PensBurgh

Penguins lead the league in shootout wins with six

2009-12-20T17:22:37Z

We've had a good share of discussions here on Pensburgh surrounding the concept of the shootout lately. Since it came into effect after the lockout, experts, players and coaches have sided with it or against it. For all that can be said of the shootout though, it's an element of the league that remains until the playoffs. In other words, love it or hate it, you have to deal with it.

But for the Penguins, and especially us fans, we shouldn't have any problem dealing with it. While most of us may be confident enough in this corp of players to think they could take it down in sudden death come playoff time, for the time being it's nice to know that whenever the Pens go up against anyone in the shootout they remain one of the toughest teams to beat.

Following last night's 2-1 shootout win over the Sabres, the Pens are now 6-0 in the shootout. Guys like Kris Letang, Sidney Crosby and Marc-Andre Fleury just know how to step it up an extra notch and really shine in the one-on-one element.

It may "just" be one extra point at the time, but as we look to close out the first three months of the season, the Penguins have six extra points in the standings because of how well they do after they take it past overtime. It all adds up in the end, especially for a team that gives every indication of a playoff berth.

After the jump, we take a look at how each Penguin shooter (and goalie) is doing in the shootout.

Player	Goals	Attempts
Sidney Crosby	5	6
Kris Letang	3	6
Chris Kunitz	1	1
Evgeni Malkin	0	1
Alex Goligoski	0	1
Bill Guerin	0	2

Player	Saves	Attempts
Marc-Andre Fleury	13	14
Brent Johnson	6	6

Both Fleury and Johnson combine for a .947 save percentage, also the best in the league in the shootout. Buffalo ranks second with .833.

Again, say what you will about the shootout, but this group of guys knows how to get it done. You also have to chalk up some praise for Dan Bylsma, who insists on making a game out of the shootout during practice. Each guy gets a chance to work on some moves, Fleury gets a chance to defend against some of the best shooters in the league and, in the long run, the Pens will be a better team because of it.

The Flower's blooming in winter: Pens beat Buffalo 2-1 in shootout

2009-12-20T04:15:08Z

More photos » by Don Heupel - AP

Patrick Lalime burst onto the scene in 1996 as a rookie as a great goalie with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Kris Letang was 9 in 1996. Go backhand to win it? Don't mind if you do.

Browse more photos »

Penguins vs Sabres coverage - SB Nation blog Die By The Blade

Buffalo is a team built in stablity. They've had Lindy Ruff as a coach since July 1997, an almost impossible for an NHL coach (consider that Dan Bylsma is the second longest tenured coach in the Atlantic Division, after just 10 months on the job). They play a hard, strong brand of hockey that all the players buy into, which shows since they're #1 in the East with just 74 goals allowed so far this year.

And Buffalo needed it tonight, as they just played and defeated Toronto last night and didn't have the services of their #1 goalie (Ryan Miller) and their #1 pure goal scorer (Thomas Vanek, injured) tonight. Even without Miller, their team defense shined and made Pittsburgh play their game in their building, which the Pens were able to hang in there for 65 minutes.

Jason Pominville opened the scoring with a wrister from in close that Marc-Andre Fleury had no chance on. Chris Kunitz would convert late in the first period to tie it up 1-1 on a seeing-eye puck that Buffalo backup Patrick Lalime had no chance on. Beyond that, the goalies and defenses would not be cracked until the shootout. Plenty of chances abounded for both sides, but they either missed the net or were answered by the goalies.

As I mentioned in the last recap: the Pens shootout specialists in Fleury, Kris Letang and Sidney Crosby give them such a huge advantage in skill and confidence right now. It showed once again, as Pittsburgh improves to a perfect 6-0 in games decided after 65 minutes. Letang (3 for 6, 3 game deciding goals on the year) made no mistake smoothly going backhand to open thing up. Crosby didn't score (now 5 for 6) even though the puck probably did end up in the net under Lalime. No matter Fleury was perfect going 3-3 in stops (he's now 12 for 13 on the season).

