Sir Sidney Looks to Join the Knights of the Roundtable

Crosby is back at practice (not just shooting pucks), and will be traveling with the team down to Florida. My guess is that he watched the game last night, and it was too much for him to bear.

Look the eff out, Eastern Conference. Could we see him in New Jersey next Tuesday? Who knows. We'd better start every enforcer we have if he plays against the Isles.

Holy balls, folks.

Game of the Year

When you don't play your rival for 3 months, it's easy to forget how much you hate them. That's how I felt going into last week's Pens-Flyers matchup. It took about 0.2 seconds for me to remember the depth of my loathing for the Philadelphia Flyers. In my hate scale, the Flyers rank somewhere between ex-girlfriends and Glenn Beck.



It's a scary thing when a former drug addicted alcoholic high-school grad is one of the most powerful men in America. He'd probably say hockey is a tool of the Communists used to put Marxist thought into the minds of the impressionable masses.

Anyway, I digress.

The Flyers will likely be without defenseman Chris Pronger. But Pronger is overrated anyways, so who gives a crap. Side note: I once had a Flyers fan try to argue that Chris Pronger was as good a defenseman as Nicklas Lidstrom. No joke.

Rumors are abound that Crosby is close to making a return to practice. I'm not sure we even need him to be a contender. Though it definitely wouldn't hurt.

There was one thing that I wanted to address. The Marc-Andre Fleury for MVP talk.



I should preface this by saying that I absolutely love Fleury. There's no one else that I'd rather have manning the net for my beloved Pens. His puck handling and rebound control have improved by leaps and bounds this year. And anyone who says that he's not a clutch goalie must not watch Pens games. There is no doubt that he's the team MVP this year (which he was voted as by the team).

But should he win the Hart? Probably not.

First off, the last goalie to win the Hart was Jose Theodore in 01-02. Theodore lead the league in save percentage that year, and was fourth in goals against average. Fleury doesn't rank in the top 5 in either of those categories (8th and 11th, respectively). In the entire history of the award, it has only been won by a goaltender 7 times, and only three times since 1962. So in essence, in order to win the Hart as a goaltender, you have to be SIGNIFICANTLY better than any other netminder in the league. This year, one could easily make a legitimate case for Roberto Luongo, Tim Thomas, Pekka Rinne and Henrik Lundqvist (who has nearly four times as many shutouts as Fleury) for MVP as well.

Like I've said, I'm not discounting Fleury's importance to this team. Without him, we're probably struggling for a playoff spot. But if you take guys like Luongo and Lundqvist off their teams, they're in the same position as well. To me, this season has firmly entrenched Fleury as an elite NHL goaltender. But hopes of a Hart are probably unrealistic.

But I must say, if by some infinitesimal chance, Fleury does win; I will gladly eat my words.

He should at least get save of the year for this. Pretty much took whatever was left of Mike Green's manhood (riding a Vespa and having a flower tattoo eliminates 85% of his man cards) on this stop. Awesome stuff. Gotta love Green's reaction. It looks like he got shot.



Let's go Pens.

Making a Run for it.

Yeah, I don't know how the Pens are four points out either.

The Pens deserved this win in regulation, no doubt. But two points are two points, and now the Pens are one win and one Carolina loss away from a playoff spot. Outside of pure guts and determination, I don't have an explanation for how the Penguins keep fighting...and winning. Games like this really make you think that we can make a run at the Cup even without Crosby/Malkin.

The Flyers came out for the first five minutes and dictated the play, possessing the puck for long periods in the Pens end. Then every Flyer but Bobrovsky went home. Every loose puck, the Pens were there. The score doesn't do the game justice. It wasn't even close.


Some notes:

-Dustin Jeffrey was injured in the second. Looked eerily like Malkin's torn ACL, but no word on exactly how bad it is yet. Nobody's overly optimistic.

-What a rebound game for Kris Letang. He looked more like his old self.

-There is no way that Ben Lovejoy gets bumped from the D rotation once Brooks Orpik returns. No way.

-Mike Comrie is back in the lineup tonight. Nobody cares.

-Sidney Crosby is out destroying beverage containers.


Jesus, that's a backhander that did that. The scene in Scanners where the dude's head blew up was less impressive than that shot.


Underrated movie.


Holy hell, the Pirates start playing next week. Here's a great article on ESPN about Buccos skipper Clint Hurdle.

Peace.

Collapse Averted

If you stopped watching last night's Pens-Wings game with a few minutes left in the second period, you probably would have thought the Pens would end up winning 234098-0. The Pens were dominating offensive zone time, while making Mike Babcock and other Red Wings AARP members look like third graders.

Then came the collapse. As a Pens fan, it felt like a Vietnam flashback. For the first ten minutes of the third period, I thought we were playing the Bruins. Our defense ceased to exist. Brent Johnson took a nap for a while. Mike Modano reminded us that he was still playing hockey. All of a sudden, we were thanking our lucky stars that we were walking away with a point.

And then came James Neal and his Crest Whitestrips.


By the way, this has to be my favorite picture of all-time. Pretty sure that's what I looked like after my first beer.

Anywho, Neal roofs one on Ronald MacDonald and everyone goes home happy.


Some notes:


1. Forget about Letang without Crosby and Malkin. Letang isn't anywhere close to the same without Brooks Orpik

In watching Letang over the past three weeks, this is plainly apparent. Orpik's stability and calmness with the puck allows Letang the freedom to do as he pleases with the puck. Tanger is one of the most offensively gifted defensemen in the league, but he seems burdened since Orpik has been out of the lineup. Errant passes, defensive lapses and other issues have grown exponentially without Brooks. Does this team need Crosby back? You bet. But they may need Orpik even more right now.


2. Keep Staal and Kunitz together for the foreseeable future.


Remember, in the not so distant past, in the time after Kunitz was acquired from Anaheim, he and Staal were linemates. Kunitz had a hat trick in his first game with Staal. That chemistry never left.

Frankly, Staal looked lost on the top line with Neal and Kovalev. He looked like he had trouble handling the increased ice time and dealing with the top defensive pairing of the opposition. He needed a change.

Cue the return of Chris Kunitz. Here are Kunitz and Staal's stats since Bylsma put them on the same line (March 8th-6 games)

Kunitz: 4 goals, 4 assists, +5
Staal: 3 goals, 5 assists, +7

That is chemistry that you just don't mess with.


3. Bring on Philly.

James Harrison Lays Down the Law

James Harrison isn't much of a talker. Definitely not a go-to guy if you're looking for some sort of gossipy, juicy comment. So on the few occasions that Harrison does speak, all of us listen.

Harrison released a lengthy comment on the NFL lockout on his facebook page today. Rather than comparing the players situation to being a slave (Here's looking at you, Rashard and AP), Harrison detailed a thorough and reasonable outline of his thoughts on the matter.

Read the comments in their entirety here.

If only we had more James Harrison's on both sides of the table.