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Tuesday, 08 February 2011 18:53

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

PREGAME

-Greetings from:

-It's a brutally cold but clear day here in Pittsburgh. Wind, wind and wind. It's just rough out there.

-The Civic Arena:

-The current barn:

-Rick N__h has at least one fan here:

-The ice:

-Some jersey sightings. Some quality Blue Jackets fans here. Manny Malhotra:

-A rare Jay McKee-Dan Bylsma Mighty Ducks sighting:

-Ron _rancis No. 9:

-Fans walking in off Centre Avenue:

-Kristian Huselius:

-Pascal Leclaire (game-worn we were told) and Kris Russell:

-Craig Adams:

-Rick Kehoe:

-Cinco Ocho has some fans:

-The creator of the "cinco ocho" movement, Mike Rupp:

-Andy Bathgate:

-Jody Shelley:

-Peter Taglianetti:

-Paul Coffey:

-Phil Bourque:

-Ron Francis Whalers:

-A rare Marc-Andre Fl___ Team Canada:

-Jacket of the Night: Back to Back Stanley Cup Champions:

-Jersey of the Night: Ian Moran:

-Warm ups:

-Some late breaking news here as Chris Kunitz will be scratched due to a "lower-body" injury.

-The Penguins starters are Mike Rupp, Maxime Talbot, Tim Wallace, Alex Goligoski, Ben Lovejoy and Marc-Andre Fleury.

-Their scratches are Kunitz, Deryk Engelland and Evgeni Malkin.

-The Blue Jackets' starters are Chris Clark, Derek Dorsett, Samuel Pahlsson, Grant Clitsome, Kris Russell and Steve Mason.

-Their scratches are Rostislav Klesla, John Moore and Andrew Murray.

-Jimerson is never day to day:

FIRST PERIOD

19:36: Dorsett and Clark jab fairly innocent shots on net from in tight. Fleury denies both.

19:13: Nash recovers a loose puck below the goal line and bards his way to the net from the left of the crease. Fleury holds the puck out as Brooks Orpik washes out Nash with a body check and knocks him into Fleury and the cage dislodging it.

19:04: Tyler Kennedy coasts up the left wing and chucks a pedestrian wrister on net. Mason punches it away.

16:34: Antoine Vermette snaps off a quick wrister from the above the right circle. Fleury boots it out.

15:37: Kris Letang lzips up the right wing and snaps off a wrister. Russell blocks it with his stick and deflects it out of play.

15:11: Ben Lovejoy steps drops the gloves in the Penguins' slot with Dorsett. Dorsett, a tough customer, lands a few right jabs as Lovejoy plays defense. Lovejoy eventually gets Dorsett's arms tied up and pulls his jersey over his head. Before Lovejoy can take advantage of the situation, the linesmen step in and break it up.

15:06: Off a faceoff win, Fedor Tyutin chucks a wrister from the left point. Fleury eats it up.

14:43: Tyler Kennedy gets a chance in the slot and pumps a wrister on net. Mason boots it out.

14:28: Nash puts a wrister on net from above the left circle. Fleury hangs on and freezes play.

13:53: What a pass! Derick Brassard pushes the puck up the left wing, spins at the top of the left faceoff circle. and snaps off a bullet pass across the zone to Nash down low at the bottom of the right circle. Nash leans down and releases a one-timer. Fleury slides to his left but can't stop the puck which squeezes through a narrow space between the near post and Fleury's left shoulder. Wow! A centimeter to the left or right and that's not a goal. There was no room for error on that shot. Orpik was lost on that play and allowed Nash to get open. Brassard and Jakub Voracek get assists. Blue Jackets 1-0.

11:18: Letang swats a loose puck on net from the right point. Mason fights it off despite traffic. A Blue Jackets defender clears the puck and ices it in the process.

10:16: Clitsome grips and rips a wrister from the slot. Fleury juuuuust gets a piece of it with his left shoulder.

10:30: Off a give and go, Talbot rips a wrister from the right circle. Mason makes the save but allows a rebound. Tim Wallace drives to the net and jabs it on net. Mason denies it.

9:03: Vermette glides up the right wing and taps a pass to the slot. R.J. Umberger jabs it on net. Zbynek Michalek gets a piece of it with his leg. Fleury is able to reel in the rebound with his stick and freeze the puck.

