Igloo Dreams

Penguins sign F Mike Rupp

2009-07-01T17:18:00.003-04:00

The Pens added some depth to their collection of forwards by signing Mike Rupp from the New Jersey Devils.

Rupp gives the Pens some more toughness, along with another guy who is willing to drop the gloves.

The interesting thing about Rupp is that he plays bigger minutes than your usual tough guy. The Devils used him about 9 minutes per game on average.

I'm curious about two things:

Does this put Godard's tenure in jeopardy?
Does this mean the Pens are convinced that Max Talbot can play a role on the second line?

I'm going with "Yes" for each. What about you?

Penguins sign Guerin and Adams

2009-06-29T20:55:00.002-04:00

Tonight the Pittsburgh Penguins re-added two key components of their Stanley Cup run.

Bill Guerin was signed for one year at a cost of approximately $3 million.

Craig Adams was resigned for two years at $550,000 per season.

Adams is taking less money to stay with the Pens. Guerin is also likely giving the Pens a discount to stick around. He may have been able to earn more on the open market (like $3.5 - $4 million).

Maybe this marks the end of Mike Zigomanis? With Adams in the fold, you have to figure they won't keep Dupuis, Adams and Ziggo... This feels similar to last season when the Pens had 8 NHL defensemen heading into camp. If I can get Ziggo at a good price, I think I do it.

Penguins draft D Viktor Ekbom

2009-06-27T13:15:00.002-04:00

Viktor is the first Euro drafted by Ray Shero this year. He appears to be a typical stay at home kind of defensemen who is not over mobile.

Viktor will add some depth to the organization.

Penguins draft F Andy Bathgate

2009-06-27T12:40:00.003-04:00

Another draftee with good bloodlines, Andy is the grandson of NHL great Andy Bathgate.

Andy played last season with Belleville in the OHL. He, by most accounts, was physically dominated by the older players in the OHL. He seems to have come on strong late in the season and could fill in to his frame as he gets older. He'll be a project that could have good upside if he can develop the physical aspects of his game, because he seems to have the offensive skills.

Penguins draft D Alex Velischek

2009-06-27T12:14:00.002-04:00

It was another high-schooler with the 5th round pick. Alex is the son of former NHL player Randy Velischek.

He's a defensemen that has played some forward and has an good all-around game.

Alex will go to Providence in the fall.

Penguins draft F Nick Petersen

2009-06-27T12:02:00.002-04:00

Nick played with Shawinigan in the QMJHL at the age of 20. He had a nice scoring year, leading his junior team in scoring while finishing second in goals. Generally, you would like to see the numbers a few years earlier.

He's going to be in Wilkes-Barre next season if he signs.

Penguins draft F Ben Hanowski

2009-06-27T11:00:00.002-04:00

This is the most intriguing pick so far. Ben is the all time leading high school scorer in US history. He managed 110 points in 25 games this season (57 + 53).

The knock is that the competition wasn't very good. The good news is that he has played well against some better competition.

Ben is committed to St Cloud St. It will be interesting to see how he fares against better competition over a longer period of time.

Here's a video feature on Ben:

Penguins draft D Phil Samuelsson

2009-06-27T10:59:00.003-04:00

Yes, he's the son of Ulf. Do you need to know any more?

Phil seems to be in the same mold as his famous father, but without the notorious nasty streak. Most accounts I've read said that he'll need some work, but he has the size and toughness that you cannot teach.

He's committed to Boston College.

Penguins draft D Simon Despres

2009-06-27T08:03:00.002-04:00

The Pens first round draft pick fits the Ray Shero mold for NHL players in that he has size and speed.

He's 6'4" and skates well. He's not yet an offensive dynamo, but given that the Pens have a few of those already, Despres makes a nice addition to the organization. He's also not as physical as he could be, but that can come with time.

The Pens are a bit weak up front in the organization, but it looks like Despres was an excellent choice.

Pronger to Philly

2009-06-26T21:00:00.002-04:00

Tonight, the Flyers gave the Pens another reason not to like them with the acquisition of Chris Pronger.

