Pens 5, Lightning 1

They finally got back to their game! I just had a feeling that this would be a great game for Fleury...now for the key points:

1. Apparently the fans at Consol had a Fleury chant going before the national anthem. That's class right there. Meloche told him not to rely on the pokecheck...thank you for voicing the opinion of every Pens fan.
2. The defense looked much better, especially Michalek. Now he looks like how I expected him to. You couldn't really blame him much for the last couple of games since he was just coming back off an injury,
3. If I had to hear Steiggy and Errey say "1-3-1" one more time, I would have had to mute my television.
4. The Conner/Test Tube/Kennedy line looked pretty good. Keep Conner and trade Comrie. (I'm sorry to say it, since I had really high hopes for Comrie in the preseason, but he's just been terrible.)
5. The turnover problem wasn't glaring in this game, but it's still something they need to work on. When Martin almost turned the puck over to Stamkos, I nearly had a heart attack.
6. At some point, Steiggy and Errey were talking about how great the lighting is at the arena. From firsthand experience, I can tell you, it's like watching a game played on the sun. I've never seen that bright of lighting in an arena.
7. The Pens finally look like they might have some chemistry going. With so many new additions this year, the lack of chemistry at the beginning of the season comes as no surprise.
8. Max, Dupuis, and Adams all looked fantastic this game.
9. Goligoski seems to be back on his game after looking like shit for the past few outings. I hope he can keep it up.
10. Fleury was just a beast. I had a good feeling about him for this game, and even though it wasn't a shutout, it was close. He made the key saves at key times, and it helped that he had defensive support. Congrats on your 150th career win!
11. There were a lot of bad penalties taken in this game, but the penalty kill came up big. It could have been WAY worse considering how well the Lightning's power play has been this season.
12. The way he was playing all game, you knew Max was going to score.
13. Can Dupuis really be considered a secondary scorer anymore?
14. Congrats Engelland on your 1st NHL goal, which surprised the hell out of everyone watching this game.

What a huge win for the guys last night! Hopefully this will be a confidence booster, especially for Fleury. Now let's just hope that the consistency issue doesn't rear its ugly head.

In Avs news, they won 5-1 against the Jackets last night, and surprisingly no one got injured. Yay!

Bad news: I'm sick as hell.
Good news: I called off work, so now I get to see the game live tonight. Hooray for raking up a ridiculous amount of sick time!

Go Pens! Go Avs!

Pens 2, Stars 5

Sorry for the hiatus, but I needed to get caught up on school work. The Pens just played sloppy overall in this game, and who would have thought that all of that nastiness would have gone on? And who would have thought that none of the fights involved Godard or Engelland? This game was just full of surprises I tell ya, including that surprise that the Pens lost by such a large margin. Key points:

1. Brent Johnson looked a tad shaky. He made some great saves, don't get me wrong, and the defense didn't do a great job of helping him out either.
2. If I was playing, I'm too A.D.D., and those glowing boards would throw me off...
3. How unlucky is Jordan Staal? You'd think that the Pens were the Devils with luck like that.
4. Michalek and Martin really need to step their games up. Michalek can be forgiven a little given that he's just coming back from an injury, but Martin's play has really declined.
5. Congrats Pascal Dupuis on the birth of your daughter!
6. Once again, the defense has failed us.
7. The offense wasn't that great either for the most part. Given that Dallas' defense typically blows, the Pens should have been able to generate more offense. You need to be in the offensive zone to score goals, you aren't playing against Vesa Toskala.
8. Even with the Stars' shitty penalty kill, the Pens STILL couldn't score on the power play...including a 5 on 3. I think that makes them 0/1,000,000 now, but I lost track.
9. Do the guys listen to the broadcast on the bench? I just think it's creepy how not long after Errey suggests that the Pens need to get more physical, all hell breaks loose.
10. Tyler Kennedy can be a good enforcer when he wants to be. And apparently, so can Sid. Great leadership, sticking up for Letang like that.
11. Steiggy actually made me LOL when he referred to the power play as "the power shortage".
12. Let's give credit where credit is due: Loui Eriksson is damn good.
13. Another nominee for the Douche of the Year award: congratulations Brenden Morrow...you're a dick. Now take your place alongside Wayne Simmonds, Chris Neil, and Luke Schenn, we'll announce the winner at the end of the season. The prize is Engelland's fist in your eye.
14. Not everyone sucked, Adams, Goligoski, Kennedy, and Talbot all did a good job in my opinion.
15. If Asham is going to take so many penalties at the end of the game, one of them should be for fighting.

Wow, I'm a little angry today. Hopefully the Avs can make me feel better by kicking some Canuck ass tonight. Big game guys, GO AVS!

Pens 2, Flyers 3

I had high hopes for this game until the second period rolled around. I try not to be too pessimistic in these recaps, but this loss was definitely a team failure.

1. How dangerous is Giroux? He's the Jordan Staal of Philly's penalty kill. Two shorthanded goals against the Pens so far this season...

2. This game started out with the nastiness we've all come to know and love, but it kind of fizzled out. Not to say it wasn't too physical, there was still a lot of hitting.