8:20: Huselius and Umberger have a two-on-one against Martin. Huslieus pushes the puck up the left wing. Martin slides down to prevent a shot or pass. Huselius spins and attempts a pass. Martin's stick force a wide pass by Huselius. Umberger takes the puck in a bad angle and can't really get a shot off as Michalek catches up and knocks him off the puck.

5:18: Matt Cooke never ceases to endear himself towards his peers. Tyutin races back to the right wing corner in his own zone for a dump in. Cooke chases after him and slams him from behind face first into the boards. Brassard, hardly a tough guy, goes after Cooke. Cooke drops the gloves with him and they take a tumble to the ice. What a stupid play by Cooke. He ends up with a charging major and a fighting major. Brassard gets a roughing minor and fighting major. Four on four for two minutes. Kennedy will serve Cooke's charging major. Huselius will serve Brassard's minor.

4:52: Vermette cranks a one-timer from the slot. It beats Fleury low and clunks off the right post.

3:18: Brassard's minor expires. Columbus has a five on four for three minutes.

2:46: Anton Stralman lifts a slapper from the right point. Despite a screen by Matt Calvert, Fleury eats it up.

1:06: Tyutin taps a nifty re-direct on net from the left circle. Fleury boots it out.

0:20: Vermette cucks a wriste ron net from the right poin. Fleury kicks it out despite traffic.

0:18: Cooke's major expires. Big effort by the Penguins' penalty killers.

0:00: End of period. Blue Jackets 1, Penguins 0.

FIRST INTERMISSION

-All things considered, the Penguins are probably lucky that this is only a 1-0 game. They had the last minute scratch of Chris Kunitz. New jumbled lines and part of a major to kill off.

-Additionally, Columbus had the bulk of the quality scoring chances. Most of the Penguins' shots were pedestrian shots from the perimeter.

-Some have been arguing Tyutin put himself in bad position for that hit. That may be, but you can't hit someone from behind. Period. Additionally, Cooke needs to realize based on his reputation, the officials aren't going to cut him a break. It was a selfish penalty.

-And given the Penguins issues on offense, they need to stay out of the box more than ever.

-Fleury was sharp that period. He had to be.

-The Blue Jackets have a 14-13 edge in shots.

-Nash leads the game with three.

-Martin and Kennedy each lead the game with two.

-Martin leads the game with 8:09 of ice time.

-Tyutin leads the Blue Jackets with 7:28.

-The Penguins controll faceoffs, 17-8 (68 percent).

-Staal is 9 for 9 (100 percent).

-Pahlsson is 3 for 6 (50 percent).

-Michalek leads the game with three blocked shots.

-Russell has recorded the Blue Jackets' only shot.

-Kris Letang is your IceTime coverboy:

SECOND PERIOD

18:58: Methot cranks a one-timer from the right point. Fleury boots it out with a thud.

18:12: Kennedy gains the offensive zone on the right wing and centers a pass. Eric Tangradi takes it and rips a wrister from above the left circle. Mason snags it with a fine glove save.

17:44: Off a turnover by Letang at the right point, Nash gets sprung loose on a breakaway. Nash glides in on net and shoots a low wrister. Fleury's right leg boots it out. Big save.

15:33: Alex Goligoski whips a puck towards the slot from the right wing corner. Mason keeps it out. Talbot jmps on the rebound and is denied in tight by Mason.

12:33: Off a turnover by Michalek in front of the Penguins' bench, Matt Calvert coasts up the right wing and forces a pass to Derek MacKenzie. Martin gets on his horse, races back and intercepts the pass. Michalek owes him a Pilsner Urquell:

11:52: The Blue Jackets strike on a delayed penalty. Umberger pumps a slapper on ent from the right circle. Fleury makes the save but allows a rebound. Pahlsson drives to the net past Goligoski and directs the rebound over Fleury's glove hand with his skate.  Officials halt play to review the goal. Replays show Pahlsson's left skate directing the puck into the net but there's not a distinct kicking motion. This is a legit goal. Officials uphold the call on the ice. Umberger and Voracek get assists. Blue Jackets 2-0.

8:53: Mason absolutely biffs on a clearing attempt from his own crease and fumbles the puck right to Tangradi on the edges of the crease. Tangradi just pushes it on net in a hurry. Mason makes the save. Adams follows up on the rebound. Mason dives to his right and gets that. Yeesh. What a horrible play.

