Game 45. Pens at Sens

 Eugene Melnyk's CSI Lab. 7:30. ROOT
 

 

Tonight, the Pittsburgh Penguins (34-10-0) take on the Ottawa Senators (23-15-6). The Sens could be a potential first-round matchup since the Sens and Rangers are tied with 52 points, though the Sens has played one less game. Time will tell. Pittsburgh has won the first two meetings with Ottawa: 2-1 in shootout and 4-2 in regulation.

As we all should remember, probably because Sens fans won't let anyone forget, the last meeting between the Pens and Sens contained a collision between Cooke and Karlsson that ended with Karlsson receiving a lacerated Achilles. This injury was thought to take about 6 months to recover but behold, he is now feeling 100% and practicing with his team after 9 weeks. But with that said, he will not be facing the Penguins tonight.

This all leads us to one of the most hilarious things ever. The "Red Scarf Union". Basically, this group of Senators fans are organizing what they call a "hate fest" for Matt Cooke by creating posters and wearing red scarves. That will show Cooke who's boss!

 

Matt "The Dirtiest Player in the NHL" Cooke... Original. Gold star for you!

 

 

And I guess the Ottawa Sun just had to pipe in too...

 

 

Right. Stay classy, Ottawa. Anyways, on to more important things...

 

LINES:

 

Kunitz - Jokinen - Iginla

Morrow - Jeffrey - Dupuis

Cooke - Sutter - Kennedy

MacIntyre - Adams - Glass

Orpik - Engelland

Murray - Niskanen

Despres - Bortuzzo

Vokoun

 

Michalek - Turris - Alfredsson

Conacher - Zibanejad - Silfverberg

Greening - Pageau - Condra

Kassian - Smith - Neil

 

Wiercioch - Gonchar

Phillips - Methot

Cowen - Gryba

 

Anderson

 

 

Stuff:

• With a win, Tomas Vokoun will become the 28th goalie in NHL history to reach 300 career victories.
• Dan Bylsma can potentially earn his 200th NHL coaching win tonight. With the Pens' next victory, Bylsma will become the fastest coach in NHL history to reach 200 wins.
• Fleury and Letang will not be present for the game tonight (as you can tell by the line-up). Letang due to a food poisoning illness, Fleury due to him and his wife expecting the birth of their child.
• Crosby, Neal, Malkin and Martin all skated back in Pittsburgh today.
• Bennett is now day to day with an upper body injury.
• Penguins playoff tickets for games 1 and 2 are now on sale.
• Keep in mind that your Penguins have gone 21-2 in the last 23 games. Amazing team we have here, guys.

Pssstttt... Haters, this one's for you.

 

GO PENS.

Our NHL Award Winners

So we have created a ballot for the 2013 Penguins Awards.

Now we're going to give our 2 cents on the NHL Awards.

Brandon, Haylie, and I have each comprised a list of 3 finalists and 1 winner for each of the NHL Awards that the Media votes on.

So let's begin.

Hart Memorial Trophy - The Hart Memorial Trophy is an annual award given to the player judged to be the most valuable to his team.

Haylie:

Finalists:
1. Sidney Crosby
2. John Tavares
3. Jonathan Towes

Winner:
Sidney Crosby

Brandon:

Finalists:

1. Sidney Crosby
2. Jonathan Toews
3. John Tavares

Winner:
Sidney Crosby

Andrew:

Finalists:

1. Sidney Crosby
2. John Tavares
3. Sergei Bobrovsky

Winner:
John Tavares

Vezina Trophy - The Vezina Trophy is an annual award given to the goalkeeper adjudged to be the best at this position as voted by the general managers of all NHL clubs.

Haylie:

Finalists:

1. Sergei Bobrovsky

2. Antti Niemi

3. Tuukka Rask

Winner:

Sergei Bobrovsky

Brandon:

Finalists:

1. Sergei Bobrovsky
2. Carey Price
3. Corey Crawford

Winner:
Sergei Bobrovsky

Andrew:

Finalists:

1. Sergei Bobrovsky
2. Corey Schneider
3. Antti Niemi

Winner:
Sergei Bobrovsky

James Norris Memorial Trophy - The James Norris Memorial Trophy is an annual award given to the defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position. The winner is selected in a poll of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association at the end of the regular season.

