RECAP: *YAWN* Bounce Back Game - Pens Win.

3

(16-5-2)

2

(7-13-3)

  The Penguins were able to bounce back on Saturday night by besting the Canes in the second game of a home and home against Carolina. Another terribly officiated game but that's nothing new for the Penguins. The Pens were able to dig deep despite missing Kris Letang with an lower body injury, Marcel Goc, and Beau Bennett (obviously). The Pens found goals from unlikely sources tonight AKA Bortuzzo and Ehrhoff. Either way it was a great way to bounce back and get two points out of an opponent who you should beat every time.

  Penguins looked good in the first period tonight, as well as the other two tonight. However it was not the Penguins who struck first. Of course the Canes were on the powerplay due to a terrible call on Robert Bortuzzo for roughing. Justin Faulk made them pay with a slapper from the top left circle beating Greiss. Not even 20 seconds later, Chris Kunitz tied the game with a snapshot from the left faceoff dot beating goaltender Khudobin. Malkin made the play happen as he basically dominated with the puck behind the net and was able to find Kunitz open for the blast. About a minute and forty seconds after that, a Christmas Miracle happened. Robert Bortuzzo did a thing (jk because he's been solid all year). Either way Bortuzzo basically takes the puck from the Penguins blue line, down the ice and literally skates through four Carolina players. It was as if the Canes had suffered from "disconnected controller syndrome" as Bortuzzo walked right in and scored his second of the season. To get an idea of just what the hell happened...

  One thing to note on the Bortuzzo goal, newly recalled forward Andrew Ebbett recorded a point, which is hysterical because Zach Sill has yet to do so all season. All the LOLs.

  Summary of the second period:

*Malkin for hooking*

*Crosby for hooking*

*Comeau for boarding*

  Nothing really happened in the third either. The Pens held it down defensively and basically trapped the Canes. Then the Christian Ehrhoff show took over with about 4:30 to go in the third. Ehrhoff basically brings the puck into the zone, shoots the puck off of Khudobin's right pad and follows up his own rebound. His first of the year and recently he's been able to shake off the "Buffalo suck" that transformed him from a great defenseman to the "holy shit, I play for the Sabres why am I even trying" to the "Ok, I am good again." With twelve seconds to go in the game the Canes added a powerplay goal, a deflection from Elias Lindholm off a Victor Rask shot. Pens won the faceoff and Hornqvist went and camped with the puck in the Hurricanes zone to end it. Pens win. Yep.

3rd - Justin Faulk (1 goal)

2nd - Thomas Greiss ( 34 saves, .941 SV%)

1st - Christian Ehrhoff (1 goal)

 #GameNotes

•  Penguins were only out shot by 1 - 34 - 33, much better
• Olli Maatta logged 25 minutes TOI tonight replacing Letang, good lord what a player
• Penguins brought the boom, outhitting Carolina 38 - 23
• Penguins got more than one powerplay tonight (3) so that's a start...
• Germans can play hockey
• Kunitz broke an 11 game scoreless streak
• Jeremy Roenick has still not won a Stanley Cup
• Nathan Gerbe hates babies

PENS WIN. Next game Tuesday against New Jersey. 

Game Day: Game 23. Pens at Canes

(15-5-2)

(1st in the Metrosexual Division)

(7-12-3)

(7th in the Metrosexual Division)

PNC Arena - 7PM

TV: Root Sports Pitt

Radio: 105.9 The X

   The Penguins are coming off a 4-2 tough loss to the Carolina Hurricanes as they played the first game of a home and home series at Consol Energy Center. Tonight, they are in Raleigh, North Carolina for game two. The Penguins were badly outshot 35-22, outplayed and out officiated last night. In addition, Marcel Goc injured his foot blocking a shot in the first period. Andrew Ebbett was recalled today to provide some depth (lol) with Goc going to be out for a game or so. Johnston didn't sound too concerned about Goc's foot injury, however injury woes are turning the Pens bottom six into a soft pile of dog crap, AKA what it was was last year. Either way, the Pens look to rebound against the Hurricanes in the second game of a home and home. 

