Thursday Igloo Update

Yinzers,

What the hell is up with the Devils? No pun intended. The Pens continue to be dominated by the New Jersey Devils. It is one of those strange phenomena in sports. No matter how poor the season is going, no matter how great the Penguins are, the Devils remain the fire that chaps the Penguins ass. Pun intended.

Last night was the final meeting with the New Jersey Devils this season. Guess what, the Devils pulled the season sweep of 6 games to 0 when they won 5-2. Things started out grand for the Pens with Chris Kunitz getting the scoring monkey off his back just 4:01 into the game. From then on, however, the game was all New Jersey. Dainius Zubrus and Paul Martin added tallies for the Devils in the first, giving them a 2-1 lead at the first intermission. The second period yielded goals from Patrik Elias (shorthanded) and Zach Parise, giving Jersey a 4-1 lead after two complete. The Pens did get one back in the third from Ruslan Fedotenko at 5:23 in the third, but it would not be near enough with Rob Niedermayer adding an empty net goal to close out the 5-2 Devil victory. Rod Pelley got slapped with a 5 minute major penalty for boarding Alex Goligoski in the third and Kris Letang got 2 for roughing in response. Like I said before, I do not know what it is about New Jersey, but they just always seem to find something to break away from the Pens. With the win, the Devils are now tied with the Pens with 87 points and take over the second place spot due to tie-breakers. The Pens are now sitting in 4th place, but are 8 points ahead of the 5th place Ottawa Senators. At this point in the season, it becomes a matter of seeding. The Pens would have to have the choke of a lifetime to miss the playoffs, but its all about trying to pass the Devils to get that Atlantic Division Championship.

The Pens next game is tonight at 7:00 as they take on the Boston Bruins for the first time since the Cooke-Savard incident. Look for many fights and cheap hits and a ton of boo-birds. After that, the Pens are back home Saturday at 1:00 against the Carolina Hurricanes. Don't forget to look up the Staal Brothers Drinking Game.

Lets go Pens,
B Brog