Pronger is locked in for one season with a cap hit of $6.25 million (according to Cap Central).

The interesting thing is that the Flyers are running out of room under the cap, and they don't have a goalie yet (Biron and Nittymaki are both UFAs).

The Flyers shipped Lupul over to Anaheim (along with Sbisa). Lupul has a cap hit of $4.25 million and is signed through the 2012-13 season.

If they can manage the cap, the Flyers have their core locked up through at least 2010-11.

Pens sign D Alex Goligoski to new deal

2009-06-17T13:52:00.003-04:00

From the official website - the Pens have signed RFA Alex Goligoski to a three year contract.

This is a good move by Ray Shero to lock up Alex for three more seasons. This gives the team 5 NHL defensemen under contract (the others being Gonchar, Eaton, Orpik and Letang). Yes, I'm assuming Gogo will be in the NHL full time next season.

Now the question is, what do they do with the rest of the blue line UFAs?

Beard-A-Thon finale!

2009-06-13T10:39:00.003-04:00

With the Cup victory by the Pens, the Beard-A-Thon will come to an end on Tuesday at 5:00 PM. This is the last photo you'll see of my beard.

We're still matching donations, and you can make one on my profile at the Beard-A-Thon site.

ESPN is confused

2009-06-12T23:27:00.002-04:00

Game 7.

Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Bad box score.

Way to go, ESPN.

Penguins 2, Red Wings 1

2009-06-12T21:53:00.003-04:00

THE PENGUINS WON THE STANLEY CUP!!

Fleury rose to the challenge. The team played as a team. Sid got hurt and they still held on. I went looking to see if anyone logged more ice time since Sid was out - besides Geno and Jordan, the truth is that everyone did their part.

They won it as a team.

First period:

The Wings came out with a fire lit under their collective butts. They threw everything at the Pens early on, but couldn't beat Fleury. This was due to a combination of great team defense and good luck bounces.

As the first went on, the Pens were able to turn the tide and earn the momentum. They earned several good chances, but like the Red Wings, they weren't able to convert on them.

The Pens had one power play chance in the first, and while they had several excellent chances, they were unable to beat Osgood.

Second period:

Just one minute into the second period, Max Talbot changed things for the Pens. He took advantage of a (possible) missed icing call when Orpik dumped the puck in. Geno forced the turnover when the puck deflected off of his skates straight to Talbot. Max used the skates of the defense as a screen and beat Osgood going five-hole. 1-0 Pens!!!

Things turned bleak in a hurry. Sid was injured on a hit by Franzen that was amazingly not called interference. Just as we were all worried about how the Pens would win without Sid, Hal Gill took a penalty. The police had to increase security on the area bridges instantly.

Things weren't as bleak as they appeared, however. The Pens weathered the storm, and just two minutes later, things cleared up even more. Chris Kunitz won a battle on the boards when Stuart pinched. That sprung Talbot on a two-on-one (don't remember who it was with). Talbot picked the top corner over Osgood's shoulder, putting the Pens up 2-0!!!

The remainder of the second period was a fire drill. No joke. Get the puck out of the zone, change lines and start all over again.

Third period:

The Wings brought it all period long. The Pens spent too much time in their own zone. You had to think things would go wrong.

You'd be wrong.

Fleury had some help from his shot-blocking defense and the crossbar, but he made one more HUGE save with less than two seconds remaining on Lidstrom. Flower lunged to his left and sealed the cup victory for the Pens.

Penguins 4, Red Wings 2

2009-06-05T15:50:00.001-04:00

The Pens won and I'm on vacation. What could be better?

No more posts for about a week.

GO PENS!

Penguins 4, Red Wings 2

2009-06-02T22:01:00.003-04:00

The Pens are now one win away from holding serve and going back to Detroit with all the momentum. It was a great win tonight, but let's put this one out of our minds as quickly as possible. Thursday is now the most important day.

The power play came through BIG TIME with two huge goals when the team needed them. Great job on that end of things.