The Penguins story of the game is missing the net. They only got 24 shots on goal, with 20 shots blocked and 19 more missing target. Patty Lalime was playing like it was 1996 all over again, but with 19 misses (several near misses for what would have been goals), it didn't help Pittsburgh's cause.
Evgeni Malkin's penalty woes (that we touched upon in the last recap) continue. He took a lazy tripping penalty 1:49 into the 3rd period and then when that expired, he played the puck when the door swung open, before he left the box, getting an interference penalty. Pensburgh reader JustinM looked it up and found this is as little known rule, 56.2 in the official NHL rulebook. Learn something new every day.
Malkin also singlehandedly missed 7 shots on goal. His sights were just a little off. It seems like he's in a little of a rut right now, but more importantly he's working to get his chances. Once players that skilled get chances, eventually they start to go in the net.
Fleury is now 10-1-1 in his last 12 games; giving up two or fewer goals in 10 of those games, with an outstanding save percentage of .929 in this stretch. He's seeing the puck and making some amazing stops.
Mark Eaton went down with an apparent lower body injury in the 2nd period when he crashed into the boards after defending Mike Grier. Alex Goligoski (24:00 played) and Sergei Gonchar (27:08) picked up a lot of the burden for Eaton. We wait to hear an update on his status.
The Pens power-play went 0 for 5 but they showed great puck movement and got some great looks. It was a case of "a lot of swedish, not much finish", as they just couldn't put it home. But the new design is working.
Buffalo's power-play, for their part, is 1 for their last 23, including 0 for 8 tonight which had a significant 5-on-3 advantage. That they couldn't convert was a key in the game too -- which you have to credit the Pittsburgh PK'ers and Fleury for holding it down.
Paul Gaustad has GOT to make Team USA for the upcoming Olympics. He played 23:24 tonight with a shot on goal, a hit, 2 takeaways, 1 giveaway, 1 blocked shot and won 16 of 25 faceoffs, and a lot of them were won very cleanly.
As an aside, the home team chooses if they want to shoot first or second, and they almost always decide to shoot first, leaving the visitors to shoot second --potentially placing a lot of pressure on them if the initial shot scores. This is just the opposite of a baseball game, where the home team bats second. It just struck me as odd that it's two polar opposites.

On the road, you take what you can get and the Pens use their specialists to earn the extra point. They're up to 51 points, which keeps them on pace with New Jersey for tops in the division and conference. They mucked, grinded and played a game against a tough defensive team, and came out with the win. Guys like Fleury and Letang have to be flying high with confidence, with the only question mark being the health status of Eaton, which we'll surely give you updates in the near future as information becomes available.

Pittsburgh Penguins at Buffalo Sabres [Open Thread]

2009-12-20T00:00:17Z

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS vs. BUFFALO SABRES

IN BUFFALO @ 7:00pm ET

RADIO FEED ON WXDX.com

SABRES BLOG: DIE BY THE BLADE

A coach named Danny B

2009-12-19T14:00:31Z

by Gene J. Puskar - AP

In his brief time, Dan Bylsma is the top coach in terms of winning percentage.

View full size photo »

Dan Bylsma's record is a small sample size, but it's growing every week. And he's basically in uncharted territory. Sure, you could say that with the likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury, Sergei Gonchar and on and on you could say he should be doing good. Michel Therrien would beg to differ.

Here's the top 10 coaches winning percentages OF ALL TIME with a minimum of 50 games coached. Active coaches are in bold

Coach	Record	Notable
Dan Bylsma	42-13-5 (.742)	Pens coach 2009-current, 1 Stanley Cup (16-8 playoff record)
Tom Johnson	142-43-23 (.738)	Boston Bruins coach from 1970-1973, won a Stanley Cup in 1972 and soon after wasn't the coach anymore, even though he stayed in management for many years
Todd McLellan	73-26-18 (.701)	San Jose coach 2008-current, hasn't won a playoff series
Cooney Weiland	58-20-18 (.698)	Boston Bruins coach from 1940-41, won the Cup in '41, then stepped down to eventually become the long-time Harvard University coach
Lou Lamoriello	34-14-5 (.689)	New Jersey Devils, two stints from 2005-07, stepping in from his GM job to lead NJD to second round exits in both his HC stints
Bruce Boudreau	108-49-21 (.666)	Washington Capitals coach 2007-current, 1 playoff series victory (10-11 playoff record)
Scotty Bowman	1244-573-314-10 (.657)	Coach from 1968-2002, won 9 Stanley Cups with Montreal, Pittsburgh and Detriot, all-time high 223 playoff wins as a coach
Claude Ruel	172-82-51 (.648)	Montreal coach 1968-70 and 1979-81; won the Stanley Cup in 1969 in his first season as a coach and was a long term member of the front office in Montreal
Mike Babcock	300-150-19-57 (.643)	Anaheim coach 2002-04, took them to SC Finals his first year as a coach, Detroit coach 2005-current, won Stanley Cup in 2008
Pete Green	94-52-4 (.640)	Coach of the Ottawa Senators from 1919-25, won two Stanley Cups (1921 and 1923)

