports Night

I am not even sure where to start this post.  Luckily its a blog and not an article because the only thing I can manage to think about the Pens playoff game last night is "Horrible".  Yet again we jumped up quick.... and yet again we managed to let the Flyers not only come back,  but take the lead AND WIN.  What makes this even worse is not only did we allow Sean Couturier to get a Hat Trick but we also let Claude Giroux collect a Hat Trick (while also adding 3 assists Giroux had a great game).  Two hat tricks in one game.... that makes me wonder where on earth our defense was?  I can tell you they were not out there last night, well they were on the ice but they weren't very good.

We had far to many costly turnovers to even dream of winning that game.  Ben Lovejoy had one of those costly turnovers allowing Couturier to score a breakaway goal to even the score at 5.  From that point on the Flyers didn't look back.  And my head began to hurt.  I guess my head hurt so much because I can't understand how we can jump on them so quick and not take full advantage of the lead that we created.

The fact is game three in Philly is going to be HUGE, if we don't pull out the win then the series is basically lost. We absolutely need to win Sunday's game to stay alive and stop the momentum the Flyers have built up.  Many writes, bloggers, and assorted sports junkies said from the beginning this was going to go all seven games, and I was in agreement with that, I just didn't think it would be because we dropped the first two games in such a horrible fashion.  Sunday's game holds all the marbles for the Pens.... Lets hope we can keep it together.

In other Pittsburgh Sports news the Pirates lost 5-0 to the San Francisco Giants last night.  They play again tonight at 9:05pm with Charlie Morton making his season debut, returning from off season hip surgery.  I will get more into a Pirates review later tonight but for now I am still trying to swallow the Pens loss....

Pens Fall In Game 1

I am a little disgruntle at the moment.  I actually had to wait a little while after that Pens game before I started this post just because of my anger at how it ended.  The Pens jumped up quick on the Flyers taking a 3-0 lead in the first period off of goals scored by Crosby, Kennedy, and Dupuis.  It was GREAT, and then they stopped playing.  Not literally of course, they still were out on the ice pretending to be involved in the game however, after those first 3 goals they chalked up zero points while the Flyers managed to score 4.  Yep the Flyers came back from a 3-0 deficit to win the game in sudden death OT.  Now I am the first to point out that their first goal should not have ever happened because there was a SUPER OBVIOUS call that was missed. But I will say no more about it because the fact is, it was missed and there is nothing we can do about it. They scored, it counted and we lost..... and it sucks.  On the bright side though I think this will make the Pens come out hungry in game two, and maybe they will remember that this Philly team isn't going to lay down and let us run past them without putting up a fight.  Here's hoping they got the crap out of their system and they move on to better play in the rest of this series.  Friday night better be a notch in the win column.

Tortorella Fined For Rant About Pens

The NHL fined New York Rangers coach John Tortorella for the second time this season for an outburst in front of the media.  The first time he went on a rant about the officiating during the Winter Classic ($30,000), this time he took his unsportsmanlike conduct and pointed it toward the Penguins costing him another $20,000.

After the 5-2 loss he suffered at the hands of the Pens, Tortorella found it necessary to call Brooks Orpik's knee to knee hit on Derek Stepan "Dirty" and "Cheap".  He then went on to rant about how the Penguins entire organization is "arrogant" and that its two stars are in fact "whining" stars.

I watched that game and while the hit Orpik put on Stepan could have potentially caused serious injury, to both players, (seriously, knee on knee contact is dangerous for everyone) I didn't think there was any intent to hurt anyone.  If the intent was there to hurt Stepan why would Orpik have put himself in just as much risk by using his knee..... he wouldn't.

As for the other comments made by Tortorella both Sidney Crosby (one of the Pens two whining stars) and Coach Dan Bylsma think that its just part of the oppositions playoff strategy.  Teams like the Rangers and the Flyers (whose coach also publicly attempted to smear the Pens last week) are trying to get into the head of the Penguins players just as they make plans to start the playoffs.

The Pens and the Flyers meet up today in the final regular season game before they face each other in the first round of the playoffs.  Each second that passes makes me think this seasons playoffs are going to be very very interesting.  Lets hope the Pens can focus on what happens on the ice and not what the coaches are doing off the ice.

Pens grab a "W" from the Jets

The Penguins bounced back huge from their loss Sunday to the Flyers by throwing down an 8-4 victory against the Winnipeg Jets.  The Jets jumped up early but behind a James Neal hat trick (and 4 total points), Evgeni Malkin scoring 5 points and Sidney Crosby collecting 4 points, not to mention so many other contributions that the Jets never had a chance.

Most impressive of all of these was Tyler Kennedy.  All the talk involving Kennedy lately has been how much he has been under producing.  You can count me as one of those who were greatly disappointed in his play.  Lately though I have been even more disappointed in him, and by lately I mean since Sidney Crosby has returned and joined TK on a line with Matt Cooke.  Kennedy hasn't been able to capitalize on many things the last few games (and by the last few games I mean the last 17), but not today..... today he stepped up and scored not once but twice, both off Crosby assists.

A few other notes from the game....

Pascal Dupuis scored his career high 21st goal of the season.

Malkin has had 4 (including today's win over the Jets) 5 point games this season.


Malkin also currently has a league high 93 points, 9 points ahead of Steven Stamkos of Tampa and Claude Giroux of Philadelphia.

The Pens have won 8 in a row at home.

James Neal's hat trick today was only the second of his career, the first as a Penguin.

At this point I just want to say, lets go PENS!!!

Pens Beat the Devils 5-2

Today the Pens left no doubt in my mind that they are legit contenders to bring the cup back to Pittsburgh when they convincingly beat the Devils 5-2.  Even the most casual of hockey fans has taken notice of the Pens current win streak (11 games!) and the fact that this team is really playing beyond solid hockey.  Even on nights when they don't look like they are playing their best, they are still playing good enough to win.

What is even more amazing is that the "star" player on this team, Sidney Crosby, hasn't even been playing but now that he has returned from injury he has picked up right where he left off.  In the second period of the game verse the Devils, Crosby set up Evgeni Malkin for the one timer from his knees!  So many players couldn't make that pass on their best day, and yet here's Crosby in only his second game back dishing these amazing passes oh and don't forget collecting his 5th assist in 2 games.

We can't overlook the play of the rest of this team.  Pittsburgh is getting points from everywhere including Matt Cooke, James Neal, Chris Kunitz, Evgeni Malkin, Pascal Dupuis..... I could keep going but you get my point.  While we are at it I can't forget to at least mention how well the defense is playing as well as the PK units and the PP team.  Oh yeah, and finally it should be said that Marc-Andre Fleury is playing SUPERB hockey right now.  I have been known to bash Fleury pretty hard sometimes but I will 100% give him props right now, he is on it.

If what we are seeing is only the build up to the playoffs...... I CAN'T WAIT!!!