Haylie:

Finalists:

1. Kris Letang

2. Ryan Suter

3. PK Subban

Winner:

Kris Letang

Brandon:

Finalists:

1. Kris Letang

2. PK Subban

3. Zdeno Chara

Winner:

Kris Letang

Andrew:

Finalists:

1. Kris Letang

2. PK Subban

3. Mark Streit

Winner:

PK Subban

Calder Memorial Trophy - The Calder Memorial Trophy is an annual award given to the player selected as the most proficient in his first year of competition in the National Hockey League. The winner is selected in a poll of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association at the end of the regular season and each individual voter ranks their top five candidates on a 10-7-5-3-1 points system. Three finalists are named and the trophy is awarded at the NHL Awards ceremony after the playoffs.

Haylie:

Finalists:

1. Brandon Saad
2. Jonathan Huberdeau
3. Brenden Gallagher

Winner:
Brandon Saad

Brandon:

Finalists:

1. Jonathan Huberdeau
2. Brenden Gallagher
3. Brandon Saad

Winner:
Jonathan Huberdeau

Andrew:

Finalists:

1. Jonathan Huberdeau
2. Brandon Saad
3. Cory Conacher

Winner:
Jonathan Huberdeau

Lady Byng Memorial Trophy - The Lady Byng Memorial Trophy is an annual award given to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability. 

Haylie:

Finalists:

1. Patrick Kane
2. Ryan Callahan
3. Pavel Datsyuk

Winner:
Patrick Kane

Brandon:

Finalists:

1. Pavel Datsyuk
2. Patrick Kane
3. Ryan Callahan

Winner:
Pavel Datsyuk

Andrew:

Finalists:

1. Pavel Datsyuk
2. Patrick Kane
3. Ryan Callahan

Winner:
Patrick Kane

Frank J. Selke Trophy - The Frank J. Selke Trophy is an annual award given to the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game. 

Haylie:

Finalists:

1. Patrice Bergeron

2. Jonathan Toews

3. Pavel Datsyuk

Winner

Patrice Bergeron

Brandon:

Finalists

1. Pavel Datsyuk

2. Patrice Bergeron

3. Jonathan Toews

Winner

Pavel Datsyuk

Andrew:

Finalists

1. Jonathan Toews

2. Pavel Datsyuk

3. Anze Kopitar

Winner

Anze Kopitar

Jack Adams Award - The Jack Adams Award is an annual award presented by the National Hockey League Broadcasters' Association to the NHL coach judged to have contributed the most to his team's success. 

Haylie:

Finalists

1. Joel Quenneville

2. Paul MacLean

3. Bruce Boudreau

Winner

Joel Quenneville

Brandon:

Finalists

1. Bruce Boudreau

2. Joel Quenneville

3. Paul MacLean

Winner

Bruce Boudreau

Andrew:

Finalists

1. Todd Richards

2. Paul MacLean

3. Jack Capuano

Winner

Jack Capuano

Bill Masterson Memorial Trophy - The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is an annual award under the trusteeship of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association and is given to the National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey. 

Haylie:

Finalists

1. Sidney Crosby

2. Andrei Markov

3. Patrick Eaves

Winner

Sidney Crosby

Brandon:

Finalists

1. Sidney Crosby

2. Nathan Horton

3. Marian Hossa

Winner

Marian Hossa

Andrew:

Finalists

1. Sidney Crosby

2. Marian Hossa

3. Andrei Markov

Winner

Sidney Crosby

Ted Lindsay Award - The Ted Lindsay Award is presented annually to the "most outstanding player" in the NHL as voted by fellow members of the National Hockey League Players' Association.

Haylie did not select

Brandon:

Finalists

1. Sidney Crosby

2. Steven Stamkos

3. Alexander Ovechkin

Winner

Sidney Crosby

Andrew:

Finalists

1. Sidney Crosby

2. Alexander Ovechkin

3. Steven Stamkos

Winner

Sidney Crosby

Hope you guys enjoyed this.  If you disagree with any of our finalists or winners, tweet us

Brandon - @YouMeandDupuis

Haylie - @hayPENS

Andrew - @kingling43

FYI, this is irrelevant to anything, we just wanted to do this to give our opinions

Go Pens.

The First Annual HEYYYYY FANNNSSSS Penguins Awards

Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen to the Voting for the First Annual HEYYYYY FANNNSSSS Pittsburgh Penguins Awards.