Up next: Ryan Miller, Derek Roy and the Buffalo Sabres

2009-12-19T12:00:22Z

More photos » by Don Heupel - AP

Browse more photos »

[SBN Buffalo Sabres blog - Die by the Blade]

If you look check out the stats page on NHL.com, you'll see Buffalo's Ryan Miller owns three of the four top goaltender stats in the league right now - save percentage, goals against average and shutouts. The Team USA netminder is having one hell of a year so far:

	GP	MIN	W	L	EGA	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Ryan Miller	29	1718	20	7		54	1.89	862	808	.937	4

Last night Miller put together a solid game between the pipes, stopping 40 of Toronto's 42 shots en route to his MAF-tying 20th win on the year. The Sabres were outshot dramatically by the margin of 42 to 27 but it didn't matter. It would appear Lindy Ruff had his guys putting on a show of quality over quantity in the shots department. One thing you can take from last night's game is this - Buffalo can provide plenty of threats in the offensive zone. Five different guys registered goals and assists were scattered throughout the corps as well. Hopefully MAF and the blue line are keeping tabs.

You won't see any member of the Sabres battling for a top spot in the league's scoring leaders department. What you will see, as indicated earlier, is a healthy smattering of points across the roster. Derek Roy (7g, 18a), Tom Connolly (6g, 17a), Jason Pominville (7g, 14a) and Thomas Vanek (9g, 11a) take up the top four spots in the points category for the Sabres. Sure it's not all that overpowering, but whatever the Sabres are doing is good enough to put them first in the Northeast Division and third in the Eastern Conference.

Will Miller start tonight in the second part of Buffalo's back-to-back games? I'm going to go out on a not-so-weak limb and say yes. He's single-handily taking on the role of workhorse for the Sabres, starting between the pipes in 29 of Buff's 33 games. However, in the event he doesn't start, then an old name from past Pens glory may make an appearance: Patrick Lalime.

As a kid I didn't quite understand the Lalime situation, and to be honest felt somewhat let down by a guy who didn't want to stay with the Pens. At least that was my perception at the time, before I knew anything about contracts, how they worked and the oh-so-dreaded sports agent.

Lalime still holds the NHL record for longest unbeaten streak for a rookie goaltender at 14-0-2, a milestone he set when he debuted with the Pens in 1996. Then I guess the short-lived glory got to his head and he and Pittsburgh couldn't agree on a contract. So, mainly because of that, he spent the next three years with three different teams in the now-defunct IHL before reappearing in the NHL with the Senators in 1999 after having his rights traded from Pittsburgh to Anaheim, then Anaheim to Ottawa.

Fun fact about the 1998 midseason Pittsburgh-to-Anaheim trade - the Pens gained the rights to Chris Pronger's brother Sean. (And in case you're wondering, he played seven games and scored a single goal). Later that year they sent him off to New York in a trade that ultimately brought Alexei Kovalev to the black and gold.

Ok, enough about Lalime and my repressed memories. We probably won't even see him. And, if we do, hopefully it's because the Pens are lighting up Miller.

UPDATE 9:20AM - Lalime is the confirmed starter for tonight. (Thanks to SLBD on Twitter)

Puck and thread drop at 7. Come on by and chill for the game.