3. The Pens are starting to remind me of the Avs from last season. Last year, the Avs were notorious for having the lead early on, and then totally tanking in the 3rd period. It's getting aggravating.

4. Who would have thought that Bobrovsky would have as much talent as he does? He looked perfectly at home in net tonight.

5. The two positive things to this game were Letang and Fleury. Letang continues to impress with his scoring touch, and Fleury came up with some big saves. He didn't really have much help in front of him, so this loss can't really be blamed on Fleury.

6. It's surprising that Geno didn't score a goal. He had a lot of good opportunities. No word yet on his injury.

7. Is it just me, or does it seem like the Pens are still having chemistry issues? With a lot of new players this season, it's to be expected. I'm just wondering how long it will take for the guys to seem comfortable together.

8. I hate to be one of "those" people, but the power play just looked like total ass. Granted, I hate when people yell "SHOOT THE PUCK!" at the games when there obviously isn't a shooting lane at all, but all of these pretty passes won't get you shit...shots on the other hand, will.

So I'm a little bit bitter...but it was nice to see Engelland take on yet another asshole in the form of Jody Shelley. I was just lucky I was able to find an online stream of the game because of the blackout issues I talked about in a prior blog. Just in case any of you need to find the games online, I am forever grateful to Pensblog for their list here. I just need to go somewhere and calm down. I have 2 games to watch tonight: Pens/Canes, and Avs/Jackets. Go Pens! Go Avs!

Pens 4, Preds 3

Again, I am horribly late with this post. I'm on vacation from work this week, so hopefully that will help me stay caught up. Pens recap:

1. I honestly thought that Bylsma was going to continue starting Johnson until he lost. I was surprised to see Fleury in net.

2. Fleury looked shaky, but he hasn't played for a while, so I guess that's to be expected. Allowing a goal 53 seconds into the game was definitely not a good way to start. Kunitz was also to blame for that...he just seemed to wander away from who he was supposed to be covering.

3. I never realized how tall Pekka Rinne is. Apparently Nashville has an obsession with tall goalies, since their backup Lindbach is 6'6".

4. The penalty kill didn't look too bad, and the power play continues to thrive. The power play is just aggravating to watch...they'll seem like they're getting into a groove for a couple of games, and then just fall apart. Hopefully that doesn't happen this time around.

5. Tangradi continues to look good, and what else can be said about Test Tube? Yet another point this game. Dude is amazing!

6. Is it me, or does Sid seem like he's playing a little more aggressively this season? At the end of last season, it looked like he was beginning to, but it's becoming a little more evident this season. It's good to see.

7. Now that the Pens have Engelland, does Godard have a job? I think we'll see Godard traded at some point this year. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Godard, it's just that now we have an enforcer who is a more complete player in my opinion.

8. One thing I noticed about Fleury in this game was that he did seem a little more comfortable playing the puck. The pass he made to Sid was great!

9. How huge did Geno come up in this game? He was just on top of everything.

10. I was stuck listening to the FSN Tennessee broadcast for this game. Say what you will about Steigy and Errey, but they're way better than these guys. One good thing about watching the Tenn broadcast was this:



Jack in the Box has the best commercials. Too bad there aren't any anywhere near where I live. Or any in the state of Ohio at all for that matter.

11. Dupuis saved the day when he made that great play to clear the puck out of the crease on the one play.

Sorry for how sucky that recap was, but I was starting to fall asleep watching it. Now for the Avs:

Avs 2, Sharks 4

I was more excited to watch this game than the Pens. It ended up being a hell of a lot more entertaining.

1. Welcome back Brandon Yip!

2. Lots of back and forth action in this game. Neither team seemed to have the upper hand for too long, and both teams played very well.

3. Anderson is a beast. He looked confident for the most part in net, but then again, when doesn't he?

4. Good thing Sacco decided to dress 7 defensemen. Adam Foote left the game with a concussion. As far as I know, it is unknown when he will return to the lineup.

5. Kyle Cumiskey's skating ability never ceases to amaze me. He's a quick, strong skater. I'd even go so far as to say he skates like Pavel Bure.

6. All in all, the Avs still need a little bit of help when it comes to special teams. Taking so many penalties in the second period didn't help things.

7. The Sharks pretty much went into a defensive shell once they were up 3-1 going into the third period.

8. Congrats John-Michael Liles! He's the first Avs player to score in 7 straight games to start the season. He's also the first Avs defenseman to have a 7 game scoring streak. He played very well in the playoffs last year, and it's good to see that it carried over to this season.

9. The Avs can be irritating to watch sometimes. One minute, someone is making a beautiful, unreal pass, the next minute, a terrible turnover.

10. I call bullshit on the 4th Sharks goal. The puck clearly hit a Sharks player on the bench, and then ricocheted (that's not a fun word to spell) off of the linesman, resulting in a nasty bounce which resulted in a Sharks goal. It was a non-reviewable play. I think everything should be reviewable.

So there it is. Two games to recap again tonight. Have fun kids!