Orpik, out since Nov. 10th because of a suspected hip injury, stated that “I think I’m in as long as all goes well tomorrow,”

The Pittsburgh Penguins have re-assigned defenseman Chris Lee to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, it was announced by Executive Vice President and General Manager Ray Shero.

Lee, who was recalled on Thursday, leads all WBS blueliners with seven points (1G-6A) through 15 games, and is third overall on the club with 41 shots.

Speaking of beat, boy did the Penguins look like they were in a funk last night in their 6-2 loss to the Senators.  One of those games where you try to forget about it as quickly as possible, it was pretty ugly.

One of those games when the Pens made Chris Phillips look like Dany Heatley’s replacement.

Just, ugh.

Continue reading "Passive Penguins downed by Senators, 6-2"

Defenseman Jay McKee is the next Penguin to find himself out of the lineup, out 2-4 weeks with an upper-body injury.

Hockey star Sidney Crosby will carry the Olympic torch in Halifax on Wednesday.  The captain of the Stanley Cup winning Pittsburgh Penguins is making a brief stop in his home province to join the Olympic torch relay festivities.

The event will be memorable, said Mike Gillett, co-ordinator of the relay in the Halifax Regional Municipality.  “For a lot of people that’s going to be very special. [Crosby’s] so much a powerful sports hero in Canada, definitely here in HRM,” said Gillett. “It’s gonna be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for people to see him with the Olympic flame.”

Crosby, from Cole Harbour, is set to run two city blocks, from Sackville Street to Carmichael Street. He will pass the flame to the final torchbearer, Olympic snowboarder Sarah Conrad, around 7 p.m.

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have created a 30-minute Russian-language radio show devoted to Russian NHL fans that will air each week on the Penguins’ new HD radio station (105.9 HD2).

“NHL In Russian” (“NXL Na Russkom”) will also be streamed live on http://www.pittsburghpenguins.com and http://www.nhl.com.  The show, created in partnership with the National Hockey League, will feature interviews with Russian NHL players and legends, as well as NHL news and notes.  It will air at 8:30 a.m. eastern time on Tuesday mornings in the U.S. (4:30 p.m. in Moscow). It also will be repeated several times and be available via podcast.

“NHL in Russian” will debut on Tuesday, Nov. 24. Special guests on the inaugural show will be 2009 NHL scoring champion Evgeni Malkin and Russian hockey legend Igor Larionov. 

Continue reading "Penguins to launch “NHL in Russian” show on HD Radio"

The Pittsburgh Penguins have re-assigned forward Mark Letestu to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, it was announced by Executive Vice President and General Manager Ray Shero.

Letestu, 24, made his NHL debut in the Penguins’ 6-5 overtime victory over the Boston Bruins Nov. 14, and has appeared in two games for Pittsburgh.

At the time of his recall, Letestu was one of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s top scoring threats with eight points (3G-5A) in eight games. The Elk Point, Alberta native has played the last two-plus seasons in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, finishing third on the team in scoring last season with 61 points on 24 goals and 37 assists in 73 contests.

From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Rob Rossi:

Pat Celesnik expected a special delivery Monday from “somebody with the Penguins.” She anticipated an autographed team sweater.  Then Stanley Cup hero Max Talbot arrived.  “Oh, my God,” Celesnik said, pressing each hand against a cheek. “I can’t believe I’m meeting Max. He was so important last year.”

Talbot’s two goals in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final at Detroit on June 12 delivered an NHL championship to the Penguins. Their trek toward the title helped deliver Celesnik, 59, of Derry back to health.  Celesnik arrived at a hospital on April 8 for a heart catheterization. It was three months before she left, enduring two weeks in a medically induced coma, a heart attack, removal of the majority of her lower intestine and head-to-toe muscle atrophy.

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Matt Cooke had two goals for the Pens, while Jordan Staal notched his 9th career short-handed goal.  Marc-Andre Fleury saved 23 of 25 shots on net.

In addition to the win, the Pens may receive an extra boost Thursday night in Ottawa, as Max Talbot told PensTV’s Sam Kasan tonight that he is hoping to return to the lineup in time for the Senators’ game.

Continue reading "Penguins down Ducks 5-2:  Talbot returns Thursday ?"

Newly recalled defenseman Nate Guenin will replace Goligoski in the lineup.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled defenseman Nate Guenin from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, it was announced by Executive Vice President and General Manager Ray Shero.

After signing with the Penguins in the offseason, Guenin became the third Pittsburgh native to join the Penguins organization in the last three seasons (Bill Thomas, 2008-09; Ryan Malone, 2003-08). Guenin, 26, is a Hopewell High School graduate and played one season (1999-00) with the Pittsburgh Hornets.  In his first 15 games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this year, Guenin has posted a plus-1 rating to go with his 22 penalty minutes.  Guenin was a member of the Philadelphia Flyers organization the last three seasons. He saw action in 12 NHL games, posting two assists. Guenin (6-foot-2, 210 pounds) spent the majority of his time with the club’s top minor-league affiliate the Philadelphia Phantoms of the AHL. During that time, Guenin recorded 43 points (7G-36A) and 333 penalty minutes in 207 contests.  Guenin joined the Flyers after playing four collegiate seasons at Ohio State, notching 53 points (6G-47A) and 390 penalty minutes in 151 games. He served as team captain during his senior season and received honorable mention for the Central Collegiate Hockey Association All-Star Team.  In his lone season with the Pittsburgh Hornets, Guenin scored 13 points (3G-10A) and totaled 122 penalty minutes in 40 games. 

