nossagog

Well this is going to be two straight seasons the Iightning will miss the playoffs, albiet this one being the shortened season. No matter, with the core talent on the team in Stamkos, Lecavalier, St Louis, Hedman, Malone,Carle and Percell, more was expected.

Does this mean a fire sale in Florida????

Bar the doors and hide the kids, it's another installment of the Pen and the Flyers.

I always look forward to Pens - Flyers games. It's one on those true rivalry games. Doesn't matter if one team is struggling, or one team is on a roll. When they get together, hits will be handed out like free candy on Halloween, and the hate will flow from the opening faceoff. Hockey at its finest.

No word online yet on whether Letang or Malkin wil play tonight, gotta pick up an online sports show to see if there is any inclination that they may play.

Although the Pens have won 11 straight, for the most part, they have not dominated in most of the games, with 7 of the eleven games being one goal games. The GOOD news, although the streak started off high scoring not only by the Pens and their opponents, the last seven games, the Pens are averaging just over one goal/game against. That's a good sign for the coming playoff run.

Will be interesting which Flyers teams shows up tonight, having 5 days off in this shortened is a really strange event, and it could either help or hurt the Flyers.

I believe Kennedy didn't play due to the flu last night and was a late scratch.

Bummer, I had high hopes. I only saw healthy scratch

Rumble Rumble, trade clouds on the horizon.

Okay, so last night, Tyler Kennedy gets a healthy scratch. Not that its not deserved, 7 pts for the year, the Pens are expecting more. But it was quite sudden, and he would be MUCH better a choice than Tanner Glass on the fourth line at least.

Taking his place in the lineup last night was Trevor Smith, don't even believe he participated in the game day skate, Kennedy did.

Could be that the Pens are finally done waiting for TK to step up. He's a restricted free agent next year, maybe its time to go. Obviously, there's not much worth on his own, he'd have to be packaged up with with someone else. So he would have to get packaged up with probably one of our defensemen. But which would the Pens be willing to give up. The Pens have alot of youth at defense, please not Despres. Can't see Letang, Martin or Orpik, they are actually coming into form well. Bortozzo and Engelland I don't thing would fetch anything big. Eaton's too old for value. Niskanen may be the odd guy out. Good servicable defenseman, with youth on his side. Package him up with Kennedy and maybe a late round pick, and you may be able to upgrade to a bigger defenseman.

BUT WAIT, Billy Mays here. If you are the first team calling, we'll give you this added bonus, Tanner Glass, ABSOLUTELY FREE(just pay one bag of used pucks for shipping and handling)

Well it wasn't easy, never seems to be with the Isles, but another win. Isles I think burned themselves out early, coming on and totally outplaying the Pens in the first 20. But they only scored one goal. Slow and steady wins the race it seems. Good contributions from Vitale and Sutter(with his ninth!).

No Letang and No Malkin again tonight, with Vokoun in goal against a hungry team fighting for a playoff spot. Okay, I'll do the reverse karma thing today. I smell let down coming.

I don't see the Blues giving Stewart up for nothing even if they cannot resign him. He has been one of the hottest players in the game for the past few weeks.

The Blues are right in the middle in the west, starting to put a little distance and looking like a 4 seed, I feel confident that prospects/picks wouldn't be enough. Martin is who they are likely targeting, if there is validity to the deal, the Pens have a history of this type of deal (Neal for Goligoski) so it would not be a surprise.

That said, I think the Pens need to hold on to their Blue liners more than they need another forward. Remember last spring when the defense collapsed? Yes the Pens are playing lights out and on a fun wining streak but the defense is fragile, taking a Martin or Niskanen out of the mix would really stretch it to a dangerous level. Unless the Pens could get a top four blue liner (Boyle? Bouwmeester?) for a combo of picks and prospects, no way no how do I do this deal.

Absolute agree. My views are they either are going to look for a solid shutdown on defense, or they will try to upgrade their third line and push Kennedy and/or Cooke to the fourth line. They do not need further offense.

@nossagog The little ninja is our code for sarcasm....so don't think bert was serious....

Thanks, I saw that and figured that was what it was for.

[

By perennial do you mean he hit exactly 40 once and has never been close to 40 any other time in his career?

Exactly, see, I was just playin too. I'll use the ninja from now on jammer. I used this year extrapolated out to a what would be a full season, and counted that as he would have scored 40 again. And hence my comment of " A perenial 40 goal scorer on this team". So there you have it, two for two on 40 goal seasons on this team, perenial. I really wanted to be in politics, so manipulating words and numbers is really fun.