6:30: Orpik launches a slapper from the left point. Mason snags it with a nice glove save.

4:37: Jan Hejda was granted a secondary assist on the second goal.

4:29: Umberger pounds a slapper from the left circle. Fleury kicks it out.

4:12: Attendance is announced as 18,147. It is the team's 195th consecutive sellout. Lots of no shows here though.

3:43: Martin chops a slapper from the right point. Mason eats it up despite traffic.

2:49: Nash chops a puck up ice down the slot. Voracek blows by Letang, settles the puck and flips it with a backhander over Fleury's stick and into the cage. What a play by Voracek. Letang looked like he was unaware of Voracek's presence. Nash gets the only assist. Blue Jackets 3-0.

1:06: Cooke leaves a drop pass for Jeffrey above the left circle. Jeffrey tries to hammer a one-timer. Nash makes a nice backcheck and breaks up the shot with his stick.

0:00: End of period. Blue Jackets 3, Penguins 0.

SECOND INTERMISSION

-The Blue Jackets were asked quite a bit about revenge for the Dec. 4 game this morning. They didn't shy away from it. And they're definitely getting some tonight.

-The Penguins just have nothing going on offense. Their best offensive chance came off a horrible puck-handling play by Mason and they couldn't even cash that in.

-The Blue Jackets have been all over the ice tonight. They're commitment to backchecking has been phenomenal.

-The Penguins actually have a 23-22 lead in shots. Very few of them are quality chances though.

-Nash leads the game with four shots.

-Dupuis and Martin each lead the Penguins with three.

-Martin leads the game with 15:27 of ice time.

-Clitsome leads the Blue Jackets with 14:50.

-The Penguins have a 24-14 lead in faceoffs (63 percent).

-Staal is 10 for 12 (83 percent).

-Vermette is 7 for 13 (54 percent).

-Michalek leads the game with three blocked shots.

-Clitsome leads the Blue Jackets with two blocked shots.

-Tonight's giveaway is a travel case:

-Given this performance tonight, the type of bags you get on airplanes should have been given out:

THIRD PERIOD

18:32: Kennedy guns a slapper from the right wing wide on the far side.

14:57: After four-plus stagnant minutes, Martin cranks a one-timer from the right point. Mason appears to get a piece of it despite a screen by Jeffrey.

14:39: Off a faceoff win. Letang takes the puck at the right point and taps a pass to Goligoski streak down the left wing. Goligoski re-directs the puck on net ala the "Whitney Play." Mason makes the save and denies Jeffrey on a rebound chance. Tough saves.

14:30: A break for the Penguins as Clark chops the stick out of Letang's hands as the two are racing for a dump-in into the right wing corner in the Penguins' zone. That's two minutes for slashing. Letang, Martin, Tangradi, Jeffrey and Staal take the ice.

12:57: Kennedy grips and rips a wrister on net from the right half wall. It hits a body in front.

12:31: Just as the power play is about to expire, Kennedy strikes. He circles from around behind the cage, turns in the left circl and snaps off a wrister. Dupuis and Clitsome appear to screen Mason who is toasted by his right shoulder on the near side. This is noisy for the first time tonight. Rupp and Martin get assists. The "Woo-Hoo!" song and the WWE "KENNEDY!" clips are played. Penguins 3-1.

11:39: The Penguins came thissss close to a pulling even. Umberger turns the puck over in the neutral zone. Staal take sit over, gains the blue line, undresses Hejda with a sick move and rips a wrister wide to the far side. Argh.

9:49: Dupuis chops a bouncing puck on net from the right wing. Mason deflects it out of play.

6:32: Game. Set. Match. The Penguins get incredibly sloppy in their own zone and the Blue Jackets cash in. After a turnover by Letang at the right point in the Penguins' zone, Vermette takes the puck and pushes it to Huselius on the right wing. Huselius pushes the pass to Vermette in the slot. Vermette jams it through Fleury's five hole and into the cage. What a brutal play by the Penguins. Huselius gets the only assist. Letang could make a claim for one. Not Letang's best game of the season tonight. He's been on the ice for three goals. Blue Jackets 4-1.

4:22: Martin gets loose up on the right wing and punches a quick backhander on net. Mason says no.

