Well...damn it.

That sucks.

I won't bemoan all the horrible ways the Pens can fail because any Pens fan knows them, but as much of a kick in the nuts the injuries have been this year, we've still got some great players and I am sure that the players themselves would be the first to tie down the jersey and get out there, not counting themselves out. February is going to be an interesting month.

In the NHL last night there were four hat tricks, two of which where in the same game (Buffalo completely trashing Atlanta). Something in the water?

Is Malkin going to finally get a plane ticket to Atlanta?

Also, if you haven't seen it, check out the NHL's 'frozen moment' and look at the faces of the Pens on the bench...especially Armstrong's. Excellent.


Pens and Habs tonight, should be a good game. CBC 7 pm.
Go Pens.

The Wonder Twins Strike Again: Wings 4, Kings 1

Having missed the last Wings game due to work (well, that's a lie, I came home just in time to see Robert Wing Killer notch the game winner, but let's forget about that), and not been able to catch anything else recently because, well, Charter you still suck, I finally got to sit down tonight and catch the Wings take on the Kings in the start of their first Western road trip of the year.

This particular road trip was a scary one last season, wherein the Wings dropped three of four games and couldn't score more than one goal in any of those losses. Unfortunately, the one team they did beat was the Kings, in the first matchup of the trip - but let's try not to think about that either.

Going into tonight, the Wings had won thirteen of their past fourteen games against the Kings - a nice feel-good stat that made me even feel good about Chris Osgood getting the start tonight. Luckily that stat has improved to fourteen of fifteen, and Ozzie had a brilliant evening. Midway through the first period he made a flurry of amazing saves where just about every player on the ice was swarming his crease, and kept it up all night long, absolutely robbing Michael Cammalleri, who did eventually net the only Kings goal, at least twice.

The Kings goalie of the evening, Jonathan Bernier, looked pretty solid for the first few minutes, only fumbling the puck once on a second one-timer from Lilja (lucky goalie; he held onto the puck with a little bounce-move that if he'd stumbled over would have almost definitely been a goal, as there were two or three Wings waiting there to tap it in), and even looked all right after recovering from the tag team Eurotwins PP goal. Unfortunately for him, he started to crumble a little a after Kris Draper, who is currently red hot, notched a shortie on him after he went down too early and couldn't move across the net fast enough to stop it.

With those two, the Wings started the game off with a 2-0 lead, the first , which has been a scary number for them lately - and after Andreas Lilja took an untimely penalty that gave the Kings (who had scored seven PP goals to this point) a two man advantage for twenty second, allowing Cammalleri to move the Kings within one, it looked like that might be the case again. Luckily for us, the hero line of Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, and Tomas Holmstrom decided they weren't standing for that. Despite Babock's goal, at the start of the season, to keep the duo of Datsyuk and Zetterberg on seperete lines, injuries to Johan Franzen and Mikael Samuelsson have forced them back together - and what a show they are. Holmstrom scored a beautiful tic-tac-toe goal that proved he's not only a grinder and that he can work with finesse sometimes too, putting one right past Bernier to lift the Wings ahead by two again, and Zetterberg added the fourth shortly after on a brilliantly patient wraparound play. Datsyuk assisted on both, bringing their totals for the night as a line to 3G, 5A. Think that's impressive? Individually on the season their numbers look like this:

• Datsyuk: 1G 6A
• Zetterberg: 4G 8A
• Holmstrom: 5G 2A

Think they're making a damn strong case for staying together through the season, much?

They weren't the only three making an impact tonight - in the first period Babcock ran the gritty line of Dallas Drake, Matt Ellis, and Aaron Downey, inserted with the injury to Samuelsson, quite a bit, and the Money Line (two Czechs and a Finn!) from last year of Val Filppula, Jiri Hudler, and Tomas Kopecky were together for a good chunk of the night. None of them broke onto the scoresheet, but Babcock commented that they were effective in the postgame.

While the game was enjoyable, I was disappointed with the lack of Jack Johnson, having been excited to see him again after watching him play my WMU Bronco's with U of M last season. I only even heard his name twice! Hey Kms2, where was your boy tonight?

Bronco Hockey

Last night was the first game of the season for my WMU Broncos - well, an exhibition game to be precise, but exciting nonetheless. They took on the U of Windsor Lancers, and while they got off to a 0-2 start, they rallied with the help of freshman Max Campbell who led the team with two goals and an assist and ended up winning 5-2. Considering we lost our number one rookie from last year, Mark Letestu, to the WBS Penguins, seeing someone step up to that role was a relief.

As usual the game was a good time - between Jeff LoVecchio chatting with us from the penalty box and helping us cheer on Frank the Tank and Jonathan Lupa getting a game ejection for a great fight, the season started off great.