Just think what I could do with Pascal "Stone Hands" Dupuis this year!

LMAO!! and what reason could you possibly have for turning down such a lucrative trade...... Not that I would personally want Neal either........

Wait, you may have actually been serious.

Humm, well at the top of the list would be the $6.5M salary cap hit that would come from soft playing Danny Briere. The contract was riduculus when he signed it, its an albatros now for anyone with money to spend to the cap. One great year, got paid for it.

Second would be a 40 year old Knuble, not bad for our fourth line, but thats it. Will retire after the year(if he already hasn't).

Max? Thanks for the memories Max, glad you found someone to pay you that money, got enough grinders.

Great if your the Flyers, but please explain to me how trading Neal, a perenial 40 goal scorer on this team, for an overpaid center(is DB even considered your 2nd line center anymore), a soon to be retired Knuble and a servicable grinder, is going to help the Penguins get better.

Therein lies my problem with the trade rumor. I don't really want ANY of our defensemen to go for Stewart, except maybe Eaton. Even HE has been playing great defense now, perhaps realizing he has a home here and just have to give his all every shift. And as @B21 said... stay the hell away from our prospects and youth back there if it's just a rental!

Sorry, don't think it happens. Really

I go back to the other thread on the trade deadline for some sense here. The Pens are not going to give up anyone on their top six at the moment for a power forward who may or may not work out. The blues are not going to take ANY of our bottom six(unless we throw in Glass for free, PLEASE). Which leave the defense. I don't think that the Pens would be willing to depart with Letang or Despres, so the only one of value left would be Martin, and we'd probably ask for stewart plus pick.

As a GM, I'm looking to improve my team for a playoff run. So if I'm Ray Shero, am I helping my team? Stewart LONG term is better than probably Dupes or Kunitz with Sid, but would you REALLY break up that line now????? There's too much chemistry. And I don't think that Stewart on Malkin's line would be any better than with Bennet or Neal.

And if your St Louis, how are you improving your team if you give up your top scorer as you're fighting for a playoff spot. Martin is not going to fill in that role.

I'm not seeing how this helps the Pens. Alot of people always complain that Sid doesn't get to play with great wingers, he doesn't need great wingers, servicable wingers is all he needs.

Add to that the fact that Stewart is going to want a raise from the $3M he's making this year, and he may turn out to simply be a rental.

No Thanks would be my opinion

I don't think Letang is a long-term or significant injury. He'll be back shortly.

If they have any major injury it changes the dynamic. They obviously have offense out of Crosby and Malkin, but the production they're getting out of complimentary players like Kunitz and Dupuis, etc, makes them difficult. But what really impresses me is that they are playing in all three zones. The forwards are coming back and taking care of things in their own end. IF (and that's the key word, isn't it) they continue this and so long as Malkin or Fleury don't do their semi-annual playoff disappearing act, they will be very hard to stop.

@Digityman

The actual Pens fans may be staying far far away from this thread. Superstition and karma being what they are and all. I don't think I'd go anywhere near a similar thread about the Flyers (in a different year, obviously)

Okay, Pens fan stepping into the quagmire. Screw superstitions(Knock on wood while throwing salt over my shoulder)

Do I think that the Pens CAN win the cup this season, you bet. They have one of the most dynamic offenses in the league, with two lines that sometimes look like they can score at will. Crosby's line has been on fire since about game 8 of the season. With the addition of Bennet on Malkin's line, his line has looked unstoppable also. Neal is even starting to score even strength goals. Third line is solid at checking the other teams top line, and Sutter is now starting to scores goals.

Do I think they WILL win the cup, sadly not at the moment. I still think that the Pens are still a top 4 defenseman away from the cup. Yes they can score goals, but everyone knows that the rules change during the playoffs. More hooding, holding and interference are always allowed in the playoffs. Their offense will not be scoring in bundles. That means defensive games, and that is NOT the Pens strong suit.

Don't get me wrong, they've given up a total of 5 goals in their last 5 games, and have shown that they CAN play that kind of game, but its not their strength. Martin,Letang and Despres are offensive minded backliners, putting the onus of pure defense on Orpik, Niskanen, Bortozzo, Engelland and Eaton. I think Eaton was a great start at becoming better defensively, and could be a solid 3rd pairing guy. As much as I love what I see in Despres, I think he's going to be a liability in the playoffs. Bortozzoooooonooooo. And Engelland is physical, but overplays too much. I WANT MY SHUT DOWN PAIR!!!!!!!! Just not there, the best that we have would probably be Orpik/Niskanen, but Orpik has played pretty bad this year.

