Friday, October 31, 2008

Road Trip Blues

The Pens enter St. Louis tomorrow night at 8:30 following a three game road skid. To make matters worse, they may be without league phenom Sidney Crosby who will be a game time decision. St. Louis is a team that is without a doubt below the Penguins ability level; whether the Penguins are capable of playing at their own ability remains a question and will ultimately determine the outcome of this game.

I'm thinking that the Penguins will play with the "desperation" that Sid says they need, but only in the third period. I don't think that they will come out strong and it might take nothing less than Michel Therrien pulling down his pants in front of the team to illustrate how embarrassing their play has been. Sometime between moons-over-my-hammy and the drop of the puck in the 3rd, the Pens will pull it together. This is where the desperation and at-will-scoring will finally make an appearance this season. Let's not forget to mention someone else that needs a seat at the dinner table, the road power play. The way I see things, the Pens will tie it up in the 3rd with a power play goal from the point. It's not going to be from Malkin, but look for Goligoski or Letang to remember how to shoot. From there, I believe we'll play off that momentum and get a big goal from one of our grinders. Look for Max "handlebars" Talbot or Mike Zigomanis to get on the board late for the game winner. It is these unsung heroes that the Penguins have a wealth of that will make or break this season for the 'Burgh, not Sid and Gino.

pitt_stl copy

Matt@Penstation

Huge THANK YOU to Chris @ Icethetics!

Thanks to Chris at Icethetics, we at Penstation have a beautiful collection of team icons. I was going to just grab some standard team logos for use on the site; I was ecstatic to learn we would be able to use Chris's logo set. The icons are colorful and bright and will be a welcome addition to the site. Thanks again, Chris!

pit phx

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I am not real sure how exactly they will be used, but I threw those in just to give you an idea for what the images look like.

Matt@Penstation

Crosby Day2Day

We still have not seen anything surface as to what is actually bothering Sidney Crosby. There were reports out of Phoenix that he hurt his ribs, but those were shut down by a Penguin representative. Crosby only hinted to feeling discomfort, but that was the extent of his explanation. Penstation is hoping to see The Kid on the ice tomorrow in St. Louis against Andy McDonald and company. Look for a game preview later tonight.

Happy Halloween from Penstation!

Matt@Penstation

Looking for Light in 4-1 loss to Coyotes

Overall, the Penguins did not play a good game tonight against Gretzky's Coyotes. Fleury was flopping to protect his castle against a barrage of passing, the defense looked sluggish and Sid left the game without return. We'll have more about The Kid when something surfaces.

There were a couple bright spots, however. We tallied 16 shots in the 2nd period after finishing the 1st with a mere 2. Miroslav Satan continues to prove that while he's not playing his best 5 on 5 hockey, he is a valuable power play first liner. Satan's power play goal (5th of the year--4th on the PP) was worthy of Cirque Du Soleil time in Vegas. Aside from that, Orpik threw the body continuing to establish himself as an elite defensive defensemen. Letang also played a relatively sound game and made a fantastic play protecting a potential breakaway.

Gino got quite a few shots tonight, but none of them met twine. He did record an assist on the Satan goal, but only because a shot ricocheted off the boards and out to Satan.

At this point, we need to look at what's going on offensively. The aspect of our game that made us so deadly over the past two seasons was our ability to score at will. I will have more on that topic in the next couple of days.

Matt@Penstation