A wander around the International Centre in Mississauga Sunday showed that his star power hasn’t waned. More than 400 people paid up to $999 to get pictures, jerseys, books, pucks and hockey cards autographed by the man dubbed “Super Mario” and “Mario the Magnificent” during a spectacular career with the Pittsburgh Penguins, the team he now owns.

“This is essentially the backstage pass for people to see Mario Lemieux,” said Al Sinclair, organizer of the Sportcard and Memorabilia Expo, a twice-yearly trade show deemed a can’t-miss event by those selling the accoutrement of the game that is our national obsession. “For lots of people, that’s priceless.”

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On the good side of the house, Sergei Gonchar has been cleared for practice and practiced today without a non-contact jersey.  His cast was removed on Wednesday after suffering a broken left wrist.

But now we’re learning that Alex Goligoski missed today’s practice.  That’s not too surprising, considering some Penguins fans reporting that GoGo appeared to suffer a groin injury in the latter stages of regulation last night.  He didn’t play in the short overtime period.  The Penguins’ website states that HCDB will brief the press later today.

While that’s obviously good news, as one player returns, another player departs.  The Penguins announced that forward Chris Kunitz will be out of the lineup for two weeks with a lower-body injury.

Goes without saying, having Malkin back in the lineup certainly outweighs Kunitz’ absence, but still appears that the Penguins can’t yet shake the injury bug.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have recalled forward Mark Letestu from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, it was announced by Executive Vice President and General Manager Ray Shero.

Letestu, 24, has been one of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s top scoring threats with eight points (3G-5A), tying for fourth on the team despite missing five games this season.  Letestu has played the last two seasons in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. He finished third on the team in scoring last season with 61 points on 24 goals and 37 assists in 73 contests. Letestu elevated his game in the AHL playoffs by finishing second on the team with 10 points (2G-8A) in 12 post-season games.

The 5-foot-11, 195-pound forward signed with the Penguins in the spring of 2007 after completing his freshman season at Western Michigan. During his lone campaign in Western Michigan, Letestu posted 46 points on 24 goals and 22 assists in 37 games, and was named CCHA Rookie of the Year while ranking third in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association in goals and seventh in points. 

And quite frankly, I would have said that even if Bill Guerin hadn’t scored on a slap shot past Bruins’ goalie Tim Thomas with only .4 seconds left on the clock to force overtime.  Or even if Pascal Dupuis wouldn’t have scored on a virtual empty-netter 1:24 into overtime, giving the Penguins a wild 6-5 win over the Bruins.

Evgeni Malkin had three assists in his return from a bum shoulder, while Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists for the Penguins.

Continue reading "Penguins down Bruins in 6-5 OT thriller"

”It’s a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, inside a riddle,” - David Ferrie (as portrayed by Joe Pesci), JFK - 1991

If someone can claim to dicipher the true value of Jordan Staal to the Pittsburgh Penguins, please, be my guest.

The young man (just turned 21 on Sept. 10th) is obviously very talented at the NHL level and has performed brilliantly at times.  At other times, however, he really makes you scratch your head.

Continue reading "Penguins’ Staal has me channeling David Ferrie"

The Pittsburgh Penguins have re-assigned forward Chris Conner to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League, it was announced by Executive Vice President and General Manager Ray Shero.

Conner, 23, recorded one assist in six games during his stint in Pittsburgh. At the time of his call up, the speedy winger was Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s leading scorer with eight points (2G-6A) in seven games while taking a team-high 27 shots.

Q: Are there any plans to put a statue of Mario Lemieux outside the new arena?  I’m not sure how he would feel about it, but after all he’s done for hockey in Pittsburgh, it’s about time.  Jennie, Oakland

MOLINARI: While it hasn’t been officially confirmed that there will be a Lemieux statue inside, outside or near the Consol Energy Center, good luck finding anyone who doesn’t expect that to be the case. In fact, a Post-Gazette story published 18 months ago said team officials already were looking for sites where a statue could be placed. (The subject of thaestatue wasn’t specified in that story—it was identified only as “a well-known player”—but the assumption at the time was that it wouldn’t be, say, Vincent Tremblay or Peter Ahola, and that hasn’t changed.) There’s ample precedent for having such things at the city’s major-league venues, and there’s no question Lemieux is worthy of such an honor. The only concern might be that if the sculptor chosen for the job tries to depict Lemieux for every time he saved the franchise, his or her work might end up looking like those terra cotta armies unearthed in China a few decades ago.

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Lange begins the broadcast from high above Mellon Arena, but that’s not where his day begins.  It begins below where he does his pregame work.  “You have to do your due diligence, you have to do your work. You have to find out what is going on with that team, how much they have changed? They could have a coaching change. What’s the philosophy?” Lange said.

After watching the morning skate for both teams, Lange goes home, showers and returns as the game gets closer.  “When I work the pregame skate, that’s a time they could set off a nuclear bomb and I wouldn’t even know it. I watch both teams. I watch what they have. I watch their line rushes, which they’ll give me. I watch tendencies to see if I think anybody is hurt. I watch goaltenders. I watch a lot of things,” Lange said.

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