The goaltending is as it has always been, Fleury ON or Fleury OFF. Yes he has a cup, but I have never been sold on him. Makes greats saves one day, and couldn't stop a beach ball the next. What aided him in the cup year was the Gil - Scuder pairing which totally shut down the other teams top lines and PP's. We just do not have that.

Scoring lots of goals is great, but its more important to stop them in the playoffs.

All the highlights are on NHL.com... they played well.. Good defensive game. Orpik seemed more his old self, throwing the body around.

I wonder if the face shield makes a difference?

Yeehaa, nothing could be finer than the streak to hit a niner . . .

Just got to my hotel, and see the final score. Will have to look at the highlights on, wait, no nbc sport net or NHL network. Oh well, I'll have to see what I can find on line

Well, the Pens go for nine in a row this afternoon. Playing pretty well defensively the past week, hopefully this is an indication of the things to come.

Looking to be a thight race for the top of the east, this would be yet another big win for the Pens in their quest for the east. I'll be travelling, won't see the game.

Works for me. Third line did great today. If not for great goaltending by Lundqvist, could have been more lopsided.

Okay, since Glass is in the lineup today, here's his purpose. Go after Joe Girardi. The Rags in general, and Girardi in particular are out there going at peoples heads. Okay, if its not getting called, then do unto others . . .

@nossagog

@B21

Almost game time... I think I'd go with the opposite of yinz guys' thinking. The Rags have more shooters than the Boo'ins so I'd put my better defensive posture in today. Play the same style that held the Boo'ins to 16 shots Tuesday and add Depres there for his shot. Tough call though as both teams are defense first mentality.

I can't drink all day but I love the game idea. Torts is always fun to laugh at.

Thinking good thoughts, I'll have one or two for you.

LOL. I'd prefer that, too...Vokoun today and Fleury tomorrow.

I'd be more afraid offensively of the B's than the Rangers. The Rangers simply play a defensive shell. Let Vokoun play today.

Defensively, who sits today. I'd like to see Depres in the game today. Not as physical, and there should be low defensive zone time. Rest Eaton for a defensive struggle tomorrow. Engelland too.

Offensively, sit Glass. Oh wait, IMHO that should be every game, nevermind.

Hummm, wondering if its a contract thing. There used to be two numbers teams watched with Junior players. The first was 10. If a Junior played 10 games, the season automatically counted as one of the three of his entry level contract. This year, due to the shorted season, that number was reduced to 5. The other number was 40, if an 18 year old junior played 40 games, he could go to Unrestricted free agency at 25. If he did not play 40 games as an 18 year old, that moved to age 26. I wonder if the NHL moved that number also, based on the 40 in the past, that number would be about 25 games. Anyone know if this rule was adjusted for this season also.

Hummmmm, I'm trying to figure out how they get the star player bias onto that wheel?

I'm thinking Vokoun and Save Fleury for tommorow against the B's. Which obviously means I'll get it backwards.

Well its nice to be on a little roll. Last two games were nice to win but both were the come from behind nature in games where we just kept grinding along until finally something happened. Good defensively, but bad for the nerves, lets go for the early blowout today.

Nice thing is defensively they've played well the past two games, and the GAA is coming down. Hope that his keeps up.

Offensively, need some depth goals from the 3rd and 4th lines. We can't rely solely on Sid's line, in the end this is a losing stratagy in the playoffs.

Todays beer drinking game. Every time Torts tosses up his hands and conTorts his face at the official due to a call or noncall, chug whats left of your beer. WARNING:Please beer only, its an afternoon game and the way he acts like a child during games, I don't want anyone too drunk.

They're finding ways to win... I'll be at sunday's Boo'ins game again so we'll see if they can keep it up!

Sweet, I'll be on a plane to the middle of no where. Have to watch the game later in the week when I get home.

Just finished watching the game on tape. Nice comeback, again. Pretty evenly played game for the most part. Super Duper with two more goals, is that line on fire or what.

I've got now problems with this hit. Simmonds it tracking and going to take him from the side when Enis turns to the boards just prior to the hit. No Suspension, and No Penalty imho.