Pens 4, Bruins 7

Typing that just makes me want to puke. The Pens completely blew the 3rd period, and I was forced to relive the same type of shit that the Avs failed at last year. Actually, now that I think about it, there are a lot of parallels between the Avs and the Pens this year. Lack of defense, shitty power plays, and lots of offense coming from the defensemen (that last one isn't bad though). Anyway, key points...

1. Good to see Lovejoy back in the lineup...sad to not see Engelland though.
2. The Pens totally had this game. The first two periods, they had good puck possession, kept the puck in the offensive zone, and actually shot the puck for once. Amazing what happens when you put shots on net.
3. Speak of shots, Dupuis and Kennedy both did a fantastic job shooting the puck.
4. The ridiculous amount of turnovers needs to stop. Make sure that when you pass the puck, there isn't a guy directly in the lane.
5. Recchi doesn't look like a 42 year old man, that's for sure.
6. Chara's slapshot scares me. I would love to go to a Pens/Bruins game and sit right behind the net, just to see how fast he shoots the puck firsthand.
7. Congrats Arron Asham on your first fight and goal as a Penguin! Asham is one tough dude. Plus, how awesome was this?



8. Engelland, I mean, the Pens, now lead the league in fighting majors. I'm kind of surprised by that, honestly.
9. Malkin keeps looking better and better, as long as Steiggy doesn't mention a meteor hitting him or something. I think we should wrap Geno in bubble wrap.
10. I blame the loss on Steiggy...Aubrey, you're right, the man truly is cursed. I'm going to sew his lips together.
11. Funny how people are just starting to realize that the Pens' problems run deeper than just Fleury.
12. On the plus side, the Pens registered the most shots in a game so far this season.
13. Rupp has been playing like a beast. He just seems more involved this year.
14. Goligoski looked like he was half-asleep.
15. Steiggy and Errey miss Staal...so do I.

And, in other shitty news, Galiardi and Van der Gulik were both injured in Tuesday's game against the Flames. I'm wrapping the rest of the healthy Avs in some bubble wrap. Good news though, the Avs have extended their affiliation contact with Lake Erie. I plan on going to my first Monsters game at some point this season with one of my co-workers and her sister...more on that once we have everything planned out. We'll be an interesting group though, one Pens/Avs fan, a Bruins fan, and a Habs fan. Could be entertaining, and kind of sounds like the beginning of a bad joke.

Well, now we have to focus...how do we stop Stamkos Friday? Interesting fact I was able to dig up on Stamkos...he only makes $875,000 a year. It'll be interesting to see how much he makes after his contact expires. Well, that's enough for this extremely disorganized post. Go Pens! Go Avs! Just remember, things could always be worse...

Pens 0, Blues 1

I was more awake watching this game than the one against the Preds, so I got a little bit better recap out of it. Once again though, I couldn't watch the FSN Pittsburgh broadcast, and had to watch FSN Midwest. Oh well, at least I got to see more Jack in the Box commercials. :-)

1. Welcome back Orpik! Also, we see Johnson in net again. Sorry Fleury, but I think that was a good decision by Bylsma.

2. Pietrangelo is frighteningly good. He was just all over the place. Every time he took the ice, I was scared. Ditto for Oshie.

3. The Blues played a very physical game, and their defense played very well.

4. With the exception of the Adams/Crombeen "fight", the first period was like watching a game of chess. A lot of strategy, but not a lot of action.

5. Second period brought more offense, and a great save on Oshie by Johnson.

6. I honestly thought that either Mike Rupp or Max deserved a goal this game. They both worked their asses off.

7. Does anyone know if Polak is OK? I hope he is...it's always scary to see a player run off down the runway with a trainer like that.

8. FSN Midwest was having some technical difficulties, so a lot of the second period was glitchy. I'm not a fan of the thing they have called the "Dirt Cheep shot of the game." Just going out and looking for any hit, just to be able to call it that is asinine.

9. And for Aubrey, I have the WTF media award: "Johnson's knob came up big twice."


Now for the shitstorm that was:

Avs 4, Kings 6

Ok, so it wasn't really a total shitstorm. The Avs played very well, as did the Kings.