Lines: Via Daily FaceOff

    Penguins (did not have morning skate, projections):

LW    -      C          -     RW

Spaling - Crosby - Hornqvist

Kunitz - Malkin - Comeau

Megna - Sutter - Downie

Sill - Ebbett - Adams

D

Martin - Letang

Maatta - Ehrhoff

Scuderi - Despres / Bortuzzo

G

Greiss

  Carolina: (did not have morning skate, projections)

LW    -      C     -    RW

Tlusty - E. Staal - Semin

Gerbe - Nash - Lindholm

Skinner - Rask - Nestrasil

Boychuk - McClement - Dwyer

D

Sekera - Faulk 

Liles - Hainsey

Gleason - Jordan

G

Khudobin

What to watch for:

• Rutherford homecoming in Carolina
• Andrew Ebbett recalled from WBS replacing Goc
• Someone else probably gets hurt tonight
• Penguins to probably not get any powerplays
• Jeremy Roenick still has not won a Stanley Cup
• Stuff

Don't suck tonight. Let's do it. Go Pens.

Recap: BUT IT'S THE HURRICANES. Pens Lose.

4

(7-12-3)

2

(15-5-2)

Incase you have better things to do than read our recap, this summarizes the Pens game

*Obligatory anthem pic*

Here we go...

  Some random author Charles Dickens once wrote, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..." Nothing could be more true about Penguins hockey and this game. For starters, the officiating blew. Absolutely terrible. So bad in fact Sidney Crosby was given a ten minute misconduct at the end of the game. Second, Cam Ward made like the first big save of his life on Comeau tonight so that was like the play of the game / game changer. Lastly, another Penguin went down with an injury tonight, Marcel Goc left early after blocking a shot so the injury woes continue. Either way tonight was not the Penguins night and they're back at it again tomorrow. #GameNotes

  Penguins dominated the first like ten minutes of game play getting chance after chance and were all over the Hurricanes. Blake Comeau hit the post like 1.34 seconds into the game because he's been an absolute animal as of late. It wasn't until about 16 minutes into the period the Hurricanes tallied first. Jiri Tlusty basically took a sharp angle shot which bounced off Maatta's stick and went behind Fleury. About a 45 seconds later, the Penguins were sick off the Hurricane's shit and decided they wanted to tie the game. Spaling,being the gem he is takes a shot on net , Sid was tying the man up in front of the net because he's the #BestInTheWorld, while boxing the man out, directs the puck right to an oncoming Kris Letang who just taps it into an empty net basically. 1-1. Letang's 4th from Crosby and Spaling. Everything was great until Marcel Goc blocked a shot late in the first period and would not return. Expect some random press conference about how he has ebola, or needs a blood transfusion next week, considering the Penguins don't suffer real 'hockey' injuries.  #GameNotes

Courtesy of the of the Penguins

    So about three minutes into the second period, superstar Craig Adams thinks he's talented enough to bring the puck all the way to the red line, where he coughs up a terrible turnover because Justin Faulk stepped up on him, then Tlusty (common theme tonight) passes it to Patrick Dwyer who beats Fleury with a shot from about the left faceoff dot high glove side. 2-1 Canes. The next goal would come with about four minutes left in the second. Kunitz passes the puck up to Crosby, who drops the puck to Patric Hornqvist, who has been absolutely unreal this year as he fires it glove side past Ward to make it 2-2. Hornqvist's 11th from Crosby and Kunitz. #GameNotes.

  Where to begin? Oh ok, let's start 2:14 seconds into the period when Crosby takes a goaltending interference penalty for breathing on Cam Ward. Gerbe, the little 3'1 inch midget scores to make it 3-2 Canes on the powerplay. #GameNotes

  Penguins were getting beat badly to lose pucks in the third, mainly because they found themselves trying to kill three penalties, along with being a man down without faceoff hero Marcel Goc. An Ehrhoff interference penalty just when the Penguins were starting to gain momentum (which wasn't his fault by the way tbh), and a Maatta tripping penalty really killed any rally the Pens could muster up in the third. Jiri Tlusty adds another goal on the powerplay with an empty netter. Crosby ends the game by telling the refs how much they blow and he gets a ten minute misconduct. Glad someone said it. Either way, all-around meh performance by the Penguins. #GameNotes

Tlusty closin' it out (Thanks Penguins)

3rd - Sidney Crosby ( 2 assists)

2nd - Nathan Gerbe (1 goal)

1st - Jiri Tlusty (2 goals, 1 assist)

