Friday, March 30, 2007

Pens Take Over First Place

With a 4-2 win last night over the Boston Bruins the Pittsburgh Penguins have taken sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Division. While this may not last longer than 22 hours - the Devils play the hapless Flyers tonight - it is a terrific accomplishment on top of everything else this team has been able to do this season.

Armstrong, Christensen (2) and Malkin had the Pens goals. Crosby padded his lead in the scoring race with 3 assists. Sid now has a 12 point lead over San Jose's Joe Thornton (source:Yahoo Sports) and looks very likely to win the regular season scoring title. See full story here:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/penguins/s_500244.html

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Laraque vs Brashear Mar 27, 2007

Here is the Larqaque, Brashear fight. Didn't last all that long but here it is anyway. Looks to me like Brashear was scared!

Pens Clinch Playoff Spot!

Tuesday night, in front of a Washington DC crowd that consisted of nearly half Penguins fans, Pittsburgh beat the Washington Capitals to claim their place in the Eastern Conference Playoffs. Final score: 4-3.

The game started out on a sour note with the Caps scoring 2 first period goals on defensive breakdowns. Pens coach Michel Therrien wisely called a timeout after the second goal and got his teams heads back into the game. The Pens promptly scored 3 unanswered goals and added a fourth late in the second period to wrap up the game. Washington scored a third goal late in the third period that probably should have been called back for goaltender interference.

Pens goals were scored by Whitney (2), Crosby and Ouellet.

Read entire summary here: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_499918.html

Pens toughguy Laraque had a short brawl with Washington enforcer Donald Brashear. A couple of fists were exchanged and Laraque ended up being pulled down on top of Brashear. Bob Errey called it a win for Laraque on the FSN broadcast. Will post a video if one is available...

Check back later this week for a playoff preview!

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Pittsburgh Penguins 2006-2007 Highlights

A little highlights video...

Monday, March 26, 2007

What a Weekend!

I've been away for the weekend and out of touch with the blogging but the Pens made the most of it by beating the Atlanta Thrashers 2 - 1 and pounding the Boston Bruins by the score of 5 - 0. This puts the Pens at 96 points but still in 5th place since New Jersey has a game in hand.

Upcoming games: Tuesday 3/27 - at Washington Capitals, Thursday 3/29 - at Boston Bruins and Saturday 3/31 - at Toronto Maple Leafs.

4 out of the remaining 6 games are on the road so the Pens will have a hard time trying to overtake the Devils. Only 2 of the 4 away games are against teams that are not fighting for a playoff spot - but I'm sure the Caps and Bruins would love to play spoiler...

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Georges Laraque vs. Colton Orr

Just found this on YouTube.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Rangers 2, Penguins 1

The Rangers were out to show their division rivals that they deserve the playoff spot for which they are playing. A listless Penguins team fell the NY Rangers on a late period goal by the score of 2-1. Jaromir Jagr shot a puck toward the front of the Penguins goalie, Jocelyn Thibault that was inadvertently swept into the net by Pens defenseman Rob Scuderi. See full story here:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/penguins/s_498586.html

So the winning streak comes to an end. The had won 5 consecutive games before losing to the Rangers last night. That's why they are called streaks though - they must always come to an end. Since they were playing their 5th game in 7 days it was easy to see that the Pens were a tired bunch. They managed only 22 shots over the course of the game while allowing the Rangers to put 42 on goal. Thibault had a heck of a game though stopping all but two for a stellar save percentage of .952.

Next up is a Thursday night game against the Islanders on Long Island...I predict that Pittsburgh will be back in their familiar playoff form and will easily shut down the Islanders by a score of 4-1.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Penguins 4 Senators 3 SO

The Penguins moved into 4th place in the Eastern Conference with a 4-3 shootout win over the Ottawa Senators. Unlike the last few shootouts the hero if this one was not Sidney Crosby or Eric Christensen, it was Jarkko Ruutu. The Pens scored only 1 goal in the shootout and that goal was scored by Ruutu. Marc Andre Fleury stopped all 3 Ottawa attempts.

This was a tremendous win that put the Pens only 2 points away from the Atlantic Division leading New Jersey Devils. See full story here: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/penguins/s_498439.html

I'm absolutely thrilled that the team is doing as well as they are. They are playing some hard-nosed, in your face hockey that has not been seen in these parts for about 15 years. All 4 lines go out and give 100% effort on each shift. They have looked like they've been playing playoff hockey for the past 8 or 10 games. The possibilities of going deep into the Stanley Cup Playoffs seem to be getting better with each passing game.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Welcome!!

What a great time to start blogging about the Pittsburgh Penguins!
I've been interested in getting something going online and the thought never crossed my mind to write about the Pens. So now that it has...

This is a great time to start blogging because of the new arena deal, the abundance of young talent present on the Penguins roster and the fact that the team is likely to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which start in April, for the first time since the 2000 - 2001 season.

I will make all attempts to write a little about every game. And if any issues with the new arena come to light I will give my opinion on those. Please feel free to leave any comments or feedback with the links provided below each post.

I there is anyone that would like to help with editorial comment or game reviews please feel free to email me at jimjar@gmail.com and we can discuss.

LET"S GO PENS!