One other thing - as soon as the game was over, Versus cut away from their postgame show to broadcast Sports Soup. What the #$#$%?? Who made that stupid decision? Good thing FSN was able to put a postgame show on the air. While we're blasting Versus, we have to thank them for saying NOTHING about Satan's penalty in the second. We didn't even know who was in the box or what they did. Can anyone show a replay any more? Can we stop hearing about the intermission report? Please?

First period:

Things started well when Talbot scored on a nice feed from Geno on the half-wall. Max wristed the puck past Osgood on the short side.

The Wings tied it up not long after when Zetterberg was left standing with nothing between him and Fleury after a fortuitous bounce. Henrik didn't need that much help and blasted the puck behind Fleury.

About four minutes later, the Wings were on the power play and committed pretty blatant interference to help keep the puck in the zone. Edzo made reference to it ("subtle interference") and the Wings cashed in later in the power play.

The Pens tied the score when Letang beat Osgood on the power play to the five hole. It was a weak goal for Osgood to allow, to be honest. There was almost no screen, and he had time to square up to Letang.

Second period:

Samuelsson hit the post.

Seriously - that's about all that happened for those 20 minutes.

The Pens only had 4 shots on goal and both teams were content to stay back and wait for the other team to make a mistake. Neither one did.

Third period:

The Pens came out in the third like their season depended on it.

Their effort paid off. They drew a penalty when the Wings were called for interference. Gonchar blasted the puck past Osgood to give the Pens the lead.

The Pens weathered two storms in the next few minutes. One was immediately after the goal and the other was a few minutes after that. Both times, Detroit was able to generate sustained pressure, and both times they were unable to score.

All of a sudden, the Pens were generating more good chances than they had all series so far. Sid and Kunitz had a 2-on-1 (Sid to the puck to Kunitz just a second too late to do much with it). Talbot hit the post and had another chance alone in front of Osgood.

Talbot earned redemption for his missed chances by putting the puck into the empty net after the Wings pulled Osgood. It made me a bit nervous when they played Mike Lange's clip about Elvis has just left the building because there was almost a minute left... but the Wings didn't pull Osgood again.

Red Wings 3, Penguins 1

2009-05-31T21:26:00.010-04:00

It's "Go Time". Geno served notice at the end of the third period when he took exception to Zetterberg's two-handed punch to Talbot.

I know the end result is the same as last year after two games, but this Pens team is ready to take the next step. They haven't backed down from Detroit one bit, and while the Wings have held serve, that's all they've done. No one has won the series in two games. A win on Tuesday totally changes the series.

Both Sid and Geno picked up their games, especially in the third period. They weren't able to beat Osgood, but if they can play with that kind of desperation for 60 minutes, you have to like their chances.

If I'm HCDB, I'm praising the team for their effort and tenacity. I'm telling them that the Wings can't stay lucky forever. I'm telling them that they had more solid scoring chances than the Wings did in each game, and that if that trend continues, they'll be going back to Detroit with the series tied 2-2.

First period:

The first period was black and white - the Wings had the first seven shots and the Pens had the last 11. The game itself was just about that clear cut. The only difference is the Pens earned the power play and scored on a scrum in a dumb luck fashion. You had to think that was a good sign - last night the Wings were the beneficiaries of the dumb luck goals.

There were a few differences early on from last night - namely there wasn't the big hitting and the faceoffs weren't as lopsided.

Second period:

The Pens dominated Period 2 in Game 1. They didn't have that kind of success tonight.

The Wings tied the score on another icing call when the Pens were fatigued.

They took a 2-1 lead just after the power play when Hossa pretty clearly hooked / broke the stick of Dupuis, keeping the puck in the zone. The Wings got the puck to the net, where Holmstrom used a little bit of contact as an excuse to fall on Fleury and Filpulla roofed a backhander from an amazing angle. Nice goal, but cheap plays that led to it.

Osgood was beat later in the period by Guerin (on a nice pass from Crosby), but Bill couldn't beat the far post.

Late in the second, the Pens started to turn up the heat, applying consistent pressure and earning multiple scoring chances. It was encouraging to see.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm getting pretty tired of the "subtle interference" (as Edzo calls it) of the Wings. It's complete crap - the NHL needs to find a way to remove it if they can. Of course, if just anyone could deploy that strategy and be successful, they would...