Friday links: Team USA could look very Penguin

2009-12-18T18:24:39Z

Bill Guerin is one tough sumbitch. [Tribune Review]

The new power-play has a new result: actually putting the puck in the net. [Empty Netters]

Projected roster alert: Brooks Orpik, Alex Goligoski AND Bill Guerin all make the cut for Team USA here [NHL.com]

Shooting down the latest rumor that doesn't make sense: why the Pens won't be trading Sergei Gonchar to Phoenix. Really rumor mongers, Phoenix taking on the salary? And the Pens trading such a key guy? At least make the rumors make a little sense. [Faceoff Factor]

Deadspin picks up on the almost certainly false rumors swirling around the Flyers. [Deadspin]

Flyers ~~punching bag~~ tough guy Riley Cote weighed in on facebook (before removing it): "i feel the need to address a terrible rumor about 2 of my teamates [sic] hartnell and carter. 100% not true. do not believe what you hear. nothing but pollution. i got both there [sic] backs. now let’s put a beating on the pens!!" [Josh Q Public]

The Penguins have the highest scoring defense in the NHL. And they also have the most diverse scoring from the blueline too. [The Peerless Prognosticator]

A fresh batch of jersey fouls for thee. [Puck Daddy]

Saturday's opponent Ryan Miller is in the groove right now. [The Hockey News]

Head trauma and the effect on pro athletes is thankfully a lot of attention these days, but the more we learn, the scarier things seem. [From the Rink]

I demand Dan Bylsma wears the makeup next time. I think he's suited for the Cat. It's funnier if...

2009-12-18T17:42:48Z

I demand Dan Bylsma wears the makeup next time. I think he's suited for the Cat.

It's funnier if you think about the fact they have a song called Detroit Rock City. It's also amusing to me that Gene Simmons apparently doesn't care about this picture.

Tales of the Tape: Mike Rupp vs. Arron Asham, Part Deux

2009-12-18T15:00:39Z

It was so much fun last time, let's do it again!

With the score tied at 1, noted Flyer-fighter Mike Rupp and Arron Asham dropped the gloves seemingly to get some momentum going for their teams. This fight wasn't overly exciting, as there was no helmet scrambling or face grabbing. The two traded some shots before Rupp went for the rare body blow to no real effect. The two paused for a moment and apparently Rupp decided it was time to end it, going for a headlock. After a couple tries, he pulled Asham's helmet off and forced him down to the ice. No advantage here and not much of a takedown, so this one gets called a draw.

With this fight, Rupp has passed Eric Godard for the most fights on the Penguins with 6. Next up are the Sabres, who have a little over half (14) the fights that the Penguins have (27). Don't look for much here, as they only had one fight against the Penguins last season when Andrew Peters took on Godard. Peters is now with New Jersey.

Poll

Who won the fight?

It's still Always Sidney in Philadelphia: Pens win 3-2 in shootout

2009-12-18T04:02:04Z

More photos » by H. Rumph Jr - AP

Boucher was better in this game than last, but he couldn't stop Sidney Crosby from scoring in regulation or the shootout.

Browse more photos »

Penguins vs Flyers coverage - Broad Street Hockey

Two night after getting blown out of the water, it was definitely a bounce back night for the Philadelphia Flyers. They went back home and came out with a much better performance. But the Pittsburgh Penguins were there at every corner and matched the intensity and goals all the way through the night.

For all the talk about the Pens power-play, they score 2 goals and really are starting to look better. Moving Evgeni Malkin back to the point has increased puck movement and Chris Kunitz (2 primary assists) and Bill Guerin (1 goal) are playing a simple "go-to-the-net" type game. It's been effective.
Marc-Andre Fleury was stellar with a 31 save on 33 shot effort, including several great saves. The robbery on Daniel Briere is one that'll make highlight films for the rest of the year. At the other end Brian Boucher was great too; a worthy bounce-back performance from his last game.
Two pretty careless stick fouls on Malkin in a span of just over 4 minutes. I'm not gonna job him, he was getting his chances and played well on the power-play, but he's got to buckle down a little with HHT (holding, hooking, tripping).
The three headed monster combined for 16 shots on goal and almost 69 minutes of combined ice-time. That they roll all three out one after another after another gives the opposition no let up.
After coincidental penalties in OT, they played things 3-on-3 for a two minutes which kind of looked like a middle school dance. Neither side really looked comfortable with that much open ice to work with, in fact the Pens kind of circled in their own zone a lot. Easy to tell neither team gets much practice at it.
How deep are the Penguins? Consider this: in the current four game winning streak, they haven't repeated a player in "3 Stars of the night". They go Pascal Dupuis (3rd star 12/10), Sergei Gonchar (1st star); Malkin (3rd star 12/12), Ruslan Fedotenko (1st star); Brooks Orpik (3rd star 12/15), Jordan Staal (2nd star), Crosby (1st star); Fleury (2nd star 12/17), Letang (1st star).