As a group, we asked you on twitter for ideas of what categories we should use and with your suggestions, Brandon, Haylie, and I nominated one person per category.

What we need you, the Fans to do, is come to this post and vote for who you want to win.

This is purely our judgment and purely for fun, but we wanted to interact with you guys.

Voting for the awards will close at 11:59 Eastern time on Saturday, April 27th.

The first category for the HEYYYYY FANNNSSSS Pittsburgh Penguins Awards will be:

BEST GOAL

And the nominations for best goal are:

Evgeni Malkin vs Tampa Bay Lightning 3/4/13

Brandon Sutter vs Montreal Canadiens 3/2/13

Pascal Dupuis vs Toronto Maple Leafs 3/14/13

The Second Category for the Penguins Awards will be:

BEST HIT

And the nominees for Best Hit are:

Kris Letang 2 for 1 hit vs Tampa Bay Lightning 4/11/13

Douglas Murray on Brian Boyle (New York Rangers) 4/5/13

Brooks Orpik on Chris Kreider (New York Rangers) 1/20/13

The Next Category for the HEYYYYY FANNNSSSS Penguins Award Is:

BEST SAVE

And the nominees for Best Save are:

Marc-Andre Fleury on Matt Martin (New York Islanders) 2/5/13

Marc-Andre Fleury on Brian Little (Winnipeg Jets) 2/15/13

Marc-Andre Fleury on Derek Stepan (NY Rangers) 4/5/13

Next Category is:

Biggest Surprise - Positive

And the Nominees are:

Mark Eaton

Beau Bennett

Paul Martin

We're going to pause the nominees for a brief commercial break.

After that brief commercial, we continue with the awards

Next category is:

Biggest Disappointment

The nominees for Biggest Disappointment are:

Tyler Kennedy

Deryk Engellend

Tanner Glass

Next category is:

Biggest Shaft Job (Not getting what they deserve)

The nominees for Biggest Shaft Job are:

Dustin Jeffrey

Simon Despres

Robert Bortuzzo

Only a couple categories left you guys.

The next category is:

Best Trade

The nominees for the best trade are:

Eric Tangradi traded to Winnipeg for a 7th round pick.

Jussi Jokinen to Pittsburgh for a Conditional 7th

Douglas Murray to Pittsburgh for a 2nd and conditional 2nd

Next to last category is:

Biggest Moment of Regular Season

The nominees are:

Tyler Kennedy Overtime Winner vs Philadelphia

Pens comeback win in Philadelphia

Brandon Sutter caps comeback vs Bruins

And we have one more commercial break before the Nominees for our Final Category

And the Final Category of the First Annual HEYYYYY FANNNSSSS Pittsburgh Penguins Awards is:

TEAM MVP

And the nominees for Team MVP are:

Sidney Crosby

Marc-Andre Fleury

Pascal Dupuis

Hope you guys all decide to vote.

Follow the following link to find the ballot.

Awards Ballot

Enjoy and we will see you back here Sunday for the Winners of the First Annual HEYYYYY FANNNSSSS Pittsburgh Penguins Awards.

Good luck

Go Pens.

A Tiny Sense Of Normalcy. Pens WIN

 3

1

After the events of the past week Saturday needed to happen more than anything.  It was nice to just forget about all the bull shit that had happened since Monday and just watch a hockey game.  The Bruins fans put on another wonderful rendition of the National Anthem followed by "USA" chants.  It was fun to see.  Then they game started and we were reminded what dicks the Bruins are.  They controlled most of the play in the 1st.  The Pens weathered the storm and managed to get out of the period only down 1-0.  Then they got to their game in the 2nd and 3rd and took it to the Bruins.  Jussi Jokinen scored his 2578462 goal since being acquired at the trade deadline to tie it in the 2nd.  The Pens got a power play in the 3rd.  Jarome Iginla was on the ice.  He was getting booed all game.  You knew what was coming.  It was almost like the WWE wrote the script.  Iggy launched a laser from the point.  Goal.  It gave the Pens a 2-1 lead.  Kris Letang would make it 3-1 soon after.  Tyler Seguin scored a garbage time goal to get it to 3-2.  Whatever.  