Sid opened the third by hitting a post... it was the second far post that the Pens hit.

Fleury allowed a softie to a new nominee for the "Frickin" Hall of Fame, Justin Frickin Abdelkader. That ran the score to 3-1.

Before you knew it, there were just two minutes left and the Pens were in need of a miracle. Despite bringing good pressure for most of the third, the Wings were able to hold onto the lead.

There was no miracle, but there was Chris Osgood flopping like a fish after an ill-advised tap from Talbot. Zetterberg gave Talbot a two-handed punch to the head area, and that's when Geno went postal on Zetterberg.

Next up: Tuesday night will be rocking in Pittsburgh. A win changes the entire complexion of the series.

Red Wings 3, Penguins 1

2009-05-30T22:56:00.004-04:00

Missed opportunities.

Dumb luck goals.

Horrible faceoffs.

Those were the three things that combined to give the Penguins the loss tonight. All three Red Wings goals had a substantial portion of luck involved. The first two were groan-inducing, with Stuart's shot deflecting off of the end boards and Franzen's shot deflecting off of the back of Fleury's leg.

The thing is, the Pens need to create their own luck. They seem to be tentative at times when bringing the puck up the ice, as if they're unsure how to attack the Red Wings. The power play especially (the second time) seemed to be victim to this. It could be that it happened too close to the first power play and the guys were tired, but the Wings have been bad on the PK so far in the playoffs.

The first period was considerably more physical than I expected. Hossa tried to kill Geno. Orpik knocked Hossa on his butt. Sid plastered Zetterberg. The debate on whether Kronwall leaves his feet was settled pretty clearly when he tried to hit Malkin high and missed completely. He somehow "magically" wound up in the air!

The encouraging thing is that the Pens were right there in this game. The Wings didn't win it so much as the Pens lost it. The Pens showed that they deserved to be there.

Sid and Geno need to find a way to score. As much as the Pens need secondary scoring, they need their superstars to step up and find a way to put the puck in the net. They've done it the entire postseason so far. They have to keep it going.

The Pens also need to keep punishing the top lines for Detroit. The Wings are very top-heavy in terms of ice time. If the Pens can play their style, establishing the forecheck early, it should pay big dividends late and Babcock can only go to Zetterberg so many times in the third.

The other thing to remember is that the Pens would love to earn a split. That's the key piece of information - as bad as this feels tonight, a win tomorrow night changes everything.

Next up: Game 2 - Sunday night. Get some sleep, 'cause we're gonna do it all again tomorrow.

Bring on the Wings!

2009-05-27T22:28:00.003-04:00

Game 1 - Saturday, May 30th - NBC
Game 2 - Sunday, May 31st - NBC
Game 3 - Tuesday, June 2nd - Versus
Game 4 - Thursday, June 4th - Versus

I think this is the best possible outcome. The Pens get a chance at revenge against the machine that is the Detroit Red Wings.

KUFO - Today!

2009-05-27T10:07:00.003-04:00

I'm appearing on the Rick Emerson show on KUFO (out of Portland, Oregon) this morning to talk about the Penguins.

The segment should air about 7:20 AM PST.

Penguins 4, Hurricanes 1

2009-05-26T22:14:00.003-04:00

The Pens are going back to the Stanley Cup Finals!

How likely did you think that was before the season?

How about when Michel Therrien was fired?

What about when they were down 2-0 to the Caps?

It happened, and it was all due to their own effort and hard work.

This game was another perfect example of the way the Pens have reinvented themselves. Crosby and Malkin did the little things, Fleury made the big saves and the team played as a whole. Carolina just didn't stand a chance.

Kudos to Eric Staal tonight - he played like a man possessed. As I type this, I'm listening to the talking heads at Versus talk about how "so much was made of the Staal vs Staal match up" - I think that was the least interesting story of the series (and, hey, Versus guys - you were the ones that made so much of the Staal match up).