Other Miscellany

• Elly told me to mention the Penguins while she's off in Ontario. So could Ty Conklin look a little more ridiculous in this year's Baby Pens roster shot? (Oh and the Pens won with what looks to have been a good 6-4 showing at the ACC yesterday night, too.)

• Petr Hemsky, forgotten brother of Ales (read: he failed out of the OHL), scored the game winning goal 4:59 in to overtime for his current team Srnsi Kutna Hora (home of the Sedlac Ossuary - possibly the coolest thing I saw in the Czech Republic). Way to do something, other Hemsky!

• Looks like Jason Smith really does love his Timmy's - and also like he's very disinterested in, well, Lupul's existance.
  

• Some sports recap of some football game (yeah, I was paying a LOT of attention to my TV) just used the phrase "He throws like Ernest Hemingway writes." Best. Sports metaphor. Ever.
  

Tomorrow night the Wings take on the Ducks - presumably not even before I get home from my night class, so here's to hoping the road trip continues the way it's started.

Say what?

The Penguins have added a few more people to their ranks...their office staff ranks, that is. Tom Fitzgerald and Jason Botterill have been hired to work with prospects and manage the salary cap space, respectively. Yes, that Tom Fitzgerald. I hope someone stuffs a squeaky rat in his inbox.

Jordan Staal answers some Q and A questions from fans. The part about he and his brother betting on a face off was cute, and something I've always wondered if they do. I can't imagine that there isn't a certain amount of smack talk between the four of them, especially Eric and Jordan.

The shop at nhl.com is selling 2 foot tall Stanley Cup replicas, complete with gloves, crate, and little doily (all for a cool 250 smackers). Too expensive? How about the inflatable version (complete with repair kit)? Great for pool parties!

Lastly, this gem was lifted from Empty Netters (which I still need to put in the sidebar), and shows us again just why we love Maxime Talbot. For an extra bit of Penguiny goodness from youtube, check this out as well. The part with Fleury was cute, but hearing Armstrong say 'a little smoochie' just about killed me.

Is it October yet?

Let's play a game

This game has a few names. 'Please God Let the Penguins Go to the Playoffs and not Suck', 'I Hate New York', or perhaps the ever-popular, 'Let's Pretend Tonight Never Happened, Shall We?'

Seriously, last night was a (mostly) awful night for hockey. My friend came over and we watched the Bruins/Habs game (she's a Leafs fan. We were cheering for Boston), and subsequently cried into out late-night coffee. What happened out there, boys? It was going good until the third, and then Thomas got pissed, lost his focus, the team stopped skating...just a bad scene all around. That Bochenski kid continues to impress, though, and I will say that I'm starting to like Halak, his performance on Saturday was superb.

Around the rest of the NHL there was further disappointment. My poor, poor Penguins lost against the ()&$@&@!-ing Islanders, and although I didn't catch the game, I guess that Sidney had another bout of cussing out someone. I love it when he does that, and I don't blame him...I would have been cussing too. A lone goal by Colby was the Pens only mark on the night. For the other games, the ONLY times I have ever cheered for the Panthers and the damn Capitals, they go and lose. I don't want the Canes any closer in the playoffs than they already are, thanks. In fact, the only team that I wanted to win last night that actually did was Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay. Now if that isn't depressing...well, at least the Pens are still just a few points away from the damn Devils. If we take the division lead, the Pens will jump a few substantial places in the standings (due to the division leader status, take a check at Atlanta, being a good six points behind the Pens and still in 3rd place), and as it stands now, would face the Rangers in the playoffs. How fun would that be?

On a funny side note, while my friend and I were checking the scores after the game (and I was wailing and crying about the Penguins losing), she said that Tampa Bay was the only city-name abbreviation she could never remember...because she thought of tuberculosis. After laughing at her (I mean, really, TB=Tampa Bay), I said that I could sympathize....the Lightning make me want to hack up a lung, too. Other bits of our night included the difference of the Pens sucking, and sucking with flair (which led to a discussion of Sundin and Tucker in dresses, don't ask me how), and my inability to keep a straight face when I was trying to explain to her the reason why Jordan was being called a pterodactyl.

Out in the West, the Magic Wands beat the Wings (ouch, sorry Steph), the Wild stomped all over the Blues, The Flames burned up the Preds (sorry, had to make the joke. Uh, go Flames? Nice hair, Rhett), and the Ducks, 4th in the league and embarassed and wishing they were still at the Pond (ducks need continuity to navigate, you know, confusing them isn't a good thing. Are there even ducks in Arizona?), lost to the Coyotes 2-1, who are second to last, only to be beaten out for the worst record by the Flyers. That will never get old to say (especially since next year they'll probably be back to beating up the Pens).

Next game for the Penguins is on Saturday against the Thrashers. The Pens have two midday games this weekend, Saturday at 1pm, and then on Sunday at 12:30pm against the Bruins.

Go Pens!