Honorable mention: 

#GameNotes

Additional Stuff: 

• Penguins badly outshot 35-22
• Penguins once again only get 1 powerplay lol
• Watch for Goc injury update - Ebbett will most likely play tomorrow (who else?)
• Giveaways: Penguins:  6 - Carolina : 1, Craig Adams: 2
• Crosby recorded his 10th multi-point game of the season - tied for 1st in NHL
• Craig Adams is bad

Next Game: @Carolina tomorrow 7PM 

Gameday: Game 22 - Hurricanes vs. Pens

Consol Energy Center - 7PM

TV: ROOT Sports

Radio: 105.9 The X

Tonight the Pens begin yet another home and home series, this time against the Carolina Hurricanes. Carolina is in full #TankForMcDavid mode at this point. I don't believe any irrelevant Hurricane player guaranteed a weekend sweep for this home and home series so there isn't much to say other than Carolina is really, really bad. 

Lines: (Daily Faceoff)

Spaling - Crosby - Hornqvist 

Kunitz - Malkin - Comeau 

Megna - Sutter - Downie

Sill - Goc - Adams 

Martin - Letang 

Maatta - Ehrhoff 

Scuderi - Despres 

Fleury

Tlusty - Staal - Semin 

Gerbe - Nash - Lindholm

Skinner - Rask - Nestrasil 

Boychuk - McClement - Dwyer 

Sekera - Faulk 

Liles - Hainsey 

Gleason - Jordan 

WaLOLOLOLrd

Notes:

• Jordan Staal is out with a broken leg. Somewhere, Brian Rafalski is still wondering what happened. 
• Sidney Crosby is still in control of that baton, his 9 goals and 22 assists leads the league.  
• Happy Birthday to Marc-Andre Fleury who turns 30 tonight. He'll probably celebrate by posting a shutout, scoring a goal, and then taking a dump on Alexander Semin's chest. 
• You'll probably hear it 37472837442 times tonight, but the Hurricanes are GMJR's old team. So be ready for that. 
• The Hurricane's are not "pretty good". 

Go Pens

Gameday: Game 21 - LOLeafs at Pens

Consol Energy Center

7:30 pm

TV: Root

Radio: 105.9 the X

Canada's team is in Pittsburgh tonight for the final matchup of the year between the Pens and the Leafs. The Pens have won both games this year in Toronto. One time I think Leafs fans threw a jersey on the ice. Who knows. We're shocked Randy Carlyle is still their head coach tbh. The Pens are wearing their Alternates again (which hopefully will be their home jerseys sooner than later) and Marc-Andre Fleury will be wearing his yellow pads for the first time this year.

Lines (from Daily Faceoff)

van Riemsdyk - Bozak - Kessel

Komarov - Kadri - Santorelli

Winnik - Holland - Clarkson

Booth - Smith - Lupul

Traffic Cone - Franson

Gardiner - Holzer

Reilly - Robidas

Bernier

Spaling - Crosby - Hornqvist

Kunitz - Malkin - Comeau

Downie - Sutter - Megna

Adams - Goc - Sill

Martin - Letang

Maatta - Ehrhoff

Scuderi - Despres

Fleury

• Marc-Andre Fleury enters tonight 5th in both GAA (2.09) and Save Percentage (.926)
• Patric Hornqvist is averaging over a point a game and is tied with Stamkos (24 points) for 5th in scoring.
• The Penguins powerplay is still 1st overall clicking at 33.3% and 4th PK at 87.8%
• The Leafs enter tonight 5th in the Atlantic and have won their past two games
• HCMJ announced today that Beau Bennett will be out a few weeks with a lower body injury

Do it

Go Pens

Marc Andre Fleury Sucks? The Numbers Say Otherwise

On Monday, November 25th, Marc Andre Fleury won his 300th career NHL game.  He also became the 3rd fastest goalie to win 300 games.  Fleury has also been racking up the accolades as of late.  In addition to winning 300 games, Fleury has also became the franchise leader in wins and shutouts.  The narrative on Fleury recently has been "Oh he sucks in the playoffs" or "He let's in soft goals and can't handle the puck behind the net."  Our response.  1. Who has been good for the Penguins in the playoffs since 2009?   With a team that didn't play well in front of him and a coach that refused to make any adjustments it was basically counting on MAF to stop every single shot that came his way.  If you think a goalie is going to stop every shot that comes his way each and every game, well: 