4:14: Huselius challenges Michalek one-on-one off the left wing. He cuts across the slot and punches a backhander wide. Michalek appeared to force that shot wide.

2:42: Cooke chops a shot from the right circle. It hits a body in front. Staal chops at the rebound and puts it wide to the far side.

2:16: Godard is on the ice. Why? Oh, that's why. He slugs Boll in the face with a pun. Boll falls down, gets up and goes after Godard. They drop the gloves. The mostly wrestle around and get broken up. Both players get fighting majors. Godard also gets a roughing minor. Tangradi will serve the minor. How did he not get an instigating minor? He punched Boll in the face while play was going on. Michalek, Talbot, Dupuis and Oprik take the ice.

1:10: Umberger was given a secondary assist on the fourth Columbus goal. Brassard is called for tripping Staal. Four on four for 54 seconds.

0:33: A perfect end to his night as Hejda drops Staal with a nice hip check at center ice. 

0:16: The Godard minor expires.

0:00: End of game. Blue Jackets 4, Penguins 1.

POSTGAME

-Remember that hashtag floating around on Twitter Dec. 4 called #ColumbusInvasion? How about #ColumbusRevenge? That's what that was. The Penguins caught the Blue Jackets at a bad time and embarrassed them on virtually every level one sports franchise can do to another franchise. The Blue Jackets didn't even the score, but got back some respect tonight.

-The Blue Jackets had everything clicking tonight. They pounced on mistakes by the Penguins and converted them to goals. They prevented the Penguins from generating any sort of quality chance down low. They were much healthier than the Penguins and played with a ton of composure.

-The part that really impressed us was Columbus' defense. They kept the shooting lanes pretty clean for Steve Mason who rarely seemed challenged. The Penguins had a ton of shots, but very few were quality chances.

-Another game. Another questionable hit by Matt Cooke. Cooke and Dan Byslma put the onus on Fedor Tyutin for intentionally putting himself in a position for a hit. R.J. Umberger and coach Scott Arniel each said it was a bad hit.

-The hit in question:

-The Blue Jackets didn't shy away from the fact that they wanted a little revenge. Said Derek Dorsett: "For sure we remember when they came to our building and all the Penguins fans in our building. They beat us like 7-2. We had that in the back of our mind."

-Don't lose sight of the fact that the Blue Jackets are playing some solid hockey either. And they beat another high-profile team Friday on the road in Detroit, 3-0. They're playing well.

-Given Kunitz's injury, the Penguins hardly had any sembelence of regular line combinations. That didn't help matters.

-Letang had one of his worst games of the season. He was on the ice for three Columbus goal and at least partially responsible for two of them. On the Voracek goal, he just was blown away by Voracek. That's pretty inexcusable given Letang's wheels. And he just turned the puck over in his own zone on Vermette's goal.

-Fleury was okay. He didn't have a great deal of help.

-Jordan Staal could've made a bigger contribution.

-TRADE EVERYONE!!!!!!

-The Penguins actually had a 33-25 lead in shots.

-Martin, Dupuis, Vermette and Nash each led the game with four.

-Martin led the game with 22:44 of ice time.

-Stralman led the Blue Jackets with 20:31.

-The Penguins controlled faceoffs, 33-22 (60 percent).

-Staal was 13 for 17 (76 percent).

-Talbot was 13 for 18 (72 precent).

-Vermette was 12 for 18 (67 percent).

-Russell led the game with five blocked shots.

-Michalek led the Penguins with three.

-Kennedy moved past Duane Rupp for 74th place on the team's all-time scoring list. Both players have 104 points, but Kennedy (48) has more goals than Rupp (21).

-Game summary.

-Event summary.

Comments (37)

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written by bastage42, February 08, 2011 - 07:42 PM

Cooke has to learn how to bail on a hit. Just because a player is dumb enough to turn his numbers at you doesn't give him license to decide he deserves what he gets. Sure it's going to happen occasionally, but he has to at least try to avoid it.

Still, Tyutin is lucky that wasn't worse. You need to know when someone is gonna plant you and just take the hit, he had to know Cooke wasn't going to slow up and he had loads of time.

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written by Bones, February 08, 2011 - 07:42 PM

Man that was dumb. Considering how shorthanded the team already is you really can't afford to have guys getting ejected. Kinda pathetic listening to Steigy and Errey try and justify that hit.