A shame the game was decided with the gimmicky shootout, but Penguin fans almost know what happens when it gets that far: Pittsburgh is now 5-0 in the shootout. Fleury improves to 9 of 10 in stops (backup Brent Johnson is perfect 6 for 6), Crosby's a perfect 5 for 5 in scoring and Letang's a pretty fair 2 for 5. Those three specialists give Pittsburgh a huge leg up if it gets to the skills competition.

Two wins in two games in which they outscored Philly 9-3 on the aggregate is a good showing. The Pens move on to three games in six days before the brief Christmas break; starting Saturday in Buffalo before going home to meet New Jersey and Ottawa. All three of those opponents are in the top 8 of the Eastern Conference's standings, and with goalies like Ryan Miller and Martin Brodeur on the horizion, the road doesn't get any easier.

Pittsburgh Penguins at Philadelphia Flyers [Open Thread]

2009-12-18T00:00:17Z

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS vs. PHILADELPHIA FLYERS

IN PHILADELPHIA @ 7:00pm ET

RADIO FEED ON WXDX.com

FLYERS BLOG: BROAD STREET HOCKEY

The best swag in the Penguins charity gift-baskets

2009-12-17T21:38:14Z

There's candy in Brooks Orpik's gift basket, but rest assured it is not free.

(image at the courtesy of NHL Auctions)

The holiday season is a time of giving and gifts. The Penguins wives and girlfriends are spear-heading gift baskets for the fourth year in a row. The idea is to fill them with momentos and things the player likes and auction them off to fans, with the proceeds going to charity.

Let's dive into these bad boys and see who's got the best stuff.

This is only what's visible in the pictures, there could be a lot more. Current bid is bolded. Let's look at the top 5:

#5 Chris Bourque -- The former Penguin put a nice basket together, and for the current bid it offers a lot of bang for the buck. There's no fewer than seven autographed items, including a cool old-style logo Penguins shirt/sweatshirt, four Penguin hats and a nice Penguin snowman/woman decoration. $240

#4 Evgeni Malkin -- No less than five autographed items (the mini-stick, a hat, a shirt/jersey, an ornament and a puck) in Geno's basket. Currently the highest price basket. $1,191.87

#3 Bill Guerin-- Four bobbleheads, a signed puck, Stanley Cup champion t-shirt, and I swear it looks like there's a beer in the back left corner of the basket. $720

#2 Max Talbot -- Looks really stocked with more items than the average bag. A #1 fan foam finger, a Stanley Cup bobblehead, a couple hats and a signed shirt/jersey are a few of the visible items in Talbot's basket. Also it comes in a bucket that a lot of places put beer in, rather than the typical basket. $573

#1 Mike Rupp -- A signed replica jersey AND a signed shirt/jersey gives Noted's basket a leg up on the rest. Throw in a remote-control truck, a cool hat (signed of course) and some Starbucks. $524.50

Most creative:

A lot of these are standard with pretty much the same stuff -- signed shirts, Penguin hats, etc. Well, there's one giftbasket that's unique with no sign of any hockey/Penguin merchandise or memorabilia.

Kris Letang -- What appears to be no less than 20 chocolate bars, the board game Operation, and maybe a Metallica CD? No visible Penguin items to be found. $640

Food items are rare this year, but if you're wondering Brooks Orpik does have candy in his (see above). So that's the list of the Pens gift baskets, anything that catches your eye? And if any readers bid/win on a basket, please let us know how it turns out!

Tracking the toughest players in the NHL: The Black and Blue Trophy

2009-12-17T19:54:39Z

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

Hits like these are why Brooks Orpik is 4th in the black and blue trophy race, despite missing time to injury.

Browse more photos »

Long-time readers might remember a metric we took a look at last season, the Black and Blue Trophy. It is a simple measure of which players are blocking shots and the opposition. It's tough, yeoman's work. Often times those throwing their body in front of rubber and into others end up on the shelf, an unfortunate reminder that shows the Black and Blue guys have to be durable to make it on this list.

