Fuse Box Monday

Yinzers,

It has been quite a while, but we are back to the daily grind here at the MSM. Just to keep you updated, I have tried making a Facebook fan page for all you loyal readers, but was unsuccessful in getting what I needed accomplished. So, we will stick to our good old blog posts. Happy 2011 and here we go!

After losing a heart-breaker to the Washington Capitals in the Winter Classic on New Year's Day (which yours truly was in attendance), the Pens have battled hard and come out 1-1-1. It's not all too bad, losing the Winter Classic. Thus far, only the away team has won the contest. Our Penguins beat the home Buffalo Sabres in the first ever Winter Classic at Ralph Wilson Stadium, followed by the Detroit Red Wings defeating the home Chicago Blackhawks at Wrigley Field and the Philadelphia Flyers defeating the home Boston Bruins last year at Fenway Park. The Penguins just have to put it behind them and get back to their brand of hockey.

The Pens came out of it on January 5th looking to rebound against a surging Tampa Bay Lightning team. Tampa needed a win to tie for the most points in the NHL, something we are all not used to. However, with Jordan Staal back in the lineup in return from his broken hand, the Penguins "opened up a can" on Tampa Bay, earning the victory 8-1. The Penguins scored 7 goals in the first eight minutes of the game, starting just seven seconds in, off the opening faceoff off the stick of Evgeni Malkin. His goal was followed by goals from Chris Connor, Tyler Kennedy and two from Chris Kunitz to round out the first period. But the scoring did not stop there. The Lightning pulled goaltender Dwayne Roloson in favor of Dan Ellis early in the second, but Mark Letestu saw no difference, making it 5-0 Penguins. Chris Kunitz would add his hat-trick goal later in the period and the Penguins led 6-0 after two complete. Former Penguin Adam Hall got the lone Lightning goal early in the third, but Alex Goligoski answered shortly thereafter to give us our final score of 8-1. Marc-Andre Fleury turned away 31 of 32 on a stellar day between the pipes.



The next day, the Penguins traveled to Bell Centre in Montreal to take on the Canadiens. The Penguins have been struggling to beat Montreal as of late, going back to last year's playoffs when Jaroslav Halak shut the door on the Penguins' Stanley Cup hopes. They would have to go this one without the help of Sidney Crosby, due to a concussion suffered in the Winter Classic and exacerbated by a hit he took in the Tampa Bay game. The Pens lost to the Habs in October, but they were both different teams then. It would take a shoot-out to decide this one. Arron Asham opened up scoring just 2:14 in when he rifled a wrist shot past Carey Price and that would be the lone tally in the first period. The second period belonged to the Montreal Canadiens' Benoit Pouliot, scoring the lone tally of that period. The gritty game saw no more goals in regulation, or in overtime. The shoot-out went five rounds with the one, deciding goal being scored by Benoit Pouliot on a classic Petr Forsberg move. The Pens lose the heart-breaker 2-1 with Brent Johnson turning away 22 of 23 and Carey Price stopping 31 of 32.

The Pens would not recover on Saturday January 8 against the Wild. On that night, they ran into something that has ALWAYS given them trouble: the neutral zone trap. For those unfamiliar with the tactic, a team will send one winger to forecheck and disrupt the opponent's breakout. Meanwhile, the other four players will roam the neutral zone, taking away all lanes through which to skate. The only way to beat it is to dump the puck in and grind it out on the boards, but the Wild defense were very agile and stifled the Penguins offensive game. The Penguins would be without Sidney Crosby for a second straight night with a concussion. Crosby's puck possession abilities below the goal line would be sorely missed in this one. The Wild took it 4-0 with goals from Chuck Kobasew, Martin Havlat, Cal Clutterbuck and an empty net goal by Kyle Brodziak. Jose Theodore earns the shut out by stopping all 21 Penguin shots, while Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 33 of 36.

The Penguins now sit in 4th place in the Eastern Conference and second place in the Atlantic with 56 points, one less than first place (in both) Philadelphia with 57. Tonight, they take on the Boston Bruins. The Bruins are 5-2-3 in their last 10 and always bring their A game against the Penguins. Top story lines in this game will be the hatred of the Bruins for Matt Cooke since last year's hit on Marc Savard, ending Savard's season; Sidney Crosby out this whole week with his concussion; Mt. Lebanon (Pittsburgh area high school) grad Matt Bartkowski possibly making his NHL debut in his home town; Dustin Jeffrey getting called back up to the bigs.

Game time tonight is 7:30 on VERSUS. Then it's back to Montreal again on Wednesday at 7:30 pm on FSN and then to Boston on Saturday at 1:00 pm on FSN.

Let's go Pens,
B Brog