Angry recap post later...happy fun post now.

I saw the first installment of 24/7 last night (I ordered HBO for just one month so I could see it), and I wasn't disappointed at all! The show is absolutely amazing! Being able to see the behind the scenes action and watch the players interact with each other is really something special. I've said it before and I'll say it again: the NHL really needs to market its players' personalities more. Lovejoy and Test Tube got a little face time when all of the furniture from their hotel room was moved into the hallway in Buffalo as a prank. One of my favorite moments from the show was when the team was on the plane going to Buffalo and Fleury calls Max a douche. For those who might not know, here's the (probable) reference. They showed some pictures of Ovie when he was younger...yeah, dude has looked like a douche since he was about 8 years old. Another part that amazed me was at the beginning of the show when they show Engelland getting stitches after a fight. Just the little things that you never get to see: the difference in attitudes in the locker rooms, coach going up to Ray Shero's office with a ranking of players based on their performance the last game they played, the Pens Christmas party and all of the guys' kids...I hope they release this on DVD so more people will be able to watch it. If you don't have a chance to see it, Seth from Empty Netters has pretty much the whole transcript.

On a happy Avs note: the Hannan curse is still going strong. Since he has traded to the Caps, they haven't won a game. On another note, the Avs received Tomas Fleischmann in the trade...he had his first career hat trick last night in a 4-3 win against Chicago. At first I wasn't too sure how I felt about the trade, but given Chris Stewart's broken hand, they had to do something.

And another happy note: I FINALLY got my Christmas tree put up.



And that is one of my favorite Christmas commercials of all time! Anyway, angry, hate-filled post will come later when I need a break from studying for my Human Biology final. Bye for now!

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 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 5, Sens 2

Finally the Pens look like they're in a groove. Everyone worked together for this win last night, it wasn't just the efforts of one player. Here's the key points:

1. No surprise to see Johnson in net again. He's played with confidence, and you have to go with the guy who's been giving you wins. I wouldn't be surprised to see him start Thursday against the Preds. He just had a fantastic night.
2. Max has been looking more and more like his old self. Last season he just wasn't playing to his full potential. I think the off-season shoulder surgery last year contributed to that.
3. Test Tube. It'll be interesting to see what happens when Staal and Asham come back, but he's guaranteed a spot in the lineup. He just played like his amazing sexy self. (At the risk of sounding like a puckbunny, I saw my first interview with him during the first intermission. Had no clue he was hot.)
4. Where did this power play come from? Hopefully this isn't just some fluke thing.
5. The Pens just totally owned this game. The Sens looked lost and sluggish.
6. Engelland fought his second asshole of the season, Chris Neil. It wasn't really much of a fight, but it still counts. I hate Chris Neil.
7. You gottta love how Lovejoy played. He was all over the place, and had some nice hits. I also love how he's turned into the new Dupuis, shooting the puck from anywhere he happens to be. Get the puck to the net and hope for a rebound.
8. Interesting double-minor for Johnson's accidental high-stick. I wonder who the last goalie was to get a double-minor...probably Hextall...and it probably wasn't an accident. That bastard was crazy.
9. Speaking again of Johnson, I was a little nervous seeing him take that shot right off the mask. Anytime a goalie gets hit like that, I automatically think of this:



10. Apparently Letang thought he was Shea Weber. What a friggin goal!
11. Last I checked, if you had two teeth knocked out, you'd probably bleed. (Anyone who watched the FSN Pittsburgh broadcast knows what I'm talking about)
12. All games on FSN Pittsburgh will now be broadcast exclusively with the AGH Cam. They will take 29 hours to watch. (All kidding aside, it is a cool camera).

So there ya have it. Now we get a nice little break. I have been a total failure when it comes to Avs recaps. Hopefully that won't be the case all season. Let's go Pens!

Habs 3, Pens 1

A little late with this one, sorry. I tried to watch the replay of the game on NHL Network at 4 am and I pussed out and had to record it to watch in the morning. Key notes from this game:

1.The Pens didn't lose for lack of trying. Halak was just on top of his game. To be honest, I was a little surprised that Jacques Martin didn't start Price in order to give Halak a rest. That said, the man was unstoppable.

2.Welcome back Max Talbot! He has just gotten consistently better as the playoffs have gone on. Maybe the playoffs are the only time he gets superstar treatment.



3.His name is Pascal Dupuis, not "Pasquel Dupuis". Get it right or pay the price.

4.Brian Gionta is a fast little bastard.

5.Josh Gorges and Hal Gill are a very good defensive team. Sid needs to find a way to get around these guys. He was limited to one shot on goal the whole game.

6.Pierre McGuire still creeps me out.