That just isn't going to happen.  And people want to go pinning playoff losses on him, including last years, is just asinine.  You want to know why the Pens lost in the playoffs last season?  An out dated, easy to defend system, and 3 goals in the final 3 games.  That's why they lost.  Not MAF.  And in response to the soft goals and him misplaying the puck.  It happens to everyone.  Get over it.  Go watch the 2 goals Henrik Lundqvist gave up in that crazy Pens/Rangers game.  Those were soft.  So if the people that say Fleury sucks because he lets in soft, then Henrik Lundqvist sucks too right?  Lets take a look at some numbers here shall we.

You might have to click on the image to make it bigger and easier to see.  But if you don't want to do that don't worry.  We are gonna go over them.

1) WINS.  At the time of typing this Marc Andre Fleury has exactly 300 wins.  That's good for 30th all time.  Yes.  You read that right.  30th all time.  By the end of this season we could see Fleury jump all the way up to number 20.  That may be a stretch because that's 33 wins and we are already a quarter of the way through the season.  I don't think we'll be seeing Fleury in 60+ games this year.  A more conceivable number where we could see Fleury end this season is number 22.  Passing Seasn Burke at 324 wins.

2. GAA.   This stat and the next one are stats that people like to throw around as the be all end all for goalie stats because wins apparently aren't important.  Marc Andre Fleury has a careeer 2.60 goals against average.  That isn't horrible in a league that is trying to generate more offense.  Let't take a look at some of the goalies ahead of Marc Andre Fleruy on the career wins list that have a close or worse GAA compared to MAF.

• Mich Richter.  29th in career wins who MAF will tie with his next win. 2.89 GAA
• Olie Kolzig. 27th in wins at 303. 2.71 GAA
• Sean Burke. 22nd in wins at 324.  2.96 GAA
• Nikolai Khabibulin.  20th in wins at 330. 2.72 GAA
• Tom Barrasso.  16th in wins at 369. 3.24 GAA
• Mike Vernon. 12th in wins at 385. 2.98 GAA
• Curtis Joseph. 4th in wins at 454. 2.79 GAA
• Ed Belfour. 3rd in wins at 484. 2.50 GAA
• Patrick Roy.  2nd in wins at 551. 2.54 GAA

So the 2nd and 3rd goalie in career wins have a .06 and .10 better GAA respectively than MAF.  Man MAF sucks, right?

3. Save Percentage.  The final stat we are gonna look at which is another stat Fleury detractors like to throw around as the be all end all of goalie stats is Save Percentage.  Marc Andre Fleury has a career .911 save percentage.  That is very solid compared to the guys ahead of him on the career wins list.  Which we are going to do.  Again comparing similar or worse.  

*Below.  S% = Save Percentage for those of you too dumb to figure it out.

• Mich Richter.  29th in wins at 301. .904 S%
• Olie Kolzig. 27th in wins at 303. .906 S%
• Mikka Kiprusoff.  23rd in wins at 319.  .912 S%
• Sean Burke.  22nd in wins at 324.  .902 S%
• Nikolai Khabibulin.  20th in wins at 330.  .907 S%
• Evgeni Nabokov.  18th in wins at 352.  .912 S%
• Tom Barrasso.  16th in wins at 369.  .892 S%
• Mike Vernon.  12th in wins at 385.   .890 S%
• Chris Osgood.  10th in wins at 401.  .905 S%
• Curtis Joseph.  4th in wins at 454.  .906 S%
• Ed Belfour. 3rd in wins at 484.  .906 S%
• Patrick Roy.  2nd in wins at 551.  .910 S%
• Martin Brodeur.  1st in wins at 688.  .912 S%

13 goalies out of the top 30 that have worse or similar S% than MAF,  Almost half.  That number might be greater but all 30 goalies don't have a S% stat.  Same with GAA.  We also looked at where MAF was at career wise in save percentage.  He is currently 99th overall.  That number is a little BS because there are some goalies that have played only 1 or 2 games.  So we shrunk the number down to goalies that have only played more than 100 games.  Fleury would be 40th all time.  

So when you want to go on your "Fleury sucks!" high horse, check the numbers.  Its all right in front of you.  