1. Hey kids, it was Bernie's 1st birthday!



I think that the cutest mascot award goes to the Islanders though:



And here I thought they would have the fish stick guy as a mascot...

2. The first goal of the game was scored by Poni...it didn't help that Andy lost his stick and had to use Radar's. Can't really blame Andy on that one.

3. After allowing the initial goal, the Avs went on an offensive tear. Great puck possession for once, and everyone was skating hard to the net.

4. Welcome back David Jones!

5. The Avs still need help when it comes to special teams. They allowed the worst power play in the game to score two goals, and also allowed yet ANOTHER short-handed. Surprisingly, they weren't the undisciplined team in this game, and Duchene managed to stay out of the box for once. At least our guys don't butt-end players in the junk (but more about that later).

6. John-Michael Liles gets his 10 millionth assist, tying the NHL record for consecutive games from the start of the season with an assist. Now all he needs is a goal. 10 assists already...the man is a beast. He also had his second NHL "fight", if you can call it that. He didn't get destroyed, and didn't break his hand...I think that's all we can ask for.

7. Hannan left the game with a head injury...just great.

8. Huge penalty kill on Hejduk's 4 minute penalty. Avs needed that.

9. And about halfway through the 3rd period, Wayne Simmonds pulls the dick move of the year, and butt-ends Galiardi in the balls with his stick. Galiardi is not one to drop easily, and I just knew when I saw him go down that it had to be something bad. Simmonds got a 5 minute major and game misconduct for it. I think this is the first time I have ever seen a butt-ending penalty called. This is what T.J. is good at though, he pisses everyone off enough so that they do something stupid. The man is a friggin tank, and came back later to finish the game. He just takes the punishment and keeps going about his business. That's one of the reasons he's my favorite Avs player, and one of my favorite players in the entire league. So, should Simmonds be suspended? I say no. He got his punishment, and it was a cheap shot, but I think for once, that the penalty fit the crime. It was a dick move though, and I'm relieved to see that Galiardi and his boys are OK.

Pens 3, Isles 2

Yeah, so I'm a little bit behind on watching the recorded games. Well, at least now everyone can shut up about Consol being cursed.

1. It was kinda strange seeing Test Tube on the fourth line.
2. Also interesting to see Adams out and Godard in. Bylsma must know something that we don't.
3. Godard did have a nice fight with Gilles though, so I have to give him some credit.
4. I can't stand watching DiPietro play. First off, if I was an Isles fan, I would probably have a heart attack any time anyone came within 300 feet of him for fear he would get injured again. A fly could land on that man and he'd be out for half the season. Second, he should have been penalized for hitting Kunitz in the nuts with his stick. You can try to get someone out of the front of the crease, but that's just a low blow (literally).
5. Martin and Test Tube continue to impress me.
6. With the exception of the OT goal, the power play continues to suck ass. I think Mike Yeo is still coaching, but he's just hiding under the bench so no one can throw shit at him.
7. Mike Rupp was playing like a man possessed.
8. Tangradi finally got his first NHL goal! Yay!
9. The 2nd period was really when the Pens got a fire lit under their asses. That's more of the play we need to be seeing from them.
10. I'm not generally one to complain about the officiating, because I realize that these guys have a really tough job, but it was incredibly awful this game. Letang should have never gotten a 5 minute major and game misconduct for his hit on Comeau. It was a solid, shoulder-on-shoulder, clean hit. There were also plenty of calls that should have been made against the Isles that were just ignored.
12. By the way, after Letang was given a game misconduct, did anyone else hear the crowd chanting "bullshit", or was I just imagining things? Speaking of the crowd, how huge was their involvement? Nice to see everyone finally waking up.
13. I will openly admit that Bailey had a really nice goal.
14. Goligoski is having a really strong start. Hopefully he can keep it up. He started out well last year, but gradually fizzled out. To be honest, and I'm normally not like this, but I was ready to write him off last year.
15. Comrie really needs to start producing...we all know he has it in him.
16. See what happens when you shoot the puck...you score goals. Imagine that.

