Fuse Box Monday

Yinzers,

Last year, the Penguins showed just exactly how the west was won. Not so much this year. The Western Conference has proven to be a 180 so far this year. If you do not know what I mean, read on.



Wednesday November 3: Penguins v. Stars
Wednesday was a loss filled with poor play and four fights down in Dallas. The Penguins rarely play poorly when facing a Western Conference opponent, but this was a game to forget. Dallas came out on top 5-2 and the Penguins frustration was very apparent throughout the game. Stephane Robidas opened up the scoring at 3:57 in the first period and the Stars kept the lead ever since. Later in the first period, Brad Richards added his fourth of the season to give the Stars a 2-0 lead. The fisticuffs started at the end of the first with the opening round pitting Jamie Benn against Tyler Kennedy. Kennedy scored after coming out of the box in the second period to bring the score to 2-1, but Steve Ott answered for the Stars, followed by a Loui Eriksson goal on a penalty shot. Round two came up with Kris Letang fighting Brendan Morrow, which had stemmed from a few altercations from earlier in the game. Also in round two, Sidney Crosby dropped the gloves with Matt Niskanen. Crosby was quoted saying he picked the fight to stick up for Kris Letang. Round three then followed later in the second when Jamie Benn fought Chris Kunitz. The Stars led 4-1 after two complete. The third period was comparatively less exciting with Loui Eriksson adding his second of the night to make it 5-1 and Matt Cooke adding a goal late to make it 5-2. Brent Johnson had an uncharacteristic night, turning away 19 of 24 and the Penguins could only muster up 23 shots of their own. You can't expect to win hockey games like that.

Friday November 5: Penguins v. Ducks
The Western Conference frustration continued for the Penguins when they traveled to Anaheim to take on the [Mighty] Ducks. Pittsburgh native George Parros shaved his iconic mustache and is growing a new one over the next 30 days to raise awareness for prostate cancer research. A good cause for a good kid from Washington, PA. He then went on to fight Deryk Engelland at 1:42 in the first period of Friday night's game. Scoring did not open up until the second period when Bobby Ryan ripped a wrist shot past Marc-Andre Fleury. Ryan Getzlaf and Saku Koivu also added goals in the second before the Penguins answered to the tone of a Sidney Crosby power play goal late in the second. Sidney Crosby scored again early in the third to bring the score to 3-2, but that is the closest the Penguins would get. Marc-Andre Fleury turned away 14 of 17 in the loss, but the Penguins did put 32 shots on Jonas Hiller.

Saturday November 6: Penguins v. Coyotes
The Penguins finished up this Western Conference road trip in Phoenix, on a pseudo-high note. The Pens got a win against the Coyotes, but it took overtime to get it. This was Zbynek Michalek's first game back to his old team since the Penguins picked him up this summer. Phoenix jumped out to a 2-0 lead after 6 minutes in the first period, scoring 2 goals on 5 shots leading to the pulling of Marc-Andre Fleury. Eric Belanger and Radim Vrbata had said goals. The Penguins answered back with two goals early in the second period from Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, to tie the score at 2. Fisticuffs flew again in this game when former Penguin Paul Bissonette squared off against current Penguin Deryk Engelland. Wojtek Wolski (pronounced Voyteck Valllski) put the Coyotes up 3-2 before Chris Kunitz added a power play goal late to tie the game at 3 after 2 periods. No scoring in the third and overtime periods led to a shoot out. After no goals in the first two rounds of the shoot out, the man who leads all rookies in points brought home the victory for the Penguins: Mark Letestu. The Penguins finish 1-2 on this road trip to the West, bringing their overall against the West to 2-3 this season.

The Penguins' games this week are as follows:
Wednesday, "It's a hockey night in Pittsburgh" against the Boston Bruins at 7:00
Friday, another hockey night in Pittsburgh against the Tampa Bay Lignting at 7:00
Saturday is "A great day for hockey" in Atlanta against the Thrashers at 7:00

Let's go Pens,
B Brog