This year's official Black and Blue trophy has a new twist: defensemen are now the only players eligible. In years past we've included forwards, but they don't block enough shots to be considered in the true spirit of what the award is trying to encompass. This isn't about the guys who forecheck hard (like Cal Clutterbuck and Dustin Brown) but someone that embodies the sacrifice of a black and blue player.

In this day and age there are a lot of great stats out there, like Behind the Net which does awesome work and has a vast database of in depth statistics. Here's a great resource that James Mirtle recently wrote to overview these new-age stats and metrics that are popping up more and more to judge how good players are beyond just goals and assists.

Behind the jump, your tough-nosed leaderboard.

A little more sophisticated look at defensive defensemen is Mirtle's list, which uses a secretive formula to rank players based off the quality of competition they play and the goals allowed by their team while they're on the ice. Brent Seabrook, Andy Sutton and Greg Zanon make both Mirtle's "best defensive defensemen" and the black and blue.

From last February's BnB list: Orpik, Greene, Robidas and Seabrook are on there, showing great durability. Most of those guys are towards the top of the lists and both years.

As always, this isn't a list without it's limitations (hits subjective from town to town, etc, etc) but it serves a purpose to recognize guys who may not be putting up goals/assists but are still specialized defenders.

Here's the rest of the list for the Penguins:

Among BnB/games played, Orpik is still the king (other than Guenin's very short sample size). What jumps out to me is Engelland, who did well to ring up a lot of hits in his brief time in the NHL.

Bill Guerin's status questionable for tonight

2009-12-17T16:17:05Z

Bill Guerin's status questionable for tonight

As noted in the Post-Gazette, Billy G didn't practice with the team yesterday but did take the flight to Philly with the rest of the guys. According to Dan Byslma, Guerin is a little sore but is approaching the roster for tonight's game as if he will be in the lineup.

12:33 update: Guerin is in, Talbot out

Up next: Scott Hartnell, Daniel Carcillo and the Philadelphia Flyers (again)

2009-12-17T11:15:09Z

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

Unofficial caption: "What have I gotten myself into?"

Browse more photos »

[SBN Philadelphia Flyers blog - Broad Street Hockey]

Given the day off in between games for travel purposes, not much is really going to change for the Penguins other than the sheet of ice they play on. For the Flyers however, there could be a few changes in the works.

As our friends at Broad Street Hockey expressed Wednesday afternoon, confidence and morale of the Philly Faithful is anything but prime. Travis, who runs the show over at BSH, suggested this isn't just a result of the demoralizing 6-1 loss to the Pens on Tuesday, but instead the end result of a long series of up and downs (mostly downs) over the past month or so. I still find the timing of such a poll a bit suggestive.

Former Hurricane Michael Leighton is working out with the Flyers since the team picked him up off waivers Tuesday afternoon. I don't know whether or not this means we'll see him tonight against the Pens, but it would appear he may be the Flyers' backup-to-the-backup option in the wake of Ray Emery's injury. I just wonder if Peter Laviolette is ready to throw Brian Boucher out there against the wolves again. But, according to the Flyers' web site, Leighton isn't exactly game-ready yet either.

Returning tonight for the Flyers is what I assume, only from his quotes, is a still-injured Blair Betts. When saying something like, "I think I just have to be a little conscious of not using that arm to reach for pucks or anything like that," I think it's pretty obvious that he's not playing at 100%. Let this also be an example as to why injuries to an arm/shoulder/chest are listed as inconspicuous lower-body injuries, and why injuries to the lower body are listed as upper-body injuries.

After tonight's game the Pens won't be seeing the Flyers again until January 2010. Let's see if the boys in black and gold can give them a little something more to remember them by in 2009.

Puck and thread drop at 7pm. Come by and share in the fun.

