Kennedy is moved up to the first line with Crosby and Fedotenko, Gill is back in the lineup and Chris Minard is up from the baby pens.
TP reader Naum sent this photo in from tonight’s game. Wow look at all those empty seats in Phoenix, what a joke of a hockey market.
First Period
The Minard - Stall line gets some good pressure early. The Coyotes come back with a solid shift, Fluery makes a good save.
Pens sort of look out of sync, making bad passes and not really getting anything going.
Talbot comes down the wing and has Satan going towards the net, he passes it in front but a coyote gets a stick on it.
Pens are getting outplayed early, the coyotes are getting a lot of chances. Fluery is making some key saves.
Malkin makes another turnover, and a coyote almost puts it in, great save Fluery.
Cosby is going to the bench and he gets blatantly high sticked, no call.
Eaton takes a penalty, Coyotes on the power play. Pens kill off the penalty, Orpik gets a chance against Bryzgalov but he makes the save.
Pens were totally out played in the first, they only had 2 shots on net, which is unacceptable.
Intermission
My Late Dinner
Second Period
Fedotenko gets a good chance early, but Bryzgalov makes the necessary save.
Letang comes down low, and gives Malkin the puck, he tries to get it in, but Bryzgalov makes the save. Puck goes in the net after the whistle blows.
Malkin gets the puck and splits the defense, Bryzgalov makes the initial save they gets few more shots but no go. Puck goes in after the whistle blows again.
Orpik finishes his check and gets a penalty, coyotes on the power play. Crosby comes down makes the coyotes defense look stupid, but Bryzgalov makes the save. Coyotes pass it out front Olli Jokinen beats Fluery, 1-0 coyotes.
Some coyote takes a penalty, pens on the power play. Malkin takes the puck at the point, he takes a shot, it goes wide, the puck goes off the glass, comes in front and Satan puts it in baseball style. 1-1 Game.
Malkin again tries to split the D, he gets stood up, but still gets the shot off, Bryzgalov makes the save. Penguins are really putting the pressure on the coyotes.
Sykora comes down the right wing, he passes it in front for Malkin, he tries to go to the backhand on Bryzgalov, but he makes the save.
Sid draws a penalty, pens on the power play. Pens are all over the coyotes on the power play, they get a ton of chances, they even hit the post, but no go. The coyotes get a short-handed chance but Letang makes a huge play.
Staal somehow gets a boarding call, coyotes on the power play. Gill tries to clear the puck, it takes a weird bounce, and Shane Doan basically puts it in an empty net. 2-1 Coyotes.
End of the second.
Third Period
Malkin goes around another coyotes defensemen, he passes it out to Eaton, he takes a shot and Bryzgalov makes the save.
Pheonix gets a to many men on the ice penalty, Gretzky flips! Pens on the power play. Coyotes get a 2 on 1 but Malkin comes up big and makes a good play to stop it. Pens look decent on the power play, but the coyotes get another 2 on 1 with Letang back, he makes a good play to block the shot. Coyotes kill off the penalty.
Crosby goes off the ice, he won’t return for the rest of the game.
A coyote blatantly interfear’s with Talbot, no call. Carcillo hits Sykora from behind, what a retard, pens on the power play. A coyote basically throws the puck over the glass, 5 on 3 for the pens. Satan takes a penatly, some 4 on 3 action. For some reason he also gets a 10 minute misconduct??? So Satan and Crosby are both out for the rest of the game. The pens are unable to convert, coyotes get a 1 minute power play.
Pens give up the puck, the coyotes take the puck to the net and get an easy goal on Fluery. 3-1 Coyotes.
Orpik lays out a coyote. Pens pull the goalie, coyotes put the puck in the empty net, 4-1 coyotes.
Game over….wow
Game Thoughts
Well where to start with this one…The pens started off slow, if we were playing a better team it would have been 2-0 after the first period. And the pens only have 2 shots in the first period, now that’s a joke. The pens really came on strong in the second but only managed to score 1 goal. These lines still are not working that great in my opinion. The third period was a disaster, bad passing, bad plays the pens just couldn’t do it. I think the pens just need to move on from this game and prepare for the next game against the Blues on Saturday night. The big question is why did Crosby leave the ice in the third and not return? We will have to see if he plays in the next game against the Blues.
…Not quite. I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately, and I’ve had countless arguments with friends of mine who think the Penguins are on a long road - one that ends with a dismal record at the end of the season. Everyone is well aware that the Pens made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals last year and because of this, expecations are high. This is to be expected, but all the panic and talk of how much talent was lost (Hossa, Malone, Ruutu, etc.) fails to talk about a few key things:
Under Michel Therrien, the Penguins are known to start slow, and change lines constantly to find the best fit. This takes time, and we hear the same complaints every season. Think about this though - Therrien (and the Pens) have started the past two seasons this way, and by the end of the season, the Penguins were a well-oiled machine who many picked as the favorites in the playoffs. It takes time, but it will happen. We’d bet on it.
Many often fail to realize that the Pens are not only facing their shortest off-season in recent history, but have a slew of new players that are trying to adapt to the system. When Marian Hossa came to the team last year and started playing (after being injured in the first game), it took quite some time for he and Crosby to create the chemistry that we witnessed in the playoffs. Satan and Fedontenko are skilled hockey players, and although they may not be as good as Hossa, they’ll adapt and become the goal scorers that Ray Shero envisioned when he signed them.
