Thursday Igloo Update

Yinzers,

So we got swept by the Washington Capitals...big deal. I know some "fans" here in State College that have given up all hopes of winning any playoff games. Here is the down and dirt truth: the playoffs are a different season all together. The Washington Capitals are by no means putting this 4-0 season sweep of the Penguins in a trophy case because when it comes down to it, the Penguins dominate the Capitals when it really matters: the road to Lord Stanley's Cup. The best part of this game was the woman with the pair of double D cups sitting right behind Bruce Boudreau and the Capitals bench. The Fox Sports Pittsburgh cameramen always come through in the clutch to find the hockey babes. In case you missed the game on Tuesday night, here is how it went down.

The Penguins, without the services of Evgeni Malkin, played from behind the entire game and remained there. Alexander Semin opened up the scoring in the first period by simply undressing Alex Goligoski and shelfing a snap shot over the glove of Marc-Andre Fleury. Fleury would struggle in this one, giving up an extremely soft goal to Mike Knuble 42 seconds into the second period. Sidney Crosby did answer for the Penguins, making the game 2-1 in the second period, but Fleury would be caught too far out of his net, letting Tomas Fleischmann score just 20 seconds later. Fleury's night would be over after that goal with Dan Bylesma opting for Brent Johnson for the remainder of the game. Jordan Leopold added his 9th of the season, 2nd as a Penguin later in the second period, but Matt Bradley added another for the Capitals at 18:00, giving them a 4-2 lead after two periods. The third period started out positive with Jordan Leopold adding his second of the game on a blistering slap shot. The remainder of the period was all Capitals, however. Alexander Ovechkin scored right off the first faceoff of a power play at 2:37 and later showed his goal-greed by going for an empty netter with 0.2 left on the game clock. Seriously, was it THAT important to score the last goal?

As I said before, don't read into this season sweep too much. Yes, the Capitals are a great team that is difficult to match up with, but I am skeptical to see how they fare against the same team in a best-of-7. The Penguins need to focus on getting the remaining 6 points of the season and do their best to surpass the Devils in the Atlantic Division. Even if they do not snag all 6 points, their moxie needs to come back in these last three games so they can build off of the momentum into the playoffs. A big part of that will be getting Evgeni Malkin's feet back under him. If all 3 centers are healthy and Marc-Andre Fleury gets all the kinks out of his game, look for the pens to go deep again.

The next game is tonight at 7:30, the last game at Mellon Arena, when the Penguins host Jon Tavares and the New York Islanders. It's fan appreciation day and there will be 60-something former Penguins in attendance to see the last game at the Civic Arena.

Lets go Pens,
B Brog