This game was just a case of two different teams heading in two completely different directions. The Pittsburgh Penguins overcame an early deficit by scoring five straight goals in the second period en route to their fifth straight win. Meanwhile, the Washington Capitals lost their third straight and are now a league-worst 2-8-1 on the season. Despite the records, this game had a lot of hype and anticipation for obvious reasons. The rivalry of Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin, the Penguins ... Read More
Ben Lovejoy traded to Anaheim
Late Wednesday night, the Penguins traded defenseman Ben Lovejoy to the Anaheim Ducks for a 5th round pick in the 2014 NHL draft. Simultaneously, the Penguins recalled Upper St. Clair native, Dylan Reese from Wilkes-Baare. Lovejoy started the season as the seventh defenseman for the Penguins. After two games, he was given Simon Despres's starting spot. But, after Matt Niskanen went down with a lower body injury, the Penguins inserted Lovejoy back into the lineup, only to see the defense ... Read More
Pens fight off Islanders; win fourth straight
The Penguins came into Long Island with a three game winning streak and left with a 4-2 victory, Tuesday night. With the win, Pittsburgh moved into the top spot in the East with fourteen points. What a difference a week makes. Exactly seven days ago, the Penguins were embarrassed on their own ice by these very same New York Islanders. They squandered nine minutes in power play time, five of which from a major penalty, while allowing the Islanders to score two power play goals en route to a ... Read More
Consol ‘No Energy’ Center
A topic that keeps going around Pittsburgh is the lack of energy coming from the home crowds at Consol Energy Center. The Penguins young facility that seats more than 18,000 and rarely ever sounds like there is that many people there. What might have been more pathetic than the Penguins actual performance last night was the sad attempts of the crowd trying to get a “Let’s Go Pens” chant. Granted they were not playing well but the home team has to be able to feed off its home crowd in some ... Read More
Kunitz’s hat trick powers Pens
Chris Kunitz scored a hat trick and Sidney Crosby recorded three assists as the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Washington Capitals 6-3, at the Verizon Center, Sunday afternoon. After the Capitals scored on a fluke goal off the boards in the second period, the Penguins rebounded to score three straight goals within seven minutes of each other, then relied on back up goaltender, and former Capital, Tomas Vokoun to shut the door in the third. The Penguins, as they had in seven of their ... Read More
Penguins crush Devils; score five on Martin Brodeur
The Pittsburgh Penguins were lackluster in their first two home games of the season, being outscored 9-3 in the process. Today, it was a completely different story as the Penguins defeated the New Jersey Devils 5-1 in dominating fashion. This was truly a game of attrition for the Penguins as they wore down the Devils from start to finish. The Penguins controlled play in the first period, took a one goal lead after the second period, then blew the doors off the Devils in the third. In the ... Read More
Yinzer of the Week: Tomas Vokoun
Tomas Vokoun was perfect for the Pens this week. With Marc-Andre Fleury struggling late in the game Tuesday night, the Pens put Vokoun in to close out the game. While he only defended seven shots, he saved all seven of them. The Isles were already up comfortable but the late game performance was good enough to get Vokoun the start Thursday night. While in the goal against the Rangers, Vokoun posted another perfect performance. He fought off the Rangers all night, defending and saving all 28 ... Read More
Tomas Vokoun turns Rangers away; Pens win 3-0
The Pittsburgh Penguins may want to play all over their games on the road for the rest of the season. Coming off a brutal 4-1 loss to the New York Islanders at home, their second home loss in as many games, the Penguins stormed back against the New York Rangers to stir up some boos at MSG. Evgeni Malkin scored his second goal of the season, Simon Despres scored the second goal of his career, and James Neal added his team-leading fifth goal. Behind Tomas Vokoun who stopped all 28 shots, the ... Read More
Penguins on Familiar Path
Come on, Pens fans. The panic button is right over here, and you know you’re about to push it. Stanley Cup favorites? Cripes, their best home game so far was an intrasquad scrimmage. The consensus among the talk-radio-show-calling crowd is that Fleury should be traded, Malkin is a bum, and Bylsma will be gone by the end of February. But let’s all take a deep breath and look at the big picture – not this season, but this second golden era, which is starting to feel very familiar. Think ... Read More
Power play problems; it’s the plan not the personnel
After scoring just one goal in their last fourteen power play opportunities, the Penguins decided to change things up yet again. Evgeni Malkin will now play the point while James Neal will command the half-boards. Anyone whose watched more than five games with Malkin on the point knows he's not comfortable in that position. When you consider how pass-happy both he and Kris Letang (playing on the other side of the blue line) are while on the man-advantage, it's amazing this idea has found ... Read More