Fedotenko has started to show us why he was worth signing. Shades of Alex Kovalev maybe? Not in terms of style of play or skill set, but rather in that he was regarded as a disappointment in the regular season and is now coming through in a big way. He was in the right place at the right time again tonight, with his stick on the ice to tip in a cross ice pass from Boucher. The D have to stop that pass, by the way - there's no way that should have been able to get through.

Can we stop using completely misleading stats to talk about the Hurricanes now? Paragraphs like this were always annoying during this series (from the ESPN recap of Game 7):

He [Ward] had been 5-0 in elimination games for the Hurricanes, who were on the losing end of the handshake line for the first time since 2002, when they lost to the Red Wings in the Cup finals. In their only other playoff appearance in that span, they won the Cup in 2006.

What is the important part of the previous paragraph? You come away with the feeling that Cam Ward is awesome, and that the Canes were really tough to beat. How about a paragraph that talked about the fact that the Canes were qualifying for the playoffs for just the second time in the last 5 seasons? How about mentioning that as awesome as Cam Ward (obviously) is, he was the starting goalie on those teams that didn't make it?

Anyway, enough about the Canes. They were a decent team that was flattened by a better one (or at least a hotter one).

The Pens are a freight train that is rolling a full speed right now. They look like they're ready to collide head-on with another powerful machine from Detroit.

Are you ready?

Next up: TBD

Penguins 6, Hurricanes 2

2009-05-23T22:37:00.002-04:00

The game sure didn't start well. Matt Cullen scored on a tip-in, and you had some of that sinking feeling. Fortunately, it didn't take long at all to turn things around.

On the power play, Geno stole the puck from Gleason (who couldn't clear it cleanly) and walked in alone on Cam Ward. Ward had no chance and the game was tied at 1-1.

It stayed that way until less than one minute was left in the first, when the Pens struck quickly with goals from Sid and Geno (again) just 31 seconds apart.

The importance of those two goals cannot be understated. Given their timing, in the last minute of the period, they sunk the series for the Canes. Instead of going into the locker room knotted at 1-1 with a battle on their hands, the Canes went in deflated and down two goals. It was a great thing to watch as a Pens' fan.

The Canes made it interesting by having Cam Ward keep them in the game until they made it 3-2 less than two minutes into the third period.

Ward couldn't keep the Pens out forever, and when Fedotenko created a 3 on 2 by beating the Canes forwards back down the ice, it was all over. Ruslan took a Geno drop pass, took a step to his left and shot back against the grain over the left shoulder of Ward. That made it 4-2 and essentially ended the game.

The Canes did get a late power play and pulled their goalie, but the Hockey Gods didn't like it, so they arranged for a faceoff just outside of the Pens zone to go all the way down the ice and right into the empty net. Probably the easiest goal Craig Adams ever scored.

The Pens added a meaningless power play goal to make the final score 6-2.

The Pens allowed just 16 shots in building their lead through two periods. If HCDB wants something to focus on, it would be getting out shot 18-9 in the third period. 18 shots is too many to allow in any period.

Chris Kunitz blocked 4 shots from the forward spot. Gonchar had 4 blocks too. The team had 22 (if I counted correctly).

Eric Staal: -3.

Did Jussi Jokinen play tonight? I can't remember seeing him at all.

Tuomo Ruutu was a non-factor in less than 8 minutes of ice time.

Scott Walker managed just one shift after he collided with the boards with some moderate help from Gonchar (that didn't seem to be all that bad).

For the Pens, every forward skated at least 10 minutes. That kind of balance is huge, considering they're going with only 11 forwards. It also saves the strength of the defense for withstanding the charge late in games.

The big thing here is that the Pens finish off the Canes while they have the chance. Tuesday night they have a chance to make Tim Gleason eat his words (he said this wouldn't be a four game series after Game 2).

Next up: Finish it. Tuesday night.

Penguins 7, Hurricanes 4

2009-05-21T22:28:00.002-04:00

Did you know how great Cam Ward is? He's the best goalie left in the playoffs!! He's won the Cup!! OMG!!