And for the "Fleury sucks in the playoffs" narrative that gets thrown around constantly.  52 wins (17th overall).  2.68 GAA.  And a .905 S%.  Very similar numbers to his regular season.  

So again.  If you want to say Fleury sucks and his numbers aren't good.  Again, we say.  Check.  The Numbers.

MAF looks to get win number 301 tonight against Toronto.

Go Pens

RECAP: GenoMania))))) Pens WIN.

3

2

The Penguins bounced back nice after two losses to the Islanders over the weekend. Crosby, Malkin, Letang, and Fleury all played big parts in this win for the Penguins.

The game started with a horrible rendition of the national anthem by Rene Rancourt, he's seriously the worst. Crosby was flying earlier. 3+ minutes in, the Penguins were dominating possession in the Bruins zone and Crosby and Hornqvist stayed for an extended shift. The puck found Craig Adams who fired a slapshot off of Rask. The rebound came out to Hornqvist who kicked the puck to Crosby for a wide open net.

The game picked up from there. Paul Martin got caught holding Carl Soderberg but the Bruins didn't get much going on the PP. After that, the puck bounced off MAF, Patrice Bergeron tapped it in, but Toronto decided that we needed to review it. They called no goal and the ref gave the best explanation of all time.

With like 4 mins left in the period, Rielly Smith decided to run over MAF and the refs realized they were allowed to call penalties on the other team (especially Boston). The crowd didn't like it, as normal in Boston. The period ended pretty even with the shots even at 10, but the Pens up 1-0.

The second opened up with a good jump from Boston. Less than 2 mins in, Loui Eriksson took two Penguins with him, which they were probably surprised he wasn't injured. Eriksson pulled them both with him and then he found the always classy douchebag player, Milan Lucic wide open in front of the net for a tap in. 1-1. *Sidenote, the Bruins goal horn is awful* Less than a minute later, the puck found former Penguin draft pick Joe Morrow who threw the puck towards the net. The puck hit Rob Scuderi in the back and sniped Fleury glove side. 2 bad breaks for Fleury and the Pens gave Boston a 2-1 lead. A little later, Patrice Bergeron decided to hook Christian Ehrhoff and the Pens went on their second power play of the game. This time, they gained the zone and worked the puck around. Crosby threw it to Letang at the point who threw it over to Geno who curl drag sniped Rask to tie it at 2. A little later, Carl Soderberg threw the puck in off of Lucic's chest, then Lucic was a dbag again (shocker) and threw the net off its moorings. Toronto decided to review it but no dice again. Lucic started pounding his chest, we think to point to the A on his sweater that stands for asshole. Lucic then tried to bully Simon Despres but Despres didn't back down and they both went off for roughing. Paul Martin then got called for interference and the Bruins got a long 4 on 3. Pens killed the 4 on 3 pretty easily and we wanna point out how good Rob Scuderi was on that kill. Outstanding positioning which allowed Fleury to see the puck easily. Period ended 2-2 with Boston outshooting the Pens 24-20 total.

The third was kind of a lul except the Pens kinda dominated the Bruins. They also had a huge shift late in the 3rd where they dominated puck possession probably 2-3 lines deep which forced the Bruins to take a too many men penalty. They killed it off and the game went to OT.

Since the #DryScrape is gone, OT started quicker with the shovels cleaning the ice. The Bruins controlled the faceoff, took the puck down and Fleury made a save. Marchand kind of got trapped and the puck went to Crosby. Kris Letang turned on the jets for a good center drive, the Bruins defense pushed back, Crosby threw a one timer to Malkin who blasted one through a rolling Tuukka Rask. Game.

1. Evgeni Malkin (2 g, 0 a)

2. Sidney Crosby (1 g, 2 a)

3. Milan Lucic (1 g, 0 a)

Game Notes:

• Marc-Andre Fleury became the 3rd quickest goaltender to reach 300 wins.
• Patric Hornqvist is 5th in the NHL in points, I repeat, Patric Hornqvist is 5th in the NHL in Points.
• Nick Spaling didn't record a point but played a really solid game.
• Beau Bennett missed practice today after getting taken down and his leg sat on by some Miller guy from Boston

Next game is Tomorrow vs Toronto

Do It.

Go Pens