Well, the Pens have officially taken the season series from the Flyers.  Huzzah.

 

 

Ask the Capitals how much that matters.  But anything we can lord over them is always nice.

 

 

Both teams played their balls off, for sure.  In the end, a stupid unecessary penalty was their undoing as it so often is.  They can't help it.

One more game against Philly in late March. Could be a huge two points for them as they fight for a playoff spot.  But for now, the Pens play another hated rival in about 15 minutes.  So let's get to business.

Listen to the game at [WXDX]

From Their Gameday:

"Thank Christ for no Bob Errey and the rest of the FSN amateur hour.
Can a Sunday get any better than this?"

Today's game will be on NBC, unless it's preempted for horse racing or Jay Leno or anything else the network considers more important than hockey.

Since NBC is showing the game, we headed over to NBCSports.com to see how they are covering it:

You'd think that, since NBC is airing the game, you'd see some sort of promotion for it on the site.

You'd probably even expect a big story near the top of the page.

You'd be wrong.

But after scrolling about halfway down, we finally found this.

Marc-Andre Fleury will be back in the Penguins' net.

John Curry has been sent back to WBS.

Pascal Dupuis will be in the lineup as well.

Nick Johnson was called back up to fill in for Max Talbot.

Thanks to Ghostwalker for uploading this to youtube from PENS TV

Great video.

Bowling is probably one of the most fun things of all time. Can't remember but last year during the playoffs we went bowling after the Pens went down 2-0 or before some huge game. Completely got our minds right.

You could get lost on the internet searching 7/10 splits:

Might need to get a Pensblog bowling league at some point.

Back to the video, amongest other stuff, Bill Guerin's mustache is completely out of control.

And at the end, around the 7:22 mark watch Granato jobbed Potash while Crosby is signing a shirt for some kid, while a giant tuna looks on:

The bald guy = one of granato's hit men.

Potash better be careful.

Go Pens.

 

 

Yea we know that is an "A" and it should be a "C." F off.

 

 

It's never particulary fun when the Pens lose to the Washington Capitals. You have to deal with some Capitals fans acting like its a big deal. It makes you wish the D.C. Sniper would have got a couple of extra kills.

 

 

The game lived up to the hype for the first two periods, and then things went awry in the third.

And look the Pens were missing some big time contributors. Most notably Marc-Andre Fleury and Mike Green. Yea, thats right--Mike Green not being in the game hurt the Penguins. His turnovers and piss poor defense couldn't bail the Pens out. Green forgot to play last night, but that didn't stop him from using twitter to defend himself after the tag #GreenfearsCrosby spread on the internet.

 

 

 

 

 

Of course we have no idea how such things got spread.

Brent Johnson played as well as he could. You can't really level the blame on him. The Capitals powerplay is insane.

 

As for the Caps, they are rolling. The only thing that actually scares us about them is that Mike Knuble is one playoff series away from entering the Penguin killer zone. He must be stopped before April.

 

 

 

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Listen to the game at [WXDX]

From Their Gameday:

"Obviously this is a big game. It's always a big game when the Caps and Pens play, but it probably means more to the average fan than the ultimate season outcome. While it's probably good for Washington's psyche to beat their rival, it only means so much coming in the regular season. Even last year, the Caps took seven of eight regular season points, only to be bounced in the second round. Home ice advantage only matters so much.

However, it is a rivalry game, and the Igloo should be rocking. Look for a playoff-type game between these two highly-skilled teams in an extremely energized environment."

Lots of injuries to talk about for both teams.

For the Pens:

Marc-Andre Fleury has been placed on injured reserve.

Sergei Gonchar is a game-time decision.

Max Talbot is considered "day-to-day"

So is Pascal Dupuis.

The Penguins have called up Nick Johnson and Dustin Jeffrey to fill in for Dupuis and Talbot.

For the Caps:

Semyon Varlamov remains in the AHL rehabing a groin injury.

Mike Green will be a game-time decision.

Brian Pothier and John Erskine are doubtful for tonight's game.

The Caps have brought John Carlson up from Hershey.

Carlson scored the winning goal for the US in the World Junior Championships.

Empty Netters takes a closer look at the injury situation.

Capitals Insider has a piece on Johnson facing Jose Theodore and his old team.

With all the injuries, we're considering it lucky that the Caps didn't call up Chris Bourque.

He would almost certainly score a heartbreaking goal against the Pens.

 

For as much hate as we have for the Flyers, it seems like the hatred for the Washington Capitals has begun to eclipse it.  10 years ago, a Capitals/Penguins in January was just another game.  Now it is like Wrestlemania.

 

 

But why?

Do we subconsciously feel the Caps are a more worthy adversary?

Whatever the case, a quick reminder why we hate the Caps:

 

 

Maybe the biggest D-bag in the history of hockey.

And the most electrifying.

 

 

 

 

Ovechkin's boyfriends' disappearance in last year's playoffs will live on and on forever.

Mike Green still sucks.

Huge, but this poster doesn't tell the half of it.

 

If the NHL was smart, it would have a pic of Texas Ted Leonsis, with A.O., Semin, Backstrom, Green, and Brodreau.

The Pens' side would have 66, with Bing, Geno, Staal, Gonch and Disco.

 

And this doesn't even begin to speak of the war that will be waged on blogs and message boards. Or the fact there is going to be some cocky Caps fan that is gonna come to the Mellon, and we're going to posterize his ass.

 

 

 

Yea not much to see here.

Just a post cleaning up some shit in gmail.

PUCK DADDY sent this along to Pens fans in DC.

It will be interesting to see if Pens fans will take over that too.

Got this email a long time ago, and asked the writer to send it closer to the Pens/Caps.

I relocated to Denver about 6 months ago and as a Pittsburgher and life-long Pens fan, NHL Center Ice is my teat. Having already watched the Penguins dismantle the Flyers, I thought it appropriate to go to the Avalanche game, heckle Ovie and hope for a Penguins assault on first place in the Eastern Conference.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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