Cam Ward accomplished something else tonight - he won the Worst Goalie competition with Marc-Andre Fleury. He's also just the second goalie in the Eastern Conference to allow six goals in the playoffs (the other one was Varlamov, against the Pens in Game 7).

As bad as the goaltending was (and it was bad on both ends), the team defense was worse. The Pens were fortunate to get their defense under control enough to win the game. If the Canes had even a reasonable team performance, you'd think that four goals would put them in position to win. They didn't have that.

The good news here is that after a rocky first period when they allowed three goals on 14 shots, they Pens tightened things up and allowed just 14 shots for the rest of the game. Fleury still wasn't on top of his game, but he was good enough. The Pens did what was needed to win.

The Pens' offensive stars were the beneficiaries of the lackadaisical defense on the part of the Canes. Geno had his first playoff hat trick. That could be huge, if he can carry some momentum into the rest of the series. Cooke and Kunitz had three points each. Sid, Letang, Kennedy and Guerin each had two points.

Now that I've said those nice things, let's let some air out of the balloon. If the Pens don't get their play in their own end under control going into Raleigh, they're going to be in trouble. Just as Washington found out last series, holding serve at home for the first two games isn't enough. The Canes will tighten things up. Cam Ward will play better. The Pens need to be ready, or they'll be in trouble, coming back to Pittsburgh with the series tied 2-2.

Ryan Bayda will likely be suspended - he was given a match penalty for an attempt to injure. That was an icing play that he elbowed Letang on with just over one minute remaining in the third. It was a cheap play - icing is well known to be no-touch. I'm not sure that approach will work on the Pens - they've seen the Flyers shenanigans so many times that everyone else pales in comparison to the goons from Philly.

Next up: A HUGE Saturday night game in Raleigh. A win means the Canes are longshots. A loss means it's a new series. HUGE!!

Penguins 3, Hurricanes 2

2009-05-18T22:32:00.003-04:00

Neither team looked to be at their best tonight. The Pens and Canes both had breakdowns at bad times. The difference in this game? Marc-Andre Fleury.

The Pens were handed two power plays early in the first and we quickly found out why Carolina has a 90% kill ratio on the power play - they were all over the Pens. It's like their sticks were glued to the guys in black.

Miro Satan received a ~~even-up~~ holding call after the Pens two power plays, but the Hockey Gods were watching. Faster than you can say "horsecrap call", the penalty was over and Satan was sprung on a breakaway. Miro knows how to finish and he made Cam Ward look really slow, depositing an easy backhand after a shot fake that not only froze Ward, but also turned him into an Ent.

The Pens capitalized on their newly found momentum, buzzing like flies around honey. Geno made it 2-0 with a backhand flick that went right over the right pad of Ward.

The Canes made a game of it by coming on strong in the second. Fleury made several key saves and the Pens went into the third on top 2-1.

Boucher added a timely power play goal in the third, which was needed when the Canes were able to score late.

A few things that stood out to me:

The elbowing penalty to Orpik, while not being replayed on TV (Versus sucks), seemed to be flagrant enough to warrant a penalty. That's a really bad spot to even try something risky, and Orpik needs to be more in control there.
Both teams had defensive breakdowns - the Pens had three clean breakaways, which is unheard of in the playoffs, and the Canes were able to keep the Pens hemmed in their own zone for long periods in the second. Both will need to be corrected.
Fleury is the reason the Pens took Game 1.
Ward is the reason the Canes lost it - he made several big saves, but Malkin and Boucher's goals were what you could call "soft".
The Pens need to clean up their sloppy play in their own zone, or they'll be in trouble soon.

Great to get off on the right foot. The Pens need to hold serve and win Game 2.

Next up: Two nights for Gonchar to rest that knee. Game 2 is Thursday night at the Igloo.

Beard-A-Thon update

2009-05-18T10:00:00.003-04:00

Round 3 of the playoffs to begin tonight. I think I'll have to start trimming this beard pretty soon.

So far, the donations made total $361.00. We're matching that for a grand total of $722.00.

If you're interested in donating, we're still matching what is contributed.

The link is: http://www.beardathon.com/penguins/pat-beard/profile.aspx