GAMEDAY 19 - DEVILS

Posted by Rick on Nov 12, 2009 16:43.

7:30 PM

Mellon Arena

Listen to the game at [WXDX]

If you have any questions for Mike Lange, Phil Bourque or Bob Grove join the Penguins Radio Network Facebook page.

You can submit questions via the discussion tab for the Crash the Net segments or Penguins Hotline after the game.

Back at home.

The parade of injuries continues.

Brooks Oprik will miss two weeks of action.

The Penguins website has put together a handy chart to keep track of the wounded:

PENGUINS MEDICAL WATCH
Player, Injury (Date), Time Frame, Current Progress
Maxime Talbot, torn labrum (July 7), 4 to 6 months, practicing (cleared for contact)
Sergei Gonchar, broken left wrist (Oct. 20), 4 to 6 weeks, practicing (no contact)
Evgeni Malkin, shoulder strain (Oct. 29), 2 weeks, practicing (cleared for contact)
Tyler Kennedy, undisclosed (Nov. 5), day-to-day, no ice participation
Kris Letang, shoulder contusion (Nov. 7), 2 weeks, no ice participation
Brooks Orpik, lower-body (Nov. 10), 2 weeks, no ice participation

That leaves us with one defenseman (Mark Eaton) who played in game seven against Detroit.

Ben Lovejoy has been called up from WBS.

The Devils still haven't lost on the road.

People are already suggesting that Brodeur could tie the shutout record tonight, since the Penguins are having trouble scoring goals.

Whatev.

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Pee On Me

Posted by #test on Nov 12, 2009 06:17.

After the jump.

Engage yourself in the photoshop expo.

Kneel down before the work of the PSers.

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yesssssss

Posted by Pensblog Staff on Nov 12, 2009 02:26.

From [Citzen CandyLand ] in cblog:

Go Pens

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Crosby Sucks and More

Posted by Rick on Nov 11, 2009 17:55.

Now that the absolutely unthinkable has happened and the Penguins have gone over two games without scoring a goal, the Internet has exploded with "Crosby Sucks" comments and demands that the Penguins make a trade before everything falls apart.

It's November.

But the reaction around the web is to be expected.

The world loves watching the Pittsburgh Penguins struggle, no matter how brief or unimportant the struggles may be.

Remember last year, when people were calling for the Penguins to trade Sidney Crosby?

Remember the glee around the Internet when the Pens sat out of a playoff spot in February?

Of course, now that the Penguins have lost a couple of games, the Crosby love comes out in the comments of almost every major hockey website.

A few of our favorites after the jump:

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This Guy Wouldn't Do Well With Bill McCreary

Posted by #test on Nov 11, 2009 12:51.

Via [ThickAndy]

Haven't seen this anywhere else.

The league is the SPHL. The team is Louisiana Ice Gators. The coach's name is Brent Sapergia.

Kind of reminds us of a wrestler leaving the arena. How pissed is that trainer dude?

According to to [OurSportsCentral] Sapergia has been suspended. But he is still the GM somehow.

Sapergia was unhappy with a call. No shit. He should try dealing with Bill McCreary on a nightly basis.

Go Pens.

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The Thin Blue Line. PENS LOSE.

Posted by Pensblog Staff on Nov 11, 2009 07:53.

The Penguins lost Brooks Orpik about 10 minutes into the game.

That is their second straight game of losing a top defenseman.

They are now without their top three defensemen.

To judge this team right now is irresponsible.
Judging Chris Bourque right now is as responsible as it gets.

The hockey world is gleeful at seeing the Penguins struggle. It comes with the territory of being the defending Stanley Cup champions. Injuries are never an excuse, but it's getting to the point of ridiculousness.

Despite losing yet another key cog on the blue line, this was a 1-0 game throughout.
The Pens dominated most of the second, and early in the third. Just could not score.
Fleury played a brillant game.

If the Pens don't score, we don't recap. New rule.

-- Deryk Eyngylgland played a hell of a game in his debut. Made a couple mistakes, was physical city, and did not look lost for the most part. His line: 25 shifts, 19 minutes, 5 hits.

-- MAF was solid. Made a few highlight saves. Kept the Pens hanging around.

-- Pens haven't scored a powerplay goal since Malkin went down, 0-21.   0-1 in this one.