Links: Crosby/Talbot to be in Jan 1 commercial, a prospect's season is over

2009-12-16T18:02:46Z

Ron Cook would have rather seen Max Talbot than Eric Godard last night in a little anti-fighting rant. Yeah, um, because Talbot would never fight a Flyer...[Post-Gazette]

Penguins prospect Keven Veilleux's rookie season is likely done as he's going to have shoulder surgery. [Penguins Insider]

Sidney Crosby talks about his basement and the famous dryer, which has been made into a commercial for the Winter Classic game. The real story here: Talbot will also be in the commercial. Expect any different? [USA Today]

About a dozen scouts have been trailing the Flyers lately, are they about to make personnel moves? [Chipped Ice]

Penguins/Flyers named best rivalry of the decade, Crosby/Ovechkin named best individual rivalry. [Sports Illustrated]

I don't know what's going on here, but that's definitely not Mario Lemieux. [PSAMP]

Spector shoots down a lot of rumors, including why you won't see Jack Johnson as a Penguin anytime soon (duh). [Spectors Hockey]

In early voting, 55% of Flyers fans are 0-30% confident in the direction of the Flyers. [Broad Street Hockey]

The shooting gallery in front of Marc-Andre Fleury in the early part of the decade added up to the Penguins' being one of the most out-shot teams of the decade. [Behind the Net]

Flyers fans lacking confidence

2009-12-16T16:29:16Z

Flyers fans lacking confidence

Looks like the aftermath of yesterday's loss has our friends over at Broad Street Hockey questioning the level of confidence Flyers fans have in their team's current direction. As of this fanshot, 0% is leading the pack.

Tales of the Tape: Beating on the Flyers in Three Parts

2009-12-16T14:00:46Z

When the Penguins meet the Flyers, be it in Pittsburgh or Philadelphia, the chances of a fight breaking out are quite higher than most other games. Toss in the level of frustration that Philadelphia has to be feeling, and that high chance becomes an inevitability. So, with little surprise, the game featured three fights, all within the first six minutes of the game. We'll be taking a moment and checking out all three.

First up - the Noted One Mike Rupp taking on Arron Asham.

The two meet up and exchange pleasantries (and jabs) before Rupp begins going for Asham's helmet. Asham responds by grabbing for Rupp's jersey, but instead gets a handful of face. Rupp answers back with a nice shot, and gets the helmet off, with Asham slipping to the ice. Asham regains his footing and shifts Rupp off his balance, ending the fight. I could see this one being called a draw, but with the shot leading to the helmet removal, I'm thinking it's a win from Rupp. And I'm writing this, so that's how it will be.

Quickly after the first fight comes another (with another annoying 'Well, well, well' call from the announcer) which is not at all surprising once we learn that it's Eric Godard and Riley Cote (round 5).

Spinning and punching. That's what these two are good at, and that's what these two do. Godard gets Cote's helmet off and gets some shots in to the head. Also with these shots came Cote's helmet, which got stuck on Godard's arm and was also swinging towards Cote's head. As the two near the boards, it looks like they await the linesmens' intervention, but when the officials make no moves, they decide to swing a few more times at each other. A few more fist/helmet shots from Godard and the officials finally get in and break the two up. I'm calling this one for Godard - he got the better offense in, and hit the man with his own helmet.

So with Rupp and Godard both getting decent showings, when a fight breaks out between Craig Adams and Dan Carcillo, we're expecting good things, right?

Oh no. Well, Adams did manage to get Carcillo's helmet off...but he also managed to get punched. In the head. A lot. The less said here, the better. That's a loss for Adams...but 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

These matchups have something in common with each other. All three pairings have fought each other before. Godard and Cote is certainly nothing new - we saw it three times last season and the two even have an AHL bout against one another. Mike Rupp had a noted fight against Asham last season while he was playing for the Devils. Neat little tidbit about that one - Rupp also fought Riley Cote in that game. In fact, when Rupp was fighting Asham, Cote was fighting another Devil right next to him. Certainly nothing special about that - it's just kind of neat. As for Adams and Carcillo - they also fought last season, and Adams actually took a worse beating then.

With these three fights, the Pens are tied for 5th in fighting majors with the Sharks, only below the Flames, Lightning, Flyers and Maple Leafs. Next up will be the Flyers again, and do I really need to write a preview for that one? Of course someone's going to fight.

Poll

Overall, who came out on top of the fights?

Fight, fight, fight; score, score, score, score, score, score. Pens embarrass Flyers 6-1

2009-12-16T03:07:29Z

More photos » by Gene J. Puskar - AP

Brian Boucher got used to this sight tonight.