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written by bastage42, February 08, 2011 - 07:50 PM

I think people understand when it's unavoidable, and yes, the recipient has if nothing else a duty to themselves to not put themselves in a position to get killed. But all that said, Cooke has to veer off there, take a little speed out and try to hit him differently, he just can't keep going. Tyutin had time to man up, but Cooke had at least as much time to change the outcome of that. I hope someone from the Pens -- another player maybe would be best -- reads him the riot act, he's really put this team further behind the 8-ball.

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written by bastage42, February 08, 2011 - 07:56 PM

So what happened with Kunitz, other than game-time "lower body", anyone know?

Is the injury bug just going down the depth chart at this point?

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written by bastage42, February 08, 2011 - 08:12 PM

I wouldn't mind seeing Tangradi step up and show a little more tonight.

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written by bastage42, February 08, 2011 - 08:17 PM

Well that bites.

Godard had a bonehead play there too. No, the charge didn't get called. But a two-hand slash above the waist in the middle of the slot will get called every time.

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written by Louder_Is_Best, February 08, 2011 - 08:23 PM

I'm starting to get tired of Matt Cooke.

This team is completely lost offensively.

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written by Bones, February 08, 2011 - 08:25 PM

I don't know what to make of Tangradi. There seemed to be so much upside when he came over. Then he ends up being 4th or 5th on Molinari's top prospects article from a couple of months ago. Now today's paper mentions that they think he has the potential to be a 20-25 goal scorer at the NHL level, which is very good, but I guess I bought into the hype too much and thought he was going to bring more.

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written by KRC, February 08, 2011 - 08:26 PM

I wish the Pens would learn not to retaliate when the refs blow a call. They refs are going to catch it every time.

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written by bastage42, February 08, 2011 - 08:31 PM

Yeah, Bones, I bought into that too. I think maybe it's hard not to hope a power forward type (Caputi, Tangradi) will turn into the next Kevin Stevens or Rick Tocchet when the consensus is that a garbage pail could score 40 goals on Lemieux's/Crosby's/Malkin's wing.

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written by bastage42, February 08, 2011 - 08:33 PM

LIB, I think we're all getting a little tired of it. I'm worried most that his teammates will get sick of fighting his battles.

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written by Bones, February 08, 2011 - 08:33 PM

Agreed. I think everybody is just getting frustrated at this point. Then again, stupid penalties have been a problem all season. If this keeps up for another 3-4 games Shero's hand might be forced to make a deal much earlier than the deadline. Normally you have to beat a team like the Jackets on home ice, but this team is just too beat up at the forward positions right now. I don't know what the answer is, all of the trade options being mentioned don't sound real appealing to me.

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written by bastage42, February 08, 2011 - 08:36 PM

Yeah ... "... he's scored 13 goals for the Islanders" shouldn't be one of the top options at this point in the season ...

There's always the hope that the penchant for dumb penalties disappears in the playoffs, of course.

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written by Bones, February 08, 2011 - 08:40 PM

What irritates me about Cooke is that he doesn't have to play the way he does. He can be effective (and maybe more so) if he would just back off the insanity a bit. The hit on Tyutin was chock full of craziness and irresponsibility, there was no need to finish that check and Cooke also left his feet. They are going to have to adopt an even more defensive identity with all the stars on the shelf and part of that identity has to be discipline. They can't spend so much time killing penalties.

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written by Bones, February 08, 2011 - 08:44 PM

Ha, yeah PA Parenteau didn't exactly get my pulse racing. Maybe a bang-for-the-buck type of trade, but I don't think that is the answer. A washed-up Jason Arnott or the enigmatic and creative Kovalev doesn't thrill me either (although I still have a #27 in the closet). Not crazy about selling the farm for Brad Richards who would certainly be nothing more than a rental player, and that's assuming the Stars freefall and become sellers, which I don't think is going to happen.

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written by KRC, February 08, 2011 - 08:48 PM

The Shake 'n Bake on the lines isn't helping much.. And I agree, Cooke needs to start playing smart. I think Tyutin did that on purpose, but, of course, he knew Cooke would bite, too.. Played him like a well tuned fiddle.

Play hard and clean!

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written by Bones, February 08, 2011 - 08:53 PM

*t's all Shero's fault, why didn't he listen to all those bloggers that told him a Malkin for Nash deal would work!!!