-- Bruins blocked everything. They were in every lane.
Just before they scored to make it 2-0, they blocked a shot on a Pens scoring chance.
A taste of your own medicine.

-- Hard to dog Crosby. 24 shifts, 22:46 of ice time.
Chara had 25 shifts, played 25 minutes.
Every shift Crosby was on the ice, Chara in turn was on his balls.
Still, Crosby looks bored.

-- Kunitz-Staal-Guerin unit was effective.   Generated some scoring chances. We liked the move.
Everyone thought it was about getting Bing going, but it's probably for Crosby to get Tenk going.

-- Still hate Mark Recchi.

-- Let us just say we thought the Ray Bourque interview on Versus was incredibly bad.
First off, he called Jordan Staal "Eric."

Second, he was campaigning for Chris Bourque to play in Boston at some point in his career. Yeah, we get it -- Ray Bourque is happy to see his
son play in the NHL. Well, so are a lot of dads. Maybe we should start putting them all on TV.

Also, Chris Bourque played another joke game as far as we're concerned. He got worked over on the boards. He made a nice play to save a goal, but that was by pure coincidence.   The rink is small. He's bound to be in the right place at the right time eventually. He played little under 10 minutes, and having to hear the wildly untalented color analyst give him verbal dome because Ray Bourque is in the vicinity makes us sick to our core.

And we're getting e-mails and there are comments floating around about "Why do you hate Chris Bourque so much?" We'd go into some dramatic re-enactment of that scene from A Few Good Men, but Chris Bourque isn't even worth the time.

Why shouldn't we hate him? He has played 10 games in the NHL. He is a -3, and has one point.   To be fair, he is still a young 23, and could probably benefit from some development in the Pens system.   But he sucks.

The Pens will eventually waive him because he sucks so bad.
Then he'll sign with Boston and score against the Pens every game.
That kind of shit happens.

The Crosby Pee On Me Photoshop Expo will run Thursday morning.

So send some shit in.

Go Pens.

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GAMEDAY 18 - BRUINS

Posted by Rick on Nov 10, 2009 16:00.

7:00 PM

TD Garden

["TD Banknorth Garden/FleetCenter" by evansville on Flickr]

Listen to the game at [WXDX]

If you have any questions for Mike Lange, Phil Bourque or Bob Grove join the Penguins Radio Network Facebook page.

You can submit questions via the discussion tab for the Crash the Net segments or Penguins Hotline after the game.

The Pens have lost two games back-to-back and everyone is ready to break their best friend's neck if they look at them wrong.

Apparently we all assumed Dan Bylsma was never going to lose twice in a row.

If you're mad at the world because that the Penguins lost two games on a west coast trip in November, you need stop and think about the situation more.

Did getting shut out by San Jose suck?

Of course it did.

Did listening to jokes on the Internet verbally fellate Anze Kopitar after the game in LA get annoying?

Definitely.

Remember:

Trust us. As bad as it looks right now, there will be a worse point in the season.

So stop punching your dog for a bit and watch a hockey game.

It wasn't that long ago that we thought this city wouldn't even have a hockey team anymore.

Should you want the Pens to win every game?

Of course you should.

But that's a pretty unrealistic expectation.

The bottom line is that this team is good.

Good enough that we expect them to win.

They're a talented team, but no one wins every night.

However, there are players on this team that can make the rest of the league look pretty foolish.

How many teams could even fathom losing talent like Malkin, Letang and Gonchar for an extended period of time?

How many teams even have players of that quality to begin with?

No excuses though.

Every team has to deal with injuries at some point.

This is our time and we'll get through it.

Disco Dan's coaching skills may be tested like never before, but we'll get through it.

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Hello Pizza Face

Posted by Pensblog Staff on Nov 10, 2009 00:13.

Captured in the fourth quarter of the Steelers/Denver game.

You think your life sucks, imagine this kid waking up today.

Favorite team just lost and blind people try to read your face.

Anyways....

Quick news:

Letang out two weeks. [FF]
David Morehouse had a heart attack. Credit Chris Stewart with the save. [Trib]
Don't forget about the Pee On Me expo. [link]

From that same TRIB article:

Winger Chris Bourque, who briefly attended Boston University, where the Penguins practiced, was assigned to sing his school's fight song after a nearly 90-minute session.
"That's the first time," he said. "I didn't even know the words."

Another half ass effort.

go pens.

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