1. Tomas Vokoun

2. Jussi Jokinen

3. Patrice Bergeron

Stuff:

• Jarome Iginla.
• The Pens have swept the season series against the 2, 3, and 4 seeds this season.  Only team to beat the Pens more than once was New Jersey.
• The Pens record against the 8 teams fighting for the final 7 playoff spots is 23-4.
• Jussi Jokinen had a 3 point day.
• Speaking of Jussi Jokinen.  Brad Marchand called him dirty.  Pot meet kettle. 
• Also.  Brad Marchand sucks.  He is gonna cost the Bruins in the playoffs because he'll take some dumb penalty.
• Tomas Vokoun was sharp.
• Matt Cooke is playing with a little more chippiness and we love it. 
• Pens have clinched the top seed in the East 

Pens travel to Eugene Melnyk's CSI Lab Monday at 7:30

Hopefully Bylsma scratches Matt Cooke.  Ultimate troll move.

Go Pens

Good Read - Dejan Kovacevic Trib Article

We all know how much Brenden Morrow and Jarome Iginla wanted to win a Cup and that's why they waived their NTC to come to Pittsburgh.

Dejan Kovacevic wrote an article for the Trib on Sunday that I would recommend any Pens fan should read.

These guys are here to win a cup, the quotes in this article will make you want to run through a wall.

Wanting Stanley

Final sentence in the article reads the following:

Couple of weeks ago in Tampa, the Lightning scoreboard was showing highlights from that 2004 Cup final, including a clip of Iginla and Vincent Lecavalier famously scrapping. It isn't easy to wipe the smile off Iginla's face, but he stayed transfixed, expressionless, until it ended.

His Flames lost that series, I'll remind.

“Yeah, I saw it,” was all Iginla would say when I asked about that video. “Saw the whole thing.”

Still no smile.

Don't overthink it.

My God. Think Iggy wants to win?

Read this, you won't be disappointed.

Go Pens.

Game 44. Pens at Bruins.

TD Bank Garden. 12:30. ROOT.

Pens look to clinch the No. 1 seed in the East with a win today over the Bruins. Boston is coming off a  3-2 shootout loss to the Buffalo Sabres, the first game the Bruins have played since the bombing tragedy at the Boston Marathon.

As we all should be aware of by now, this Pens/Bruins game was supposed to happen last night but was postponed due to the manhunt of one of the bombing suspects. That suspect is now in custody, thanks to the heroic efforts of Boston law enforcement. Boston strong.

Pens have won in the first 2 meeting with the B's (3-2 and 2-1). Also remember that this will be the first game that Jarome Iginla has played against the Bruins after their failed trade in March.

Oh yeah, and then there's Jaromir Jagr on the Bruins.

Game on.

LINES:

 

Kunitz - Jokinen - Iginla

 Morrow - Dupuis - Bennett

 Cooke - Sutter - Kennedy

 Glass- Vitale - Adams

 

 Orpik - Letang

 Murrary - Niskanen

 Eaton - Despres

 

 Vokoun

 

 

Bartkowski - Bergeron - Seguin

 Campbell - Krejci - Jagr

 Paille - Kelly - Horton

 Lucic - Peverley - Thornton

 

 Chara - Boychuk

 Redden - Seidenberg

 Hamilton - McQuaid

 

 Rask

 

 

Stuff:

• The Pens and Bruins players will be auctioning off their jerseys to raise money for the families of the Boston Marathon bombing victims.
• Crosby and Neal were working out on the available ice in Pittsburgh today. (per Bylsma)
• Martin, Malkin, Bortuzzo, Jeffrey, MacIntyre and Hartzell all skated in Boston this morning.

GO PENS.

Doing The Right Thing. Pens/Bruins postponed

Due to the absolute mess going on in the Boston area last night into today, the NHL has postponed the Pens/Bruins game tonight in Boston. The Pens/Bruins game is postponed until 12:30 tomorrow. Pens/Sabres is now moved to Tuesday, April 23rd at 7:30.

If you haven't been following along last last night (April 18th), 2 men shot and killed an officer on the campus of MIT.  The two men then went on to carjack a Mercedes and rob a 7/11.  Then a massive fire fight with the 2, or we are even hearing 3, men ensued.  We later found out that the gun men were the Boston Marathon bombers from Monday afternoon.  One of the bombers was shot dead.  1 or 2 are still at large.  

Stay on Twitter if you want more updates or watch MSNBC.  CNN sucks.

Go Boston.