Browse more photos »

Flyers vs Penguins coverage - Broad Street Hockey

The Philadelphia Flyers, if nothing else, are known as a physical rough-and-tumble bunch. The Pittsburgh Penguins matched that willingness with three fights early (and a busy day tomorrow for Dunman!). Hockey is more about just the fisticuffs and the Pens are able to do that too, scoring six of the seven goals from Sidney Crosby, Bill Guerin, two by Jordan Staal, Ruslan Fedotenko and Evgeni Malkin.

One team is in a groove, getting good goaltending and playing strong defense....And the other is not right now. The results were as clear as the scoreboard; a 6-1 virtual whitewashing by Pittsburgh.

Riley Cote was the only Flyer that escaped a minus in the plus/minus column, and he got a grand total of two shifts and 0:31 of ice-time. Conversely, only Tyler Kennedy and Craig Adams were the only Pens that weren't pluses. Just one of those nights.
Shots ended up being 35-27, hardly the edge to demonstrate the zone time and puck control that Pittsburgh had all night long. Crosby, Malkin and Kris Letang led the way five shots on goal a piece.
Strong effort by Marc-Andre Fleury getting in front of 26 of 27 shots. The Flyers did throw them on him, and he was there. Fleury's 8-1-1 and has given up 2 or fewer goals in eight of his last ten games and is sporting a .927 save percentage over that stretch.
About the only place the Pens didn't dominate was in the faceoff circle; Philly won 60% of the draws, no Penguin player who took more than one draw had over a 50% rate.
The blowout allowed the Pens to mix things up. No forward played more than 18:50, much under the season averages of guys like Crosby and Malkin. Defensively, only Sergei Gonchar played more than 20:00 minutes -- and even his 23:39 was under yearly average. Philly, playing catchup, had seven of their players go over the 20:00 minute mark. Might this show up in the second game of the home-and-home?
Brooks Orpik had 2 assists, Eric Godard had a nice flip that got him an assist, Staal wristed a nice shorty and a tap-in rebound, Fedotenko went 1 and 1, as did Malkin....You could go almost all the way down the line. Almost everyone who dressed made nice plays and a lot of them ended up in the net. Just one of those nights.

One of those nights indeed. Pittsburgh re-takes their lead for most wins league wide and the Flyers must be as frustrated as ever. Things change, and change quickly in the NHL. Philadelphia will get a shot in the arm with their crowd --and stewing over their performance -- on Thursday. If the Pens aren't out the gates running, make no mistake, Philly (with a 9-7-2 home record) will make them pay. But if the boys in black-and-gold have another showing like tonight, it'll likely be the same result.

Philadelphia Flyers at Pittsburgh Penguins [Open Thread]

2009-12-16T00:00:18Z

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS vs. PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

IN PITTSBURGH @ 7:00pm ET

RADIO FEED ON WXDX.com

FLYERS BLOG: BROAD STREET HOCKEY

Tuesday afternoon links: Crosby's Canadian top athlete, pranks and did the Pens let go a top prospect?

2009-12-15T19:42:19Z

Sidney Crosby wins the Lou Marsh Trophy (for Canada's best athlete) for the second time in three years. [The Spin]

However they might take it back if they find out what Crosby did to poor strength and conditioning coach Mike Kadar. [Empty Netters]

The new look power-play is ready to go. [Penguins.nhl.com]

The Pensblog gets you fired up for tonight's Flyer game like only they can. [tPb]

Former Penguin draft pick Jake Muzzin is now a sought after unrestricted free agent. Is he good or good because he's playing his 4th season of junior hockey against kids largely younger than him? [TSN]

Part I: Is Don Cherry a negative influence on hockey players? [The Sporting News]

Part II: Grapes doesn't give a [expletive] if you think he's a negative influence. [Kuklas Korner]

The Western Conference is killing the East so far this season. [From the Rink]

Is Montreal backup goalie Jaroslav Halak about to be traded to the Philadelphia Flyers? [TSN]

Six American players are fighting over three spots left, Brian Burke says. Wonder if Brooks Orpik could be one? [ESPN]

Finally, if you're like me, you'll watch Alyonka Larionov do about anything. Her Christmas video (featuring cameos of a lot of NHL players and Penguins including Max Talbot, Tyler Kennedy, Brooks Orpik, Pascal Dupuis, Kris Letang, Marc-Andre Fleury, Eric Tangradi and Evgeni Malkin [with his cat]) after the jump [Youtube]