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 win home opener

The Penguins beat the Ducks 5 - 4 last night. It was an exciting game. The goals were coming in bunches. They definitely looked better than they did against the Canes, but not quite in mid-season form yet.

A few observations:

• Hate to talk trash on the refs, but the officiating was not good last night.
• Georges Laraque has really shown up so far. Working hard, flashing some skill. We approve.
• Darryl Sydor has been less than impressive so far.
• Mark Eaton was unstoppable.
  
• MAF: 4 goals on 23 shots? Isn't someone trying to earn a big contract this season?
• That said, he was hung out to dry by Gonchar on the Ducks shorthanded goal.
• Colby Armstrong's goal was awesome.

3 Stars

1. Petr Sykora
2. Colby Armstrong
3. Chris Kunitz
   

Pens fall to Canes in season opener

Eric Staal scored two first period goals in the Carolina Hurricanes' 4 - 1 decision over then Pens. Mark Recchi scored the only goal for the Pens on a power play late in the third.

The Pens didn't look great out there last night, but that's not to take away from Carolina's defense and Cam Ward's unbelievable play. They were all over the loose pucks the Pens were leaving all over the ice, creating turnovers on our multitude of bad passes, blocking shots and smothering Crosby and Malkin every time they went over the boards.

The Ducks fell to 1 - 3 last night with a 4 - 0 shellacking by the Columbus Blue Jackets (you know, the "We're the only team in the NHL to never make the playoffs" Columbus Blue Jackets). Something tells me they won't be happy when they roll in to the Igloo tonight. Let's hope for a better showing from the Pens for the home opener.

Darryl Sydor gets no respect

From the Pittsburgh Tribune Review:

Only three players, Sykora, Mark Recchi and Gary Roberts, have ever been part of a Stanley Cup championship team. Sykora won with New Jersey in 2000, Recchi with the Hurricanes in 2006 and the Penguins in 1991 and Roberts way back in 1989 when he was with Calgary.

Darryl Sydor was cleaning his Stanley Cup rings earned with Dallas and Tampa Bay and could not be reached for comment.

It's a Hockey Night in Pittsburgh!

Puck drops on the 2007-08 Penguins season tonight at 7. Get ready.

Weaver snatched off the waiver wire

The Canucks have acquired another Pens player right before the start of the season. Mike Weaver will be heading to Vancouver.

Pens sloppy in preseason loss to Detroit

I had a chance to attend the preseason game against Detroit on Saturday and made a few observations.

Mark Eaton got the game's first goal with a wrister from the point. But the Pens couldn't hold on to the lead. A lot of the Pens forwards seemed to be chasing the play, taking stupid penalties, not being in position to get anything going, and when they were they were stifled by Detroit's D.

One bright spot from this weekend's game was the penalty kill. With Talbot not dressed for Saturday's game, Erik Christensen ate up his minutes on a PK unit with Colby Armstrong. For being a more offensive minded player, Christensen played very well in shorthanded situations. He made some nice plays to break up Detroit's attack and clear the puck, and was able to hold on to the puck well in the neutral zone as well as in the Wings' zone. It looks like he is taking his new role seriously and could be on his way to being a more complete, 2 way forward.

Fleury played well and kept the Pens in it for a while, but in the end it was a 5 - 2 Detroit victory. Malkin had the other Pittsburgh goal on the power play with 2 minutes left in the game.

Let's hope they can get something going next week when the games matter.

More tickets to the Winter Classic?

Tonight at the Pens' Season Ticket Holder Town Hall Meeting, David Morehouse told us they are still in talks with the NHL about securing more tickets to the Winter Classic for Pittsburgh season ticket holders. Expect some kind of announcement from the team sometime after September 28th.

And if anyone out there is wondering why Fleury decided to become a goaltender, here's your answer:

"Because I suck to score goals."

There you have it.

Pens sign lease for new Arena

The Penguins have signed a lease agreement for the new arena that will keep them in town until 2040.

Sykora to miss 2 games, Curry sent to AHL

In what is becoming a disturbing preseason trend, a new Penguin player has been hurt by a teammate in an exhibition game. This time Brooks Orpik's elbow will cost Petr Sykora at least 2 games with a broken nose.

From the same TSN article, goaltender John Curry was sent to the Pens' AHL affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

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.

Winter Classic sells out in about half an hour

Around 10:30 or so I got a text message from a friend of mine who was unable to get tickets to the "AMP Energy NHL Winter Classic" (do we get free Mountain Dew at this thing?). 41,000+ tickets, gone in less than an hour. That's amazing. Not one to drag their feet on getting hockey tickets, Firefox was waiting on ticketmaster.com for about 10 minutes before tickets went on sale. We'll see you in Buffalo, suckers!

It's official. Look out Buffalo.

In what has got to be one of the worst kept secrets in the history of sports, an official announcement is coming today on the "Ice Bowl". The game will take place at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo on New Years Day at 1pm. Tickets will be available tomorrow, September 18th, and should range from $29 for the upper bowl to $225.

The Blueline will be among the multitude of Pens fans making the trip up I79 to Buffalo. We'll see you there.

Pens re-sign Assistant coaches

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Mike Yeo and Andre Savard each got one year extensions to assist head coach Michel Therrien, while goaltending coach Gilles Meloche signed a two year contract.

A Nice Touch

24 lucky season ticket holders had their 2007/08 package hand delivered by one of 6 Penguins players.

No offense to my mailman, but I'm a little disappointed now that my tickets just came in a run of the mill USPS box. It would have been much more entertaining to have Evgeni Malkin on my doorstep not having any idea what I was saying to him. Until I offered him a shot of vodka anyway.

Pens New Threads

I couldn't get close enough to take my own pictures, so I'll just link to some from the net. (thepensblog - go there. now.)


I'm for 'em. I still don't plan on buying one, especially since I just got a newly obsolete Talbot jersey at the end of last season, but they look good. Minimal changes, no stupid piping. Things could have been a lot worse.

It was great to hear "IT'S A HOCKEY NIGHT IN PITTSBURGH!" again.

Camp starts soon.

Don't forget

The Pens will unveil their new look tonight at the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills. Festivities are set to begin at 5:30, with the actual unveiling coming at 6:30.

Several Pens prospects sit out rookie tournament

The Post Gazette is reporting Angelo Esposito, Alex Goligoski and Keven Veilleux will be watching the prospect tournament that pits rookies from Pittsburgh, Toronto, Ottawa and Florida against each other from the press box. Esposito is still out with a groin injury, Goligoski is rehabbing a surgically repaired shoulder and Veilleux will be going under the knife to repair a sports hernia.

Esposito is expected to dress for training camp on September 13th.

Pens to unveil new jerseys on Wednesday

Bob Grove has assured us there will be no changes to the logo, so we don't have to worry about a trainwreck of Vancouver's magnitude.

Ryan Whitney, Ryan Malone and Max Talbot will be showing off the new duds next week at the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills. So if you're not busy on September 5th around 5:30, go check it out.

Pens announce individual ticket sales, ask for fan input on new arena

Individual game tickets for the 2007 - 08 season will go on sale September 15th.

The Pens have also added a survey to their website requesting fan input to be considered for the planning of the new arena.