The Pens have started this season 5-3-2 (12 points) and currently sit 3rd in the East. Anyone remember the Pens record last year at this time? They started the season 5-4-1 (11 points). Doesn’t sound like a time to panic anymore, does it?
The Pens are in Pheonix tonight to take on the Coyotes. This is the second to the last game of their road trip. We don’t see much of the Coyotes as we only faced them once last year beating them 3-1. I’m sure a lot of you remember Crosby’s sick goal against them back in 2006. The Coyotes have a 3-4-0 record against the Penguins 5-3-2 record. I exepct the pens to take this game easily.
Therrien is changing up the lines again, they are:
See what happens when Crosby and Malkin are seperated. If you do not live in the Pittsburgh or Pheonix markets then you can still check out the game through NHL GameCenter Live as they are providing a free preview tonight. Puck drops at 10PM tonight.
Go Pens!
Quite a few people sent us this video. The Pirates what a joke…
First Period
Sharks come out strong, they get a few shots on net, but Sabourin makes the necessary saves.
Goddard and Shelly square off, a decent fight…we’ll give it to Shelly.
Satan goes behind the net and barely even touches Nabokov he falls over like he has been shot, Sharks on the power play. The pens don’t let the Sharks get setup at all on the power play, good way to start the game.
A Shark gives the puck up Malkin has a perfect chance but misses the net!
Some shark trips up Staal, pens on the power play. Malkin blows a tire, Sykora gives the puck away to a Shark he goes in on a breakaway and beats Sabourin. 1-0 Sharks. Wow what a horrible play, they had the perfect oppurtunity to take control on the power play, but instead they let up a short handed goal.
Fedotenko, Satan, and Stall come down, the puck comes infront and Staal directs it just wide.
Cooke makes a great move around the Sharks defense but Nabokov makes a good save.
End of the first.
Intermission
Just some Chips and a NOS tonight.
Second Period
Staal comes down the left wing, takes a decent shot, but Nabokov is there.
Malkin passes it over to Dupuis he takes a big slap shot, Nabokov makes a huge save.
Malkin takes a hooking call, Sharks on the power play. Pens kill of the penalty, some good saves by Sabourin. Thats another big kill for the pens.
The Sharks are playing really strong, Dupuis trips up a Shark, they are back on the power play. The Sharks somehow get a 2 on 0, they ring it off the post. The Penalty is over Malkin has the puck and has a 2 on 1 but nothing comes of it.
Crosby comes down the left side and shoots one off the crossbar.
Sharks are unreal in the pens zone, it looks like they are going to score again, but Sabourin comes across and makes a sick save.
Malkin almost gets one by Nabokov, but no go.
Sharks are totally out-playing the pens, the pens were lucky to get out of the second period with the score still being 1-0.
Third Period
Pens really can’t get anything going against the sharks in the third, sharks still dominating play.
Crosby takes a penalty that looks like bs, Sharks on the power play. Skarks gets some shots, but the pens kill off the penalty, huge kill.
Pens go up ice and the Skarks take a penalty, finally the pens on the power play again. Fedoteko takes an interence penalty, 4 on 4 now. Letang, Malkin, and Crosby come down, Sid passes it to Letang but Nabokov is there.
Sharks have the puck in the pens zone, Grier backhands it in the net 2-0 sharks.
Therrien puts Fedotenko out there with Malkin and Crosby, he ends up scoring 2-1 sharks.
Pens finally gets some pressure on the Sharks, Kennedy’s line plays an unreal shift.
Matt Cooke tries to go around a Shark but the shaft of his stick hits the shark. Should really be a penalty against the sharks since he was impeading Cooke’s path to the puck. But the trailing ref calls a highstick on Cooke, horrible call. Takes the pens out of the game basically.
Pens try to pull the goalie, but get nothing, game over.
Game Thoughts
This could possibly be one of the worst games the pens have played all season. They were just getting dominated all over the ice, except for those few shifts in the third period. The pens were outplayed and lost to many of the 1 on 1 battles and had way to many giveaways, one which resulted in the Sharks first goal. Also Malkin had a bad night for sure, he had quite a few giveaways and took a dumb penalty. The pens were also out shot 34-11 which is horrible! The only reason the score was 2-1 is because Sabourin bailed the pens out way to many times. And the Sharks hit the post 3 times! Pens need to bounce back from this loss.
The Pens are in San Jose tonight at HP Pavilion a.k.a. The Sharktank, which is one of the loudest buildings in the NHL. We really don’t get to see much of the sharks since we rarely ever play them, but they are always a good team. They currently sit #1 in the pacific division with 14 points, which is 3rd in the NHL. We only played them once last year losing in the shootout 2-1.
Looks like Danny Sabourin is expected to start tonight, that is expected since Fluery let up that goal in the third period of last game. Although I’m still not a big fan of switching goalies, I like goalies to get into a rhythm. I think this game will be a test for the sharks as most of the teams they have played did not even have a win when playing against the sharks. There is a nice breakdown of it over at penaltykill.net. But I also think it will be a test for the Pens as we all know how fast west coast teams are. Yahoo will be providing a live stream of the game, but only to those outside of the Pittsburgh and San Jose market, but we all know there are ways around that. Because this is a west coast game it is a late one, puck drops at 10:30, make sure you get your energy drinks before the game!
People are saying it was a high hit, but anyone who knows anything about hockey can see that he had his head down, and you can’t have your head down going through the neutral zone. Definielty a rookie mistake, I bet he will keep his head up from now on. He went to the hospital with a concusion and was later released.