Avs 3, Devils 2

So this was just a great night overall!

1. It still feels strange watching a more offensive-minded Devils team.
2. Speaking of offense, even though they won this game, the Avs really need to start getting more shots to the net. (This sounds familiar...almost like I was just writing that about another team not too long ago)
3. The Avs defense needs to step it up a little bit. Craig Anderson is like a brick wall in net, but they need to stop relying on him quite so much. They are allowing too many shots.
4. Honestly, the Devils should have won this game. If not for the amazing play of Anderson and some luck, the Avs probably wouldn't have won. The Devils were clearly the better team.
5. And yet another game misconduct for the night. McLeod scored the Avs first goal, only to be followed shortly after by getting a 5 minute major and game misconduct for boarding. The Avs' analyst hit the nail on the head when he said that he understood why they kicked him out, but his only problem was that the NHL wasn't being consistent. Now it makes you wonder with every check whether the player is going to be sent off for it or not.
6. Killing off the McLeod penalty was a huge relief.
7. The Avs' scoring depth is absolutely amazing! This early in the season they already have goals from 10 different players.
8. Early in the game, the Avs had some real problems with puck possession. One common theme I've noticed in all of their games so far is a brutal number of turnovers, and not the yummy pastry kind. (Sorry, I'm hungry)
9. My man T.J. Galiardi scored his first goal of the season, and later got cracked with a high stick. Typical game for him.

Rant of the day:
I may have mentioned this last season, but I hate when the Pens games are shown on NHL Network. For some reason, Time Warner Cable thinks that I live in the viewing area for FSN Pittsburgh, and the game gets blacked-out. I'm about to call and bitch about that, since I missed the game last night because of it. Heard it was a good one too... Avs/Isles recap later tonight. Have a good one kids, now you can put away the matches.

Pens 2, Flyers 3

Shitty way to open the new arena, but what can ya do? Let me start by saying that Consol is absolutely amazing! All I could say when I walked in was, "Wow". The first thing I noticed was how open and spacious the place was. The second thing I noticed was that it didn't smell like the Igloo. Not the the Igloo smelled bad, but it had a unique odor. The seats were incredible, and the crowd noise was unbelievable. Now for pics:



This sign will take some getting used to.




The old barn.




Love this window display!



Another pic of the Igloo.



The new guy on the block.




Pregame warm-up.



The banners.



R.I.P. Barbero. They had a really nice tribute video during one of the T.V. time-outs, followed by the biggest standing ovation I have ever seen.



Matt Cooke with some clean-up duty.



Ben Lovejoy...who I didn't get to see play. :-(




Tangradi is a beast.




This was a great idea. When they melted the ice at the Igloo for the last time, they saved a bottle of the water. Lemieux christened the new arena at center ice with it. Solid.



It's always a great day for hockey in Pittsburgh!



In case you didn't know what night it was.



Almost time for the inaugural faceoff.



Blurry faceoff.



Best license plate ever! I was actually wearing my Straka jersey, and I waited in the parking garage for this person, but they never showed up, and I was getting hungry.

Anyway, key points:

1. The Pens just seemed like they were lacking the chemistry that they had in the preseason. Hopefully they'll get back into the groove soon.

2. Everyone seemed like they were trying to get too fancy with the puck. Just put it on the net.

3. Lots of shots, but they didn't have much quality.

4. Philly's goaltending situation is just bad. Who the fuck is Bobrovsky anyway?

5. How big of a game did TK and Tangradi have? Nice to see TK back to normal. I hope he can keep it up.

6. I think Craig Adams saw more ice time in this game than he's ever seen in his life.

On a better note though:

Avs 4, Hawks 3

If you have never seen these two teams play against each other, you really should. Always fast-paced and exciting to watch. Avs win in OT. My man Galiardi was all over the place. This team is going places this year. They've matured a lot from last season, and I can't wait to see how well they do this year.

That's all for now. I'll have a recap of tonight's game against the Habs as soon as I watch it. TTFN! :-)