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written by Bones, February 08, 2011 - 09:00 PM

You know it's not your team's night when the only positive thing your announcers can say is "now there's a good dump-in!"

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written by bastage42, February 08, 2011 - 09:02 PM

LOL, much as I'd love to see a Nash-type on Crosby's wing, I'm not amongst the trade Malkin crowd.

I don't see a lot we can afford to give up in our system. I think Tangradi is 3-4 years off (as typical power forwards bloom late) and Despres would likely be an extremely short-sighted move, though he will have a more typical development curve than, say, Letang.

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written by bastage42, February 08, 2011 - 09:05 PM

LOL Bones.

Poor HCDB must look down the bench and think of "Old Mother Hubbard" when trying to figure out who to put on for offense.

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written by bastage42, February 08, 2011 - 09:06 PM

Yes! TK!

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written by bastage42, February 08, 2011 - 09:08 PM

How can Staal have the hands to make a move like that, then miss the net by the length of a boat?

Sweet move, though. Nice to see him starting to round into form.

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written by Bones, February 08, 2011 - 09:09 PM

Yeah, Despres and Tangradi need to be off limits. I would guess Sneep, Strait, and Bortuzzo would potentially be in play.

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written by bastage42, February 08, 2011 - 09:10 PM

Replay showed Mason might have gotten a piece of that, so I'll have to give Staal the benefit of the doubt there.

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written by bastage42, February 08, 2011 - 09:11 PM

Nathan Moon might be worth interest to someone, too, I think he's leading his OHL team in scoring.

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written by Bones, February 08, 2011 - 09:14 PM

I think they might have cut ties with Moon.

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written by bastage42, February 08, 2011 - 09:18 PM

Hmmm .. yeah I can't see anything definitive either way, though they still list him on the Pens' website.

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written by bastage42, February 08, 2011 - 09:19 PM

Nevermind, KuklasKorner had a bit on the Pens letting him go.

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written by bastage42, February 08, 2011 - 09:20 PM

And ironically it points to a Molinari article.

Poor MAF is not getting a lot of help, though that goal was a little mouldy.

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written by Bones, February 08, 2011 - 09:21 PM

Well, so much for the comeback.

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written by bastage42, February 08, 2011 - 09:25 PM

Yeah, not a lot going on for us at this point.

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written by Bones, February 08, 2011 - 09:27 PM

Wonder if Shero is on the phone already...

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written by bastage42, February 08, 2011 - 09:29 PM

I bet they're glad his phone bill doesn't count against the cap at this point, he's probably been on the horn non-stop since Malkin limped off the ice.

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written by Dravid, February 08, 2011 - 09:45 PM

*t's extremely unfortunate that Crosby and Malkin both get injured (long term) during a season in which the Penguins were considered as a legitimate cup contender. It's worse even, for Crosby's personal statistics, since he was having a career year. Here's hoping he comes back sooner than later, and can play at the level he was before getting concussed. If Shero can make a move or two, without giving up too much, for a big name top-6 forward, and Crosby does in fact return, then the Penguins have a shot at making a deep post-season run. That's a lot of ifs and uncertainty, and honestly I think it's safe to say that the Penguins' cup winning chances vanished when Myers sat on Malkin's knee. Very unfortunate and disappointing.

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written by Bones, February 08, 2011 - 10:57 PM

The Cup chances haven't disappeared, but there is work that needs to be done. They need a healthy Crosby back for the postseason and Shero needs to bring in some help. Nobody that might be available can replace Malkin, but there are quality guys out there. Its risky but, maybe Kovalev could work. I could see that being a distaster too. This is why Shero makes more than I do.

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written by bastage42, February 08, 2011 - 11:17 PM

FYI Hockeycentral on Sportsnet is claiming Cooke's hit tonight is up for a hearing on Thursday.

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written by Dravid, February 09, 2011 - 12:40 AM

Yeah Bones, you're right. The Penguins' chances of winning the cup this year haven't completely evaporated. But that's all contingent on Crosby's health and what, if any, moves Shero can make. Not to mention that the only reason people label the Penguins as cup contenders is because of Crosby and Malkin, the dynamic duo. Take this away, and you're left with a solid core of depth players who, with the addition of 2 solid centers, would contend for the Stanley Cup.

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