Game 3 Preview

The Pens basically got shalacked at home in Game 2.  Honestly though, they showed many sparks of the better team.  Whenever they let their guard down, Tampa Bay took advantage.  Don't get me wrong, Tampa deserves all the credit for winning that game.  They palyed their hearts out.  They looked like the veteran team.  They were able to get inside the minds of the Penguins which was clearly visible whenever the Penguins took a stupid penalty, which they took about 4. 
This game tonight is going to be tough.  The Penguins though have some good statistics on their side.  They are 9-1 in their last 10 Game 3's.  That's a good number.  They have also been practicing a new forecheck to deploy against the dreaded 1-3-1.  They will be trying the 2-1-2 which should allow the Penguins to breakthrough.  The two guys up front will apply heavy pressure on the puck and the 1 guy high will be able to play sort of a rover role.  He will move from side to side to keep the puck downlow or get open and create scoring chances.
Bottom line: I like the Pens in Game 3.  I don't buy into all this home ice advantage.  Yeah, buildings get loud in the playoffs but good teams see past that.  The Penguins know how it feels to get beat and turn it around the next game.  They will show that tonight. Prediction: Pens win a thriller 3-1

Pens Atlantic Division Champions?

I could definately see the Pens winning the Division this year.  They are one point off of the Flyers who have been playing poorly as of late.  Both teams have 2 games remaining and Pittsburgh has a fairly easier schedule.  The Flyers hold the tiebreaker though which hopefully won't come back and bite the Pens.  If they do win the division, it would be amazing since they have been without their top 2 players for the majority of the season.  Dan Bylsma for the Jack Adams Award!

Also, Evgeni Malkin has been healing at an extremely accelerated rate.  He has even skated a few times since his injury which is amazing.  Is there any chance that he could play if the Penguins made the Stanley Cup Final?  Probably not, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did bring him out to be just on the powerplay.  Johan Franzen of the Red Wings suffered the same injury as Malkin a few years back right about the same time that Malkin did in the season.  He played limited minutes in the Stanley Cup Final that year.  Get well soon Geno!

Let the Madness Begin

With some upsets already happening, this should make for an entertaining March Madness.  Who do you think will be the next upset?  Pitt also looked pretty good yesterday.  I could definitely see them ending up in the Final Four.  What is your opinion on that?

The Trade of all Trades

Twenty years ago today, the Pittsburgh Penguins made arguably the greatest trade in all of sports.  Ron Francis, Ulf Samuelsson, and Grant Jennings were traded to the Pens in exchange for John Cullen, Zarley Zalapski, and Jeff Parker.  This trade was a steal for the Pens.  Many people think that if they did not make this trade, then the Pens would not have won the Stanley Cup.  The three players that the Pens acquired had near allstar years as opposed to those that they traded, were duds.

This left me wondering, what do you think is the greatest trade in all of sports?  Or what about the greatest trade in your favorite sport?

Gameday vs. the Maple Leafs

The Pens take on the Maple Leafs again for the second consecutive games in Toronto.  This will be an interesting games considering the Penguins just played there on Saturday.  They were off in between while the Leafs played.  I am anxious to see how the Penguins play with such a lengthy layoff.  Mark Letestu is slated to center the top line with Neil and Kovalev on his wings.  I think this will be good for Letestu, playing with top tier wingers.  Jordan Staal was given the chance but could not convert.  He is more of a shutdown center and I think that is all he will ever be.  Kovalev is rejuvinated since his return to Pittsburgh and we will look for more of that tonight.  Marc Andre Fleury is expected to be back between the pipes for the Pens and let's look for the Fleury from the mid point of the season to return.  We need him to get out of his little slump.  The Pens' penalty kill has also been slumping.  The Maple Leafs will be a great team to fix that up with.

Let's go Pens

PENS ACQUIRE GOAL SCORING WINGER

Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired winger James Neil and defenseman Matt Niskanen in a trade with the Dallas Stars in exchange for defenseman Alex Goligoski.  I love this deal for the Pens.  They got two young players for a player who has probably reached his plateau with the Penguins.  Don't get me wrong, I loved Gogo, I have his jersey.  He just would not flourish in the Pens system.  The acquisition of Neil has Pens fans salivating.  We finally have a winger to play along side Sidney Crosby.  He is young and under contract and has scored at least 20 goals in each season.  Imagine him with Sidney.  Get well soon Sid.  Watch out Flyers.

Let's go Pens

How about those Penguins?

How about the Penguins as of late?  The critic in you might say that they stink because they have not won a low of games recently but that is not true in the least bit.  They are playing some of their best hockey of the season with what they have.  They do not have a big star right now.  No Sidney Crosby, no Evgeni Malkin.  Jordan Staal is iffy but he is definitely not a superstar.  The Penguins are basically playing with a minor league team and they are still getting by.  They are in solid playoff positioning.  They are in fourth place which is home ice advantage if the season were to end today.  They are 5 points ahead of the fifth place team, the Washington Capitals, who they play against tonight in a pivotal matchup.  They are even in striking distance to the division rival, Philadelphia Flyers.  Only five points back, the Penguins look to close that gap tonight.
There is some good news of sort.  Chris Kunitz, Dustin Jeffrey, Mark Letestu are all skating and look to return to the lineup this week.  Some other good news, Mike Comrie has begun some light skating after his hip surgery so he should be back in time for playoffs.  People may say the Penguins do not have what it takes to go far in the playoffs this year but those people are doubters.  The Penguins are looking to be very active at the trade deadline.  They are looking for that scoring winger.  They have space in the salary cap to accomadate one.  The biggest acquistion though will in deed be getting Sidney Crosby back from injury.  If he comes back and is half the player he was before he got injured, watch out.  The Penguins are still a force to be reckoned with.  I feel sorry for the team that has to play them in the playoffs.