Pens fall to 1 - 2

The Pens lost to the Montreal Canadiens last night, 3 - 2.

Overall, I think this has been the most solid the Pens have looked so far. Carey Price did a great job in his NHL debut, and the Habs defense did their part by clearing loose pucks in front for most of the night. (When they weren't throwing the Pens forwards into the net, anyway. What was Roman Hamrlik thinking?)

The Pens got another solid showing from Eaton and Scuderi, and another shaky game from Sydor. I'm hoping he's just off to a slow start, - you don't win two Stanley Cups for nothing, - but so far I've been unimpressed with Sydor's performance. I wouldn't say he's been a bust, - it's only been 3 games, far too early to tell - but he's definitely got to step it up.

I'm also not a member of the "Trade Fleury while we can still get something for him" camp, but he's got to get better at controlling his rebounds. The slot is not an appropriate place for a loose puck. You're just asking for trouble.

Hopefully we'll get this thing turned around on Saturday when we face off against the Leafs.

Pens even preseason series, NHL finally admits their schedule sucks

As I failed to point out yesterday, the Pens dropped their first preseason game to the Habs, but came back to win the second game 5 - 2. Lighting the lamp for Pittsburgh were: Ryan Stone and Jeff Taffe, who scored on the first two shots of the game, Petr Sykora, Evgeni Malkin and Tyler Kennedy.

Word on the street is we will no longer have to suffer through the current NHL scheduling mess after this season. The NHL's Board of Governors is set to vote on a change in the schedule that will see each team face all 29 other teams in a year. As much fun as it is to see the Islanders 8 times a year, I'd really like a chance to see the rest of the league more often.